(by Laura Lulli and Heleen de Hamer; Emelda's part by Jim Caccamo)

Eliadha decided it was time to face the upcoming day, so she thrust away the sheets and got out of bed. She went to the bathroom to wash herself and returned to her room to get dressed.

She took more care with her attire that usual. Rafael had promised her to meet her at her store around midday. Even though they already knew most of each others intimate secrets, she still wanted to make a good impression on him. Getting flustered and excited at the mere thought of her lover, Eliadha cut of that thought before she would a cold shower to cool down.

When she was finished dressing, she gathered her things and went downstairs. She entered the kitchen, grabbed a quick breakfast and before leaving, scribbled a note to her sisters that she would be at the bookstore all day.

She left the Guildhouse and with brisk strides traversed the streets of Thendara.

When she reached her store, she unobtrusively looked through the front window. She didn't see Haral, but everything seemed to be in order, so she entered the store.

TINGLE!!!!

At the sound of the bell above the door, Haral came walking out of the back office. His eyesight wasn't what it used to be, so he squinted a bit to see who his early customer was. As he recognized his employer, a broad smile crossed his face and he said:" Good morning, mestra Eliadha. Welcome back to Thendara. How was your trip?"

"Good morning to you Haral. My trip was fine, although a little more eventful than I had expected. How has business been?"

"Business is great. I imagine you want to check out the books. Let me just go and get them for you," he said eagerly and disappeared into the back office.

He returned shortly with the books and the safe box that should contain most of the earnings. He handed them to Eliadha and said: "I hope you find everything in order mestra."

"I'm sure I will Haral. But how many times do I have to remind you to call me Eliadha instead of mestra? You're old enough to be my grandfather and he certainly wouldn't have called me 'mestra'," Eliadha said with a grin.

"I'm sorry mes.. Eliadha. I'll try and remember."

Eliadha opened the books and studied them. Every sale was recorded in a neat, meticulous hand. Haral had written down every title of the books he had sold during her absence and also the price he had sold it for.

Everything seemed in order, although he could of course have sold he book without recording its sale. But Eliadha would only be able to verify that if she made a complete inventory of her stock.

After checking the books, she counted the money in the safe box and in the till. As she had expected, every single cent was accounted for.

She complimented Haral on his work and he beamed with pride.

Eliadha spent the rest of the morning making sure that everything was arranged for her prolonged trip to Dalereuth. She would be away for quite some time and wanted to be sure that Haral knew exactly what was expected of him.

As the noon hour approached, Eliadha began throwing longing glances at the front door.

"Where can Rafael be," she wondered. "I hope he get's here soon. I can't wait to hold that sexy body in my arms once more."

She caught Haral giving her curious glances, and decided that it would be best to send him off to have lunch at home. Haral was a sweet old man, but also a gigantic gossip. If he saw Rafael at the store, news of this would soon be out in the streets. And even though Eliadha wasn't embarrassed about her relationship with the young regent, she didn't want to put him into a compromising position.

"Haral, why don't you go and have your lunch at home. I can manage the store for a while."

"But mes.. Eliadha, I brought my lunch with me and there is so much to do before you go."

"I think that we've taken care of almost everything. The rest can wait till you get back.....You know what? Why don't you take the whole afternoon off. What we still have to do can wait until tomorrow.

Business is very slow today and I'm sure that I can manage on my own."

"But.."

"No buts. Take advantage of the fact that I'm here in Thendara. When I'm gone again, you'll have to run the store on your own again. Now scoot! I'll see you in the morning."

Puzzled, Haral did as he was told. He gathered his things and left the store, wishing Eliadha a pleasant day before he closed the door behind him.

"I'm sure it'll be VERY pleasant," Eliadha thought with a smug look on her face. Throwing another longing look at the door, she thought to herself: "Where are you Rafe! What's keeping you? I want to make hot passionate love to you. If you don't hurry up, I might just rip of your clothes as soon as you walk through that door. And then I'll {censored}

Midday had come and gone, and still Rafael hadn't shown up.

Eliadha was getting quite agitated. She was sure that he'd said that he'd meet her today. Had he misunderstood? Or had she? She didn't know anymore.

Why hadn't he sent her some sort of message?

