All Shades of Magic

All Shades of Magic - Chapter 9

I am soaked. In water.

Opening my eyes, I saw that I was wearing my clothes from yesterday which were somehow still soaked with water. So I guess that explains why I'm soaked. I hope. It could also be Kimi's being soaked. I guess I'll never know.

Speaking of Kimi, is she still asleep?

"Hey princess, you up yet?" Kimi whispered. So I guess she wasn't asleep.

"I have a question, why do you call me princess?" I replied, rolling over to face her. Our noses were touching and our faces were so close. Oh god. My cheeks must be bright red. I tried to keep it cool. "I mean, your a princess too,"

"I dunno, you've always seemed more princess then me because you know... im my parents personal spy and everything. Plus, you don't mind, do ya princess?" she said.

"Not at all," I replied. Envy drenched my brain. I wish I was my parents' spy, but ever since my dad and I became acquaintances and not friends... things have changed. And my mom is out of the picture and with the spirits as of 10 years ago. I missed her, but I missed my dad more.

We decided to take a sort of sideways route so we were going forwards but also back on track to the... whatever direction it is that we were running the opposite of all yesterday morning. While we packed I wondered what it was that tried to attack Kimi. We had avoided it easily, outsmarted it and such. But this morning our dam was gone. It was trying to lure us in. I was also still surprised the dam stopped them. It was just some rocks we threw into the water.

We snacked a bit as we walked, due to the fact I convinced Kimi that we needed to put some miles behind us today to make up for yesterday. Kari enjoyed napping in my hair today. I liked it too, it felt nice. Like a warm little pillow on my head.

Although, unlike ur toher walks, Kimi was quiet and didn't ask for Kari once. I was worried, but silently. She would tell me eventually. I hope.

We walked for longer than we had on the other days, and finally got back on track to where we were yesterday by mid morning. As we trotted on, Kimi got more and more distant. I tried to ignore it.

Instead I focused on the scenery, which was darker today. Maybe it would rain, or maybe we were just too deep in the forest now. Even the brightest days were starting to look gray. Magical essence was strong here, the creatures seemed to become more condensed when we were in darker trees. The monster I'd seen haunted my nightmares. I didn't want to think we might have a closer call than yesterday. The longer we walked on though, the more unlikely it seemed.

Eventually Kimi got tired of walking and suggested we camp slightly earlier than usual. I obliged, not that I had much choice. Once she started to unpack there was no way to get her moving again.

I decided to light a fire, maybe or maybe not muttering a spell while Kimi went to go find some more wood. And then almost burning myself. I should practice that spell more often.

An hour later and we were set up for a more relaxing evening. It seems as though we've been relaxing a lot lately, but we've earned it today. Walking relentlessly was a lot of work. Kimi sat down beside me on the fire, and I could tell she was about to talk to me about what was bothering her. She did too.

"Hey, Val," She started. "Uhm... do you remember when you got mad at me, because I got mad at that farmer for flirting with you? Was your retort true or just a heat of the moment thing?"

Oh god. I wasn't ready for this. My face turned scarlet in the darkness of the night. But I tried to keep calm. I could do this. Be transparent and tell her how I feel. It would be a perfect moment...

"Heat of the moment, although I'm curious why you were so and still?" I blurted out. I guess it wasn't the perfect moment anyway. I resisted the urge to curse myself, and this whole conversation we were having.

"Well, that man, he's getting married. To my cousin," Kimi replied, she sounded relieved, but also angry. My heart sank. I really was just a friend.

But i was also shocked. 

"Well then you have every right to be mad you know what? I'll have to arrest him and you should tell your cousin you know? She shouldn't marry him if he's a player and all he deserves better," I stammered. I'm talking way too fast.

"Yeah, i wanted to punch him in the face,"

"You could've," That was a lie. But the dynamite had turned into atom bombs that are in the history books. Exploding the world as mankind knew. Every bit. Unlike the dynamite, this wasn't caused by loving jitters. This felt like my hope was exploding. My sense of conversation as well. I needed to calm down. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Calm. "Sorry, no you couldn't. Thats just a butload of information to process,"

"It's ok," Her chill mood had swung back into view. Good. A gloomy Kimi is stressful. "I get your mood princess,"

We continued to talk, now about random things we had seen or about Kari or any other thing in the world. Anything but love and war. The moonstone crystal fired up the conversation, Kimi's hair was braided at some point, mine was in a ponytail, chokeberries, villagers, blanket cuddles, and then I was slowly drifting off to sleep, right beside her. Listening to the last trickles of conversation from Kimi fade away. 

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Ow. What's scratching my face? Something is scratching my face. What is scratching my face? I need to open my eyes to see what is scratching my face. So I opened my eyes.

"Kari?" I murmured. Kari sat on my forehead. Finally still.

"Oh, you're up," Kimi noted. She was sitting by yesterday's fire, her hair still braided. It looked pretty braided, even though her curls weren't as noticeable. "Nice to see you,"

"You too,"

"Shall we get going? We can eat brunch in a bit,"

"Sounds fine by me," I said.

Packing felt harder today, which I pointed out and Kimi then pointed out it was because of our early camp yesterday. Finally we were packed and we completely smothered the fire into the ground.

It wasn't long before we stopped for brunch.

"What should we eat today?" I asked. Kimi shrugged.

"I'm getting a little tired of fruit. What else we got?"

"Bread, vegetables, herbs, other baked goods," I trailed off and landed on a small brown container. Kimi turned her head and peeked over. Slowly, I unveiled it and opened it. "Soup!" I yelled. "I didn't pack soup! How did..." I trailed off again and faced Kimi. She was grinning ear to ear. And my eyes lit up. "You made this?!"

"I woke up early and... it's just vegetables but, you know, better than nothing. Right?"

"So much better!" I squealed. Kimi blushed a little. Triumph was in her smile. I had a feeling a little was in mine too. "Lets eat,"

Due to the lack of spoons, we opened the container and sipped out of either side. Back and forth until the thing was drained. It was the best meal we had had in days. I put the container back in the bag and hugged Kimi.

"Thanks Kimi. awesome job," I whispered. I could feel her smiling as she hugged me back.