Chương 182: (177) 3.42. Heart to Heart

"I'm guessing this means you need to put Dimensional Sheath on hold for a bit, huh?" Lumel asked him as they returned to the Underside and made their way back to the Earthers' fragment. Vin was surprised to pick up on the hint of dejection in her voice, and he offered her a reassuring smile.

"It's only for a bit! I have a feeling that Sense Death and Decay shouldn't take me very long to figure out, and you said it yourself that False Life was on the simpler end of tier 2 spells. I promise as soon as I get them down and help Spur figure out who this mysterious vigilante is I'll get right back to cracking Dimensional Sheath. Trust me, I am very excited to make things vanish and reappear again like you can!"

"Alright," Lumel said, giving him a small smile. As soon as they'd returned to the Underside she'd taken off her gloves and pulled her hood back once more, and Vin couldn't help but glance at her unique appearance, his mind replaying the surprise kiss they'd shared the night prior. Lumel showed no signs of bringing it up and looked like she was trying to pretend like nothing had happened, but Vin wasn't fooled. Normally, Lumel was eager to chat with him and enjoyed facing him head on.

Now, however, she was largely subdued, and it was obvious that she was avoiding eye contact. Vin briefly toyed with the idea of following her example and just pretending like nothing had happened, but he quickly came to the decision that he didn't like that idea. No matter what, he liked having Lumel as a friend, and he didn't want yesterday's surprise to ruin one of the few good relationships he had with the people he'd met on Edregon.

"So about last night…" he began, spotting Lumel stiffen out of the corner of his eye and nearly trip over her own two feet as they exited the tunnel leading into the portion of the Underside she'd been living in.

"I'll admit, I wasn't expecting you to up and teleport away like that."

"Sorry…" Lumel said sheepishly, blood pooling around her face as she blushed furiously.

"I… I'm honestly not sure what came over me. After I did… What I did… I sort of panicked. I guess when I don't know what to do my natural reaction is still to just run away."

"Plenty of people have the same reaction," Vin said gently, grinning at her.

"I think the main difference is most of them can't teleport."

"It does make escaping a lot easier," Lumel giggled, looking cautiously at him.

"... You're not mad?"

"Of course not! Just surprised," he admitted, scratching his head.

"I mean, I'm not sure how to put this delicately, so I'm just going to come out and say it. Even if you were banished, you're still technically a princess of all things. And I'm sorry because I know you don't even like that about yourself, but that doesn't change the fact that you've been living in a palace until just a few days ago. And I'm… Well, back on my world I was basically a homeless wanderer. Even if it was largely by choice. Don't get me wrong, I like you a lot and am definitely interested.

I'm just surprised you might feel the same way, I guess. Even if we'd lived on the same world, we were still living worlds apart." Lumel immediately opened her mouth to argue, only to pause and close it once more. She was silent as they walked, her eyes following the strange ground while lost in thought. Finally, after a minute of thinking, she spoke up.

"I'll admit, my first thought was to tell you that you were being ridiculous. My royal blood has never felt like anything but a burden to me, but I realize it wouldn't look like that from an outsider's perspective. I mean, you're absolutely right. Despite the restrictions and everything, I did grow up living within a massive palace and never had to worry about anything like food or education or my own safety.

"However," she continued.

"Just like I'm making an effort to view myself through your eyes, you need to try and do the same. My whole life I've looked up to my peoples' Airwalkers. How they weren't bound to any one place. How they spent their days wandering the wilderness, searching for discovery and exploring the unknown. Sound familiar?"

"A bit," Vin chuckled, realizing what she was getting at.

"Good," she said, finally turning to face him, her wide, purple eyes staring hard into his own as she took a deep breath.

"So long as we're just putting everything out there… I admire you, Vin. I think the way you carry yourself, journeying from one unknown fragment to the next, is absolutely incredible. You're like… I don't even know. If there was some sort of evolved version of an Airwalker, that's what you'd be. A Worldwalker."" Please don't go using that one around camp," Vin said, realizing it was his turn to blush in response to all the compliments.

"It's bad enough they're calling me 'The Roamer.'""I think Worldwalker sounds cooler than The Roamer anyway," Lumel grinned.

"But yeah, that's my response to everything you said. I know we've had different pasts, but I think everything you've done is amazing. You're also fun to talk to, we can chat magic with one another, and somehow, you can actually look me in the eye without flinching away or looking sick to your stomach," she said, her voice wavering slightly at this last bit.

"I'm not stupid, I'm sure you're just really good at hiding it. But the fact that you're not only capable of doing so but actually make an effort means a lot to me. Aaand I'm rambling," she laughed, sounding a bit too forced in Vin's opinion.

"Sorry, I'm just really nervous right now. It's been rough trying to make friends outside of my own fragment, and I was worried I'd mess up one of the few friendships I've actually managed to create after what I did last night, but I also like you, and I enjoy your visits because it gets really lonely down here, and-" Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"Lumel, breathe," Vin said, reaching out and taking her hand in his own as he tried to calm her down. It looked like the poor mage was on the verge of a full blown panic attack as she tried to explain herself, and he squeezed her strange, gel-like hand.

