Season's Change Winter's Plight Book 1

34 Melted

As the land thawed they spent as much time out and away from the cave as they possibly could. Apparently, neither Faye or humans belonged under the heavy rock of the land above. They hunted every couple of days as they waited for people to repopulate the trade route. Avi took the time afforded them to learn more about the man he was seeking. He asked detailed questions about him, from his general appearance to the things that were said to her. Which was limited to commands and cruelty. Katana answered everyone, some in a meek and frightened voice, others in a tone filled with anger and spite. He could handle the angry answers, they were easy on his soul. He struggled greatly with the ones that hurt her. They would sit and talk for hours after about anything and everything else or get up and train until they fell asleep on the training room floor. By the time they could move freely out in the wilderness and observe the trade route, he knew precisely where to find him and exactly what he looked like. He would find him. He would and he would make him pay for the crimes he had committed against Katana. That horrible excuse for a human would most definitely pay.

He hid his anger and frustration under the veil of intensified training. He was impatient and very confused. What would he do? He could not just kill the man, though a very big part of him wanted to. That was vengeance. But was he a creature of vengeance, could he just lay a man low because that man had nearly destroyed a beautiful creature and hurt someone Avi had come to love. "What have you done?" Avi said to the crisp morning air with the knowledge that the Goddess was listening. "How," he sighed. He wasn't expecting an answer but one would have been nice. How was he supposed to marry someone else, anyone else, when it was quite clear that his heart belonged to that Dark Faye Elf that was running around there somewhere. Where was that elf anyhow? He sat quiet and still and listened to the changes in the wind. He smiled. She was near. He could hear the wind shift around her and caught her subtle scent on the breeze. She wouldn't bother him, she was dealing with her own demons which left him to fight his. It was funny, he'd have never thought of love as a demon but when you found yourself in love with someone you weren't supposed to be it certainly was. They were friends. He felt that solid and true. Even though he had to teach her what trust was, she trusted him. It seemed she was willing to put her life in his hands. It was not a responsibility he took lightly. He owed her his, twice over and knew that he would die for her as he would his family.

His family. His mother, his father, his brother, his sister. His brother had gone missing too. He had never returned from his quest. What was he doing? Had he run afoul or did he fall in love with someone he should not have and decided never to return to his homeland and take his rightful place beside his father? Could he not face the woman he was supposed to marry? They had known each other. Had grown up beside one another. Unlike him and his betrothed, Joshua had the luxury of being betrothed to one of his own tribe members. They trained together worked together and managed a decent friendship. They had the opportunity to know one another and grow together. Avi felt a bitter taste on his tongue thinking about it. He wished he'd had known the girl he was to marry when he returned home. He wished he'd have had the opportunity to watch her grow from a child to a girl and on into womanhood, perhaps then he would not have given his heart to another. One he certainly should not have. He sighed defeated and turned his thoughts away from love and marriage, a fate he would face when he returned home, not if, and focused instead on his sister and that love. Maybe he loved Katana in the same way he loved his sister. He hoped that was the case, but he seriously doubted that would be the outcome of his soul-searching.

Katana watched her Stupid Human, her Kotas, as he sat casually leaning against the trunk of the tree, sitting comfortably high up from the ground. He had taken to the trees and their thick and heavy branches like a dragon does its horde. When he moved through them he was fluid and grace, power and skill and she loved watching him do it. She enjoyed watching him do a lot of things, anything, including sleep. He slept so peacefully when he wasn't aware that she was watching him. When he was he slept hard. His breathing was deeper, he was completely relaxed and woke happy and excited to face the day no matter how hard they had trained the night before. She found that he preferred the daylight which made sense he could use his eyes to navigate and not his other senses. They had honed those acutely. She watched him positive that the little smile that creased his lips was because he knew she was there. He would not be startled if she were to land in front of him. He would be even less startled if she dropped with her weapons out and prepared to attack him. He seemed to be prepared for an imminent attack at any given moment except when she promised to watch over him as he slept. Likewise, she slept when he had given the same promise. Reverie was not a thing of the past for her, it still rejuvenated her and revived her, sleeping did the same, but in a very different way. She often wondered if other Elves slept or if that was a side effect of living on the surface.

Locked away in his own thoughts, he didn't move as he sat. The only way that she knew he was even still alive was the slow and steady rise and fall of his chest and the occasional closing and opening of his eyes. He wasn't Elvin, he was human. The only interactions she had with a human male were devastating, but he was not that human. He was a different one, a very different one. A special one. He was blessed by a goddess he had only recently learned existed. Her grace sat upon his shoulders neatly, like a warm and worn cloak and he wore it well. It was beautiful and so easy for her to see. The Goddess granted him poise and grace, patience and skill, maybe he had those things all on his own and the mantle he wore of chosen only amplified his gifts. He was kind and gentle. She only understood the meanings of these words because of him. She came to understand what it meant to trust another and to believe the words they gave you. She learned to speak her truth to be open and honest in everything. He taught her so much in the countless days of winter that they had spent together. She used to wonder why the Goddess put him in her life, why she had been burdened with caring for the very type of creature that she had come to hate. She thought to kill him herself and the denizens too when she first encountered him. She did not know what stayed her hand before her Goddess had commanded her to save him, but she was grateful for it. He was human after all and all humans were just as horrible,  nasty, and worthless, as the denizens he fought. All of them deserved to die. Or so she thought for a split second upon seeing another human male. But something in those green eyes caught her eye and held her blades in their sheaths. Then she was commanded to save him and moonfire erupted along the length of his blade. Katana closed her eyes and let the memory of the night she first saw him wash over her. For the first time in her relatively young life, she was conflicted about whether or not to raise a blade. That stupid human had changed her from the moment she saw him. She felt a smile creep across her face and she looked down at him sitting in repose. He was beautiful.