Edwyr wasn't very happy. On one hand, it felt very silly to be quite so annoyed over having to go to a human town to get supplies for their trip inside the jungle, but he'd not been around humans for weeks, and the idea of them gawking at him, treating him as something strange and unusual, was not something he'd missed very much.

Still, he knew that he was in a bad mood more due to what Wyn had told him. Venturing inside of the jungle seemed like a very risky idea. Yes, assuming that they did find that Infuser, it would be worth it, but if they all ended up dying on this mission, that would be a bit detrimental to the overall goal of removing the Council from power. Edwyr had gone inside the jungle several times, but never very deep and always during the day. Something about that place just radiated danger, and even standing close to it had always made him nervous.

At least Wyn had implied he would be coming as well, which made sense because as far as Edwyr had been able to estimate, he and Genrith were the most powerful magic users of their group. But it also meant that if something went terribly wrong and Wyn died, Edwyr doubted that his vision of a better elven society would be brought to fruition without him.

And Edwyr also didn't want Wyn, or anyone else, to get hurt, he couldn't deny that was part of it. No one to his knowledge had ever attempted to go as deep into the jungle as they were going to and lived. There was no way to know what kind of beasts lurked inside.

"Something on your mind?" Orenis asked, bringing Edwyr's attention to her. For once she didn't seem to be insinuating something and was instead simply curious as she kept walking down the uneven footpath leading to the town. At least Edwyr assumed that was where it went. He wasn't even certain if he knew the name of this town because he thought he'd heard someone call it Midcoast, and that felt too straightforward, even for the humans because the town indeed was near a coast.

Since they'd teleported here, it was still somewhat difficult for Edwyr to wrap his head around it, but they were in the southwest now, a place he'd never thought he'd visit due to how far away it was and how dangerous a trip like this would be. Aside from a somewhat colder climate, everything here seemed very similar to what he was used to, though.

"Do you think going inside of the jungle to find that Infuser is a bad idea?" he asked Orenis instead of complaining about constantly having something on his mind. His thoughts used to be primarily comprised of thinking about his destiny and situation, and now that those had been changed to his liking, he'd thought he'd be more at peace. But instead, his mind seemed to have simply changed its focus, so it could still worry about other things. It was frankly exhausting.

Orenis made a loud, unsure hum, grimacing. "Well...."

The two elves in front of them who were going to the town with them exchanged a look. Edwyr was certain the woman on the right was called Wentri, but he wasn't sure about the man's name. Which was somewhat embarrassing given how few elves there were here, but Edwyr had never been particularly good at names. Still, he should do something about that if he was to work closely with these elves.

"Not bad exactly," Orenis finally said, sighing. "I just think it's a huge risk that might kill us."

Edwyr frowned, feeling very stupid all of a sudden. "Oh, right, you're coming, too."

Orenis grinned and nodded, making her ponytail fly around. She'd brushed her hair back, so she could actually make a ponytail with almost half her hair being much shorter than the rest. "I know a thing or two about the Infusers, not to mention that I'm coming to get magic, too. Everyone is, remember?"

Edwyr hadn't been thinking enough at that moment to remember. But of course everyone without magic would come along. If they couldn't teleport to the Infuser, then everyone had to come together on squawker or foot. They couldn't assume that they would be able to get the teleportation working, so everyone had to go. Which would just make this all the more dangerous.

"And besides, just because I can't use magic doesn't mean I can't fight. Not everyone gets sent to important missions because of special treatment."

Edwyr narrowed his eyes, scowling at her. He could tell she was joking, but he couldn't help his irritation anyway. He didn't like what she was implying. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Look, I'm joking, okay?" she said seriously, her amusement fading from her face for a moment. "I know you can fight as well as I can. I was mostly making fun of Wyn."

Edwyr's frown lessened. He still felt somewhat insulted, but he tried to push that away so he could focus on what Orenis had just said instead. "But you do think Wyn gives me special treatment?"

