"You can't love me."
"Why not?"
"Because…I don't love you. And I never can. So just take it like a man and walk away. Now."
Silence. Drive the nail home.
"Elves have great hearing so I'm told, so why don't you listen and go back to the others? Leave me alone, like I've asked a thousand times." Leave me alone because even I am not this talented a liar and all this pain is wasted if you see me shed a tear.
"You're right. I can't love you. Or at least I shouldn't. How could I love someone so cold?" If I didn't know the whole story, if you didn't know how this was killing me, that would seem a fair response. Fair isn't how this story works.
"Blindly and stupidly. So, now we're in agreement, be a good little elf and go." Anger. So much anger. I might be able to push it to hate, but we still have to travel together. Hatred is not good in a group. I wonder if he's going to strike me. I would, but then again, I'm not well known for a good temper. I blink and he's gone. I wait a moment, hanging on to the practicality that's brought me this far until I know he's gone. Then I sink to the ground and cry like the child I never was.