The Conquerers

Chapter four

A few days later

Hiraeth pov

A few days have passed and my time here has been well. Even though the supposed mystery about what happened that day still remains unknown, Xerxes has warmed up to me a lot more. Here I am sitting in the dining room with Martha, one of the many housemaids lining up food on the table for Xerxes and I to eat. I smile up at her and say
"Thank you very much"

Martha below

She smiles back at me and her dimples start to show. She looks at me and says
"Thank you mistress"
My eyes widen and I almost spit out my tea. I say
"There is no need to be so formal, just call me Hiraeth"
She says
"As you wish, Hiraeth"
I smile and she excuses herself, as soon as prepares to leave, Xerxes enters dressed in a casual sporting attire, she bows respectfully and says quietly and with a shaky voice
"Good morning sir"
He nods and says
"Good morning, how is your morning going?"
She instantly brightens and says in a bubbly manner
"Very well si....."
He says
"I wasn't talking to you"
He looks at me and I say in a quiet manner
"I'm doing well, thank you"
He nods and says
"You're dismissed"
I look at her with pity as she leaves. She seemed so happy to talk to him and he just ruined it. I don't want to upset him though, if he kicks me out, where will I go? He serves himself some pancakes and pours maple sirup. He looks at me and says
"Today, I wanted to take you somewhere, that is....if you weren't busy"
I smile and say
"No I'm not, where did you want to take me?"
He said
"Well ever since the event that happened last time, we never took time to try to figure out what was going on so I wanted to take today to do so"
I nod and he looks at my plate which is full since I haven't eaten anything yet. He says
"Come on, eat"
I nod and dig in. As I start to eat, Xerxes stops eating and says
"Have you had any more dreams, since you know"
I say
"No but other strange things have been occurring, I've been dizzier then usual"
He nods and says
"Hm ok we will look into that"
I nod and finish my meal, he also finished his meal and gets up. He holds out his hand to help me up and as soon as I touch it, I feel electricity coursing through me and shiver a bit. I look at him to see his veins popping again. We ignore it however and he walks away. I follow him and we end up going to what looks like his wing. He opens the door to reveal a type of battle ground. He looks at me and says
"mutatio vestimenta sua"
My clothes change immediately and I start to shiver, I scream in a terrified manner and look at him. He says
"Calm down, look at me"
I start to hyperventilate and he comes closer to me and holds me close. He wraps his arms around me and puts my head on his chest, I can feel his heartbeat. My breath becomes more controlled and he says
"You don't need to be scared, I won't ever hurt you"
I calm down and he kisses my forehead, I collect my thoughts and he whispers in my ear while caressing my hair
"I'm showing myself to you because I need you to trust me, not fear me. I won't ever hurt you"
He has a soothing aura about him, it comforts me in some strange way. I say
"Ok, I trust you."
He keeps caressing me head and says
"Let's get started"
I nod and we both get up. He says
"Follow me"
I nod and we end up in the tropical forest.

It's beautiful, I've never seen anything so wild looking and free. Everything in the forest grows to be so long, even the grass. Xerxes seems to notice because he says
"Islands are like this, filled with long trees and grass"
We keep walking until he stops and sits down, I sit down next to him. He says
"Your abilities seem to take their roots from nature, I've observed and I came to the realized that your core is attached to the core of this very earth, maybe if we can get you to become more connected to yourself, we can find out what you are"
I nod and he takes my hand, the same electricity I feel every time starts to run through me again. He puts my hand on the soil and says
"I want you to listen to me. Close your eyes, and reach in, deep within you. Once you feel that you got it, try to reach deep within the core of this forest."
I nod and close my eyes. I try to reach deep within myself like he said but nothing happens. I open my eyes and look at him. He says
"Try again"
I obey and close my eyes again, and. Nothing happens again! I sigh in a distracted manner and he says
"Think about your mother. the way she was killed. What they did to you"
I think about all the memories and feel a course of energy running through me, I gasp as I realize that I finally did it! I finally reached deep within myself. But this isn't over. I run my hand through the grass and try to reach towards the root of the ground. I feel energy coursing through my veins and gasp, I open my eyes and see the grass wrap around my body. I want to feel complete and for a minute I am, but then I feel a sudden and fatale need to engulf myself in Xerxes. I look up at him and hold his hand. I tell him softly
"Xerxes"
He looks down and says
"What did you see?"
He doesn't need to ask me that, I can see it in his eyes, he knows. Though he tried to hide it from me, our connection is obvious. I look at him and say
"You know what I saw, you felt it too. You felt it that day as well, and you feel it every time I touch you...."
I hold his hand and feel that same electricity coursing through me, the one that makes me feel so complete. I say
"Thank you"
He looks at me and says softly
"For what?"
I say
"For helping me realize. For helping me realize that though I have some sort of connection to the ground and to nature, but that it isn't the core of my power, of what I am."
I look at him and say
"Thank you for helping me realize that you are my core, the very root of my being. You are a part of me and I am a part of you"
I caress his face and say
"Together we are complete"