Nora paced up and down as she was frantically moving. She was currently stuck in an emotional dilemma.
She wanted to go to Mero and bring him some food. She had not seen him in a while. Yes she knew that Zuph and the others had told her to be calm because this was just how he behaved. It was his nature to be cold, but she just could not help it.
She felt like something was wrong, something was seriously wrong. Call her wrong but when you just returned from a very long journey, would the first thing on your mind not be to embrace the person you are in a relationship with?
Mero's behaviour was more than strange. His sudden coldness towards her was shocking and she could not help but feel like he was ignoring her on purpose. There was something odd that she felt they needed to talk about.
However, she did not want to impose, or act as if she was clingy and she could not do without him, but it really did hurt her that the man she thought that she was going to marry was acting like this all of a sudden.
It was scary, it was frustrating and most of all it was saddening. She could not wait one more day before she approached him, she needed to get to the bottom on this right now and find out what was making him act this way.
Nora groaned, she felt so perplexed right now. She needed to talk to someone for advice. She would have spoken to Wura but she did not want to worry her and burden her with all her problems. Besides, she knew that Wura would never speak ill of Mero, she would only console Nora and tell her to stop overthinking.
So she could not speak to Wura about her concerns. Another person she could speak to would be Zuph, but she also did not want to bother him, he was probably busy at this moment and it would be rude and selfish of her to run to him with all her concerns when he was on duty.
He was usually relieved of his duty past noon and that was when he would be able to speak to her, but she could not wait until then, she needed an answer now, right now!
This was very urgent and very important for her. She did not know why, but as much as she tried to stay calm and trust that Mero was just either busy or stressed, she could not shake off the feeling that it was something or rather... someone else and that possibility scared her.
"That is it, just do it Nora, you can do it." said Nora strongly to herself as she stopped pacing up and down. She sucked in a deep breath and exhaled.
She wondered just what she was afraid of? Mero could not kill her, all she wanted to do was talk to him and she would do just that.
"Relax Nora, you can do it, you can do it." she said softly to herself and she nodded carrying the tray in her hand from the table as she set out on her way.
...
"You can do it Nora, you can do it, so relax and take a deep breath." said Nora to herself in determination as she took in a deep calming breath and she breathed out slowly before opening her mouth to declare her presence.
"Greetings." she called outside of a tent that happened to be Mero's office.
"Greetings, come in." came Mero's surprised voice. He was surprised because he had heard a very familiar voice that he had not expected.
"Thank you Mero, how are you?" asked Nora with a soft smile on her face as she walked into the tent.
"I am well Nora and how are you?" he asked as she smiled.
"I am well too." she replied.
"So what brings you here?" he asked.
"Am I disturbing you?" she replied.
"No, not at all, I just did not expect you." said Mero.
"Oh well neither did I, but I asked the maids in the kitchen and they said that you had not eaten yet, so I decided to bring your breakfast to you myself." she said.
"I see... thank you Nora, that is so thoughtful of you." he replied as Nora was left disappointed, she had expected him to at least smile at her like he used to, but his face remained stoic and to Nora that already told her everything she needed to know.
"You are welcome, I will just set it down here." she said as she placed it on a nearby table while Mero read through a letter.
"I will take my leave now... see you later Mero." she said.
"See you later Nora." replied Mero without even looking at her as Nora turned around and walked to the exit when she suddenly stopped and stood there unmoving for a moment until she turned around the determination back in her eyes.
"Mero... I need to talk to you... can we talk?" she asked suddenly as Mero looked up.
"Talk about what exactly?" he asked her.
"Are you busy right now?" she asked.
"No... we can talk... please sit." he replied as he gestured to the couch nearby.
"Thank you." she said as she walked to the couch and sat down. She began to fiddle with her fingers as soon as she sat down, she was nervous, her heart was beating out of her chest and she found herself regretting that she did not just leave.
"So what do you want to talk about?" asked Mero as he stood up and sat down across her.
This close proximity of theirs was making Nora feel even more nervous. She could sense that Mero was looking at her and she was certain that she had all his attention now. She was unsure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"I want to talk about us..." she said as she decided that it was best to be completely honest right now.
"What about us?" asked Mero.
"About our relationship..." she said as she kept her head bowed low refusing to make eye contact with him for fear that she would be afraid and be unable to say what was really on her mind.
"What about our relationship?" asked Mero as he would be lying if he said that Nora's sudden visit and desire to talk with him did not make him scared at all, it certainly did.
"Mero I... I want to be completely honest with you... I do not know if you have noticed but ever since you returned from Windharm your behaviour towards me has changed, and in a very negative way." said Nora.
"Maybe I am overreacting but you... you have been colder towards me... it feels like you have been avoiding me, like my mere presence irks you." said Nora softly.
"That is no true Nora, your presence does not irk me at all." Mero declared instantly causing Nora to look up at him.
"I highly doubt that..." she replied honestly.
"How come?" he asked her.
"Because your actions, your words and your expressions as of late tell me otherwise." she said sadly as Mero started to feel guilty, even more guilty than he had felt before.
"I initially did not want to bother you with this, but then I realized that we are together are we not? And we should be free to express our true feelings and desires to one another, what is the point of being with someone when you cannot be honest with them?" she asked as Mero found himself unconsciously nodding to her statement.
"And that is why I am here right now, because I have some concerns about you and about me, and I feel like I should not be scared to tell you how I feel or what worries me." she said.
"Of course, you are certainly right." he replied as he nodded.
"Then why have you behaving so coldly towards me? Did I do something wrong? Did I disappoint you in anyway? If I have please forgive me, I promise to never repeat it again, just please stop being so cold to me, stop avoiding me." said Nora sincerely as she fought back the tears welling up in her eyes.
She did not want to cry, she did not want to look pitiful, but the reality was that this matter was serious enough to drive her to tears. She did not want Mero to change because of her tears, rather she wanted him to change because he knew that he was wrong.
"No Nora, no it is not you, you did nothing wrong at all, you did nothing wrong." said Mero as he leaned forward and held her hands in his.
He felt so bad that she thought that the blame rested on her when in reality she was the innocent one here. He should have been the one begging for her forgiveness and not her.
"You are so perfect, so very perfect and innocent and you could never hurt me or anyone else for that matter..." said Mero very seriously as Nora looked at him and sniffed.