************Ron POV*************

It seemed the two had finally started to get along. Ron watched as Fliour and Emily worked together to weed the garden and even take care of the two animals Emily was now in charge of caring for.

Ron was worried, though. Every night that Fliour would go home, Emily’s attitude seemed to change from happy to one that seemed to be filled with emotions he couldn’t place. She would glance at Ron from the corner of her eye at times, but if he ever looked in her direction she would immediately turn her eyes back to the ground.

It was one of the most confusing situations he had ever been in. He still wasn’t used to living with someone else, especially a woman, and even though he had more knowledge than most people could even contain in their own brains and remember it all as clearly as he could, he had no knowledge on handling someone like her.

On one of the nights Fliour had left for home, several weeks after the incident with Cahal and her having accidentally hurt Fliour, Ron decided to ask Emily about it. He felt himself trying to pull him away from asking anything for fear of either insulting or hurting her, but curiosity got the best of him.

“Emily, come in here. I want to talk to you,” he called from inside the kitchen. He had finished making dinner and sat down at the table as Emily walked in from outside. As she had been doing for weeks, she kept her gaze to the floor but still held herself the same way she had always done; strong and prepared for anything.

“What do you want to talk about? Did I miss anything while working today or something?” She asked while forcing herself to look him in the eyes while she smiled. He could feel the worry wafting from her body, and he didn’t want that kind of reaction so he tried to change the mood.

“First off, no. You’ve done great, and you seem to have become accustomed to life here. There might have been a few hiccups here and there but in the end you’ve done great.” Emily couldn’t seem to help but grin at the compliment he gave her, a look Ron’s heart sped up about.

“Well then, if that’s the case, is there something wrong?” Ron himself had to look down when she smiled warmly at him as she asked the question. For the first time in a long time, she had gotten him to blush without meaning to.

“I wanted to ask you why it was you don’t look at me in the eyes like you used to. What’s wrong?” He finally got the words out after a few seconds of struggling to open his mouth.

Emily was taken aback by his question. Her face instantly went red, and without think she quickly stood up from her chair and took a step back from the table. Ron looked back up at her and noticed the mixture of embarrassment and worry in her eyes.

“I-I don’t know what you mean! I’ve been perfectly normal lately, there’s nothing wrong or different with me!” She quickly stammered. Emily turned and tried to go to her room, but Ron quickly glanced at the door. It shut before Emily could reach it, and from the click sound from inside it had locked.

Ron sat back in his chair and crossed his arms while he gave Emily a look. She slowly turned and saw the look on his face, then she went back to her seat and sat down with a sigh.

“It’s nothing important. I...I guess I don’t want Fliour getting the wrong idea and losing her friendship,” Emily whispered as she stared at her folded hands in her lap.

“There are multiple issues with what you just said. For one thing, if your relationship with Fliour is based off of me, then what kind of relationship is that? Secondly-” Emily raised her hand to stop him before he could begin his next sentence.

“If you had fallen in love with someone, but you found out your new friend was also in love with them, what would you do? If you are selfless as you seem to be, then you would back off and try and help your friend, wouldn’t you?” Emily asked as she herself sat back and crossed her arms.

Ron suddenly stopped and instantly thought about what she said. He couldn’t help but know she was right, and after a few minutes of fighting his emotions with the images and knowledge that she had stumped him, he finally nodded his head.

“Ok, you’re right. I would try and help them. But still, your relationship with her sh-” Ron immediately froze. His mouth hung open in both shock and true understanding at what had just been said.

“What is it? Why do you look that way?” Emily broke the silence after a couple of seconds and leaned forward a bit to wave her hand in front of Ron’s face.

“Did you just tell me you love me?” Ron asked hesitantly. Silence once more.

“I-it was a metaphor...nothing more than that….” Emily whispered. Ron knew she was lying, but he could also tell she didn’t want to discuss it further by the obvious uncomfortable way she held herself.

“Want some dinner? I made apple and cucumber salad, along with some bacon of course. Jake brought some down for me while you were tending to Cahal,” Ron suddenly said as he stood up and walked to the counter where he grabbed the plates of food and passed one to Emily. She took one but avoided his gaze and thanked him.

They ate in the stillness, and Emily had retreated back into herself as she had done before. The conversation had gone nowhere, and in the end things had only turned out worse. Ron mentally kicked himself for trying to push her, but he couldn’t help but replay her words over and over in his head.

