We walked on and though it may have been slightly cruel of me to leave Coralie in deep thought, blushing at my compliment, I also couldn't help but be amused by it. The only problem in all of this, of course, was that I knew that my compliment hadn't been a mere method of teasing the poor pixie. I had actually meant it. I found myself becoming more and more interested in Coralie, as the days went by. It made my heart feel as though it was going to pound out of my chest and I realised that I could really benefit from calming myself and my strange thoughts down.
Eventually, the other adventurers and I started to become hungry. Thus, we decided to sit down and stop off for some lunch, which happened to be berries that we picked from random plants in the meadow. We were going to be especially careful to not pick them from the meadow elves' gardens, this time around.
"Hey," Coralie said, as she approached me, "Can I help you collect some berries?" she asked me.
I turned to her and smiled in appreciation.
"You certainly can, Coralie," I told her, as the two of us worked on collecting some berries, before we returned to the others.
We all sat down, then, and got started on eating.
As we sat and ate, I looked around at all of the people that were with me and realised that although I had been so independent for so long, I had missed out on so much. My friends had allowed me to learn so much more about the world, about Stellaxir and, perhaps most importantly, about myself.
I believed that Coralie had learnt a lot, too. She had learnt to be less suspicious about the world around her. Perhaps it really wasn't as scary as the two of us may have initially thought.
Jasper glanced towards Coralie with fondness in his gaze and soon turned back towards me and smiled.
I went to sit beside him.
"Hey, Jazzy," I said, as I stole one of his berries, "How are you doing?" I asked him, as I popped the berry into my mouth.
Jasper chuckled.
"I'm good. Yourself, berry stealer?" he asked me, as his eyes flashed with good-natured humour.
"I'm good too," I managed to say.
I had a lot on my mind but that statement was ultimately the truth.
Jasper gave me a nod, in response to that.
The two of us soon glanced towards Echo, who was, at present, feeding some blueberries to Amicus. The alicorn seemed to be appreciatively receiving them.
On the surface, Echo had a gentle nature to her but I also knew that she had a strong spirit that was hard to not admire.
Echo gently stroked Amicus, as she continued to feed her.
Amicus' eyes soon fluttered closed and as she relaxed upon the grass, Echo rested for a short while, too.
I could see how compassionate she was with Amicus but she was the same with the rest of us, too. She really was an incredible friend. As I thought about it, though, my mind soon became preoccupied with thoughts of Coralie once again. I sighed. While thoughts about Coralie were great, they were also especially confusing.
After lunch, we started to walk on through the meadow again.
It was then that Ferna came to walk beside me.
"What's going on with you and the little blue-haired weirdo?" she asked me.
I scoffed at that.
Ferna chuckled, too.
"I'm serious. I see the way that you look at her. Do you like her?" she asked.
I had never had to confront my feelings like that, before, but my heart pounded at Ferna's question.
"It's none of your concern," I said coldly, as I tried to move away.
Ferna caught my wrist in her grip, though.
"You can't hide things from me, wood elf. Do you think that you could hide who you really are, either? Or would you like me to tell them that, cousin?" she asked me.
I felt my eyes widen slightly, as I took a sharp inhale.
"I don't know what you're talking about and...it doesn't matter anymore. I am on their side. I will always be on their side," I said.
"Wait. What's going on?" Coralie asked, as she glanced towards the two of us.
"They're cousins. How do we know that we can trust either one of them, now?" Gloria asked, with skepticism.
"Oh, believe me, you can trust her. I just thought that it would be a good time for some of you to question how well you actually know the wood elf," Ferna said, as she eyed Coralie with partial judgement.
Coralie glanced towards me and although she looked surprised at first, she soon gave a shake of her head.
While the others walked on, I could tell that they were muttering about me.
Coralie didn't though. She came to walk beside me.
"I don't care about any of that, Esmeralda. I trust you. I'm with you, always. You already know that," she said.
I felt myself smile at her, then, as I exhaled in mild relief. I was glad that Coralie still trusted me, even though she had just found out something that I had kept to myself for a long, long, time, now.
"I'll race you to the end of the meadow, wood elf," Ferna called out to me, as she began to rush off in front.
Coralie turned to me, with a sympathetic smile.
"You better get going, Esme," she told me.
I nodded, as I rushed off to catch up with Ferna.
Soon enough, the two of us had left the meadow and entered the desert again.
"Now, it has only been twenty-one seconds but my dark elf self cannot cope with this heat," Ferna said dramatically, as she began to fan herself, "You win, wood elf, fair and square."
"Good race, cousin," I said, as I met her gaze for a second.
It wasn't until I heard Coralie join us that I looked away again. We needed to keep moving forward.
"I have a hunch we will see the dark Queen herself soon," Ajax said confidently.
"How do you know?" I asked him.
"Like I say, just a hunch," he said.
"No, he's right," Echo said, as she looked up from the Ancient Scroll, "She's nearby."
"Keep your guards up, adventurers," I told them.
The others nodded and we continued onwards.