Living Proof

Chapter Twelve

Kaia lay in the darkness, exhausted but wide-awake, and stared up into the darkness. The walls had been white stone at one point, but it had long since gone gray with age and disrepair. A hint of a draft leaked about the splintering windowpanes, and one of those panes leaked. A soft drip, drip, drip, told her it rained still. But she was finally dry, and somewhat warm beneath the scratchy blanket. Faramir had brought her a bowl of a true hunter's stew and although it smelled utterly delicious, she took no more than a few bites before she was just too tired to eat anything more.

Her thoughts haunted her, for they focused on Boromir despite her best efforts to ignore them. She couldn't help it. She wanted to go back to the cabin.

She did go back. Not more than a few hours after she snuck out, she turned back, only to find her cabin was empty and his things were gone. Although she shouldn't have been surprised by it, she was surprised just the same. Surprise. Regret. They mingled to leave her with an emptiness she'd never felt before, not even when her family was destroyed and she lost everything did she feel this way.

More than anything, she wanted to go back to that last night with him, when he'd pulled her close in his sleep, when he'd cradled her against his chest as if she was the most precious thing in all of the world to him. For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, she felt loved. Cherished.

Above all else, she felt safe.

But that was all an illusion and she knew it. He was going to leave. He didn't love her. He didn't want to remain in the middle of the woods with her. He wanted to leave, wanted to return to his people.

She couldn't fault him. He had people waiting for him. His brother. His father. Perhaps a woman, even. She didn't know. All she did know was that people out there worried for him, were concerned for him, wanted him to come home.

And so he would return to them.

But no one awaited her return. All of the people who had cared for her—and she had no doubt they did indeed care—were gone. Destroyed in the span of a few hours, by a despicable species with a thirst for killing.

But, for those few hours, she had belonged to someone. Someone had cared for her. Even if it was only in that moment. She'd take it now. She'd missed it terribly.

She swallowed hard in the darkness, her eyes stinging once more. She'd stupidly let herself care about him.

She let herself love him.

A mistake, that.

A terrible mistake.

She rolled onto her side, staring at the closed door, just listening to the rain patter against the windowpanes. She hoped that wherever Boromir was, he was at least warm and dry and safe.

Despite her heavy heart, Kaia slept soundly and when she awoke, the rain had gone and sunlight streamed in through the widows to splash across the scuffed and faded wooden floor. She lay there for a moment, then managed a smile at the faint sounds of Faramir's men around her. She had no idea what time it was, nor did she care overmuch. It was just nice hearing voices other than her own. It was nice to not be alone.

She sat up slowly, stretching her arms overhead as she bowed her back and let out a lusty sigh of appreciation. This bed did not look like much, but it was far more comfortable than the one back in the cabin had been.

The air around her was chilly, and when she swung her legs over to plant her feet on the floor, she shivered as the cold stone bit into the bottoms of her feet. Her heel still stung, but a quick look told her most of the redness was gone now. Good. It wouldn't slow her too much.