Season's Change Winter's Plight Book 1

27 Questions

They sat around the fire in the main room of their shared cave system each holding a bowl of stewed meat and broth too stunned to partake in the meal they had prepared. They just sat and stared blankly at the fire, both lost inside their own tiny worlds. They each had questions neither wanted to ask but some things needed to be known. Whatever had happened between them in their training room, happened. It was clear to them both that some outside force was responsible for it. Neither could quite wrap their mind around the way they felt. They did not understand what that was all about. It was something, something very rare and very special and neither of them thought that it was an experience that they should have shared and yet they did. Avriel knew only one thing for sure – He would never leave Katana's side and he prayed that she would never make him.

He was quietly confused, but no less than Katana was by whatever it was that happen between them. He didn't fail to recognize that whatever it was, it was significant and exceptionally unique or that there was an outside influence that was either triggered by or triggered the events. Something magical happened in that training room.

He stole a glance at his constant companion and felt a deep sense of trust, honest love, respect, and devotion. The feelings he had for her ran deeper than any he'd ever known outside the ones he had for his family. Sure, he had friends that meant the world to him, some he'd known since infancy, others he trained, fought, and hunted beside. He was prepared to die beside them. But outside of his family, he was not necessarily prepared to die for anyone, though giving his life for his people was indeed the correct and noble thing to do and he would if he had to, it was not something he ever openly thought about. He would die for Katana, without hesitation, question or doubt. He would die to protect her and keep her safe from harm, he would give anything anyone ever asked for, his life included to spare her any more suffering and ensure her happiness. He wondered if that was borne of the knowledge that she had saved his life and if he would develop the same dedication for the girl he was to marry when he returned home. His loyalty to Katana was fierce and unyielding. He knew he would stand by her side for the rest of his natural life and beyond if that was permitted by the Gods. It wasn't a question at all. Not for him. No, not for him. That was a fact. What he did question was what his family's reaction to her would be. Would they fear her, despise her, degrade and belittle her because she was so different from them? He tossed the last three thoughts out where his family was concerned. They would accept her, likely with reverence and respect, gratefulness and kindness perhaps even with open arms, hesitant but open arms, once they knew how she had saved his life by rescuing him. He would not be alive if not for Katana's hands.

Katana caught his glance but, unprepared to confront the awkward and unexplainable emotions it caused in her chose not to meet his eyes. She had no experience with loyalty, dedication or any form of love, even basic friendship. She didn't know what friendship was or what it felt like, but whatever it was that she felt for him, scared her to the 7th level of the Abyss. She knew she would lay down her life for him, forsake all things and all others for him if he asked her to and she knew that last part was wrong. She knew there was nothing he could ask of her that she would not do or give. In her mind, his comfort and needs took precedence over her own, just as his life did hers. The Goddess had commanded her to save him, so she did. The Goddess had not given her the knowledge as to why that human male needed to be saved, and though she asked, she did not expect an answer when she did it. There was something special about her Stupid Human. Something very, very special. He was nothing like the other humans she had encountered. Nothing. He had proven himself worth saving. Through him, she learned so much about herself. In saving him, who was she truly saving? She had learned so much about humans from caring for him when he couldn't care for himself and from being cared for in return once he could. She was taught his language and customs, given more than she gave, learned to understand the meaning of so many things, experienced happiness and joy for the first time and a host of other emotions Dark Faye do not get to experience, including ones she had no words of her own to describe. She was feeling all those emotions at that moment. She did not know what to do about them.

She took a long slow deep breath and looked up to find his eyes locked on her face as they were before, but this time they were a different color. They were blue. She sat mesmerized and just held his eyes with hers. She had never seen his eyes hold the color of the sky and water. It was distracting and beautiful. When he smiled, she could have sworn that something inside her chest broke free. She felt lighter and heavier at the same time, much like she was soaring on moonbeams and drowning in the ocean all in the same moment. She smiled back.

"Perfect." He whispered softly and moved his hair behind his ears then released the breath he wasn't aware he was holding. "Do you know what that was?"

"No."

"How long did we do that?"

"Until the moon set."

"Why?"

"I do not know."

"Why me, why you, why us?"

"I cannot answer that."

Avriel looked at Katana and laughed softly. He simply could not hold it in. "You are not supposed to."

"Then why did you ask?"

His laughter filled the silence between them. "I was thinking out loud." Katana's expression turned as she cocked her head to the side in confusion. Avriel started laughing so hard he had to set his bowl down so as to not to spill its contents. One look at her face had him taking her bowl from her hands and setting it with his. She tried to pull her hands away when he reached for them, but he was prepared for that. "Don't shut back down on me now. We are just getting to be friends." He understated his own feelings for the sake of duty and obligation. She meant far more to him than just a friend ever would. He prayed when he returned home with her by his side that his feelings for Katana would not be obvious. As he held her warm delicate looking, but very strong capable hands in his, thoughts he knew he should not be having crept up to the forefront of his mind. He could not push them away no matter how hard he tried. His eyes darkened as she watched. She did not understand him. "We are friends. You and me." He kept the conversation going hoping the feelings would pass on their own. Slowly he let her hands go. "I was talking to hear myself talk. Sometimes it is better to say things out loud. That way you can hear how they sound. Those questions, they were rhetorical. There is no answer."

Her eyes shifted with his, tracking their movement and intensifying his already wild emotions. "Then why do you ask?"

"Oh, Katana. To hear them, break them down and to help me think." He smiled as he shook his head. Patience overwhelmed him. He felt like he could explain the heavens and the stars to her until he had no more breath in him. He found peace and joy in her need of him. He would explain anything she needed him to and wait for her to understand.

She smiled back at him. "You just ask the air?"

"Sometimes."

"Does it answer you?"

"Do you pray?"

"Yes. All the time."

"Are your prayers ever answered?"

"You are alive."

He sat still for a long moment his eyes wide with his mouth open as that knowledge sank in. "You prayed for me?"

"Yes." Her expression was stern, more serious than he'd ever seen it. "When your breath stopped, and your heart no longer beat, I prayed to the Goddess to save you and she did."

He didn't move, didn't say a thing. He just sat and stared. He was alive because a goddess had willed it so. He owed his life, not only to Katana but to her goddess too. He was twice indebted to Katana.