Meesei smiled and gave a slight chuckle. "You remind me of some of the relationships I had back in my village. Being the apprentice of the Treeminder, I always felt sort of...apart from most of the others my age. Very early in my life, I did not have many friends and was often quite nervous talking to others. As I got older, that started to go away, but not entirely. As the prospective Treeminder, I attracted the interest of a few of the boys my age. In the years before I actually became the Treeminder, I found myself in a few relationships. You cannot imagine how many times I went through the same mental dialogue as you just described. Although, to be honest, I was far worse. I recall one instance where I was going to meet my prospective mate for a dinner, but he did not arrive. I spent hours worrying about what was wrong with me that he would abandon me. I shifted between sadness, anger towards myself, anger towards him, and was scarcely able to sleep. It did not stop until I figured out the next day that he had simply injured his leg during a hunt and spent the evening with the healer."

Meesei had to laugh at the foolishness of her younger self. She did not blame herself too strongly, as her anxiety had been the result of her non-social upbringing, but they were lessons she had learned from nonetheless. Her present confidence would not exist without the past experience of her awkward, nervous youth. "Anyway, I suppose the point of the story is that you should not let yourself become overcome with fear. Do not try to rush your relationship, or force it to progress too slowly, just...pay attention to how it is progressing at the moment. If you really want to say something to him, you might try paying attention to the things you do when you are having that mental argument about his feelings. You might find him doing the very same things. Who knows? If you continue with him long enough, you might find him offering you a fine amethyst ring."