What is love?

Chapter 11

    As Dimitri left, Clair laid there as she began to cry. Dimitri liked her, but not in the way like he does towards Annabelle. As he began to walk to the stables in the city, he didn’t let himself think. Everytime a thought came up about what just happened or about Annabelle, he would smack himself. He didn’t want to think or have these feelings anymore, he was neglectful. He didn’t want to burden anyone with these feelings anymore. Right then, he promised he wouldn’t try with Annabelle again. He will never come back to Clair, and he will do his work like he always did.

    When he got to the stables, he saw Denis once again waiting patiently for his arrival. As he began to approach the stables, Denis started to stand himself up, getting ready to talk.

    “Dimitri, I know you're in a hurry, but please may we talk?” as Denis requests he begins to try to get in front of Dimitri.

    Dimitri looks up at him with an angry face, but relaxes himself as he speaks, “as you can obviously see, I’m in a hurry so please make this quick.”

    “I now understand why you didn’t want to talk about it straight away. And I must tell you that I am happy for the feeling you have found as your friend. But as her protector, I must say that it isn’t a good idea…” Denis tries to finish before Dimitri quickly interrupts.

    “Don’t even bother trying to stop me from pursuing my own feelings,” with a slight pause, he continued, “I love her so much, but she doesn’t want me, and she never will. I’ve accepted that, and I'm done. I shall leave this place and never come back unless it is for work.”

“Dimitri,” Denis takes a deep breath and says, “may I accompany you on your journey? I know you are probably angry with me, but I have no work temporarily and outside of the city is far too dangerous for one man. You know that, even if you are strong.”

Dimitri hesitates before speaking and looks at the horse as he begins, “fine, but if you ever try to control me or try to put things in my head, I swear to the holy fucking Gods I’ll damn you to hell myself.”

A little startled by what Dimitri just sayed, he nods his head and promises. They got a horse for each of them and as they began to make their way to the gate, they stopped at a few places for resources. While they were shopping, Dimitri saw the smithy once again and made his way to it as Denis was purchasing food. Dimitri got off his horse and as his metal boots hit the floor, Jason jumped his look towards the noise. Dimitri gives him a more calm look as Jason starts to take a few feet back and walks towards him.

“I need some firewood, just enough for a horse to carry and last at least a good while. Please,” Dimitri looked down as he finished and Jason hurried to the back.

As he came back, he had firewood in a sheet of fabric to hold it and said, “Here, I hope it’s enough to satisfy you. That would be ten silvers please,” he said, still a bit nervous.

“Here is a gold coin. I wanted to say before I leave that I am sorry for what I did. I have something that when I see someone I lied to or especially hurt someone I’m protective over, I get overly angry and protective. I didn’t want to do what I did, but I ended up doing it because I knew that you dislike people like me, which is why you lied.

You’ll never see me again, so I hope for a happy future for you.” As Dimitri finally finished, he grabbed the wood and set it on the right side of the horse and jumped on top.

As he began to ride back to Denis, he saw as he waited for him so they could depart. They quickly started out the city, trying to make some distance before they had to stop. The land near the walls were very beautiful and flat with flowers and animals all over. They kept going until they finally got far enough from the city so they wouldn't be halted for secrecy. They made camp near a little lake that was safe from anything harmful and as they started to relax, Denis started to talk.

“So where is it that we are headed to exactly?” he looks up at Dimitri and sees the annoyed face he bared. He then continued, “I mean you don’t have to tell me. I just know the location of towns and villages that we could look forward to visiting.”

For a good pause, Dimitri finally spoke, “we are going to my home. The home people like you as well as the people we protect destroyed years ago.”

“Wait, are you talking about the Latvia Royal House? But they all died I thought?” Denis said as he was confused beyond this world.

And quickly, Dimitri snaps at him, “well I didn’t and because of it, I must bear the name.”

Dimitri quickly looks away and lays his head on his pillow as he tries to fall asleep for the long ride they have tomorrow. Denis looked surprised as he laid down himself, but couldn’t sleep at first because of the thoughts that rushed through him. As they slept, Dimitri didn’t have a dream, but he kept waking up as the thought of Annabelle wouldn’t stop flowing. The night was rough, and Denis knew. But he didn’t want to bother him anymore than he already has. The next morning, Dimitri woke up to the sound of slight splashes nearby and he quickly looked over. He saw as Denis was fishing and just caught a big fish. He looked wet as if he had been at it for some time.

Dimitri got up and started a fire and set up for cooking the fish. As he did so, Denis saw him and continued fishing. As he went on and his luck wasn’t so great,  Dimitri walked up to him and put out his hand to take over the fishing rod.

“Let me try, I grew up fishing. I may know a few tricks to help,” Dimitri said with a bit more calm voice than before.

“Of course, I’d like to watch. Maybe I can try to learn something from you,” Denis said scooting over gently.

“One thing I learned, is that yes, bait helps a lot, but also the way you use it. If you keep it still, the fish will see it as dead and not much of a meal, but if you slowly swish it side to side like this, it becomes more irresistible,” as he finishes talking, not even a minute later a fish catches it.

Dimitri looks at him and smiles, but quickly looks back at it then gives the rod as he puts the fish in the bag. Denis then continues his technique and catches a few more fish before bringing them to the fire. He sits on the opposite side of it from Dimitri, then sticks two of the fish to sticks and puts them over the fire. As they start to cook, Dimitri quickly pulls out some seasonings and lemons. He puts it on the fish, but puts a few drops of lemon on the fish. Once they finished, he put some more lemon on the fishes and they began to chow down.

“Oh God rule the heavens, this is delicious. How did you learn to season like that?” Denis said estonished.

“One of my dear friends taught me how to cook. I guess more like I watched as he cooked and yelled at the others.” Dimitri started to chuckle as he then stopped and made a worried face.

    “I’m guessing we are going, so we can try to find them. I believe they are alright, maybe having their own crazy adventures, but still ok,” as he tries to make Dimitri feel better.

    Dimitri then looks up and says, “God I hope so.”