Role

Chapter 4

Again! Though Jakziim's death was an upset, I had wrongly assumed I
was free from worry about being honest with a lover. I thought I
could, like my Lady Monarch, remain a mystery to the eyes of most and
live in relative harmony that way.

It turns out, though, when I make assumptions of that caliber, I am
always wrong, for today Ryasyn asked me what it would take to make me
love him.

I tried to feed him the same vague tale I had given Jakziim, but
Ryasyn is a much different sort of man... And I... I don't know.
Perhaps I've grown weary of holding this secret so long. He continued
to ask, and finally I confessed to him merely that I had not always
been an Elf.

It seemed he thought I was lying, so I left him in the garden behind
the Inn to visit the desert where I witnessed the great monarch and
pray. Should she and I both remain mysteries, or ought I to confess
more of what I am to Ryasyn?

He, of course, followed me. I told him of my Lady, and where her
temple used to be. I told of how she called to me, with her butterfly
messengers, and he caught on with a question.

"Butterflies are special to you?"

I answered with one of my own, "Did I not say I was not always an Elf?"

And that was that.

Still, when it comes to love, I have given Ryasyn no more than I ever
gave to Jakziim, and that is, and perhaps ever will be, a maybe.