Chapter 13: To Know Or Not To Know

Brooklynn ran into the Library, knowing who would be here and could quite possibly know what Leo had seen. She held the bottom ends of her gold and white detailed skirts up as she searched around the huge Library.

Finally tired of looking, she called out his name, "Liam!"

Alas, he showed up… at least she heard him shushing, so she followed the sound of his shushing. Once he was in sight, Brooklynn ran up to him. "Liam! Liam! Liam! Liam! LIAM!"

Liam's eyebrows shot up in surprise only to sink to his eyes as Brooklynn repeated his name more than he believed was necessary with an even more unnecessary volume. "Brooklynn, does silence mean anything to you? What do you want?" He was unimpressed by her antics.

Brooklynn stopped and smiled her quirky smile. "Okay, here's the scoop: I have a question for you, since you've practically memorized the 'Silvestrian Book Section'. So clearly, you gotta know something, right? Right! So I was wondering if you know any kind of elf and/or Silvestrian that shapeshifts. Maybe? No. Or maybe possibly takes over bodies rotting or turning into dust, the person it controls or whatever." She spoke rapidly. So rapid that Liam could barely hold onto a word that left her mouth. Muchless process the meanings or point to her words.

Her rambling sounded more like,

"SoIwaswonderingifyouknowanykindofelfand/orSilvestrianthatshapeshifts.Maybe?No.Ormaybeposs--iblytakesoverbodiesrottingorturningintodust,thepersonitcontrolsorwhatever.

Liam hated it when she got like this. He shook his head trying to process everything. "What?"

Brooklynn rolled her eyes and relayed the information at a slower pace.

Liam simply told her, "Brooklynn, no elf does that. There are only 9 kinds of elves. Those kinds being; Moon, Avain, Night, Aqua, Snow, Spring, Sun, Fire, and Forest. None of them are black like that. Where did you hear about this?"

Brooklynn pouted, "I told you, Leo-Lion did."

"How exactly?"

She looked from her left to her right as if dramatically looking for witnesses, "Well, Leo saw that happen to Silus. He was just training and Boom! He saw it. He said it looked painful. I promised I'd find out for him." She yelled the word "boom" as if explaining an explosion.

"Shh! So you came to me?"

"Well, yeah, you're the one who knows about this kind of stuff, and I figured I could save the time I would be spending reading by asking a living Silvestrian encyclopedia." Brooklynn shrugged.

It was Liam's turn to roll his eyes, "You could've asked Isla about it. She knows more about Silvestria than the two of us combined, for one. And secondly, it would probably be helpful if you read a little less fiction and a little more fact-filled books."

"Why waste time doing that, when I can just ask someone like you who has read the books that answers these types of questions?"

"Nevermind. Point is, I've never heard of anything like that."

"Hmm. Oh! Can you ask Isla about it for me, then tell me?"

Liam's shoulders sank, "Fine." He didn't mind going to see Isla; it was the fact that Brooklynn's methods in finding something out, was asking someone else about it, instead of doing the research herself that annoyed him, and not in the way Isla would annoy him.

"Great!" Brooklynn perked. "Thanks! I'll go see if anyone else may know about it. See ya!"

Liam waved as he walked out, "See you later, I guess?"

Brooklynn ran off past him. Liam decided he might as well go find Isla, and ask her Brooklynn's question before he just wanted to decide against it.

In looking for her, Liam came to the courtyard, finding Leo. He hated to imagine Leo and Isla were talking, considering the way they were flirting the morning she'd arrived. It still agitated him, to this point.

However, thinking about Isla made his brain feel fuzzy in a smitten way. Thinking about her, reminded him that just a month and a half ago, she kissed his cheek. Feeling her soft lips on his cheek awoke the nonexistent butterflies in his stomach. Feeling her cheek nearly brush against his and smelling her so close to him, gave him a bold wish to bring her full lips to his and kiss her. A want to even tell his step-dad to prepare the wedding already. He would've done anything to prove to her that he cared about her. He accepted her exactly as she was. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and never let her go.

