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This time Earendil waited patiently for Iorlas to speak, not wanting to put too much pressure on her; and at length, she spoke.

"My sister's name is Ioreth," she said softly, raising her head slightly so that she wasn't speaking into her hands, though she did rest her chin in her hands. "And she ... to put it simply, she takes great pleasure out of making others miserable or angry. Really, it's the only thing that gives her pleasure, and the angrier she makes someone, the more it pleases her. As far back as I can remember, she's been this way. There is nothing that I can do about it, nothing at all. Nothing I do or say will stop her - not that I ever see her, either. The only thing that I can do to even try to help is to pick up behind her, clean up her messes, repay those people whose lives she makes so difficult. Leaving money for things that she completely destroys, clean messes that she makes ... at the manuscript shop in Tavari, where she poured ink all over those books ... I paid for the books, but also left behind a vial of a concoction that has some ability to remove ink from paper."

She closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. "Every time she does something ... every time she destroys something, steals something, breaks something ... every single time, it breaks my heart. But the only thing that I can do is try to make things right, as much as I can, with the people who are wronged by her."

Iorlas shook her head. "We share a house, but as I said, I have not seen her in a very long time," she murmured. "She takes great pains to avoid me, though I sometimes feel that she's near enough to watch what she does to me. If you wish to talk to her, confront her, you would have to avoid me as well - as today, when you met her in the bakery. But there is no telling what she might do. I would encourage you not to confront her if you see her again ... she will simply take what she knows about you, about what you cherish, and use it against you somehow."

Earendil clenched his jaw angrily. "So she doesn't care if you end up maimed or even killed for things that she does?" he demanded, forcing himself to keep his voice low.

"As I said," Iorlas replied sadly. "The more those around her suffer - and sometimes I think especially me - the more pleasure she experiences."

"I tried," Iorlas added softly. "I came with all of you ... I tried to leave her behind, move on and enjoy myself. But she followed me again, bringing misery to this town."

She shook her head again. "I should return to Tavari. At least there, I'm not spreading her handiwork around the Westland."

Iorlas looked quite startled at Miyuki's suggestion, and it was hard to tell if she was more startled by the first or the second part of it.

"Make myself look different?" she asked, her tone confused. "Tie her up?"

She shook her head. "Well, I can tell you now that tying her up wouldn't help anything."

Iorlas sweated a bit and brushed a stray hair away from her face. "Trust me, it would not at all be a good idea to tie her up," she said softly, though her tone was firm now. "It would be a disaster. And there are already ways in which we look different ... but no one would notice such differences. You are right about one thing, however - if I were to change my appearance, she would do the same."

She didn't say anything about adding a mark to her sister instead, though she knew that wouldn't go over well either. Her sister was violent - extremely so - and she knew that whoever tried to do something to her would be in do so at great risk.

Earendil studied her, trying to figure out how she looked different from her sister, and what she was trying hard not to say.

"Iorlas," he said softly, "does this have anything to do with the reason you said you are different from the other elves? You said, when we first met you, that you were ostracized because you were different, like Elarinya - yet I still haven't seen any differences between you and the rest of the Westlanders ... though I didn't notice anything different about Elarinya either, to be fair."

Iorlas nodded. "That is also my guess, that Ioreth deliberately sent you in the wrong direction when you were looking for us."

"Your eyes," Earendil said suddenly.

Iorlas blinked at him. "Excuse me?"

Earendil nodded slowly, staring at her. "Your eyes are different. Your eyes are ... gentle, like a unicorn. Hers are ... narrower. Angry. Like a soldier, almost."

Iorlas blushed. "I have to admit, I've never been compared to a unicorn before," she giggled.

Iorlas looked over at Lin and shrugged. "You know more about us than anyone," she said simply, "and you've still never seen us together. How can anyone even tell that there *are* two of us to get to know if she never comes anywhere near me?"

"It's not as if you let people get to know you very well, either," Earendil pointed out. "I mean, we've known you for weeks now, and we only just found out today some of the things that are - I would say - most important to know about you. And even still there are things you won't say. How can we truly know you if you won't let us?"

"Perhaps in time," Iorlas murmured gently, her eyes growing softer than usual.