The Bonds of Fate

Safe and Sound

Back at the hideout, Zora laid Luna gently down on the couch. Though he had regained his composure, exhaustion threatened to overtake him. His mind was reeling with questions about the night, each question just as concerning as the last. How had someone managed to place such a powerful enchantment on Luna without a single one of them noticing? Had the men been waiting for Luna to arrive in Midglen and how did they know she would be there.

Zora kneeled down beside Luna and as he leaned in, he placed a hand gingerly on her forehead; he swore as he felt the burning heat from her skin and the dampness of sweat at his touch, her fever had not yet subsided. Anxiously awaiting Owen's return, Zora made his way to the kitchen where he found a small white linen cloth sitting in a basket by the sink. He dampened the cloth and returned to Luna, as he placed the cloth on her skin a quiet groan escaped her lips, yet she did not wake.

Sinking to his knees beside the couch the sound of Luna's desperate cry for help reverberated through his mind. Fear once again seized his heart, just as it had done earlier when he had first heard her, the reality of how close she had come to death nauseated him. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply in an attempt to calm his mind. Reassuring himself that she was alive and safe with him.

Still, he wondered that this could have all been avoided had he never left her side, now she lay in front of him her body battered and bruised. Blane's words echoed in his mind: "You won't be able to protect her forever." It was true, Zora had been fortunate, if Luna had not gotten out her plea he never would have found her in time. This battle was far from over, the group had failed to kill Luna, and Zora knew that the longer she remained alive the more desperate and violent they would become. Protecting Luna meant overcoming his own weaknesses and arrogance; failing to do so would dash any hopes he had of keeping her safe, let alone ensuring the safety of the Clover Kingdom.

Zora retrieved Luna's necklace from his pocket, frustrated that he had been unable to have it repaired. The goldsmith's shop had been too busy with customers to handle repairs. He shoved the necklace angrily back into his pocket knowing that leaving Luna had been for nothing, it would not have been difficult for him to discretely ask for the chain to be repaired without her realizing it was her necklace.

"What is taking Owen so long?" Zora wondered out loud, his impatience growing. Though the enchantment had been broken Luna still needed healing, her head wound concerned him the most. At first, he believed that she sustained a concussion when she hit her head, and though the majority of her behavior was due to the enchantment's effects, he remained unconvinced that a concussion had not added to her dwindling mental state.

Zora lightly brushed her hair away from her face. "Luna, I'm sorry I didn't stay with you tonight. I should have, I should never have left you," he sighed, "I had a very different idea of how tonight would go." Zora shifted his position on the ground, continuing, "I wanted to tell you, Luna, that...it's you, Luna, you're the one who taught me I could find happiness again, that I don't need to live this life alone, you saved me from a life of despair and brought me out of the pit of nothingness. I have never stopped searching for you, not a day went by that I didn't think of you, and now we are together again, I promise I will never let anyone take you away from me again."

He scoffed at himself and ran a hand through his hair roughly "Stupid, I sound like an idiot." He looked down at Luna, "I'm really glad you can't hear how lame that was."

Yawning Zora rested his arms on the couch and laid his head down on top of them. "Where are they?"

Zora began to drift off to sleep when Owen slipped through a spatial rift that had opened into the common room. Seeing Zora with his head bent down Owen asked, "Zora, are you alright?"