Naveen

Rina:

My breath caught when Talon said someone else had done it for me. I stared at him without seeing him. My mind was on the first time I had felt myself dying. A sword through my chest. The words “thank your elf for this”.

I turned around again but this time I started walking. “Rina! It’s not safe to go off on your own!” Dorian called. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t die,” I said and kept going with Aero buzzing at my side.


Maleen:

I watched her with my heart aching. “I didn’t mean to do this,” I whispered, shaking my head. I didn’t know how to make it better. I had been overcome with anger that such a spell had been enacted. I should have realized that Rina wouldn’t have done it on her own.

Talon:

My fingers drummed on my arm as I frowned. "She just died Maleen. Dark magic or not, she was dying and she knew it. I could be wrong, but I don't think you've ever been in a position of life or death. I've seen the aftermath of someone coming inches away from death. Some are able to shrug it off, others break in varying ways. Rina is fragile right now and yelling at her over answers she might not even have is a mistake." While I'd been speaking my eyes had followed Rina as she walked off into the woods. They now shifted over to Maleen. "I know you didn't mean to do this."

Rina:

I walked without looking where I was going. I was lost in the horror and dread of the spell Maleen spoke of. It wasn’t just the ability to not die, for some that would be a blessing. It was that trouble would find me, danger would find me. I would die again and again. Once had been agony enough. The second time was worse. How could I live like this? I would rather lose all the years I had left than nearly die over and over again.

Because I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, my foot caught on a root and I fell forward. My knees hit the ground and my body followed. I was too slow to catch myself. My face met damp, dead leaves.

I rolled to my back and found the moon over head. Never before had I wished for death. In all the hard times, I had gone on because I wanted to live. But now I found my mind wandering there. The unobtainable. I wanted it now. There was a longing in my chest. I had been deprived and now my body craved it. I wanted my eyes to close and never open, yet they stayed focused on the moon.


Maleen:

I sat down on the stump that Rina had been on and put my head in my hands. My heart ached for Rina. It was a horrible thing that had been done to her, even more so if she had not sought it out herself. I searched my mind for anything I could do to counteract the spell.

Talon:

I reached out and gently patted Maleen on the shoulder. "Rest, we shall take care of the clean up." I motioned to the pair of elves and they set to work gathering the dead. I checked with Dorian to be sure he was alright and gave him the task of gathering wood. We needed the bodies to disappear, and the less impact we left, the better we could hide out.

Rina:

I stayed still for so long, listeing to the sound of the forest that I fell asleep right there on the ground. I slept deeply and without dreams. I woke in the same position I fell asleep in. The forest was light now. The soft light of early morning shade. The leaves and grass rustled as I sat up and my head pounded immediately.

Talon:

I was listening to the birds, the first signs that the woods were returning to normal after our battle when Rina began to stir. "Easy now. Drink." I had been sitting beside her, cross legged with my hands on my knees so it was simple matter to pick up the waterskin beside me and offer it out to her.

Rina:

“Uhhm,” I groaned when I turned my head to the voice. I was disoriented and confused but I took the water without question. My tongue was leathery in my mouth. I nearly drained the water skin before I handed it back. I blinked the sleepiness away slowly.

“Where are we?” I muttered groggily. I knew that I had left the camp, but I didn’t know how far I had gone or where they were now. I looked at Talon with one eye squinted, the other was closed.

"Where you fell asleep last night." I'd only taken the time to tuck my cloak under her head and her blanket across her form, otherwise I'd made sure she was still breathing and alive before sitting beside her to keep watch.

Rina:

He had answered the question I asked but it wasn’t the information I wanted. I let it go. I looked at the blanket over me then down at my own shirt stained in blood and dirt. I was sure the rest of me was likewise filthy. “Is there water near?” I asked and thinking to his answer of my fist question I added, “to wash?”

"A stream about a dozen yards that way." I gestured towards the north. "We had to move our camp after the battle, but you can bathe in peace without anyone seeing." Grunting I shifted to my feet and took a quick look around. "Whenever you are ready I can help you to the water."

Rina:

I focused on him now. I didn’t know what to feel. It was too much and ultimately I just felt drained. Somehow, he had done this to me.

“I’m ready now,” I said and stood up without his assistance. I stayed still for a moment, dizzy and aching.

I knelt down to pick up the discarded blanket and cloak, draping them over my arm. "It's this way Rina." I kept a close eye on her before I even began to move. I figured she might be out of sorts, but docile had never been what I'd call her. And this seemed somewhat docile.

Rina:

I followed after him feeling heavy in my body. I didn't speak. It was like there was a fine layer between me and the world. When we reached the water I turned to Talon. "I don't know how to find the camp from here," I said. There was a small worry that he would leave me now. And if he left me, I was afraid that I might not even try to find the camp.

For a brief moment my lips quirked into a smile, "I'm not going anywhere." To prove that point I went and sat down on a rock beside the river. I positioned myself so that I could easily look away or keep an eye on her just in case. She really was out of it, and she seemed so fragile right now.

Rina:

I stood still for a moment before taking my shoes off and stepping into the water. It was cold. Oddly pleasurable. Like the moment after blood returns to a limb. It helped clear some of the fog in my mind away. Some not all.

I had to kneel to be covered by the water, and even then it only barely came above my nipples. I took my shirt of then and scrubbed it in the water. Dried blood wasn’t something that would easily wash out of cloth, but I tried anyway. I wiggled out of the pants and did the same.

That Talon was so near didn’t bother me in the slightest. Even if he had never seen me naked I was unlikely to care in this moment.