As the afternoon passed, she became certain that he wouldn't show up.

She was getting angrier at him by the second and even started muttering to herself.

It was a good thing that not a single customer showed up that afternoon, because he or she certainly wouldn't have gotten any friendly service.

Eliadha berated herself. She should have known that he had just been 'saying' that he'd meet her at the store today. He had never intended to do so.

He probably hadn't even meant a word he'd said to her. The #@&%*#$@ had probably just been out for some cheap sex.

But, if he was after some cheap thrills, why hadn't he just gone to some place like "The Golden Peacock"?

"Aah, but then he'd have had to pay for it. And probably gotten some sort of disease in the bargain as well. That cheap bastard," Eliadha thought, "if I ever get my hands on that @#$%#@&, he'll wish he'd never met me."

She took out the whetstone she always carried with her and started sharpening one of her already razorsharp long knives. Muttering to herself and thinking of all the different ways she was going to hurt that @$&*#$%, she slowly slipped into a trance.

ELIADHA!!!!!

She was startled out of her reverie by the frantic, strangled sound of Rafe's voice. She looked around her but didn't see him. Then she realized that she had heard his voice in her mind and not with her ears.

"RAFAEL?!?" she mentally shouted back.

"Preciosa?!? I love you!!!! I'll come to you tomorrow. I'm sorry, I ..." his mental voice was cut off abruptly.

The backlash of their severed rapport slapped against her mind, and within seconds Eliadha had a splitting headache. Luckily she was already sitting down, or she surely would have fallen.

Holding her pounding head in her hands, she wondered what that was all about. She knew that during their lovemaking Rafael's mind and hers had connected, but she had never been able to 'hear' what he was thinking.

Eliadha just sat there until the headache subsided a bit. Then she got up, gathered her things and left the store, locking the door behind her.

Slowly she made her way back to the Guildhouse.

She immediately went up to her room, closed the curtains and lay down on the bed, hoping that this would help to make the headache disappear.

Eliadha was on her way back from the Verrin Hawk. When she had arrived there, she had asked the innkeeper, Ewan

McEwan, for Idriel MacAran. He had told her that the woman still was not back from her visit to her family at the MacAran Inn. So Eliadha left a message for the leronis that Marja was at the Guildhouse and that Eliadha, her sisters and their leroni friends were looking after her in the mean time. She requested Idriel to come to the Guildhouse as soon as she returned to Thendara, so that they could discuss what they should do about Marja's threshold sickness. She also asked Idriel to let Marja's parents know that she was safe and in good hands.

Now she was walking back to the Guildhouse. She was going over everything that she knew about Marja and still couldn't figure out what might have happened to make the girl run away from home.

Eliadha was so engrossed in her thoughts, that she didn't notice the man coming from a side street. The two of them had a head on collision, and for the second time in a couple of days, Eliadha lay stretched out in the street.

She started to get up and was gently helped by a couple of strong hands.

When she stood, she heard a choked "Eliadha!" and looked up into the handsome face of Rafael Lindir.

Eliadha's breath caught in her throat. "Rafe!" she managed to croak.

Then reality struck and the anger she had felt towards him the previous day came bottling up.

Roughly she shook of Rafe's helping hands and took a step backwards. She gave him her coldest stare and in a loud but controlled voice said: "You @&^$^# ! How dare you! What the hell makes you think you can stand me up. You $&^%&^ ! If you didn't want to see me again, why didn't you just say so. No, instead you had to be a wimp and say that you would meet me.You ... you ..." Words escaped her.

Eliadha was aware that a curious crowd had gathered to witness this quarrel between a Comyn lord and a Renunciate. But she didn't care. It didn't matter to her that he might be embarressed by this public spectacle. She didn't care one bit ... not after what he had done to her the previous day.

Eliadha didn't give Rafael a chance to say anything, but continued her tirade: "You #%$$^# ! You didn't even send me a note that you weren't coming. What gives you the right to treat me this way. To you I may only be a lowly Renunciate, but I am a person and I have feelings too, like everybody else! You @$^#$ !"

She felt like punching him out, but instead put her hands on her hips, stared at him with a deadly look in her eyes and demanded: "Well, you $%^$* ! What do you have to say for yourself?"

