So, I'm kind of running behind on my chapters here. It's basically a combination of school/boyfriend in the navy/working on multiple stories at once/just plain laziness. I'll work on it, so don't fret, those of you who have bothered to read thus far (thank you!).

Squinting, Ivan could see a figure running toward him that was… half-naked? His feelings of confusion and, well, slight embarrassment were flooded out with stunning shock as he realized who this person was – Etana.

The girl sprinted the entire way, her scraped feet leaving a trail of blood-spots on the grass, and the blood from the back of her head cascading down her spine. Keeping her eyes fixed upon the soldier, Etana overlooked a rock that protruded slightly from the ground, enough so that her foot would get caught on it, causing her to fall and land on her hands and knees on the cold ground. She didn't get up. What a great day, she thought sarcastically to herself, struggling to cope with the pain before attempting to get back on her feet. The blood on her back now streamed down the sides and trickled to the ground. Son of a –

"Etana!" Ivan called out to her as he, too, ran to meet her halfway. As he neared her, the girl finally managed to struggle back to her feet, wincing as she did so. Ivan, completely appalled at her physical state, recoiled. She was bathed in blood and painted with scrapes, and where her skin was still visible, goose bumps seemed to plaster her entire body. "Etana…" he whispered, hastily taking off his cloak and wrapping it around the shivering girl's shoulders with a kiss on her forehead. "What in the goddesses' names are you doing here?"

Etana wrapped the fur-lined cloak more tightly around herself, grateful at his gesture, but not showing it. "You tell me," she spat back, glaring at him, then quickly replaced her glance with innocent and wondering eyes.

"Sweetheart, I'm sorry… I just needed space for a little bit to think…" he confessed with a sorrowful sigh.

"Oh, so you're leaving me already? Fantastic," she added with bitter sarcasm that stung him like a wasp. Biting her lip to hold back a tear, Etana turned on the bleeding balls of her feet back toward the castle.

"I highly doubt you went through so much trouble to get here just to make a dramatic exit," Ivan called after her, hiding the pain from her comment and from her departure.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" she asked as she turned back around, tears now becoming inevitable. "Nobody is answering any of my questions, you're avoiding me, and everything just gets more and more frustrating! So, are you going to explain anything, or am I just wasting my time?"

Ivan was silent. He stared into Etana's blue eyes, his mind racing but his expression stoic. It hurt him to hurt her, but, he concluded, he had no choice. He knew how he had to answer this question, and knew how furious it would make her. But he had to do it for the best for both of them… right?

The boy swallowed hard. "We can't do this," he stated simply, his conscience already flooding with guilt, but still knowing that this was the right thing to do. "I'm sorry…"

Etana felt her heart shatter inside of her and the pieces fall into her stomach. This is what she got for letting him in. What else was she to expect? In her mind, the girl cursed herself, called herself a fool. On the outside, she bit her lip harder in an attempt to prevent even more tears.

She nodded in a frustrated manner. "Am I allowed to leave now?" she asked in a higher-pitched voice, which often happened when she was in or near tears.

"Etana, let me explain, please," Ivan begged, placing a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off coldly. To the boy, she might as well have punched him in the face.

"No, I understand," Etana replied, regaining the composure in her tone, but not being able to stop from leaking tears. "You wanted to make up for putting me in the infirmary, and that's all it was. Pity. Well, thank you." she put on a sardonic smile, and added, "It was kind of you."

"Will you stop that?!" Ivan scolded, causing the girl to recoil. "Stop being so cynical and sarcastic and just let me talk!"

"What is there to say?!" she refuted, glaring at him through flaming saltwater. Etana dropped her soldiers, which were previously tensed up in anger, and shook her head. "Nothing…"

"What about, 'I love you'?" the boy asked with raised eyebrows, staring back at her.

Etana froze. She was sure her mind should have been racing, but it was completely blank. She had no idea what to think at all, and seemed that she lost the ability to even do so. Only when she took an awkward gasp for air did she realize that she had forgotten to breathe, too. In the emptiness of her mind, one word seemed to form, and her brain permitted her to speak it aloud.

"Wh- what?" she stuttered, a fearful expression on her face.

"Now will you listen to me?" Ivan requested. Etana, still paralyzed out of fear, barely managed a slow shake of her head. When she did not speak, the boy continued, "Well, I'm going to talk anyway. Did you receive your mission from General Hyrule?" She nodded in response and held her hand on the cloak wrapped around her just above where the stone dangled. "Etana, do you… do you understand how truly dangerous this is? What could happen to you?"

Etana gave no response. She was doing her best to listen, but her mind was so distracted that it was hard to concentrate. Yes, she knew the mission was dangerous. Why, if they caught her, she would be charged with treason, and that didn't go over very well in Ilom, not at all. She shivered inside Ivan's warm cloak.

"I… I think it would be easier on you if you weren't distracted by this." The girl only shook her head again. She didn't want to listen to the rest, but, being frozen in place, she had no choice. "I know what it's like to have somebody in combat whom you care about, and how it can compromise everything. We can't be selfish; the initiative is our priority. Etana…" Ivan shook his head as tears began forming in his eyes, too. "…it's time to let go."

Etana chuckled sarcastically through her cascading tears. "Enough strength to slay a thousand men… and you can't even hold onto me?" She ceased her laughter and glared at him again as if to burn his mind with hers. "How can you call yourself a man?"

"Do you think this is easy?! Do you think I haven't thought about this over and over for days?!" Ivan's frustration was visible by his cold glare and tensed muscles. "My goddesses, Etana, can't you think of anyone but yourself?" The girl took two steps back from him, devastated at his stinging words. "But you know what? What else am I to expect from an Ilomian?"

Tears now flooded Etana's eyes. Ivan's words stabbed her straight through the heart, and set it ablaze just like her hot tears. Just realizing what he had said, the boy widened his eyes out of fear. He had that terrible feeling in his gut that one gets when they wish that they could rewind time a few seconds, and the devastation they feel when they horribly realize that they can't. "I… I didn't mean that," he stuttered almost inaudibly. Ivan held a hand up to the girl's face, and whispered "I'm so sorry…"

Etana slapped the hand away and took another step away from him. "No, don't," she told him with a disgusted look. Almost tearing it out of anger, she ripped Ivan's cloak off of her back and threw it on the ground. She shivered in her spandex and tried not to show the pain the cold dealt to her wounds. "You got what you wanted. Goodbye."

Doing her best to ignore the cold, Etana sprinted away from the castle, from Ivan, and from everything that she had worked so hard to obtain.