Lost in thought, Liam didn't notice when Leo called his name in question. Leo called out to him, until he lost his patience for him to snap out of it. He tossed a wooden sword to him and Liam caught it, finally snapping back into reality.

"There he is!" Leo cheered with a sinking smile.

"Oh! Leo, what's wrong?"

"'Wrong' isn't exactly the word I'd ask about. More like what's right with you. Are you daydreaming or something?"

Liam blushed, "What- no, no. Of course not, why? I didn't say any names, did I?"

"No, but you looked weird for a minute. Oh! And you didn't respond when I called you the first 37 times." Leo explained.

"Sorry, Leo. I- I'm just kis- hold- Looking for Isla. Do you know where she is? In an hour or so dinner will be served, then another session of dancing lessons for us."

Leo lifted an eyebrow, "Uh-huh. What were you going to say?"

"Noth-nothing! I-I wasn't going to say anything. W-Why- why would I say anything else? That's crazy…"

"Okay, I get it, Man. I'm not sure. She kinda stormed off a bit ago, I haven't seen her in a while. Maybe she checked out the forest I told her about last month."

"Great! Thanks." Liam smiled half-heartedly and headed to find Isla. It was probably wrong, and maybe even really mean of him, but it aggravated him, knowing they were talking alone together. He just wished they hadn't flirted that morning that way he'd feel more at ease with the idea that they interacted.

~*~

After reaching the forest, Liam dismounted his horse and searched for any sign of her. He looked for her, figuring she wasn't one who would say "Hey, I'm over here!" if someone called after her.

He spent an entire hour searching, then decided on the possibility that she didn't want to be found.

At last, he gave up. He sat down against a tree trunk that overlooked the stream that always surrounded the cliff, the castle and villages sat upon. Liam watched the stream as it just flowed the way it was peacefully designed.

That was when he noticed it. A small stone was thrown into the stream. Then another. And another. They certainly weren't throwing themselves.

Liam looked above him; Lo and behold, there she was!

Isla was sitting on a thick branch on the very same tree he was leaned up against. She was throwing the stones into the water, staring at it as if heavily concentrating on her thoughts.

Something was bothering her. Liam could tell. Not just in the way she was forcefully throwing the stones. Her eyes didn't have the same light to them they normally did which seemed to become normal, he must've not noticed until recently. She was biting her lip hard enough to leave a mark. The tips of her ears were now an entire foot from the start of her horns, and she blinked frequently.

He was gonna find out what was bothering her, and he was going to make her smile again, to bring the light back to her eyes. No matter what it took. "Isla! Hey, what're you doing out here?"

Isla quietly looked down, "Nothin' in particular. Hidin' out mostly, Why? What're you doin' out here?"

Liam furrowed his brows, "Uh… Looking for you, actually. Leo said you'd be out here." He said Leo's name in almost frustration. "Why are you hiding? And from whom?" He'd suddenly forgotten what Brooklynn wanted to ask her.

Isla looked back to the water, and threw another rock in there, "Why are you lookin' for me? You should be hidin'."

"I- well, Brooklynn had a question that she insisted I asked you. Also, I wanted to talk to you and let you know that dinner will be served soon. Why should I be hiding again? Who should I be hiding from? You?" Liam replied in question.

Isla threw yet another rock into the stream. "I'm bad luck." She sighed. "Why? You ask. Uncle Everett. Not to mention the family drama, Uncle Everett is bent on assumin' is on me."

The word "assuming" gave Liam some hope. "So why do you listen to him about it?"

"I'm not.. Well, maybe I am a little. But I'm just.. I'm just mad that no matter what, he's determined. Liam, I'm a magnet for family drama. That he is right about. Maybe you should change your mind? You probably will, Uncle Everett seems pretty sure about it."

Scoffing, Liam tried to continue looking up. "Will you come down? Please?" He inquired hopefully.

"You goin' to consider steerin' clear of this five leaf clover?"

"No."

"Then, no."

Liam frowned, "Well, was that the reason you kissed me?" But his lips quirked into a smile.

Isla's cheeks and ears colored, "What? No- I- I just, I didn't technically kiss you, because- because you know, it was only on the cheek, like I told you."

