Heirot

It irritated her that he said this, because it was like Soran talking to her and telling her to remove a part of herself.

"Thing is I grew up around this magic. My mom's a seer, so I inherited it. I don't see everything though, I only see what concerns me or someone close to me. It also tends to be in the near future, I can't see that far ahead unless I'm concentrating real hard and if you remember, it drains me." She said, pointing out when she had suddenly gotten really lethargic when they first had met. "Besides, it did save our lives a couple of times when I warned us of danger coming to us."

She thought of Soran though, and how he didn't trust magic either way. How their mental connection had made him so uncomfortable that she finally had to cut it off. Cutting off that connection felt like they had taken a step backwards in their relationship. Having someone else tell her exactly what Soran thought, but wouldn't tell her, made the stake drive itself a bit deeper into her heart. Her magic would be the only thing that would truly keep them apart. It's true then, she really did have to sever a part of herself in order to be close to him.

Sid tilted his head. The tone in her voice didn't seem to match her words. "Mizuki?" he tried, confused. He could tell something went wrong; he'd said the wrong thing, but Sid wasn't the type to give up. "Hey, can I tell you something important?" he said, leaning forward earnestly.

"What is it?" she ventured, wanting to get off this subject dearly.

"My arms are really killing me," he admitted, half-laughing as he said it.

She stared at him. He had asked her so earnestly to listen to him and he came out with such a blunt comment that Mizuki had no words to answer back. But then the giggling started to come up from deep within her chest. She couldn't stop laughing and smiling.

For a second, Sid was stunned to silence by her laughter, but then he heard himself laughing also. So much stress had accumulated in his mind about Rhen's hatred and Mizuki's distrust that he really didn't know how else to deal with it other than take this moment, and laugh his heart out. He finally thunked back against the tree and sighed, grinning. He was so grateful for that moment of laughter, he forgot all intentions of pressing the issue about his arms. He was a long way from being trusted or even liked, but this was his first ray of hope in days.

Laughter subsiding, but the smile still on her face. Mizuki knew she shouldn't do it, that Soran would be angry but... She went over to Sid and pushed him forward from the tree and began to untie his binds before he could say anything.

"I'm just going to retie them to the front, that way you're not so uncomfortable. I know I shouldn't but it doesn't look like it would hurt to at least let you have feeling in your arms." she was talking hurriedly. Like Soran would be back any moment.

Sid stared dead ahead as Mizuki untied him, amazed and speechless. When the rope came loose, his arms fell limply to his sides, spraining through his shoulders and down his back. He ground his teeth and carefully rolled each shoulder while the sensation pulsed slowly back into his arms. He held as still as possible to avoid moving them as the blood came back. For those few moments, he sort of wished they'd both just fall off. With a groan of relief, he finally managed to bend his arms up in front of him, placing one strong wrist over the other. He raised an eyebrow at Mizuki expectantly. "He'll notice they're in front, you know," he grinned.

Mizuki frowned and leaned back, giving him time to get feeling back into his arms. "What does it matter?...Seems like we're going downhill anyway." She said the last quietly, but really she didn't mean to say it aloud at all. She held still, hugging her knees, wondering how Sid would take that information.

Downhill? Sid thought at first, wondering why being downhill had anything to do with which way his hands were facing. It took a moment of focus to realize she was referring to Soran, and then he looked at her strangely. "Downhill? How can that be? I've never seen that guy so fond of anyone in all the years I've known him!" he encouraged casually, although he knew that included himself as well. But seriously, she couldn't possibly mean that?

Her face turning a red of shame, Mizuki kept her gaze at the ground. "It's not like that," her voice was quiet, like she wanted no one to hear. "It's more...like... well, the feeling is there but," She looked down at her hands like all her problems were their fault. "With me having magic in my blood, I don't think it'll go farther then what we are now."

Sid looked at her thoughtfully, a long moment of silence passing between them. God, he wasn't good at these things... Who was he to pretend he could understand Rhen's relationships? "Reya...did something horrible to him. I don't know what it was, but I know it was her. And I know she used magic to do it. Even before he met her, he used to talk about magic like some kind of trickery."

"But I noticed he's traded in the blades I made him for magical items. The Rhen I knew never would have. I don't know who made them, but if he trusted his blades to them, I believe he could trust himself to you, if he tries." Sid rubbed his hands against his hair, trying to come up with a better answer than that. It sounded a little vaguely optimistic, even to him, but he stopped babbling and looked at her.

"He traded in his blades for magical ones made by a Dark Angel who had enlisted her services to him because we had killed her Lord and Master, and Soran..... looked like him." Mizuki was a victim to babbling on just as Sid was, but it felt good to get this all out finally. Before she knew it, Mizuki told Sid everything, it seemed the only logical way for him to even begin to understand, though she gave him a condensed version of it all. Starting with the first day they had met, Mizuki explained and told Sid about Rai, and how Soran and Mizuki started to get closer, the many times they've been attacked, their encounter with the Dark Angels and with Reya. Mizuki explained more than she probably should have, considering exactly who Sid was.

Sid leaned back against the tree and listened quietly to the whole thing. Normall Sid had an extremely short attention span for this kind of thing, but when it came to Rhen, he was carefully listening to every word. Parts of the story shocked him, parts he found hilarious. The more he heard, the more he wished he'd been there and the more he wanted to get to know this family Rhen had found. He'd thought Rhen had moved somewhere comfy and settled down, but it turned out he was seeing quite his share of adventure, and his family wasn't boring at all.

"He's in love with you, alright," Sid said without a shred of doubt when she'd finished telling him. "My god, he's really in love with you." He said it like it was a freak occurance, like saying lizards could perform ballet. But he'd been in love before also, and knew a few things about it. If Mizuki was looking for complete psychic trust, it was possible she'd never find that in Soran, no matter how strong their feelings. "In the end, you've gotta be happy. Just keep in mind what you need to be that, and don't settle for less, no matter how scary. I've played that game, and it's not worth compromising just out of fear of moving on...

...Or some shit like that," Sid finished awkwardly.

Frustrated, Mizuki snapped. "I already know that! I know he loves me but how the hell am I supposed to feel like he's not scorning me inside his mind! I had to break off my connection to his mind because he didn't trust it. I know I've already seen some things I shouldn't have seen but I'm still trying to control all this!" She gasped and stopped momentarily, the silence stretching on before she found what she needed to speak again.

"Sometimes I feel like he doesn't trust me. He's been hurt enough by magic and people's own superstitions about curses that when it comes right down to it... I feel like... like... I'm really not the person he should be with. I don't want to block off my powers because I was taught to never be ashamed of them and to always use them for the greater good. It's a part of me that, I don't want to lose." It keeps me close to father, she thought to herself sadly. "But he would prefer it not be there, at all. So really... are we just fooling ourselves?"

Close to tears, Mizuki forgot all about their current situation. The war that was beginning, the urgency to get to the capitol, Sid being a soldier of the enemy,... and that Soran and Rai were taking a long time to get back.