As Mr. Darcy ran through the entrance of Longbourn estate and out towards the adjoining road, he couldn't help but notice the distance between himself and Miss Elizabeth. She was already atleast 30 meters ahead of him, and didn't seem to tire at all. Darcy had never met a young lady with such a strong constitution.

"How remarkable! There's certainly something special about her," he thought. It was then that he realized that his thoughts of Miss Elizabeth had managed to manifest a broad smile upon his face. Mr. Darcy came to a sudden halt.

"What am I doing? I must look like a damned fool, running about with a silly grin plastered on my face." This was not behavior appropriate for a gentleman.

But he couldn't just stop now either. He had offered to help, and he couldn't just return to Longbourn empty handed while Miss Elizabeth was out here still on the chase. That wasn't proper gentleman-like behavior either.

But before his conscience could provide him with a counter argument once more about propriety, he saw the little pup run into a nearby grove and Miss Elizabeth followed upon its heels.

"Propriety be hanged!" he thought as he began to race after Miss Elizabeth once more.

Elizabeth tried to control her breathing as she chased after the little rascal. He had somehow managed to evade a handful of adults, run off the estate and onto the open road. As she turned and headed out onto the road she could hear someone else running behind her. Could it be? Had Mr. Darcy followed her? He had helped her catch the other two, but he wouldn't have run after her all by himself while everyone else was at the house, would he? No, he wouldn't chase after her while her father stayed back in the yard. That would not be proper. Then she noticed that the sound of footsteps had stopped. Had she been imaging it all then? But before she could turn around to see if there was anyone there, the little pup took a sudden turn into a nearby grove. She followed him into the trees and forgot about looking back.

Elizabeth smiled as she began catching up to the pup. She was very familiar with this grove, she had traveled all along its many paths numerous times on her walks. The current path they were on would lead to a cluster of rocks after which - Elizabeth came to a sudden halt. She remembered that near the rocks the path begins to swerve, leading to a small cliff. If the pup didn't stop in time, he would run off the cliff and fall into the lake below. She couldn't let that happen. Energy pulsed through Elizabeth's veins as she formed a plan. She was too far behind to catch up to the pup before he reached the rocks. Her only option was to force him to turn around. She continued to run till the pup was in her direct line of sight. There she halted and unleashed a surge of energy as she raised her hand along her side and up over her head. She knew she only had one shot to scare the pup in the right direction, so she summoned the winds with such force as she had never allowed herself to do before. Immediately, several yards ahead of the pup a whirlwind began to form. With each second it began to gather enough speed and strength to carry the nearby leaves, twigs and even small rocks into it. Then, with a flick of her wrist Elizabeth beckoned the whirlwind straight towards the pup. Elizabeth hadn't anticipated the speed at which the whirlwind would travel. At its current rate, it would reach the pup within a matter of seconds. And by the looks of it, it would not have been surprising if it carried the pup along with it. She didn't want to hurt him, she had just wanted to scare him enough to cause him to change direction. Elizabeth tried to release some control, to slow it down, but the speed wasn't decreasing fast enough. In an act of desperation, she threw her arms down, relinquishing all control and began a mad dash towards the pup.

Boom!

The sudden shift in energy caused the leaves and twigs to collide into one another and explode, causing a shower of dirt and rocks to come crashing down around the pup. Elizabeth heard a sharp yelp from the pup before she too was hit by a rush of leaves and twigs. Desperately she tried to shield her face and eyes with her hands. She had definitely underestimated her own strength. The gust of wind felt as though it was ripping through her, while the sand and small stones managed to shower small cuts all across her arms. She kept her eyes shut tight but still tried to move in the direction of the whimpering pup. Time seemed to have slowed down. It felt as though she had taken a dozen steps but she seemed to be nowhere closer to the pup. Frustrated, she threw her eyes open and surveyed the scene. She saw a ball of fur cowering just a foot away from her. She bent down, reached out, grabbed the pup, and cradled it to her chest. Just as she let out a sigh of relief, a final gust of wind hit her straight in the face. Elizabeth let out a cry of pain. She felt a searing ache in her eyes and immediately dropped to her knees, accidentally releasing the puppy. Uncontrollable tears welled up, slightly easing the pain. Elizabeth sat there trying to peer out of one watery eye as she gently tried to rub the pain out of the other. She was very disappointed, all that effort and she'd let the puppy go. As the pain was beginning to dull down Elizabeth took a deep breath and tried to stand back up. But the searing pain immediately shot through her left eye again and she began to lose her balance.

Before Elizabeth fell to the ground once more, she felt a powerful hand wrap around her waist and pull her back up to her feet. Elizabeth immediately shrank back in fear. Her vision was still unclear, and she had not seen or heard anyone else enter the grove.

