Emalia followed Colin closely through the stunted forest, taking note again at just how lifeless everything seemed. The whole place again reminded her of absolute death, but even in death, there was a sense of motion through the act of decay. This was nothing more than the stillness spawned of sick stagnation.
At the top of a small rise, Colin pulled back a few bushes to expose a darkness beyond that Emalia wouldn't have imagined could exist. It was the rift itself and before she could go further, Colin turned to her with a grave face. "This can be very dangerous."
"I don't know that it can be any less dangerous than everything else we've done," Emalia answered, determined not to be treated like a child.
"This demiplane contains many locations and you can easily find yourself in any one of them. I know exactly where we need to go, however, you do not." Colin reached into his pack, pulling forth a long strip of cotton.
"You must wear a blindfold."
"What?"
"Emalia it is the only way to make sure you stay with me and do not accidentally end up somewhere else. Please, you have to trust me."
'Unbelievable,' Emalia thought. 'He must think I'm just a stupid fool.'
"I'll be fine, Colin. Besides, blinding me doesn't lend itself to my not getting lost, you know. I'll just hold your hand, that way I can see you at least if something goes wrong... which I doubt."
"No, you don't understand. The way this works, just by thinking about a place you see too hard can make you end up there," Colin said, shaking his head emphatically.
Emalia had nothing more to say, nothing else to argue. As Colin made it clear, she could abide by his desires, or they could stay. While he spoke it not as a threat, Emalia felt it was one in the same. Clutched against his chest, his hand over her ear to prevent her from even hearing, Emalia felt the squeezing of the rift upon her, once as they entered, once as they exited.
Colin lifted her blindfold and Emalia found herself in the black cockpit of an airship. A throne made of bone gleamed against the darkness, the very walls were so smooth, yet so black - almost as if they were made of the rift itself - solidified. "Who's ship is this?" Emalia asked almost in a trance.
"It is one that I purchased long ago. Emalia, don't we have somewhere to go? There's no need to stay around here."
Still, Emalia walked along the walls, touching the darkness and being amazed that she wasn't absorbed right into it. "Emalia, please, let's go," Colin pleaded.
Before she could go any farther, Colin gripped her arm and spun her to face him. "Emalia, come on, let's go. There's nothing of use here. It's old and best forgotten."
"Is this part of your past?"
"Please. Let's just let it stay that way. We have a journey to take, right?"
Emalia jerked her arm from Colin, irritated and insulted at his insistance that she let things drop. This man wanted her to marry him, to devote her life to him, and he wouldn't open up fully as to who he was? "What is it that you want so badly to hide from me? Don't I have a right to know you?"
Still, Colin refused her, and Emalia shook her head in consternation. She did the only thing she could think to do - allow him to keep his secrets and allow herself to steer clear of anything to do with being the love in his life.
