Ch. 6
“Reminiscence”
He looks at me, and then walks to the shoreline closest to us. He pauses, and then starts pacing down the shore, looking for something. I just patiently watch. Or as patiently as I can. Which is not much. So hurry up. He picks up a long stick and a sharp flat rock.
Oh, I may not have to wait long after all. Thank Nyx.
He pauses, looking between the stick and rock in his hands. I can sense when something in him shifts. As I am trained to notice. The burrowing of his brows. The twitch of the edges of his lips. The narrowing of his eyes. Remembering something? Hmm... He then starts to use the rock against the end of one side of the stick, sharpening it. Once he is appeased with the sharp end, he walks into the water only a few feet and remains still, even his breathing becomes slow and calm. Waiting for what feels like forever, or at least to me, he suddenly strikes the water. With much to his surprise and my own, there is a small, quite small, fish on the end of his stick.
He looks back at me with a slight grin reaching the corner of his mouth. "I... caught a fish..." He says barely more than a whisper, as if speaking it would make it not real.
Zanir starts to walk back to me while looking at his small fish over that is at the end of his makeshift spear. I noticed a huge white shadow gleam behind him. I glance past the slightly rattled mortal vampire man, as the fish spasms at the end of the stick.
Within those mere seconds I see Halfy's tail flick across the surface of the water. Before I could even warn Zanir, even though I would not have if given the option. We are here because someone did not listen and let go of the bat.
Fish and water are flying over him. I feel my mouth gape and my eyes widen as fish start hitting the ground around Zanir, who is now drenched...
HALFY. A laugh runs down our bond. You naughty dog…
I feel the edges of my mouth trying to hold the laugh inside. My lips pressed in a hard line trying to hold it in. Halfy now out of the lake, walks to Zanir, who seems frozen in place, his eyes wide and his mouth holding a slight smile. Halfy sniffs at the fish still at the end of Zanir's makeshift spear. Halfy scoffs, judging his mere tiny fish, and then grabs a few fish laying at Zanir's feet. He walks over to a nearby tree and starts to get his fill of the large catch he made instead.
I finally let out a laugh and they continue to flow out of me, unable to contain it any longer. I feel my cheeks pushing against my eyes as the corner of my mouth rises. Zanir's eyes shoot towards me with a smirk. There is something in those cerulean eyes, a flame within the blues, but I quickly look away to Halfy eating his more adequate fish.
“We are bonded, yes, but Halfy is his own creature. With his...own...opinions... and I would say you are not on his list of favorites...Although I cannot say I am opposed to his actions or opinions..." I say while wiping a few tears that escaped with my laughter.
He shoots me a sideways glance and sneers. Zanir is now trying to shake off the water that drips off his face, his shoulders, his clothes. "You remembered fishing as a mortal. What about making a fire?" I tilt my head slightly back toward him, laying out the next challenge.
Zanir walks around after giving himself a little shake as water drips off his brows. "I can't remember the last time I even needed to make a fire." He sets his spear and his fish by the pile of ones Halfy flung threw the air. He continues to walk around, scanning the ground, trying to find the best spot where a fire can be managed.
"I could simply just tap into my inner powers... normally…" He says, but stops and looks at me, waiting. No comment mortal vampire man. He starts walking around, again, and I watch him pace back and forth, searching. "However, that is not an option as a mortal man." That makes one of us, although I am not a man, even though sometimes that seems like an easier option.
I can tell when his brain starts to swirl with memories. He has some easy tells. Not as good at hiding things as he thinks. I bet these memories weren't even mere thoughts after so many centuries passed.
His brows burrow and something flashes in his cerulean swirling eyes. It is different from the flame he had earlier, more so like his eyes got brighter and filled with more light. He starts to gather things, some small sticks, rocks, and dry leaves. Which is impressive. Almost everything around us is still coated with a layer of water from the rainfall.
He places everything within a circle. Rocks first outlining and making the circle shape. He places the leaves in the rock circle and then arranges sticks on top of the leaves. He studies the pile he made. It must be so strange to remember only vaguely something of a life lived a long, a very long time ago.
I see his face change, frustration, and annoyance, "This mortal body is certainly not much help..." He goes quiet and then says, "It seems I may need some guidance." He says before begrudgingly looking in my direction. Water drips down his cheek.
