He longs for home and family and grows tired of these primitive battles that his father insists that he observe and study.

He left the war-torn devastation of the south of England six months ago for the tranquility of an area the locals call Symonds Yat. He has spent the last couple of months wandering from town to town listening to the people's reaction to the new Norman ruler.

The human form he must assume on earth to allow him free access and continued cognizance is high maintenance and cumbersome so he discards it stretches and lies down in a cushion of Ivy.

Here in the vast wilderness he can take his true form without constant fear of a human coming upon him for he has spent many quiet undisturbed hours basking in the beauty of this fertile land undetected.

"Ah, strawberries. My only Earth weakness," he thinks to himself.

"May I please have some of those strawberries - I'm very hungry." The small voice comes from directly behind him.

Trained as a warrior his first instinct is to attack but there's something about the small voice that has him turning to face it without a battle plan.

He has to lower his line of sight because the voice belongs to a human female child at least three feet shorter than his full height. He estimates her age to be no more than six earth years.

(NOTE: fourteen earth years equals one year on Alien's planet)

Her steps do not falter as she approaches him and continues on to the strawberry patch where she immediately stoops to pick one ripe berry after another and wolfs them down.

She picks several more and places them in the folds of her thin gown and cradles them as she comes even closer to him and flops down on the grown in front of him.

"Here, we can share them," as she holds a strawberry out for him to take and when he doesn't reach for it she grabs his hand and places it in his palm.

A bird flies low to the grown and swoops back up into the trees and she smiles as her neck strains to see where it goes. Her mouth and chin smeared with the juice from the berries and her cheeks expanding as she continues to stuff the fruit into her small mouth.

The angle of her head when she follows the bird's flight causes her to choke momentarily but she recovers before he reaches her. She swallows her fare and looks at him again with interest. "Can you talk?"

He has been to earth countless times and has encountered many humans - some who have seen him in his true form, which immediately repulses them or scares them silly. This slip of a child shows signs of neither.

His warrior's instinct kicks in and he looks in the direction from whence she came and beyond.

"I'm alone. I pretend to be lost so that Geoffrey will come look for me." She gets a whimsical look and sighs.

"I'm going to marry him when I grow up, he's the Parker's son and takes care of all of this." She spreads her arms wide to make a point.

He smiles and she notices.

"Everyone smiles when I say that because he's fourteen and I'm only six," she holds up six fingers to show him.

He's enchanted and ventures to ask her name.

"My name's Aisling Bronwyn de Falconer." Suddenly her eyes widen. "How did you do that? Your lips did not move and I did not hear you with my ears but I did hear you." She moves closer to him, reaches up on tiptoe and places her small strawberry stained fingertips to his lips.

"Do it again," she pleads as she waits in awed anticipation.

He decides to indulge her, "Aisling is a very pretty name."

Her eyes are fixed on his month as she states matter of fact, "Thank you, it means dream or vision."

"Where do you live?" He asks as he looks around having not noticed a dwelling in the immediate area.

Still intrigued by his ability to speak without words she throws her head back and lets out a hearty laugh. "You're a sorcerer, aren't you?"

"No, I'm just not from around here," he answers to her delight.

"I live at the manor," she answers off handedly as she points in some obscure direction.

"You're awfully young to be wondering the forest alone, where is your mother?" He queries and watches as her lip begins to quiver.

"She died a long time ago but everyone tells me she was beautiful and that I look just like her." She steps back and twirls around to allow him a better view.

"Yes, you're very beautiful," he says as he peruses her from head to toe.

He has never given much thought to the beauty of the human body but he understands the concept of beauty and finds a lot about the earth beautiful. Yes this little girl is beautiful and intriguing.

"If you're not from around here then where are you from?" She rocks back and forth on her heels and starts to whistle as she waits for his answer.

He points up and her head follows the direction of his finger.

"Where?" Her eyes become wide in wonderment.

He points higher and she starts to laugh again. He thinks to himself how wonderful a sound laugher is.

"What's your name?" She manages between giggles.

"You wouldn't be able to pronounce it but there's a clan west of here that calls me Gray Ghost." He states off-handedly.

She suddenly looks up and smiles. "I don't like the ghost part so I shall call you Gray."

He's suddenly alert to someone approaching when a male voice calls, "Aisling I know you're out here."

Gray backs into the cover of a large tree where he blends into the foliage.

"I'm over here Geoffrey, near the waterfall." She answers in the direction the call came.

Aisling turns her attention back to Gray buts he's not there. "Gray," she nears the spot where she last saw him and peers around the very tree which now camouflages him. "Gray, don't you want to meet Geoffrey?"

"Who are you talking to Aisling?" The young boy asks as he looks around.

"My friend Gray Ghost," she frowns. "He left with out saying good-bye."

"Aisling, you have such an imagination. Maybe your friend had to go home for tea, which is why I've come for you." He smiles down at her juice stained face.

"You had better stick close to home for a while. There's been a wild pig reported in the area and I wouldn't want you to get hurt." He turns his back to her, stoops down and she hops onto his back.

Gray watches them as they leave the forest and Aisling turns and waves even thought she couldn't possibly see him or can she, he wonders.

What an enigma this Aisling de Falconer is turning out to be.

Gray's thoughts soon return to his reasons for coming to earth.

His own planet has been under the sovereign rule of one family-his, for centuries and several rebellions of late have his father concerned and looking for a solution.

"Well, he won't find the solution here." Gray shakes his head as he recalls the discord the Saxon people voice under their new ruler William.