Chapter 730: Plans
"Hmm? Oh, probably." She offered me a playful smile. "I was just planning on walking through the woods a bit. Being the Life Hero, you know? "
"But the demons–"
She waved me away. "I’ll be fine. They all bear your mark, right?"
"Yes, but..."
I trailed off, not quite sure how to verbalize what I felt. R’lissea had never wandered off on her own. She’d even gone through the trouble of getting dressed. Was she planning to leave us?
Something flickered through her eyes, but the starlight was too dim for me to read her expression. Her face noticeably softened, however, and she let out a small sigh. She came back up a few steps.
"Xiviyah, sometimes, you can’t walk another path without leaving the one you’re on. That’s what makes secrets, betrayal, and mysteries so interesting. They convince us we, or maybe someone else, are on a different path than we thought. It’s kind of exciting, isn’t it?"
"Maybe scary," I said.
She smiled faintly. "Yes, that too. But it’s important to remember that not every path deserves to be walked. Sometimes, the path you’re on will take you the farthest. Be careful not to lose the things you do have to something you might."
For some reason, she looked relieved after saying that. I nodded wordlessly, torn between looking at her and the stars above. Stars, paths...they were all the same. You couldn’t have one except you sacrificed the rest. There was only one present, one fate.
Was she telling me to forget about Luke? To move on from the yearnings of warmth and light? Maybe it was a warning that if I kept looking for a connection I could never have, the ones I’d already connected with might slip away.