Amelie and Maggie's dinner date ended earlier than she had thought, and she walked in the door to she and Adrien's apartment an hour before she had said she would be home.

She heard voices inside and paused for a second to listen. the voices were too muffled for her to hear properly so she just opened the door. "I just don't see this as an actual threat. It's -" Adrien trailed off as the door cracked open.

"Hi baby," he exclaimed and immediately walked over to her to greet her in his arms.

"Hi love," she said and kissed him lightly. "Who were you talking to?" she asked.

"Me," came a voice from in the kitchen. Brooks was sitting on the counter, looking tense for such an informal and relaxed position.

"Brooks," she cried and released Adrien to go hug his friend. He hopped off the counter and enveloped her in a bone-crushing hug. "It's been too long. I wish I had known you were coming!"

"I know," he said, looking pointedly at Adrien. Amelie chose that moment to try to catalogue the scene she had walked into in her brain so she might revisit it later. Why had Adrien said something wasn't a threat? He seemed relatively cautious about things in the Elven world, especially things involving her. And why had he not mentioned that Brooks was coming?

"Brooks was actually just leaving. He only stopped by for a minute to drop off some news." Adrien walked over to the couch and sat down on the arm.

Amelie let go of Brooks and smiled sweetly. "Can I know what this news is?" she asked.

Brooks opened his mouth but Adrien cut him off before he could speak. "Just that Theo is leaving in two days, so you can come back to the gym next week. That is if you still are interested in learning some magic."

She fought the urge to jump like a child, and kept her voice calm as she said, "He's finally leaving? Is he going back to Sawth?"

"No I don't think so," Brooks said, "He's doing some sort of campaign to spread information about the present political situation. He's off to Moore actually, I think."

Adrien stiffened on the couch but said nothing.

"Hmm, interesting." Amelie wanted to ask more about the political situation Brooks meant, as well as if Theo's mission here had been successful, but she did not want to show them she was curious about Theo or might know more than she let on. Adrien was in a relatively good mood tonight and she didn't want to ruin that. "I would love to go to the gym next week. Can I go Monday afternoon?"

"I don't see why not. I can be there waiting for you around seven," Adrien replied.

Amelie walked over and sat next to him on the arm of the couch. "Is it okay with you if I go earlier by myself? I don't need a chaperone," she said and leaned up to kiss him.

He kissed her back but pulled away and said, "I really would prefer if you waited for me. I'll worry about you if you're there by yourself."

Amelie looked over at Brooks, whose strong arms were clenched across his chest. He looked at the ground but said nothing.

"I have to head out," Brooks said after a few seconds. "You two have a nice night."

"Thanks Brooks," she said. Adrien walked him out. When he came back inside she was still sitting on the arm of the couch. He walked over to her and kissed her, his arm snaking around her back to hold her closely. They lay down on the couch.

"I missed you," Adrien sighed against her neck. Amelie nodded.

She had questions so many questions roaring in her head but she laid down with Adrien and stroked him silently, to keep herself quiet. Adrien may be too protective of her, but the Elven world was not open to her without his keys. She needed him to keep sharing.

She rolled over and turned on the television to give some noise to the dead silence that was exploding in the room.

_______________

This time, as Amelie sat at her desk waiting for the minute hand to strike twelve, her leg was not bouncing in anticipation. She had decided that morning that she would swallow her pride and go see Theo at the gym, one more time. She didn't know what to expect, but her mind was made up. She would face him.

When she walked into the gym at exactly twelve-ten, Theo was standing bent over on the giant center mat, doing what looked like stretching. She tilted her head and stared at him. Every other day he had used this time to practice magic. She had never seen him physically exercising before. It fit his calm demeanor to see him stretching quietly, and she felt drawn to go sit beside him and soak in some of the tranquility she saw on his face.

"Hey," she said, as she lowered herself to the ground a few feet away. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead," he said, without looking up at her. She was positive he knew it was her.

"Did you just start?" she asked.

He nodded. "You can follow what I do if you want. It's lightly inspired from yoga practice. Helps me to de-stress."

He didn't look up at her and her voice wavered slightly. "De-stress? Music to my ears. I'll follow along," trying to make the conversation jovial.

She watched as he glided through the movements and copied him as best she could. When they had finished moving, fifteen minutes later, her body felt less like it might creak in the wind, and more like it would flow in the wind like a blade of grass. She liked it.

They stood just feet away and Amelie turned her head to Theo, obviously trying to meet his eyes. "I've never had much patience for yoga before. One of the many things only you have been able to help me do."

Theo looked at her finally and ran his fingers through his hair. The already messy auburn hair to sprang up. "I'm just going to come out and say this because I think being genuine and honest is really important." He looked at her pointedly. "You made me feel like shit when you ran out like that."

She gasped in a small breath of surprise and stepped back. All morning she had been preparing herself to face his anger towards her for ditching him, but she had never imagined that her leaving might hurt him.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, sitting down cross-legged on the mat. "I just didn't know if I could trust you. I'm not usually the person who runs away from a problem. I fight."

Theo sat down across from her. "Then why did you run? Did I seem like I was going to hurt you?" he asked gently.

"No it didn't. But this is all incredibly overwhelming. I found out two months ago that I wasn't human. My entire life was false. It's the kind of life altering truth that makes someone paranoid, I think. Or at least I like to think that it's the situation that is making me act so crazy.

"I just don't know who I can trust. In that moment with you it hit me how out of my element I am. I don't know anything about your world and now I feel like I don't know anything about myself. Adrien has me so worried about someone finding out I exist that I haven't even gotten to investigate who these parents are who," she trailed off, unable to formulate the words out loud.

Theo gave her an encouraging look to continue saying what she needed to to find the heart of the problem.

