Tamlin laughed once more and Ranuk could admit that it was an attractive sound. He looked up and found Tamlin with his delicate hand over his mouth and mirth in his dark eyes, sparkling as if they were pools of black water reflecting the stars. The moonlight was kind to him. It gleamed in his hair, the golden strands purer than the gold of the fine jewelry that dangled from his pointed ears or hung around his throat. His grey skin seemed as soft and vulnerable as the blooming flowers of the garden, and not at all like the hard stone that he sat upon.<br/><br/>He was a creature suited to this place. Tamlin was at home in the darkness and the shadow, he was made to be kissed by the moon and to laugh among the trees, which is why it filled Ranuk with great sadness when he asked his question.<br/><br/>Was he happy to be here? The answer was not a simple one, even though Ranuk wanted it to be.<br/><br/>The demon was intimately aware that this was not his home any longer. The elves had claimed it in every way they possible could. Their blood was in the soil, their bones were laid in the ground for generations, they had shaped the land as they saw fit. Tamlin and his people had every right to this place. It was their home now.<br/><br/>It would never again be the mountains that Ranuk remembered.<br/><br/>And yet this treaty would allow him to stay, to bring his sons out of the prison that was the demons nest. They could live in a place where they could see the sun and the moon and the sky and not worry that the air they breathed would kill them. They would flourish here, just as Ranuk had, and for that he was grateful.<br/><br/>"Yes," Ranuk answered softly, "and no."