<span style="color: #00FF00">Valehna kept her spell going, watching with a fair amount of anxiety. It seemed like she was helping Tal, though the rock wraith's clumsiness also seemed to nearly get him killed with its flailing arms.<br/><br/>"Hurry!" she said as he got closer to the stairway. "Hopefully he won't be able to tear this whole thing apart to get to us once we go down those stairs..."</span><br/><br/>Mesaraih chuckled slightly and looked at the ground when Ester mentioned she had considered slapping him. He didn't doubt that for a second.<br/><br/>He considered her for a second when she asked the question. He wasn't sure if she asked because she actually didn't know, or because she was testing to see what he'd say. Either way, it was a difficult question for him to answer, because the feeling that drove him to kiss her was one he was still wrestling with himself. He almost didn't want to admit to himself he had it in the first place.<br/><br/>"I like the way you put your hair behind your ears. I like it when you get an attitude and make fun of me as much as I hate it, and I like it when you get shy," he said, lifting her head slightly by the chin again, though only briefly.<br/><br/>When he let her go, he looked away. "I don't know, honestly. It's hard to give a straight answer. You still annoy me, but I like a lot of things about you too. And you are..." he glanced over at her before looking away again. "You were very alluring at that moment. I like your eyes, too."<br/><br/>He looked at her again, more firmly this time. "Can I stop? I'm going to have to ramble for a really long time before I come up with any kind of answer I'd like," he said. "All I know is that I don't regret what I did, and it gave me the nicest feeling I've had in a while until our friends over there killed the mood." He kicked at the bookcase, releasing some dust into the air.