Liam's frown lifted, "If we're being technical, you technically didn't tell me to leave. Technically it was still a kiss. If that was your plan, then technically you're terrible at repelling people."

Isla scoffed, "Really? How's that?"

"Where should I start?" Liam mimicked, causing Isla to roll her eyes, "You don't kiss people, you want to repel. Besides, what could possibly be repulsive about you?"

"You said this once. My personality."

"Nope, Didn't mean it."

"My voice"

"Uh-uh."

"My face."

"We've been through this. No."

"My stubbornness."

"Sometimes tempting to think so, but not actually true."

Isla glared down at him, "Seriously?" She asked.

"What? You're wrong. How is it my fault?" Liam defended.

"Liam, you're the only one who thinks I'm pretty. No one else does. That hardly counts." Isla informed, almost smiling at his constant disagreement.

Liam knew that was wrong, "Okay, for one, I said beautiful, not pretty. And two, Not true. Leo thinks so, too."

Isla raised a disbelieving eyebrow, "Did he tell you that?"

"No, but I know he does. And you are. Point is, Isla, if you're not coming down, I'm coming up." Liam warned. "You're not convincing me that I need to steer clear of you. I know it's hard to understand but I am sticking around."

"How are you goin' to…" She stopped as she noticed Liam climbing the tree to the best of his ability. "What the.. Liam, are you serious?" She couldn't keep herself from smiling at his attempt to climb the tree being slightly successful.

Liam made it to her branch and with Isla's help, he managed to sit in the middle of it.

He took a moment to catch his breath, then spoke, "What's going on?" He asked gently.

Isla's giggling died down, "Come on, really? It's not.."

".. Bah-bah-bah. You come on. I just climbed up here and remember, we're talking through this, I'm not leaving till I get an answer. It's just the two of us. No one is gonna judge you. It's just you and me."

Isla let out a long exasperated sigh. "Long story."

"We've got some time, dinner can wait until we've talked this out." Liam pointed out. "But h-how can you sit on a branch as long as you do?"

Isla smiled and shrugged.

Liam realized a possible reason, but realized too late that he'd said it aloud. "Right. You've got cushion." He muttered. Isla had a full rear end. He wasn't so sure about his own..

"What?"

"Nothing!" Liam saved, then he jumped down from the branch, sitting back against the trunk and patiently waiting for an explanation. At least, he'd gotten his point across by climbing the tree, even if he couldn't stay up for very long.

Isla rolled her eyes, but relented. She sat her back against the trunk on the branch, looking down to Liam. She figured he wanted the whole story. "Family drama, comin' up! The summer before you and I met, my parents told me they were leavin'. My Uncles were put in charge of me, until they returned. I don't know why, but as of recently Levi and Everett have been arguin'. A lot. They've gone far enough to threatenin' to go their separate ways. Last year, I wasn't even sure if I was even a thought or concern of theirs. We were goin' to go to Petra two years ago, but Levi said we needed to make a trip elsewhere. Everett didn't,.. maybe couldn't come, so it was just the two of us. This year was finally goin' to be problem-free. But me and problems, just had to find out my parents are now gone. Now, Uncle Everett has come to visit. Not to mention, I'm gonna be in Petra for the rest of my life. So yeah, drama, problems, issues. Take your pick. What would you rather call it?"

Liam didn't expect her to tell him all of this, but he was glad she did. He didn't want to sound selfish in saying the benefits of her staying full time. "Couldn't someone just take you in.. in the SilverLight Village, I mean."

Isla chuckled dryly, "Yeah, that's where it gets tricky. You see, that's not exactly how it works."

"Didn't your Uncles basically do that for you?"

"Liam, it's not like it's a thing for everyone to open their homes to those 'in need' of a home. That's a rare occasion, because everyone has a home, for one. No one pays for a roof over their head, like they do in Petra, no offense."

"And two?"

Isla bit the inside of her bottom lip, and threw the final 4 stones into the stream at the same time in aggravation. "It's called it doesn't work like that for me. Why? Because I suck."