“I mean, I am just a bat.” I raise one of my wings to my face.
“Hmm…”
Tapping my mouth a few times. I sit like this longer than needed and Zanir sighs.
“Please…oh gracious, little bat…” He says while bowing, but his eyes never breaking from me. His voice is raspier than I have ever heard, almost like a growl. That flame flicks in his eyes again.
I shake my head with a little grimace. As much as I like taking the powers of a cocky vampire and then having him ask me for help…I hate the way his stare makes me feel, exposed, but we will need a fire to keep away dark hungry creatures that fill this forest. I give Zanir a smirk and roll my eyes.
I look past Zanir where Halfy lays next to a tree. His watchful eyes, watching. He meets my gaze. He raises his head. I quickly look around us. Faint wisps dancing along the water. No distance roars or shrieks of creatures. No crunching of leaves of unwanted visitors. My large ears flick. No breathing of any unwelcome company…other than an annoying mortal vampire man.
"Turn around." I say to Zanir. A command.
He looks at me puzzled for a moment. Again, his eyebrows burrowed and his eyes narrow. Studying me. The flame in his eyes growing more intense. He reluctantly turns around, as slow as mortally possible.
Halfy is now standing meeting his stare. Zanir’s body stiffens but he remains calm. His breathing even and relaxed. I wonder if he is looking for the nearest tree...but he remains still. Halfy is a fearsome beast, my beast, who is fast and I, am a creature with unknown powerful powers. I doubt I would try and run either. He must really want his powers and immortality back, or we are just that scary, Ha.
I look at the pile Zanir has made. I slow down my breathing. I raise my wings, and with a flicker of them a small ball of fire reaches the circle Zanir assembled, hitting the sticks and leaves. More training proving the result of hard work, and mentally tiring effort.
Zanir, I know, can feel the warmth on his back and the glow of the fire that moves past him and revealing his shadow, one single shadow. Zanir does not move, until I say, "You can turn back around...I guess." Good mortal vampire man. At least you know when to pick your battles.
I can see him finally take a deep breath and he turns, not looking at the small blazing fire, but straight to me. Staring at me, analyzing me, yet again. I freeze at the feeling of being exposed, exposing my true self. As if this form is being torn away exposing my true form, and my beast underneath. I can handle creatures of all shapes and sizes, but his stare, that stare, almost makes me want to squirm out of my skin. The flame in his eyes look like they could have lit the fire rather than me with my powers.
I break his gaze mostly because I cannot take it anymore. I need to distract myself. I stretch my wings fully. I have not really used them in hours. I quickly hop over to grab a fish and then flutter, not gracefully, back up into a tree. Soon after landing, Halfy walks over and lays at the base of the tree I am perched in. "You'll want to keep adding sticks or leaves to fuel the fire, or it'll die out..."
I try to take a small bite out of the fish, but am unsure how to make this bat mouth work. They are known to eat bugs, gross, and even soft fruits. I am definitely not brave or skilled enough to figure out which of the fruits aren’t cursed or a trick to get lured to bigger hungrier creatures. Should of went with a carnivorous bat. At least they have fangs. I honestly did not think this out thoroughly and now I’m stuck with this form. I’m going with a fox or a kitsune next time. I start basically gnawing at the scales of the fish with not much success.
Zanir's gaze never breaks from me. I hate it. Every second. This is going to be a long, unpleasant few days.
"Fascinating." Is all he finally says before realizing the warmth reaching toward him, clawing at him.
He is still in his wet, torn cold clothes. His stare lingers on me for a while before he looks down at the small fire that is now crackling. Thank Nyx. He reaches his hand as close to the fire as he can get, absorbing the warmth, the power.
"Fire is unique as a mortal. This...sensation...is different against my hands, my skin, the warmth." He looks down at his still dripping clothes. He talks a lot, I notice. Gross.
He slowly takes off his tunic, or well at least the pieces of what remain after his first encounter with Halfy. He places it next to the fire. All that is left is a once blue buttoned shirt, but it is slightly brown now and its sleeves are short and jagged. It clings to him, with water. He unbuttons a few more buttons. He walks to where he laid his spear and fish down and then comes back to the small fire. He settles onto the ground and scoots closer, trying to absorb every part of it. He pokes his stick with his fish into the blazing circle.
