6Sorry I've been gone for so long. I was at Church Camp for two weeks. I should be better now. It will be even better in about a week because then I'll be back at college and will have continual computer accesss. Have no fear!
The stew was good, but it still didn't help me answer Teom. Did I fear him? No...or at least...not a lot. Elliot trusted him and Elliot was still my best friend after all. I just had a hard time believing in soul mates and other worlds or even my best friend really being a king. Things like that only happened in movies and fairytales. Yet here was Teom sitting next to me. He was watching me with such love and compassion that it was killing me. Maybe I was dreaming. That was it. I had fallen asleep in the meadow and I was laying there dreaming even now. I didn't like that idea though. It presented the possibility that Teom wasn't real.
"How do you know I'm really your Ecria Mefilios Teom?" I asked quietly as I looked down at the empty stew bowl. "Besides the fact that other worlds can't be real...how would you know?"
Teom smiled. "There are many realms that exist with the selfish idea that they are the only ones. Why should that be so? Who said that God couldn't create parallel worlds, each with different resources, but the same basic laws? Some worlds strayed from those laws and forgot the past. Others have kept true to them. Aren't there places even in your own world, where the same could be said of the people?"
I thought about this for a moment. Could it be true? Even the evolutionists said we all came from the same areas. That would mean we would have the same pasts, laws, traditions. Were parallel worlds really all that different in comparison. I shrugged reluctantly. "Yes, I suppose there are."
"You do not have to fear the unknown Faith. Your people are always telling you to follow your heart. What does it say to you now?"
In all honesty, I hadn't even been thinking of what my heart wanted. It hadn't seemed to matter in the least. But now, as I looked deep inside of myself, I could see what it wanted. There was a longing there. It was a desire that could not and would not be ignored. It was all consuming. It wanted, no needed, Teom. That rush of need, of adoration, of love was so all consuming that I was almost completely overwhelmed by it. I looked up at Teom confused and a little afraid. "What is this?"
"Ecria Mefilios," Teom said taking my hands in his. "It is not something we can control. It is not something that we can entirely understand. But I do know that you, as my mate, my Ecria Mefilios, are the most important thing in my world. No other living person could ever come before you, not even my brother the king."
"Why?" I whispered tears stinging at my eyes.
"Because there will never be another for as long as I live. I will only ever want you. You are my mate and when death comes, I will follow you into the darkest unknown."
There was pain and joy in my heart. He wants me, my heart rejoiced. Yet, the thought of him dying was almost too much for me to bear. I knew if he did, I would never be able to survive it. It was odd, this irrational, uncontrollable attachment to a man I had just met. I had never known him before, but I felt as if I could no longer live without him. Why had I decided to listen to my heart again? "I don't know what's scaring me more," I finally said, "you...or my heart."
Pain etched itself onto Teom's face. "You never have to fear me Faith. You are the most precious thing I have. I value you more than life itself. Never fear me...and never fear your heart. It is only telling you what a gift God has given us."
"I don't know," I moaned. "I don't know."
"Rest my most dear," Teom whispered giving my forehead a feather-light kiss. "Sleep and dream of beautiful things."
And the odd thing is, I slept.
Teom's P.O.V.
It broke my heart that Faith was afraid of me. I had always hoped, prayed even that I would be able to find my Ecria Mefilios. What I had never dreamed would be that she would fear me. As I watched the blue-green waved crash against the bone-white sands in the distance, I evaluated myself. I am a fierce fighter. I am loyal beyond a fault. I am stubborn. I am determined. I am possessive. I have a harsh temper. Was that what had frightened her? Had my temper given her a false conception about who I really am? Such a thought made me want to laugh and groan at once. Or had it been more? Was it that she was not one of our world? Our ways were not the ways of those of Earth. It was true. I would have to ask my brother when he awakened. Elliot would know if anyone. After all, my mate was his best friend. I could only pray that whatever it was, I could be able to resolve it and claim Faith as my own. I didn't know how much longer I would be able to survive without her being mine now that I knew her.