Tears Unnumbered [EDITING]

Meetings

Both of them would be lying through their teeth if they said that they were calm about all that is happening. Where Nolan is curious, Aoife is nervous, and it shows on her rapidly paling complexion. She isn't sure how her companion would take to meeting her cousin without prior notice. Their footsteps echo around the forest breaking its tranquility and Aoife cannot help but remember the time she had walked the same route for the first time in her life, being lead, rather than leading the way. She has never had a friend before and as crazy as it sounds, she wants to spend more time around the one she will go so far as to call an evasive friend.

Nolan really looks as though entering the forest is a terrible idea given that he suspects the presence of the fae, yet he follows his little sister for she seems to know exactly where she is heading. If she won't stay out of the forest, he figures going with her is the next best thing. The trail is hardly visible. It is a stark contrast to the well-worn paths that he has tread before. He tries to reassure himself by speaking to Aoife, not much unlike her when she had asked so many questions the other day.

"This 'friend' we are going to meet- who is she?"

"You mean you want her name? I don't know. I call her Bronagh."

"Bronagh? That is no name you bestow upon a friend!"

"Oh, you will know soon enough why it is that I call her that."

"Is that so? How did you meet her?"

"Simple. I didn't find her. She found me."

"You are being evasive, sister."

"And if I am? You didn't think I would just give everything away, did you?"

"That hardly seems-"

"Oh, hush now, brother. We are almost there. She is quite the shy one. We wouldn't want to startle her."

From between the trees, the girl hears heavy footsteps among the fallen leaves. She knows she is not alone. She sees a silhouette of two- one familiar, the other, not so much. It is a girl and a boy, family by the look of it. The girl was fairly small and petite, unhealthily pale and significantly thin compared to the time she was last seen. Blond hair that fell to her shoulders and fair skinned like her people, she knows that the girl would have clear blue eyes, innocent, yet possessing a secret that lay hidden deep within its depths. Dusting across her sharp nose would be a dash of freckles. The boy she had seen only once before, and she had fled that day as she would now, should they draw any closer. She studies him from afar, for she had not the opportunity to do so the last time she had seen him. He looks just like the others. Hazel eyes, long face, dark hair and fairly pale skin. He seems considerably elder than Aoife, though. The way he is almost protectively holding onto her does not go unnoticed.

Even as they come closer, she feels herself on the edge. She may have taken a liking to Aoife, but she is still wary of the boy she has brought along with her. She recollects that it is the same boy she had first seen with Aoife. They seem considerably at ease with each other now. She wonders at what Aoife is trying to do, but she has her suspicions. Even as he looks her way, she vanishes into the mist.

"Aoife, I don't think this is-"

"Don't come any further."

"Bronagh? It is me, Aoife!"

"I trust you, dear, but who is the one beside you?"

"He's my brother, Nolan. I promised him I'd let him meet you. You wouldn't let us down would you?"

"Very well, but I won't show myself yet. I am right here, among the trees where I have made my home. I will speak to you and listen, but come further, and I will go away once more."

Nolan leans in to whisper to his sister. "You call her Bronagh, when she is Aislinn! Tell me sister, does she not appear a dream to you?"

She chuckles, having heard his words perfectly well even from the distance. If only he knew the truth, he would realize that she was more suited to a nightmare than a dream. "You can call me any name you wish, boy. I don't have one to call my own. It has long been forgotten"

"I have been meaning to ask you this- how did you find my sister?" Nolan stands with his hands folded across his chest, trying to appear as intimidating as possible to the girl who is hidden from plain sight. She finds it amusing that he would try to frighten her when indeed it is he who should be afraid.

"You can call it fate," she says. Bronagh sees that the boy is not satisfied with her answer, but he decides to humour his little sister.

"Whoever you are, I thank you for being there for her. Something tells me you are the reason we found each other once more. The reason our families are willing to come together."

"Is it true then, Aoife? Your wish has come true?"

"You know about that?" Nolan asks even as Aoife answers the banshee.

"We are off to a start. I can't say we like each other much yet, but both of us are trying- Nolan and I. In fact, it was in return for that that I promised to let him meet my 'friend in the woods', as he calls you."

"Friend indeed! Tell me Nolan, do you know who I am?"

"Not yet, but I can see that Aoife trusts you, which means I'll trust you. After all, you could have already harmed her if you wanted to."

"Hm? She hasn't told you, I take it?"

"Not yet, but it doesn't matter. She'll tell me when she wants to."

"You have seen far more summers, yet you would take her word on me? After all, you have only gotten to know her for a few days! Do you trust her on this? The woods can be a dangerous place."

"She may be younger, but I'd say she's wiser, for only a mind like that could ever hope to unite our family. We are all older, yet none saw the sense that she did. If you meant her harm, you wouldn't be asking me this, so yes, I trust her."

"What else do you intend to do, Aoife?"

"I don't know yet, I suppose."

Meanwhile, Nolan hears sounds of sniffling. "You haven't been crying, have you?"

"I have reason enough to cry."

"It's okay to cry. You don't have to hide away if that is your reason. You're my sister's only friend. That makes you my friend too. You won't have to be alone. Not any more."

She doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. No good ever comes of making friends with a banshee. Nolan offers his company so willingly. He is the only one to have ever done so, yet she too has once been human. In her heart, she still is one, and so, she makes her decision. For as long as Aoife lives, she will live her own life too- as a protector and a friend.