"Forgive me, Miss Bennet. I did not mean to alarm you" came an unfamiliar voice.

"Who? Who's there?" Elizabeth asked, once again trying to rub the tears away from her eyes.

It was then that Mr. Darcy realized that Miss Elizabeth could not see him properly.

"It is I, Mr. Darcy. Miss Bennet, are you hurt?" Darcy inquired.

"Mr. Darcy!" Elizabeth echoed. She had forgotten all about him.

"T-thank you sir for preventing my fall" she managed to say, all the while trying to endure the pain and look as composed as possible.

"Miss Bennet you are in pain" Mr. Darcy exclaimed.

Just then whatever was aggravating her eye seemed to have found the ideal position that would extract the most suffering. Elizabeth let out a little whimper.

"Please, allow me to help" he said softly. Elizabeth was in too much pain to refuse such an offer.

Immediately Mr. Darcy led her by the hand to a fallen tree nearby and asked her to sit. Then, he placed something soft in her hands while saying "Please hold this".

Elizabeth gently felt the soft shivering creature in her hand, it was the puppy!

"You caught him!" she exclaimed with so much happiness.

Mr. Darcy couldn't help but give a chuckle. "Yes, I managed to catch him just as he slipped from your grasp."

He then took out his handkerchief, and knelt down in front of Elizabeth.

"Now, this may hurt a bit, but I need you to open your eyes so I can find the object that is causing you so much discomfort."

Elizabeth nodded, and slowly tried to open her eyes. The first several times tears flooded her eyes and she was forced to shut them again immediately. But each time Mr. Darcy gently dabbed away her tears and patiently waited for her to try again.

Upon the fifth try, Elizabeth was able to open her eyes more fully, and for a brief moment, Mr. Darcy was awestruck. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of green. The same glowing green eyes that had been haunting his thoughts since their first meeting. But now was not the time to reminisce. Elizabeth managed to keep her eyes open long enough for Mr. Darcy to notice a small piece of a dead leaf lodged near the top of her eye.

"The good news is, I found what's causing the irritation" he said.

"Wonderful…What's the bad news?", Elizabeth asked.

"Why do you assume that there is any bad news?" Mr. Darcy asked confused.

"It was an assumption borne out of the information you had provided me with sir" Elizabeth replied.

"I fail to see how my stating that I have found the irritant could lead you to such an assumption."

"It was not the news itself that led me to that assumption. But rather the qualification that you attributed to it. News is news, on its own it has no positive or negative value. That quality is only attained by one's viewpoint. By classifying that finding the irritant was good news, you have provided the suggestion that there is other news to be had that is not of the same nature."

Mr. Darcy was impressed with Elizabeth's rationale, especially given the state of pain she was in. "My apologies then for the misdirection. That I've found the irritant is good news, I only meant to say that the even better news is that I know of how to rid you of this pain. It is an old remedy that my mother taught me when I was young."

Mr. Darcy explained the steps involved in the remedy and Elizabeth agreed.

"Please keep your eyes closed," he instructed.

He then folded his handkerchief into a square and raised it to his lips and began gently blowing warm air into it. Once the handkerchief had absorbed some of the warmth, he then immediately placed it upon the affected eye. After several attempts of re-heating the square and applying it on the affected eye, he noticed that her eyes were not closed as tightly as before. He asked her to gently open them once more.

As she did, Mr. Darcy saw that the piece of leaf had traveled down and was now at the base of her lower eyelid.

"Please remain still" he whispered.

He moved in closer to Elizabeth till the distance between them was only a mere few centimeters. He then gently cupped her cheeks in his hands. Elizabeth was surprised by the gesture but she did not move, as instructed. Then with his thumb, he gently stroked across her eyelid till the particle came free and out of her eye.

Elizabeth blinked a few times and was overjoyed at the ability to do so without incurring any pain. Mr. Darcy's eyes hadn't left her the whole time. She looked straight into them and gave him a warm smile, "The pain is gone" she said. It was then that Mr. Darcy realized his hands were still encompassing Elizabeth's beautiful face. He immediately dropped his hands to his side and got up.

"That's great news" he said.

Elizabeth also realized the awkwardness, and not to mention the impropriety, of their situation and immediately rose to her feet.

"Shall I escort you back, Miss Bennet?"

"Yes, that would be fine."

As they both headed back towards Longbourn, Elizabeth holding onto the wriggling puppy very tightly, and Mr. Darcy walking beside her, neither spoke a word.

Each was reliving the moments from the grove. Elizabeth was running through the events in her head, when a terrifying question she had had before came back to her. "When did Mr. Darcy enter the grove? Did he see her using her powers? Did he know she was the one who summoned the whirlwind?"