*Blessed Evanda...I had forgot she was so beautiful...*

Despite Eliadha's insults filling the air, and the crowd watching, a wonderful music was playing in Rafe's mind.

How could it go that she had missed her so much, after knowing her for so little a time? Ah, her hair...her eyes...those lips he was feeling like kissing.

Suddenly, Eliadha's voice stopped reaching his ears.

"Well, you $%^$* ! What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I guess you spoke enough for both of us, preciosa..."

"Don't you dare calling me like this again, you, you..." her hands waving in the air.

"Now. I've had enough of this, chiya." Rafe grabbed Eliadha's wrists. She looked surprised by the gesture, and possibly, even more angry, but she stayed silent.

"I was going to your stall, hoping to find you, to explain you the reason why I didn't come yesterday. I was also going to tell you how MUCH I missed you...but I guess you aren't going to believe a single word, damned stubborn as you are."

He shook Eliadha slightly.

"But maybe this will convince you that I'm sincere"

Rafe roughly pulled the Amazon to his chest, and left her wrists, taking her face in his hands.

All sort of comments rose from the crowd, while the young Comyn was passionately kissing the blonde Renunciate.

Panting, the couple parted, and an enraged Rafael, suprised himself by is macho attitude, rather unusual for him, shouted:

"Go AWAY! The show is ended!"

Eliadha shuddered against him, suddenly frightened by this side of her lover's temper, that she hadn't known yet.

Rafe felt her movements, and holded her again, this time tenderly.

The crowd had probably vanished, and if they hadn't, he didn't care at all, anyway. He kissed her lips again, softly.

"Now, do you believe me?"

"Mmmm... I must admit, sir, that you can be very convincing," Eliadha said, giving Rafe a small smile. "But you still haven't told me why you didn't show up yesterday."

Before answering, Rafe looked around him. Most of the crowd had disappeared, but there were still some stragglers that were hoping for another publice scene.

"Come preciosa, let's find somewhere more private to discuss this," Rafe suggested, while thinking "Is she going to believe me? Oh...I hope so...I can't stand the idea of her being mad at me!"

Not wanting to be the source of another spectacle, Eliadha decided to go along with his suggestion. "Alright. Where do you have in mind? I hope you're not thinking I will go with you to one of those sleazy inns that rent out rooms by the hour."

"Of course not. How can you think that?" he asks. Elated he thought: "At least she wants to be with me!" He continues: "No ... let me just think on it. Hmm. The bookstore is still open for business I guess."

"Yes. Haral should still be there. And I can't very well send him home… again. You know I gave him the afternoon off yesterday. He's a big gossip and I thought it wiser not to let him see you. But I guess it was all for nothing," Eliadha replied.

"I'm so sorry to have caused such problems, my love."

"Uhm .. I might know of a place we can go," Eliadha replied hesitantly. She really wanted to talk thing out with her handsome lover, but wasn't sure she'd be able to restrain herself when she was once again alone with him.

"Where?" Rafe asked eagerly.

"Leisha's Sweetshop."

"The sweetshop? But isn't that open for business as well at this hour?"

"It usually is, but not today," Eliadha replied. "When I was on my way to the Verrin Hawk, I ran into Leisha. She told me that she had some important errands to run and had therefore closed the shop early. She said something about Dom Marcello and laxative chocolates and being afraid of a reprisal. She also told me that for the last couple of days, she's had the feeling that the shop is being watched. So she asked me to check things out on my way back to the Guildhouse. She even gave me the keys so that I can also take a look around inside. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if we go to the shop to talk things over." Rafael agreed, and companionably the two of them made their way to Leisha's Sweetshop. They had silently agreed not to talk about the events of the day before, lest they get caught up in another public argument. To while away the time, Eliadha told Rafe about Marja and everything that had occured that day.

"Is Eliadha still angry," Rafe wondered, while listening to the sensual voice of the woman who had managed to capture his heart. He tried to make a mental contact. He managed to reach her mind, and through her thin barriers, he felt confusion (too much confusion, for his tastes...and a bad challenge to his self esteem), but underneath it all...happiness at seeing him again...and (a deep sigh ran through his throat, Rafe trying helplessly to hide it) when he recognized the desire.

