His back pressed against the slim, silvery trunk of a white birch tree, surrounded by a scattering of bronze coloured leaves, some tinged with the russet hue of autumn, Rhodry Maelwaedd sat, legs extended before him, his boots crossed at the ankle, playing with a sprig of fallen leaves. Beside him, stretched out in the long grass, Evander lay, his yellow gold hair, scattered across his shoulders, mingling with the grass, bright as a child's art colours, shone in the sourceless sunlight. Unexpectedly Rhodry laughed. Tipping back his head the mirth bubbled from his lips, a wild, ceaseless sound that reached an unearthly howl. Evander's turquoise eyes that had snapped open at the sound, narrowed as the elf-like creature propped himself up on one elbow.

"I wish you wouldn't do that," he remarked idly.

As suddenly as it had started, Rhodry's laughter cut off into silence.

"And that too," Evander added.

"I have finally found something that distresses you?" Rhodry asked, smiling a little.

Evander cocked his head, apparently considering the question. After a moment, he too, smiled. "So it would seem. Of what were you thinking?"

"My Lady," Rhodry replied simply.

"Dalla?"

"Nah, nah, nah, my Lady Death."

"Why do you think of her? I don't understand your mortal cycles, but am I not right in that many of your kind would fear such talk?"

"Indeed. But my Lady and I are on intimate terms. I danced with her before any other."

"What makes you think of her though?"

"I was thinking first of you," Rhodry replied cryptically.

"I don't understand." Evander sat up so that he could study Rhodry's face, a frown creasing his brow in bewilderment.

Rhodry thought for a moment, finding himself smiling a little at the all too human expression on Evander's face. "Do you love me, Evander?"

"I love you."

"Then that is why. Everyone that I have ever loved is taken from me. My lady is a jealous lover, though she does not yet claim me for her own."

"I cannot be taken from you." Evander shrugged one shoulder like a cat hunching its spine for a stretch.

"I can be taken from you though. It may be that very thing that summons me to her cold bed." Rhodry's crazed laugh temporarily stole his speech. "Because I too love you, Evander, and that bodes ill."

Evander was silent for a few moments, clearly mulling over this. Rhodry leaned back against the tree trunk once more, tossing the sprig in the air and catching it. Finally he threw it outwards, watching it vanish into the opalescent mist surrounding the island.

"Rori?" Evander's voice sounded both curious and somewhat alarmed. Rhodry heard him catch a breath and turned, startled. Evander was staring at him, his eyes very wide. A translucent jewelled droplet glinted on his pale cheek. "Rori, what is this?"

Evander reached up to touch his cheek and recoiled, shaking his fingers, like a cat that has fallen in the tub. A second tear followed the first, and a third slipped from his other eye.

Evander stumbled to his feet and backed away, staring at his hands but not really seeing. "It hurts," he whispered, his voice hoarse. "It burns like iron!"

His huge eyes met Rhodry's, drowning him. The fear reflected off the surface of the water, an external picture of internal conflict. Rhodry scrambled to his feet and caught Evander's elbow. The elf-like spirit flinched away from him.

"I tried to imagine it," he said in a voice unlike his own, detached and deeply shaken. "I wanted to understand. So I tried to remember, how I felt, after that night with you, when I left and I missed you, that thing you call sorrow, and what it would be like to feel it always."

"Oh, here," Rhodry objected. "It may not be that way. You may not love me still by the time it all comes to pass."

Evander started back again as though Rhodry had struck him. His expression closed immediately and he stiffened, as rigid as though he was sculpted from ice.

"Oh, here," Rhodry repeated, more gently this time. "'Twas naught but an idle remark. Here, Evander, don't pull away. I am not iron you know, fleeing me will not stop the pain. The source is inside you, your feelings are what hurt you so much."

"You are as cold as iron," Evander told him. He stood tense as a startled fawn, a curiously vulnerable gesture that touched Rhodry.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Evander swallowed hard. After a moment he cocked his head to cast Rhodry a sidelong glance with a shade of his smile appearing. "So, this is grief," he said thoughtfully. "I don't like it, Rori, I don't like it at all."

"I did warn you," Rhodry pointed out.

"I needed to know. It hurts and it's horrible," he shuddered like a wet dog. "But it makes the joy even more joyful." He sighed. "I thought that you would help me solve this riddle of grief, Rori, now it seems that you have just found me another."

Rhodry laid his hand against Evander's cheek, feeling the damp, silken smoothness of the cool skin through the calluses on his palm. He could think of nothing to say. Instead, he pressed his lips to Evander's face, kissing away the tears.

[End]