This is Me

[Raffe]

Raffe listened quietly, and his expression said he was absorbing it all carefully, even if his gaze was still on Nox as he moved through the dizzying patterns. The fire trailed after him. It was beautiful.

“Peace,” he repeated quietly. “It doesn’t feel anything like peace to me. Just violent, unbridled strength. How do you find that balance?” There was no one answer to that, he knew; it was too a personal battle. The melancholy was tight in his voice, deep with introspection as he considered the maze of a dilemma he saw no escape from. More fears surfaced. The worst of them: what if it felt good. But he didn’t want to voice them to a stranger.

“I promised I would try,” he said eventually, tugging a hand over his head. “And I won’t get anywhere pretending it’ll just go away. I’ll come back alone though. I don’t want him to see me fail again.”

He watched as Li half bolted off when one of the fireballs seemed about to hurl in the direction of the woman, though what he intended to do to try and protect her Raffe had no idea. Raffe flinched himself, though he trusted Nox knew what he was doing, and sure enough the flames fizzled harmlessly to nothing. The woman paused from her stretching like an indolent cat disturbed from a sunny spot. Her arms braced her hips, a brow raised.