Her head flopped down to look at her lap. "These parents who abandoned me."

"You want to find them?" he asked, after a minute of respectful silence.

"I think so," she said. "At least, I want the truth. It's not healthy, but part of me cannot help but hope that they did not want to abandon me. Knowing the truth, whatever that is, will help me figure out how to feel about all of this."

"Why is that not healthy to hope? It's okay to think positively." Theo looked at her, confused, as if he was just seeing her for the first time.

She did not expect him to misunderstand. It was a common coping mechanism to believe that the worst would happen so you guard yourself from disappointment. "I'm just a realist, Theo. I don't want to dream and be let down. It's safer for me to form my identity based on the fact that they left me, than to believe they loved me and wanted me and then be proven wrong later."

Theo shook his head. "I don't like that," he said. "That's like telling a kid that they can't aspire to become an astronaut at age five because they aren't the smartest kid in the class. Don't let reality define your dreams."

He stood up and reached a hand down to Amelie to help her up. "You deserve to know the truth about your family. But you also deserve not to weigh yourself down with sorrows that may not even be true."

He stared straight into her eyes and she suddenly wished she wasn't wearing her brown contacts. She wanted to look honestly into his eyes and for him to see hers stripped to their core.

She smiled softly at him. "Okay, okay, you've made your point." Then remembering why she had come here her smile faded. "Have you decided whether or not to alert your government about me?" she asked, and stiffened her spine to look bravely up at him.

"Yes, and I absolutely will not. I don't want you to have to go around feeling like there's a target on your back. Even though I know they would just want to help you. You don't seem like a threat to security to so this is your choice. If you ever want them to know I will tell them, but if you never do then they never have to know. I'll respect your choice."

Amelie relaxed her body, but she did not yet smile. "What made you decide that?"

"I just realized how powerless you must feel with all of this and felt horrible for threatening to take away one of the only decisions you get to make."

"Oh," she replied, simply. They stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before she spoke again. Adrien's warnings echoed in her head and her eyes flicked over to the door.

"You still don't trust me not to divulge your secret, do you?" he asked.

"No." Amelie's voice cracked as she said it.

"What if I tell you a secret of my own? Something that you can let loose should I ever tell yours. Something you can guard of me like I guard something I you. How's that?"

"Yes," she said, smirking, "Do that. Tell me a secret. But not some medium secret like I picked my nose an hour ago, something big please."

"Okay, okay. I have it," he said. His hand flew up to his hair and he chewed on his lip. "But this is something you cannot share with anyone. I know you're friends with the Rentrés here at Prost. I need you to promise me that you will not tell a single soul."

"I promise," she said, without hesitation.

"Oh Caumlen. Okay. The reason that I'm here is not to smooth things over diplomatically with Sawth and Prost, or make a trade agreement. The Realms have been struggling to produce any crops for years now. It's been a slow decline, but I think global warming has been speeding up the process.

"The Elven governments are scared. Some think we need to eradicate the humans as a consequence for all of the destruction they've used the earth. I think some have just been looking for an excuse to stomp out humans and this is providing them with it. Over the centuries, there have been various campaigns to get rid of human kind and let our race reign, but the radical flames have always been blown out sooner or later.

"They don't know this, but I'm here to blow out the flames. I'm trying to gather supporters for a more systematic and scientific approach to ending the problems we have been having keeping the land fertile."

Amelie stared open-mouthed at Theo. She had been living with Adrien for two weeks and never once had he mentioned any strife going on between the Realms. Did he not trust her? She also felt the strong sense of longing to visit the Realms that always emerged when they were brought up.

"Did you succeed? Is Prost on your side?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I had to be sneaky about it because technically I am part of the resistance. Unfortunately, Prost's powerful Rentrés want to stay neutral and out of conflict, as they always have. I tried to convince them that by doing nothing they are supporting whichever side wins, but they would not listen."

"Are you worried? How long until this conflict really comes together?" she asked.

"A few years at least. Long Elven lives make us slow to make decisions, but it's coming," Theo replied.

"I won't tell a soul. Thank you for telling me. I....I never knew any of that. About the Realms or about you." Her speech got quieter and quieter as she spoke until it trailed off into a whisper.

"Everyone had great truths within them. It's up to you to try to listen and look," he replied.

Amelie stood still, stunned by his wisdom, and ashamed of her own naivety, then shuffled on her feet for a moment before beginning a poorly prepared speech. "Um, well now I have five minutes left before I have to get back to work," she took a deep breath. "I came here to say goodbye, but I also came to ask you to teach me defensive magic...not that we have much time, but the concepts at least, maybe?" She puffed up her chest, trying hide how self-conscious she was about wanting to learn to use magic for violence. "I know there is so much to learn and I'm still very weak with magic, but this is important to me."

"Sure." Theo replied, immediately. "Stand with your legs a little more than shoulder width apart, and stagger them so one is more forward than the other."

"Wait. Right now? Just like that?" she spluttered. She had been prepared to defend her point with several arguments, like she had earlier with Adrien.

"Of course. Every Elf should learn to defend themselves. We learned in school. You did not get the chance to learn yet. "Come back tomorrow. I don't leave until Saturday morning so we can have one more lunchtime magic lesson," He nodded to her and she moved into the defensive position he had just mentioned.

"Good, now make sure your weight is evenly distributed between both feet, but do not plant yourself. Be prepared to move and flow with the motion and energy of whoever you are fighting." Amelie tried to follow his orders stared at her feet as she attempted to make them simultaneously grounded and light.

He snorted out a laugh at her concentrated face. "I wish you had asked earlier. Sparing with magic is loads of fun."

"Me too. I shouldn't have stayed away. I really missed this," Amelie confessed. Theo grinned at her. One of the first grins she noticed that reached his eyes.