The Lightning Mage

Chapter Nine - To Vales-

As we grow closer to Vales the air gets drier and colder. The highlands aren't snowy, they're actually over run by coniferous foliage and wildlife. A lizard here and there scattered, chewing on the remains of another animal. I can see the light of the sun rising through the canvas over the wagon. Bright tendrils of red and orange peer through and shine in my eyes.

I slide out from under the blanket Keisukei must have thrown over me and scoot over to the edge of the wagon, throwing my feet over the side and letting them dangle in front of me. There isn't anyone behind us so there's no one to be weary of. The sun rise is slowly getting higher and higher. I thought I was the only one awake to see the sun rising but a thud next to me suggested otherwise.

"How is your hair better than mine in the morning?" Kei smiles down at our feet and then looks back over to me.

"Because I sleep with mine up." I poke at the little bun on top of my head, made with a piece of twine holding all my messy, disheveled blond hair into one loose lump on top of my head.

He laughs and continues to stare out at the horizon line.

I reach over and push a few strands of messy blue hair out of his face and we both smile.

"You're always doing that. Is that just a you thing or is that something that all women do?"

 I just smile at him.

He smiles in return and reaches up and unties my hair "Guess your hair is messy now too."

A fit of laughter hits both of us and once my hair falls out of the bun he resorts to tickling me, despite my shoves and pleads for mercy from his playfully excruciating feat.

"Is my hair still messy?" He stops and smiles at me, out of breath and red in the face.

I reach up and tousle his hair "It is now."

He leans back and rests on his hands, catching his breath. "You're a difficult one to control, that's for sure." he moves back and leans against the wagon post "I remember you being a shy little princess who ran away from her fathers Castle with nothing but a loaf of bread and a wheel of cheese." He laughs at me and nudges my shoulder.

"Hey, I had a bow and arrow with me. I was going to hunt!"

"A bow and arrow you didn't know how to shoot, and wasn't learning to shoot either even when I tried to teach you."

"You told me to shoot down a bear in one shot!"

"Hey that was the deal and you accepted it. The deal was that if you could kill that bear in one shot you could continue to run away and I'd pretend not to find you. You didn't even hit the bear, you just grazed his ear and ticked him off."

He huffs a puff of air, blowing a strand of hair out of his face "I have a thing about bears."

"Do you remember that crab that pinched you when you went to cook him that night?" I laugh and poke him in the ribs. "And then you said something about blind crabs being tough kills."

"Yeah then you hit it once with my Shuriken and killed it."

"that was a good night." I pause and twiddle my thumbs "My favorite part was getting to fly around the whole world. Like how many other people in the world besides you and I have had the chance to do that?" I pause "The gems sparkling off the shores of the beaches was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen."

The odd silence was avoided when Trenslor woke up on the other side of the wagon.

"Why are you so far away?" She rubs her eyes and straightens out her clothes.