The vortex of magic that re-wrote the skein of the world and teleported them hundreds of miles away ate through Darius like a cancer, though not from the sensation – no, he’d been teleported by others and other effects often enough to be familiar with the after effects – in a way he was comfortable with them – rather, his problem was from the fact that he was incapable of manifesting such useful spells. The best he could do with correspondence was move fifty or sixty pounds a few dozen feet, if that – and usually not at speed.<br/><br/>When they arrived at the new location, all Darius did was frown. Frown at his own short comings, frown at the world that hadn’t seen fit to gift him with enough power to do whatever needed to be down and, most of all, frown at Paige as she bent over, overcome by some emotion, some sensation, that he didn’t feel.<br/><br/>At first, the handsome man simply watched the girl, thinking she had teleportation-sickness. When he realized that she was having some sort of sympathetic-empathetic feedback with the world around them, all brown and dying from thirst, his frown froze in place. He knew what had to be done and that it had to be done quickly. Empathy for the dying wasn’t a good thing.<br/><br/>He cursed.<strong> “Girl, if you’d practiced emotional siphoning enough to be half as good as you are with nature, this wouldn’t be a problem.”</strong>He stepped over to her, his clean scent overlaying something more, a hint of the real man beneath – a pleasant sharpness that was tinged not with overbearing ambition, but with genuine worry. His fingertips traced across her brow, smoothing her hair back in a touch that mirrored that scent, subtly caring, gently pensive.<br/><br/><strong>“I’m going to siphon off a small amount of the nature magic you’ve got in you – one bit at a time, until the pains ease. You’re powerful as hell, otherwise this wouldn’t be such a threat…but we’ve got to back the power in you off until you can survive. Do you see?” </strong>Without waiting for her reply, Darius closed his eyes and murmured several complex Words.<br/><br/>Cursing again, he murmured, somewhat apologetically,<strong> “I’m versed in this for myself, and barely powerful enough to do it for others. If I am less than delicate….I …well, just deal with it. There may be some lingering emotional transference. Don’t take anything too seriously.”</strong>And suddenly a wash of embarrassment, concern and…below, a tinge of attraction, washed through a bond he’d created between the two of them. A bond that gently, gradually, reduced Paige’s pool of power, eased it back to give her room to breathe. One iota at a time. He wasn’t deliberately trying to fuel himself with her – it didn’t work that way (normally). He was trying to save her life.<br/>