Ralph and the Pixie

‘You’re talking about what you did in the Hall of the Thane,’ Ralph said.

‘I’m saying that the changes in me led up to that,’ she corrected. ‘But what happened in the Hall . . . I didn’t see it coming . . . didn’t plan on it. The same as my becoming an Emissary. Before, that title would have meant nothing to me. Now, I feel the responsibility of my people like a weight on my shoulders.

‘But these are not the sort of changes I want!’ she said, torn. ‘I want-’ she stopped herself, and turned crimson.

‘Why don’t you just say it,’ Ralph told her, quietly.

Timidly, afraid of her own feelings, she said in a barely audible, constricted voice, ‘I want you. I have from the very beginning. But I am afraid!’

‘Of . . .?’ Ralph prompted, when she didn’t continue.

‘I don’t know! I’m just afraid. Deborah says that you’re not like that Man, Rory, and that you will be kind to me. But it’s not just that! It’s all the things that go along with . . . well-’

‘Malina?’

‘Yes?’

‘The only way you’re ever going to know is if you try it.’