Liam looked at her with confusion. Then things began completing the puzzle. When he'd turned 10, several years ago, Isla had mentioned not having a relationship with her neighbors. She didn't seem to think much of it, but now he knew that was because she grew up with that treatment. It had definitely played a part in her low self esteem. To add to it, her idiot parents abandoned her for a job. Levi was a grade-A jerk, and both of her uncles argued half the time.

Though at the moment, Isla seemed slightly at war with how she felt about her situation, going from "Maybe bad luck" to "I'm bad luck" to "Not bad luck", just a "magnet for bad occurrences"

Yet, with all that she'd never cried, she never complained about it, until last month. But most of all she still woke up everyday and smile. She survived through it all. It amazed him, how strong she was, but saddened him knowing how much she'd suffered. "Right. Your neighbors." Liam realized. "You said you didn't have any strong relationships with your neighbors."

Isla let her legs hold to the branch and she swung upside down, face to face with him. "Yeah.' She sighed. "To make it worse, I was banished. Once, Levi and I came back from our trip, I was an outcast." Isla explained. He might as well have known.

"Banished?" Liam questioned.

"Banished. It means they kicked me out of the SilverLight Village. They won't allow me to live amongst them. I couldn't be seen or heard, if I was.. Or am I'll face a worse penalty. Uncle Levi didn't think it was worth fightin' over."

Oh.

Liam brought a hand to Isla's upper arm, subconsciously caressing it with his thumb. "Why?" He asked softly.

"Why do you think? Nobody liked me. Now I know why my parents were looked down upon. They were captured by humans and that's dishonorable to Moon Elves. Also my Mum was a Night Elf. Moon elves and Night elves marry within their kinds. They broke that rule. Then my Mum left her family's home to stay with my Dad and my Dad built his and Mum's new home. After that, their entire bloodline was despised. Spoiler alert: That meant me. Once I'd left, they probably found out about what happened to my parents and used that as a reason to banish me." Isla informed him, her ears tilting as far down as they could go as she let each word fall from her lips.

"And Levi said nothing about it, right?" Liam guessed.

Isla tried to smile, "Uncle Levi is many things. Sympathetic isn't one of them. He told me that it was better off this way. One day, I'll understand." She didn't seem to believe it.

"Seriously?" Liam asked incredulously, "Is there anything good about him?"

Isla smiled a little before it turned upside down, "What would you want him to do? Levi is good in his own way."

"He's got a funny way of proving that. As I see it, he doesn't care about your well-being, doesn't care if you're upset, and he does absolutely nothing beneficial for you. He's just there 'looking' like a good person. Yeah, good samaritan, alright!" Liam scoffed wryly.

This time the small grin on Isla's face managed to remain, "You still sure you don't need to run for the hills?"

"I've never been more convinced to stay. I'm not leaving you. Trust me. I'm not gonna abandon you." Liam promised as he stared into her eyes. He knew for sure why she always doubted his word on caring about her and wanting to be there for her. All she'd experienced was people either hating her or walking out on her.

They spent a brief moment in silence, until Isla broke it.

"It's not like you have much of a choice, Betrothed." She pointed out, instantly regretting it.

They both fell silent.

It had never been something they couldn't tease about. Both had known that neither cared much about what they were supposed to do when they got older. In fact, neither were sure it was even going to happen given they rarely got along.

But now, it felt awkward.

Liam knew how amazing Isla was. Now, marriage felt like something he wished would actually happen. Isla was wonderful. She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever known. She was selfless almost to a fault. She was strong both physically and emotionally. And she was honest… for the most part. Now, he could only wish she would trust him enough to understand that he wanted to help.

But it was as awkward for Isla as it was for Liam.

Sure, she used to hate the idea that she was being forced into doing something, but as each summer came and passed, she played around more and more with the idea of marrying him. Now, she really wanted to marry him. It was stupid to hope. When they were to marry, it would be a loveless marriage on his part. She didn't want him to suffer that. Liam was magnificent. He was smart, handsome, and incredibly selfless. He made her feel better about herself and tried so hard to help her. He was remarkable.

With all the things Isla was sure Levi despised about her, he seemed as if he actually wanted her to marry Liam. Now, she'd be lucky to not get a glare her way if Levi saw them together with all that transpired that morning.

