Secrets of the Trees

7 - Another Comical, But Stupid Move

Kael's POV:

I woke up on the floor, just before dawn, like every day. Sitting up, I could feel the stiffness in my legs and I remembered that Lily was in my bed. Her chest rose and fell slowly, as she peacefully slept. Though I didn't want to wake her up, I knew that Deliah would be here for training as soon as the ceremony was over. After stretching my sore muscles, I snapped my fingers and her sea-blue eyes snapped open instantly.

Lily's POV:

A sharp noise rang in my ears and woke me up, to see Kael standing lazily before me.

"What was that noise?" asked I, pulling the blanket off of me, attempting to fix my hair.

He took his attention from the floor to my face. "A trick I learned to wake people up. Now, I would assume you need to wash up, a princess needs to look there best no?" Kael sounded slightly sarcastic when he said that. So, I tried to play along.

"Oh, yes, of course. Nothing but the best. Where would i find such a place to cleanse myself good sir?"

Saying nothing he just began to walk to the other room which I still don't know contains, cause last night it was dark when I changed in there. I just stood there, and he walked back shaking his head, motioning for me to follow him. Right, follow Kael, I knew that!

Seeing the other room, it actually had a window, which looked out to a small clearing, and something glistened in the first sun rays of the morning in the distance. Looking around me, I noticed this room was also reasonably bigger, with a couple snake-skinned chairs in one corner like the one in Esiw's flower hut,  surrounded by several bookshelfs.

Clearly, he liked to read. Books of every size, color, and shape were in the book shelves that covered the walls. The only other furniture, was a small wooden table with a black iron latern on it, and a little kitchen on the other side, with a small brick oven, and a couple cabinets. For some reason, I was captivated by the quaint library.

"Can you see the brook over that way?" Said Kael, pointing out the window. My head turned back to the glistening brook behind the glass.

"Yes, it looks kinda pretty in the morning sunlight."

"You may go wash up there." He walked back to his bedroom, and came back with a little bar of soap, a long black cloth (probably some sort of towel), and my green dress from yesterday, handing them to me. "I will be making breakfast. Be swift, Deliah should be here any time now."

Nodding I walked through his bedroom, and closed the door to outside, making my way to the water. Bathing outside isn't an abnormal thing for me, since, when my family went camping every summer, we would use the stream near our campsite. With a quick look to make sure nobody was around, I stripped off my clothes, and went in the freezing water, wearing my underwear, still self-conscious about being nude.

Lathering my hair, and body in the soap, my mind was only on the thoughts of the future. Will I ever get wings like the rest? When do fairies even get wings? Then, one thought led to the next and I came upon  a question that never had passed through my mind yet. Why doesn't Kael have wings?

Not once had it ever occured to me that he had a normal body, like a human. Obviously, he couldn't be human, but maybe some other kind of species from a neighboring country perhaps? There were a good five minutes spent pondering about Kael, as I finished up, and dried myself off and slipped the dress back on. It was lightweight with a v-neck cut, coming down to the tops off my knees. Suddenly remembering the rubber band on my wrist, I tied my wet hair into a ponytail, ruffling my bangs into a messy look, and made my way back to Kael's for training.