Unto the Shadow (Completed)

(Ch.24) New Arrangements

Ryder led Tairin in silence to her new room. Not more than four months ago Tairin had been just a boy she had a crush on, and now here they were walking to a room alone together in some strange magical-ish Healer's house.

How was this reality?

The scariest part of all, was that she needed him. She let her hand float away from her side and grabbed his as it swung, relief washed over her when he laced his fingers in her's.

The new room was a mirror image to the old one, and Ryder's eye went straight to the bed and its fluffy pillows. A place to escape from her body's building pain, and pretty much the whole terrible day. But Tairin pulled her to the couch, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders as he pulled her in. This was the most affection they had shared since the night of the party, he had taken her breath away with their first kiss.

The recent nights they had spent in the same bed had seemed mechanical, and distant. Both avoiding the truth it now seemed. But Ryder's explosion of fire seemed to be the ice breaker they needed.

"Are you ok?" Tairin asked, his concern evident.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, wanting to believe her own words despite her unnatural building headache, and bone ache. She began to examine the leather bracelets on his wrist to distract herself. "You didn't get hurt, did you?" She asked, afraid of his answer.

"No. I'm fine." He paused as if trying to decide if he should say what he was thinking.

Ryder beat him to the point, "Tairin, please ask me anything. I think we need to start being more open with each other."

He took a deep breath and her head rose and fell against his chest. "I don't know Ryder, I don't even know what happened. I feel like I'm going to wake up and realize all of this was just a dream. But after tonight, I guess I'm really just starting to understand how real this all is." He paused, "When I saw the smoke and opened the door to see the bathroom full of flames, I couldn't understand, I froze. Athos was there, and he pushed me back before I could get my wits and rush in, then Jade pinned me against the wall. To see you be carried from that inferno completely unharmed rocked me. I guess I hadn't really believed you had the same powers as everyone else here. I don't know, you have always been mysterious Ryder to me, but to feel like you know someone, and then to see that, just made me feel like I know nothing of who you really are."

"Welcome to the club." Ryder said bewildered.

"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to upset you or make you feel alienated." He added hastily.

"No, you're fine. I honestly thought the same thing. I was just waiting for them to tell me they had grabbed the wrong girl."

"So, what happens now? I mean are things like that supposed to happen? Is it normal to lose control, and set bathrooms on fire?"

Ryder felt her defenses rise up, she hated the idea of thinking she had lost control. Her whole life she had worked so hard to maintain control. She had told him he could ask anything, and this was a fair question.

"I'm not sure." She answered honestly. "But Athos does want to take some preemptive measures to make sure that no one gets hurt if this happens again." Her words trailed off, or more accurately her courage jumped ship.

Tairin prompted her, "Oh yeah? And what did he say?"

She could hear the skepticism in his voice, he wasn't going to make this easy.

"Well... As you saw Graynin was the one who had to come get me. Apparently he's the only one here who won't get hurt by my... outbursts." She was trying very hard to down play the significance of her point, but she could feel Tairin's muscle's tense under her. "So, to keep everyone safe, he needs to stay in the same room as me." She squinched her face, bracing herself for Tairin's response.