Season's Change Winter's Plight Book 1

28 Blinded

A/N Pretty sure this shouldn't require a warning yet, next chapter will, but this chapter does convey, hint at and talk about violence toward women. That is not a joke and I am not trying to make light of it. Violence towards anyone is rather cowardly. So this may contain a trigger for you, even though it is not broken down or described it is no longer just alluded to. If violence toward women triggers you do not read that last few paragraphs of this chapter.

Always,
Shelly Keller

Avriel sat back for a moment. He handed Katana her bowl and picked up his own. He ate quietly. He didn't know what to say, what to do or what to think. The goddess, her goddess had saved his life. Did it at Katana's request. Why would she want to save him? What debt did he then honestly owe them? He was suddenly indebted to a Goddess. What would she ask of him? That he serves her, worship her in some way? That he speaks her words into the world? Words that he had never heard, and he wasn't certain that he would agree with. He couldn't know. He couldn't recall ever hearing of one indebted to a goddess in such a way. He looked at Katana, bewildered and confused, nor a Dark Faye for that matter. He was surely indebted to them both. Without Katana's rescue, may as well call it what it was, he would have died and been devoured on that field. Without the Goddess's intervention, he would have died, did die, weeks later. Was he then an undead thing, because he had died and come back to life? That didn't make sense. He was most definitely alive. He shook his head as he looked at Katana. Only her skin was black. Her heart, which held a great amount of kindness and compassion, at least for him, was made of Mithril, silver, and gold, Moonlight and magic itself. She was simply not at all what he would have expected from any Faye, but definitely not a Dark Faye to be. He sat, his bowl still in his hand, his eyes lost and unfocused, seeing, yet not seeing the fire in front of him. Katana watched heavy emotion roll across his face and found herself intrigued by his expression. Finally, he spoke, breaking the calm silence that had fallen over the room. He looked away from the fire and to Katana's eyes. "It seems that I owe you and your Goddess an even greater debt than I had originally thought. Why me?"

Katana's eyes never left his face as she sat and stared at him, then she did the most human thing he had ever seen her do, she shrugged.

"That, Kotas. I do not know. She chose you, Kotas. The Goddess. She chose you. You know, you seem trapped by this thing you call honor. I struggle to understand what you mean by that, this honor. Is it like respect?"

"Yes, and a lot more. It is like duty, a requirement. Only it is a requirement that is internal, inside rather than out. You tell yourself that it must be done, no one else can tell you that. Done because you tell yourself so. And no matter what you must do it or not do it, it depends on what it is. There are no consequences if you don't, no-one will likely know you did not do it and they likely will not care, but you will know. You hold yourself accountable, it is. How do I thank her for her blessings?"

"You talk to her like you talk to the air." Katana sent him a small warm smile. "She listens."

He closed his eyes and spoke his thanks into the air with great reverence, gratitude, and respect. Katana smiled and did the same. They ate the rest of their food in silence.

The next day Avriel was awakened by the sound of boots as they moved into his chamber. Even in his sleep, he could hear the movement. He hoped it was Katana and that she made the sounds on purpose. Because normally he wouldn't hear her move at all. Suddenly there was a hush as deafening silence fell over him. When he opened his eyes, he saw only darkness. It wasn't a normal kind of darkness. It was darker than dark, a complete absence of light. Normally when he woke there was a detectable level of light. Suddenly, there was none. His heart grew cold and his ears strained to hear. Yet he heard nothing. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his mind as he lay still in his pallet, his fingers resting on the hilts of his daggers.