Jasper and Bennet sat silently next to one another, the campfire before them holding each of their gazes, the day's events weighing heavily on their minds. They had been sitting that way for a time. Jasper held a mug filled with some sort of very bitter, very stiff drink that Dalin had mixed up and handed to him without saying a word as soon as they'd finished pitching their tents. Jasper had taken a small sip initially and hadn't touched it since in the hour of so that had passed. Bennet had been handed one as well and had downed it in three gulps. He was nursing his second mug at a much slower pace.
Both men looked up from the fire as Nakomi approached. She looked as exhausted as Jasper felt. The day had drained them all. She sat down to face them, the fire reflecting brightly off of her shining black hair.
"Is Z okay?" Bennet asked quietly.
"I think she will be fine by morning. She was asleep before I could even get a chance to talk with her," Nakomi said, offering Bennet a reassuring smile. The three of them sat in silence for a few moments longer, before Nakomi finally inhaled deeply and then spoke once more.
"You two must keep her safe." Jasper looked up sharply at the words, the intensity of Nakomi's voice pulling him from the trance of the flames that had consumed his sight and mind. Bennet let out an uncomfortable chuckle.
"Well of course we'll keep her safe," he said, his voice failing to convey his usual confidence. "That's what we've been trying to do since we met her."
"Why?" Nakomi asked as soon as Bennet had finished speaking. He just stared back, his jaw slack at the abruptness of her question. Jasper finally spoke up.
"Because it's what we should do."
Nakomi met his gaze and held it for a long moment, as though she were searching for a deeper meaning to his answer in his eyes. He held that gaze just as diligently. Finally, she looked away with a sigh.
"I believe you mean that," Nakomi said. "And I believe you know what is at stake. More than just her life. You know that though, don't you?" Bennet clamped his mouth shut and stared into his drink, fumbling with a snag on his pant leg. Jasper only offered her a small, sharp nod.
They seemed to have formed an unspoken bond not to speak those words. Jasper feared that saying them aloud, that releasing them into the world, that letting the hope they conveyed settle in that way, that it would all only disappear the moment it was said aloud. He couldn't even afford to let himself think it, and he knew Bennet and Nakomi felt the same. Jasper barely even allowed his mind the faintest breath of possibility. A tiny whisper of, "What if?". The thought was enough to motivate Jasper to finally finish off that drink Dalin had made for him. He stood to head for the tent he'd been sharing with Bennet when Nakomi spoke once more.
"I don't think trust has ever come easy to her before," the woman said softly. Jasper turned back to face her as she spoke. "Don't let her lose all that she has gained. She's already lost so much, more than she even knows. Don't let her lose anymore. It will break her." Nakomi looked up to Jasper as if waiting for some sort of response. He nodded.
"I promise," he said softly, his words barely audible above the sound of the crackling fire. "I'll do everything in my power to keep her up. And when she does fall, because the stars know this world will do everything in it's power to make sure that she does, I'll will be there to see her rise." Bennet let out a small laugh from where he still sat, catching the attention of both Jasper and Nakomi. He smiled down at his drink, then looked up into each of their faces in turn.
"I have a feeling that when that happens, she will surprise us. She will rise stronger than any of us will let ourselves hope for."
~
When Zephyr awoke, she was at first confused by the darkness that still surrounded her. I must have only slept for a few hours, she thought, sitting up in her small tent. She hadn't even bothered to slip under the covers before she had fallen asleep earlier that night, and she was cold to her core as a result. She reached around in the dark until she had found the cloak Nakomi had given her. Zephyr hurriedly tied it around her and wrapped herself up tightly in it as she exited the tent. She made her way to the closest fire still burning, desperate to warm herself up quickly. As she approached the fire, she was surprised to see Bennet still sitting there, gazing into the flames. She sat down next to him on the cold, hard ground.
"Couldn't sleep?" he asked without looking at her.
"Oh, I definitely slept, just not for very long. I think the cold woke me," Zephyr replied, pulling her cloak even tighter. Bennet smiled and offered his mug to her.
"This'll warm you up right quick," he said, and Zephyr accepted the cup from him. After only a tiny sip she almost spit the drink back out. She forced that sip down and held the mug out for him to take back.
"Thanks but I think I'll pass this time," she said, coughing a little as she did. Bennet chuckled.
"This time?" he asked with a smile. "So you're implying there will be a next time that you'll have a drink with me." Zephyr returned his laugh.
