"We're like you humans, but different. Longer ears, different facial structure, leaner builds, slightly different skeletal system and musculature, and a significantly longer lifespan are some of the more obvious physical differences between us." Vaeri spoke as one who had to give this explanation to many people. Most people in the area had at least a passing knowledge of elves, but in many of the smaller villages she had been to, they had not any experience with her kind and would assume she was deformed or some kind of fairy. A couple of times she had been mistaken as some kind of devil, an accusation she did not take well in either case. The trick was to give the proper expression of being different without coming off as self-righteous or overly self-involved. 

A lot of people had gotten the notion that elves thought themselves above humans, and while she knew plenty of elves who were stuck up, it wasn't something intrinsic with the race. More puzzling were a separate category of people she met who seemed to believe that since she was an elf, she would somehow be supernaturally wise/graceful/beautiful. Perhaps what tales of her people pervaded the world were exaggerated.

"We tend to seclude ourselves in villages generally comprised entirely of our own, although you'll find elves distributed here and there in human settlements. I come from a forest village maybe 100 miles from here known as Lianyu."