Colin bounced around in the most hyperactive state Emalia had ever seen him. The two met in Market Square amidst the bustle of midday. "I made some lunch! Do you have any plans?" It was simple to see by the expression on his face that his first attempt had ended in success.
Emalia walked with Colin to the Crossroads Inn. In the den, they sat on the couch, eating Colin's stew. Indeed, he had put forth his best effort and created something incredible. They ate in an amiable silence before Colin's sigh caught Emalia's attention. Something wasn't right.
It took a lot of cajoling, but Colin eventually had to come out and admit that despite his earlier claims, he was in love. Emalia looked down to her hands. It had to end here. There was no way she would give the wrong impression, or lead a friend on.
There is a feeling to describe what it is like to be faced with letting someone down. Some say it feels like a weight, others say it feels like suffocation. For Emalia, it was apprehension that wrapped about her chest and constricted like a boa... weight and suffocation rolled into one. She still wanted Colin as a friend, but she was not about to make him suffer seeing her if it caused him pain.
She watched as Colin's jaw rippled with tension and felt there was a way she could help. Emalia walked over and placed her hands on Colin's bulging shoulders and sent through them a wave of calm... apparently not enough. He jerked from her as if stricken and the memory of a jolt to Elbryan crossed her mind. 'Not again...' she thought. 'I swear if I've hurt him, I'll never heal another being again.'
The hesitation that Colin expressed worried Emalia, but he insisted it was only that it was her touching him. With the unrequited love on his mind, the touch was the last thing he had expected. Shaken still, she left Colin sitting in the parlor and headed to the garden by the clan hall.
At least there she could sit with her thoughts disturbed only by Fizz and his antics.
So it was that Emalia sat amidst the flowers attempting to figure out her feelings. Always with the feelings, so much so, that there were times she wished she could rid herself of them. She would be a perfect healer if she could do what she was intended to do. The problem was that now, she was thinking about things that were not conducive to concentration - and her frustration was building.
She dropped her head onto her knees when she heard the door shut. After her talk with Colin, here was Hellstrom. It was almost too much for her to bear. She let out an involuntary groan and plopped her head back onto her knees. She just needed to come right out and say it, come right out, and tell him what she was feeling. Always the feelings.
The words came out in a stammering rush. Pauses were interspersed with sighs, and sighs were sprinkled with a fine dusting of confusion. This definitely was not normal. When Hellstrom lifted her chin and admitted similar things were occurring with him it was like pent up flood had finally been freed - even if the moments after were a bit strange.
They walked side by side for a while, simply speaking of the woods and the ancient trees. Hellstrom made good on his promise of a lesson, pointing out the way moss grew on the east side of the trees, and the appropriate berries to eat, and when he wrapped his arm around her it was like an electric shock raced through her.
She leaned nearer to him as they walked on, her unbidden smile safe from his eyes by a bowed head.
The time flew past with conversation, Colin's stew, and a glass of lemonade from Port Llast. Night settled in upon them when Emalia noticed the peculiar absence of Hellstrom's bear. The absence, made humorous, by the fact that Hellstrom hadn't asked the bear to stay behind... he'd done so of his own accord - pulling thoughts from Hellstrom's mind. The "damn bear" sent Emalia into a small fit of laughter and blushing gratefully covered by the artistry of night's dark canvas.
As the sun rose, Emalia parted company right in the place her whole day had begun. Her thoughts were everywhere - deny the feelings she felt or pursue them? Friendship with Colin or spare him the pain? And the final question that wrested the rouge from her cheeks – why was she having such a hard time believing that her touch caused Colin no pain? What was the link...
