Her Sapphire Eyes

Part 3

The days stopped dragging. The way he regarded life and everything else changed drastically. Suddenly everything was beautiful and radiant, and he could see colours everywhere. He started appreciating the beauty of his world, but he knew that that world was only beautiful because of her presence in it.

After their day by the lake, Khaldarr never left her side. He was always there, trying to make her smile and laugh and live her life. It gave him a purpose other than fighting and killing and drinking, which used to be the definition of living for him, along with his duties as a Lord.

And he was learning a lot about the strong soul, and with every day that passed, he knew her better and loved her more. He learnt that although she was a fisherman's daughter, she made the worst fish soup he had ever tasted. "My brothers used to complain until the last drop." But he finished it with a smile on his lips.

And she loved the song of the Whickyblue, a large bird with shining blue feathers and a unique, slightly odd song whose arrival marked the beginning of spring in their realm. "The sound of it warms my heart." For him, it was the sound of her laughter.

And she had a smell that filled his soul with joy and made him feel like the sun was rising inside him. "It is the essence of the soul-flower, my mother taught me how to make it." Oh, so maybe that was why it was affecting him this way.

And, most importantly, he learnt that she never used a weapon in her life, never learnt how to wield one. "I am a fairly peaceful person. Why would I learn how to use sharp weapons?" It disturbed him a lot, especially that she was now living on her own.

He wanted to teach her to defend herself, but she refused to touch even the smallest of weapons. But leaving her alone in that house every day was the hardest thing he had ever had to do. His instinct was to protect her, to shield her. But she insisted that she did not need protection, and that side of her vexed him. How could he suppress such a strong instinct?

Eventually, he managed to convince her to use the bow. It seemed like she detested archery the least. So every day after finishing his duties, he would take her to the Grey Lake and they would practice archery a little. She was awful. He suspected that she was doing it on purpose.

"Don't release yet," he instructed one day by the lake. "Be careful now or you will hurt yourself." He placed a hand on her shoulder, righting her stance, and one under her elbow. "Lift your elbow, like that."

He was standing right behind her, righting her position and her hold on the bow and the arrow. The close proximity of their bodies was fogging his mind a little. He was craving her closeness. The feeling of her small body pressed softly against his at that moment was driving him mad, and her warm scent was filling his senses.

Sometimes he would have to stop himself from picturing what it would feel like to press his lips to her soft ones, and more. He craved her in every way possible and he was not ashamed to admit it to himself.

He was getting surer and surer about his feelings for her with every moment they spent together, but he was still unsure whether she felt the same about him. She was always relaxed around him and he felt that he was seeing her clearly. No facades. She was smiling and weeping, and showing her strength and weakness in front of him, but all this did not necessarily mean love.

She lowered the bow suddenly, bringing him back to reality.

"I will never learn," she groaned. "And it is exhausting and time-consuming too."

"You have to learn at least this," he said. "You need to be able to defend yourself. I should be teaching you how to handle a dagger, not a bow. A bow won't be useful in close-range fighting." She looked on the verge of laughing at his words. "Don't be like this. What if someone attacks you?"