Ro hissed as she continued to rub the balm over her fresh burn. She had made a small tin of it to last her the three days it would take for it to fully heal. She had not quite mastered the grinding tools and the herbs in the balm were not crushed near enough to be as effective as they should have been. Haren had been impressed with her work though and so had many others in the work room. Nearly everyone aside from Shea. The female didn't so much as take a second glance her way. Ro had wanted a chance to speak with her. She wanted to apologize for the situation that had befallen the Court. Shea never gave her the chance. She walked out of the work room before Ro had finished her balm.
Ro closed the tin and set it on the small table beside her bed. She looked down at her brand. The swirls in the circle were puffy and bright red. The slightest move of her wrist or forearm sparked a small twinge of stinging pain, but that was expected. It wasn't unbearable. Ro knew that it felt a hundred times better than it would have without the balm. She never thought that she would be one to make balms and tonics for healing. At one point she wanted to go to college to be a nurse. To help people like her grandmother. Ro sighed. That seemed like such a long time ago.
Ro brought her legs to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. When she wasn't thinking about her grandmother she was thinking about Annika. She saw the little girl's smile in her mind and pictured her picking flowers and laughing at butterflies. Ro looked down at her brand again. If only she had gotten away from the Quarterling sooner. If she had fought harder. Ro could analyze the encounter over and over again, but it wouldn't bring the little girl back. It wouldn't change what happened.
Ro heard a knock at the door and could only assume that it was Haren who had been guarding her door. Ro looked towards the door as the handle turned. When Arik walked in she was surprised, but glad to see the Halfling. There was a wave a relief that had washed over him and Ro felt it so strongly. She also felt regret and worry, but mostly relief.
"Did you meet with the Frostfall Halfling?" Ro asked as she moved to get off the bed.
Arik nodded, "They came for you as I suspected. They are taking their leave in the morning."
Ro got to her feet, "Without me?"
"Of course."
Ro shook her head, "But how? I thought that they would have-"
"It was Vardon who sent them. I can only assume that he realized who you are thought to be and wanted you back for the same reason Niall wants you here."
A chill ran up Ro's spine when she heard Vardon's name. "That makes sense, but why have they agreed not to take me back with them? How did you convince them?"
"Vardon did not give the leader of the group any information other than the fact that he wanted you back. The leader chose to let you stay over bringing war to his Court."
Ro folded her arms across her stomach, "That's good then. That means that there won't be a fight from them."
Arik reached out for Ro's forearm, "How is your burn?"
Ro's skin began to pop up goosebumps under Arik's touch, "It's starting to heal. Haren let me make a balm for it in the herbalists' work room."
"You did well." Arik released her hand.
"I enjoy the work they do." Ro admitted, "I hope to rejoin them someday."
Arik eyes were gentle, "There will soon be another herbalist in the Court."
Ro tilted her head.
"Niall has rewarded me for bringing you here." Arik's eyes were bright and happy, "Helga is returning."
Ro's hands shot to her mouth as she gasped, "Arik...oh my goodness Arik!" The human took the few steps left between them and threw her arms around his waist. She held him close. "I'm so happy. I'm so happy for you." Ro's smile felt awkward on her face. It had been so long since she had been in such high spirits. When Ro felt Arik's body brace itself she realized that she had hugged him without thinking. She quickly drew back, "I...I'm sorry. I was just so happy I didn't mean to-"
"It is alright." Arik's words were hard, "I am joyous as well."
"When is she coming?"
"I know not."
"I can't wait for her to get here." Ro smiled brightly.
Arik saw beauty in her happiness. There was so much darkness and uncertainty surrounding her and somehow she managed to find joy in his. It was selfless. Human. Ro's green eyes were wide and lively. Beautiful. You care for this woman. Shea's words were burning in Arik's mind. Yes. He did care for Ro. He cared for her safety and her future. Seven days had felt like so much longer given the elements that they had faced together. He had seen her grow into something strong and wild and he found magnificence in that. Shea had always been a fearless creature. It was a different thing to see such a frightened timid thing change into something resilient.
Ro's happy face faded.
"What is wrong?" The Halfling asked.
