One summer's day, Persephone was drifting to sleep in the arms of a tree with berry juice on her lips and dappled sunlight on her sun-kissed skin. She inhaled the sweet wind that stirred her honey-brown hair gently and exhaled contently. Suddenly, she heard a twig break not far from her. She opened her emerald eyes with a gasp and looked around. However, there was no one there.

"Hello?" She called timidly. She saw a head peek around the trunk of a nearby tree, and quickly retract into hiding. She giggled quietly. "You don't have to be afraid of me. Won't you come out where I can see you?"

It was a moment before she barely saw the same eyes hesitantly look around the tree.

"I'm sorry, miss. I didn't mean to frighten you."

"You just startled me is all. What are you doing there?"

"I was... Watching you, miss." A look of surprise and uncertainty crossed Persephone's face, when suddenly the full face came into view. "Not in a threatening way! I'm sorry... You were just... So peaceful and beautiful."

She smiled again and relaxed.

"That's kind of you."

"I'm terribly sorry for bothering you." The face disappeared. "I shouldn't be here."

"No, wait! Please don't go." Persephone hopped down from the tree and landed in the grass softly on bare feet. "I'd... I'd like it if you would talk with me more."

A silence.

"You would?" Came the voice again.

"Well, I would like it more if I could see you." She approached the tree slowly and smiled softly as whoever it was snuck a quick glance at her in surprise. "Come now, it's not fair that you got to see me for who knows how long and I don't even get to see your face clearly."

She stopped where she was and waited, hoping. She watched as the mysterious person stepped around the tree tentatively. Her face took on a more fearful expression.

It was a man. He was clad in all black, an intricate, regal ensemble that glittered darkly and threw the sunlight like nothing Persephone had ever seen. His complexion was clear and pale, even paler than she. His hair was jaw-length and pure white, but youth twinkled in his grey eyes. His stature was thin but strong, small but sure. His facial bone structure was soft with youth. When she finally found his downcast, bashful eyes, she realized how uncomfortable her scrutiny was making him.

"I... I don't mean to stare. I've never met a... Man." He looked up at her.

"How can that be?"

"My mother doesn't let me get out much." She answered before she could think better of it.

"That is incredibly unfair!"

"Oh, it's alright! I like nature." She approached him slowly, with a hand outstretched. "Do you mind...?"

He shook his head and tried to bite away a smile. She smiled briefly before wonder overtook her eyes. She gently ran the pads of her fingers over the texture of his attire at his chest, and then let them drift up to his skin. He did not lean away from it, but rather watched her wide eyes, echoing the rapt fascination in them. His lips parted slightly as her middle finger ran over it gently. She looked up into his intense eyes.

"Who are you?"

"I-"

"Persephone?"

The girl in question gasped and looked over her shoulder toward the sound of her mother's voice. When she looked back around, the man was gone.

"Persephone, there you are!" She swallowed and faced her mother. A look of concern crossed her mother's face. "Darling? What's wrong?" She approached her daughter and took her shoulders.

"Nothing, I just... I fell out of this tree in my sleep."

"Oh, dear! You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, I'm fine."

Demeter observed her daughter uncertainly for a moment more, but seemed to believe her.

"Well, that's good. Maybe napping in trees isn't the best idea..." Persephone forced a short laugh. "Anyway, I wanted to show you something new I've made! Come with me!" The girl followed, her hand firmly grasped in her mother's, amused as always with her mother's enthusiasm for creation, before she glanced anxiously behind her at where the dark man had been. She caught a glimpse of a head behind the trunk of the tree briefly.

And then it was gone.