Chapter 13
Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

Gabrielle woke to feel a gentle shaking at her shoulder. She opened her eyes and Tala smiled at her.

"Good morning. We go eat," Tala proclaimed.

Gabrielle grinned. Tala must have remembered the greeting from the last few mornings and finally figured out what it meant. "Good morning," she replied, and got up to get dressed.

They ate in the Dining Hall and Tala practiced her English with anyone close enough to carry on a conversation with her. However, most of her attention was devoted to Gabrielle. Finally, she turned back from telling Gregory yet again what a good fighter Gabrielle was.

"I go now. Iroka need me. My people need me," she clarified.

Gabrielle felt a vise clamp around her heart and she tried to breathe as normally as possible. "Of course. I'll, um, I'll have an Honor Guard escort you back to your home," she managed.

"No need escort. No Honor Guard," Tala protested.

"Yes. I know you probably travel alone all the time, but you're here because of me, so it's my duty to make sure you return home safe," Gabrielle insisted. "Jonathan? Get Luis to make up another basket of food." Jonathan left and she turned to Gregory. "Get five volunteers to escort Tala home. I don't want her getting attacked by a saber-tooth from being alone." Gregory nodded and left to find the volunteers.

They'd found out the hard way about the hunting practices of the saber-tooth tiger, though the animal acted more like a bear than a cat. It rarely attacked groups, but a lone person was fair game. Cameron, their youngest member, had gotten separated from his friends during a hunt and had barely escaped with all his limbs intact. Cam now sported four diagonal scars along his back which, being young, he wore with pride.

Gabrielle walked Tala to the edge of the village and then clasped arms with her.

"Friends," Gabrielle reaffirmed.

"Friends," Tala agreed.

Tala turned to her escorts and they walked off, the Honor Guard flanking Tala on all sides. Before they were completely out of sight, Tala turned around and looked back. She saw Gabrielle still watching her leave and grinned. She whispered happily to herself. "Mine."

Gabrielle went to the Main Hall to begin her day. She sat at the main Council table and worked on rewriting one of the proposals she'd gone over the day before, but hadn't finished. It was slow-going, since her mind kept wandering to Tala. Tristan cleared his throat behind her and she looked around guiltily.

"What were you thinking about?" he asked.

Gabrielle turned back to face her desk and shuffled her papers around. "Nothing," she mumbled.

"Yeah, right," Tristan replied knowingly.

"It's none of your business," she said grumpily. She really didn't feel like being razzed at the moment.

Tristan dropped the grin and sat down next to her, all traces of humor gone from his voice. "Hey, I'm happy for you. You should go with your heart," he told her earnestly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied.

"I think you do," Tristan admonished her. "And I think Tala feels just as strongly for you."

"It's hero worship," Gabrielle said despondently.

"Oh, I think it's a lot more than that. Hero worship doesn't usually involve such possessiveness on the part of the worshiper."

Gabrielle remained silent and continued to stare at the papers in front of her without really looking at them.

Tristan went on, using his most business-like tone. "You know, I think we should cultivate a stronger bond with Tala's tribe. I think regular visits should be made between our villages."

Gabrielle looked up at him and Tristan couldn't keep a straight face any longer. He broke into a grin and Gabrielle smiled back. She playfully threw some of the papers at him and they both laughed.