“Zi's like a princess,” Blue
observed. “Basically, she's her people's chosen one. By contrast,
Kniles is like a peasant. The elves resent his humanity. Now, mind
you, Zi don't feel that way about it, but Kniles has internalized it.
He got used to people thinking of him as inferior and now he thinks
he hasn't got a shot with the girl he loves. Zi's too naive about it
all to correct him.”
“Two things,” said Alaster, holding
up two fingers. “First of all, why do I give a fuck about any of
this and how could it possibly affect me? And second, how the bloody
hell do you know all of this?”
The nelfkin stoked the campfire with a
stick. They were the ones sat closest to it. Kniles and Artemis were
hunting this evening and Zi was enthralled by a game Gwuryn, Fae and
Shadow were playing with four-sided dice.
“If you don't give a fuck, why do you
want to know how I know all of this?” Blue countered with a smirk.
“Anyway, I know because I pay attention. I've talked to them both.
They don't tell each other a damn thing. Communication is key in
personal relations.”
Blue was the sort of person who knew at
least a little about nearly everything. She was by no means a master
in much of anything, of course, but she had a basic understanding of
most things that had practical application. Just because she
understood how people should interact with one another, however, did
not mean that she employed such methods herself.
“My people have the right of it,”
Alaster sneered. “Love is a fantasy. All that matters is position.
My fiance, for instance, is from an influential family and our
marriage would have been advantageous for both of us.”
“Rather dull way to look at it,”
said Blue with a frown. “Anyway, the two of them would be a lot
happier if they'd sort this out.”
“The two of who?” Alaster asked as
he took a drink from the whiskey flask. He handed it back to the
nelfkin.
“Kniles and Zi,” said Blue, yanking
the flask from his hand. “Ain't you been listening?”
“Not really,” the fairy replied
with very little shame. “Are we still on the Kniles and Zi thing?
It's a bit creepy, isn't it? She's, like, twelve years old and he's a
grown man.”
“She's seventeen and he's three years
older than her,” Blue corrected him.
“Dear gods,” said Alaster. “They're
hardly more than babies. Give me the whiskey back.”
“You're an asshole,” said Blue but
she handed it back to him anyway.
–
Kniles was a bit embarrassed to admit
that Artemis was a better hunter than he was. Beside her in the
woods, every noise he made was amplified by her perfect silence. She
regarded him with patience but did not hide her amusement at his
blundering.
The siblings were trailing fresh deer
tracks. Their prey was not far ahead of them, provided that Kniles
didn't scare it away with his heavy footsteps. Artemis moved through
the underbrush like a deer herself, as fine a tracker as any Kniles
had ever seen. He wondered if he'd have been as good at it as her if
he hadn't had to split his time between home and Ar.
“Papa's taught you well,” he
remarked quietly, careful to keep his voice under a certain volume.
“You're every bit the hunter that he is.”
His sister looked uncomfortable with
the praise. When she was younger, she might have puffed up with pride
at such a compliment from her big brother, but these days, it seemed
she could not believe anything positive someone might have to say
about her. She was so convinced that the darkness inside of her was
inescapable.
“I'm not sure I should be commended
for being good at killing things,” Artemis said darkly.
“You're providing food for all of
us,” said Kniles. “You're so quick to discount yourself. I wish
you could see in yourself what I see in you.”
She scoffed. “You're one to speak of
not seeing, Kniles Harcourt. When are you going to admit to the fair
Lady Zi that you're hopelessly in love with her? Some time in the
next century, I hope.”
“Ah, really, little hawk.” Kniles
blushed and turned his eyes to the ground. “I'm not hopelessly in
love with her.”
Artemis elbowed him and brought a
finger to her lips to shush him. Kniles quieted and followed her
gaze. Two deer stood in the clearing just ahead of them and hadn't
noticed them yet. While Kniles watched with bated breath, Artemis
drew an arrow from her quiver and raised her bow.
She aimed the arrow with an expert hand
and let it fly after a moment's careful consideration. It struck home
in shoulder of the closest deer, bringing the creature down
soundlessly while its companion fled in fright.
Grinning, Kniles turned to his sister
and said, “Now tell me truly, who could track and kill a deer so
efficiently as that? Without you, this company would starve.”
“They do seem a spectacularly
helpless bunch,” said Artemis with a sneer. They crossed the
clearing together to their fallen prey.
The deer was already dead. Artemis' aim
had insured it a quick, relatively painless death. Whatever she said
about herself, there was mercy in her heart. At least, Kniles chose
to believe that there was.
