The Fateful Heart

Evaline sensed his reluctance, and it just occurred to her that she may have worsened tenseness by using this dumb game to apologize rather than just saying it out loud, unprompted. Why couldn't she just say it out loud without prompt?

Too late now. He chose the thinly-veiled apology by choosing dare, and now she had to sound sincere... which shouldn't be too hard, because she really did mean it.

With her chin leaning on her palm, she looked off to the side and paused for a moment to think of the right words.

"I'm sorry if what I did last night made you uncomfortable," she said softly. "I recognized the risks of waiting versus not waiting for you to wake up, but that shouldn't have been my decision."

She looked up to meet his eyes, trying to show that she was serious and sincere.

"And for that, I am sorry. I hope that what I did won't affect our relationship."

Her last sentence seemed to hang in the air, so she quickly added, "That is, as friends. Traveling companions."

The words still felt wrong to her, so she looked away and furrowed her brows to quickly think of what she was trying to say. Or perhaps, by what she didn't mean to say.

"But not just that. You're more than someone I travel with because of fate, or the note, or whatever. I mean..."

She grimaced and pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling her apology falling apart because she had no idea what she was trying to convey. She already felt the embarrassment rise to the surface, especially because James was intently listening and staring at her, waiting for her to finish talking when she herself had no idea how to finish.

"What I mean to say," she began quickly and loudly, interrupting her previous sentence, "is that..."

She paused so she could relieve her nerves by sighing and dropping her hands so she could face James again, even though she felt her face go warm and she couldn't bring herself to look like she was glad to be telling him this.

"... I care for you, and I don't think I'd be able to forgive myself if you had... died... over something I couldn't change. That's why I did it, and I'm not sorry if I'm the reason you won't die of an infection, because I don't regret that. But if you're upset with how I did it, then I'm sorry, and..."

This apology was getting worse and worse. She could feel word vomit come up again, but this time, she stopped herself. She covered her face with her hand, rubbing her eyes with her fingers in frustration.

"I don't know what I'm saying anymore. Just accept my apology," she grumbled, deciding to give up while she was ahead.

James wished his mind didn’t feel like a mudpile of sludge at the moment. He had to use all his energy to focus on Evaline, to hear every word, to think about it critically, and let it sink in. He could tell she was really trying, and he could tell it wasn’t easy for her.

He understood why she’d done what she did. He knew it was because she was worried, and didn’t want him to die. But he was glad that she was recognizing her haste, and how she’d violated his privacy while he was very vulnerable - even if he didn’t use those words, that was what he heard.

She was sorry, and she couldn’t undo what she’d done, but it sounded sincere. He wanted to believe she wouldn’t do something like that again. Unless... he was dying, of course.

He took in a deep breath. He didn’t have many words to say, and it was difficult to wade through the constant buzzing of his mind that reminded him of the pain in his leg.

But he pushed through a little longer. For her.

“I forgive you, Evaline,” he said as genuinely as he could, though his face was tense to conceal the pain. “Consider it water under the bridge. Thank you, for your apology.”

And finally, it was over, just like that. James said he forgave her.

But Evaline still couldn't shake the feeling that she still wasn't finished. There were more things she could say to him, but she didn't want to say them, or didn't know how. Her head hurt too much from all this. She wished he never got that stupid infection so that all of this would never have happened and they could go back to just being friends getting to know one another.

But... if they were going to open their heart to one another to follow the note's demands, then this was only the surface of what was to come.

She was getting mentally exhausted just from thinking about that apology alone. She didn't want to talk or think about this anymore.

"You should get some rest," she said, standing up to pull out a blanket from the saddlebag. "You can sleep first. You need it more than me."

James agreed, and he went to sleep - and for the first time in a long time, had a dreamless sleep. When he woke up they went about their day in a similar routine as they had before. Food, water, and he took the time to braid Evaline's hair. It wasn't difficult to do, since he could sit down with her in front of him just fine.

Over the next two days, they managed to fall back into something comfortable again.

It was a little different, now, since Evaline was more aware of his injuries. She offered to help more, and though he didn't do it often, he did occasionally ask for assistance when he felt his leg wouldn't hold up any longer.

It was a humbling experience, for him. He had become proud of his independence and his ability to do everything on his own and having to admit he needed help - or even that help would be nice or make things easier felt harder than it should've been.

But despite it all, they kept traveling. Conversation was kept light, and Evaline kept true to her promise not to do any more truth games while his leg was healing. He appreciated it. It helped as the air around them slowly mended, and the tension started to fade again.

On the second day - counting since the night Evaline had met the goblin, and treated his infection - James took the first watch. He could tell Evaline had been pushing herself to try and overcompensate for everything, and he wanted her to rest. When she finally woke up, he went to bed feeling... strange.

He thought of bringing it up to Evaline. The warmth, in his leg. The heat seemed to radiate throughout his body, but it didn't feel quite like a fever. He didn't really know how to describe it, but it didn't feel bad. It almost felt soothing.

And then he had the best sleep he'd had in a year. When he woke up, something felt different, and it took him a minute to realize what it was. He sat up and brought his knees up towards his chest, and that's when he realized: it didn't hurt.

