Into The Mountains(COMPLETED)

Chapter Eight

I carefully placed her on the ground. "I should probably stay back until you've talked to him. I don't think my sudden appearance will do him any good." I offered as I slipped into the nearby tall grass, crouching low amidst the plant life. I could be nearly invisible if I wanted. The sun had only been up for a few hours now, and it was still low enough that there were long shadows to cling to.  Jen walked toward him. "Hanbin!" She yelled, sounding a bit agitated instead of excited.  He jumped and the turned, grinning. "Nini! Oh gods, and you look alright! How do you look alright? A bit underdressed, but not like you've been out in the wilderness for a month."  Jen walked up to him and punched him hard in the arm. "You oaf! What are you doing here?"  Hanbin laughed and rubbed his arm. I could see he had a good gash on his side, not life threatening in itself but the scent of it made him easy to track, for me and things with less kindness in them. "I came to save you from Hell! Just like in that song, I'd ride over the mountains, save you from the beasts there whatever they are, and then bring you back over! Of course we'd have to beg the sun to let us pass back through but I was sure I'd be let back if I brought a beauty like you back with me."  "Han. You're insane." Jen said laughing. "Look, you're hurt, and we have to be getting home. I'm hungry and exhausted ..."  "I'm pretty sure home is that way. Or that way." Hanbin pointed first to the kins' lands, then toward the human ones.  "Well you're actually right I think, but by mistake. I mean my new home. Let me introduce my wife to you." Jen walked up to her brother and took a dagger from his belt and a smaller knife from his boot.  "Hey what's that about? I thought you were going to hug me!" Hanbin complained.  "I'll give them back after you haven't attacked my wife." Jennie said, stepping back from him a few paces. She looked back to where I was hiding. "Her name is Lalisa."  I emerged from the grass and came forward, making a point of hunching a bit so I wasn't standing at my full height. I could have shifted to my hybrid form, but then I would have looked like a slightly crazy naked woman with a large amount of body hair, and that probably wouldn't have helped much.  I plodded into the clearing calmly. "I'm Lalisa." I reiterated. 

Hanbin's eyebrows went up and his mouth fell open. He stumbled back a pace, then caught himself from falling in the stream. "Uh, oh. She's uh, Jen she's naked." Hanbin finally stammered.  Jen snorted at his reaction, amused. "Not the first trait I thought you'd latch onto, but alright. He's a very good man, Han." She added the last in very serious tones.  "Woman or Man?" Hanbin said, not sounding sure.  "Yes. And before you ask, yes I can see she has a wolf's head and has a penis for a women, I'm not delirious."  "Am I delirious then?" Hanbin asked, rubbing the side of his head as though it might have betrayed him.  "No. Come on, get your things and we'll start back." She tossed his weapons to his feet and then walked back to me, smiling a little. Apparently Hanbin was enough to distract her temporarily from everything that we'd learned from the Seer, and what the price had been.  She walked right up to me though and hugged me, which I hadn't fully expected. "How far is it to home?"  "About two hours of hard walking. Would you like me to carry you? In your condition you shouldn't be putting too much strain on your body." I reminded her, running a claw gently across her belly.

If she was ready to forget about the events of earlier today, I was as well.  "I'll be alright, if I get tired I'll let you know." She said, rubbing her hand over my chest briefly.  Hanbin put his shirt and weapons back on, then slung a small pack and a bow over his shoulders. He came up to us not fully sure of me, but willing to trust his sister. "Well, hello Lalisa. I'm Hanbin." He said, giving me a broad smile.  "Nice to meet you Hanbin, when we get back to the village, stay close to us or someone might eat you . . . or attempt to have sex with you and then eat you." I warned him, thinking it was only fair to let him know ahead of time.  "Try to ... alright." Hanbin said, giving Jen a look. She shrugged at him, and we started off.  The walk home was pleasant and gave me some time to recover from our rough trip out to pick up Hanbin. Jennie and Hanbin spent most of the time talking about their life before I'd taken Jen, which made me feel keenly out of place.

Even worse, it reminded me that I couldn't provide Jen with any of the finery that her family could.  When Jen had told me she'd stay with me, she'd done so assuming she could never go back to her family, but now here was her brother, Hanbin, and he wanted to take her home. She had a real chance to return to her own kind now, and to live a much easier and care free life. She wouldn't even have to deal with the Seer's prophecy anymore. I wondered how that would change things. I wasn't going back to the Seer to find out.  I thought of other things as we walked too. The Seer had said she'd carry a daughter that would be mine in blood. I would be allowed to see this daughter, but I couldn't raise her in any way, or let her know that I was her mother.

That thought cut deeply. Offspring were important to me. I wanted them to know me and to be a part of my family. I held no love for the Seer. I didn't hate her, couldn't, but I also didn't really want to be around her either. Still, it would pain me to know I had a daughter I'd never get to love and raise.  I would have liked to talk of these things with Jen, but I didn't think she was ready to speak of what had happened with the Seer, nor was she in the mood with her brother here. So I trudged quietly behind them, only talking to direct us towards home.