Fate of the Forest (A KaoEarth Story)

Thirteen: Bosston

Bosston looked around at all the commotion and smiled. It had been a long time since they had all been together. 

"Bosston!" Boun called him over as soon as they arrived in the Meadow, pulling him in to a hug. "It's good to see you, my friend. All of you." 

He pulled away and they surveyed the scene. Earth had already dragged Kao over to talk with Pineare and Mix, the latter of whom was hovering around Pineare making sure she was alright. 

"Is there something between Pine and Mix?" Boun asked, gesturing to the group. 

Bosston laughed. "You know just as much as I do. Mix does look a little smitten though, doesn't he? But he has been very protective since she was first affected by the Darkness. I think seeing her so broken made something click for him. She's doing much better now though."

"That's good," Boun nodded, ducking as a fireball whizzed past his head, making Bosston throw his head back to laugh. 

"Sorry!!" Both Plan and Ohm chorused from where they were standing by the edge of the lagoon. 

"I told you guys to keep it over the water!" Prem said, giving Ohm a little smack on the shoulder while Mean and Fluke were doubled over in laughter.

Bosston loved seeing this; all of his friends so happy, something that he saw rarely these days. 

He was one of the first Elementals to notice the energy drain on the Meadows, mostly due to Pineare's sensitivity to it. The first couple of days were rough after they realized the Spirit of Darkness had emerged. Pineare was tormented nightly by the shadow until it realized where it's target was and turned it's attention to Earth. 

As bad as he felt for Earth, Bosston was relieved Pineare had a break from the torture. As one of the few Elementals that had taken a female form, he and the rest of his Guardians were very protective of her. She was like their little sister.

Well, except for Mix, maybe. Bosston still wasn't sure what was going on there. The Water Spirit had never really shown an interest in her before or at least he hadn't noticed if he had. But one of the worst nights had left Pineare screaming in terror and Bosston had come to find Mix had already gotten to her first. He found Mix holding her tightly as she sobbed into his shoulder while he gently stroked her hair. The gentle words of comfort Mix had whispered to Pineare had helped her calm down, but something about them had changed that night.

Now, Bosston was constantly catching them stealing glances at each other, and Mix paying extra special attention to her, and sometimes he even saw Pineare catch his hand every now and then, just for reassurance. If there wasn't anything going on between them yet, there would be soon.

Like, now, as he watched Mix excitedly drag Pineare by the hand to admire the waterfall, which made him laugh.

"I think my Water Spirit is jealous of your Meadow," he said, gesturing toward them. "We just have a river so I bet the waterfall is exciting for him," he chuckled.

The High Elementals gathered all of the Guardians around a large fire, courtesy of the Fire Spirits, and everyone chatted with each other excitedly, especially getting to know the Spirit of Light. Which reminded Bosston that this wasn't merely a social visit. He cleared his throat and the group of Elementals settled down. 

"Welcome, everyone! First, I'd like to thank Boun and his Guardians for opening up their Meadow to us," Bosston smiled and nodded at Boun, who returned the nod, his hand resting nonchalantly on Prem's leg next to him. "It has been a rough number of weeks for each of us and it will only get harder from now on, but now that all of us are here, we can draw strength from each other. I'm so grateful that we have Kao on our side to help us."