I feel like a terrible awful person, leaving you all hanging this long...
*sighs* but what can you do? I had the chapter all written out, then my
comp disintegrated and everything on the memory went poof! Since then, I
haven't started really working on it cuz I forget or am too busy... but
really, I am very sorry. Anywho, I am making this story long to make up
for not having done it in a while, so on with the show!
************************************************************************
Mel sat again in her bedroom, still staring at nothing for what seemed like moments from when she first came home from the masque though she knew she had been here for over a day. Before her were all the letters the Unknown had sent her, and she sat on her bed reading and rereading them until she had every word memorized.
This was a nasty puzzle. Mel knew now that she had to meet the Unknown again, no matter how she did it. It was lovely dancing with him for all those hours, his smile the only part of him she could see. She sighed, wondering what color those eyes beneath the mask was, whether they had sparkled with love and laughter as hers had.
But she would never know unless she could come up with the courage to ask him to meet with her again.
Which was really quite impossible. Sure, she had managed to get through the masque without him hating her, but that meant nothing. They hadn't really talked all that long, so she didn't have time to screw everything up.
But that kiss... life, the rest of the world could crumble and die for all she cared as long as she could even have one more of his kisses. The one he had given her she relived whenever she saw his handwriting, and she wanted to meet him even more.
Which brought her back to her original problem.
A knock on the door startled her from her thoughts as Nee walked in with two cups of hot chocolate. Nee smiled slightly at Mel and sat next to her, giving her one of the cups of the hot chocolate. Mel smiled back gratefully and sipped at it, careful not to burn herself.
"Did it not go well?" Nee asked after a moment.
"It was wonderful... but, Nee... I have to see him again. I have to meet him face to face, and love him for everything he is, not just what I have seen."
"Then why don't you?"
Mel sighed and hugged her knees to her chest. "Because I'm scared, Nee. I finally understand what love is, and it's been hitting me upside the head all this time."
"What do you mean?"
"Nee, I don't only love the Unknown. I've been mistaking my emotions all this time because I've never understood love, and I still can't understand it all... I always thought that I was angry at him, or I'd say things to keep him away. I see now that I was just trying to hold back my feelings so I didn't have to feel them and the confusion they brought..."
"What are you talking about, Mel? I thought that you loved the Unknown."
"I do! That's my problem, I've fallen in love with two people, Nee!"
"Who?"
"I... I'd prefer not to say until I can figure this all out, okay? It's nothing against you, I just... I need to figure this out on my own, or I'll ruin everything."
"All right... but I don't understand what you're saying."
"I almost don't, either. But, if I'm seeing things right, I'm basically saying that I've been confusing love with anger and frustration and have probably hurt someone very badly. I just hope I can still apologize..."
"What about the Unknown? He loves you, you know."
"Yes, I know..." She sighed softly. "I am so confused. I just need to work everything out and see what happens before I go telling people that I can't see them or talk to them anymore or something."
Mel started to get up and leave before Nee grabbed her arm. "Can you just give me a hint as to who it is you think you love?"
"Sorry, Nee, but no. I need to talk to him first."
Nee smiled sadly in understanding and watched Mel leave, thoughtful. Then she went to Russav's rooms and they went to see Danric together.
************************************************************************
Danric sighed, idly tracing the designs on the ring Mel had given him.
"Are you listening to me, Danric?" Nee asked, startling him from his reverie.
"I am listening."
"As I was trying to say, she's fallen for you. Really and truly, she has fallen for her Unknown. She can't stop thinking about you, or about what she can do now. She wants to meet you again, but she's terrified she'll do something wrong and you'll hate her for it."
"So why did you tell me there was a problem?" Russav asked her.
"Because Mel says she loves someone else, too."
"What?" Startled gray eyes looked to Nee's face for practically the first time since she had come.
"Who?"
"She says she loves someone and has been mistaking that love for anger or frustration and hasn't realized it was love until she felt the love she feels for the Unknown and was able to recognize her love for the other man. At least, I am fairly certain that's what she was trying to say, the poor girls so confused right now. But she wouldn't tell me who, she wanted to work everything out herself first."
"Life, she's in a mess, isn't she? Danric, why don't you just tell her that you're the Unknown?" Russav asked.
"Because she hates me, remember?" Danric turned away tiredly, his shoulders hunched as he stared out the window. "She hates me. Yet she loves the Unknown identity that I adopted so that I could court her. And yet she loves another."
