Jade Fern Grove but you are dressed in night and snow

"I am not a man fit for your heart, Iana."

It was something that dawned upon her herself as he spoke at such length. As the time ticked on and his history became clearer, she realized the list of things.

It was not love she sought from him. Nor was it the feeling of any such act of love. It was not any sort of drive to tangle herself with him romantically as she so might have wished not all that long ago.

Instead she had realized, mid-point through his history and solidified by the end, that it was mere safety she felt in his presence. The ability they shared to dispose of everything they held before each other. The trust they exchanged with the wellbeing of each other's body and home. She thought of the things he had said in their confusing tangle weeks ago in this very spot.

"It is good to find an — ally, in all things, not only vones of pack life."

An ally.

A companion.

The support they shared strengthened and weakened her all the same. How much she had blossomed under his teachings and moral support!

It is not. She softly declined his unwillingness to see the good left through all of that.

Through all of this I have seen what you've said. You have been honest about the man you have been and the man you are. He was right. You aren't fit for my heart. A slight shake of her head. But maybe...you don't need to fit that way. You spoke once of an ally in all things. Is that not what we are? I tend to your health and you mine, in a way. Trusted with the careful details of each other's life.

It is not love, heart or touch from you that I need. We have moved beyond that once already. I won't return to it.

I trust you, Mahler. I care deeply for the well being of you and yours.

Perhaps it is Rivenwood and those within that has captured my heart from your words.