(Page 76) [spoiler]if you’re a long time fan I’m sure you’ll recognize this page. It’s been so long and I’ve been dying to get to such important pages! They mean the world to me. Hope y’all enjoy 😉 [/spoiler]      "Variks tried to help. Thought perhaps a cure could be found for the awoken prince. As you can see, I did not succeed." Still guarded. But more open than before. He throws her a sidelong glance from blazing blue eyes.      She watches his hands casually move over a data pad, fascinated. He puts it down and turns to her. He's sitting right next to her. Swallowing, she looks away. "I'm sorry for coming here. Bringing these troubles back to you." She almost feels guilty for simply her presence as an awoken. Variks shakes his head. "I missed working with you," he says kindly, reassuring. She shrugs, suddenly embarrassed and not sure how to respond in the slightest. "You had Petra," she blurts.     "Petra's heart was in the right place for her own people. Not mine." Shadow shifts uncomfortably, hoping he hadn't noticed her anger. "I had no one left," he adds quietly, surprising her. "Thinking you were dead, too, along with other guardians fallen in the Red War."      When she doesn't respond, lost for words, he rests one hand on hers. Flinching, her face flushes. He looks her straight in her eyes. "You have something on your mind."      He always read her so well. She looks away from his intense stare. Willing herself to say something. She was the one who started this conversation, after all. What kind of a hunter was she? Just say something. She stands abruptly. "Anything else you needed me to do today?"      She blinks away her forming tears, cursing these feelings that tighten her chest in a vice grip, and turns to him as he stands—      Then there are hands against her and she barely holds back a gasp. Fire spreads along her skin, cold and hot all at once. Any sound becomes deep and muffled under the heartbeat roaring in her ears. Variks's eyes bore into her own.      Feeling like sinking, drowning, no air.      The moment falls into place, the waiting is over. She knows she needs to say it out loud. This is her chance and if she can't say it, she's failed and this wont exist anymore and that is fair. "I do have something I need to say." The voice barely sounds like hers, very far away. "That I've needed to say for a long time now."      Her heart races faster than she thought possible, hammering against her chest. His lower hands gently brush over her back.      "Shadow."      "Mm..." she murmurs, flushed from their closeness.      "Tell me why you're here."      She hides her anxiety with indignation. "I want to help the elik-"      "Other than for my people," he cuts her off. "Why did you seek me out? Why have you done all of this?"      She expected him to be stern, but he speaks softly, in a comforting way. Shadow blinks, surprised. She's never seen him so gentle before.      Hesitating, she wonders if she could possibly fall in love with him any more than she already has. The more time she spent with Variks, the more she found to love.     Shadow loses her breath, trembling. So long she'd waited for this moment, to finally be here with him again. It didn't feel real. Fear pierces her heart. Anxiety mingles with a confidence straining to reach the surface, threatening to overwhelm her.      She resets herself. She didn't come here for nothing, how could she let this opportunity pass her? If not now, when?      Variks waits patiently.      "Variks..." She swallows, the room swimming around her. She can hear his steady, rasped breathing behind his chainmail mask and it comforts her.      "Tell me," he encourages warmly.      She inhales unsteadily, pulls her shoulders back, lifts her chin. She wishes she could say more, put into words how deeply she felt for this eliksni- but knows she has to start with this.      "I love you."