"Danric-"
"Peace. The Unknown will never trouble her again, he is done with."
"Surely you can't mean that! You love her!"
"It is because I love her that I am letting her go. She loves another, Russav. I can't live the dream that she would ever love me in return anymore or it will destroy me, not to mention hurt her. I can't hurt her any longer; I have done it all to often."
"But, Danric... who shall be your queen then?" Nee's eyes shone with concern for her friend and her fan fluttered anxiously in her hand.
"No one. Now leave me, I wish to be alone."
"Danric..." Russav stopped trying to speak when he saw his friend's face. His mouth became a thin, grim line and he gently put his hand on Danric's shoulder. "You're making a mistake, my friend."
"My judgment is clear. I refuse to hurt her anymore than I already have... but I will always love her."
"If you truly loved her you wouldn't do this to her! She doesn't just love the other person; she loves the Unknown, as well. If the Unknown stopped speaking with her and loving her so soon after their first meeting, she'll take it as a rejection of who she is. She'll think that the Unknown was only using her for his own benefit, and that would hurt her far more than anything you could do to her!"
"I thought I told you two to leave."
"Russav, you can't let him do this!"
Russav looked back and forth between his friends, unsure what to do. Then he sighed and gently escorted Nee to the door. "For what it's worth, Danric... I agree with her." Then they were gone.
Danric closed his eyes, sitting on his bed and putting his head in his hands. Life, don't let me hurt her, he thought. But there was no way not to. She loved someone else, and certainly she would no longer love the Unknown if she knew that it was him who wrote her the letters, he who she danced with, he who kissed her soft, warm lips...
And yet... he loved her more than life. Every part of him ached when he thought of giving her up, even for a moment. He couldn't ever love a woman the way he loved the beautiful countess Meliara, nor would he be the same if he ever lost her.
But who was it that she loved? He didn't dare hope that it could perhaps be him. Russav? It would be understandable, and he'd hardly hold it against his best friend if he had captured her heart with his charm. He could live with that decision, though it would hurt him to do so. One of those boys that followed her around, perhaps they were the ones? He hardly knew them, so perhaps he could live with that.
Then a thought came to him that produced such a wave of hate inside him that he was surprised at himself. Flauvic. He was the one, who else could it be? That pretty boy with hardly a thought to anything but himself had been following her since she came; it was entirely possible that she loved him. Perhaps she had told Nee about Flauvic's sorcery and his kiss just to lead her on that Mel didn't love him, yet she really did. He could accept her loving Russav. He could never accept her loving Flauvic; he would die first. But he would not die alone.
The fire of anger flickered and died almost as quickly as it had come and despair took over him again. My beautiful Mel, if only I could hold you and love you. If only you were my queen and I your king. If only you could look past your anger and love me. If only, if only.
A quiet tap on the door wakened him from his thoughts and he went to answer it without thinking. And who was there but his beautiful Mel.
THE END.
(hehe, sorry. Couldn't help it.)
Mel smiled shyly at him, nervous fingers playing with her fan. "Shevraeth, can I talk to you?"
And she still calls me Shevraeth, he thought sadly. He nodded and let her come in. She looked him over, her eyebrows coming together.
"Are you all right?"
"I have never been better."
"You... you just don't look it."
"I am fine. What brings you here?"
"Um." She looked down, her face turning crimson. "I needed to talk to you..."
"About what? I'm listening."
"Have you... have you ever had a feeling that you didn't know what it was and you mistook it for something else?"
Hope fluttered in his chest before he quickly crushed it. She couldn't be saying that. "Yes, I have."
"Then, well, umm, perhaps you can understand why I've been so rude to you lately. See, I... I don't hate you. I'm not even angry at you, I just... have never felt what I do for you until recently and have been unable to recognize it."
"What are you trying to say?" Slow down, he ordered his heart. It didn't listen.
"I... That I don't hate you."
"Then what do you feel for me, Meliara?"
"I..." She fiddled with her fan again, avoiding his gaze as best she could.
"Mel." His gloved fingers tipped her chin up so that she had to look at him. He was surprised by the odd sparkle in her eyes that had been there the night they had danced, by the fear and hope warring in them. And he knew that he felt the same things she did. Fear of being sent away, hope that the other felt for him the way he felt for her. "Please tell me."
"You'll turn me away... besides, it's silly."
"Nothing you feel can be silly, my dear Meliara. And I'd never turn you away."
"You called me Mel a moment ago, why did you stop?"
"Do you wish me to call you Mel?"
