NOVEL NEXT Chapter 111: Expressing Emotions
"Hmm, okay I think I understand." Then with a big smile on her face she looked directly at Luna and continued. "Then I love you Luna!" Luna choked on her drink at the point.
Luna's mind raced as she tried to recover from inhaling her drink. She knew that she deeply cared for Violet, but was it to the point of loving her? It didn't take the young woman long to come to the answer to that question. The answer being that yes, yes she did love Violet.
Whilst their time together hasn't been all that long in the grand scheme of things, the impact on Luna's life made by Violet was very significant. And the more time that they spent together, the deeper that their bond deepened, the more that Luna learnt to rely on Violet. And the same seemed to be true the other way around, Luna could feel how happy Violet was whenever she interacted with her. How she would bubble with excitement when exploring or fighting together, or how happy and content the dragon felt when they curled up together at night.
But the question remained, was this love that between family members, or of one for partners. Whilst Luna wasn't exactly knowledgeable about the latter, she did know about the former. And when Luna's mind flashed to the image of Violet right after she transformed and the feelings that she felt when observing her figure… yeah Luna had to admit that she may be leaning more towards the later feeling of love.
But, the question remained, was this something that Violet understood. How was she to explain the differentiation between the different concepts of love, and most importantly, how exactly would Violet react. Would she still proclaim her love for her, or would she say that she only viewed Luna as a member of her family.
All of these thoughts flashed through Luna's mind at lightning speed as she truly put her enhanced mind to the test.
Yet her mind was still a mess when she looked up into Violet's enchanting eyes that were sparkling with affection and a hint of concern. Evidently Luna's mild panic attack had leaked through the bond between them, and whilst Violet didn't quite understand the details of what Luna was considering she clearly felt a level of conflict within her.
Susan observed this with a hint of understanding. Being the oldest person present here by quite a few years, she had some knowlage about such matters, albeit all of it second hand. Still she would have to be blind to not understand how the young Arctic leopard felt about Violet, and as a result could imagine the chaotic thoughts that must be racing through her head upon hearing Violet's announcement.
Do not wanting to disturb the two as they undoubtedly would prefer some privacy during this time, she stood up and quietly spoke to Rhyana who looked quite confused at the whole situation. "Let's head over to the waterfall and clean up, I think we should give the two of them some space to discuss between themselves."
Whilst she didn't quite understand the situation, Rhyana was intelligent enough to understand that it would probabally be best to follow Susan's lead currently. So the two quietly left the clearing and moved over the the nearby waterfall to give the two girls some space.
Seeing the two leave was a slight relief to Luna as she was hesitant to speak openly about her feelings with an audience, heck she was already slightly terrified of bringing it up with Violet, and they practically shared everything together.
It was Violet who spoke first though, her voice soft and laced with concern. "Are you alright Luna? Was-was I wrong to say that I loved you? Did I get it wrong?"
Luna's head snapped up upon hearing her companions tone, coupled with the tinge of saddness that echoed through their bond. "No!" She almost shouted, before gathering herself slightly and continuing in a slightly more controlled manner. "No, you were not wrong, I don't think. No what I got my head wrapped up in was about my own feelings."
She paused then trying to collect her thoughts, yet when she noticed that Violet seemed even more confused, and a touch hurt by her words she rushed to explain herself. "Let me explain! I care for you, deeply. More than I care for anyone or anything in the world. But when I explained love to you I didn't do it all too well. You see from what I know, there are two main forms of love. The first being that between family members or close friendsz then their is the second form of love which is between partners."
Seeing that she lost Violet at the end there she tried to explain further. "Let me give you an example. So I love my parents, I always will and always have even though they are now gone. But my love for them was of the first kind I spoke about. In turn my parents also loved me, again in the way of the first type. Yet the love between my parents was that between partners, and from their love they conceived me. Does that make any sense?"
Violet's head was slightly hurting as she tried to understand the nuances of love. Her nature as a dragon did help her, dragons did have an innate ability to understand emotions. Yet sometimes this knowlage needed to be explained somewhat before their instincts took over. Now with her companions explanation her powerful mind was mulling over all of the implications. So their were different ways of loving someone, one between family and friends and one between partners, what Violet assumed to mean life partners or mates.
Upon understanding that she began to understand what caused Luna's feelings going a bit haywire after her proclamation. For what way did Violet mean when she proclaimed her love for Luna? Truthfully Violet herself no longer knew.
She knew that she did love Luna, of that she had no doubt. But in what way? And in what way did Luna feel about her? Normally violet would have blurted out the first thing she thought of, and was tempted to do so. Yet she could feel her companions surging emotions and knew that this was important to her, so she would take her time and truly think things through before she replaced to Luna.
So Violet thought. She thought about every interaction between the two of them. Her new and improved understanding of emotions allowing her to glean more from each memory. She pondered this all for a truly long time. A full 42 seconds later she looked up and into Luna's eyes.
"I think I understand now, you know how you feel about me, but are unsure how exactly I feel about you?" At Luna's hesitant nod Violet continued. Extending her hands to gently take Luna's in her own. "Well I still stand by when I say that I love you. And i now know that I meant that as partners."
Luna froze upon hearing Violet speak those words, her heart thumped so loudly that she imagined Violet could hear it. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassed delight and a slime broke through her troubled expression. "R-really?" She couldn't help but ask.
Seeing Violet's kind smile and gentle squeeze of her hands Luna spoke up once more, her voice thick with emotion. "And I feel the same way about you. I love you Violet, I think I have for a while but only properly realised it just now." Saying that she then proceeded to move closer and give Violet a big hug expressing all her feelings towards her through that. The bond between them opened up and all of Luna's suppressed emotions flooded through, Violet gasped upon feeling that and chose to do the same, sharing her feelings for Luna.
The two stayed in each others embrace for some time as they came to terms with the new stage in their relationship.
Yet this is where both of them realised one simple fact.
What exactly was supposed to happen next?