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"So… That hug over there. That was something, wasn’t it?" Soren asked as they walked around the mountain to search for Claudia and his father.
"I guess." Callum replied as he tried to move a too heavy rock from their way but was failing. "Ufff".
"Here, let me." Callum moved out of the way to let Soren do the job. Positioning himself in his best lifting stance, Soren put both of his arms on the bottom of the rock and tried to roll it away. "HRRRRGGHHHHHA!" So much effort for such a stupid rock. It barely moved an inch, surely not the progress he aimed for.
"Zym's got very excited there. It's understandable after everything that happened. And we didn't see him for a long-"
"I meant with Rayla." Soren stood, the dumb heavy rock forgotten for now. "You know, how you hugged her after we got her out from that pile of rocks."
"Oh." He couldn’t look at him. He felt his cheeks starting to burn and a hint of anxiety from earlier was returning.
"So? Are you getting back together or what?"
Callum sighed. "I don't know Soren."
"Do you want to?"
"No. Yes… I don't know."
"You sure are a decisive person."
"It's complicated Soren."
"Is it?"
"We need to keep going. Let's try to roll it out of the way together." Callum moved past Soren and inspected the rock, searching for the right angle to push it from.
"I don't understand what is so complicated. You love her, don't you? I'm pretty sure she loves you too. What's stopping you?"
Callum froze. Did she still love him too? Does Soren know something that he doesn't? He shook his head. That wasn’t the time for overthinking this. "She left me Soren! She lied to me and disappeared for two years!"
"I didn’t mean right away! Obviously you need time to build trust again. But that doesn’t mean it's over. You still have hope to be with her again, don't you?"
"Maybe… It's still weird though. I'm not sure what I'm feeling."
"Let me share some wisdom with you." Soren didn't even wait for a response, he looked ahead as he spoke. "In times of uncertainty, there are times of maybes. And it might feel weird. But in time, the maybes become clear. And then it's less weird. Because processing the maybes gives answers. And answers feel less weird. Because we need to work through the weird and let our hearts figure out what we want and what we need. Or don't want and don't need." He grinned, satisfied from his words.
When Soren looked back at Callum, his grin fell. Callum's face was filled with confusion. "Soren… what?" he just stared at him with a raised eyebrow.
"It means… that you're not sure what you want now. You are still hurt from what happened. But Rayla is back now and if you give it time, you might feel less weird and you'll know what you want."
"I guess you're right. I do want to give it a chance, but it's not easy. All that time I was so mad at her for what she did, but seeing her down those rocks reminded me how important she is to me. I can't lose her again, Soren. I'm just not sure if I'm ready to be with her again."
"Here's an idea. Maybe start by talking with her. Seems kinda necessary."
"Yeah… you're right. I need to talk with her."
"Good. Now, before we get stuck in a romantic fairy tale, we still need to look for my sister, and… my dad."
"Yes, I have an idea! You try to push the rock as hard as you can, while I'll use my Aspiro spell at the bottom of it to use as leverage."
"Smart!" Soren moved next to the rock while Callum stood a little behind him. "Okay, on the count of three." Callum readied the Aspiro rune. "One, two, three!"
"Aspiro!" Soren pushed as hard as he could while Callum emptied the air from his lungs. The rock started to roll, slowly at first, but then caught a momentum and rolled fast out of the way like a huge snowball.
"Yesss! We did it!" Callum shouted.
"My beloved muscles. You never seem to fail me." Soren lifted one of his arms and patted its swollen muscle.
"Thank you Soren."
"No problem! My muscles are always happy to help!"
"I meant about your advice."
"Oh, you're welcome."
"Yeah… I honestly wasn’t sure if I wanted to talk about this, but it helped. A lot."'
"You're always welcome to hear more of Soren's wisdom. Maybe I should write a book."
"Yeah… you might want to think about that first. But sure, maybe."
"Thanks. Now, back to the task at hand."
"Right."