I gently shook the sleeping form on the bed, trying to wake him up. I watched his deep blue eyes flicker and smile when he saw me. He sat up with a groan. "Good morning Ketil!" I chirped. "Ergh... Morning..." He replied groggily, rubbing his eyes. "Hurry and get dressed! We're leaving in 1 hour!" I
laughed as I threw his shirt on his head, and he grumbled. "But it's so early..." He moaned as he slipped on the shirt, running a hand through his messy hair. "Well, I want to have as much time at the Tree as possible! I already packed everything, so hurry up!" Yanking on his hand, I pulled him up. He put his hands up in defeat and nodded.
About 2 hours later, we arrived at the gate of Destiny Island. The guard on duty saluted as we walked past. Ketil suddenly stopped in front of me. "Kyaaa! What are you doing??" I shrieked as Ketil ducked down and lifted me up on his shoulders, his arms grabbing mine to keep me balanced. "I dunno... Felt like it." He chuckled. I caught the guard looking at us and blushed. "Psst, this is embarrassing! Put me down..." I whispered. "Why? You don't like it?" I hesitated, "well... It's not that... Oh fine, start walking already!" He broke into a grin and moved towards the forest. Some guards looked at us weirdly as we past them, while others smiled as they saluted. Ignoring them, we started talking casually as we passed each place, connecting them to our shared memories on this island.
A few minutes later, we were at the path leading into the forest. "Wait... That guard looks scary! " I said uneasily, eyeing the buff guy in front. "Don't worry about him, leave it to me!" Ketil said with a grin, confidently walking towards the guard, with me still on his shoulders. "Nightsteel, you may leave your post for today." The guy looked shocked and narrowed his eyes. "No sir, I cannot do that. I cannot leave you two alone in the forest." Ketil stood up even taller, and I quivered at his authority. "Do you doubt my abilities to protect Lady Glacecia?" Nightsteel refused to back down, "No sir, I am not. I simply cannot leave two young people alone in the woods." I put my hands on Ketil's head to tell him to stop, but he ignored me. "What?! You do not trust us, am I right? Well, this is a direct order as General. I want you to back down from your duties for today!" Wow, I never knew Ketil could be so fierce, he had really grown into the man I knew he would become. Nightsteel glared at Ketil, but knew he had no choice but to back down. He stepped back, saluted and marched off stiffly.
"Sorry about Nightsteel, Glacecia. He never seems to trust anyone younger than him. But as the oldest and most experienced Night Guard, he thinks he is always right. But don't worry, I'll make sure no one comes in here!" Ketil started whistling as we walked deeper into the forest, occasionally warning me of a branch up ahead so I could duck in time. "Hey Ketil? How do Night Guards come up with their names? Like you're Nighthawk, and that guy was Nightsteel. Does the "Night" part stick with every Guard?" "Well, it's a complicated thing... The Night Guard is basically split into different Squads, each specializing in a different skill. All the Guards have names starting with "night" since we are the Night Guard after all! The second part of a name is different for each squad. For example, the combat Squad, the one I'm in, have names of birds. The veterans, like Nightsteel just now have names of metals." He paused to pick some berries from the tree above, and offered me some. "Thanks! But then how did you get the name "hawk"?" I asked, munching on the berries. "Haha it was a funny story, I remember I actually had to catch a bird! And what ever bird I caught would become my name. I guess I caught my hawk that way!" He chuckled, and pictures of him chasing a bird in my mind made me laugh too.
"We're here!" I yelled, pointing to the tattered ribbon hidden among one of the trees. We had agreed to tie a blue ribbon on one of the trees to mark this place, many years ago. We sort of claimed it as ours and spent many unforgettable days here. Ketil gently pushed the branches aside and shuffled forwards until we were standing beneath the biggest tree on Destiny Island. It was a very very old tree, no one knew what kind of tree it was. It seemed like each branch was from every kind of tree known to man. "The Ever Tree..." Ketil breathed, stroking it's rough bark. A soft breeze blew leaves down on us, as if the tree itself knew we were here. Ketil moved over to the lowest branch and I swung off his shoulders, pulling myself up on the branch. I took the saddlebag containing our food and an extra set of clothes from Ketil so he could haul himself up beside me. "It's so much easier to climb up now that I'm taller haha, remember how I struggled to get up here last time?" I giggled, remembering how I stood on his shoulders to get up the branch before pulling him up. "Yeah, I remember. Hey! We should put a swing here sometime! This branch is perfect! Then we can swing like that up to the branch over there!" I hung from the bottom of the branch, swinging harder and harder until I managed to jump to the next branch. "Watch it Glacecia! You might fall!!" I gazed at his worried face and smiled. "I'm not scared, because I know you'll catch me if I fall." Ketil climbed up the tree trunk to me. "Of course I would! Every time you fall, I'll be there to catch you." I nodded and looked up. "Remember how we always wanted to climb to the top? We never could with Sera always watching us... Let's climb to the very top branch now! I bet we can see the whole island from up there!" I stepped over Ketil and started climbing, looking back to make sure he was behind me.
