Arc 721, 16 Ymiden
She watched him. Maybe he knew that, or didn’t, but very often her eyes followed him as he simply went about mundane matters. Balthazar may have been the one with Vri-granted memory, but when it came to him, Elisabeth remembered everything. Every trial she learned something new as they worked their way through life.
As she knew him, the young mage understood that he was learning about her too. As life kept throwing them new and ‘interesting’ challenges, they adapted. She had supported his decision about the Elements and Officer’s Training despite knowing that it would separate them for periods of time. She supported him no matter what he did because she loved him. It didn’t keep her from seeing the truth of who he was, although some would disagree. For everything that had happened to him, he was still moving forward, trying to help people and solve mysteries.
Elisabeth appreciated, more than ever, the fact that they could speak in private with one another again. Not being able to do so had affected their relationship greatly and in truth, she felt, had hampered his ability to deal with what had happened. Taking away an avenue of support for him was something she hadn’t agreed with, having told the therapist as much, but a small silver lining of the situation was that she would never take the ability to talk to Balthazar alone for granted again.
She listened as he spoke, just letting him talk. They were still in the process of catching up on everything they had wanted to say during the past season. All the conversations they had missed. Elisabeth had missed them so very much, but that freedom came with a cost. Again.
“I wish that too, love. I do.” Her voice was understanding, soft. “The circumstances weren’t ideal. There are a lot of things I wish would have happened differently, but you are right – that’s life. We will deal with it.”
His nudge and grin caused her to smile, as they always did. Both were still concerned with her missing memories but as well, both realized there was nothing to be done about retrieving them. Either they would come back, or they wouldn’t.
As he took her hand, she gently squeezed his, watching him as he responded to her gentle tease. “Well, maybe I’ll try my hand at some more poetry. I quite enjoyed yours…” It was then that he turned away and started rummaging through his bag, bringing out a crystal and showing it to her.
As he explained where it had come from and what it was, she smiled, taking it as he offered it to her, gazing upon it. “It’s beautiful.” He admitted that he wanted to keep it, and the reason why made her smile brightly, causing the young woman to turn and place a soft kiss on his lip, whispering gently. “I’ll be alright. You'll know if I'm not...and I'll know that you are on your way to me." Now that he was free to leave the island, she was reassured that if his ring told him she was in trouble, he'd find a way to her, just as she would always find him if her silver band told her of the need.
"You know I don’t want you to go and I’m not going to profess otherwise. But I know that you need to go.” Reaching up, Elisabeth gently caressed his cheek, taking a deep breath. “I’ll be right here, waiting for you to come home.”
Smiling gently at him, the young woman gestured over at the chair, where the now upside-down, snoring Storm was…well…snoring. “Besides, I have Storm to protect me. I don’t see how that could possibly go wrong…” Grinning gently, Elisabeth took a deep breath, trying to mask a bit of the pain with humor.
Sometimes it worked. Sometimes…not so much.
