It's a lot faster setting up the camp this time, considering it was just broken down. I'm not allowed to help, so I sit on a log and watch everyone try not to stare at me. I'm not sure how much more I can take. I need a break from people. Or life. Or everything.
"Since we'll be here a while," I say to no one. "I'm going hunting,"
I'm barely out of camp when Qince jogs up beside me. "You're not allowed to be alone. Boss's orders."
I shrug. "That's probably for the best." I think Solara's the boss he's referring to. Interesting that a Faerie would take orders from an Elf, but I think he's intimidated by her. "To be honest, I was afraid to wander too far, anyway."
Qince smiles. It's a great smile. He knows it too. I think even other Faeries would say he's good-looking. "Do you want me to ask you about how you feel, or do you want me to share some embarrassing Dathid stories?"
When his uncle isn't making him angry, Qince can be pretty charming. Or maybe it's the smile or just the face in general. "I'd love to hear some Dathid stories, but those are his to tell," I say, hoping I don't sound too rude. He's the first person I've spoken to who's even remotely close to my age. I don't want to scare him off.
"How about if I tell you embarrassing Qince stories?"
Now I'm smiling. His attempt at cheering me up is working. "Okay, but Qince is my friend, so nothing too shameful." He smiles again when I call him my friend. I don't know what I'm feeling, but it's like I want to lure a wild unicorn to eat out of my hand.
"Maybe I can hear an embarrassing Agatha story?"
"Oh, there's lots of those," I say with a laugh, which is weird because it wasn't funny. Qince has a way of making me feel better without feeling like I have to be in a better mood. But he also makes me nervous. Maybe I'm the wild unicorn.
We both stop talking. Should I tell a story, or should I wait for his? I didn't need to go hunting because we have enough food. I just wanted to get away from all the concerned faces, but now I want to hear his stories, but I don't know how to tell him that without sounding creepy. He's looking at me as if he expects me to say something. My brain won't work. I have nothing. No hunting. No stories.
He chuckles when I look at my feet. His laugh makes my guts do something fluttery that makes me anxious. How do I get rid of him? Maybe I should just go back. But I don't want to. I wish I knew what to do.
"I have an idea," he says.
Why am I nodding?
He sweeps me off my feet, flies to the top of a large boulder, and sets me down. We're not high up. Maybe ten feet. I definitely could've climbed up here myself. "In the future, you should ask me before you pick me up."
He sits next to me. He's so close we're almost touching. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize. I won't do it again."
I don't trust my hand not to brush against his, so I wrap my arms around my legs and rest my head on my knees.
He tilts his head and looks at me. How'd he get even cuter? "How'd you do that?" He grabs his legs, but he can't bend enough to get his head to his knees.
I laugh at the attempt. His kilt rides up and exposes the rip in his leggings. "How's that healing?" I ask, but my voice cracks, and now I'm blushing.
"It's fine now." He pulls the hole open and shows me the dark, jagged wound.
"Your first scar, and it's a nice one," I say with a smile, so he doesn't feel self-conscious. Why is it so hot?
"Hmm. Do you have any scars?"
I show him the hole in my legging and the pink skin where the arrow struck. "Kyrbast put something on it that sealed it up. I'm also missing an ear."
It's the ear facing away from him. He leans forward to try to see it. I turn my head to block his view. "You have two ears. One's still growing."
I put my head down, so my hair flops in front of my face.
"Does that bother you? You hide it under your hair a lot."
"Yeah, it bothers me."
His hand touches my cheek and startles me. He brushes back the hair covering my face and loops it behind my good ear. I look sideways at him, and he smiles at me. I can't help but smile back.
"You kidnapped me so you could tell me a story," I remind him. I'm so proud of my mouth for forming words.
"Oh, that's right. Somehow I got distracted." He knows that smile is a weapon. "Let's see...where to begin. Are you familiar with Mffhs?"
I nod. "I read about them and saw pictures. Three legs, four arms?"
"And a tail," he adds with a nod that makes his long blonde hair flop forward. He's definately practiced that in a mirror. "There's a small village to the north of Manahatta. It's somewhat remote, but King Ohad wanted to try to open trade with them." He winks. My heart stops. "Not really. The Mffhs are joining the Grucht Leisck in record numbers. I was sent up there to check them out."