"Well, yes?" Orenis said, dragging the words out, her eyebrow raised in confusion. The two elves in front also muttered their agreements. Edwyr wanted to snap something at them, but he had no reason to. No one here seemed jealous or upset about this apparently widely known fact, so Edwyr had no right to get angry.

"I don't think I've seen him personally train anyone ever," Orenis added, shrugging. Edwyr looked away, not sure what to think of all this, but Orenis continued. "Listen, could you try to let him down easy? And soon, if possible. If you don't, he's going to mope around for weeks when he realizes you're not interested."

"Interested?"

"Oh, come on," moaned the male elf in front as he turned to look at him. Edwyr was almost certain his name started with an S. "Are you really that oblivious? Wyn talks about you constantly. It is honestly rather grating at this point."

Edwyr glared. This time he would be more than justified in snapping at him, but before he could, Orenis spoke again.

"It's been pretty obvious, Edwyr. Did you really not know?"

Edwyr looked from one elf to the other, only finding surprise and confusion in their eyes. "Did everyone else know?"

He was met with a chorus of agreement. Edwyr shook his head, staring down at the dirt path.

Thankfully, the topic was dropped right after, but now Edwyr couldn't think of anything else. He groaned to himself, unable not to feel incredibly stupid and embarrassed now that he thought of all the times Wyn had chosen to spend time with him. The elf had probably been finding excuses to do so the entire time, and Edwyr had not tried to read into it, mostly because the possibility of Wyn liking him that way had seemed impossible. Edwyr really needed to talk to Wyn. As soon as possible.

As the town finally appeared in the distance, though, Edwyr's mind blanked for a second at just how large the place was. The largest settlement he'd seen was Aendor, and even then, on the elven island there were two hundred buildings or so. Midcoast was at least as large houses of varying sizes and heights stretching across the horizon with the ocean behind them. And barely a wall to protect it all.

How was this town still standing?

"I assume towns in the north aren't like this?" Orenis asked with a hint of amusement, likely noticing his surprise.

"No," he replied, frowning. "They are walled, protected, and small."

"There are more Council elves in the area who make sure the jungle doesn't grow close to the towns here. Since most humans live here," Orenis explained.

Edwyr nodded. That did make sense, and he had noticed that the jungle was nowhere close to the town here, but it hadn't occurred to him how much of an effect that would have on the living conditions here. Orenis mentioning northern towns brought Edwyr's mind to Sunwood, and he swallowed. Thinking about it came with very complicated feelings, and so he quickly stomped them out before they could overwhelm him. Until he could get a chance to talk to Lanna and Arbane again, he'd promised himself not to agonize over what had happened. It would do nothing but distract him.

"You'd think the Council would want to defend Aendor first and foremost."

Orenis laughed. "Yeah, well, I think Aendor can handle itself. It has that shield."

That was true, Edwyr supposed. He'd never seen it be used, nor did he know much about it, but if necessary, the elves on Aendor should be able to surround the entire island with a shield spell somehow. He'd have thought that it might have been a lie, something to simply make everyone feel safer, but Wyn saw it as a genuine problem that they needed to overcome if they wanted to depose the Council, so Edwyr didn't doubt its existence or effectivity.

"Not to mention the Council."

Edwyr scoffed. Yes, the Councilors were supposedly the most powerful magic users of them all, but he'd never seen them use their magic for anything useful. They could save so many lives, but instead, they stayed in their towers, turning a blind eye to how dangerous the world was without magic. It made Edwyr furious.

Though his anger was immediately replaced with alarm as he realized something rather important. "Wait, isn't it dangerous to come to this town if there are elves about?"

Orenis waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. They're usually somewhere near the jungle, keeping the beasts at bay. Besides, we won't stay for long."

Edwyr nodded. He knew what the plan was. Apparently, Orenis knew quite a few of the people living in Midcoast. The locals knowing her would make her presence much less suspicious than anyone else's, which she would use to procure the supplies they needed. Once she managed to get them out of town, the four of them would divide the supplies and get them back to the castle the elves were using as a base.