Ro shook her head, "It's nothing."
Arik knew better. He knew the look of pain, "Is your burn aching?"
"No...my ribs. Sometimes they still hurt, but it's getting better every day."
"Let me see." Arik's face was grim.
In a normal world Ro would have never taken her shirt off in front of a man. But this wasn't a normal world. This was a realm of magic. And Arik wasn't a man. He was a Halfling. Ro slowly lifted her shirt over her head to reveal the bandages that wrapped around her waist. She would have felt naked if it were not for the bra-like undergarment that she was wearing. Arik's eyes scanned the bandages. They needed to be changed.
"When was the last time you dressed your ribs?"
"Two days ago."
"Where are the materials?"
Ro pulled out the drawer of the small table beside her bed. Arik saw the plant-based bandages and pins. He pulled them out of the drawer and instructed Ro to take off the old wrappings. Ro began to undo the pins when she grumbled in complaint. Arik knew that she was still so sore. It was expected. But as the bandages were moved and skin was exposed he saw the faded bruises across her abdomen. Her once sound skin was plastered with pale yellow and light purple blemishes. It was like a watercolor painting only there was no beauty in it. Only anger.
"Have you taken a tonic for pain?" Arik asked as he helped her to remove the last of the bandaging.
"I have been making a fire berry tonic, but I have not taken it today."
"See that you do so."
Arik placed his fingers on Ro's ribs and felt for swelling. There was a slight bulge on her left side. Arik turned her around. Her backside was fine. She was healing well. Aside from the permanent scar that she received from the iron blade. A discoloration on Ro's shoulder caught the Halfling's attention. A small dark blemish that resembled a bird. Arik stroked a finger over it.
"It's a birthmark." Ro told him.
"It looks-"
"Like a bird." Ro smiled. "I know."
Arik took the new bandage and began to wrap Ro's abdomen. He wanted to make sure that the dressing was tight, but not too tight. Arik had mastered such treatments over the years. There were so many battles in his early years as a warrior. He had seen so much bloodshed and death and had saved many for entering the darkness of the eternities. This was nothing.
"Arik?"
The Halfling said nothing as he finished up his work.
"When I was in the work room...Shea was there." Ro moaned in pain as Arik began to tie off the bandage. "I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to apologize for-"
"It is best to leave her be." Arik set the remaining wrappings and pins back in the drawer and closed it with a load thud. "There is not a confession that you owe to her."
Ro turned around to face the Halfling, "It's just...I don't like the idea of her hating me. I know that she is important to you."
Arik folded his arms across his broad chest and looked down at the human woman with sharp eyes, "Sheanna is my Second in Command. She will follow orders despite how she feels towards you."
Ro looked down, "So she does hate me."
"She does not like the threats that your presence will bring to this Court. That is all."
"I know. I understand her means of thinking." Ro looked back up at Arik, "Does she know the truth?"
"No."
Ro didn't bother asking why she didn't. She knew that Arik had his reasons and she dare not question them. Instead she simply nodded and put her shirt back on.
"The Frostfall Halflings are staying in the palace for the night and I see it best that you stay with me."
Ro's eyes were wide. What was he suggesting?
Arik made his way to the door that led to his room.
"You want me to stay in your room with you? You don't trust them?"
Arik opened the door and started to walk through it, "I rarely trust."
Ro followed Arik through the door and watched as he sat on the edge of the bed and began to remove his boots. He was so casual in his movements almost as if he forgot what he had suggested to her. Ro had never seen Arik's room before. It was twice the size of hers. He had a desk with all kinds of papers and maps scattered across it. A window that over looked the herb garden and a dresser of some kind beside it. His bed was massive and Ro blushed at the thought of lying beside the Halfling in it.
Ro's voice was shaky, "Won't Shea be upset if I sleep in here with you?"
Arik met her eyes with a look of annoyance, "Who I chose to share my bed with is none of her concern."
Ro was confused, "I don't understand...I thought that you two were-"
"What have you seen in my memories?" Arik's question was point blank.
"Everything." Ro whispered afraid to admit it.