"Sure, when all of this is over we can go get a round of drinks." Bennet seemed to ponder that for a moment before his normal sly grin crept onto his face.
"Can you bring your friend? What's her name, Saria? She seems like she'd be fun to have a drink with," he said with a wink. Zephyr laughed even harder at this.
"Oh, she's fun alright, but she can definitely be just as scary as she is fun, especially when she drinks. You may want to rethink that request."
Bennet nodded his head thoughtfully. "Okay, so no taverns for the first date." Zephyr smiled at him. They sat together watching the flames for a long time, content to just enjoy the warmth and calm the fire afforded. Zephyr was beginning to doze off when she heard Bennet's voice, softer than it had been before.
"I think today it finally hit me," he said, barely above a whisper. Zephyr forced her eyes open and looked to him. Bennet kept his face toward the fire, so from her angle, half of him was lit brightly, the other half masked in dark shadows. His expression was stern. Zephyr waited for him to continue, offering no immediate response. After a long pause he finally did.
"At first, I think I was just following Jasper. He's always been the one to make the big decisions, and he's usually right, so it felt natural to follow him. Don't get me wrong," he said hurriedly, finally looking at her, "I wanted to do everything in my power to help you and Agitha. It was just easier to do it when I knew that Jasper would have my back." He turned back to face the flames and continued.
"So when all of this started, it just felt like an adventure. Deep down I think most decent people hate the queen and everything she stands for, so rebelling provided a rush, a high. And up until today, I never really felt like the three of us were in much danger. It hadn't set in yet." Bennet paused for a long time, and Zephyr wondered if he had finished speaking. His next words were so soft she could hardly hear them and had to lean in closer to do so.
"But today...stuck in the bottom of that wagon, I was so scared. More scared than I've ever been. Not only for myself, which surprised me. I was afraid they would find you two. Jasper is my closest friend, he always has been. He's as close as my mother and sister are. Today, while I was stuck hiding, not able to do anything, I thought about him being caught and..." he trailed off for a moment. "Then there's you, who came out of nowhere, but now I can't imagine not having you around, Z." Bennet smiled at her, a smile more sincere than the ones he usually offered people. Zephyr scooted closer to him and leaned against his shoulder, letting him support her while she offered her own brand of support to him. Zephyr wasn't exactly sure how she should respond to his confession, so instead she offered up one of her own.
"Today, while we were hiding, I got really scared. Almost as scared as I was when Agitha and I were attacked. Apparently, when I get that scared, I lose control of my Gift. I started to take Jasper's air away and didn't even know I was doing it." Bennet looked down at her in surprise, his arm tensing a little up against hers. She continued before he could say anything, needing to get it all out.
"Afterward, once we were safe, he began comforting me, telling me that everything was going to be ok, and that I didn't need to worry about what I had done to him. What even is that?" She looked up to Bennet, who was still watching her as she spoke. "I didn't even know that there were people like you two out there. Other than Agitha and Saria, I haven't known many people who were just so inherently good." Zephyr's voice caught, a deep breath searing her lungs, her face flushing from sudden emotion. "I could have killed him! And yes, it would have been an accident, but it could have happened. And he wasn't even afraid of me." Zephyr stopped herself before her emotions could get the better of her. Bennet reached out and put an arm around her shoulder, squeezing as he did, much to Zephyr's surprise.
"I think we are both learning a lot about how the world works right now," he said, his voice stronger than it had been before. "We are seeing so much darkness, so much hate. I've never seen anything as terrible as what happened to Agitha. But then, there is light to balance it out. It may not seem like it," Bennet sighed and cast a glance up toward the black sky, "but it's there. And maybe it's not balanced yet, but it's like you said, you are finding good people to trust. First off, there's me." Zephyr pinched his arm and he laughed.
"Obviously number two would be Jasper, who is pretty much so good it's gross," Bennet made a face as he said this. "And last, but not least, there is an entire group here, full of people who believe in you and want to protect you. They would have been in as much trouble as us today for harboring fugitives." Zephyr nodded softly
"Us," she said, and Bennet looked at her in confusion. "They want to protect us." He gave a quiet laugh.
"Yeah," he said just as quietly. "They want to protect us."
Zephyr leaned her head back onto his shoulder and went back to watching the blaze in front of them. As it began to die down, her eyes once more began to slowly close, until she had finally fallen back into a deep sleep and Bennet had to carry her to her tent, making sure to cover her with several blankets this time.