Knowing that he wouldn't get to see the town from up close, Edwyr settled for admiring it from afar. It was insane to him that the only thing protecting Midcoast was a wooden fence. He wanted to call it a wall, but it was too thin and fragile-looking to be worthy of that term. Could it even stop anything? Perhaps some of the smaller beasts, but those preferred to hunt animals like squawkers or silverhorns, rather than try to steal food or livestock from humans.

But he was sure that the locals had thought of that and more, so if it worked for them, Edwyr had no right to criticize. Still, if the south truly was this much safer than the north, it made him even angrier at the Council for not being there to help humans who were unfortunate enough to be in the northern half of the continent.

"All right, you stay here," Orenis said once they were close enough to Midcoast that they were standing next to the fence surrounding it. Edwyr would think that wasn't very wise, seeing as they were fairly visible here, but they were far away from all three gates he'd seen, and there seemed to be no one here. And also there weren't many good choices, either. All that was around them were fields of grass, wheat, and other produce as far as the eye could see, aside from the jungle jutting out on the horizon in the distance.

"I'll be back soon." Orenis waved and stalked away, sticking her hand in her pocket. Edwyr knew she had gold coins in there, and if he was, to be honest, he very much liked the fact that the elves here didn't have a single problem with turning things to gold and using it to pay for everything. Not because it meant that they had an almost infinite amount of money, but because no one here was hypocritical about it. Feyrith had used gold like that to pay for things but refused to do the same for those bandits that had kidnapped him, and while Edwyr was glad the criminals hadn't gotten their way, it hadn't sat right with him then, and it still didn't.

Having nothing else to do, Edwyr stared up at a tall building close to the fence, its yellow, almost white walls a stark contrast against the blue sky above. The other houses he could see had the same color, which made Edwyr wonder what material the houses were made of. He'd never seen anything like it, nor the tall, pointy, metal roofs, protecting the structures from above. It was interesting how much this town and Sunwood differed.

He leaned back against the fence as the two other elves began talking, folding his arms over his chest. Edwyr wasn't paying attention to the others, though from the few words he'd picked up they were discussing training, and instead, he stared off at the jungle. The insanely dangerous place they would soon venture in. It didn't seem so terrifying from so far away, and yet it still intimidated him greatly. But they needed to go inside if they wanted to progress.

Edwyr sighed. He really needed to talk with Wyn before they left. One of them could very possibly die, most likely Edwyr given how much more powerful Wyn was, and he'd be damned if he died without addressing some things. As soon as he made sure the other elves weren't just trying to get him to make a fool of himself later. He didn't think Orenis would do that, despite her tendency to joke around, but Edwyr found it difficult not to be cautious when it came to these things.

His pondering was cut short, however, when he noticed a figure in the distance, heading away from the jungle and toward the town. Edwyr frowned, trying to make out any other detail aside from the fact that the person was riding on a squawker.

Except, wait, that was no ordinary squawker. Edwyr's eyes widened. The animal had dark silver feathers. That wasn't a color neither the wild ones nor the ones kept by humans had. Which meant....

"I think we have a problem," Edwyr told the other two elves, not looking away from the rider, who was now heading toward them. The person was still far away, but even from here, he could tell they were looking at them. And there wasn't anywhere to hide aside from the town, which would probably make the situation even worse. Elves weren't exactly good a blending in among humans.

"It's three on one," said the male elf, who Edwyr finally remembered was named Synras. "We have no reason to worry."

"And what do we do, exactly?" Wentri hissed, lowering her voice even though the rider wouldn't be able to hear her yet. "Kill this elf once it becomes obvious we're not with the Council? Think!"

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Edwyr certainly didn't want to kill anyone, especially not an elf who, though serving corrupt masters, was here to protect humans. But how were they going to ensure that the elf wasn't going to talk? Wyn had mentioned some kind of memory-erasing magic existing, but they'd have to capture the elf first, and though that was better from a moral standpoint, it sounded similarly messy. Edwyr didn't even know where to start with something like this, nor did he want to.