He grins and cringes at the same time. "So they have a reception for us. And in order to greet their commander, we learn this crazy ritual that has multiple dance steps. One of the guards shows me all the protocols. I learn the dance, and then we wait. And while we wait, they burn these candles. Now, I don't know if the candles have any effect on them, but..."
He pauses, makes a face, and laughs to himself. "Let's just say I couldn't see straight. I don't know what was in them, but it wasn't good."
"Oh no," I say.
"Yeah," he says with a slight chuckle. "Well, the commander comes in. I do all the steps. I get everything right. Except..."
"Except?"
"The stop."
"The stop?"
"Yeah, my feet snap together, but my body kept going. I fell on her like a tree."
I laugh, "Okay, yeah. That's embarrassing."
"Oh, it gets worse. I try to correct the disaster by picking her up. Literally, sweep her up in my arms. I thought I apologized."
"Thought?"
"Well, I knew I got it wrong when her fake smile wavered. But to her credit, she never lost it."
"What did you say?"
"To recap—I jumped on her, swept her up in my arms, looked at her sincerely, and said I'm sorry, commander, but I cannot control my pants."
I laugh. But abruptly stop when he wraps his arm around mine. I thought he would release me when he felt my body tense, but instead, he clasps my hand. It takes a second for my lungs to work.
"You smell good," Qince says.
"Control your pants." I don't know where that came from. How am I even forming words?
He laughs. "You owe me a story."
"What happened with the Mffhs?"
"They signed a treaty with Duradin, so we invaded and wiped them out."
"Oh," is all the sound I can make when he leans over and smells my hair.
"Your turn," he whispers in my ear.
I can't remember to breathe, let alone come up with a story. We should go back, but I don't want to. I just wish he didn't make me so nervous. No words come out until he releases me and leans back on his hands. Blood flows back to my brain. I have thoughts! "Are you familiar with hemots?" I ask softly.
He is, and I tell him about how I almost fainted when I met Trelix. We alternate stories. His are equally embarrassing to mine, which I didn't think was possible. We're laughing and having so much fun that I don't notice the shadow coming toward us until Jonah materializes at my feet.
Jonah smiles at me. "I'm glad you two are enjoying yourselves, but you've been gone too long. It's time to return." Then he shrinks back down and disappears into the trees.
Qince watches him until he's gone. "That's—I don't have a word for that," he says, still looking to the last place he saw Jonah.
"Amazing, awesome, astounding? I'm out of A's," I answer.
"Humbling."
That was an odd word to choose. But English isn't his first language, so maybe he doesn't know what it means. "I thought your clan had Knight Crawler's passing through regularly?"
Qince shakes his head and tears his eyes away from where he'd been staring. "Ainganels pass through our portal sometimes, but I've never spoken to one."
I slide down the rock. When he lands next to me, he asks, " Why do you call them Knight Crawlers?"
"I have no idea. We actually call them Grim Reaper or Angel of Death. And we think there's only one. And humans can't see them, so we think we made them up."
"How do you see him?" Qince asks.
Now that we're moving, it's easier to talk to him. "Probably the Orb. I don't know. He scared me to death the night we met."
He looks down at me. "I didn't hear that story."
I've smiled so much I'm surprised my face isn't cramping. I tell him my story and answer a million questions about New York. When we return to camp, Dathid glares at me, and then stomps off to break firewood. What I do wrong?"
Jonah ushers Qince into an activity far from Dathid, and Solara sits me down by the fire.
"Am I in trouble?" I ask.
She looks at me with surprised eyes. "What? No. You went for a walk with an attractive boy, and everyone got nervous. You didn't do anything wrong."
"Wait. What?" I'm burning up from the inside out. This time from humiliation. What did they think we were doing?
"It's kind of funny, really," she says.
"What?" I repeat.
"Dathid's nephew sneaking you away."
"No one did any sneaking. We were hunting, and then we sat and talked. That's it. No sneaking."
Solara smiles. "I'm not saying you did anything wrong. But even I can see how handsome he would be to you. And you didn't bring back dinner." The wave of her arms is unnecessary.
"I didn't say he was handsome." I had some fun for a few hours. Why am I being discussed? Why am I embarrassed?
"He might not be once Dathid's through with him," Solara grumbles.
Dathid and I need to talk. I won't be one of the issues he has with his nephew.