Stone Circle Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?

The words on her lips could be anything.

That's not true, but Louis has come to realize -- or at least believe -- that Tauris doesn't know what she wants.

He's never been afflicted with such such indecision. For him there's the moment and the feeling and they're always earnest. Even if tomorrow they might change, it's always been in one's own paws to forge their path, and it's his wont to choose in alignment with his heart, no matter the inconvenience. Tomorrow belongs to the choices of today.

He's not angry, but he's frustrated. It hurts. She wants him but she doesn't. She'll invite him to stay but she won't form the words. She'll hold him, and kiss him, and it's almost enough to make him ask again for an answer he knows he won't get. But the most he'll do is nuzzle her back.

Her earlier answer echoes through his head again, Nothing can change how I care for you, but I want to do this- in a way that’s right for me. And I want to do it with him.

They repeat, over and over like a throbbing wound, and Louis realizes those words, more than anything, have cut him. Somehow he is not right for her, in any fashion, despite the way she feels. Despite the way they both feel. It's an alien notion.

If she'd asked him outright to join her here, and there hadn't been doubt, he'd have stayed. He'd have accepted friendship. It mattered no less than other intimacies, and he'd been honest when he told her she meant more than just a kiss. It would have been a simple question, with an easy answer, if she could have said it.

He isn't sure why she doesn't. He can't know her thoughts.

And that makes all the difference. Louis wants the same certainty he speaks with to be echoed back, if he's to consider any such invitation in earnest. There's nothing she can say or do now to assure him of conviction. And with the ache in his chest to feed it, his impulse to move on only solidifies.

He gets to his feet, and decides to free her of the dilemma. He needs the space, he knows it, and her silence leaves little else to contend with. Louis smiles again, full of affection. And takes a deep breath. "I guess... now's as good a time as any for me to go looking for that ocean."