"We can pretend we don't have magic," Edwyr said. He wasn't happy about it. He didn't want to go back to that state of being, even if it was a lie, but it was their best shot and easiest solution to this situation. "We don't look like we have it, anyway."

The two elves looked at him with what seemed to be annoyance in their eyes, but it was true. Edwyr hadn't bothered changing anything about his appearance so far, nor did he plan to, Wentri had very short hair and leather armor, and while Synras was wearing robes, his hair was only pulled back into a simple ponytail. None of them looked like they were working for the Council, and none of them had an elven staff. And the Council didn't even know about their group in the first place.

"Fine," Wentri said, sighing. "It is probably our best chance."

And so they waited for the rider to approach them, trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible as the elf got close enough to properly see. It was a woman, and while she was keeping her face neutral, she did not look happy to see them in the slightest.

Edwyr glared at her automatically, but then he forced himself to relax his expression. He needed to look neutral at worst. Immediately appearing unfriendly was going to only cause problems.

"You three," the Council elf said as she pulled on her squawker's reins to stop right in front of them. She stared down at them, her purple eyes flicking from one elf to the next. "Do you Cursed elves have nothing better to do than stand around?"

Edwyr gritted his teeth, but he managed to keep his face mostly free of the anger burning in his heart. Apparently, they didn't even have to pretend to be magicless for this elf to think so. That was good, he supposed, though he still wanted to throw a fireball at her.

"I was not aware that standing here was not allowed," Synras snarked at her, folding his arms. Edwyr was a bit annoyed that the other elf wasn't bothering to force himself to stay calm, but he couldn't blame him either.

The Council elf narrowed her eyes, showing more emotion than Edwyr had been expecting. She wasn't behaving completely like the usual kind of elf, but she was dressed in the proper gold-and-black robes and had a staff on her back. Perhaps she had been here, out of the reach of the Council, for long enough to start ignoring some of the rules.

Or perhaps she simply hated elves born with no magic. That was probably it.

"Why are there three of you? How are there three of you? There is only one Cursed elf that lives in the area, and she is not present," the Council continued, her expression steely, but Edwyr could see the suspicion in her eyes growing.

Right, magicless elves were even harder to come by than those with magic, which made their number strange on its own. But there was nothing that could be done about that. They just needed a convincing lie to explain it.

"What business is this of yours?" Wentri asked, her tone about as unfriendly as it could be. And while, again, Edwyr couldn't blame her, this was not helping their case at all.

"Cursed elves are the Council's business. Especially when they start to band together."

There was something about the way this elf spoke about magicless elves that really got on Edwyr's nerves. She was keeping her tone more or less flat, and yet he could still feel disgust in her words. As if he and elves like him were something revolting.

"We have done nothing wrong," Edwyr said through gritted teeth. He was suddenly incredibly grateful that the only elf working for the Council he'd met during his exile was Feyrith. He'd been perfectly polite to Edwyr in comparison to this.

The Council elf looked him directly in the eye, her gaze hard and resolute. "The Council will be the judge of that." Then she lowered her voice, almost as if talking to herself. "The fact that you exist is wrong."

But Edwyr didn't even have the time to get angry with her for saying that as he watched with wide eyes as the elf reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a small, round stone. This might have been Edwyr's first time seeing that particular item, but he knew what it was immediately—a communication stone. And that meant that this elf was about to contact the Council, or something to that effect, which meant that they had to do something.

He exchanged a look with Wentri and Synras. It was now or never.

But before he could say or do anything, before he could even think about what exactly they should do, he flinched in shock as the elf was thrown off her mount with an incredibly strong gust of wind. Edwyr and the other two elves stumbled a bit as it hit them too, though the strength of the wind was nowhere near as harsh.

There was no doubt in Edwyr's mind. This had clearly been a magical attack, but it didn't seem like any of them had summoned that wind. So who had? Edwyr took a quick, sweeping glance around himself, almost immediately finding the source of the attack.

