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The boy was coming over unannounced. He'd not announced his arrival by writing for signups on the sheets. He'd not given Dante at least a three day's verbal notice. He'd even had the gall to call him in the middle of the night, voice dejected and morose, and ask for directions to his office.

In other words, Rylenn had done everything in Dante's book that warranted a flat-out refusal.

So why was he here in the middle of the night, carrying three sleepy and one very cranky and dejected crow on his shoulders and arm, in wrinkled clothing, with cups and a fresh pot of warm rose hip tea and a medium-sized bowl of strawberries and some dipping bowls of honey, whipped cream, and sugar and a bag of treats to feed his crows?

He was getting soft, he warranted, shooing the stubborn crows off of his arms (with a caw from the indignant one and an insisted nibble from Gelnuir before he flew off to take his perch), what with all this special treatment. Never mind that he'd seen Lorioth dining with his students sometime in the food courts...or that Greg often took the time to play Dance Dance Revolution with his own students rather than actually teach them....OR that his sister often would rather walk with her students through the field, showing them a flower or teaching them a song....

Okay, so other teachers were less professional with their students.

But he had standards to keep! As a professor, there were certain things you did not do--like get up in the middle of the night to accept some student who couldn't....

Then his thoughts softened, then hardened. A battle as he walked to the door to open it. The boy had sounded so miserable, so unhappy...and with his conversation with Greg fresh in his mind, he simply could not turn the boy down when he felt very much the same.

And he concluded, as he opened the door and retreated back to the desk, that there were exceptions to every rule.

And in this case, it broke every single one in Dante's book.

But he found, to his surprise, that he didn't mind.

Dante honestly hadn't been expecting that. Rylenn had always seemed so composed and confident. Now to see him like this....

His request was...interesting, to say the least, and for a minute he paused. Admitting to a thing like this...was it really a good thing to do? Could he...he couldn't even talk to most of his own peers, save Irame, let alone a child...a babe, by Elven standards....

And then he hit upon something.

Taking a cloak that was laying casually by the side, he offered it to the boy and, taking a shoulder, guided him to one of the more comfortable chairs. Gelnuir croaked sympathetically and flew over to Rylenn's chair, hooking onto the back.

Dante braced himself. Even this part...only Irame had seen it. Greg had just touched the surface. Those he considered his closest peers didn't even know that this was what lay behind the deep blue eyes....

"Despite how I may act now, I was very much like you are now when I was a little older than you are in Elven years," the man said, something in his voice almost soft, sad, regretful. "Very much a sad person who needed someone to talk to as well." He dipped one of the fruits in the sugar (as an Elf he preferred honey, but some humans liked this supposedly unhealthier food better. Why, Dante could not fathom) and offered it to Rylenn. "Now what's wrong, Rylenn?"

Dante blinked, raising his eyebrows as Rylenn recounted the story. So...that had explained why Lorioth had seemed so disturbed earlier when he'd gone to ask him a question about something that he hadn't understood about the "tellyphone" that Prinwaltz had insisted they all put in their offices.

"Rylenn." His voice was not angry, but rather commanding. "Stop. Calm down." He held out the cup, making sure that the aroma was reaching Rylenn to try and calm the boy down as he thoughtfully chewed on the strawberry the boy had refused.

"Hmmm...so you cooked for Professor Manneth." He was glad his voice wasn't shaking; some of Rylenn's words had brought back memories of an...unpleasant conversation he'd had with Greg. "That's very interesting. I'd like to try some of your food sometime."

He paused. "...Do you think the reason you're so flustered about this right now is because you don't have the answer either of you are looking for? Have you thought that perhaps your emotions and your heart are trying to tell you something about pursuing this relationship?"

Dante nodded. This child...he WAS very much like him. Very much.

