Falowik gazed at Uien as she confessed her failure to find members for the search party. He was at a loss as she offered to let him choose whether she would come with him or remain behind. Tears came to her eyes but were unshed, and she trembled. He wondered what had made her say such words! They had parted speaking their love to each other, and now she offered to let him walk out of her life! They had just been in each other's company for no more than a few minutes. He wondered what had happened to her while he was away.
"Has someone said or done something ill to you while I've been gone?"
She shook her head, looking at the ground a moment, then meeting his gaze. "I did not keep my promise to you and found just one other to join us. That is all."
"You have done no worse than I."
His words fell flat, little comfort to her, it seemed, for her face did not change. A new thought came to him: that was not all. She was reading him and responding to what she thought must be in him. She did not know that he held himself so straightly because his need for her sang too boldly inside him. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her tears away, to hold her and make the troubles of the world go away; at least for a brief moment. He could not allow himself to show his love for her; he had chosen to allow himself something. He tried to put that into words.
"Uien, Star Lady, you are a lodestone to me. No matter where I am, you will be at the heart of my world. It is not my place to tell you 'go there' or 'come here', for you are Lady and I am servant." The thought struck him as true and right, and in a motion he dropped to one knee before her, took her hand in his, raised it to his lips, and kissed it. "I adore you and am not worthy of you. Tell me how I may serve you."
[ October 21, 2003: Message edited by: littlemanpoet ]
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