After they had finished eating, Emily stood up to go to bed. Ron unlocked the door and watched her leave until the door had clicked shut. The moment she was out of sight, he stood up and washed the dishes. Before he himself went to bed, he gave one last glance at the closed door Emily now slept behind.

His bed was cold as he pulled the covers up and over his shoulders. It didn’t feel right to be alone in his bed like he was used to, and he realized after an hour of attempting to fall asleep just how much he missed sleeping in the same bed as her. He forced the thoughts out of his head before he finally managed to fall asleep, but the image of her smile remained.

************Emily POV************

She was curled up her blankets and had made a bundle of them to the side of her before she put her back against it. It was comforting to feel like there was someone with her in the room, she wasn’t fond of the dark but she wouldn’t dare call for Ron.

Emily had gotten used to being heartbroken, but this was ridiculous. She felt just as sick as the day she had watched her parents be taken from her, but this was something she couldn’t even describe.

“Emily, what’s wrong? I feel you’re stressed,” Cahal said inside Emily’s mind. Hearing his voice made her immediately relax.

“I kinda messed up. I accidentally told Ron my feelings, and I couldn’t get myself to play it off like I should have. Fliour and Ron are supposed to be the couple that everybody sees and loves, I’m just an intruder that will be leaving in little over three years, then I’ll be forgotten about,” Emily spoke back with her own mind. She could practically hear Cahal’s dislike.

“You creatures of such reasoning always confuse me. If you want something, why do you not take it?” Emily smiled at his question and slowly started to fall asleep as he continued to rant about how he would have taken what he wanted.

When she had finally drifted off, Cahal stopped. He could feel her fall asleep, and when he was satisfied that she wouldn’t need him again that night he himself slept as well.

Emily slept in the next day without meaning to, so when Fliour knocked on her door and woke her up it was like instant panic had set in. Without meaning to, she had kicked the covers off so violently that she had fallen off the bed with a loud thump.

“Good lord, are you ok?” Fliour gasped as she opened the door and ran to her. She helped Emily to her feet before she placed a hand to her forehead.

“I just slept in, I’m not sick. I didn’t realize what time it was, so I guess I just continued to sleep,” Emily explained. Fliour wouldn’t budge as she checked Emily’s temperature. When she released her and let her brush herself off, Fliour held out a letter.

“This was teleported in this morning. I don’t know how it appeared, but it seems a great wizard did it with how easily it got here. It’s addressed to you,” Fliour said as Emily took it from her. She instantly recognized the writing as her brother’s. Squealing, Emily jumped back onto her bed with the letter in hand.

At that moment, Analicia walked into the room with a bag in her hand. She looked at the letter in Emily’s hands and grinned at the excitement in her eyes. Analicia placed the bag on the shelf and walked over to where Emily was and sat on the other side of the bed with her.

Emily opened the letter and looked down at the familiar handwriting. She suddenly felt homesick for her family back at the guild, especially when a picture of Nicolette and her daughter fell out onto her lap.

“Dear Emily, it’s been over eight months since you left. I don’t know if you’ll get this letter, but if you do then just know that we all miss you here at the guild. I’ve been working more with the council up in the North to try and find ways to bring more guilds together to work as one, so naturally Nicolette isn’t very happy with me not being home as often as I should.

Mira has grown quite fast. I’ve gotten her little glass trinkets from every place I’ve visited during the meetings I have attended over the past year for her second birthday. I plan on building her a cabinet in her room for them so she can continue collecting them as she grows.

Anyways, I miss you little sis. If you do receive this letter, then you’ll notice a small marble-like object on the back of the picture I sent you. You may use this to send letters back, and it will also allow you to receive letters as well. Hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely, James.”

Emily turned the picture over and noticed the marble. She grinned and carefully pulled the tape off and held the small blue object in her hand before she placed it on the table. Analicia and Fliour read the letter as Emily walked into the kitchen and knocked on Ron’s door.

“What is it?” He called out.

“Do you have paper and a pencil of some kind?” Emily asked. Ron carefully opened the door and looked out at her. Emily was shocked to see dark circles under his eyes and his clothes and hair a mess.

