Sitting around at dinner with Jackson and Tamani, later that evening, Aislyn sat picking at her food, lost in thought.
Snapping out of it, she heard Jackson ask, "Where's Logan?"
Delicately dabbing the corner of her mouth with a napkin, Aislyn replied, "I suspect he's a bit occupied but he should be here shortly."
Groaning simultaneously, Jackson and Tamani both dropped their cutlery, and Jackson pushed his chair back from the table.
"What have you done this time?"
"Nothing! I-"
"AISLYN!"
Scrambling from her seat, she ran behind Jackson and peered out from behind his back.
"It was an accident! I swear it!" She yelled back, trying to hide her grin from a bewildered Jackson and Tamani.
Thundering steps could be heard barrelling down the stairs before Logan stormed his way through the doorway.
"What have you done to my hair!"
Logan's once blonde locks now were a vibrant fuscia that didn't mix well with the redness of his furious face.
Aislyn snorted, before slapping a hand over her mouth.
Stepping out from behind Jackson, she circled a fuming Logan who was virtually snarling at her. She reached up and twirled a pink lock in between her fingers.
"I did you a favour," she simpered, "it suits you."
With a huff, Logan pushed her hand away and stomped his foot on the floor, rattling the silverware on the table.
"Jackson," he whined, "make her turn it back to its usual colour!"
"Ais," started Jackson.
"Can't. Sorry," she chuckled as she slowly backed out of the room, "it's permanent... the flowers I crushed to dye it with stain everything."
To demonstrate she pulled a glove off and showed them her bright pink hand.
Jackson lunged forward and attempted to grab her, a growl rumbling from his throat.
Laughing, Aislyn launched herself up the stairs and hastily locked her bedroom door seconds before Jackson threw himself into it.
Chuckling to herself as he carried on thumping on it, Aislyn quietly pried open her window and swung her legs over it.
"One. Two. Three," she whispered before pushing herself off and landing gracefully on her feet, two stories below.
Hearing Jackson still shouting, she tiptoed back into the dining room, throwing a wink at a bewildered Jackson and Tamani.
Holding a finger up to her lips, she pointed up to the ceiling, which was reverberating from Logan stomping around, and whispered, "window".
Rolling his eyes, Jackson grabbed his fork and resumed eating.
After several minutes of a fuming Logan demanding Aislyn to come out of the room, he finally stormed downstairs.
"Unbe-fucking-lievable! No one is going to take me seriously-"
He stomped short at seeing Aislyn, who casually waved her knife at him as she took a sip from her cup.
Spinning around to face the stairs, the back at Aislyn, then back at the stairs, he muttered to himself, "What the fuck?"
Aislyn couldn't hold it in any longer. Spewing water from her nose, Aislyn choked on her laughter, slapping her hands down on the table.
Everyone else burst into laughter at her face.
After everyone calmed down, and Aislyn had composed herself, they moved into the seating from and sat around the fire.
"Hey Ais, I've been meaning to ask you... what's up with your eyes? I mean they used to be, like, a golden colour and now they're, uh- well they look black," asked Tamani
"Um, yeah it's strange, I mean they're actually dark brown," she lied," if you look at them in the right light but I think they went that colour after I fell over one day and, uh, hit my head."
"That's strange. Your hair used to be brown and now it's black too."
"Uh, well, when I lived here, I saw always outside so I think the sun made it brown. I think it must have always been black."
Tamani nodded and the room fell back into silence. Slyly looking out of the corner of her eye, Aislyn could see Jackson staring at the scar on her face and could practically sense the question that was about to leave his lips.
" Ais," he said, just as she thought, scratching the back of his head, "how did you get that scar on your face?"
"In a fight," she replied, "about seven months ago. Uh, my-my... Nikolas was attacked. I was with Galen on look-out and when he got attacked I stepped in but we were outmatched. Galen managed to pull me out but not before I got this scar."
She rubbed a hand gently over it and lowered her gaze.
"Was that when you were working as a bodyguard?"
"Yeah. There should have been more of us... I was lucky Nikolas didn't make it," her voice cracking on the last word.
She masked it by subtly coughing, face turned away from the three pairs of eyes watching her.
"Who was Nikolas?" asked Tamani, bracing his arms on the table.
Aislyn looked up at that and gave a sympathetic smile, "he was my companion."
Tamani sucked in a breathe and leaned back in his chair.
"Awkard..." muttered Logan, earning a stern look from Jackson as Tamani averted his eyes.
"Actually," he said, rubbing the back of her neck, "you met his mother a few months ago. She was that woman who I had to leave with at the training session. She's called Minerva."
"Where is she from?" asked Jackson, "she looked... strange."
"Arcadia. She's the... well I guess you could call her the Leader."
"Never heard of it. How did she get in here? The guard at the gate said no one went through that way."
"Uh, well Arcadia had a beach, like ours. She travelled by boat."
"But shes a Leader. She should know that its... uncustomary not to enter unless invited."
"I said shes like a Leader."
"Still."
"Hmm. Well, with that," started Aislyn, getting to her feet, "I have to tell you guys something. I need to leave for a few days to take care of some business."
"More business?" Asked Tamani, getting to his feet.
"Yes, and no I can't tell you what it's about... but I'll be with Galen. I'll be safe."
With a quiet grunt, Jackson pushed himself away from the table, "You can't just keep sneaking off Ais, it's not fair. Is it always going to be like this?"
"It is what it is," was her reply.
Walking over to her brother, she wrapped her arms around his neck and braced her head upon his.
