As Tulio stepped out of the shadow of the temple and into the warm sunlight, he gazed at his treasure ship and took inventory. A mound of gold, the beautiful mineral he'd sought after from the time he was ten years old. Golden nuggets, golden coins, golden jewelry with the added bonus of gemstones, golden utensils and pots and even a few golden weapons; he had an entire gold buffet laying on this ornately-carved wooden boat docked before him. Standing beside it was Chel, the deviously sarcastic and absolutely luscious woman who had enflamed his wind and captivated his heart in the span of four days. She shone almost as radiantly as the gold beside her in the sun's rays, standing with her arms crossed, one hip held just higher than the other, posing for him as the goddess he knew she was. He had been worshipped as a deity for nearly a week, gained more wealth than the king of his original home, and to top it all off he'd obtained a beautiful woman who he was almost certainly going to marry. He had everything any man from his background could ever dream of.

So why did he feel that something very, very important was missing?

Tulio sighed in frustration, mentally counting off the things he'd had with him upon entering El Dorado. He had his clothes and shoes and his loaded conman's dice. He'd torn apart the map and the horse was staying in the city, with Miguel...

Miguel.

At that split second it hit him, like one of the towering golden temples had suddenly crushed him flat. He was missing his partner, and somehow he knew that subtle ache within him would the further he got from him.

And yet his feet began to move on their own. They moved away from El Dorado, away from that vast amount of the precious glittering mineral he'd coveted all his life, away from being a deity and the worship of hundreds.

Away from Miguel.

He wanted to run back as soon he reached Chel and began climbing the ladder into the boat. In a sudden, incredibly strong moment of impulse, he wanted to throw himself at his partner's feet and beg him to come along, to stay by his side, to keep their partnership steadfast and indestructible, as it had always been. In that split second of being so frustratingly torn, he'd have traded everything he'd gained in El Dorado just to have his goofy, blonde best friend standing beside him again.

Yet he kept moving farther and farther away.