Happy or worried

"Do not apologize for only speaking your mind Nora, in fact never apologize for saying exactly what you think alright?" asked Wura as Nora nodded.

"I cannot blame you for the way you feel, after all, if I was the one who had been hurt the way you were... I would feel the exact same way or even worse." said Wura honestly causing Nora to laugh.

"That may be true my queen, but you are also very understanding and I am sure that you would have the compassion to think of how the other woman feels right now. I could never, right now, if I was to meet her, the first thing I would do is slap her." said Nora as she laughed and Wura froze.

Here she was, the other woman, and yet Nora did not know, she was laughing with her, telling her her heart and Wura just honestly felt terrible. She wished that she was courageous enough to spit out the truth once and for all.

When she heard Nora tell her what she and Zuph were up to, Wura knew that it would be best right there and then to come out and confess the truth, it would save them the stress of finding out that the woman was actually her and also save her the fear and stress of feeling guilty.

But she was scared... and she hated that she was such a coward. Right now, she could not bring herself to look Nora in the eye and tell her that she was the betrayer, she was the other woman, she was the one that ruined her relationship with Mero.

"You always think the best of me Nora, and for that, I will forever be grateful." said Wura, she could not help herself, she just had to hug Nora who did not seem to find anything suspicious about it.

"And you think the same of me my queen." she replied smiling as they hugged.

"Now my queen, please finish your dinner." said Nora as Wura laughed and nodded.

"Of course, of course, you know what Nora, since you promised to have dinner with Zuph, you can leave now, you do not have to worry about me, I will be fine." said Wura.

"Are you sure my queen?" asked Nora and Wura nodded.

"Very sure, you have somewhere else to be and it won't be nice to leave Zuph waiting. You don't have to worry, I will be completely alright if you leave right now." said Wura convincingly, she could see that Nora looked like she did not want to leave, but Nora's life was not only meant to serve her.

Honestly, Wura was happy that Nora had her own plans and her own friends, and her own life that did not circulate around her, it made her feel less guilty.

"Oh alright my queen, if you insist." she finally replied.

"And I do insist, enjoy your dinner with Zuph, send him my greetings and I will see you tomorrow." said Wura as she smiled.

"I will my queen, see you tomorrow and goodnight." said Nora as she smiled and bowed her head before leaving.

Wura smiled and waved, as soon as she was sure Nora was gone, the smile on her face dropped and she started to breathe heavily. She felt choked, she felt like the worst person on earth.

Tears began to stream down her face, no matter how hopeful she felt, she knew that Nora would never be able to forgive her for what she did, now it was up to her to decide whether she would come out and confess or be found out, and right now both options were too scary for her.

...

Nora walked through the busy camp, she looked up at the sky, it looked like it was going to be another starry night today. As she thought about that she suddenly realized that she had not told Zuph where they would have dinner together.

She was about to start panicking about it when she realized that Zuph would probably be waiting for her in her tent. She thought about stopping by the kitchen to get their food first, but after seeing how crowded the streets were she decided it would be better to just go straight to her tent.

She sighed as she walked into her tent only to be surprised to see Zuph already there.

"Good evening Nora." he said as he smiled.

"Good evening Zuph... what are you doing here?" she asked, she knew that it was a stupid question to ask, but she could not help herself.

"Well someone invited me to dinner, so here I am." he replied.

"Yes, I know I did, I just remembered that I did not specify where we would meet." she laughed.

"I know you did not, so I guessed how about our favourite spot under the stars?" he laughed and she nodded.

"Great idea, give me a moment, I will be back soon, let me just go get our food." she said.

"There's no need to do that. I already brought our dinner on my way here. I was sure that you would be tired from doing your duties all day." he said as Nora just looked at him wondering how someone could be so... understanding.

"You did not have to do that Zuph." she said softly.

"Oh but I had to, I just wanted to help you out." he replied.

"Thank you..." she smiled.

"You do not have to thank me, anyway, you don't seem too surprised to see me here in your tent without your permission." he laughed.

"No, I'm not, after all, I am used to seeing you over here often." she jabbed as he laughed.

"I do not know if I should be happy or worried that you think that." he said jokingly.

"You should be happy, it means that I trust you enough." she laughed.

"But you should also be worried because it means I might know that you think of me way too much." she laughed as Zuph tried to laugh but it did not sound sincere at all.

"Anyway, I am starving, we should go and eat now." said Nora as she untied her hair.

"Yes, yes, after you." replied Zuph as she walked ahead and giggled and he followed behind her.

...

"I love how twinkling the stars are tonight." said Nora as she smiled, she and Zuph were outside her tent watching the stars like last night.

"They knew that we would be coming out here again today, that's why they are shining so much." Zuph joked, Nora laughed.

"Maybe that is true, who knows?" she laughed.

"So, how was your first day back doing your duties?" he asked.

"Ahh, well it was nice, it felt good to be back to doing something I love to take care of someone I care for a lot." she replied.

"That sounds nice, and what about you? How was your first day back?" she asked him.

"Ahh... well it was fine, I cannot complain, you actually made my day better." said Zuph as he smiled.

"That is really nice of you to say." she laughed.

"Well, I have to admit that I did not really enjoy my day, since I asked her majesty to not speak to Mero about me, I could not follow her everywhere as usual, and because of that I felt really bored the entire day." said Nora.

"I can imagine, that reminds me, tomorrow I am going to ask to be reinstated to my previous duties." said Zuph.

"Why?" asked Nora.

"Well I need to get closer to Mero whether I like it or not, that's the only way we'll be able to find out some more information." said Zuph.

"Even though I asked my duties to be changed because I cannot stand being in the same room as him, but I just have to put aside my dislike for him and focus on what is important, which is you feeling better." said Zuph.

"You really do not have to do all this for me Zuph." she replied, there she was again, feeling that little fuzzy feeling inside that she felt whenever she felt Zuph speak so strongly in concern for her.

"Oh but I do Nora, you deserve much more better than what Mero put you through." said Zuph as Nora instinctively reached out to hold his hand causing him to freeze.

"Thank you Zuph, really thank you for your care and worry for me, and please do not say that it is no trouble because it is, I wish that there were more people like you in the world, it definitely would be a better place." she smiled.

"You are welcome Nora." he just smiled, he knew of nothing else that he could say. Her gratitude was enough, he wished that he could hear her say those sweet meaningful words to him over and over again.

Nora cleared her throat and let go of his hand, realizing that their close contact was a little bit too inappropriate.

"Anyway, before I forget, I want to tell you that I told the queen about our plans." she suddenly mentioned.