<span style="color: #330066">"Ras, i am a druid, the elements may not be whispering in my ear but nature still answers my call."</span>Relene was about half asleep when they got there and she groaned at them before she sat up and rubbed her tired, red eyes. she looked at Ras for a moment before she turned her back on him and Whisperia rolled her eyes and sat down next to her.<span style="color: #330066">"hey sweety."</span>"go away. i don't have a father so you are not my grandmother." Whisperia frowned and smacked Relene upside the head so hard she face planted. "ow! what the hell!?"<span style="color: #330066">"if your not my granddaughter then your just an uppity kid in need of a good smack."</span>Relene stood up and turned on Whisperia with a growl that got answered with a terrifying snarl.<span style="color: #330066">"don't you start with me little girl."</span>Relene glared at her and fire crackled around her hands but the druidess only cocked her head to the side.<span style="color: #330066"> "now, i suggest you think long and hard about that. if you pick a fight with me how unpleasant can i make your life? maybe i will get grandma Britomart to shrink you and i could keep you in her little cage for years? my own cute little pet goddess in a golden cage. i could make you learn tricks to earn little bits of food... or, you can talk to me like a civilized person and if you can convince me to leave you alone you can run away in peace."</span>Ras would see the gears turning before Relene sat back down.<span style="color: #330066"> "that's better. now, Ras seems utterly clueless as to why you are hurting and that in and of itself is a problem-"</span>she shot him a look.<span style="color: #330066">"so he will be silent so you can tell me all about it. i promise to listen and not to argue because as my granddaughter you are as important to me as he is."</span>Relene's teeth ground together before she looked at Whisperia.<span style="color: #330066">"but i am not here to hear a rant and i do not want meaningless details, i want to know what the root problems are."<span style="color: #808080"> "how can the details be meaningless!?"</span> "think about it. do the details of any one slight really mean anything? whatever those details are they are only symptoms of the actual problem and they won't help anyone, they only upset people."</span>Relene frowned as Whisperia continued.<span style="color: #330066">"before i came here Ras was telling me all the details of how you have been misbehaving but i asked him why you were misbehaving and his detailed list of your bad behavior told me nothing. i want to know why you would do those things, not what you did." </span>Relene's frown deepened but she nodded. "i guess you have a point..."<span style="color: #330066">"of course i do, i have a lot of experience with a young woman acting terribly because of unresolved issues. your sister Karren did so many terrible things but all for the same reason, she killed a man and couldn't deal with it and it drove her crazy. the details of her bad behavior don't help find or solve the issue. so tell me, why are you behaving so terribly and trying to disown your father. and remember, no details of specific incidents, tell me what your problems are with your parents, start with Ras."</span>"i don't have a father. i have a Troll who appears once in a while, always criticizes me about my personality and then disappears again. he makes promises that he never keeps. when i ask him to do things he says he will find time for me and then doesn't. on top of all of that whenever he is around me he just feels guilty and i hate it."<span style="color: #330066">"okay, now i am going to ask about specific issues, but i need you to refrain from meaningless details and stick to the root issues. how does he criticize you?"</span>"he says i am too serious, that i need to be a kid, that i am too somber and tense. i am not those things, i just get that way around him because of everything else he does..." Whisperia frowned but nodded.<span style="color: #330066">"i understand. you are bracing yourself for further broken promises and for him to leave again and he criticizes you for it which only makes it all worse. but shouldn't he feel guilty for not being there? why does that bother you? it means he cares."</span>"because its about my death! his stupid guilt about it means that he reminds me of it every time i see him! how am i supposed to move past it with him reminding me every time he looks at me? he is keeping that pain alive in me! the best night of my life was the other night, he held me and let me sleep in peace! he was just my dad, he shut up, he held me close and made me feel safe instead of wearing his stupid guilt all over his stupid face!" Whisperia frowned at Relene and shook her head.<span style="color: #330066">"don't shout at me. i am listening to every word you say and i am right here. did you ever consider that your reaction to him is driving him away? you make him feel like you don't want him around you so he leaves you alone? that he breaks his promises because he feels like you don't want him around to make good on them?"</span>Relene frowned and stared at Whisperia.<span style="color: #330066">"i am not saying your reaction is unjustified, just that it is only making the problem worse now. i am sure you had good reasons to start acting like that, anyone would brace for pain they knew was coming. but he has obvious expressed a desire to move past the issues that caused your reaction but now your reaction is making that impossible. do you understand what i am saying?"</span>"yeah... but if i lower my guard it will hurt more."<span style="color: #330066">"true, but this distance between you is hurting you too isn't it?"</span>Relene nodded and looked down.<span style="color: #330066">"so maybe you need to forgive him and give him a chance to prove that he want's to be a good father because i know for a fact that he does. he is awake at four in the morning taking me from my babies to come and talk to you. of course he feels guilty because you died, any parent would but you do have a point about him keeping your pain alive, maybe together you can help each other move past it? no one should go through that alone."</span>"i am not alone, Amber helps me."<span style="color: #330066">"she comforts you, which is good, but it is not the same thing and if you run away you will never see her again."</span>Relene squirmed but nodded.<span style="color: #330066"> "now, tell me about your problems with Elune."</span>"she never spends time with me because she is too busy having sex. what little time she does spend around me she feels just as guilty as him about my death... oh, and when she isn't doing those things she would rather be in her stupid garden." Whisperia looked at Ras with a raised brow before she looked back at Relene.<span style="color: #330066">"the same thing applies to her guilt as it does to your father's and i will talk to them both about holding onto it so hard that they are hurting you. as for her not spending time with you did you ever think about joining her in her garden? even if you don't actually help her garden she would be stuck in one place for you to talk to her or just be around her. i will give her a stern talking to about neglecting her daughter to spend far too much time in the bedroom..." </span><div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>