[IMG]http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u79/SharpshooterJack/markerGerald_zps253683a8.png[/IMG]
Playing a game like this, a game of arguments and counter-arguments, turning her own logic against her, Gerald had anticipated various possibilities for her next move as any chess-player would have. He was confident in his superiority in a duel on reason such as this, fencing with words as more brutish men did with swords; he was an intelligent man, after all, and a scholar to boot, whereas she was an impulsive and emotional kind of person. After this he expected Jillian to become angry with him, maybe drawing away from him and resorting to sullen silence, maybe rebuking him for his insolence or thrusting some hasty and unfinished counter-point back at him.
The use of his own last name was noticed, but not particularly reacted to; it was a game he was quickly becoming used to, since this woman apparently took extreme offence to his unwillingness to use her first name. It was nothing new and something that could be predicted and generally disregarded. However...

Gerald's smile vanished as Jillian spoke, and his expression turned suddenly blank and impassive. His left hand remained raised as though frozen in place as he simply stared at her in silence for several seconds, his gaze void of any intensity... only, perhaps, betraying a tiny bit of disappointment. His right hand first lowered, then fell down his side entirely, hanging there limply. Finally, after about ten seconds of pregnant silence, the man - without taking his eyes off Jillian - stuffed the crystal pendant back inside his robe, then stood up before he finally turned away and walked back towards where he had been sitting earlier.
How could she trust him when he refused to use her first name, indeed? That was why he did it, just as she had deduced herself; to keep others at a distance, to isolate himself and detach his fate from that of others. To be able to do what needed to be done for the good of Reniam, no matter what he had to sacrifice. He had forgotten that, had started to get attached to this girl... she did him a favor by reminding him that there were more important things than the two of them. Then why did it hurt so much? Was it this painful because he had to draw away from her again, after having let himself get a little closer? After having said he trusted her? After having risked himself to save her?
But he was accustomed to being alone by now. It was better if she did not trust him... that meant that she was more liable to survive if he ever had to actually betray her. And even if he could manage to force himself to be indifferent about most things about her, if he had to, he still wanted her to live. That one thing he could not change, yet he renewed his resolve that he would not allow that desire to lead him astray; it was painful, but necessary. His path was one of darkness, loneliness and unhappiness, he had known that from the start... but that did nothing to ease its burden.
[I]One day, my love,[/I] he thought mournfully, [I]one day I will bring you back, and we will live together forever in as good a world as I can keep it. I will make us immortal, and this world will be ours. I will see your smile for eternity... for such a thing, I must be willing to sacrifice everything. I must.[/I]

"I stole energy from the forest itself to restore us," he told her once he was back at their fire, blankly changing the subject. "I had nowhere else to take it from. It seems that its energy makes us heal faster, but weakens our magic. It will wear off."