New moon

First quarter; Half moon

Runaan and Ethari had become inseparable. Neck and neck, always competing, and yet always side by side. Always.

Runaan ran though the woods, silencing his breath and trying his best to remain stealthy.
Then he saw it, a large red flag planted into the ground.

A smirk spread onto the moonshadow elf's face. It was unguarded.

'Oh Ethari...' he thought, chuckling quietly and walking right up to the flag, 'You had one job to do. One job to help your team win.'

Runaan looked around before hoisting the flag from the ground. Nobody was around. He smirked once more and began to run back off towards his team's base. But as his foot hit the ground, something felt off.

In an instant, something tightened around his ankle and the assassin was thrown into the air.

He screamed and dropped the flag, kicking his free leg helplessly. Then he heard the bushes rustle and a laugh.

"Oh Runaan..." a familiar voice said, and then a figure appeared. However, Runaan was spinning and dangling from a tree, so whoever it was he couldn't see them all that well.

"When will you learn?" The same voice said.

"Let me down, you fiend!" Runaan cried, kicking his free leg again and trying to pull himself up and get the snare off of his ankle. He just made himself spin even more, and was beginning to become dizzy.

There was a hand on his shoulder, making him be still, and that's when Runaan saw the smug face Ethari had.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Ru." He chuckled, walking away and picking up the flag from its place on the ground.

Ethari stuck it back into the dirt and turned to look at his enemy- just for this training game- who had his arms crossed and looked very unhappy.

"Ethari..." Runaan said sternly, eyebrows furrowed.

"What's in it for me? The losing team will have to clean the stables! And that's bullshit, quite literally." Ethari chuckled, sitting down crosslegged in the grass with the biggest smile glued to his face.

His enemy was still unamused, and quite unhappy.

"And what makes you think I want to do that?" Runaan asked, feeling the blood rush to his head as he continued to dangle upside down.

"Oh, nothing. It just sounds like quite the personal problem."

Runaan groaned and went to grab his sword. He tried reasoning, now it was time to just destroy the trap his friend had made.

However, his only weapon had fallen onto the ground too.

"Looking for these?" Ethari asked, holding up the blade and a bow. He smiled and put the bow on the ground before running his finger along the side of the sword, "It has good craftsmanship."

"My uncle made it. Now give it back." Runaan huffed, and before he knew what was happening his face hit the ground.

"Ethari!" He yelled, rubbing his aching nose and peeling a long blade of grass off of his cheek. "What on Terra was that for?!"

Ethari was standing now, bow drawn. Runaan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, then looked over his shoulder to see one of his teammates. They had shot an arrow at the rope and cut it perfectly.

Quickly, Runaan picked back up his weapons and raced off into the woods with his enemy's flag, Ethari calling after him. But it was too late, the sound of a horn blowing rattled is bones.

Runaan would have to clean the stables...

He walked back and planted the flag back into the ground, seeing Ethari being pat on the back and praised by members of his team.

"By the moon, Ethari! You were amazing! You may not be as strong, but your trap sure did the trick!"

"Yeah, without it we totally would've lost!"

"Smart thinking, Ethari! Nobody on the other team did that."

Ethari smiled and laughed but his expression changed once he Runaan.

The moonshadow elf's shoulders were slumped, one hand still on the wooden pole of the large red flag. He was frowning, and the blue paint on his skin (which was used to signal which team he was on) was smudged near his eyes.

Runaan turned his head and let go of the flag, walking off with his fists balled up.

"Hey, I'll catch up." Ethari said to his team, smiling before jogging off after his upset friend.

Runaan sat by the river, knees pulled up to his chest. He exhaled and tried to clear his mind. Clear away the frustration because by the moon, if-

"Ru?" A voice called, snapping him out of his downwards spiral of thoughts.

"Go away." Runaan replied, part of him thinking of ways to avoid having to be elbow deep in animal shit.

"Runaan..." Ethari sighed, sitting down next to the other moonshadow elf.

"I said go away."

The slightly shorter elf chuckled and looked at his friend, noticing the tears of frustration in his eyes. "I know you don't mean that." He whispered.

Runaan sniffled and turned his head away with a huff. He knew he was being somewhat petty, but it didn't matter to him.

Ethari sighed and took a piece of red cloth off of his body, no longer needing it because the game was over. He dipped it into the water and moved closer, touching Runaan's shoulder.

"Ethari, I swear by the moon I will execu- what are you doing?"

A cold, damp, piece of fabric touched his cheek and gently washed away the paint. Runaan didn't protest, he just shut his mouth and closed his eyes. Secretly enjoying the touch and the feeling of the cool cloth on his seemingly burning cheeks.

"Dry your tears, Ru. It is okay, It was just a game." Ethari whispered, and gently swiped his thumb under the other moonshadow elf's eye.

"I failed. I failed my team, I failed as an assassin, I'm weak." Runaan whispered, pulling away.

His friend laughed and sat back down normally, one hand still lingering on his blue painted shoulder. "No you're not, believe me. Everyone makes mistakes, and you just weren't expecting to step foot first into a trap, it's okay. Again, it was just a training game, Ru. I'm sure if you asked nicely you wouldn't have to clean the stables, too."

Runaan groaned but picked his gaze up from the ground with a sigh. He opened and closed his mouth several times before just deciding to remain silent.

They both sat there together, almost like they had the first time they met.

Except this time it was Ethari who stood up first. "We should get back. It's almost lunch time anyways."

Runaan nodded and took the hand we was offered. They walked back together, and Runaan had a smile back on his face as Ethari told him how amazing he was and how he was unsure if the trap was even going to work. How Runaan would've won in a fight so Ethari did whatever he could think of and it really made him feel better.

It made him feel like he at least put up a fight...

Then two voices, "Runaaaaaaaaaan!" One called. Then the other, "What happened?! I thought for sure we would've won!"