I leaned back in the cool water and rinsed my hair. It was starting to tangle now with two days of riding and no combing. I didn’t care.

After wringing my clothes out as best I could, I pulled them back on. The blood stain was still there, along with the hole from the knife, but it wasn’t stiff anymore. I stepped over to where Talon waited.


((If he had looked while she was in the water, he would see the red lashes on her back, only barely healed.))

I had made the attempt at not peeking, but When I saw her dip in the corner of my eyes I took a good look right as she was removing her shirt. Any pleasure I would have gained from the view was cooled as I saw red lash marks covering her skin. I dragged my gaze away to stare at the rock I was sitting on as she started wiggling her way out of the rest of her clothes. As close as we had been, I didn't know if she'd want me to be staring at her naked body.

I stood when I heard her moving, and slowly I turned to face her. My lips parted to ask about those marks on her back but the words died on my tongue. I was drawn to her chest, where the simple shirt she wore clung to every curve and I was acutely aware of how cold the water had been. I felt all that desire that had thus far been suppressed threatening to bubble it's way out. I managed and with no small amount of embarrassment to my face I finally met her eyes.

Rina:

My eyes flicked up to his for a moment before looking away. I couldn’t read him, and for once I didn’t try. I motioned for him to lead the way. Wearing wet clothing was uncomfortable, but they would likely dry in the time it took to walk to the camp.

Again. I didn’t speak as we walked, but my mind wandered more now. I was conflicted on all fronts. The most pressing was the issue with Talon. He had done this to me. I was sure of it now. I hated him for it, yet it was only the night before while dying in his arms that I admitted to loving him.

The more my mind followed the train of thought the more awake I began to feel. I stopped walking suddenly. “This happened before,” I said as if he knew what I was thinking about. Dying. “Alia. The sorceress, or whoever she is. She ran me through with a sword. Through my chest. I knew I was dying. And you know what she said to me? She said to thank you.” My voice was calm but accusatory. To him my words must have been out of the blue, but I had been brewing in these thoughts for the past few minutes.

Her silence was an asset in getting myself under control. And when she had me lead, it gave me the chance to let the emotions play out on my face without fear of it being seen. With both things combined I soon was able to get everything under control again. I checked on her often and I stopped a few steps after she had.

I turned slowly as ice formed in my veins. I'd done this to her? At first it had been confusion, mingled with tired exasperation. But as I faced Rina it was pure ice and a sense of dread. What could have happened that it would be my fault? But I knew. I'd asked the goddess to keep her safe from harm. This wasn't what I wanted however...I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

Rina:

Somehow confronting him made me feel more alive. My anger at him brought life back to my veins. I took a step closer to him. “What did you do?” I demanded. It was clear that it hadn’t been on purpose, but still it had happened. “How could you be so careless? Talon, this is my life. What is life without death?” My voice cracked with emotion. I let it flow this time, reveling in the rush of it.

"I made only one request...It was when I swore as Talon." I met her gaze, my expression and tone both utterly serious. "I asked that you be kept safe from the prince." It was the other words however that really rang in my head now. She'd promised to protect Rina from an untimely death.

Rina:

I didn’t need to know exactly what happened to understand what had been done. It was like the myth of the jinn that would grant a wish but in a way that would torment the wisher.

“You’ve ruined me.” It wasn’t fair, but it was what I felt. “You may hate me for sending you away and lying about Vera, but I never interfered with your life.” I went up to him and pushed him, it wasn’t enough to force him back, even if he wasn’t and elf. “I’m only a moment for you. I don’t have an impact in your life. You’ve changed mine. I would have been better off hating you. I would have been better if you had never come with me. I should have known better than to fall for an elf!” I beat my fists on his chest. It was all pouring out now unfiltered. It wasn’t even true. I knew my life was richer for having him in it. But this was how it felt.

“You should have known better. You should have known if would get like this. You should have known I would fall for you. You’ve lived more. You know more. Why did you let it come to this?” I thumped my fists on him again. My eyes were leaking and I didn’t realize it.

“I didn’t know. I wasn’t prepared. And now I’m trapped. I’m weak. You’ve ruined me.”

I bore her beating. Bore her words. Bore the full brunt of her emotional output. "I don't hate you Rina. I have never hated you...just the opposite in fact. I was falling in love with you as well before you sent me away." My gaze grew sad and I looked away, "Perhaps I am fully to blame. I should have walked away a long time ago. But you are anything but weak Rina."

Rina:

I hardly believed a word he said despite believing that he had likely never lied to me.  I looked him in the face then away in frustration.  I took my fists from his chest and turned my body away from him.

“I am weak.  I didn’t used to be but I am now.  Crying over you.  Crying over my situation.  You can’t say I’m not weak,” I said wiping my tears from my face. It was pitiful and mortifying.

Talon:

"Tears do not make one weak. Tears are a form of pain, but tears dry. Time marches ever onward. And what you once cried about will no longer bring the same pain." I felt hollow, empty through out my core. I had cried only over my brother's death. I was too used to burying the pain, walling it off. And yet that made me feel more the monster now than she who cried over her passions and feelings.

Rina:

Sniffling, I took a few deep breaths and calmed myself. I was weak. Whatever he said wouldn’t change that. But I could move past it.

I turned back to him red eyed but calm now. We were on either side of a canyon. There was no closing the gap between us. My heart ached and yet I felt better. At least I was feeling something now. My pulse thumped steadily.

“We should return to camp,” I said. My shoulders and my lids hung heavy.