My Earliest Memory

"Isin't love beautiful?"  Her words, whispered, surprised him. He thought he was alone in the heavily wooded grove. The star lit  sky pierced the leafy green trees that overlooked them, and the numerous fireflies lit the area like little  lanterns. A giant pond sat in the middle of the grove, a neon cyan that illuminated from below, leaving  the little bright squiggles on the shadows of anything that stood above it. And the centerpiece of it all, a  Stag and Doe, stood knee deep in the pond, snuggling each other with their maned snouts.  The boy was hiding off to the side, behind green bushes that sat at the edge of the water. Surprised by  the whisper of the young girl's voice, the short wine-colored hair on his long rabbit-like ears stood up,  his body shocked and stunned for a moment. He struggled to conceal his yelp with his hands cusping his  mouth, afraid to disturb the romantic scene of the beasts in front of him.  "What are you doing here?" He whispered back, in a sharp tone. The girl crawled to his side and sat on  the grass next to him, also looking through the bush. She was a pretty Viera girl, about 7 years of age,  bronze colored skin with wine colored hair matching the boy's. She had beautiful bright green eyes, and  a small darkened nose. Freckles dotted her plump cheeks. She looked at the boy and smiled.  "That's what you came to see, right? Love, in it's purest and most natural form." She spoke softly as she  looked onward, lovingly and admiringly at the scene before her.   "Why did you follow me?" The boy grumbled, " I thought I told everyone to leave me alone."  "You're upset, aren't you? I can tell. You're doing that thing where you pout again." She chuckled  innocently, without a hint of malice in her voice. "They were just teasing you, ***. There's no reason for  you to take it so seriously"  "They weren't kidding. Everything they said is true." The boy looked off to the side, closing his eyelids  halfway. "I can't cook. I can't fight. I couldn't even shoot an arrow straight to save my life. Why would  anyone want to love me?"  He buried his face inbetween his knees, his voice started to shake. "I'm nothing but a failure."  The girl stared at the now sobbing boy, and she placed a hand onto his shoulder. "That's not important.  That's not what love is based off of. Look at the deer in front of us."  The boy uncovered his teary eyes, looking at the scene that unfolded before him. The deer continued to  snuggle and cuddle each other, without a care in the world. It was then that the boy's eyes widened, as  he noticed the Stag. He was missing a horn.  "She dosen't care if he's imperfect." She spoke again. "That's what love is. True love. Through all of our  imperfections. If not, then nature would not have allowed such a thing to take place, right?"  The two children kept their eyes on the beasts as they shifted position, and started to mate. The scene,  now off-screen, held the focus of the boy. He had never seen anything like it before. The girl continued  to speak gentle words to him.  "When you show your dedication, when you can stay by their side, through everything. It dosen't matter  what you can't do, because you do everything you can. For the one you love."  They continued to watch the scene, the breaths of the boy finally settled, his tears strolled down the  star-shaped mark that sat under his eye as he lifted his head completely from hiding. The girl leaned in  closer to the boy, and kissed him on the cheek. She then lay her head on his shoulder, and the two of  them stayed silent in the starlit grove. Time seemingly standing still, letting nature take it's turn to  preach love.