It struck him quietly, as such things do. Nevertheless, he was quite struck and he spent the rest of the evening in solitude, wandering about the deck of the Tasha where he could be alone. A faded yellow ribbon fluttered in the night's gentle breeze. He assumed it to be Anya's and picked it up, meaning to return it to her when he went to their chamber.

Letting out a sigh filled with confusion, melancholy, and joy mingled in an uncertain breath, Dimitri pondered the position in which he wandered blindly into. This was all new to him. He never felt such a strong attraction to any woman in his life! In his business, he knew many of course, though none so beautiful and unwielding to him.

When first met, he thought her nothing but a skinny, little brat filled with dreams of finding home, love, family; hopeless dreams as far as he was concern. As time proved, these dreams were not hopeless, and this brat offered unequal friendship if not with a slight dose of impertinence. He felt all too strongly the influence of her vivacity.

He wanted to believe his emotions were driven by the closeness of their travels, but it did not seem sufficient enough. He did not want to love, or more likely, he did not want to lose anything close to him. Vlad was probably the only one who he had allowed to do so, but he still nursed such natural but destructive fears.

The cool air did its part on him such that he knew he should settle into the comforts of his compartments, far from spacious but warm at the least, and he finally settled on the thought that it was a simple infatuation felt with more power due to the circumstances they had experienced. He pushed it to the back of his mind, as he would push back the undeserving tricks of his profession which he knew to resurface and haunt him once again. He retired to bed, avoiding the eyes of his companions, forgetting to give her the ribbon, but it was of no importance anyway. All he cared about was diminishing his love for her, but each day, each smile, each word spoken by her only increased the attraction more. It would not and could not end.

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