Ascendant

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: KAHU

The gentle birds chirping in the cold trees caught Melody's ears gradually as she slept with her cloak over her, against the back of Umbra to stay warm through the morning. But she didn't truly wake up until she felt the cold touch of a blade against the side of her left cheek.

[MELODY]

Freezing completely when she felt the cold steal against her cheek she didn't dare to move as she glanced up to see whose blade it was.

[GEM]

Muiredach's shadowed eyes watched her from under his hood, squinting slightly as he just barely cocked his head to one side. "Seems I expected more out of you... I guess I should have been louder," he said plainly and removed the long curved knife he had against her skin, standing up straight afterwards.

[MELODY]

"..w-were you testing me?" Melody asked him in disbelief as she got up quickly once he moved back. She wondered why Lyre hadn't woken her or done anything when he did that.

[GEM]

"If I weren't you'd already be dead, little doe," he kept the same tone and sheathed his weapon before glancing out the cave. "Come. We have... a great deal of work to do," he said before leaving her.

[MELODY]

She blinked a few times and got to her feet quickly, grabbing her sickles as she did. "Well..mostly my magic reacts to something like that.." she said as she followed him wondering what work he meant. She combed her fingers through her messy hair to pull it to one side.

[GEM]

"Then why didn't it?" he asked her as he walked from the cave.

[MELODY]

"..I am not sure.." Melody said letting out a deep sigh. 'Yes, why didn't you?'

[GEM]

You think I didn't know his intentions? I'll let him play his little games... for now

"And this magic you speak of," Muiredach continued as they walked. "Did it help you last night?" he prompted, referring to how Lyre could only fight off so much...

[MELODY]

'Alright..fine..' She let out a soft sigh. "..Yes...it only attacks like that when I am in life threatening situations..I don't want to kill honestly..or avoid it as much as I can at least." She explained calmly.

[GEM]

They arrived in a small clearing in this thick pine forest, still shadowed by the treetops, a brook nearby that they could hear if they were quiet. He stopped there as his eyes scanned the area. "Death does not have an agenda, nor does it care whether or not you choose to fight," he told her coldly before he turned and looked down on her, their height difference more noticeable now than at any point before. "It will come for you in the form of another person that you don't want to kill and when it does, what will you do then? Will you take up your arms? Or will you lay down and let others kill for you?" he peered into her eyes with a challenging glare, standing close enough she could see his breath making small clouds in the air.

[MELODY]

"..I haven't really thought about it that way..." Melody said honestly as she looked up at him. "..I was brought up with the idea that all life is sacred..nature is sacred.." it was the way the witches lived. Close to nature. Living alongside nature with respect for it.