Tears gathered seamlessly in her eyes at the thought of what was to come. Alex was a skilled mage. He was the answer. But he did not say anything. Instead, he looked at her sympathetically, and stretched forth his hand to to stroke her hair.
Angelia had been seriously trying to stay strong all this while. But Alex's comforting touch brought down her walls, and let loose all the fear and worry in the form of short sobs that came intermittently. For a while, they remained together at the fire in silence as they individually contemplated the future.
Angelia was not worried about what the elves would think of her spending time with the human at such a late evening. She did not care about all of that anymore. She was actively choosing to dare to hope that maybe, things might turn out okay.
She was not wrong about being spied on. Several elvin spies, from different factions watched her from the shadows all through the evening.
