Healing Begins Here

Aeron was leaned back ever so slightly in his chair, one leg crossed over his opposite knee. His hands steepled together on his chest in a vaguely menacing way. If it weren't for the fact that he was wearing corduroy pants and a polo shirt and that the room smelled like freshly brewed tea, he might have actually been an intimidating sight.

"Ah yes, hello young mister Dresden. Come in, have a seat. There's tea if you would like some. It's a blend I've come to love here, does wonders for stuffy sinuses."

With the offering of tea out of the way, Aeron set both feet firmly on the floor and leaned forward. "My name is Aeron Douglas, and I will be your therapist for this session. And possibly others if you feel comfortable with me. I am more than aware that my appearance is unsettling for some people. I assure you if I could remove my helmet, I would.

"You may or not may know how all this works, so let me walk you through a few of the typical disclaimers. Barring a situation where you are an immediate danger to yourself or others, nothing you say to me will leave this office. I also won't acknowledge you as one of my clients unless you acknowledge me first. Your privacy, being part of your well being, is my primary concern."

"Other than that," he continued, gesturing broadly to the room and Eein himself, "this is an opportunity for you to talk about whatever you like, completely confidentially. Get a secondary viewpoint, one removed from the expectations and preconceptions of people you know. Do you have any questions before we begin?"

Aeron let out a boistrous laugh that sounded far more sinister than it had any right to be. And did the lights dim a little bit when he did? Or was it just a trick? Whichever, he stopped and picked up his coffee cup to have a sip through the slits in his helmet. "I suppose I was a knight. But that was several lifetimes ago."

He was ready? Aeron wondered about that, but didn't say anything. People were consistently wrong about how ready they were to confront the things that troubled them. Especially here on Manta Carlos, where for a lot of people facing down a deadly enemy was easier for them than opening up to their feelings.

"Alright," he said with a nod. He didn't need a clip board. He would remember. "Go ahead. Just talk about whatever comes to mind. It doesn't have to be in a particular order."

Aeron just listened, and in listening learned a lot and very little simultaneously. He waited for a pause in the stream of words before he spoke up.

"So from what I can gather... you're a recent immigrant to the island. Hoping that a change of scenery would pull you out of the funk you've found yourself in. New faces. New experiences. But you've found that you're stuck with much of the same?"

At least, Aeron thought that was a fairly accurate restructuring of what Eein had told him. "What specifically were you hoping to change, Eein? And what about your situation hasn't changed in the way you had hoped?"

Aeron nodded slowly, tapping his thumbs together thoughtfully. He could piece things together from there. His parents were dead. He had been adopted into a new family. More dragons? Was it obvious that Eein was a dragon? It was to him, but sometimes Aeron couldn't tell what was just obvious and what was his Mastermind skill filling in gaps that he shouldn't have been able to.

"I think the first and most important thing that you need to reaffirm to yourself is that what happened to your parents is not your fault, Eein. I know in the wake of a tragedy, it can be easy to feel guilt or to wonder why things turned out the way they did. Why you came out alright when others did not."

The glow of his eyes behind his helmet's visor dimmed slightly, the closest thing to closing that they could do.

"You are a child, Eein. You don't have to earn your keep. You don't have to justify your existence to anyone."

"I'm going to stop you there," Aeron said, readjusting in his seat so that he could focus a bit more on what he wanted to say.

"I see two major issues here, that you are currently dealing with. I want to try and tackle each one in turn. Please feel free to stop or correct me if I am ever off base or incorrect in my assumptions or if I make you too uncomfortable."

"I am sorry that you suffered such loss. You have fairly strong memories of your parents, yes? Tell me, if you could ask them, what do you think they would say to the statement, 'I should have been stronger so that I could protect you'?"