Naveen

Rina:

I was surprised by his smile. The first I’d seen since reuniting with him. I didn’t return it. “He sees me as a threat now. He wants to command. But I’m not a threat anymore. I’m technically not a princess anymore, not in title anyway. He should be willing to work with me again. I’ve done a lot for him over the years. He owes me,” I said. “We should head back to the others and get on the road again…”

I nodded but didn't move from my spot. Instead I hesitated. "Rina." I began before pausing and looking up at her. "I am still your friend, that much will not change easily." I opened my mouth to say more but closed it and gestured for her to follow me back to the others.

Rina:

“I’m glad for it,” I said. I would need friends now more than ever. Though I couldn’t deny that was all that I wanted from him. At this point I was resigned to the fact that we wouldn’t go back to what we had before.

When we got back to the others Maleen was eyeing us curiously. I helped her onto the horse then climbed up behind her. I reached around to take the reins. Maleen was perfectly capable of steering herself, but I liked the control of it.

When we made camp for good it was midnight. I was thoroughly exhausted having not slept at all the previous night. I tried to keep my attention away from Talon but from time to time, I would realize that my eyes were on him.

Talon:

I swung myself up onto my horse and rubbed its neck. The elves and I had special horses, power houses in their own right. They had to be able to hold our weight, simple enough with our lighter frames. But also any gear we wanted to carry. I brought two sets of armor, one leather the other plate. And on top of that I carried numerous weapons. Out of the entire party my horse was carrying the most weight even considering Maleen and Rina double riding.

It was interesting to watch the weariness start to take the trio of humans. As magically enhanced as me and the elves were, when we started to feel the fatigue we burned some of the magic embedded within our skin. And all that vanished. Again we offered to take up all of the watches and to prevent much protesting we agreed that the next night we'd share it with the rest of them. To pass the time for the first watch I stripped to my simple clothing and drew a blade. I began to move through forms, flowing gracefully through the movements as if I was made of water.

Dorian:

I stayed up past Rina and Maleen. Last night Rina had gone and when she returned I suspected she did not sleep. I was concerned for her and therefore I was going to stay up to make sure she didn’t go sneaking off.

I felt Talon’s eyes on me when he would circle back to camp. After I couple rounds I stood up to join him.

“Rina said you agreed to take Maleen on. She wanted me to go too, but I can’t leave her now. Not after what happened in the castle,” I said. I wanted to make sure Maleen would be well looked after. She was special and deserved happiness. After Wren had left she had been heart broken. She still grieved her when she thought no one was looking.

I paused and blinked at Dorian. "She did ask me yes, to take both of you. But you both can make your own choices, I will not force you to come with me. Maleen has need of you just as she has need of Rina. If the path you choose to walk doesn't follow side by side with hers, then you at least have to make sure that you will meet her again one day."

Crossing my arms I searched his face, "You are strong Dorian, in many ways. You have my respect for going with Rina."

Dorian:

I gave a half smile. “Well I haven’t done much in my life worthy of respect. I was fighting for a cause I believed in in the wrong way. Rina wants to do it the right way. I feel it’s my duty to accompany her. That, and if I can do anything to ensure that people like Maleen are safe, then I must be separated from her.” I sighed. “Innocent people shouldn’t be burned to death because they aren’t human.”

Talon:

A smile grew on me as he spoke, he had changed from the man that he had been when I'd first met him. The means hadn't mattered to him at first and now it seemed they did. But my smile turned into a puzzled frown at his last words. "What do you mean? Who was burned to death?"

Dorian:

I blinked in surprise. “I thought you knew? I thought that was why you left?” I stopped to look at him. It had happened right before he had left the castle. If that was not the reason for his departure, what else had happened. Had Rina kept if from him purposely?

I hesitated. “There was an elf at the castle. The put her to death for no other crime than being with a human,” I said slowly, looking off into the woods.”

I shook my head, "I knew of no deaths...Rina was getting married." I trailed off and stared at him as he told me what had happened. I stiffened slowly and looked towards the camp and the sleeping form of the two girls. "I knew her...her name was Vera..."

Dorian:

“I’m sorry. I thought you knew. It happened around when you left.” I shook my head. It should never have happened. “Just… Don’t tell Maleen. She couldn’t bare it. She feels too much,” I said. When I had found out I took precautions to make sure Maleen didn’t. Something I was sure Rina did as well.

"I won't tell her...but I didn't know. Vera...she was older than you are but about as old as Maleen in elvish terms. Thank you for telling me this Dorian." Though we tried to make some more small talk, it just didn't click well and eventually he went back off to sleep. I remained awake, even after waking the next elf for their turn at watch. I sat on a log and stared off into the distance until the sun rose.

Rina:

In the morning after we ate I slipped off to freshen up by stream. I was there for a few minutes before Aero chirp an alarm. Not a danger chirp, but one that warned me I wasn’t alone. I rebuttoned my shirt and turned around to see talon approaching. Before I had time to assume why he had followed me alone, I saw the dark expression on his face.

I watched him for a long moment. I had a horrible suspicion as to why his attitude had changed so drastically. “Why are you here Talon?” I asked carefully. I squared my shoulders and straightened my spine.

