Into Taleria

Chapter Twenty Nine

Kate squinted in the too-bright lamplight as she followed the elf in a slow trudge down the long hall, grateful for Aduil's steady presence at her side. Not just for the physical support, though that was much appreciated—her head was starting to spin, and that couldn't be a good thing—but because, knowing what waited at the end of that hall, (or around the corner or wherever they were going) she wasn't sure she could have forced herself to make that walk if she'd been alone.

Their guide, more than a few paces ahead, glanced back every now and then as if to gauge their progress, and Kate tried to hurry along, but could only move so fast. When he let out a barely audible but long-suffering sigh, she'd had enough.

"You know what, screw you buddy! I'm dying, I can move as slow as I want."

When he looked back with a sort of confused surprise, she just scowled at him. She had enough to deal with without adding some random elf's judgy impatience to the pile. She wasn't explaining, and she wasn't apologizing.

Aduil's pained smile, however, had her rethinking that—the last thing she wanted was to hurt him—but before she could get a word out, he addressed the other elf, slowly and clearly enough that Kate could understand.

"She says you are being rude. She speaks true."

Their guide had the grace, at least, to look a little chagrined before he quickly turned forward and set off again, at a slower pace. He didn't turn back again.

Even as slow as they moved, they reached their destination all too soon when the other elf stopped in front of a closed door, nodded to them and hurried back the way they'd come.

The two stood there for some time—well, Aduil stood, Kate kind of leaned—just holding on to one another, neither one willing to take that last step toward the room, toward the end, away from each other.

Kate glared at the door. There should have been something different about it, she thought, with what waited behind it, it should have been...uncomfortable, somehow. It should have pulsated with an ominous red glow, or been painted a black so deep it sucked all the light from the hall, or at least been made of dirty, rusted metal. But it was none of those things. It was just a door. A pretty door, even, cut from some soft, light-colored wood with graceful winding patterns carved around the edges.

Aduil let out a heavy sigh and reached for the handle.

"Wait!" Kate grabbed his arm. "Wait, just...I can't, I can't go yet, I'm not ready...I..." she paused, searching for words. 

This was the last chance. There was so much she still needed to tell him—how impossibly lucky she was to know him, how she'd never even dared hope to find someone like him, how much she was going to miss him, and everything else she'd been hiding and denying since the day they met—and she'd been trying all day, but words just wouldn't come, they weren't enough.

Nothing would ever be enough.

"I'm never going to be ready." With a slow, deliberate breath, she looked up at Aduil, then quickly focused on the ceiling high above his head. If she looked at him, she was going to cry. "Just, just don't forget me, okay?"

He cupped her cheek with one hand. "Never. I could never forget you," he said, then with the tiniest twitch of a smile, added, "truly, it is not possible, elves have perfect memories."

Kate rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help a small laugh. "And that was so romantic for a second," she said, then paused. "Wait, that's not true. If it was, you wouldn't have had such trouble with your tenses." And she wouldn't have humiliated herself in the garden back in the Meadowood.

"No, it is not," he agreed. "Yet it need not be, for every moment with you is forever written across my heart."

"Oh, look, you brought it back." She sniffled. Brushing some hair out of her face, Aduil smiled—and, damn, she was going to miss that smile—but she couldn't look at it for long; she was barely holding it together as it was. Instead, she scrubbed her hands over her face, shook her head and turned back to that stupid door again. "Okay. Last chance to get us out of this. Any ideas?"