Welcome to Gaia! ::

"If you think it will make things easier, I will talk to him," Iorlas agreed, though it was clear that she was reluctant to do so. "I am sorry. I don't understand any of this. I was never meant to feel this way. I have never understood these types of emotions. I have never been around others who have been going through any of this. I am completely lost. All right? Is that the admission that you have been looking for?"

Earendil was surprised by the vehemence of her words, but the tears streaming down her cheeks made him keep his silence.

"I'll talk to him the next time I see him," Iorlas promised, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "I just don't know what to say. 'Sorry Daeron but I'm a dragon'?"

"It would be a start," Daeron's voice came from the edge of the glade.

Earendil looked up and saw his brother standing only a short way away from them, just out of their peripheral vision, which would be why no one had seen or heard him approaching. He was surprised - not only that his brother was there, but especially that he was speaking the Ancient Tongue. As far as Earendil knew, his brother had never learned it ... though clearly he had. Somewhere.

Daeron stepped closer. "I know what you are, Iorlas. I always have."

Daeron's eyes were fixed on Iorlas, who was looking back at him, one hand over her mouth.

"Long enough," he replied to Lin. "Long enough to hear that you would rather run away from something you believe is a problem than talk to the person it concerns and try to work through it."

"Daeron, it wasn't that I doubted you," Iorlas said through her fingers. "I don't. I don't ... know ... how much you know ... about me ..."

"If anyone wants to know anything, ask Amalirahc or Alassëa," Daeron replied dryly. "But I already knew a lot before they said anything, anyways."

Iorlas nodded slowly. "Then you know that if I change ... I can't change back again."

"And that's worth throwing everything away?" Daeron asked her. "It could happen, sure. It could be in a week, in a month, a year ... or it could be never. You've already denied yourself every chance at happiness you've ever been presented. Are you going to do that to yourself your whole life?"

Iorlas couldn't bring herself to look at Daeron anymore, and she buried her face in her hands, trying to hide her tears. "What kind of answer do you want?" she asked him, her voice trembling.

Daeron watched her for a moment, then sighed heavily. "At the moment, I don't think either of us is able to give a rational response. I don't want to force anything right now, because neither of us is in a state to be held responsible for what we say. Better to leave it for now than say something we're going to regret. Just ..."

He sighed again. "Just remember that I love you, even knowing what you are, and that it might not last forever. The thing is - I'm willing to give it a shot and get what happiness I can out of it instead of giving up before trying."

He looked at her a moment longer, then turned and walked away without another word.

Iorlas shook her head, and from behind her hand came the sound of sniffling.

"I'm just ... so confused," she whimpered. "I don't know what to think. I have never been confused before, about anything! Until now everything has been black and white, but this - this is just - I don't understand!"

"What about it don't you understand?" Earendil asked, calm now that he knew Iorlas and Daeron would talk eventually, no secrets between them.

Iorlas looked at him, her eyes red and puffy, her cheeks wet. "I don't understand why he is willing - no, why he's eager to do something he knows will only end in impossibility. That he knows will be temporary. That he knows nothing more can come out of. Why? It would be so much easier to - to keep our distance from each other, to continue on as friends, the way things used to be. So why is he willing to give that up for the pain that he knows will have to come eventually?"

Iorlas tried, but she simply couldn't understand. She shook her head and leaned back against the bench.

"I just don't get it," she sighed. "I don't know. I simply don't understand."

"That's the thing about love," Earendil told her softly. "It doesn't make sense. There's simply no explanation."

Earendil couldn't help but smile at that. He knew that if love always made sense, he would probably not have fallen in love with Lin. But he wasn't going to complain.

"Look, Iorlas, I can tell you from experience that it's worth a try, at the very least," he told her. "It took me years to gather up the courage to tell Lin how I felt about her, and though it was hard when I didn't know if she felt the same about me or not, I have never regretted it. And now look at us."

Iorlas did as he said, taking the phrase literally, and looked at him and Lin. "I ... have always noted how happy you are together," she said hesitantly.

"See?" Earendil smiled warmly and put his arms around Lin, holding her close. "Life is all about risks, no matter what you do, and love more so. But when you take the risk, and it works out, it's unbelievable how much it can affect you, how happy it can make you."

He paused, then added, "Besides, you already know that Daeron loves you, even knowing what you are, so in my view that really takes most of the risk out of it. Ioreth is safe, she can't harm anyone where she is, and she will be well taken care of. What else is there to be afraid of?"

Iorlas rubbed her arms thoughtfully. "I ... do not know," she admitted. "I just ... can't help but be afraid."

"Then push in despite it," Earendil urged her. "What can you lose?"

Iorlas smiled at that. "Well ... I suppose when you put it that way ... I really have nothing left to lose."