A few marbles short

M  A   E    A I talked to God to no avail Said, "If you won't save me, please don't waste my time." She did not resist. Did not fight him, although his touch made her flinch. It was only reflex, lingering instinct after the unwelcome intrusions of so many unfriendly ones, and she relaxed soon enough. Breathed into the soothing light, tremours slowly subsiding as pain ebbed away. For the longest time, she just lay there. The world outside the Labyrinth was just as she'd left it. Bright. Hot. Full of sounds. In the distance Maea could hear the murmur of people going about their business. Birds were chirping in thickets, and a cricket chirped somewhere nearby. Her head turned, checking on instinct to make sure it wasn't a flint-hopper - it wasn't - and just like that, she found herself able to move. To think. In a rustle of drying grass and moving limbs, the little woman turned onto her back, face tilting so that she could look at Loren. He too was covered in scratches, clothes torn and blood oozing where thorns and branches had cut deep. He hadn't healed himself, she observed. Noble, to waste his powers on her when he could have patched himself up instead. But she was beginning to understand that such things was par for course when it came to this man. He was the kind  of person who would run back to save someone at his own expense. Who would take the sorrows of all the world on his shoulders, and think himself weak for not being able to carry them all. With no patience for idiocy, but not without kindness either. He'd first offered her company, then understanding. Then he had saved her life. "Thank you," she said, voice quite soft, barely audible. "I'm sorry I yelled at you before. I didn't mean most of it..." So this was what a Loreseeker should be like. Boy, did she have her work cut out for her.