Ever So Lightly- Book 1

17

Jasper and Bennet sat silently next to one another, the campfire before them holding each of their gazes, the day's events weighing heavily on their minds. They had been sitting that way for a time. Jasper held a mug filled with some sort of very bitter, very stiff drink that Dalin had mixed up and handed to him without saying a word as soon as they'd finished pitching their tents. Jasper had taken a small sip initially and hadn't touched it since in the hour of so that had passed. Bennet had been handed one as well and had downed it in three gulps. He was nursing his second mug at a much slower pace.

Both men looked up from the fire as Nakomi approached. She looked as exhausted as Jasper felt. The day had drained them all. She sat down to face them, the fire reflecting brightly off of her shining black hair.

"Is Z okay?" Bennet asked quietly.

"I think she will be fine by morning. She was asleep before I could even get a chance to talk with her," Nakomi said, offering Bennet a reassuring smile. The three of them sat in silence for a few moments longer, before Nakomi finally inhaled deeply and then spoke once more.

"You two must keep her safe." Jasper looked up sharply at the words, the intensity of Nakomi's voice pulling him from the trance of the flames that had consumed his sight and mind. Bennet let out an uncomfortable chuckle.

"Well of course we'll keep her safe," he said, his voice failing to convey his usual confidence. "That's what we've been trying to do since we met her."

"Why?" Nakomi asked as soon as Bennet had finished speaking. He just stared back, his jaw slack at the abruptness of her question. Jasper finally spoke up.

"Because it's what we should do."

Nakomi met his gaze and held it for a long moment, as though she were searching for a deeper meaning to his answer in his eyes. He held that gaze just as diligently. Finally, she looked away with a sigh.

"I believe you mean that," Nakomi said. "And I believe you know what is at stake. More than just her life. You know that though, don't you?" Bennet clamped his mouth shut and stared into his drink, fumbling with a snag on his pant leg. Jasper only offered her a small, sharp nod.

They seemed to have formed an unspoken bond not to speak those words. Jasper feared that saying them aloud, that releasing them into the world, that letting the hope they conveyed settle in that way, that it would all only disappear the moment it was said aloud. He couldn't even afford to let himself think it, and he knew Bennet and Nakomi felt the same. Jasper barely even allowed his mind the faintest breath of possibility. A tiny whisper of, "What if?". The thought was enough to motivate Jasper to finally finish off that drink Dalin had made for him. He stood to head for the tent he'd been sharing with Bennet when Nakomi spoke once more.

"I don't think trust has ever come easy to her before," the woman said softly. Jasper turned back to face her as she spoke. "Don't let her lose all that she has gained. She's already lost so much, more than she even knows. Don't let her lose anymore. It will break her." Nakomi looked up to Jasper as if waiting for some sort of response. He nodded.

"I promise," he said softly, his words barely audible above the sound of the crackling fire. "I'll do everything in my power to keep her up. And when she does fall, because the stars know this world will do everything in it's power to make sure that she does, I'll will be there to see her rise." Bennet let out a small laugh from where he still sat, catching the attention of both Jasper and Nakomi. He smiled down at his drink, then looked up into each of their faces in turn.

"I have a feeling that when that happens, she will surprise us. She will rise stronger than any of us will let ourselves hope for."

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