Isla would've given anything to marry Liam, but she didn't want him to want her because they were arranged to marry. She wanted him to want her, because he loved her.

Silly, she knew. It wasn't how things worked.

Calling him "Betrothed" wasn't her brightest plan, . . . well, coming to think of it, neither was kissing his cheek. As nice as it was, it was dumb. No matter how happy he'd made her feel.

Liam looked at her and glanced down before she caught his gaze. In his darted eye movements, Liam noticed a scar near Isla's upper arm. He creased his eyebrows and studied it, until he asked her about it. "Isl, what's this?"

Isla looked where his eyes were set, "Oh, this? Um.. I got it several years ago. It doesn't hurt, so it's fine."

Liam gently touched it, after giving a requesting look to her. "What happened? When exactly did you get this?"

Isla shrugged, "When we were 10. A little after you came home to Petra, there was an attack on the SilverLight Village. An old acquaintance's family, I met, ended up gettin' captured. So I helped him, and in tryin' to help him, I got this." She chopped it up simply.

"That's it? Are you sure it doesn't hurt?"

"Nothin' more to tell, so yeah. And no it doesn't hurt. Positive." She said, pursing her lips.

Silent fell once again, as both began to think back to Isla's former tease.

Isla's cheeks and ears turned pink, guilt from several weeks ago suddenly rising again, "Look, Liam, I'm- I'm sorry about the kiss a month and a half ago. And I'm sorry about cuddling' with you that mornin''. My hands shouldn't have been anywhere near your hair, and my head didn't belong on you at all, either. I'm sorry for blamin' you for what I did. Sorry for always gettin' mad at you for tryin' to help. I'm sorry, for makin' things difficult. Sorry for not listenin' or keeping my promise about comin' to you when I was upset a few weeks ago. I just thought it would bother you to always have to handle my problems. I'm- "

Liam placed a finger over Isla's lips, "Isla, it's all fine." He said with a gentle smile. "I want you to be happy. I want to be here for you. You're not making things that difficult, we can work through these insecurities. You're talking to me about it now, that's step one. I do want you to come to me, even if you're mad, in case you didn't know. But not out of duty, because you want to. Because you know, you can trust me."

"But-"

"Shh. The kiss was okay. It- it was nice. The cuddle was unexpected, but not your fault. Your hands were- " Liam tried, but couldn't hide the smirk, "Your hands were great where they were. It was relaxing. Your head was more than okay where it was. I kinda did act like a grump about the situation. No more sorries, okay? Promise me, no more sorries. And no secrets, okay? I'm here for you, alright?" Liam's cheeks colored brighter than he'd hoped. He slowly removed his finger from over her lips, hoping he wouldn't get carried away to kiss her.

Isla swallowed, a smile creeping to her cheeks. "Promise." She said in a bare whisper.

Quiet became an almost still silence as both glanced at one another's lips. In a mutual attempt to close the space between them, both Liam and Isla leaned in closer to each other, until Liam backed up. "Look just.. um understand that I meant what I said. I'm really never leaving. It doesn't matter if your Uncle Everett thinks I will. I won't." He whispered.

"You really mean that you want to hear me rant or complain about my issues? You really promise that you're never goin' to just leave?" Isla raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Cross my heart and may the Source kill me if I do."

"I hope you really mean that."

"I do. Trust me, I won't break my promise to you. Just seriously, even if you're or I'm mad, no more secrets and no more sorries." Liam put his forehead to Isla's.

Just then, someone called after Isla.

Both pulled away immediately, one successfully, the other… not so much. Once Isla pulled back, she swung backwards then forward and bumped her head on Liam's.

"OW!" They cried out in pain.

Isla flipped off the branch to the ground and rubbed her forehead. "You okay?" She giggled out.

"Yep! Just a knob on a knob on my head, but I'll be fine." Liam groaned and laughed at the same time. "I think I know what you meant by hardhead."

Isla laughed, then heard her name called again. She held in her laughter and called back, "I'm comin'!"

Liam stood and helped her up. "Um.. you talked with Leo today, he told me." He wasn't sure why he even brought it up, but there was no going back on it.