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“It’s good to know,” Rayla said out of the blue, “that you’re done with dark magic.”
Callum looked at her as if she was crazy. He was holding Zym in his arms as the two of them walked, Callum behind Rayla, having just arrived in Xadia. They had narrowly escaped Sol Regem’s wrath and had fallen back onto something familiar— walking, though the absence of Ezran filled the air with heavy pressure. “Yeah?”
“I mean, with no one around to teach you, you could have gotten yourself killed.”
Callum argued, “I don’t know, Rayla. Claudia used it all the time, I thought it was going to be fine.”
She stopped right in her tracks and turned around, laughing— not a haha funny laugh, but a I’m laughing to cope because I’m thinking of something dark laugh. “Trust me, you were anything but fine.”
“What do you mean?” Callum asked. “I thought I just passed out for a while and then woke up. Hey, now that I think about it, you were cradling-“
She didn’t let him finish that thought, waving her arms wildly in dismissal. “I mean, first of all, it made you really sick. You looked horrible. And when you passed out, at first it was like you were having a nightmare. You were calling out things, and hyperventilating, and--” she sighed, trying to find the right words to explain this to him. “I thought,” she said shakily, “that I was going to lose you.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh, you stupid human.” It came out less jokingly than she wanted it to, and she watched Callum’s face drop as he realized the consequences.
“Rayla,” he said, letting Zym down and taking a cautious step forward, “I’m not doing dark magic again. I promise you.”
She laughed again-- dark and hollow. “That’s the second time you’ve told me that. But it’s more than dark magic, Callum. Remember when you went out in that storm to see if you could ‘connect to the primal source’? You had me worried sick.” She stepped back and found herself unable to keep looking him in the eye, and watched Zym instead, who had walked over to her and was protectively sitting by her side. “Promise me you won’t risk your life for stupid reasons.”
“Okay, I’ll admit the primal stone thing was really dumb. But when I used dark magic, I was saving you, Rayla.”
“Then so be it ,” she murmured, turning back around again. “I’m an elf assassin. We were trained to give our lives for Xadia. And right now, saving Xadia means saving you. So, so be it ,” she repeated.
“Hey,” he said softly, stepping forward and putting a hand on her shoulder. “I happen to think that saving your life isn’t a stupid reason. And it was worth it because you’re still here.” He took both her shoulders, now, and much to her concern, turned her around to face him, pulling her closer. “I can’t promise you that. I don’t even want to imagine if--” he shook his head. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not like I’ll forgive you,” she whispered, finally looking him in the eye. “You mean too much to me.” With that, she reached up and took his hands in hers, holding on for a second too long before smiling at him and slowly letting go.
“Rayla, I--”
“We better get going,” she said, cutting him off. “It’s a long walk.” With that, she turned around and started walking, Zym by her side, and Callum had no choice but to follow.