Genrith was making her way toward them and the Council elf, disguised as a human once more, though Edwyr had no idea why. She was using magic—no matter how good the illusion was, there was no mistaking her for a human now.

But there were more important things to think about right now. Like the elf Genrith had just attacked getting up, her staff at the ready. Her squawker had gotten scared by the attack and had run away to a safe distance, but the female elf paid it no mind as she fully focused on Genrith, shock in her eyes.

"Wha-who are you?"

Genrith said nothing, yelling a spell Edwyr wasn't familiar with and throwing purple energy at the Council's elf, who managed to summon a shield to block it just in time.

And just at that moment, Orenis came back, a man behind her, both carrying wooden crates. Right, the supplies. With everything else that was happening, Edwyr had almost forgotten about why they'd come here in the first place.

"What in the Goddess' name is going on here?" Orenis exclaimed, staring at the scene while the man behind her quickly put down the crates and started backing away toward the town entrance, saying something about not having seen anything. Edwyr couldn't help but appreciate the man's reaction.

"I will deal with this," Genrith told them, summoning fire at the elf sent by the Council, which she blocked with her shield. "Finish your task."

Edwyr didn't know how he felt about any of this. It felt wrong to fight this elf, despite him sort of wanting to do just that simply because of what she'd told them, and it felt equally wrong to leave Genrith to do it. But he didn't argue, and neither did anyone else as they each grabbed one of the crates and started to run up the hill, back to the castle. None of them slowed down or said a word until they were far enough that neither Genrith nor the elf she was fighting could be seen anymore.

"Well, that could have gone better," Orenis commented as they finally started to walk rather than run. Edwyr nodded. It really could have. It could have also gone much worse if that elf had been allowed to contact Aendor, though. Edwyr just hoped that this incident wouldn't force them to change their plans.

+++++++

Edwyr knocked on the door of Wyn's study. He'd headed here as soon as he'd gotten back, too focused on what had happened properly think what he was about to do through, and so only now he had the chance to feel anxious. But this needed to be done, and reminding himself of it helped steel his resolve somewhat.

"Come in," said Wyn's muffled, someone flat voice from behind the door almost immediately. Edwyr took a deep breath, trying his best to ignore the way his stomach twisted. He felt annoyed with himself. Aside from personal reasons, he'd come here also to tell Wyn about what had happened. However Genrith had decided to handle things, this could be a fairly big problem for them down the line. And since Wyn was doing all the planning, he had to be notified.

Edwyr was planning to lead with this, though he was concerned that when he did, the conversation would go in a completely different direction, and there would be no time to talk about whatever was going on between them.

Edwyr sighed, pulling the heavy, wooden door open. And only then he realized that he'd never actually been here before. Wyn was sitting at a large ornate desk with what seemed to be trees carved into it, branches stretching up and roots reaching to the floor. Since Edwyr had not seen any piece of furniture decorated like this in this castle, he would have started to suspect that Wyn had been hiding some artistic talent, but Edwyr was fairly certain that the desk had been made to look like this with magic.

The fact that Wyn would use magic to make his desk nicer certainly said something about him, but Edwyr wasn't going to think about that right now.

Most of the rest of the room was taken up by bookshelves, which had to contain at least a hundred books, and a large, wall-mounted map by the window behind Wyn. Edwyr could see Aendor and the mainland on it, with several islands Edwyr didn't know surrounding it. Seeing their world like this, he couldn't help but wonder what was beyond it. He was somewhat certain that there was more than their continent, but as far as he knew, no one had ventured far enough to find out.

"Ah, Edwyr," Wyn greeted him, looking away from whatever he'd been writing down to instead give Edwyr a small, pleased smile that lit up his whole face. Had Wyn been doing that this entire time? Edwyr had a feeling he had, and he'd just not thought anything of it, assuming that Wyn was just friendly. But while he was usually in a good mood, he didn't really smile, did he? Not at other people, anyway.

"The mission went according to plan, I hope?"