"Make no mistake." Arik stood across from the bed, "Sheanna is a close ally. I confide in her in times of war and other sorrows. She has my respect and I care for her deeply, but she has never had any devotion from me other than that."
Ro couldn't believe it. Friends with benefits. That's what it had been called in her Realm. Ro never thought that Arik would be the kind to have a relationship like that, but what did she really know about the Halfling. She realized that even with all of his memories and the emotions that she felt from him he still felt like a distant stranger. There were times that she felt closer to him like at Annika's grave and the time that he held her in the cave when the Boggarts passed by, but those moments seemed long passed.
"I'm sorry. I just thought..."
Arik left the room and entered another side room that Ro assumed was a bathroom.
She looked out the window. The sun had set while she was eating with Haren earlier. The Halfling had told her a couple stories about Arik. Haren had made him out to be so serious and hateful towards his enemies. Ro knew that Arik was intense, but she also knew that he was kind and that he had a heart no matter who much he hated admitting it. The only light in the room was coming from a lantern that hung by the door that led into the hallway. The room was dim, but Ro wasn't afraid. She had never been afraid of the dark. And in truth she wasn't afraid of the Frostfall Halflings. She couldn't be with Arik so close to her.
Ro crawled into the big bed and laid on her side facing away from the bathroom. She would sleep in his bed if that is what made him feel better. It wasn't like it was the first time. But even though it wasn't it was still different. That first time they had shared a bed in the inn Arik had still been a stranger. A Tempest Halfling with no affection at all towards her. She had been just a package to be delivered. Now she was something that he cared for. Someone he wanted to protect. And he was the same to her.
Ro heard Arik coming out of the bathroom and felt his weight move the mattress as he laid down on his side. Ro's back was to him and her eyes were closed. Her breaths were shallow and she hoped that he would just go to sleep without saying a word to her. She didn't want it to be any more awkward than it already was. Ro was gripping hard onto the blankets that covered her up to her neck. She heard Arik sigh deeply. He was thinking about something. Ro felt his sensation of his troubled mind.
"When I first came to serve my King, I had a cousin that trained with me. Liean." Ro opened her eyes as she listened to Arik. He talked about the memories that she had seen. Their training sessions, Liean's mourning for the loss of his brother and ultimately Liean's death. "Sheanna came to me during my time of grief. She held me, comforted me, and I let her see a rare part of myself." Ro sifted through Arik's memories. She saw it. She saw the way Arik cried in the female's arms. "Shea had known loss the way I had and we grew close through grief. We found a way to use each other as a distraction to forget about our pasts. After a time she wished to deepen our relationship." Arik exhaled a deep breath, "I have never returned those feelings."
Ro didn't understand why Arik was venting to her this way. It wasn't like him, "I have not lived as near as long as you have, but my grandmother always told me that if you were lucky enough to find a true friend in your lifetime then you were very fortunate. Shea seems like she has been that friend for you."
"Just as Leah was to you."
Leah. Ro had almost forgotten about her. She couldn't believe that after all this time Leah had not crossed her mind more than she had. Leah was her friend. Her only friend really, but Ro never saw her as a true friend. "Leah was my good friend, but after my grandmother got sick we grew apart. I had to spend more time at home and I couldn't do all the things that she wanted me to." A grim smile stretched across her face, "We really grew apart after she left to go to school. I was hoping to reconnect when she come back for a celebration that we call Thanksgiving in my realm, but...I ended up here before that happened."
Arik said nothing to this. Ro turned very slowly to face Arik. He was lying on his back. A hand behind his head and the other across his bare chest. Ro saw the scars that scattered across him. Mementos from battles. No she hadn't lived as long as he had. Nor had she seen all that he had seen. "Arik..." Ro's voice was so soft. The Halfling drifted his gaze from the ceiling to the green eyes that reflected the light of the lantern. "You have been through so much. I'm glad that you had Shea. That she was there when you needed her."
Arik was still silent.
"I felt alone when I first came here. I was afraid. Everything was new and different and I didn't think that it was real. I was in so much denial." Ro looked down at her wrist. Her new burn still healing. "I've met some kind people, who told me to accept what had happened and to keep my head down." Ro looked back up at Arik, "You were the only one who encouraged me to find inner strength."
