Season's Change Winter's Plight Book 1

24 Laughter

Hunting went much better than he had expected. He expected to fail or to not find any prey at all. He still felt the blessing of the heavens upon him as he helped Katana move their success to their cave after dressing it down there in the field and leaving the things they could not eat for other animals to eat. They took care of their prize after giving thanks and offering prayers. He spent the rest of the evening preparing the meat and storing it in their cold room back in their home. Katana prepared his food and brought it to him. He thanked her and went on about his work after he washed and ate. When he was done, he returned to the main cave to find Katana. She was sitting peacefully by a low burning fire. He moved as quietly as he could to sit in his place beside her by the fire. "Your skill is improving. Be proud." She opened her eyes and looked at him. "You hunted today. You did well. Be proud." Though it was absent from her face, there was a smile of pride in her voice.

"Thank you. We will need to hunt perhaps once more before the winter has passed." He paused and looked at her lovely face. He searched her eyes for an indication of how she might be feeling. She seemed relaxed and at peace. He rather enjoyed that expression. "Thank you."

"For what Kotas?"

"Letting me go outside. Letting me hunt. Trusting that I could and everything you have done for me. But surely for letting me out of this cave." His smile was dazzling as it lit his eyes.

"Humans do not belong in caves. You gave me your honor. You will not leave until you have fulfilled your promise. You are very strange."

"I am strange?" He found himself laughing and unable to stop.

"What do you find so amusing, Kotas?"

Avi looked over at Katana and her raised-brow expression and howled with laughter. "I'm strange." He sobered for a moment. "I know," He stuttered and laughed harder. He was caught in the middle of a laughing fit and could not make himself stop laughing. He was unaware of the amount of tension that had built up in him during his recovery and training trapped inside that cave. Having been outside in the heavy wet winter air released that tension.

His carefree laughter was unlike anything she had ever seen or heard. She watched him let his spirit go wild and free and wondered if he was aware of his vulnerability. She could easily take his life. He was completely and utterly defenseless. Suddenly she didn't care. She joined him, and they laughed. The sweet sound of their voices filled the air with a warm and comfortable magic. He was slapping his own knee and rocking back and forth holding tight to his ribs. He'd stop for a moment, they would look at each other, then fall out laughing all over again. He laughed until his sides hurt, tears were rolling out of his eyes and he couldn't breathe. They eventually sobered and stopped. The conversation lulled between them as reality set in. He was strange. He imagined, to a woman whose idea of honor was questionable at best, he was indeed very strange. To other humans what would he be? An outcast, shunned, insane? He could not begin to fathom. He stared at the fire and got lost in his own thoughts and musings. She waited for him to speak. "I guess I am actually very strange. How many humans can say what I can say as truth? How many can say they have faced death and won because they were rescued by a God burdened Dark Faye? How many humans can claim to be trained by a Dark Elf or live with one? I am the only one. Are you the only one?" He paused and held her exotic eyes with the brilliance of his. "The only Faye that has rescued a human from death, trained him and lived with him? Are you the only Elf that has ever treated a human with respect and kindness? Are you the only Elf to keep a human as a companion rather than as a slave or a pet? Why do you keep me?" His green eyes fell full on Katana and she felt the weight of his world come crashing down on her. His questions were heavy, all of them, and questions she had asked herself many times. Was she the only? Why him? Why her? What would people think beyond the fact that he was male, and she was not? What would they say about their races and the –what was it – friendship they shared? What about her other feelings for him? Did he have matching ones? It did not matter. It was not her place to question the will of the Goddess. The Goddess had commanded that he be saved and gave her knowledge and power to sustain his life and even return it to him. She simply looked at her Stupid Human, her Kotas.

She looked at him and found herself at a loss for words. It wasn't that she didn't understand what he said. She did. He managed to say it all in her native tongue. In the relatively short period of time that they had spent together, he had learned to speak her language nearly fluently. She could speak his. Many of the hand gestures she used were perhaps too intricate for his fingers to form, but he made progress every day. She held out hope that his long fingers could learn. He was a most impressive human, but was he the only one? Was she the only Dark Faye? He raised a lot of questions that she did not know the answer to.

Her silver eyes fell over him, taking his measure. He had grown and changed so much that is family would not recognize him when they saw him again. Would they accept him? She wondered where their honor lie. She watched the fire dance in his eyes, caught the reflection of it in his hair and dismissed the thoughts that formed as a result of his unabashed stare as foolishness and folly. She looked away from his lovely face and to the fire. "I do not know, Avriel. I do not know at all. Perhaps you are the only one. Perhaps I am the only. But, truly, we are both very strange. Would we be outcasts?"

It was his turn to think and to watch the fire reflected in her hair to trap whatever errant and stray feelings he had for her and lock them away. He was to be married when he returned home, and whoever heard of a union between a Dark Elf and a human let alone any other Elf and one?

"That I do not know, Katana. That I do not know." His voice was deep and rich as he spoke, it faded to a whisper.

"What will come of me once you have seen to justice as you call it? Where will you go?"

"Home to my people."

"And what of me?" The mood in the cave darkened as they spoke. Without thinking, he reached for her hand and took it in his.

"Will you not come with me? You saved my life. My family owes you a debt of gratitude. They will hold to it. Besides. My sister will adore you if you can abide her playing with your hair."

"Is your whole family strange?"

He turned happy blazing eyes to her and laughed.

"Yes! You will fit right in." He smirked and started laughing again. She didn't understand, but she could not resist him. She followed him into yet another fit of laughter.