"Yes, I do."
"Then I must ask you a favor."
"All right."
"Stop calling me Shevraeth."
"All right... Danric."
"Thank you, Mel... but that doesn't answer my question."
Someone knocked on the door just as Mel began to talk. Danric cursed softly and went to answer it, blocking the person's view of Mel as he opened the door. Russav stood in the doorway.
"Go away for a minute!" Danric hissed.
"Why? So you can sit here and wallow in self-pity? Danric, Nee won't leave me alone until I talk to you."
"It can wait! Really, I swear I'll listen to all of your lectures this evening if you'll just let me be for a few seconds, so go!"
"Why are you in such a hurry to see me off? You're not planning on doing anything stupid, are you?"
"Since when have you known me to be suicidal? I'm just having a private discussion that I need to finish. Now go!"
Finally understanding, Russav went without another word and Danric closed the door. Mel was staring at him, her arms crossed.
"I knew there was something wrong. Now tell me what it is, now."
"Mel... it's really nothing. Nee and Russav are just upset with me because I haven't been myself lately."
"I am not an idiot, Danric. Please tell me what's wrong."
"It... it would offend you."
"I swear it won't. Please."
"Mel... I've just been thinking a lot lately and many things are bothering me."
"Like what?"
"Flauvic, the people trying to take over the throne... you."
"Me? I am bothering you?"
He wanted to die when he saw the hurt in her eyes. "Of course not, that's not what I meant... Mel, what's been bothering me about you is that I have wanted so much for you not to hate me and yet it seems like that wasn't going to happen."
"Oh. But I don't hate you..."
"Then I ask again. What do you think of me?"
Her face was again crimson and she mumbled something under her breath, looking away from him. He tilted her face again so she was looking at him, his eyes intent on hers.
"Mel. Please tell me."
"I... I love you." She bit her lip, trying to look down again, but he wouldn't let her. "If you're going to send me out, you'll have to let go of me."
He smiled softly at her, his other gloved hand tracing her cheek gently. "But I would never send you away, my dearest Mel... for I love you, too."
"Y-you do?"
"Of course. But I haven't said anything. I was afraid you'd hate me more for it."
"But I never hated you. I just didn't recognize what I felt for you as love. I was afraid to say anything to you because I thought..."
"Shh. I know what you thought, my dearest." He held her comfortingly against him. "But all that is past now."
"But it isn't! Danric... I love another."
He laughed; glad that was her only objection. "No, you don't." He took off each of his gloves so that she could see the ring that she had given him.
"But... that's my ring."
"You had it made. But now it is mine." I watched her carefully, loving the way her emotions flitted across her face like little birds, and loving how he could now show that love.
"Then you're..."
"Yes."
"All this time, it was you?"
"Yes."
"And..."
"Yes, Meliara. Yes and yes and yes."
"Oh."
He smiled at her again, holding her close. Her eyes shone with love, yet still she seemed confused. He brushed a stray lock of hair from her face and kissed her gently, a soft brushing of lips that he hardly felt and he was delighted by the shiver that ran through her. He kissed her again, deeper this time. Mel's arms came around him and she held him as close as he held her, kissing him back hesitantly.
Nee burst into the room. "Danric, you are going to listen to me or I'll..." She stopped talking, staring at the two as they looked at her, their arms around each other. "Umm... hi."
"Hello, Nee. Do you still need to talk to me?"
"Umm, no..."
"Good. Can you leave, then?"
Nee thought a moment then grinned wickedly. "Nope. I'm a chaperone."
"Come now, dear, isn't it enough that you 'helped' me all those weeks?"
"Of course not. I want to help you more."
"Nee..."
She ignored the threat in Danric's voice and sat on a chair, watching the two of them with great interest. Mel smiled a little and Danric and kissed him softly before excusing herself. Danric glared a moment at Nee, silently blaming her for Meliara's retreat, but Nee just smiled smugly like a cat.
"Things are beginning to look up now, aren't they?" She asked innocently.
Danric just smiled.
************************************************************************
Meanwhile, Mel went back into the maze, needing to be alone. She wandered about it idly, thinking of Danric and coming up with the last details of the party she was throwing for Bran and Nee as she went along.
So wrapped up in her thoughts was she that she didn't notice a tall, blonde figure separate itself from the shadows to follow her. So it was quite a surprise to her when Flauvic took hold of her arm.