"Just take some deep breaths, alright? You didn't mess up anything or scare me off, don't worry." Vin's words seemed to erase some invisible weight Lumel had been carrying ever since last night, and she visibly relaxed as he reassured her she hadn't messed up their friendship. Taking one deep breath after another, she seemed to get herself under control, offering him a sheepish smile.

"Sorry… I didn't mean to unload on you like that all out of nowhere. I just don't really have anyone else to talk to, and I was kind of freaking out all day yesterday. I almost even forced myself to head into your camp and find you to try and apologize."

"Seriously? Lumel, you have nothing to apologize for," he said, squeezing her hand again.

"Look. Before we make this any more confusing than it has to be, why don't we just cut to the chase and clear the air." Taking a deep breath himself, Vin looked at the shy woman in front of him, meeting her worried gaze. He thought about how much he enjoyed talking magic with her. How impressed he was by her ability to see her own faults and work on them. How she basically gave up her own home to chase after what she wanted in life, even if it wasn't quite the same as how he'd done it.

Really there was only one answer he could give her in response to her surprise kiss yesterday. Lumel's eyes widened as he leaned forward and gave her a kiss of his own. In fact, Vin realized due to her transparent eyelids, her eyes functionally remained wide open even during their kiss, despite her eyelids closing. When he finally broke away, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the stunned pulmon.

"... How do you sleep if you can't close your eyes?"

"Huh?" she stammered, seemingly shocked at the unexpected kiss.

"Sorry, I know that's probably not what you want to hear at the moment, but I'm just really curious."

"Our optical nerves shut down when we close our eyelids," she muttered, shaking her head as she tried to come to terms with what was going on.

"So… what does this mean, exactly?"

"I mean, I like you, and it sounds like you like me as well," Vin shrugged, deciding that was really all it boiled down to.

"Honestly, I'm not sure how this is going to work with how much I travel all over the place, but that seems to be one of the things you really like about me. So to answer your question, I'd be down to try having some type of relationship if you are." Lumel stared at him with her mouth slightly agape, as if the cogs in her head had ground to a halt. After a moment, she blinked.

"Seriously? Just like that?"

"... Yes?" Vin asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sorry, do your people have some extensive courtship or something I should know about? I didn't just make some sort of cultural faux pas, did I?"

"No, nothing of the sort," she giggled, seeming to find his concern cute.

"I guess I just spent so long letting myself imagine so many different ways this conversation would play out, that I never thought it would be this simple."

"If you hadn't already picked up on this yet, I rather like keeping things simple when it comes to relationships, be them friendly or romantic," Vin shrugged, Theodore's advice echoing in the back of his mind.

"None of us have any way of knowing how long we have left on this, or any world, I suppose. No sense wasting it on pointless drama in my opinion."

"I know about a full two dozen women back in the palace that desperately need to hear you say that," Lumel murmured, frowning at the memory before rapidly shaking her head.

"No, all that is behind me now. Like you said, no sense letting them mess with me when I'm not even in the same dimension as they are."

"There you go!" Vin grinned, earning another blush from his new…

"So uh, not to rush you into putting labels on this or anything. But is there any way you'd like me to introduce you to people as? I mean, I wouldn't want to make you upset if you heard me telling someone you were just my friend. Is 'girlfriend' too much too soon?""'Girlfriend,'" Lumel repeated, seeming to test the word with her lips.

"Interesting. I can gather the meaning via context, but that one didn't quite translate through your Polyglot passive. On my world, it would be more appropriate to call us lovemates."

"Oh," Vin said, taken aback by the surprisingly forward term.

"So, I'll be honest. I have no problem with that, but you'll probably get some rather strange looks from the other Earthers if you ever call us that in public."

"Girlfriend is fine," Lumel giggled, seeming to enjoy his embarrassed look.

"Wow. I have to admit, this is not how I predicted today going. Which is a good thing!" she quickly added as Vin laughed.

"Okay, I think I need some time to process all this before I say anything else stupid enough to make me look back and cringe in embarrassment ten years from now. And you should probably get started working on your new death spells."

"Oh crap," Vin blinked, the entire situation with the mysterious murderer all coming back to hit him at once. He'd been so engrossed with Lumel he'd completely forgotten about the potential serial killer for a bit there.

"Okay, I'm going to go back to my little stone box of a house and lock myself inside for the next few hours so I can practice. Want me to bring you dinner?"

"I'd like that a lot," she smiled, squeezing his hand. Promising he'd return that evening with food in tow, Vin headed back to the Earthers' fragment, his mind awhirl with everything that had just happened. Remembering the note he'd been left just yesterday in this very dungeon, Vin sighed as he exited the corridor and began fighting his way through the beast monsters back to the blossoming town.

"Alka is going to love this," he grumbled.