Whatever it is

Nora started to feel those fuzzy feelings inside again. She looked away from Zuph, no matter how many times he explained his reasons for why he cared so much, she still could not fathom it.

Why would a man just care so much about her, it was not like they had known each other their entire lives, they had just become friends on the way, and yet, he was so attentive, so caring, and ever so ready to fight for her when she felt like she had been wronged.

If she did not know better she would think that maybe he had feelings for her, but she was sure that was untrue, he was just a very good friend and she liked that about him. Even still, his attention towards her made her feel very self-conscious and not worth enough for someone to fuss over her so much.

"Zuph... I still do not understand why... If I am being honest, had it been you that was hurt by some woman who happened to be my friend, I would not have gone to the extent you have with Mero." she said sincerely after a moment of silence.

Zuph just smiled at her, he did not seem offended at all, with her, he was never offended and he had a feeling that she knew that.

He liked how comfortable she was with him, she did not even ask him if she could ask her question, she just asked, and this was the familiarity that Zuph cherished so much, yet he could not tell her how he truly felt, or at least not for now.

"I do not expect you to Nora, had it been me in your situation, after all, I am a man." said Zuph as he chuckled.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Nora asked on the verge of being offended.

"I did not mean it in an offensive way, what I meant to say was, as men we are more inclined to be aggressive when someone we care about has been hurt, I suppose it is a gender thing." said Zuph.

"I beg to disagree Zuph, I know some women who can go as far, or even worse than some men can when they have been hurt." said Nora strongly, she wished that she could be like that, maybe then Mero would have thought twice before hurting her as badly as he had.

A part of her really wanted to make him suffer and regret his betrayal, and yet another part of her was still sombre and in love.

"Oh, you are right about that, it skipped my mind, so I guess that the reason you cannot fully understand why I care about you the way I do is because you are you..." said Zuph.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" she asked him a little bit confused, she knew that Zuph would never say anything bad about her, but she just had to be sure.

"It is a good thing, because you are so caring, so loving and so innocent, you just want to live in peace with everyone, and that speaks highly of you." said Zuph as he chuckled and Nora looked at him and smiled.

"Thank you for all the sweet things you say about me Zuph." she smiled.

"You do not have to thank me, they are all true." said Zuph as he smiled.

"But, I have one last question to ask you, but I do not know if I should for I fear that it would upset you." he said sincerely.

"Is it about Mero?" she asked and he nodded, she sighed, the least she could do was answer his reasonable questions without snapping at him.

"Sure, you can ask me whatever it is you want to." she replied.

"Do you not think that it would be easier for you to move on from Mero and forgive if you met the woman he says he loves and speak with her?" asked Zuph as Nora went silent, she had never thought about that before, no, not until he brought it up this moment.

"You know Zuph... honestly, I do not know if that would truly do me some good." said Nora.

"Right now, I resent that woman,, even though I do not know her, even though she might be innocent and never had known about me, right now, forgiveness is not even an option." said Nora.

"I know how you feel Nora, but if you think about it, meeting that woman will bring you closure, and you will finally be able to move on." he added.

"That may be true, and you may be right, but not right now, at this moment, I cannot deal with that. Mero made me feel like he actually cared about me, but he did not... and that is really hurtful." she said.

"I know Nora... how about we try to find the woman so when you are ready to speak to her you will know exactly where to find her." said Zuph, he really thought that this would be good for Nora.

"Even if I agreed to this, how would we find this woman? We know nothing about her." replied Nora.

"True, but we do know one thing, you remember you told me that when you asked Mero if the woman was someone you knew and he said yes." he reminded her.

"Yes, I do not see what that has to do with anything." replied Nora.

"No Nora, it has a lot to do with this, how many women do you know?" he asked.

"A lot of women Zuph, honestly I see what you are trying to say but it is impossible for us to find this famed woman. Mero has managed to keep her identity secret and I doubt that they will dare be seen together any time soon." 

"I know that you are just trying to make me happy, but you really do not have to go to such lengths." she said.

"No, you do not have to worry about anything Nora, I will handle this, do not worry, I promise you I will find this woman." said Zuph resolutely. Nora was about to refute him, there was no need for him to go so far, but she could see how determined he was to do this for her and if he was not troubled about it, then why would she discourage him.

"Alright Zuph, thank you for always worrying for me." she said as she just smiled.

"You never need to thank me Nora, never." said Zuph as he smiled.

"Well, it was nice to have breakfast with you, but I am sure you need to go on to your other duties now." said Nora, reminding Zuph that he indeed had to return to his duties.

He felt sad that they had to part ways again, he no longer had excuses to come and see her as frequently as he would like, he did not know how to tell her all this.

"I guess that I will see you at dinnertime." came those words that surprised Zuph and filled him with so much joy.

"Dinnertime?" he asked, he did not want to seem too excited.

"Yes, of course, or are you busy during that time?" asked Nora as she stood up.

"No, no, I am not." he replied.

"So would you like to have dinner with me? Of course after I have served her majesty first." she said.

"Of course I would love to, we can watch the stars again, it will be wonderful." he said, he was unable to hide the huge grin present on his face.

"Sure, that does sound wonderful, I guess I will see you later then." said Nora.

"See you later." he replied as she smiled waved and disappeared into the crowd with all the dirty dishes she had collected.

Nora could not lie to herself, over the past few days she had found Zuph to be a better companion than she had expected him to be, and she truly was lonely during the nights and he was someone nice she liked to spend time with.

They could talk about anything and laugh together without any care in the world, and that was what she cherished most about their relationship. 

"One day Nora... one day." Zuph said to himself smiling as he got up and returned back to his duty post.

...

Wura sighed, there were some letters that she had to sign off on, but her mind was far from present in her current activity. 

Hearing all of Nora's word of trust in her made her feel so guilty, she was thinking of ways to tell the truth and apologize, she only wished that Nora would be able to forgive her one day.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she did not hear Mero come in.

"Wura, is something wrong?" he asked her as she snapped out of her daze and looked at him.

"Mero... I feel really guilty." she instantly responded as he looked worried.