Beron
Isla leaning against his chest, her soft lips returning his kiss filled Beron’s world with heat. The flush in his chest matched where he hands lay upon him, and he couldn’t imagine anything better than being here with Isla in the Gardens.
And so he was caught completely by surprise when she laid a finger on his lips. Seeing the pain in her eyes, he tried to speak but fell silent when her eyes pleaded with him. As she pulled away, Beron kept apart from Isla and he nodded and rubbed the small of her back to let her know he was listening.
"I can't until you know me," she said, looking sadder than anyone ever had a right to, but she did anyway. "You should know who I am, or...who I was. And you might hate me. But you should know now."
Stepping back, Isla took his hand and led him away from the path until there was a large stone. She sat. "I told you I was a soldier," she said, "but I didn't tell you the army I fought under. My father was... Well, I assume he still is..." She took a breath, looking at her hands in shame. "He's a commander of the Children of the Light. I was a Whitecloak. I hunted channelers.” Isla then covered her face, her breath heavy with emotion after she finished her confession.
Beron froze, his mind shocked by the words that had come from Isla, when she had stopped their kiss he didn’t understand the pain in her eyes, the sorrow and her words. You might hate me, but you should know now echoed in his mind as he tried to absorb the rest.
He looked at Isla, her hair framing her hands and he could immediately see her blue eyes, full of pain and fear and everything else.. Light she comforted me with the knowledge she had been a soldier, when I’d drawn the blood of a friend, thought Beron as he realized how often Isla must have felt the need to guard her words, to weigh how much she said.
At that moment, with his head and heart in a jumble, Beron looked down at the woman sitting beside him who had risked so much in telling him when she did; and he realized there was no anger. Oh his brain was full of questions, and he could already tell her past had weighed on her, but at his core he knew.
“Isla.” Beron said as he sat on the stone beside her, aching to reach out but afraid he wouldn’t find the words.
Seeing her ring and her banded dress, an answer came to him. Maybe what I went through today will help more than just me. Thank the Light, Beron thought as he grasped her hand that held her Great Serpent ring. “Isla...I don’t hate you, I can’t imagine what it took to tell me...”
Pausing he took a breath and waited until she finally looked up a little from her hands. He felt a stab of sympathy when he saw what looked like tears, and he placed his hand on her ring hand, “No matter what happened in the past, no matter what shadows or guilt you wrestle with, I know in my gut that there is no way you harbour the teachings of the Children anymore. No one who did could bear the ring and dress you wear.”
“Isla, you’ve been there when I was down, you told me yourself you want to learn to Heal, to use the One Power to build not ruin. I cannot imagine how it felt when you realized you could channel...” Beron stopped then, his hands looking down at the scars that just appeared out of her sleeves. Those flaming monsters!! he thought to himself in a flash of red hot anger.
Taking a breath to calm his anger, he looked at Isla intently, “We can slow down, and you can share anything you feel you want to. You’re past is a part of you, and there may come a day when we stand across the field from men you knew. But I know this, I would stand beside you.”
Beron stopped, afraid the words had poured out of him in a torrent. He still felt anger and questions, and his mind and heart warred over how much he needed to know, but under it all was an affection and budding emotion he couldn’t name.