Passion (Book 1 of "The Fantasy of Life" Series)

Chapter 9

York

Valen and I sat talking for hours. He had a lot of questions about nymphs, I never realised we were so confusing but apparently we were.

"So you're not just born a wood nymph?" He scratched his head.

"Nope. We don't know what kinda nymph I am yet." I said.

"How old are you?" He asked.

"16, I won't fully be any type of nymph until I'm 50, and when I turn 100 I'll be recognised as a credible figure in our society. Then when I turn abour 200 I'm supposed to disappear." I said the last part quietly.

"You live to be 200?"

"650 is the age of the current oldest nymph living. How long do elves live?" I asked.

"Usually around 120." He shrugged and looked at the ground ahead of him.

I frowned and put my hand on his thigh. "I don't like that."

He shrugged again. "Nothing I can do about it."

"That's not true. There's some stuff you can do, problem is that it's hard to do." I sighed.

He looked back at me and gave me a small smile. He put his hand against my cheek. "Hey, it'll be okay." He leaned in and touched his lips to mine softly, and only for a minute, then he pulled back and put his forehead against mine.

I smiled back. "This was not what I expected combat training to be."

"I can be a little rougher if you want." He smirked.

"No, I like this." I thought for a second. "When do you think we should go back to camp?"

"Probably soon. You thought of who you wanna share a tent with?" He got a cocky grin.

I raised an eyebrow and smiled back. "I was thinking Cullen."

He narrowed his eyes at me and I stuck my tongue out at him. He licked my tongue.

"Jorgan hannasath!" I wiped my tongue.

"What's that mean?" He asked.

"Jorgan hannasath? That means 'by the mother'. Don't elves worship a goddess too?"

"Elves worship many gods. Though the goddess we speak of the most is the goddess of life and death. Her name is Avanashe." He asnwered. "Maybe some other time we can go into elven religion. For now I'd rather not talk about it."

"Homesick?" I asked.

He nodded. "Just a little. We haven't been gone long enough to really be upset about it."

"Well, you wanna go to bed?" I asked.

"Yeah." He sighed.

"Well before we do, there's something I need to do, you're welcome to come." I stood and held out my hand, unsure.

"Of course." He took my hand and I helped him up.

I took the staff that he had by the weapons and together we walked to a stream that flowed just by the camp. It was only a few feet wide and a few feet deep but I knew it'd work. It was crystal clear water., with rocks lining the bottom.

"Don't freak out, this is nymphan magic." I reassured him.

I raised the staff, took a deep breath, then began. I spun the staff in place and slammed the bottom against the ground.

It made a loud electric sound, and the water began to flow much faster. It lifted and made a small cyclone until it was about 6 feet in the air. The water suddenly fell, and I was greeted by a water nymph.

She had long brown hair, dark blue eyes and round features. She had slighted blue skin, she was only about 5'3 and had a little more weight like most water nymphs.

"Jarzian is still well secure kaslan, what is it you need?" She asked. Her voice sounded mystic and strange.

"Kaslan?" Valen asked.

"It means brother. Valen, this is my older sister, Malia." I introduced him.

"Who is this kaslan?" Malia asked.

"A friend." Valen frowned at my answer. "That's not what I called you here for. I am doing a task with a few friends. It could be dangerous, and I want to know that I will have your aid if I need a last resort."

She didn't answer, thinking. "Very well. I will do everything in my power to help."

"Thank you jaslan." I nodded, she did it back and then went into the water, swimming away quickly.

"Who's Jarzian, and why are they 'well secure'?" Valen asked.

"My mother. She, well, after giving birth to me she had a lot of discrimination from other nymphs for mating with a human, it drove her insane and she killed everyone in her haslan." I sounded cold.

"Oh. Do you know your father?" He looked at me sympathetic.

"I know he was the last in his family, and died early in my life. There's a myth that water nymphs are like black widows and they kill their mates, especially if they're not nymphs. I was always told it's nonsense, I'm not sure if I believe that. It wouldn't make sense because she that would mean she waited years. I decided not to investigate, I was already a black sheep because I didn't like women, didn't wanna destroy my reputation more by revealing my mother killed my father." I sighed.

He put his arm around me. "You don't need any of them. I'm here for you."

"You don't know me." I said quietly.

"Oh? So the past few hours of you telling me about your life, that whole story was someone else's life?" He raised an eyebrow.

"No, but you don't know me."

"I could. If you let me." He stepped away from my side and went in front of me. He put his hands on each of my shoulders and looked into my eyes. he had a very serious look on his face and was very stiff. "Will you?"

I hesitated. "Yes."

He smiled and relaxed. "Good. Now let's go to bed."

"We're sleeping on opposite sides of the tent, I'm not having any funny business."

He laughed, but little did he know I was serious.