This made him decide to hold her hand again...would he be able to avoid pushing her against the first free wall he could see, after touching any part of her body, even her innocent hand? Her hands on him...Evanda!

The thrill came indeed, but their hands just felt comfortable, holding each other.

The rest would come later...hopefully.

Soon, they reached the Sweetshop front door. Eliadha found the right key, after a couple of tries, and invited Rafe

to enter.

The air was.. favoured. It tasted of chocolate and biscutis, and the whole place was permeated by comfortable vibrations.

Rafe could tell for sure that Lisha loved her job.

Eliadha gestured towards the back of the shop, and Rafe followed her without a word.

Suddenly, tired to wait, the girl took initiative and kissed him.

"What about my explanations?" moaned Rafe, while biting her ear.

"I can wait for them a little longer...shut up and kiss me now, stupid!" was the panting answer.

Not that Rafe needed further invitations, anyway.

He lifted her on the table, and started to undress her really quickly, Eliadha doing the same with him.

Their rushing movements caused troubles on the upstanding shelf. A jar, containing the chocolate cream Leisha used to top some of her sweets fell on the lovers, covering Eliadha's breasts.

"Ouch! Honey, that missed my head for almost nothing...Look at what you did!! I'm covered with this...ooooo"

She didn't ended the sentence, since Rafe was cleaning "the dirt" with his tongue...and Eliadha wasn't able anymore to think clearly.

More chocolate cream after...(Eliadha had liked the game so much that had insisted to try it on Rafe) they were able to talk again...and Rafe wasn't worried anymore about the Amazon being mad at him.

Their desires satiated (for now) they were content to just hold each other.

Finally Rafe explained to the woman in his arms why he hadn't been able to meet her the previous day. As he told her about his uncle Regis' interference, he could feel her tense up in his arms.

"That old .. old .. buttinski!" she exclaimed. "I've heard about his dislike for Renunciates, although I've never heard of a reason why. What gives him the right to interfere? We're both consenting adults."

"Shh, my sweet. No need to get upset about him," Rafael answered and squeezed her playfully. "I don't want you thinking about any man except me."

Eliadha looked up at him and smiled, but still remained thoughtful. "He probably thinks I'm not worthy of Rafe," she murmured to herself. Apparently she had said it loud enough for him to hear, for Rafe responded by gently taking her face in his hands and kissing her. Before Eliadha could answer his kiss with the passion that was starting to heat her blood again, he lifted his head and said:

"No preciosa. Don't you ever think that of yourself. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me. No matter what my uncle might think of you, I love you and I intend to never let you go, now that I've found you. Even though we've only met three days ago, I feel as if I've known you all my life. And though it may be too much to hope for, I hope that someday you'll feel the same way about me."

Playfully Eliadha punched her lover. "Don't you know by now that I feel the same way. I know I haven't said it in so many words, but I do love you."

Slowly a smile spread across Rafe's face. "I never thought I'd hear you say that," he remarked as he pulled Eliadha's sensual body closer to him. "But how do I know that you're telling the truth," he teased.

"Well ... maybe I should show you," Eliadha replied and gave him a tiny kiss on his nose, while rubbing her body against his. As Rafe tried to pull her even closer to him, she nimbly escaped from his arms. She laughed at his astonished look and said: "Just be patient a little while longer lover. I'll be right back." and scampered off to the back of the shop.

She rummaged around the cooling unit she knew Leisha had recently had installed there.

Finding what she was looking for, she took out two dishes and walked back to Rafe, who was looking at her inquistively. Her heart skipped a beat as she again took in the sight of his handsomely muscled naked body. Then she noticed him looking at her own naked body appreciatively and started blushing. To hide her reddened face, she bent over and put the dishes on the table.

She dipped her hand into the first dish and took out a chocolate coated strawberry and dipped it into the second dish. As she lifted her hand again, Rafe could see that it was now covered with whipped cream.

Eliadha dipped a finger of her hand into the same dish. Then she raised the finger to her mouth and sensually licked it clean.

It was obvious to both of them that Rafe couldn't stand the excitement much longer as he made his way to Eliadha's side. She offered him the strawberry and then playfully pulled it away as he tried to take a bite.

