Ruthivan watched Claire's even rise and fall of a deep sleep. He got up and leaned against the window, looking out over the night as if fell on the hill, and over the camp to the west. That was where he had ultimately wanted to be. Accepted back into the group of Espers that Claire's father led. But he had a human and half-breed living behind him, and he happened to marry the one Esper in that group who never could be bothered to stay home and help her own people. He thought he could change her.
There was a pang of guilt he felt as he turned back to look at her. He had four children with her and wanted at least eight. But she had wanted none of them. Certainly, she loved them and took care of them as she should, but just that he had found her at the door was- frightening- to him. He'd seen desperate people before, and rarely were they ever rational. But he'd forced them all on her, and now the fifth she carried. He supposed, all the while, that she would settle down. And for a time she had.
Now they were back to square one. Ruthivan pulled on a robe and sent a message to Eladrim, waking Claire's father. "What do you want, Ruthivan."
"Please, Eladrim, can we meet in the forest to talk?"
"My daughter?"
"Yes. I need help."
It wasn't long before the two stood in the trees, a protection spell hiding them from the rest of the world, keeping their voices from being heard to all outside of the bubble. "She hates me but she won't listen to reason. She's expecting," Ruthivan said.
"Again?"
Eladrim seemed put off, but Ruthivan persisted. Claire's father truly was the only one left to whom he could appeal. "Yes, our fifth."
"Yet she hates you? How did this happen?"
"I... had to..."
"You drugged her?"
"Yes, Eladrim," and Ruthivan bowed his head. "But if I did nothing she would have left. She wants to break the bond and leave me and her children."
Eladrim stared at Ruthivan in the dark. There was a look of disgust nestled in his eyes, but pity as well. "Ruthivan, you've pressed so hard on her and she still refuses you. Have you considered letting her go?"
"No," Ruthivan snapped. "She is with me, she's my wife, mother of our children."
"And she doesn't want any of it. Her mother and I have given up - she is a lost cause. You already have children with her, why not count them blessings and release her?"
"Because if I can just get her to see, we can come back to the group, we can be around our own people and not in exile."
Ruthivan could feel the energies of Eladrim bristle. "So long as she runs away and you chase her and force her, you are not welcome. You know that."
"Then help me," Ruthivan said, going down onto a knee. He bowed his head and pulled his hands to his forehead. "Please. I can't lose her and I can't have her leave her children. I just want her to love me, Eladrim. I want to give her the world, if only she'd love me."
There was a long sigh in the darkness. "Stand." Ruthivan did as he was told. "I will speak to my daughter for your sake. If I can make her see sense, then we can work toward your reinstatement. But if she does not wish this, you may well have to release her."
Ruthivan held his tongue even as a trill of dread raced through him. The last thing he wanted was to give up. He nodded. "I will wake her."
