Naveen

 

I nodded and followed along, learning at a good pace. I didn't let my mistakes get to me for long, and I grinned in delight when I got things right.

Maleen:

I had stayed in the infirmary helping as much as I could and watching and learning.  I promised to come back again to learn more another time when things slowed down.  
I made my way to the library a couple hours later to join Wren and Dorian.  I saw them before they saw me and something about the way they were both bent over the table so close together tugged at my heart.

I sat back and scratched at the side of my face, my head swirling a bit from the last lesson. There was so much to learn! How did they do it?

Maleen:

Dorian looked up when he saw me moving toward them, he smiled warmly.  "How is it going?"  I asked softly.  "She's doing wonderfully."  He said and turned his smile to Wren, it brightened and his eyes got a sparkly look.

I still had my head down, my lips moving slowly and silently as I worked on writing the sentence. It was a simple one "My name is Wren." But even though it looked like a child wrote it. I was proud to have been able to do that much.

Maleen:

I moved to be standing next to Wren's chair and put my hand on her shoulder.  "How are you doing?"  I asked her reading over her shoulder the books laying out on the table, and the messy letters she had drawn.

"It's hard, but...do you think I'm getting it?" I asked, looking up at her with hope in my eyes.

Maleen:

"I'm sure.  You've only been at it for a couple hours and you've already got this far."  I told her with an encouraging smile.

I smiled happily back at her. "Can I see you do your name? Please? Both of you?" I looked at both with a bit of begging in my eyes.

Maleen:

I smiled at her and squeezed her shoulder.  "Of course."  I said softly as I leaned over the table.  I picked up a pen and neatly wrote my name, then Dorian added his under mine.  His was bigger and slanted, mine was simply neat.

I watched them work, my lips parted slightly as I compared my name to theirs. They were so much neater than I was at it. Was I that far from being able to do it right?

Maleen:

I sat in a chair next to her.  "You'll get it in no time.  Come on, keep practicing.  Try something new."  I pulled down a piece of power with a new sentence on it.

I bit my lip as I stared at the sentence. My face became a mask of concentration as I tried to copy the sentence.

 

Talon:

I stood looking out a window, watching my people move and act out their daily lives.

Rina:

I walked up behind him and lightly touched his shoulder.  "Talon?"  I asked trying to sound cool and professional, but I came out sounding soft and shy.

I turned my head to look at her and my eyes clouded over with a mixture of emotions. I was torn on what to feel when looking at her. She flipped her emotions constantly, one second being kind and sweet, the next she second she just was cold and bitter.

Rina:

A rush of desire washed over me and I had the strong urge to lean forward and kiss him when he turned around. I tried to check my emotions and took a careful step back to keep myself from doing anything. "About last night..." I started and suddenly didn't know where I was going with it.

I caught a hint of her emotions and watched her step back.  I searched her face for another moment and then turned myself to look out the window again.  "If you have regrets...then don't worry.  I won't speak a word of it, but stop playing my emotions Rina.  I do have feelings for you but the little dance you do...I am not going to do it anymore.  Take a stand on how you feel, you can't straddle the line much longer before I make the choice for you."

 
 
 

Talon:

I watched her for a moment before reaching out to catch her chin in one hand to make her look at me. "You play me right there. 'not sure we could be friends but maybe eventually'. You straddle the line when you should make a choice. You leave me confused and guessing. And you don't know me at all if you assume that I am anything but Savien. I was a twin. One half of a whole." I gave her jaw a gentle squeeze before I released her. "Make your choice and pick a side Rina. I can't play this game forever." I felt tired, and I was sure I looked it. Perhaps soon I would have to go to the sacred temple.

Rina:

My expression went flat when he said I was playing him. "I don't know what could confuse you about saying maybe we could be friends, I mean nothing more than that. I want nothing more than that. I made a choice, maybe you need to make yours." I said coolly then turned to go.

I thought more about my life and who I really was more in the past day with him than I had in the past year. I had become so used to keeping my secrets that it had become apart of me. Maybe that was bleeding into my personality though. I straddled the line between who I am, and who I was supposed to be. I straddled the line between hating what the kingdom had become, and wanting to keep it safe. Maybe I had just become someone who had to walk the line, my life was so contradictory, one wrong step and I would be shunned by both sides for who I was. Now I was doing it in my personal life, I felt like I had to keep all my options open rather than choosing a path to move forward.

I gripped the window sill in my hands, my strength coming through as my fingers bit into the stone and cracked the sill. I drew in a slow breath and then let it out before letting my power go and releasing the sill.