“Yes, in the drawer on the desk near the window,” he muttered as he pointed out where it was. As Emily turned back around, he shut the door. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to try and bother him, so instead she walked back to the place he pointed out and walked back to her room.

“What’s wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost!” Analicia gasped as Emily walked back in.

“I don’t know what’s wrong, but Ron looks like he may be sick,” Emily whispered. Fliour immediately froze in place.

“What do you mean by sick?” She asked.

“Like he didn’t sleep, maybe feverish sick,” Emily explained the best she could as she started to write a reply to her brother.

“...will you guys give me a few minutes alone with Ron?” Fliour asked after Emily had finished writing and had placed it on the orb. Emily whispered her brother’s name for the transaction to take place, and within seconds the letter was covered in light and disappeared.

“What for?” Analicia asked as Emily turned back to face the two women.

“I want to talk to him. Maybe I can help in some way, but I want to be alone without distractions,” Fliour said. There was a different expression on her fact than what Emily was used to, and a small tingle raced up Emily’s spin.

“Sure, but call us back when you are done,” Analicia said as if oblivious to the obvious change in Fliour’s actions.

When the two of them had left the room, Analicia grabbed Emily’s hand and started to run.

“What are you doing?” Emily gasped as she was suddenly dragged along with her.

“I know what she’s going to do, and I don’t want either of us to be around when she does it,” Analicia growled.

“What do you mean?” Emily asked as she dodged a low hanging tree branch before it hit her in the face.

“I mean one of two things are going to happen. Either she is going to fight him to get him back to his normal self, or she is going to use this as an excuse to be in his bedroom. Either way, a fight is going to break out and I don’t care to see how it turns out.” Emily imagined a fight between the two of them with weapons and the such and had to shake the image from her mind.

“Why would she want to be in his bedroom?” Analicia giggled as they stopped at the halfway mark between the village and Ron’s cabin.

“Fliour loves being alone with Ron even if they fight, and she knows Ron won’t go crazy trying to fight back in his own bedroom because of how small the space is. It’s a perfect opportunity for her to try and get him to fall in love with her,” Analicia explained as she tried to control her breathing.

“Is that really possible? Would he fall for her just by being in a small room? That sounds kind of ridiculous,” Emily sighed as she sat on the ground, ignoring the jealousy that had awakened in her veins.

“Imagine. Two people, hot and sweaty from fighting and emotions blazing. What do you think could happen?” She didn’t want to think about it, but the images came into her mind anyways. Images that seemed all too possible with the way Analicia described it.

“When it’s all over, we will go back. Then we will know what happened. Until then, just try to think about something else,” Analicia said as she leaned against a tree and closed her eyes. Even though Emily wanted to think about anything but that, she couldn’t help but let the images run around in her mind as she waited to return.

************Ron POV************

Fliour sat on the edge of Ron’s bed with a calm look. He only watched her from the corner of his eye and noticed she had the door under her control where she was positioned.

“What do you want to where you had to wake me up?” He asked as he laid against the bedframe.

“Fight me.” Fliour said with a smirk. Ron narrowed his eyes as he examined her. Why she wanted to fight, he had no clue. But he knew that if he didn’t make the first move, at some point she would. He didn’t want his bed torn to pieces either.

“If I fight you, then we can do that outside,” he growled. Fliour only smiled even more.

“No, I’ll fight you here.” Ron was taken aback by her words, as well as annoyed.

Before he could say anything against it, she lashed out at him with a dagger in her hand. He caught her wrist and pinned her down against the bed with anger slowly boiling up from deep inside.

“Why do you always do this kind of thing! You know better than this!” Ron yelled as she struggled under his grasp. She suddenly stopped and smiled slyly at him. Without hesitating, she leaned up and kissed him before using her feet and knocking his feet out from under him, giving her control and flipped him over so she was on top and had him pinned.

“I know exactly what I’m doing, and I also know you won’t fall for me. I’ve tried for years, and yet you still can care less about my feelings. So, I’ll make you love me, and you’ll heal my wounds that cover my body and heart since I was a girl,” she hissed as she suddenly dug the dagger into Ron’s side, popping his lung.

Ron started to blackout from both the popped lung as well as the shock. Fliour was smiling as she wiped the blade clean before she bent down and gave Ron one last peck on the lips before he finally passed out.

“Don’t worry, my love. She won’t even have time to scream, and you won’t even remember her,” Fliour hissed.