Arn shook his head slightly at her self deprecation.  How could she believe that?  How could she not see how important she was?  There was literally a group of high powered individuals who were looking for her.  This may not be a very amiable point but it was logical.  Also, his world had been turned upside down due to her.  Had it not been for her, his life would continue to in the same straight and clear path that he was on. 

Despite him being a collected and always composed person, the turmoil and uncertainty that she had brought in just the mere moments of knowing her stirred some deep need in him that he did not know he had.  The mystery of her, her life, and the future was very appealing to the master mage. 


His logical mind posed many questions and he wanted to follow each one but at this moment, he wanted to give her his full attention.  Even this inner reflections, which he was used to doing all his life, seemed somehow in appropriate with her being next to her. 


[color=ec008c]“Breathe Arn." [/color]

He smiled and he took a deep breath.  His lungs filled with the air in the room and with something else.  A slight hint of something else.  Was it Her?  He chasticed himself for the thought.  It was not clear wetehr the feeling that she had arose in him were romantic.  But he did feel drawn to her, connected to her, and he very much felt that not being with her would somehow be a great loss. 

Yet, despite even the interactions which have brought them close and even opened doors into his soul that had been stuck shut, he still felt like a creep imagining that the sweet scent was somehow related to her. 

To deviate his mental train from the current track which would only bring red flush to his face and quicken his heart, the battlemage decided to analyze the analogy she had presented. 

[color=0054a6]“Bow and arrow?”[/color]  He spoke the question softly more to himself.  He was sure he had heard the words before but as the current world’s technology had more efficient and deadly munitions or projectiles, they had not been used in actual battle for millennia. 

His quick mind searched through the archives of his mind for the reference in an over eager way to compensate for his previous thoughts.   Immediately, his mind raced through references of military weapons.  Putting all pieces together he understood what she meant.  Alone, both were not very efficient.  However, together they could be quite deadly.  These were simple instruments and Arn liked nothing if not simplicity.  

He smiled down at her and chuckled, this time more easily, at her mischievous glint on those eyes of hers.  He could see his reflection in them and wondered if she would feel just at ease once her Dark Sight had passed.  The master mage was not a vain person or even cared about looks but he felt that perhaps she may have an image in her mind that would dissipate once she actually beheld him. 

He sighed in understanding.  His own life was not something that he would gleefuly wish on somebody else.  There had been many times in his young life when he wished him and his mother could live in a small house, she would wake up and make him breakfast and he would run along with his friends to some imaginary school. 

He wondered if strife and challenges was all that people born with an affinity to magic could hope for. Here was a lovely young lady that had seen more pain that some soldiers and only those who had gone through similar circumstances could understand. 

What he could not understand was the sudden concern in her face.  Arn was glad she felt him trustworthy and safe.  Was she perhaps doubting her own conclusions?  What else could he do to reassure her.  He wondered if he had said something wrong or something to bring up doubts in her.  His own face morphed into one of concern.

[color=ec008c]"Forgive me, but I can't seem to let you go." She whispered before she leaned forward and closed her eyes placing a gentle kiss on his forehead.[/color]

The place where her lips touched his skin was the epicenter of a warm wave that spread outward to his whole body.  He smiled at that.  A warmth that was obvious radiated from his body.  He felt a joy in hearing that.  Eilis seemed to enjoy his company and not because of his destructive and weaponized potential.  In fact he had done nothing more than be a human heating pad.  Some part of his mind wondered at this phenomenon.  

Normally it took concentration and tapping into the Aether to produce these thermal changes.  Instead, the connection with her seemed to naturally cause a reaction that surpassed understanding.  That analytical side of his brain wanted to study, to question, and to test.  He wondered if their connection could work both ways and he could provoke changes in her.  

His other side wanted to just stay still in the moment between them for eons.  This side of his brain saw their connection as inevitable.  Arn was not very familiar with this side.  It made illogical and outlandish arguments.  Yet, despite their definitive fallacy, the mage could not say they were wrong.  

In the fraction of a second that the battle for control and command raged in his mind a truce was finally called and was embodies by a simple 

[color=0054a6]“Nor I want to let you go either.”[/color]