The Elf Who Preached Once

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The elf preached only once, which is how you can tell it mattered.

He used a borrowed pulpit that smelled like damp wood and old opinions. The congregation was mixed: elves sitting politely with their hands folded, demons slouching like teenagers forced to attend summer camp, and one human who had only stopped because he thought there might be coffee.

The elf opened a book that had no page numbers. He said Lilith left Adam before anything went wrong, which meant she left before things were measured, counted, or blamed. He said the elves came from her, which explained why they were not guilty, not saved, and not particularly interested.

The demons took notes. This made them furious.

The human felt uncomfortable in the way you feel when you realize a rule doesn’t apply to you, but you’ve been following it anyway. He looked down at his shoes to see if they agreed with him.

Outside, the church bells rang out of habit, not conviction. The elves listened but did not flinch. Bells, the elf explained gently, only work on things that fell.

When the sermon ended, there was no applause. The demons argued among themselves. The human forgot most of what he heard on the walk home, except for one sentence, which stayed with him like a loose button:

Not everything needs saving.

The elves left quietly, because leaving loudly would have made it into a different kind of story.