"Nontheless, we are alive. My heart is beating, I am quite certain of it," he smiled weakly, even though she could not see it. His eyes felt heavy and he closed them for a moment, glad to be safe from her gaze, as he tried to choose the right words. He felt that he had to admit his role in this.
"I have to say that I did not expect what happened and have never seen anyone do it like you did. But when you called for my magic, I followed the very first impulse and supplied it. But the natural resistance you feel when keeping up the circle was gone, it just went right into the open space inside, instead of into the structure. Therefore, I gave way too much." Here he paused for a second. The next words he wanted to say seemed to travel through a great deal of resistance, before they arrived in the space between them.
"It was a lapse in my control that should not have happened. It is not your fault. It is I who should have known better."
He sat for a moment and listened to the blood rushing in his ears. His mouth was dry. He did not really know if he felt this bad because of exhaustion or because he had to admit to the extent of his failure to keep them safe. This had not been safe at all; They could have died, certainly.
"However, for a moment there we achieved a paired transmutation, with both of us in balance enough to finish the task. That is exceedingly rare. There are only a handful of instances in the known history of Alchemy. I tried this once in my youth and it went so horribly that I put it out of my head to ever attempt it again."
In telling this, a face emerged from his memories that he had so far dutifully avoided. Gone were the days where it haunted him through crowds and the moments between sleep and being awake. He wanted to let it rest.
"Shall we try to go somewhere more comfortable?" he asked.
"I have to say that I did not expect what happened and have never seen anyone do it like you did. But when you called for my magic, I followed the very first impulse and supplied it. But the natural resistance you feel when keeping up the circle was gone, it just went right into the open space inside, instead of into the structure. Therefore, I gave way too much." Here he paused for a second. The next words he wanted to say seemed to travel through a great deal of resistance, before they arrived in the space between them.
"It was a lapse in my control that should not have happened. It is not your fault. It is I who should have known better."
He sat for a moment and listened to the blood rushing in his ears. His mouth was dry. He did not really know if he felt this bad because of exhaustion or because he had to admit to the extent of his failure to keep them safe. This had not been safe at all; They could have died, certainly.
"However, for a moment there we achieved a paired transmutation, with both of us in balance enough to finish the task. That is exceedingly rare. There are only a handful of instances in the known history of Alchemy. I tried this once in my youth and it went so horribly that I put it out of my head to ever attempt it again."
In telling this, a face emerged from his memories that he had so far dutifully avoided. Gone were the days where it haunted him through crowds and the moments between sleep and being awake. He wanted to let it rest.
"Shall we try to go somewhere more comfortable?" he asked.