This was more than he could bear, so he forcefully pulled her body against his again and took away the strawberry. He offered it to Eliadha and as she licked away the whipped cream, his mouth replaced the strawberry and he kissed her passionately. Eliadha immediately responded and started moving her hands over her lovers naked body. Her passion grew even more and as Rafe started to lift her body she wrapped her legs around his waist.........

Emelda Lanart-Hastur had one of her insatiable cravings for cream puffs. As one of Leisha n'ha Ursula's best customers (Aldones help Leisha if Emelda ever goes on a diet!) she knew how to get into the Sweet Shop after hours and always left Leisha a substantial tip in addition to the cost of the goods.

It was to Emelda's surprise to find that she was not alone in the shop. A young renunciate and a Comyn nobleman were making passionate love right there in the store! Now that's entertainment!

Quietly, Emelda hid herself and watched...and watched....and watched. What charmingly beautiful children they were! How lucky to have each other and enjoy each other so freely. Despite herself, Emelda felt a tear trickle down her cheek, not only over what she herself was missing in her life, but by the sheer emotional beauty of what she witnessed. She was so moved that she decided to showcase the scene in a forthcoming Adore Eternally novel.

Now where did Leisha keep her ice cubes?

Time seemed to hold still for the lovers.

Rafe felt that he could go on like that for ages, sparing only the time to breath, and to eat something to gain strenght again.

The place was full of energetic food, anyway...Rafael guessed he would have refund Leisha in some way. Their sweated bodies couldn't resolve to leave each other, even sleeping.

Rafe was about to taste again Eliadha's flavour, when he heard some noises in the shop.

He unwillingly slipped from her arms, to go and check who it could be, but he didn't see anything but some coins on the counter.

The door of the shop was moving with the wind, and Rafe was almost sure that the money hadn't been there, when he had come in with Eliadha, so...

Someone had come in, now..and had probably taken a look of what was happening in the back of the shop.

Not that he cared, but suddenly he realized that he was in a commercial exercise, wearing nothing, while he should have been at Castle Comyn, or at least with his uncle, sharing with him the duties of the regency.

He swore, angrily. He hated to do this, but he had to say goodbye to her.

He reached Eliadha, and tried not to look at her gorgeous breasts.

*Oh my...she drives me crazy...when I'm near her I can't think of nothing else but touching her...*

"Preciosa..."

"Yes, honey?"

"We have to go..." Rafe searched his clothes, around the room "I have to go, actually" and he started to dress up.

"Oh, sure. I'm really busy, too" she said, coldly, without making a move.

*Not this again....* "Please, my love...I didn't mean to break the enchantment, but we both have to go! It's very late...your sisters are probably asking themselves where you could be...and I know for sure that Regis is looking for me, now..."

The urgency, and the sorrow in his voice pierced through Eliadha's coldness. She lowered her blue eyes, and said:"Yes, I guess you're right, honey". One deep, sad sigh.

Rafe caressed her cheek, softly, and laid a soft kiss in Eliadha's lips.

"Don't sigh, my dear. I don't want to say godbye to you forever."

The hope in her eyes made Rafe's heart skip a beat.

"But I have to leave for Aldaran, tomorrow. No, don't look at me like this.You have to leave, too, haven't you?" the Renunciate nodded "So, you see, I'm not the only one who's going" This got him a little smile. Rafael decided that she deserved a little prize for this, and gently kissed her again.

He managed to part from her just a second before his body could start to react again.

"What time do you think you're leaving tomorrow, Eliadha?"

"I don't really know. I guess it all depends how soon we can get everything and everyone together," the Renunciate replied. "Now that that MacBard fellow has been apprehended, everyone wants to leave for Dalereuth as soon as possible. And if it were up to Marjo, we'd already have left today. She and Derek can't wait to get married."

Rafe grinned. "I know exactly how they feel. We haven't even said goodbye yet, and I can't wait to see you again tomorrow," he said, and gave Eliadha's hand a gentle squeeze. Then he let go of her and told her to get dressed while he would try and tidy up the shop a bit.

When Eliadha was finished dressing, she helped Rafe tidy up. She bent down and picked up the chocolate covered strawberry they had dropped earlier. Her face lit up as she remembered their sweet love-making. Her body startled to tingle all over again. "We'd better leave now," she thought, "or I might just rip those clothes off him again."

