Nevana glimpsed Ralph briefly a couple of times, riding with Pran. Neither of them had given her the least notice. ‘Small wonder,’ she thought, her mood touched by a sense of desolation as she considering the drab, overlarge, hand-me-down clothing she wore. Well-concealed beneath this garb, she wore old, ill-fitting, cramped summer slippers; consequently, her feet were cold and cramped; the sort of oversight typical of her mother; ‘Out of sight, out of mind,’ Durus would had said, with no thought for her daughter’s discomfort.
The pain of seeing Ralph together with Malina was almost more than she could bear, and she was forced to admit, perhaps for the first time in her life, that the reason she was not with Ralph was because of some lack in herself.
And she finally realized, now that it was too late, what that lack was.
It was simple love; love that, until she had met Ralph, had no idea how to give, how badly she needed it, or what its lack was doing to her life.
That knowledge had been harmful to her: it had made her realise how badly she needed Ralph in her life, and in the same breath, had made her realise how desperately lonely she was.
To make matters worse, that little Pixie vermin, that little upstart who didn’t know her place, had taken full advantage, and now had the big Human to herself! ‘Perhaps she has cast a spell upon him,’ Nevana thought, but had to push the thought aside, knowing in her heart of hearts that Malina, in her present condition, possessed no such power. ‘Perhaps she had help,’ a darker voice said, from somewhere deeper within. But no, the true reason pushed such thoughts aside. At least for now.