Can we talk

Nora hummed as she tidied Wura's room. It was a beautiful day, the sun was about, the clouds were white and fluffy and from some reason she had woken up feeling like a songbird.

Even Wura had to ask what had made her so happy, and unfortunately, she did not have an answer for that.

Nora finished tidying up Wura's room and she left to find Wura in her office.

Nora walked into Wura's office, surprised not to find her there.

"My queen." Nora called as she looked around.

"Hmm, she is not here, maybe she went to the kitchen." Nora concluded, Wura did mention earlier that she wanted to check how low the rations were in the kitchen. They would need to order that the next troop of soldiers that would be arriving to take the place of the others.

"Oh well, I will just tidy up in here as well." she said to herself. She continued humming as she swept the ground, arranged Wura's desk, she dusted the couch and the pillows.

She dusted the corners and wiped down her desk and the tables.

"Finally, everything is neat and tidy." Nora smiled to herself as she arranged a pile of letters that Wura had been reading.

Nora heard the sound of footsteps entering the tent. Initially she thought that maybe Wura had finally returned, but she was wrong. 

"Oh my queen, have you—" Nora turned around and smiled only to be dead silent when she saw Mero standing behind her.

"I did not mean to startle you." he said, he noticed the look of fear in her eyes, and it made him feel terrible.

Nora was silent, she did not know what to say, what was Mero doing here? Or better yet, why did she have such bad luck on a day she was really happy. Why did she have to come over here while Wura was not present.

"Nora... are you alright?" Mero asked worried that she had not said anything.

"I am alright Sir Mero." she replied taking a step back. Mero winced hearing her call him so coldly, as if they did not know each other.

"I am looking for her majesty." Mero said.

"Ahh, well she is not here, she must have gone to the kitchen to take count of the rations we have left." Nora replied looking down.

After weeks of not seeing Mero, or even crossing paths with him, she thought that she would feel nothing, but she was mistaken. She felt all the anger and hurt coming back to her, it was taking her most of her will not to shout at him or frown.

"I see..." Mero said.

"I will come back later then." Nora felt so much relief when she heard him say those words, but as soon as he was about to leave, he suddenly turned around.

"Nora... can we talk? Please?" he asked as she looked at him.

"Talk about what Sir Mero?" she asked clearly trying to remain as distant as ever.

Mero knew how much effort Nora had put into avoiding him, which was why, he felt like he could not pass up this opportunity to talk to her. Even if she looked like she wanted nothing to do with him.

"You know what Nora, just please give me a little of your time to make things right." he pleaded. Nora looked away, she did not want to talk with him at all.

"Please Nora, just five minutes, please, I will beg if I need to." Mero said proceeding to go down on his knees.

"No, do not beg me." Nora said hastily, her eyes opened wide, what if someone walked in and saw Mero bowing at her feet as if she had asked him to, this made her feel so uncomfortable.

"I will beg you if that is what it takes for you to agree to hear me even if it is just for a minute." Mero said as Nora pulled him up.

"Do not kneel down, I beg you, just... fine, you have five minutes, five minutes to say whatever you want to say." she said.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yes, just please get up." she pleaded as he nodded and stood up.

"Thank you Nora." he replied.

"Your time starts now, so please say whatever you want to say." she said.

"I want to apologize to you for how I hurt you." Mero said as she looked away, she knew he was going to talk about this, and well the wound had not healed completely yet, which was why she did not want to talk about it.

"I just want you to know that it was not like that in the beginning." he said.

"When we first started our relationship, I was ready to give it a try, I truly cared for you, and I still do." Nora could not help but scoff.

"If you do, then why did you hurt me in such a manner?" she asked, all the hurt she tried to push away came surfacing back.

"Believe me when I say I ended things because I never meant to hurt you." he said, his voice soft and sincere.

"Before I realized it, I had fallen for another out of my own volition, and I was still with you, and you looked so happy, I just did not want to break your heart knowing fully well that my heart was not with you but with another woman." he explained.

"The least you can do is tell me for how long you were in love with another woman during the course of our relationship?" Nora asked, this particular question had been eating at her even more than the identity of Mero's lover.

She wanted to know if she had been a fool from day or, or if maybe, just maybe Mero had enough respect not to have just used her as a cover for his true feelings.

"I would say halfway through..." he said. Nora did not notice she let out a little relieved sigh, she had dreaded knowing the answer to that.

"When did you stop being interested in me?" she asked.

"I never stopped being interested in you Nora, I just... stopped lying to myself. It was never your fault, never, it was always mine." he replied she scoffed, as if him saying that made anything better, if anything, it made her feel worse.

She felt like she forced herself on him and he just endured her. She felt like all those moments of happiness when they were together were fake.

"Believe me when I say that for a moment, I felt myself falling truly in love with you." he said, she turned to look at him, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

"I just fell for someone else deeper than I did with you. I ended things the way I do in order to protect you from heartbreak, but it seemed that I caused you heartache regardless." Mero sighed, he wished he could give her a hug, but he needed to keep his distance, that was what would be best for the both of them, especially for her.

"You made me feel so terrible, so terrible." she said burying her face in her hands, she tried her best not to cry, no, not here, not in front of Mero.

"I know, and for that I am sorry for every tear you have shed for me, every sob you have cried because of me, if it makes you feel better, I am ready to stand still in front of you as you hit me the way you want to." Nora looked up, he sounded so serious, but what sort of person would she be if she sought revenge in such a manner.

"No, that is not necessary, I do not need that to heal, all I need is the truth." she sniffed.

"What sort of person do you think I am? Some sort of vindictive woman?" she asked offended.

"No, I know you are nothing like that Nora, which is why I offered that to you, because had you taken it, I would have accepted it knowing fully well that I deserved it." he said as she shook her head and laughed.

Mero always had a way with words, he always managed to sound so sincere in any situation, maybe that was one of the reasons she fell in love with him, but that sincerity is also what tore her soul.

"I am not saying that I would have preferred you continued lying to me while you loved another, but I am trying to say that if you knew that you would never come to learn to love me the way I did you, then there was no point in you pursing a relationship with me." she said wiping the lone tears that had managed to escape.

"I know Nora, *sigh* I know, but we are human, we all make mistakes, and I never thought that things would turn out the way they did." he said sincerely.

"I understand..." Nora said, she wished she did not, but she did.