Lorren

Six

It’s okay, Aran, came the whispered reply in his mind as he finished. He jumped, not expecting her to respond to him, not knowing she could. Etan means well, but he is still unconvinced of me not being this Ledia. There is a darkness about him, Aran. The darkness is struggling to overwhelm his light. You cannot let that happen.

Aran’s eyes widened at her statement, his concern for her being overshadowed by his concern for his brother now that she was healed. Etan was the light of the family, the youngest, sure, but still the light. How could a darkness take hold of Etan? Was it when Ledia went missing? Before then? Aran began to think back to when his brother’s moods had began darkening; he had been about twenty years old when he had his first real brawl with another man over courting Ledia. Etan had beaten the Halvsyle, or half Elvish and half human, into unconsciousness when he saw him grasp Ledia’s hand and place a kiss into her palm. Anything that involved Ledia usually set off his temper, Aran observed as he ran through his memories.

A soft hand on Aran’s wrist caused him to stop his mental headlong dive for information and look down into a pair of clear-silver eyes framed by dark blonde lashes, dark smudges hovering just under them. He studied her small face, taking note of minute differences in her appearance from Ledia’s. Ledia had had a small smattering of light freckles across the bridge of her nose, as well as light flecks of blue and green in the silver of her eyes, while Lorren had no marks on her skin and had crystal-clear-silver eyes. Ledia’s hair wasn’t as light as Lorren’s either, having been protected from the sun her whole life by the gauzy veils worn by women of status when out-of-doors. Lorren’s lips were fuller as well, slightly poutier than Ledia’s. For all intents and purposes, the two women were identical, but when you really sat and studied one or the other, they were completely different from each other.

Lorren studied Aran’s features, noting that he had the same dark hair that Etan had, a black so dark it was almost blue, but his was cropped short, close to his scalp. His eyes were different though, the same shape, framed by the same lashes, but a light and warm honey color instead of Etan’s dark blue. His skin was tanned, as if he enjoyed working out in the sun, and he had a slight stubble gracing his strong jaw, as if he hadn’t shaved that morning. His nose was straight and handsomely long, giving him a sophisticated yet rugged look. He was more muscular than Etan, broader and obviously taller, by a good head she assumed. He looked older than his brother, but only by a few years. His hands were large and strong, yet gentle. There was a strong feeling about him that instantly drew her to him, as if he could shield her from all of the hurt in her life, making her want to crawl into his lap and hide behind his arms.

She knew Aran instantly, having been inside his mind while he had been inside of hers - a slight drawback to two people having the ability to reach into someone’s mind was that the one being read was often-times pulled into the other person’s mind, regardless of if they wanted to or not. She didn’t riffle through his mind as he did hers, though. She knew he was healing her after he slipped through her barriers. She was ashamed he knew her deepest secrets, but also glad that he was the one to know them, not someone else.

“Aran?” Lorren questioned softly, “Why do you and Etan study me like that? What is it you are searching for?”

“Nothing and everything, Lorren. You see, not many people know this, not even Etan knows this, but I want to tell you something, a story of sorts,” Aran said, his hand covering hers. He rubbed small circles across her knuckles with his thumb as he debated the best way to start his story.