"I have to leave in a few minutes, I'll be back next week."
He didn't reply, settling for nodding his head instead.
Sighing softly she pulled back, frustrated at his annoyance. Shaking off her anger, she skipped the last few steps towards Logan and smacked a kiss against his cheek.
"Later, Princess," she simpered, reaching up to ruffle his hair. Logan huffed and pushed her hand away and crossed his arms.
As she turned to Tamani, he spoke first, "Can we talk before you leave?"
Aislyn nodded, knowing that it was going to do with Nikolas. That was why she held back from telling anyone. She didn't like to talk about it. And she didn't want to hurt Tamani.
"I'll meet you upstairs," she told him jerking her thumb in the direction of the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
"Uhh, I have to go back through the window..."
Shaking his head, Tamani trudged up the stairs.
After quickly scaling the wall, Aislyn pulled herself through the window and unlocked the door, allowing Tamani to pass through.
She sat on her bed and looked down and her folded hands.
He ran a hand through his dishevelled hair and opened his mouth to say something but fell short. His eyes, trying not to look at Aislyn darted around her room to see an old painting of when they used to court. Aislyn was sitting on his lap with an arm draped around his shoulders, pressing a kiss to his cheek whilst he was staring forward, grinning like a fool.
His traitorous eyes flew over to Aislyn, still looking down at her folded arms. For five years he had dreamed of the day they would be reunited but in all the possibilities that had run through his mind, not once had the scenario, that now lay before him, entered his mind.
He slowly reached up to his neck and clutched a necklace that lay there, tightly in his fist.
Quietly, he asked her, "Were you and Nikolas... serious?"
She nodded.
"Is that why you didn't come back? Because of me? Was it my fault? Because I know I was angry at you but I'd want to come home, whether it was to me or someone else wouldn't have mattered."
Her head snapped up to look him in the eye and she was shocked to see tears there.
She jumped to her feet and hugged him.
"No," she mumbled shaking her head against his chest, "you were the perfect companion. But... I changed. Some people are meant to fall in love but aren't meant to be together. Maybe it wasn't meant to be and maybe that's okay," she said to him before pulling back to face him.
Tamani didn't try to hide the tear running down his face, pulling her to hid chest, he hugged her tightly and muttered, "I'm going to keep fighting for you. I've waited five years for you."
Aislyn sighed and replied, "Tam... please. It's only been a few months since Nikolas di-... since Nik. I just can't."
"I've waited this long."
Aislyn rubbed her eyes, chuckling, and just smiled at him.
She walked over to her bed and crouched down to pull her bag out from underneath, straightening up she slung it over her shoulder and walked over to one end of the room.
She just stood there, staring at him. Once again his traitorous eyes flitted to the painting he had seen earlier. Her eyes followed his and when she saw what he was looking at, she gave him a small, sympathetic smile.
"Tam?" she started, looking down to the floor, tightly clutching the bag in her two hands, "Can I ask you a favour?"
His brow furrowed and he asked her, "Yes? What is it?"
"Please.. uh, I don't know how to ask this," she huffed, placing her hand over her forehead.
"What is it? You can ask me anything."
Please can you dare me to dive out of the window."
"Pardon?"
Aislyn snorted and ran the few short steps to the window and shouted over her shoulder, "I can't believe you're making me do this!"
Aislyn stretched her arms forward and dived through the window, arching through the air. As she approached the ground, she curled her body into a ball and hit the ground rolling. Coming to a halt, she looked back up to her window where Tamani was hanging out, eyes bulging.
"Such a bad influence," she playfully scolded, shaking her fist.
She got to her feet and waved before turning around, smacking into a stone-hard chest.
"Argh!" She shouted throwing a punch.
"Ais!" Shouted Jackson, bending over to clutch his stomach, "it's me!"
"Oops," she apologized with a cheeky grin.
Groaning, Jackson stood up straight and looked down with his typical disapproving gaze.
Aislyn just kept on smiling.
Huffing an irritated laugh, he grabbed her by the shoulder and roughly pulled her into a crushing hug.
"Be safe, little sister."
"Thanks, bro," she choked, pushing him off her ignoring whatever it was he was about to say.
Flipping her braid over her shoulder, she marched away from Jackson before turning around, continuing to walk backwards.
"See you in a week!" She called, adjusting the strap of her bag.
"Aislyn, if I see you jumping out of the window like that again, I'm locking it!"
"Bye!"
Turning around, Aislyn chuckled under her breath, "as if that would stop me."
Once again reaching the clearing she had last seen Galen at, she darted behind a nearby shrub and hastily changed into her suit, grumbling the whole time about how difficult it was to do in such a small space.
Before putting her gloves one, she again pulled a dagger out from her belt of assorted weapons and dragged it across her palm, not even flinching.
She squeezed her hand into a fist and watched as her blood dropped into the abyss of crashing waves below her.
She went back to the shrub, pulling her gloves on as she went, and shoved her clothes into her bag before securing it around her shoulders.
Two large waves slammed against the rocks and Aislyn grumbled, "alright, I'm coming."
She walked over to the edge and looked up to the night sky.
"One. Two. Three"
And she walked off the edge.
~~~
Tamani stayed standing in her room a while after she had left. He walked over to the painting and gently lifted it to look once more. His other hand reached inside his shirt to pull out the necklace he had held onto earlier. On it, hang a delicate band that held a stunning blue azurite, shimmering in the light.
He sighed and hid it in his shirt again, where he could feel its ever comforting presence touching his skin.
"I'll keep fighting."
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