Lessons never end

Walk | Talk | Think

He was right; his chuckle only added more fuel to the growing flames of her temper, and her ears folded halfway back to her head as she continued to glare at the ground. We'll see if I try to be nice to him again, Callisto thought frustratingly, raising her cold, pale eyes to look across the thistle plants at Max. His kind, patient, gentle smile - possibly the most natural look on him she could remember seeing in years - irked her, made her assume he was taking amusement from her reaction, but even if he had his response smoothed a bit of her ruffled fur. It seemed she had surprised him, and the shock of it had caused his laughter. Stubbornly she continued to look at him through a frown, even as her irritation began to dissipate.

Surprising her, he did not look away when his eyes finally stared at her directly, meeting her own and daring to hold her gaze when he had been so evasive before. Was this progress? A small, temporary change? It was hard to tell, hard to gauge where Maximous stood on the comfort level, and as he continued his one-sided conversation Calli felt her own comfort meter shift toward distress. Gods, did he need to bring up the old stuff? They were supposed to be moving on from that, getting past it in order to rebuilt their relationship. But even as she dropped her gaze, her brow furrowing into a deepening frown, the grey-marked healer knew he spoke truth. He had never tried to hurt her. She had only mistaken his intent.

It had taken quite a long time for her to realize it, but she knew it as truth now. The timing had been wrong, her mentality in that moment skewed to read ill intent in even the kindest of gestures. She wished she had been more stable, to have saved them both the pain that came from their broken friendship, and wished also that she had let him down more gently. He had always been kind, always generous with his time, his knowledge, his easy companionship. He deserved happiness, more than anyone she knew. Even love, if that was what he sought. Only she could not give him that.

"I don't think I do either," she echoed softly, the irritated scowl having smoothed its way off of her face and leaving her with a look that might have been misconstrued as boredom but was thoughtfully disappointed. If neither of them knew what normal was anymore, how did they reach it? Was it possible to create a new normal? "Maybe this would be easier...after this season." There was no point ignoring the big elephant in the room, the tension that hung in the air and only added to the discomfort that was naturally present between them now. If they could remove that then maybe...maybe they stood a chance.