************************************************************************
Until next time! I know it's early for them to have said all these things to each other and it's a little out of character, but the whole "I love you and it's so great that you love me too" scene had to be there so that the rest of the story can go on. If it's really bad, please tell me, cuz I'm not really sure if it turned out ok or not.
************************************************************************
Mel sat again in her bedroom, still staring at nothing for what seemed like moments from when she first came home from the masque though she knew she had been here for over a day. Before her were all the letters the Unknown had sent her, and she sat on her bed reading and rereading them until she had every word memorized.
This was a nasty puzzle. Mel knew now that she had to meet the Unknown again, no matter how she did it. It was lovely dancing with him for all those hours, his smile the only part of him she could see. She sighed, wondering what color those eyes beneath the mask was, whether they had sparkled with love and laughter as hers had.
But she would never know unless she could come up with the courage to ask him to meet with her again.
Which was really quite impossible. Sure, she had managed to get through the masque without him hating her, but that meant nothing. They hadn't really talked all that long, so she didn't have time to screw everything up.
But that kiss... life, the rest of the world could crumble and die for all she cared as long as she could even have one more of his kisses. The one he had given her she relived whenever she saw his handwriting, and she wanted to meet him even more.
Which brought her back to her original problem.
A knock on the door startled her from her thoughts as Nee walked in with two cups of hot chocolate. Nee smiled slightly at Mel and sat next to her, giving her one of the cups of the hot chocolate. Mel smiled back gratefully and sipped at it, careful not to burn herself.
"Did it not go well?" Nee asked after a moment.
"It was wonderful... but, Nee... I have to see him again. I have to meet him face to face, and love him for everything he is, not just what I have seen."
"Then why don't you?"
Mel sighed and hugged her knees to her chest. "Because I'm scared, Nee. I finally understand what love is, and it's been hitting me upside the head all this time."
"What do you mean?"
"Nee, I don't only love the Unknown. I've been mistaking my emotions all this time because I've never understood love, and I still can't understand it all... I always thought that I was angry at him, or I'd say things to keep him away. I see now that I was just trying to hold back my feelings so I didn't have to feel them and the confusion they brought..."
"What are you talking about, Mel? I thought that you loved the Unknown."
"I do! That's my problem, I've fallen in love with two people, Nee!"
"Who?"
"I... I'd prefer not to say until I can figure this all out, okay? It's nothing against you, I just... I need to figure this out on my own, or I'll ruin everything."
"All right... but I don't understand what you're saying."
"I almost don't, either. But, if I'm seeing things right, I'm basically saying that I've been confusing love with anger and frustration and have probably hurt someone very badly. I just hope I can still apologize..."
"What about the Unknown? He loves you, you know."
"Yes, I know..." She sighed softly. "I am so confused. I just need to work everything out and see what happens before I go telling people that I can't see them or talk to them anymore or something."
Mel started to get up and leave before Nee grabbed her arm. "Can you just give me a hint as to who it is you think you love?"
"Sorry, Nee, but no. I need to talk to him first."
Nee smiled sadly in understanding and watched Mel leave, thoughtful. Then she went to Russav's rooms and they went to see Danric together.
************************************************************************
Danric sighed, idly tracing the designs on the ring Mel had given him.
"Are you listening to me, Danric?" Nee asked, startling him from his reverie.
"I am listening."
"As I was trying to say, she's fallen for you. Really and truly, she has fallen for her Unknown. She can't stop thinking about you, or about what she can do now. She wants to meet you again, but she's terrified she'll do something wrong and you'll hate her for it."
"So why did you tell me there was a problem?" Russav asked her.
"Because Mel says she loves someone else, too."
"What?" Startled gray eyes looked to Nee's face for practically the first time since she had come.
"Who?"
"She says she loves someone and has been mistaking that love for anger or frustration and hasn't realized it was love until she felt the love she feels for the Unknown and was able to recognize her love for the other man. At least, I am fairly certain that's what she was trying to say, the poor girls so confused right now. But she wouldn't tell me who, she wanted to work everything out herself first."
"Life, she's in a mess, isn't she? Danric, why don't you just tell her that you're the Unknown?" Russav asked.
"Because she hates me, remember?" Danric turned away tiredly, his shoulders hunched as he stared out the window. "She hates me. Yet she loves the Unknown identity that I adopted so that I could court her. And yet she loves another."
"Danric-"
"Peace. The Unknown will never trouble her again, he is done with."
"Surely you can't mean that! You love her!"