“You should tell Zi how you feel,”
said Artemis while she made quick work of gutting her kill. As he
watched her work, Kniles had to wonder why he'd even come along,
except that his presence would make it easier to carry the deer back
to camp.
“Now isn't the right time,” Kniles
replied. “She needs to complete her journey first.”
“And what if you are part of her
journey?” said Artemis, arching an eyebrow as him. Her hands were
painted red with the deer's blood now. She set about skinning it,
thinking to leave the hide behind with the guts for some wild animal
to find, well away from their camp.
It was a surprisingly optimistic thing
for Artemis to say, Kniles thought, but not very likely.
“I suppose that would be for Zi to
discover,” he replied. “I support her in her endeavors but it
isn't my place to force her hand.”
Artemis rolled her eyes at him. “Well,
support me in my endeavors by helping me skin this deer, won't you?”
“Of course, little hawk.” Kniles
drew his own knife and set about helping his sister to dress out the
deer. Anything for a change of subject, frankly. He knew that his
sister was not the only member of their party who thought him a bit
cowardly with his feelings for Zi, and he preferred not to think
about it.
He observed the dead eyes of the deer
and remarked, “Let's cut the head off here too. The less it looks
like an actual deer, the less Zi will be upset about it.”
“You're hopeless,” said Artemis,
but she obliged.
–
“You are quite good at this game,
Lady Fae,” commented Sir Gwuryn. In their dice game, Fae had
reached an impressive score, while Shadow, Zi and Sir Gwuryn
struggled to keep up with her.
“Oh, it's just dumb luck, I assure
you,” answered Fae, who was herself quite surprised by how well she
was doing.
It was Zi's turn to roll just them. The
young elf had been quietly observing the rules for a while but now
she felt she'd gotten the hang of it. When she rolled the dice, the
score turned out quite favorably for her and earned her another roll.
In two rolls, she gained enough points to surpass everyone's score
but Fae's, which was still a bit higher. She'd caught up quick
though.
“I've never seen someone with luck
quite so remarkable as Zi's,” Fae said.
Zi beamed, pleased with her
accomplishment. “I've always had a knack for games like these, but
I don't often get to play. I also like the games you play with
cards.”
A thoughtful expression crossed
Gwuryn's face. “We could, perhaps, play for money at the next
tavern we come across. With Miss Zi's remarkable luck, we might be
able to improve our funding for this little adventure we're putting
on.”
“Gambling?” Fae looked as though
she found the suggestion distasteful. “We'd be just as likely to
lose the few coppers we've left between us at present.”
Their game was interrupted by the
return of Kniles and Artemis, who carried a skinned and gutted deer
between them. Zi launched herself up from the ground and called out
Kniles' name in delight, waving to the half-elf and smiling her usual
blinding smile as she ran to meet him. Fae and Shadow exchanged
knowing looks while Gwuryn watched the young sweethearts with an
expression of wistfulness.
“Ah, the attentions of so fair a
maiden are more valuable than gold,” said Gwuryn. “Young Kniles
is a lucky man.”
“They do seem to have a storybook
romance,” agreed Fae, with just a touch of longing in her own
voice. Kniles and Zi were possessed of an innocence that Fae could
not remember ever having. Theirs was a young love, but it was
refreshing, even though they both seemed to be in denial about it.
She spared a glance at her brother and
Blue, who had struck up some kind of odd friendship as of late. Fae
was only a little surprised by this. It seemed like those who carried
the strange, magical crystals shared a bond, sometimes without
realizing it.
In fact, looking back on it, she
thought perhaps it was their crystals that had drawn Shadow to her,
and vice versa. Zi and Artemis also seemed to share a connection,
though whether that could be chocked up to their crystals or Zi's
friendship with Artemis' brother, Fae wasn't sure. However, she did
not think that it could be coincidence that the six of them had found
each other. It seemed most likely that the crystals sought each other
out.
“What are you thinking about?”
asked Shadow, drawing Fae out of her musings. She was watching Fae
with the sort of perplexed smile that made her look as though she
still didn't quite understand the people she now called her friends.
“You drifted away for a moment.”
Fae returned her smile, once again
reminded of how fond she'd grown of her wolf companion.
“I was thinking about the bonds
between friends,” she said. “And if it is truly fate that some
people should meet, and if it being fate makes those bonds stronger
or if it is by our own hands that we ensure that we do not live our
lives alone.”
The former wolf tilted her head a
little to one side as she considered this. At last, her mysterious
smile spread into that canine grin and she said, “I should think
it's a little of both.”
FIN
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