"Thank you for comforting me my Queen... I understand your worries and because of such I will accept to be relieved of my duties for three days." said Nora as she moved back and rubbed her watery eyes.
"Please take care Nora, take care of yourself and feel better soon, I promise you that I will come and check on you every evening once I can." said Wura.
"You do not need to bother yourself my Queen, I will be fine." she replied.
"No, I am not bothering myself, I really do care about you, I care about your wellbeing as well. In fact if you wish to leave and go visit your parents you are more than welcome to do so." said Wura.
"No, I do not want to visit them, if they see me like this they will worry and I do not want them to worry at all. I will be fine in the camp my Queen, please do not insist." said Nora as Wura sighed.
"Alright, if you say so, please feel better Nora, please, I really need you, and believe me when I say that I am sorry, extremely sorry that things between you and Mero did not work out the way you wanted it to." said Wura with a pained expression plastered over her face.
"Thank you my Queen... thank you, and you do not need to be sorry... the only one who needs to be sorry is Mero..." said Nora with a sniff as she shook her head.
"I would love to take my leave now my Queen, before I speak ill things about Mero that I would regret later." said Nora as Wura walked to her and gave her one more hug.
"Please take care Nora, and feel better soon, do not hesitate to take as much time as you need to recover." she said as she broke the hug.
"I will not my Queen, your comforting words and hugs are enough to make me feel better already, thank you, I could have never asked for a better Queen to serve thank you." she said with a smile as Wura felt her heart shatter inside as she forced a smile.
Nora smiled back at her as she turned around and left the room leaving Wura alone with her guilt ridden thoughts.
"Oh my Lord please forgive me, I am a terrible person, a horrible person. I do not deserve to be here right now... I am the one that caused Nora so much pain... If only I had had more self control, I should have never given in to Mero... never..." she said as she felt her legs give way and she slowly collapsed to the floor.
It was as if the guilt was weighing down on her, as Nora was talking she just felt the urge to purge out the truth, it was the least she could do for poor Nora, but the thought of adding more pain to what Nora was already going through kept her from doing such.
She just felt so guilty, so unworthy of Nora's admiration and trust. She was not someone to be admired at all, she was a liar, a hypocrite, an adulterer, she had kissed another man other than her husband repeatedly and she was consciously harbouring feelings for another man while she should not have.
She felt terrible that she was the cause of Nora's failed relationship with Mero, because she was sure that if she had not existed Mero would be happy with Nora and she would be more than happy with him.
"Forgive me Lord, please forgive me..." she said as she sighed. She felt like she needed to talk to Mero right now and tell him that she was right, that she could not continue on, but after the ultimatum he had given her in the morning, she definitely did not think that it was a good idea.
She would feel even more terrible if she did, if she went to see the man that caused her most trusted confidant so much pain, and she felt even worse that she was his accomplice. She felt like she needed to give him more time to realize the gravity of his decisions.
She only hoped that maybe he would realize that he loved Nora instead of her, then maybe they could reconcile and live a happy life together. But she was unsure of what she wanted to do, but one thing she was certain of was that she did not want the people around her that she loved to suffer.
...
It was evening time and everyone was getting ready to eat dinner as the camp bustled with life as usual.
"Have you seen Nora today?" asked Zuph as he looked at Luc who shook his head.
"No I have not." he replied as Zuph sighed.
"I see..." he said as this felt odd, during his duties he often saw Nora going about her own duties multiple times, but today he had not seen her once, and maybe he was overreacting, but he felt like something was wrong.
"Is something the matter?" asked Luc.
"No, nothing is the matter, it is just odd that we have not seen her today. She is usually very active, and by now she should have called us for dinner..." he said.
"True... but if you are so worried you can go check for her in the kitchen, she's usually there." said Luc.
"You are right, I will go check there." said Zuph as he walked away as Luc was sure that it was nothing serious.
...
Zuph walked into the busy kitchen as he tried to spot Nora but to no avail, he could not see her particular shade of brown hair, he could not hear her voice anywhere, now he was certainly worried.
"Excuse me, sorry for bothering you but have you seen Nora today?" asked Zuph as he stopped one of the maids.
"No sir Zuph, I have not seen her today." replied the maid.
"Then who has seen her today?" asked Zuph in worry as the maid stopped another maid and asked her.
"She said that she has seen Nora today." said the maid as she turned to Zuph.
"When was that?" asked Zuph.
"Early this morning, but then she left and never returned to the kitchen." replied the maid.
"Do you know why?" asked Zuph as the other maid turned to ask another.
"She says that Nora has been relieved of her duties." said the maid.
"What?? Why?" asked Zuph as now he was certainly worried. Nora loved to work, so for her to be relieved of her duties all of a sudden then it meant that something was seriously wrong.
"I do not know Sir Zuph, I was only informed by the maid who attended to the Queen that Nora will be relieved of her duties for now." said the maid.
"Then do you know where she is?" asked Zuph as all three maids shook their heads.
"Alright thank you." said Zuph as he left the kitchen instantly.
Something was definitely wrong. If the Queen herself had given the orders then it meant that something serious was going on with Nora and if she was not in the kitchen or with the Queen, there was only one other place that Zuph could think to look for her.
...
Zuph stopped in front of a small tent in a secluded part of the camp. No one like him ever came here since these were the living areas for all the maids while he as a knight was assigned to another secluded part of the camp.
Zuph was a little out of breath from running all the way here, he caught his breath as he contemplated whether or not to leave or to look for her.
In the end the concluded that he was severely worried about her and he could not deal with the uncertainly of knowing if she was alright or not.
"Nora." he called out as he received no reply causing him to call her again. He was unwilling to give up, something told him that she was far from alright.
"Nora." he called once more, yes he was worried about her, but he could not just barge into her most private area. This was her tent he needed to have permission before coming in.
"Nora." he called again hearing no reply as he sighed about to give up when he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps as he waited in anticipation only to see Nora come out of her tent, her usually neat packed her dropped down and messy and her eyes red and puffy.
"Nora." he called in worry as he did not even think, he just moved towards her and embraced her as Nora did not know what came over her, she just accepted it and felt warm as she began to cry all over again while he comforted her.