"It is because I love her that I am letting her go. She loves another, Russav. I can't live the dream that she would ever love me in return anymore or it will destroy me, not to mention hurt her. I can't hurt her any longer; I have done it all to often."
"But, Danric... who shall be your queen then?" Nee's eyes shone with concern for her friend and her fan fluttered anxiously in her hand.
"No one. Now leave me, I wish to be alone."
"Danric..." Russav stopped trying to speak when he saw his friend's face. His mouth became a thin, grim line and he gently put his hand on Danric's shoulder. "You're making a mistake, my friend."
"My judgment is clear. I refuse to hurt her anymore than I already have... but I will always love her."
"If you truly loved her you wouldn't do this to her! She doesn't just love the other person; she loves the Unknown, as well. If the Unknown stopped speaking with her and loving her so soon after their first meeting, she'll take it as a rejection of who she is. She'll think that the Unknown was only using her for his own benefit, and that would hurt her far more than anything you could do to her!"
"I thought I told you two to leave."
"Russav, you can't let him do this!"
Russav looked back and forth between his friends, unsure what to do. Then he sighed and gently escorted Nee to the door. "For what it's worth, Danric... I agree with her." Then they were gone.
Danric closed his eyes, sitting on his bed and putting his head in his hands. Life, don't let me hurt her, he thought. But there was no way not to. She loved someone else, and certainly she would no longer love the Unknown if she knew that it was him who wrote her the letters, he who she danced with, he who kissed her soft, warm lips...
And yet... he loved her more than life. Every part of him ached when he thought of giving her up, even for a moment. He couldn't ever love a woman the way he loved the beautiful countess Meliara, nor would he be the same if he ever lost her.
But who was it that she loved? He didn't dare hope that it could perhaps be him. Russav? It would be understandable, and he'd hardly hold it against his best friend if he had captured her heart with his charm. He could live with that decision, though it would hurt him to do so. One of those boys that followed her around, perhaps they were the ones? He hardly knew them, so perhaps he could live with that.
Then a thought came to him that produced such a wave of hate inside him that he was surprised at himself. Flauvic. He was the one, who else could it be? That pretty boy with hardly a thought to anything but himself had been following her since she came; it was entirely possible that she loved him. Perhaps she had told Nee about Flauvic's sorcery and his kiss just to lead her on that Mel didn't love him, yet she really did. He could accept her loving Russav. He could never accept her loving Flauvic; he would die first. But he would not die alone.
The fire of anger flickered and died almost as quickly as it had come and despair took over him again. My beautiful Mel, if only I could hold you and love you. If only you were my queen and I your king. If only you could look past your anger and love me. If only, if only.
A quiet tap on the door wakened him from his thoughts and he went to answer it without thinking. And who was there but his beautiful Mel.
THE END.
(hehe, sorry. Couldn't help it.)
Mel smiled shyly at him, nervous fingers playing with her fan. "Shevraeth, can I talk to you?"
And she still calls me Shevraeth, he thought sadly. He nodded and let her come in. She looked him over, her eyebrows coming together.
"Are you all right?"
"I have never been better."
"You... you just don't look it."
"I am fine. What brings you here?"
"Um." She looked down, her face turning crimson. "I needed to talk to you..."
"About what? I'm listening."
"Have you... have you ever had a feeling that you didn't know what it was and you mistook it for something else?"
Hope fluttered in his chest before he quickly crushed it. She couldn't be saying that. "Yes, I have."
"Then, well, umm, perhaps you can understand why I've been so rude to you lately. See, I... I don't hate you. I'm not even angry at you, I just... have never felt what I do for you until recently and have been unable to recognize it."
"What are you trying to say?" Slow down, he ordered his heart. It didn't listen.
"I... That I don't hate you."
"Then what do you feel for me, Meliara?"
"I..." She fiddled with her fan again, avoiding his gaze as best she could.
"Mel." His gloved fingers tipped her chin up so that she had to look at him. He was surprised by the odd sparkle in her eyes that had been there the night they had danced, by the fear and hope warring in them. And he knew that he felt the same things she did. Fear of being sent away, hope that the other felt for him the way he felt for her. "Please tell me."
"You'll turn me away... besides, it's silly."
"Nothing you feel can be silly, my dear Meliara. And I'd never turn you away."
"You called me Mel a moment ago, why did you stop?"
"Do you wish me to call you Mel?"
"Yes, I do."
"Then I must ask you a favor."
"All right."
"Stop calling me Shevraeth."
"All right... Danric."
"Thank you, Mel... but that doesn't answer my question."
