The Beast Within Us

Chapter 21: ↭ Yara

↭ The weeks that followed the night in the woods was thankfully uneventful for the large travelling party. Yara had found her icy heart warming to Chala after they both had begun to accept the situation at hand. Yara had been slightly embarrassed that morning when she had woken wrapped around Chala's warm and impeccable form beneath her. The wardeness kept it in the back of her mind throughout that day, allowing it to go unspoken of in a shallow attempt to hope that the tigress had not noticed how intimately they had slept that night. Despite how comforting it had been to share her bed with her ward in the middle of the strange, cold countryside, Yara refrained from asking her to do so again like she had wanted to.

Now that she seemed less angry and Yara was warming to her anxiety about Chala, she attempted to keep their semi-professional relationship friendly. She became accustomed to the large tigress that often trailed in her shadow throughout the day protectively, and the humanoid huntress that lingered throughout the nights. Things had begun to feel normal, which alleviated Yara's crippling anxiety of the situation. The wardeness focused on the present more often than not, and kept her fear of the pact locked tight beneath her cool expression.

While she was mostly worry-free as of late, Yara still had troubles. Chala's presence made it difficult to make time for Darryn, and though the three got along just fine, it would become suspicious if Chala was separated from Yara for lengths of time. Chala was, after all, Yara's personal ward and her protector. Darryn and Chala seemed to be the perfect pair. If Yara was a jealous person, she would assume that they would be a likened match, but Yara knew how Darryn felt about her and how Chala felt about humans in general.

The wracking cough that Darryn had been plagued with shortly after the beginning of their journey still lingered. With the lack of personal time, Yara had little chances to check on his health. It became increasingly noticeable as Yara and her banners began the second week of their trip; Darryn would often fall into gut-wrenching fits of coughing while riding. It was not only Yara who had noticed by then, many of her other charges could be seen asking about his well-being, as he was the captain of her military forces. It had gone on long enough that Yara felt she could safely act on her caregiving instincts to help heal him in some way.

The wardeness thought of this as she approached Chala, the giant and magnificent tigress who perched in a large tree near her caravan. The tigress greeted her with large steel eyes and Yara offered the upturning of her lips in her almost-smile she had reserved for Chala's case. It was rare for Yara's conscious expression to be anything but serious or strained, but she could sometimes feel Chala's reaction when she did this, as if Yara's smile was pleasant for her. She had yet to actually smile at anyone but Darryn out of habit, but Chala's increased heart rate when she offered the gesture made Yara herself feel slightly giddy inside and her own smile often threatened to broaden with the carefree emotion that the Hewan often stirred inside her.

Yara stood beside the base of the large, outstretched tree and locked gazes with Chala for a few tender moments. She liked to think of her gray eyes as pools of silver when she was in a good mood, and the beautiful orbs that stared back at her looked at her questioningly, reminding Yara of her intent.

"I am going into the town to visit the apothecary-," she swept her hand in the direction of the town they had settled on the outskirts of. It wasn't a large village, but the people seemed friendly enough and Yara had glimpsed an apothecary on her way to the inn earlier that day.

"I assume you will wonder where I have gone, I felt you should know, if you choose to remain here." Yara's words were not at all unkind, but her professional facade was back and she nodded briefly at Chala before heading in the direction of the aged wooden shop. ↭