The matriarch nodded her head once, accepting his words then held her hand out for the hair clip.  Once it was back in place she spoke to him again.<strong>"I was not born on this world."</strong><br/><br/>She closed her eyes and contemplated for a while then spoke again,<strong>"The oldest among my people has seen almost seven centuries and even she was born here in this village.  I was present at her birth, and had already several centuries under my belt at that time.  My people were brought here for a reason, to guard the river's source.  It has healing magic, yes, but it is also a gateway to another world.  My goddess, Eilistraee, manifested physically in the old forest of another world and spoke to my people.  She needed guardians, long lived people who she could trust to watch over the gateway.  For those of us who left, she granted eternal youth, but with a price.  Not immortality, as all of my peers found out over the centuries and fell to illness, injuries, or the ennui that crushes the long lived and leads them to walk off and never be seen again.  No, simply eternal youth, for those of us who remained here, guarding the gateway."</strong><br/><br/>She paused again and was lost in thought for a little while before she continued,<strong>"The waters come from a different plane, one that touches upon the plane of the primal.  That is the curse of my people, that is why we have such high lusts.  Every drink we take is suffuse with the essence of primal magic.  Every crop we water is with that power.  Those of us who leave this village lose that curse over time, and our bodies change to this world, like the merchant you met."<br/><br/>"The men and women who live in this village now were all born here, on this world, and carry long lives of elves, but not my near immortality.  But they understand the need to protect our village.  Through the centuries the other guardians along with myself have waited for one thing, and now I am the only guardian left, the only one who remembers.  I think that now we are in the end of days for out life.  My goddess told me and the other guardians that one day the key would be rejoined, and once made hole and bathed in the deepest part of the well of waters, our people, our village, would be returned home.  On that day, every living elven person who helped to defend our villiage and defend the gateway would be assured of a place dancing by Her side when they went to their eternal rest.  Every elven person who had already passed on, who had not ascended to her side but fallen to some other resting ground would be given one last audition, and if their hearts were true, would be raised up again to dance with Eilistraee in the afterlife.  That is the mission of my people, that is our divine goal, it is our divine right."</strong><br/><br/>She sighed and looked down,<strong>"But we know too that before the end will be the tribulation.  A battle, a good chance that a hero will fall, and that death will win the day.  Should this happen, ultimately, the guardians of the gateway have fallen, and we have failed our centuries long task."</strong><br/><br/>Her eyes pierced Nirael to the very soul when she looked at him and said,<strong> "I believe you are the one who will bring the final battle here, to our village, and either win or fail.  Does this make sense to you?"</strong>