"You and I are a lot more similar than even I initially credited. We're both reserved. We both love animals and magic. And we both have had something in the past that has kept us from seeing above and beyond mere friendship." He sighed, taking a sip of his own tea, sorting through the jumble of words Rylenn had given him. Trying, perhaps, to find an answer for himself.

"Trust...if what I'm understanding is correct, you are attempting to trade trust by giving some of your own secrets in exchange for some of theirs. What you must understand, Rylenn, is that not all people are so open about their secrets. And if you attempt to pry...well, I'm not really sure what could be said of that, except you remind me very much of someone I've talked with recently." He paused, giving a small quirk of the lips as Gelnuir purred happily. "Trust is not a thing to simply be traded. It is a thing that must be earned by an individual. Trust must come from both sides of both party's free will, and only then can it truly mean something." A pause, trying to keep it short, keeping in mind the way time moved for humans. "...And I have a bit of an experiment to propose to you, if you want to try."

He stood, then looked at the boy. "You shouldn't get the carpet dirty with those shoes," he said. "Have you been outside?"

Dante's face screwed up in a thoughful frown, not at Rylenn but rather his own thoughts, pondering, making sure to be mindful of just how long he thought. After a moment he spoke.

"Nevertheless...secrets are not something that are necessarily a good thing to share on the premise of getting acquainted with someone, I think. Sometimes someone must give something of oneself--and then wait even if that sentiment isn't returned right away. I don't know about Lorioth, but...sometimes the one seeking the trust must be willing to first give 'secrets.'"

He paused. "Yes. The experiment I propose is this.

"I have told you that I was much like yourself at one time. I have not told you why. In this experiment...well, it will be a little long, and I hope you'll be patient. I will not tell you anything furthur about myself. Your job would be to try to find out--by giving me a reason to be open about my past. It will not be easy, and it will take a while, that I can assure you. But perhaps if you are willing to share something of yourself without expecting something back and trusting me to not tell, then...slowly but surely I will open up. And this might help you make friends."

He cocked his head. "....It's simply an idea. We don't have to do it and I'll be willing to listen to adjustments you want to make."

"If you fail--and this is not something you can particularly fail at--then we go back, evaluate what we did wrong, and try again."

Dante found himself walking over to the window, turning his face away from Rylenn's. His own temper was beginning to rise, barely, but he liked to err on the side of caution.

"But is that what you really think, Rylenn? That life is merely about "survival," merely a string of occurences with which you get only one shot? If so, you are mistaken." If so, I would not be alive today.


"It was merely a proposal and you have every right to turn it down if you want. But do you honestly believe this is something done just for your benefit? It's for mine as well--so that I can learn to trust again. It's for the boys here who are unhappy with their own existence--your classmates, most of whom have gone through experiences just as bad as yours. It's so that we all can build teamwork--so that if we are threatened, we can stand together."

He paused. "But trust is not something, I think, that is mutual around here. Trust is something that must be earned. Again, this is only if you wish to do it. But I believe we could all benefit a little bit if a very bright and intelligent boy I know wants to open himself up and show the world, piece by piece, who he is."

Dante took Rylenn's shoulder as he tried to walk away. "Wait."

He took the boy by his shoulders and sighed. "What I meant is, perhaps share a piece of yourself first before you go and ask others. Sometimes you must be the one to take the risk.

He paused, then sat down and motioned for Rylenn to sit. "I'm not particularly tired. In fact, I feel better than normal--I got a whole forty minutes of meditative rest, so I'll probably be okay for the next two days or so.

"Now, then...you said you wanted Professor Manneth to share something small with you...like the thing with the beets, for example. Why don't you start off by saying something small that no one else knows about you?"

Progress. That was good. The child seemed shy...but better to be shy and truthful than cheerful and a liar.

"You ask things of people that nobody else knows, correct? Tell me a tiny thing about yourself that no one else knows. It doesn't even have to be anything serious. It can be something goofy, such as you prefer boxers to briefs, as Professor Larine would say," he said, wrinkling his nose in distaste as he said so.