"Vera is dead. Dorian told me about how she burned to death." I folded my arms and watched her with a frigid gaze. I wanted to do so much more than stand there. I wanted to shout at her, I wanted to hit something, I wanted to mourn the loss of such a young life. But I couldn't do any of those things.

Rina:

My face darkened at the memory. There was no denying it now. “She didn’t quite burn to death,” I said quietly but my voice carried in the open air. “I had Aero put her out of her misery before it got to that.” My heart hammered in my chest. He looked like he wanted to kill someone. If I was being honest, it scared me a little.

“Talon, I did everything I could to save her. But I had no prior knowledge and I was far out numbered. I did what I could for her and that was to give her a better death.” Aero flew to me and perched on my shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Still my voice was soft, but it gained a feeling of pain. The dark look that came over her told me all I needed to know. She knew, she'd been a part of it, and she had hidden it from me. "I found her people, I was starting to try and speak to them on her behalf to welcome her back after being cast out for sleeping with a human."

Rina:

I looked him in the eyes. “Because I feared what you would do in revenge,” I said simply. “One life had been lost already. I didn’t want to risk yours too.” I stood where I was. I wouldn’t approach him like this and I very much doubted he wished to be closer to me.

"What right do you have to decide who lives and who dies." I demanded softly, "Yes. I would have extracted revenge, but perhaps for once some progress would have been made. Perhaps I would have rather done all that rather than be lied too."

Rina:

“I get to decide what actions I take to mitigate the harm inflicted on those I care about. I chose not to tell you because I know you. I know you would have gone after those who had decided her death. I also know that, while you are very skilled in battle, you would likely have been killed in the attempt because you were greatly outnumbered.” My fists balled. “I do not believe losing their leader would have been progress for your people,” I snapped. I tried to keep my voice quiet like his, but when I got heated I tended to have less control of what came out of my mouth and at what volume.

"Right because it was much better than spending months in a castle being spit on and kicked while nothing changed!" Her tone was the trigger to set off my anger that had been barely restrained. I didn't hold back, I yelled the words and while I did so I snapped out a fist to slam it against the tree beside me splintering the bark. Fighting to regain control and ignoring the blood that trickled slowly down the bark of the tree I hissed out, "Would you ever have told me Rina?"

Rina:

I flinched when he hit the tree. Even at his angriest, I had never seen him lose control. If anything, this only confirmed in my mind that I had done the right thing. “Well Considering it was looking like you wanted nothing more to do with me, I didn’t see a reason to tell you. Clearly, it would only bring pain to you.” I nodded to his bleeding hand.

I grit my teeth and turned away from her. I wanted to say something, anything, but instead I simply walked away. I buried the emotions behind a stony wall, but the cold anger still leaked out. I went to the elves and after speaking to them softly for a moment I gathered up my gear and started to walk away from the camp. I wanted time on my own, I needed a chance to calm down. And I really hoped I met something dangerous.

Rina:

I swallowed a lump in my throat and sunk down onto a low boulder when he was gone. I couldn’t bear to see him so angry at me. This was far worse than when I had sent him away. What he said last night about being my friend, well, I doubted there was much left now.

I stayed away from the camp until Dorian came to find me. He apologized for telling Talon about the elf. I shook my head. I didn’t blame him.

Again, I trained with the sword and bow that day. I even fought Dorian with the sword. I had lost some of my skill but most of it was coming back. I took only few minutes of rest in between training. It helped keep my mind off Talon.

Talon:

I stayed away for the remainder of the day. While I didn't meet anything that begged for a fight, I did see a bear with her two cubs. We eyed each other from across the stream before I bowed my head to the beast and turned away. After that encounter I simply felt tired. Mentally and emotionally drained from it all. I sat heavily against a large boulder.

How long had I been going now? Without a chance to rest and unwind? I had never worried about my physical strength but now with the latest blow my mental strength was all but spent. Never before had my anger broken out of my control. I'd always pushed it off, kept it under tight reins. But as I sat against that bolder I felt too exhausted to keep going. Even for my people.

Rina:

Talon didn’t return before we left for the evening. I felt sick in my stomach as we packed up camp. Was that the last that I would see of him? Maleen leaned into me a little as we rode and it was some comfort.

We rode past midnight this time since he had more time to rest today. My eyes were starting to get heavy when everything happened suddenly. Maleen gasped, the elf in front of the group turned back and shouted at the same time Aero flew up with a shriek. Something chinked and Aero glinted in the light in dagger form. I hugged Maleen close, shielding her with my own body. Then I felt a thunk and a burning in my shoulder. The impact knocked me sideways and Maleen went with me. Unsteady as we were in that moment it only took a sudden movement of our horse to fully knock us off.

I hit the ground awkwardly causing the arrow in my shoulder to snap. I let out a sharp cry but it didn’t stop me from moving into action. I rolled over Maleen and at the same time I drew my sword. The others had moved quickly and were some yards away from us before it became clear that we were not with them. A few more arrows thudded in the dirt before I bounced to my feet and yanked Maleen with me. In the woods a man let out gargled scream. It was the sound of Aero meeting their throat.

In the dark I could make out men running toward us from the woods. I pushed Maleen in the opposite direction to get her to run.