Rafe unobtrusively studied the face of his lover. "Aldones," he thought.

"How can I even think of leaving her. Just looking at her makes me want to make love to her again."

Steeling himself, Rafe walked over to Eliadha and gently took her hand.

"Come on, preciosa. We'd better go. It's getting late."

As Eliadha made her way through the door, she saw that Rafe was about to leave some money on the counter. "No need for that lover. I'll straighten everything out with Leisha tomorrow."

Rafe shrugged his shoulder and put the money back in his pouch. Automatically both of them reached for the other's hand and they made their way to the Guildhouse.

Soon they reached the Guildhouse and it was time for them to say goodnight.

Now that Rafe had admitted to himself and Eliadha how much he loved her, he didn't care anymore who might see them. He gently took her into his arms and started kissing her passionately.

After a few minutes, heaving a deep sigh, Eliadha gently extracted herself from his arms and said: "Uhm.. Even though I can happily keep this up the whole night, I think it's better that you go now. If you don't, we will start something that we'd better save for tomorrow."

A smile crossed Rafael's face and he gently gave her one last kiss. "Alright my love. I will meet you here again tomorrow. What time?"

"Is three hours after dawn alright with you? I'm sure that I'll be able to get away for a while then."

"Sure. I'll see you then," Rafe replied and walked off.

Eliadha watched as her lover walked off. Every now and then he'd turn around, smile at her and wave. And everytime Eliadha smiled and waved back. As he walked around a corner and disappeared from her sight,

Eliadha turned around and entered the Guildhouse.

Apparently everybody was already in bed, seeing as everything was deadly quiet. So Eliadha silently made her way up to her room.

"Marja!" she suddenly remembered. She hadn't thought about her young friend once since she and Rafe had reached the sweetshop.

"Well, there's nothing I can do now. I'm sure the rest of the gang took good care of her. I'll apologize to her tomorrow," she thought to herself and started undressing.

She slid between the sheets and was asleep almost before her head hit the pillow. And like the past couple of nights, she soon started dreaming about a certain handsome Comyn Lord......

Eliadha fell asleep immediately and dreamt all sorts of wonderful and exciting things about her and Rafe.

For some reason, about an hour before dawn she woke up. Her mind instantly wandered to her conversation with her lover the night before.

Then she started thinking that maybe it was for the best that they would both be leaving Thendara. Aldones only knew what sort of a future a Comyn Lord and a Renunciate could have together. Probably not much of one.

She thought about all the things she liked about Rafe and which ones she didn't. The first list kept growing longer and longer, while she still had to think of a single thing that could go on the second list. After a while she started to get sleepy. She closed her eyes and dozed off again…

The morning after. (details on Rafe's situation in Mabry's flight and Looking for Mabry)

....Slowly Eliadha became aware of some sort of irritating noise and she realized that someone was loudly knocking on her door.

"Yeah-yes?" she exclaimed grumbly, still not fully awake.

"Eliad-haaaa - dearest, you simply _can't_ be still asleep?" she heard someone say. It took a while for her to recognize the honey sweet voice as being Daimary's.

"I mean, we want to leave today, and it's almost the third hour after dawn already, and - "

Eliadha didn't even let her friend finish what she was saying. As she jumped out of bed, she exclaimed "WHAT?? HOW LATE IS IT???" She grabbed some clean clothes and rushed out the door. In passing, she noticed Daimary standing by her door, but seeing as Eliadha didn't have the time to strike up a conversation with her, she ignored her and entered the bathroom.

"If Daimary has anything important to say, she knows where to find me," she thought, while she started stripping of her clothes. While doing so, she also managed to pick up her toothbrush and started brushing her teeth.

"There's a woman here, her name is Eloise, and she wishes to speak to you," she heard Daimary yell.

"Can't she see I'm busy," Eliadha thought, getting slightly annoyed.

With her toothbrush still in her mouth she yelled back: "Whoever she is, I'll talk to her later. First I have to ...mmblmbl." Toothpaste came spilling out of her mouth. Luckily it all landed in the sink. She spit out the rest of it and rinsed her mouth.