Edwyr let out a snort. Mission was an interesting word to describe what was essentially shopping. And yet it had gone very wrong, anyway. "Not quite. We did get the supplies but...." Edwyr sighed. "We were accosted by an elf working for the Council. And then Genrith attacked her."

Wyn's smile was gone now, replaced by a pensive frown. Edwyr had assumed that he'd be disturbed or concerned instead, but Wyn always tended to confuse and surprise him.

"Genrith? Strange. She should be in the north," Wyn said quietly. Edwyr wasn't even sure if Wyn was talking to him or just thinking out loud. And while what Wyn had just said was strange, Edwyr felt like Wyn was missing the point.

"What about the elf she attacked?"

"Hm?" Wyn blinked, looking confused for just a second before his eyes lit up. "Oh. I am certain Genrith managed to wipe her memory of the incident. No need to worry."

As Wyn looked down at the piece of parchment in front of him again, Edwyr walked up to the desk, not nearly as ready to drop this topic as Wyn seemed to be. "Does that happen a lot?"

Wyn shrugged, not looking away from what Edwyr now could see was a map with what seemed to be a hundred notes and dots, sometimes connected with lines. Edwyr could guess that this had something to do with the Infuser locations, but he wouldn't even bother trying to make sense of any of this.

"Not quite a lot, but regrettably often," Wyn replied, his tone surprisingly sad. "I wish we could simply co-exist peacefully. These elves are here only to protect humans, after all, and they do a fairly good job of it. But we cannot risk the Council finding out about anything we do here. And if everything goes according to plan, they will only find out once we are freeing their prisoners."

Edwyr knew that much. Not even he knew the full plan when it came to, well, anything. Under normal circumstances, he'd suspect that all the secrecy was actually to hide the fact that the plan was not very well fleshed out, but with Wyn, he'd never gotten that impression. If Edwyr asked, Wyn would probably tell him anything about it he was curious, but Edwyr had never been good with complicated plans. He was fine with knowing only the amount he did, and he didn't mind following instructions as long as they made sense to him.

"I apologize for not warning you ahead of time. I did not think there would be an issue. Midcoast does not have an elf stationed in it."

Edwyr was almost uncomfortable with how much sincerity Wyn was looking up at him now. There was even guilt in his eyes. It was not needed at all. If incidents like this happened here, then this wasn't nearly as concerning as he'd thought.

"Well, the important thing is that you were not harmed," Wyn added, smiling once more. Just yesterday Edwyr would have interpreted that you as Wyn talking about their entire group. But now he couldn't help but wonder if Wyn was just talking about him specifically.

Edwyr sighed. He hoped he wasn't about to make a fool of himself. Well, actually, that was inevitable with this kind of conversation, but he would like to avoid completely humiliating himself at least.

"Is something the matter?" Wyn asked, apparently noticing that Edwyr was going through an immense internal struggle. "You weren't harmed, were you?"

"No, I'm fine." Physically fine, anyway. Edwyr took in a deep breath. He wanted to leave the room, but he forced himself to stay put. He needed to say this. "Wyn, do you...like me?"

Edwyr cringed. Goddess, this was awkward. At least Wyn seemed confused rather than uncomfortable, but they still had plenty of time for this to get much worse.

"Yes, of course I do," Wyn replied brightly, though he still looked unsure of what was going on. Edwyr sighed, hanging his head. This was somehow even more difficult than he'd thought it would be.

"That isn't what I meant," Edwyr forced out, feeling the remainder of his energy leave his body. He looked at Wyn again just in time for the other elf's expression to go from confused to wide-eyed and shocked, something Edwyr had not really seen before.

Wyn rose to his feet and leaned against the desk, heaving a sigh. He was keeping his gaze trained firmly on the map, but aside from his clear discomfort he looked almost defeated. And that was incredibly disturbing. All the confidence he usually carried with him seemed to have evaporated.

"Well, yes," Wyn admitted and deflated further, making Edwyr's throat close up and his heart flutter. This was a good thing, so he wasn't sure why he felt like he might get sick, but Edwyr did his best to swallow that feeling down.

