Guardians of the Prophecy

Chapter Twelve: Duty

She ducked under his hand and fixed her hair, wrinkling her nose at him.

He grinned, and his normally stern countenance was replaced with a more boyish look.  “Thanks for worrying, Rima.  Go check on Alistair.”  He jerked his head towards the balcony.

She nodded, stood up and stretched as the monk turned back to the longue and bent down to search for something in his pack.  Rima stepped onto the balcony and Alistair, who was leaning against the rail, turned to look at her. 

“Rima.”  The sound of his husky voice sent a shiver of awareness down her spine.

“Hey.”  She moved to stand next to him.  “Are you okay?  Shan asked me to check up on you.”

“Why?”

Rima shrugged. He scoffed slightly.  

“A lot better than Shan, that’s for sure.”

A crease formed between her eyebrows.  “What?”

Alistair was silent for a moment.  “I… understand how he feels without Laurel.”

She could feel her curiosity pique.  “What do you mean?” she asked, slowly, turning to look at him.

He didn’t say anything for a long time, and although she would never admit it, she hated how quiet he was.   

Rima heard him exhale softly as he straightened to his full height.  

“Never mind.  It’s nothing,” Alistair huffed.

 She made a small pout.  What was he going to say?

She watched him shove his hands in his pockets.

“Do you… uh… still have that ring I gave you a while back?” he asked, his gaze flitting down to her hands. 

“Oh!  Yeah, I do.”  Rima reached for said ring from the pocket of her cloak and slipped it back on ring finger.  She shot him a somewhat sheepish grin.  “I put it in there for safe keeping.  After we were attacked by demons, I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t lose it.”  She felt her cheeks become significantly warmer as she said this.

His posture, which looked a little tense before, seemed to relax.  Alistair’s lips pulled into a gentle smile.  “I’m glad you kept it.”

Rima couldn’t help but smile back.  

They had agreed to meet at just outside the border of Han the next day after resting in separate inns.  Presently, Rima was attempting to amuse herself by playing with a sphere of light she had conjured in the hopes that it would offset some of the anxiety. 

There had been no communication between them at all except just before the groups had split in different directions.

Be nice if there was some way I could contact Laurel with magic, Rima thought absentmindedly, clenching her fist.  The sphere of glowing gold promptly dissipated; several particles of light floated off into the distance.

Shan, who had been watching her demonstration with interest, turned away and began pacing back and forth.  Alistair was standing stiffly beside her.

They had probably been waiting for about an hour before Alistair mentioned that he saw something.  Sure enough, it was Laurel and Caleb, with Shaheen soaring above them.

“I thought you guys got held back,” Shan said as the three of them neared.  He stepped in front of Laurel and lightly caressed her cheek as Alistair slapped Caleb on the back.