Remain unchanged

"I thought the same too..." she replied, her tone uncertain and sad. She instantly changed her tone when she saw the confused look Mero gave her.

"Excuse me, I meant to say that yes, we did clear up everything last night." she replied as she turned around.

"I think it is best that I leave you to handle everything with the repairs." she said as she was about to leave when Mero gently pulled her hand.

"Wait, no, do not leave." he said as she looked at him.

"What is it?" she asked.

"That is the same question I would like to ask you... are you okay?" asked Mero as Wura sighed and pulled her hand out of his grip.

"I am perfectly fine Mero." she replied.

"I know you too well to be sure that whenever you say that you are fine in that tone, you are far from fine." Mero said as Wura felt like running away. She just felt so childish and immature.

Why did it always sound like Mero was taking care of her more than anything else.

"So tell me...please tell me what is bothering you." he said softly as she looked at the concerned look on his face.

"You really want to know what is bothering me?" she asked as Mero nodded instinctively.

"You are what is bothering me." she responded causing Mero to look at her with confusion written all over his face.

"I was naive to think that our relationship would remain unchanged after everything that transpired yesterday." she said her tone sad.

"How do you mean? Nothing has changed, it is still the same." Mero replied confused. At first he had wondered whether he had done something to make her upset this morning, but considering that he had left before she even woke up, that was highly unlikely. So he was sure that it had to be something else upsetting her. 

"No it is not Mero... there is no point lying, things have changed and I understand why they had to." said Wura, her tone accepting but rather dull.

Mero just stood there looking at her. She looked like she had her mind made up already. He wondered what exactly made her to believe that things had changed between them.

"Alright... tell me what exactly makes you feel like things have changed?" he asked as Wura looked unwilling to answer the question.

"Was is because I left early without waking you up?" he asked.

"Is it because of something I said? Something I did?" he asked as Wura lightly moved her head when he said 'something I said.'

"It is something I said." he said in realization as Wura made no attempt to refute neither accept it.

"What did I say to upset you? Please tell me." he said as Wura shook her head.

"What is the point? There is no reason for me to keep on lying to myself and to you." she said as she lowered her tone, finally realizing that they were outside and not in the comfort of her tent.

"Please tell me what I said to hurt you... you know that I have very deep feelings for you, so even though you might not care, I care." he said as Wura felt her heart warming up as she looked at him.

Mero always looked sincere, or at least he always was when he was by her side. She could see the plain concern and need to right a wrong that he was not even aware he commited.

Wura hated that she felt so soft, especially with him, she sighed as she looked down at the ground.

"You... you called me 'My Queen' instead of Wura, and throughout our entire conversation you are yet to say my name once... I get it, you are upset that I cannot reciprocate your love, and I do understand if you feel the need for us to distance ourselves and cut off our overfamiliarity." said Wura.

As she spoke a wave of relief and awareness washed over Mero. For a moment there he had been scared that he had truly said something unforgivable to her. But for him to know that her being upset was as of a result of something silly which was him not saying her name, it made him feel instantly relieved.

"How come you talk as if you want us to no longer be close like we are?" he asked as Wura looked at him in surprise.

"What do you mean? No I do not want that at all" replied Wura instantly.

"Then why do your thoughts jump to unnecessary conclusions?" he asked as he chuckled and reached out to tuck a loose strand of her hair behind her hair, causing Wura to freeze at the unexpected gesture.

"If I greeted you using your title it was because we were in the midst of the other guards, and I am only a knight, I have to refer to you as your title demands, especially when you are in the midst of people who owe you that respect." he said.

"And if I did not say your name... it is because I thought that it would make you uncomfortable after everything that was said last night." he explained gently.

"I thought that it would please you if some distance was put between us... but I guess not." he said, his tone bright suggesting that he was glad she cared so much about these little things.

"I see..." she said as she cleared her throat, internally cursing herself for jumping to conclusions and causing a scene when there was no problem at all.

"Yes... do does my explanation make you happy now Wura?" he asked with a smile, there was something strange about the way he called her name. It was unlike the other times he had called her, this time, he sounded rather friendly... playful even.

"Ye...yes..." Wura responded feeling extremely embarrassed at the moment. She felt as if the ground should open and swallow her up. She easily turned something trivial into a whole unnecessary conversation.

"And would you like that I continue calling you Wura, Wura?" he asked smiling as she nodded.

"Ye...yes..." she responded, feeling more like an idiot every passing second. There Mero was, all smiles, looking at her as if she was childish, which she was.

"Great... then I will continue to do so Wura." he said as Wura took a step back.

"That is great Mero, I actually have to go now, I have a lot to do, see you later." she declared as she rushed away and did not look back once.

Mero just stood there chuckling as he watched her long curly hair bounce away with her hasty steps.

He shook his head wondering how she could be so adorable sometimes. One moment she was fierce and determined, and the next she could be so quiet and docile.

Mero turned back as he truly had a lot of things to do today. At least he had a good memory that would always be at the back of his mind the entire day.

Two days later.

Two days had passed and to the mighty hope of everyone, not one drop of rain had touched the ground.

The land had been extremely dry, which in this case was good. The people had enough time to dry all their belongings that had been soaked by the rain and the damaged tents had been repaired, everything had gone back to normalcy.

Wura sighed as she laid on her bed. Yesterday Mero had broken the sad news that the East troops were still very much present. They had moved further down the path in an attempt to draw them out, but luckily Mero had been smart enough to send out one single guard that gave the report.

That meant that they still could not leave and now Wura was just starting to get extremely fed up with everything.

She was tired, she just wanted to return to their camp already, staying here was just prolonging this useless war.

To be honest Wura just felt severely depressed today. She believed that one of the reasons she felt that way was because today during her usual friendly rounds around the camp, she saw a lovely young couple who were spending time together.

She unconsciously began to think about the sight, and she kept on comparing her life with Liam to the one of the young couple. She just felt so morose, why did everything in her life have to be severely complicated? Why could she not just have a normal life like everyone else?

She felt like she was in such a bad mood. She was so deep in her depressing thoughts that she did not hear when Mero had been calling her name outside repeatedly before deciding to come in himself.

"Wura are you alright?" he asked as Wura snapped out of her thoughts and turned to look at him as she felt herself crumbling, her emotions were a mess.

She shook her head as tears began to well up in her eyes and she started to cry.