"You are not the same girl from the carriage." Arik looked back up at the ceiling. "You have flourished into a woman in your time here."
Ro smiled, "I didn't have another option."
Arik looked back at her, "You could have given up on yourself."
Ro's smile faded. "I had something to live for."
"Your grandmother."
"Yes, but not just her. I also had Annika...and you." Ro could feel her cheeks warming as she confessed her feelings to Arik, "I didn't understand the risk you took in the forest when you saved me from the wolf. And I truly underappreciated you telling me about Helga after what Vardon had done to me. And when the hawk passed...you followed me into the woods. You were watching over me. You have been this whole time. You never once let me feel sorry for myself. It was you that made me find happiness in life after I accepted never seeing my grandmother again. And today when you took me to see...Annika...when I thought I wouldn't be able to handle it you found a way to pull me back into reality." Ro had tears in her eyes. "So when I saw the Quarterling about to the swing the blade...I didn't hesitate. You say that I did a stupid thing by risking my life for yours, but it's the new life you gave me Arik. And I would take a hundred more blades if that meant you would live."
Ro watched Arik's face tighten. "Your life is but a fraction of the time I have been given. For a mortal to risk their existence for an immortal being..." Ro could sense the anger building up in Arik, "Do not ever put yourself in between me and death again."
"I won't make that promise."
Arik turned his head to face the human completely.
"If you think that you owe me your life then I owe you just as much. I don't have magic or power and yes I am a mortal, but Arik I wouldn't be able to live a content life knowing that something happened to you that I could have prevented. You want to protect the woman that Annika cared for and the woman that risked her life for yours...and I want to do the same for you. Annika gave part of her soul to you. She loved you. And you've saved me in more ways than one. I will always be grateful to you for that."
Arik let loose a shallow breath, "You are still so bull-headed."
Ro smiled, "Always have been."
Arik turned his head toward the ceiling again and lifted his hand off of his chest. With the flick of his wrist he sent a whip of wind toward the lantern by the door. The room was dark with only the light from the pale blue moon seeping into the window. It was a peaceful and beautiful light. Ro felt calm and the stillness in the silence made her realize how tired she truly was.
"I know not what tomorrow will bring or the days following." Ro watched Arik intently in the moonlight, "Warfare is unforgiving and impulsive. Niall has plans for you, but the Ember King seeks revenge and revenge is more prevailing than pride. I have faith in my soldiers as well as in the Fairy armies that guard this Court. You must keep your guard up, but do not fear." Arik nestled under the bedding. "I will see to it that you are able to rejoin the herbalists. Build up your skills and knowledge. Surpass what I have given you. Be a true asset to this Court and you shall be respected by human and Fae alike. You have a chance to build a life here."
Ro's chest was burning with happiness, "Arik...I don't know what to say."
"Say nothing. Work hard and prove yourself."
"I promise you I will."
Ro watched as the Halfling closed his eyes, "Rest well liebchen."
Ro's cheeks were on fire. She knew that term of endearment. "Good night." Her whisper was still and nearly silent, but she knew that Arik heard it. A smile was stretched across Ro's face as she closed her eyes. Joy was something that she never thought would be again possible if she lost her grandmother. For so long she had been shying away from the fact that Grams was dying and then all at once she had been taken away. She had kept her close to her heart and never veered from the goal of seeing her again. Ro knew that there was still a way to return home and that was finding a Unicorn. A creature that dwelled in the Ember Forest. A place she could not go. In her mind Ro knew that Grams was gone, but in the small spaces of her heart she still wished for a way to go to her. She could never completely let her go, but she needed to start a life without her.
Ro opened her eyes to see the Halfling resting in the dim light beside her. So many scars, so much pain in his past, a creature of magic and yet he still possessed a human heart. This world of enchantment was something that Ro had wished for as a little girl watching Disney movies and playing in a world of pretend. Those dreams were lost to her after her childhood. Nothing like that existed, but there she was staring at a fantasy. Arik was beautiful, cunning, captivating. She could dedicate her whole life to him and in truth she knew she had when she shielded him from the iron sword.