"Have you calmed down, or do you still want to kill me?" The question came from Tele Tete's mouth, who was packing in his room, but he didn't even turn around when the danovus woman stepped into his room.
"Funny, you sound like you're not afraid of me killing you, Teveli." Alkekengi folded her arms in front of her and turned her head to the side.
"To be honest, I'm not." He shrugged.
"Not even now?" The danovus's question came directly from Tele Tete's ear, which managed to make the man freeze, but after barely half a minute he exhaled.
"No." He announced. "But if you really want to kill me." He started and turned to face the danovus. "Do it now, that way you might still succeed." Hegin shrugged his shoulders.
"It would have been easier to attack you from behind." Alkekengi rolled her eyes.
"But your eyes will be the last thing I see, so it wouldn't have worked." The man put his hands on his hips.
"How do you know what you'll see last?" The danovus woman grimaced, which made Tele Tete laugh.
"From my crazy ancestor who wants to teach me to use our family ability." The man turned his back on the danovus again. "So you've calmed down? I didn't really understand why you were so upset, but who am I to question you." The man started to talk again.
"Yes. I fought the little danovus." The woman blew a big breath.
"Well, I'm glad about that." Tete chuckled. "Then you can explain how I got you so upset. I didn't say anything." He put the last little thing off the table and faced the danovus.
"You didn't have to speak." The woman muttered.
"Hey, what's wrong? I know we tried to avoid each other, but I can see if you're troubled." Tele Tete grimaced and stepped in front of the danovus woman, who lowered her head.
"I miss you." Alkekengi blurted out barely audibly.
"I didn't hear that." The man narrowed his eyes.
"I miss you." The danovus repeated just as quietly, before Tete took a deep breath and grabbed the woman's chin to raise her head. Alkekengi stared up at the man's face with wide eyes.
"Now try again." He gave the order as he let go of the woman's chin.
"I miss you!" The danovus lady grabbed the man's arms.
"But I'm here." The man was confused, which only made the grip on his arm become tighter.
"Not like that! I miss you here." She put one hand on her chest. "I miss feeling you. I miss knowing that..." Here her voice stopped, then she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I'm not alone." And with these words she managed to make Tele Tete's eyes widen.
"I thought you hated me." He poked her in the back.
"Because I hated you too." The danovus ran one hand through her hair and let Tele Tete go.
"So what changed?" The next question came.
"The ghost cut our bond." The woman confessed.
"Neither of us wanted the contract." The man said softly.
"That's true, but..." Alkekengi began, then groaned. "Why is it so hard to talk about this?" She asked herself the question and turned her back on the man.
"Let me guess." The man offered. "In the beginning, you wanted to destroy everything. You resisted and would have done anything to make it disappear. Then when you realized that you couldn't do anything, you started to give in. When you were very nervous or lonely, you felt the other side of the contract. At first, even that made you nervous, but then you suddenly realized that you wake up from your dream and calm down when you feel it from the other side." While Tele Tete was explaining, Alkekengi's eyes slowly widened. "In the end, it was just nice to know that I was there, even if it was just to the point of annoying you, but at least you meant something to me. Then the contract broke and you're alone again and you have to learn to live within yourself again. The only problem is that that life doesn't seem as attractive as it used to be. As the old people say, you only know how much someone meant to you when you lose them." The man finished the story, and the danovus woman turned to him with her lips parted.
"How?" Alkekengi asked after a big swallow. The danovus's hands even started to shake. The hegin described exactly how she had felt during all these years and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She had always been eccentric and all to herself, her own people didn't like her either, she was too weak, too fragile, too dreamy, always too much.
"Because I felt the same way." Tele Tete squeezed his neck and turned his gaze away from the danovus. "I don't offer to redo the contract, because it was a very unpleasant experience, but it's good to know that it's not just me who is upset that you're not in my head." The hegin muttered, when the danovus woman appeared in front of him. "Hey, what's wrong with you now, danovus bitch?" The question came out of the man, which only made Alkekengi smile broadly.
"You're different from anyone I've ever met. I met during my life, idiot hegin." The woman confessed and hugged the man tightly around the waist.
"Did we get emotional?" Tele Tete chuckled, but he hugged the woman anyway and put his own on her head with a smile.
"You're trying to look tough in vain. You got emotional too. I can hear your heartbeat." The danovus woman announced.
"Heh, of course you can hear it." The hegin man rolled his eyes.
"I also know when you roll your eyes idiot." The woman turned her head.
However, as a result of the movement, her face came face to face with the man's throat, right where she had bitten him so many years ago. The couple froze completely, and the danovus forgot how to breathe. Her gaze focused on the contract, which was still faintly visible. Time seemed to have stopped around them. But then Tele Tete raised his hand and placed it on the woman's head.
"I don't know how it works with the danovuses, but I don't think you have to kill me." He whispered. "Eat Physasil." He gave permission and the danovus, as if she had been waiting for this, moved forward and pressed her lips to the man's neck. Tele Tete had already narrowed his eyes, preparing for the pain, when he felt the woman's tongue on his neck, but the danovus didn't bite him, but moved away from him so that she could look him in the eyes.
"You've never called me by my name before." The woman said, blushing, which made the hegin start to giggle.
"You've never been honest with me before." He noted. "Of the two of us, you're the stronger one, so stop me if you don't like it." He lowered his voice, then took the woman's face in one hand and leaned forward to steal a kiss from her.