Callum could see Rayla was struggling.
Normally pale, her skin was almost grey as she sat clearly trying to pay attention to the meeting. He could see sweat bead along her brow as she took deep, slow breaths and worried her bottom lip.
He tried to get her attention, wanting to indicate she should just leave, but he could see the immense effort she was putting into just sitting, his desperate attempts at catching her eye clearly going unnoticed.
Soren was making some random joke when Rayla took a shaky breath and brought her hand to her mouth, squeezing her eyes shut as she bowed her head.
A moment later she was on her feet, mumbling some sort of apology as she hurried out the door.
Callum didn’t even register the bewildered looks from the group at the table as he got to his feet and hurried after her. He just caught her ducking into a room and the door slamming shut as he ran down the hall, the confused comments from those remaining at the meeting left ignored in his wake.
He wasn’t exactly surprised to find Rayla bent over, dry heaving into what looked to be some sort of decorative vase.
She tensed up visibly as he closed the door, her eyes darting in his direction, though she seemed to relax a fraction once she realised it was him following her.
He sighed, stomach in knots to find her like this.
It hadn’t taken much in the way of detective work to figure out why Rayla was so exhausted and ill for what felt like weeks, but getting her to finally admit the possibility to even herself had seemed like an immense effort.
Two moons since her last bleed.
Edging on three, if his calculations were correct.
Decidedly not the greatest timing, considering the fated return of Aaravos was just over six months away.
There wasn’t much they could do about that.
“Pluvia parva,” he mumbled as he drew a rune, cupping his hand immediately after and letting the tiny, conjured rain collect in his hands.
Rayla smiled shakily at him, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as she leaned against the wall behind her.
Callum offered her the water, lifting it to her lips when she nodded.
Shaking her head, Rayla closed her eyes and shuffled closer to him, pressing herself into his shoulder.
“I hope you apologised for me running away.” She sighed heavily, reaching for his hand once Callum waved off the little rain cloud hovering before them.
“It’s fine,” Callum replied dismissively, belatedly realising he hadn’t said anything before rushing from the room. “You need to stop pushing yourself, Rayla. You know how pointless these meetings are. It’s okay to miss them.”
“We don’t have long left.”
He squeezed her hand, assuming she was referring to Aaravos’ return, but finding himself more preoccupied with her.
“Well, then we need to ensure we’re as healthy as possible in the meantime, right?” He turned to look at her, pushing back the loose hair clinging to her clammy brow.
Smiling softly, Rayla pressed her forehead against his. “Right.”
- A wee indulgence in my Arc 3 speculation AU, which required cutting from the main story.
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