He froze, for a moment, and stared out into the dim morning light. Elliot was awake, and so was Evaline, but James hardly registered what they were doing. He looked down at his leg.

It was day three, right? She'd said three days?

He wasn't hallucinating? This was real? This wasn't a burst of euphoria before death?

He rolled up his pant leg quickly until it was above his knee, and he hurriedly started pulling on the laces of his boot so he could rip it off. Then went the sock. And then the first layer of the bandage.

He noticed, while he started pulling it off, that it was a little stiff, with a strange, goopy texture. He wasn't sure what to think of it, and whether he should be concerned or elated. He kept unwrapping. The last layer came off like a cast, stiff with the same goop and a greenish-yellow hue, but his eyes were quickly drawn away from the bandage to his leg.

He stopped breathing as he stared.

The infection was gone. The wound had closed up completely and scabbed over. The stitches didn't even look necessary anymore - they looked like they were just there for show.

James didn't know how long he just stared with wide eyes before he found the courage to hesitantly reach out his hand and touch it.

It was real.

The pain was gone. His leg had healed.

Evaline got up to stretch when she noticed James stir awake, and she looked away for just a few moments before looking back and realizing he had frantically taken off his boot and rolled up his pant leg to unwrap his infected wound.

She froze as she remembered what Marsha told her. Three days. He had to leave the medicine on for three days.

That was today, wasn't it? Did he suddenly feel a difference?

She found herself staring at James gawking at his healed wound. She couldn't see everything from where she stood, but it appeared to be fully healed. This was further confirmed when he reached out to touch it, like it was some sort of miracle.

Which it was.

"How is your leg?" she asked anyways. "Can you walk?"

James didn't register Evaline's words at first. His fingers brushed down the scab, and he felt a shudder of relief rush through him. A smile slowly grew on his face and he looked up at Evaline, with his eyes shining.

"It--" he didn't finish his sentence. He got to his feet, and tested it for himself. His leg felt normal again. He put all of his weight on it. He started walking, with one shoe on, in a circle. His smile got bigger and bigger.

"I can walk!" he said, beaming. He walked over to Elliot, then turned around to look at Evaline. He ran up to her, and it didn't even hurt his leg at all.

"It worked!"

"Oh," was all Evaline was able to get out at first. Honestly, seeing James wondrously beaming like a child was something she had to fully take in first. But it wasn't like it was a bad thing to take in; it was actually rather endearing to see him in this state.

"That's such a relief to hear," she said, returning the smile after looking down to verify that his leg was indeed healed with no sign of an infection or wound. "No pain then?"

James couldn't stop smiling. He looked down at his leg, then back up at Evaline, then back at his leg. It really was magic. Whatever that goblin had put in that medicine was beyond natural remedies. It was a miracle.

He lifted one foot, and then the other, standing on one leg - the now scarred leg, but good leg, because it worked just fine. He almost didn't want to push his luck, but he couldn't believe it, and elation still washed over him.

"No pain!" he said, and then he jumped up and down on it. It was fine! Completely fine! He put both feet back on the ground and looked over to his missing shoe.

"I can't believe it."

Evaline was still trying to get over her surprise in seeing just how elated James was right now, but she was slowly getting over it.

She watched as he bounced up and down and wondered how effective this medicine was. She assumed that the medicine Marsha provided would only stop the infection, but it looked like it almost healed the whole thing.

"So this probably means you can beat me in a race then, huh?" she said with a small smirk, letting his contagious playfulness seep into her thoughts.

James started to walk back to his shoe, and leaned down to slip on his sock. He paused when Evaline said race.

A race might be a little much. But he could be persuaded...

He looked back at her with a mischievous grin.

"Potentially," he said as he slipped his foot into his shoe and started tying.

Evaline didn't even want to race. Not really. She had never been good at sprinting and would instead aim for distance if she had to run.

But she wanted to see if James would do it, because that would be quite a sight.

"The last time you tried to race me, it wasn't even a race," she teased, crossing her arms. "I practically walked to keep up with you."

James quickly finished tying up his boot and rolled his pant leg down, thinking. They'd raced before? That didn't sound right - unless it was a memory she erased, but he thought all of the ones he'd lost had come back already.

Unless she meant the time that she chased him.

He scoffed and stood up, turning to face her.

"That wasn't a race," he said. "You haven't seen me really run."

"So you can run, then?" Evaline retorted back, eyeing him up and down.

She didn't want him to hurt himself, but at the same time, she wondered just how effective this medicine was. Maybe, somehow, they could get more of this salve and James would be able to fully recover from all his injuries.

But for now, she'd rather see if he'd take the challenge of running across the forest. Seeing him hobble around was getting old.

James half-rolled his eyes and sighed. "Well, I haven't exactly tested it out yet, but I'm sure it would be a whole lot easier now, wouldn't it?"

"Mm. Hmm," Evaline hummed, nodding and deciding to not say any more words that will press his buttons.

So she decided to press different buttons instead.

"I wonder what else you can do now. Jump, run, tumble. Ha, I could maybe even see you do the splits or even lead me in dancing."