"Edwyr, I..." Wyn finally looked Edwyr in the eye. He looked more miserable than Edwyr had ever seen him, a pained grimace on his face and shame in his eyes. "I apologize if I have made you uncomfortable."

"Wyn," Edwyr interrupted him, raising his hand to make sure Wyn would listen and not go off on a ramble. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to work.

"My behavior toward you may not have been entirely proper, and—"

"Wyn, listen."

"—for that I am sorry. It was wrong of me to—"

"Dammit, Wyn," Edwyr snapped, grabbing the other elf's shoulders, which did finally stop him from talking. Wyn was now staring at him with wide eyes, frozen in place. Edwyr immediately felt like an idiot for doing this, but he firmly ignored that feeling. "I like you too, all right?"

He'd spent this entire time thinking about Wyn's feelings and not considered his own enough to not feel surprised at how much he meant those words. But it was the truth. He did like Wyn, he'd just not given the concept much thought because he'd never thought Wyn would be interested in him like this. It was all slightly terrifying for some reason, but it also felt good. Whatever that meant.

"Oh." Wyn beamed, doing nothing to get out of Edwyr's grasp. "That's...wonderful."

Edwyr huffed, unable not to find humor in the sudden change of mood. He let Wyn go, shaking his head. "You could have said something earlier."

Wyn grimaced, fiddling with his hands in front of him. "Well, yes. But it seemed trivial and unimportant considering everything we need to do. Not to mention I have not been with anyone in a very long time, and I wasn't certain if and how to even...approach the subject."

Wyn didn't need to spell it out to Edwyr for him to figure out that the poor elf had been nervous. Nervous about telling Edwyr how he felt. That was strangely endearing coming from such a powerful sorcerer.

Though it did make Edwyr wonder why Wyn had been with no one for a long time. He was attractive, smart, and very talented with magic, as well as being generally friendly and pleasant to be around. Whatever the reason, it had likely been a personal choice on Wyn's part, and Edwyr wouldn't try to get him to tell him. It wasn't right.

"Right." Edwyr cleared his throat, another wave of awkwardness hitting him. He was emotionally exhausted at that point. And now Wyn had his hands clasped behind his back, staring intently down at his desk once more. By the Goddess, Edwyr couldn't take this.

Leaning in, Edwyr pressed his lips to Wyn's in a soft, sweet kiss, cupping the other elf's chin as his eyes slid closed. Wyn flinched in surprise at first, but almost immediately relaxed again, melting into the kiss.

When Edwyr pulled away, he felt like an eternity had passed, though he knew it had been a few seconds at most. He could feel the feeling of Wyn's lips on his own lingering. His eyes immediately found Wyn's lips, and Edwyr had to force himself not to kiss the other elf again. He truly wanted to, but he should probably take this slowly. If he didn't, he felt like he might explode from the whirlwind of emotion he was feeling right now.

Wyn said nothing, only smiling at him with more happiness lighting up his eyes than Edwyr had ever seen before. It made his insides twist, but unlike the other times he'd felt like this when something was trying to kill him, somehow this felt good.

"Okay. I need to go lie down for a moment."

It was true enough, though Edwyr still couldn't help but blush in embarrassment at how stupid it came out sounding. If Wyn thought the same thing, though, he gave no indication of it and only grinned wider. It was strange to see him quite this happy, as Wyn usually kept his emotions relatively restrained, but it was a good kind of strange. It made Edwyr's heart jump around in his chest.

"Of course. Get as much rest as you need. I...will be here."

Wyn scratched the back of his neck, an incredibly inelegant gesture for him, but Edwyr couldn't help but smile at both what Wyn was implying and how he was going about it. "I'll come visit you again later."

"Yes. Please do."

Edwyr smiled again as Wyn sat down at his desk before walking out of the room. His legs were so unsteady after what had just happened that he was worried he might fall and make an even bigger idiot out of himself, but he quickly regained his footing.

If only the same could be said for his still reeling mind.