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Dakran peeled Maya's arms off him and turned around to see her finally. Her fiery red hair was braided, wearing one of his long-departed mother's dresses. She looked breathtaking. At that moment, the reality of how much he had indeed missed hit him hard.

Her green eyes sparkled with joy, with a sweet smile on her delicious lips. The knot lodged in his throat. His emotions bubbled up. He was incapable of moving.

" You don't look very well!" her sweet melodious voice broke his thoughts, and he finally snapped out of his trance.

" Are you worried about me, little red?" Dakran asked, grinning from ear to ear, finally recovering from his trance.

Maya, flustered, blushed and covered her cheeks with her hands " A little!" she shyly mumbled, looking down.

Dakran peeled the hands off her face and pinched her chin to look at him. Dakran leaned in, gently placing a soft kiss on her lips.

" I missed you, little red!" Dakran spoke against her lips, and she felt her knees go weak.

The rumble in his voice was smooth, and it was something else in there. She couldn't quite tell what it was.

" I guess I was wrong!" Pelham's butted in, interrupting their heartfelt reunion.

" Shut your trap, Pelham!" Dakran grumbled, straightening himself up, and giving Pelham a deprecating look.

" Maya, this is Pelham, the forsooth and healer we spoke of!" Dakran introduced the plump man, who smiled and bowed ; which Maya returned, " Pleasure to make you acquaintance kind, sir! I hope you can help Edýia!" Maya softly said, pleading with her eyes.

Pelham cocked his head "Likewise, milady! Please forgive me, but " Pelham paused for a moment " Are you blind?" he asked with a straight face as his gaze stayed briefly on Dakran.

Maya frowned, Dakran's face contorted in anger " I'm afraid I don't understand! By all means, what do you mean!?" Maya worriedly asked, fisting the skirt of her dress, a little anxious at the question. The inference was lost on her.

Pelham chuckled " You are a very fair young lady, and he is; well", Pelham turned and looked down the corridor " Is that the young missus chamber?" he gave and half-assed answer, avoiding finishing his thoughts and changing the subject.

Dakran's lips twitched but refrained from continuing to anything further and finally nodded with a dirty look and followed him inside Edýia room.

Edýia was in worse condition than he had left her. She was on her last legs. Pelham rubbed his forehead and sighed.

" This worse than I thought!" He mumbled, aproaching the bed.

Rom wearily pushed himself off the bed and looked at Pelham with a darkened expression. He looked on the verge of losing his sense.

Pelham walked to the table and pulled a small bottle out of his bag. It was the same as the one he pulled out on their journey back.

" Bless the Gods!" Pelham said as he walked to the bed and approached Edýia.

Pelham leaned in and pinched Edýia's chin, but Rom caught his wrist tremblingly. Pelham raised his eyes and looked at Dakran.

" It's alright, Rom! He is here to help!" Dakran eased his worries, and Rom let go of Pelham's wrist with incredible difficulty.

Pelham poured the potion into Edýia's mouth and massaged her throat to force her to swallow the elixir.

Rom watched Pelham's every move. The man was suspicious of everyone who came near Edýia. A man he had never met before, he would probably chop his head off if he tried anything funny.

Pelham gave Edýia a pitying look and returned to the table.

" This will help, but it won't be enough!" Pelham said as he fumbled his bag looking for something.

" What do you need?" Rom asked in a fading tone.

" We are looking for liantur stone. It's purple, and for the untrained eye is nothing much, but for someone like me, it is valuable!" Pelham explained and pulled out of his bag a small purple stone.

" It looks like this, but we need a bigger one!" he placed the small stone in the palm of his hand and walked to where Dakran was.

" Where can you find them?" Rom pushed himself off the bed and walked to where they were.

Pelham grumbled something " This was a stroke of luck, but you will have to go back to Shaddow Valley and bargain with the Lords to give you one. There is nowhere in this realm where you can find it!" Pelham explained, walking back to the table.

Pelham pulled out a cloth, placed the small stone in the fabric and crushed it with the candle holder. He poured the powder into another bottle and put it on the table.

" When the young miss wakes up, make sure you give her this before she has any food," Pelham instructed, packing his bag.

" Now, I would like to have some rest! My ass is numb, and I could probably eat a horse alone!" Pelham chuckled at his own words, placing his bag on his shoulder.

Rom glanced at Edýia over his shoulder and at Dakran " I'll go to Shaddow Valley!" he said in a trembling voice, his jaw ticked.

Dakran closed his eyes, inhaled " Rom, you look worse than Edýia. You won't survive the journey, let alone bargain with the Shaddow Lords! You've seen them yourself. They are not exactly the friendly kind. They will ask for something that is probably impossible to give!" Dakran reasoned, placing his hand on Rom's shoulder.

But Dakran's quickly retreated when he felt Rom quiver under the weight of his hand.

" Have some food and rest! We will talk about this later! Haren is on his way back, but it will be a few more days before he arrives." Dakran explained, the frown deepening as he spoke.

" I'll show you to your chamber!" Dakran turned around to Pelham, who was waiting by the door.

" Sala will let you know when supper is served!" Dakran followed Pelham out of the room.

" You will have this one since it is the closest to Edýia's chamber. If something happens, I need to be here! I'll be leaving later to get the supplies we need!" Dakran informed, and Pelham nodded.

" As you wish!" Pelham mumbled, pushing the door to his chamber open.

" You are a guest in this house, and I will treat you as such!" Dakran looked along the corridor with a frown.

" Where did the little red go?" Pelham amusedly asked, and his question was met with a scowl from Dakran.

" To you, she is Lady Vamadar. The lady of Ironstone!" Dakran said through gritted teeth.

Pelham raised his hands in surrender and gave him a sheepish look and shrugged.

" My apologies!" Pelham bowed " I wasn't aware that the young lady was spoken for!" Pelham said with his head peeking through the ajar door.

Dakran grumbled something intelligible and waved him off, and made his way the same way they came.