the Forest of Emmitaenu

Spellbound

Lienkin felt like he was walking on air. He went wherever Tres wanted to go. She leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed dreamily. He really liked the sound. The whole time they walked, his eyes were locked on her, causing her to blush every few minutes under the intensity of his attentive gaze. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. Together they stumbled through the woods like love birds with their eyes locked on each other.

Suddenly he found them approaching Lara's clearing. Oh no, he thought, the cloud he was walking on burst like a thousand tiny bubbles. What if Lara is still here? I can't be seen with Tres! He snapped out of his trance and fell back to reality. Why was he with Tres? He wondered groggily. Because she's beautiful! The voice of his summons shot back. And? He felt disoriented.

Lienkin promised to come back for Lara, and he didn't intend on bringing anyone back with him. His senses on full alert now, he could tell something was wrong, he could feel the pull at the back of his mind as that undeniable desire frantically tugged. Where had these feelings come from?

He glanced down at Tres who had her hand submerged deep in her flower basket, holding onto something beneath the surface. She's working magic on me, he realized. Lienkin couldn't believe it! How could Tres be working magic on him and he not even know it?

Realizing that he was staring at her basket, Tres pulled out a flower and playfully twirled it under her nose. Lienkin quickly checked for Lara's aura, and realizing that she wasn't there, he grabbed Tres' hand and pulled her into the clearing, smiling like a ravenous wolf as he did. In the clearing the sun shined down on them in blinks between thin wispy clouds. She giggled with delight as shivers ran down her spine. She had waited so long for him to give her this much attention.

"Let me see your flowers," Lienkin asked softly, still smiling forcefully. Tres held the flower she'd been twirling out to him. He didn't even look at it. "No, all of your flowers," he insisted. 

She hesitated and returned the flower she was holding back to the basket. Staring at him quizzically, she wondered what his fascination was with her flowers. Of course he could see them, but under the circumstances, she wasn't about to hand them all over.

Gripping the basket tightly, she raised it up to her chest and asked, "See Lienkin, aren't they lovely?" But he still wasn't looking at the flowers, he just continued to stare at her. This time his gaze sent the unpleasant kind of chills down her back, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that.  Maybe it would be a good thing if he would occasionally look away. His staring was starting to make her feel uncomfortable.

"May I have them?" He asked at last. She shook her head no. If they weren't hiding her rose quartz, she would have given them to him in a heartbeat. There was very little she would ever deny him, especially when he was truly looking at her for first time. Though if she gave him this one thing and he found out what she'd done, he would never look at her this way again. "Why not?" He asked.

"They are... for my mother," she lied. He raised an eyebrow and looked at her in doubt. Despite the scrutinizing gaze, she still melted under that quirky expression of his.  After a brief hesitation, he appeared to relent at last.  Thank the Immortals, she sighed in relief.

"Will you dance with me?" He asked instead. She smiled and her entire face lit up. Of course she would, dancing was among her favorite things to do! Dropping the basket where she stood and putting her hands in his, they spun away. Lienkin began to hum as he led her in circles and spun her around, he was going too fast, and it was making her dizzy. 

"Wait," Tres asked, breathless, but he would not stop.

They continued to twirl until she could no longer keep her balance. At last he halted and helped her to sit until her world ceased to spin. Tres closed her eyes so the dizziness would fade. She felt light headed and winded. Lienkin was standing before her blocking the sun by the time she opened her eyes again.

"What is this?" He demanded, outraged. He held up the rose quartz in his hand and stared at her furiously. Tres stammered to explain but no words would come out. He paced in front of her and she scrambled to her feet.

Lienkin had been determined to discover what she had hidden under those flowers, and he had succeeded, taking advantage of her while she recovered from her dizziness. So she had charmed him with a spell and a rose quartz probably meant it was a love spell. There was no natural reason for him to have felt so ardently about her all of a sudden. Lienkin was willing to bet it was a forbidden love spell.

That was wrong, unacceptable. No one was allowed to do that. She had interfered with his free will, and she had interrupted his relationship with Lara more than once. Lara, who he realized, wasn't where he left her. What was he going to do? Pacing the ground and listening to Tres whine, he tried to imagine all the places she could be. By the Immortals! Lara could be anywhere! He groaned and Tres fell silent.

"Tres," he let her name fall to the ground like a leaf. "I have to go." He turned and started walking away. Tres sat there teary eyed for a few seconds. She watched him leave her in the clearing all alone.

How had her charm backfired? What went wrong? Silently she let him go and stared off toward where he had disappeared. It only took her a few moments more before she was on her feet and chasing after him. She couldn't help it, she needed him to love her and she wasn't going to let him walk away without a fight.