Despite the rocky start to their journey, Wura and Mero were still able to laugh and enjoy the little time they were able to spend together, reminiscing of good memories and funny things that happened long before they had ever been together.
Before they knew it, the sun's dim morning rays had been replaced by the sharp, bright rays of the afternoon.
Wura was starting to sweat. She felt as if she was sticking to the saddle, and she could tell that Nolan and Mero's horse were both tired, their steady pace had slowed down for the past hour.
Wura did not know why, but it seemed as if the heat of last time they had journeyed could not compare to this current heat in the moment.
She felt like it was unbearable, she made a mental note to herself never to insist on going on another relief aid mission again. This one that they were just returning from was more than enough experience for her.
"Are you tired?" asked Mero, the answer to his question obvious, but it was clear from his tone that he said that in order to purposely annoy Wura.
Wura turned to look at him with a far from pleased look on her face saying: "What do you think?"
Mero laughed seeing the displeased look on her face, just a few hours ago she was boasting on how easy it was for them to get from place to place, but for an hour now she had been completely silent, obviously tired from the journey already.
"I do not see what is so funny Mero, if you continue laughing I might just give you a well deserved smack on the head." she refuted as Mero continued to laugh.
"Oh calm down Wura, I am only joking, there is no need to be that serious." said Mero as he laughed.
"Besides, we will arrive at the camp in less than a few minutes." he said with a smile as that seemed to be enough to put a smile of relief on her face.
"Oh thank goodness, I am seriously exhausted." said Wura as Mero laughed as his eyes rested on her face. Wura instantly became conscious of his serious gaze and she felt a little bit uncomfortable.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.
"No reason... your smile is always lovely." he said with a smile as Wura was caught off guard by his sudden compliment.
"Thank...you..." she said as she did not know what else to say. She always wondered how Mero could casually say such sweet things to her, and she guessed that it always affected her more because she could feel that he was being very sincere with all the sweet words he said to her.
She was almost not used to hearing such sudden compliments. Or maybe it was because it had been so long since she had someone to say such nice things to her, but she always felt so easily flustered when he complimented her.
"But that is not why you are looking at me like that am I right?" she asked as Mero nodded with a smile.
"So what it is?" she asked, genuinely concerned.
"It is nothing serious at all. It is just that I will miss having you all to myself." said Mero as he smiled and Wura shook her head.
"Oh Mero, seriously?" she asked as she laughed and Mero nodded his head.
"Well there is nothing to worry about, we see each other everyday." said Wura as she laughed.
"I know, but we will not have enough time to be alone with each other." said Mero as Wura chuckled and shook her head.
"Oh Mero, that is truly nothing serious at all. I assure you that we will have time to spend with each other." she said as Mero just smiled and looked away as he could hear the knights shouting to one another to open the gates of the camp.
"Well we have arrived." said Mero as the gated opened and they rode through it as they heard the gates closing behind them.
"That we have." replied Wura in a mix of relief, excitement and tiredness.
Wura did not even waste time at all, as soon as Mero came to a stop she got off Nolan and let out a relieving groan as her behind had been suffering in silence throughout the entire journey.
All she wanted to do right now was take a nice, hot, relaxing bath and go straight to sleep before the troubles of being back stressed her.
As Wura was busy stretching her sore muscles she did not realize that a certain little someone was charging straight for her.
"My Queen!!" exclaimed Nora as she wasted no time in embracing Wura in a tight hug. She threw herself at Wura that if not she had been standing up straight they would have both fallen to the ground.
"I missed you so much my Queen, welcome back." said Nora happily with relief as she hugged Wura and Wura smiled.
"Oh I missed you so much too Nora, I am glad to be back." said Wura as she hugged her back with the same enthusiasm.
"Who knew that you would have been forced to be gone for so long?" asked Nora as she finally let go of Wura.
"I tell you Nora...who knew? But I am glad to be back and you can't imagine how much I missed you." said Wura as she smiled while Nora checked her up and down.
"Are you alright my Queen? Do you feel well? Have you been eating well?" asked Nora as her eyes scrutinized Wura searching for anything wrong.
"Yes, yes and yes Nora." replied Wura as she laughed.
"Oh but you look so lean, you have lost some weight, that is not good at all, are you sure that you have been eating well?" asked Nora in worry.
"I have stopped skipping my meals Nora, but maybe I have less interest to eat because no one cooks as well as you do." said Wura as Nora laughed.
"Well in that case, do not worry I will make you something very special so you can gain all the weight that you have lost." said Nora as Wura laughed.
"Oh Nora, that is very nice, really, but right now all I want to do is rest, have a nice hot bath and go to sleep." said Wura.
"Well I have already prepared your room, you can go and rest there while I prepare your bath." said Nora with a smile.
"Oh thank you Nora, you are the best." said Wura as she gave Nora a quick hug before hurriedly leaving to her room for some well deserved rest.
Nora smiled as she watched Wura walk away and she suddenly turned around and was reminded of Mero's presence.
"Greetings Mero." she said as she looked at him and smiled as he looked at her.
"Greetings Nora." he replied.
"How was the journey?" asked Nora.
"Stressful but quick." replied Mero.
"And how was everything in Windharm?" she asked.
"Everything is fine." he replied.
"I am so glad that it is. I am happy that you and her Majesty returned back safely." she said with a smile.
"And so am I." he replied.
"I...I...missed you...a lot." Nora said as she looked down at her feet out of embarrassment.
"And I thought about you a lot as well." Mero replied, his tone neither delighted nor disappointed.
"You did?" she asked in surprise her wide brown eyes looking at him as he nodded.
Nora smiled unconsciously as his words took away all the worry that she had been feeling strongly for the past few days.
"Are you hungry? I could prepare something quickly for you." she offered with a smile.
"No, not at all, thank you for the offer Nora, but I am fine, actually I would like to rest now." said Mero.
"I see, well alright then, rest well... and I will see you later?" she asked with a smile.
"We will see later." he replied with a polite smile as he walked away while some guards took his horse and Nolan away.
As Nora stood there watching Mero's retreating figure, she could not help but feel that Mero's conversation with her was sort of strange. It was true that Mero barely said a few words to her, but he was just a man of few words.
For some odd reason, she could not help but feel as if Mero had been distant with her... more distant than usual.
Nora decided not to think too much about this. After all, he did say that he was tired, Maybe she would be able to speak to him in the morning, but for now, she had to take care of Wura and prepare her that warm bath she wanted.
Nora turned around as she smiled and made her way to where the kitchen was situated. She was just so happy that the two people she cared so much about had returned safe and sound.