Wura looked at Nora and saw the clear, soft understanding smile on her face and she instantly felt like the worst person on earth.
How could she claim to love and care about someone so much and yet be capable of stabbing them in the back like this? She felt like such a terrible person and it did not matter how many times she said it, she felt worse every single time.
It was right there and then that Wura concluded it was impossible for her to ever bring herself to tell Nora the truth, especially not now, she needed to build up the courage to tell Nora the truth herself.
She had to be the one to tell Nora and not Mero, it was the least she could do to be completely honest and transparent to her friend.
"No Nora... not at all." replied Wura with the most sincere smile she could fake.
"Are you sure my Queen?" asked Nora in surprise, after all, she doubted that Wura would ask her opinion on something like this if she was not planning to dabble into such a decision.
"Yes, very sure Nora, there is no one that I am currently interested in." said Wura as she smiled.
"I only asked you for future purposes and not right now." she quickly added seeing that Nora was finding it difficult to believe her.
"Alright my Queen." said Nora as she smiled.
"Yes Nora..." said Wura as she smiled.
"Now, if you would please excuse me, I am exhausted and I would like to go to bed right now." said Wura as she smiled and Nora stood up.
"Alright my Queen, I completely understand, please rest well, and I will see you in the morning." said Nora as she smiled and carried all the dirty dishes on the tray.
"Thank you Nora, see you in the morning as well." said Wura as she smiled watching Nora leave her tent.
As soon as Nora was gone Wura groaned and shook her head, standing up from the couch and landing on the bed. She was such a terrible person, a bad Queen, a horrible friend and a terrible wife.
What had she been thinking when she urged Mero to continue a relationship with her? This was wrong, this was not supposed to be done at all.
If only she had not been selfish, if only she had allowed her common sense to speak in the midst of her strong emotions, she would never have fallen into such a predicament.
Nora was completely loyal to her, and yet she could not even hold her own loyalty. Why did it have to be Mero of all people? Why did she have to develop feelings for him? Why did she have to find it so hard to resist? She could only give herself one answer and that was she was not strong at all.
Wura closed her eyes and wished that when she woke up all these problems would go away and she would never remember them.
...
Nora paced up and down outside her tent as the sun was starting to set. She had been contemplating bringing Mero something to eat.
He had been rather colder than usual in the afternoon, and he said that he was tired, she did not want to impose on him or act as if she was clingy. Maybe all he needed was some rest and he would be better in the morning.
But Nora was not fool, after being gone for so long she at least expected him to be warmer towards her instead of colder, and yet that was not the case at all, he seemed more distant, more cold, as if he no longer cared for her.
Now of course Nora knew that she might have just been overreacting, after all, how could one encounter cause her to jump to such a conclusion? Well she did not know why, but she just had such a bad feeling about this.
Her heart was not at rest at all. She surely missed Mero and it hurt her deeply to think that he had not missed her at all.
Nora was too busy lingering in her raging thoughts that she had not heard Zuph calling out to her for the past minute or so.
"Nora." he called as he touched her shoulders stopping her from moving as she snapped out of her thoughts.
"Oh Zuph... when did you get here?" she asked as she blinked at him, she could see the suppressed laugh plastered on his face.
"I have been calling you for a while now, you did not seem to hear me." he said as he laughed.
"Yes... I am sorry about that, I was thinking about something. Do not mind me, do you need something?" she asked as she smiled at him and he took a step back.
"Actually I wanted to know if I could greet the Queen, I just heard that she returned." said Zuph.
"I am sure that she would be more than happy to see you, but she is sleeping at the moment, you can just see her tomorrow when she has gotten the rest that she deserves." said Nora with a smile.
"I see, I will just wait until tomorrow then." said Zuph as he smiled and Nora nodded.
"Yes, so would you like to eat dinner now? I could go get you something." she said with a smile.
"You do know that you not have to do that for me, I can just go get it myself." said Zuph as he smiled and Nora laughed.
"Yes I know, forgive me, it is just a habit for me, let me just say that I enjoy taking care of people, especially those that are very close to me." said Nora as she smiled.
"I know, and I admire that about you, but sometimes you also need someone to take care of you the way you take care of others." said Zuph as he smiled and Nora smiled.
"I guess so, but that is not happening any time soon, or at least not for now." said Nora.
"I have an idea, how about we have dinner together? Zechariah, Luc and Elihu have just returned as well, we can all eat together, what do you say?" he asked.
"I would love to, it would be nice to eat with people for a chance, instead of being alone." said Nora as she smiled.
"Great." said Zuph as he smiled.
"So now will you tell me what is really bothering you?" asked Zuph as Nora laughed and sighed.
"Am I really that easy to read?" she asked.
"Not really, but it takes something really serious for you to be pacing up and down and lost in thought." said Zuph as he laughed.
"I do not think that what is bothering me is serious, I am sure that I am only overreacting." said Nora.
"Alright, if you say so, you do not seem to be the only one bothered. I just finished speaking to Mero and he seems rather distant." said Zuph.
"You noticed it as well??" asked Nora in surprise as Zuph nodded.
"Well yes, but I would like to believe that it is just the tiredness making him seem that way. Or maybe it is just stress." said Zuph.
"I would like to think so too." said Nora as she sighed.
"So Mero is what or who is bothering you?" asked Zuph as he laughed and Nora looked away embarrassed that she had been caught red handed.
"It is okay Nora, you can tell me, there is no need to feel shy." said Zuph.
"I am not shy Zuph, only embarrassed that you found out so quickly. But yes, he is being very distant, and colder than usual, the welcome I received when he arrived was one I was not expecting at all.
"I do not think that should make you worry. Mero is always cold, it is just in his nature, it should not bother you at all, you should get used to it and bear with him, he is not someone that is very good with showing his emotions." said Zuph.
"Really?" asked Nora.
"Really, I am sure that his mood will be better in the morning, so cheer up." said Zuph as he smiled.
"Alright, thank you Zuph." said Nora as she smiled, she could always count on him to lift her spirits and put her in a better mood.
"You do not have to thank me at all, now come on, I am starving." he said happily as he put his hand over her neck and they walked together.
"Is there a moment when you are never starving?" she asked as she laughed and shook her head.
"Let's see, it is really rare, what can I say? I love to eat?" he said as he laughed and Nora laughed with him. It was nice having a friend like Zuph around, he always made sure to put a smile on her face.