By now she was fully undressed and quickly washed herself. Then she hurriedly put on her clothes, combed her short blond hair and went back to her room.

She dumped her wet towel on the floor and picked up her boots. While she was pulling them on, her eye fell on a pile of clothing and other stuff lying in the corner. Luckily she had had the fore-sight to already have decided what she would and wouldn't take with her to Dalereuth. The only thing she had to do now was stuff everything into her saddlebags and the water-repellant duffel bag that she always used when undertaking long journeys.

"That'll have to wait until later," she said to herself as she made her way out the door. She didn't want to keep Rafe waiting any longer than necessary. They wouldn't have too much time together before they both had to leave: he for Aldaran, she for Dalereuth.

She ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time. She halted a second when she stood before the door. She took a deep breath, opened the door and went outside.

Her heart skipped a beat as she saw Rafe. He was already waiting for her. He was nonchalantly leaning against the wall of a building on the other side of the street.

When Rafe saw Eliadha emerge from the Guildhouse, a big grin came to his face. "Aldones," he thought. "I don't know how she does it, but she gets more beautiful and sexy everytime I see her."

He felt his excitement rise as he hastened to the other side of the street and cheerfully said: "Good morning, preciosa." He didn't give Eliadha a chance to reply, but instead briefly kissed her. Then he took her hand and simply said: "Come," and almost dragged her down the street.

He noticed that Elaidha immediately matched her steps to his and then watched him curiously. He just winked at her and quickly led her into a quiet side street.

As soon as they were a safe distance from the main street, Rafe roughly pressed Eliadha against the wall and started kissing her passionately.

Eliadha could have gone on for ever like that...like every other time she had met him, she was losing the ability to think clearly...

Almost.

Paces in the street beyond them, and the noises of a group of people and their horses had a very bad effect on her mood, and she stopped reacting to Rafe's kisses.

She hadn't the nerve to push him away, and, to be honest, she didn't wanted to do so.

Rafe felt Eliadha becoming suddenly cold in his arms, and gave up trying to kiss her.

"OK, my love...what's wrong?"

A single teardrop feel from the Amazon long lashes, and Rafe dried it with a tender kiss on her cheek.

"What's wrong, honey...tell me..." he tried again, softly.

"Oh, please, don't be so sweet to me...you make the whole thing harder, Rafe!"

"What do you mean harder? Which 'whole thing'?"

"You know what I mean!!" Eliadha was nearly shouting.

"Even if I'd like to spend some more time with you..." *I'd die to make love to you once again* "I just CAN'T! I'd never be able to leave for Dalereuth, then...and I have to go!! They're all waiting for me, now!!"

Rafe tried to intervene, but she didn't let him speak.

"Don't cut me off!!! Say, do you really think that there's any future for us?? Are you so silly to think that your precious Comi'i would leave you have me as a..." Eliadha burst in tears.

"Hush, hush, preciosa." he produced an handkerchief from nowhere, and wiped her tears again. "Don't say that word. I know that there could be... problems" *If this isn't minimizing...* "..still I love you so..." and he couldn't help, but teardrops were filling his eyes as well..."I can't think of not seeing you anymore..."

Eliadha thought that she had never heard anything that had sounded sweeter to her ears, and she dried his tears as he had done shortly before.

Rafe sighed, and spoke again: "I have to go as well, my dear..I hoped for a more pleasant parting, since I'll have to face a really hard task...."

Rafe explained her all about Mabry's letter, and how Myria had suggested that he would go and follow her traces.

"...And I don't know whenever we would meet again..." he concluded, tears filling his eyes again. "But I'm going to try hard, and fnd you wherever you are"

He was so funny, a deadly decision written in his suddenly childish features, that Eliadha laughed lovingly at him, and kissed his lips.

"I believe you...and trust me, if I don't see you, I'll look for you! And you'll better run faster than you can, when I find you"

Despite her joking words, she was crying again, and Rafael with her.

Silently they agreed that this would be their last embrace...and their last kiss.

No other words were spoken, and the two lovers parted silently in the streets of Thendara, each one of them heading for their destiny.

So, now Eliadha will head for Dalereuth, and Rafe will be Looking for Mabry

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