Someone knocked on the door just as Mel began to talk. Danric cursed softly and went to answer it, blocking the person's view of Mel as he opened the door. Russav stood in the doorway.
"Go away for a minute!" Danric hissed.
"Why? So you can sit here and wallow in self-pity? Danric, Nee won't leave me alone until I talk to you."
"It can wait! Really, I swear I'll listen to all of your lectures this evening if you'll just let me be for a few seconds, so go!"
"Why are you in such a hurry to see me off? You're not planning on doing anything stupid, are you?"
"Since when have you known me to be suicidal? I'm just having a private discussion that I need to finish. Now go!"
Finally understanding, Russav went without another word and Danric closed the door. Mel was staring at him, her arms crossed.
"I knew there was something wrong. Now tell me what it is, now."
"Mel... it's really nothing. Nee and Russav are just upset with me because I haven't been myself lately."
"I am not an idiot, Danric. Please tell me what's wrong."
"It... it would offend you."
"I swear it won't. Please."
"Mel... I've just been thinking a lot lately and many things are bothering me."
"Like what?"
"Flauvic, the people trying to take over the throne... you."
"Me? I am bothering you?"
He wanted to die when he saw the hurt in her eyes. "Of course not, that's not what I meant... Mel, what's been bothering me about you is that I have wanted so much for you not to hate me and yet it seems like that wasn't going to happen."
"Oh. But I don't hate you..."
"Then I ask again. What do you think of me?"
Her face was again crimson and she mumbled something under her breath, looking away from him. He tilted her face again so she was looking at him, his eyes intent on hers.
"Mel. Please tell me."
"I... I love you." She bit her lip, trying to look down again, but he wouldn't let her. "If you're going to send me out, you'll have to let go of me."
He smiled softly at her, his other gloved hand tracing her cheek gently. "But I would never send you away, my dearest Mel... for I love you, too."
"Y-you do?"
"Of course. But I haven't said anything. I was afraid you'd hate me more for it."
"But I never hated you. I just didn't recognize what I felt for you as love. I was afraid to say anything to you because I thought..."
"Shh. I know what you thought, my dearest." He held her comfortingly against him. "But all that is past now."
"But it isn't! Danric... I love another."
He laughed; glad that was her only objection. "No, you don't." He took off each of his gloves so that she could see the ring that she had given him.
"But... that's my ring."
"You had it made. But now it is mine." I watched her carefully, loving the way her emotions flitted across her face like little birds, and loving how he could now show that love.
"Then you're..."
"Yes."
"All this time, it was you?"
"Yes."
"And..."
"Yes, Meliara. Yes and yes and yes."
"Oh."
He smiled at her again, holding her close. Her eyes shone with love, yet still she seemed confused. He brushed a stray lock of hair from her face and kissed her gently, a soft brushing of lips that he hardly felt and he was delighted by the shiver that ran through her. He kissed her again, deeper this time. Mel's arms came around him and she held him as close as he held her, kissing him back hesitantly.
Nee burst into the room. "Danric, you are going to listen to me or I'll..." She stopped talking, staring at the two as they looked at her, their arms around each other. "Umm... hi."
"Hello, Nee. Do you still need to talk to me?"
"Umm, no..."
"Good. Can you leave, then?"
Nee thought a moment then grinned wickedly. "Nope. I'm a chaperone."
"Come now, dear, isn't it enough that you 'helped' me all those weeks?"
"Of course not. I want to help you more."
"Nee..."
She ignored the threat in Danric's voice and sat on a chair, watching the two of them with great interest. Mel smiled a little and Danric and kissed him softly before excusing herself. Danric glared a moment at Nee, silently blaming her for Meliara's retreat, but Nee just smiled smugly like a cat.
"Things are beginning to look up now, aren't they?" She asked innocently.
Danric just smiled.
************************************************************************
Meanwhile, Mel went back into the maze, needing to be alone. She wandered about it idly, thinking of Danric and coming up with the last details of the party she was throwing for Bran and Nee as she went along.
So wrapped up in her thoughts was she that she didn't notice a tall, blonde figure separate itself from the shadows to follow her. So it was quite a surprise to her when Flauvic took hold of her arm.
************************************************************************
Until next time! I know it's early for them to have said all these things to each other and it's a little out of character, but the whole "I love you and it's so great that you love me too" scene had to be there so that the rest of the story can go on. If it's really bad, please tell me, cuz I'm not really sure if it turned out ok or not.