I finally give up on my fish and drop it down to Halfy, who gladly devours it in seconds. I groan and my eyes move back to Zanir. I watch him, his every move. I wonder what he was like before. Even though it had been centuries according to him. Memories of fishing and making a fire coming back to him ages later...What was his life like? I watch him while the fish roasts in the fire, the smell filling the air. Once he is satisfied with the look of the fish, he takes a small bite. The fire lighting up his face fully. At first his face is blank and then his eyes flicker with the fire, that light filling them like earlier, different from the flames. He takes another bite. He continues to do this with about three or so fish before his gaze moves back in my direction.
"Fish are...not bad." Is all he says while wiping his mouth with his free hand.
I watch him and then ask, "What did you do before? Before turning? You knew how to fish and make a fire." My expression turning blank. Digging for information. Play it cool…
He continues to take a few bites out of the plump fish in his hands. Must be nice. In between bites he says, "I was a deck hand for my father most of my life. So, fishing came naturally, but we usually used poles or nets. He was a traveling merchant who sailed to Osnya, Vuplar, Uscia, Nathor, here on Adros, and even to the high fae lands Crytho and Naflory. Sometimes we would have to camp out between certain towns or villages. So, a fire was needed plenty of times." He says, but his focus is on the fish. He takes another bite.
I instinctively scan the area around us, information is leaking into an unknown environment. He talks too much, and I ask too many questions. But has he been to all those places?
The mixture land of Espa, where he is originally from, plateaus with mountain peaks, and ice fields and glaciers, with a coastline to the sea marked by fjords. Filled with humans and other creatures that have learned to live in respectable limits.
The always wintered lands of the north Osnya, where only brave mortals live due to the frigid temperature and environment. Filled with some beasts that thrive in those type of conditions, one of which is the giant white bears, that many compare Akhlut’s size to.
Vuplar, a human and mortal filled island. Their own rules and policies. Anything that does not fit into their molds is either killed or thrown to Adros' endless forest to be consumed.
Uscia, an island filled with unknowns other than the little information I have found about having dragons and their riders. I have not found much more about this island in the grand library back at the castle unfortunately because that sounds cool as shit. Many believe that Uscia is guarded by wards that keep anything and everyone out.
Nathor, the south, opposite of Osnya. Nathor has two seasons, spring, and summer. The thought of that just makes my nose itch. Warmth and greenery fill the lands. Nathor has a mixture of mortals and creatures. It is said even some high fae dwell there.
Adros is the largest of the islands. The home of the endless forest, full of all the creatures that fill nightmares and stories. It has a few human villages, but is mostly filled with creatures, powerful beings, and some fae not fitting for the higher fae lands.
Speaking of high fae lands, after spending many hours reading with Oana in the grand library there is one main high fae island that is split down the middle, the north filled with high fae ruled by the darkness in Crytho, and the south is filled with high fae ruled by the light of Naflary. Some creatures that are also ruled by the same dark and light gods where the high fae get their powers live within the endless forest. Scouts mention that the endless forest sometimes gets visited by high fae lords and royalty of both dark and light, I personally have never seen them. But, has Zanir? Could he possibly have information that is not within the grand library. I have read every book, and even some multiple times.
Zanir is almost finished with his fish. Halfy is now watching him. He wipes his mouth with his hand again, and their eyes meet. Halfy licks his chops. His teeth shining against the light from the fire. I watch them. Zanir thinks for a moment and then tosses the rest of the fish he cooked to Halfy. As if they had an unspoken conversation, even though that is OUR thing. Halfy catches the fish, effortlessly.
"Appeasing the beast may be in my favor." Zanir laughs, a true laugh, deep from his chest. I feel something within my stomach.
I’m going to chalk it up to not eating in what feels like days. I’m regretting not eating that stupid moth, but only ever so slightly. I will try and sneak off later and find something to soothe the growing hunger in my belly and to replace some of my life force.
The moon is completely hidden behind the tallest peak of the mountains now. We should rest, dawn is only a few hours away. If we are to tread through the valley of the two mountain ranges, we must do it during sunlight hours. Only a select few dare to risk the possibility of the sun touching their skin, so we’ll have a better chance when the sun is scorching through the valley and forest.
"You should rest while you can. I will take the first shift..." I hear Halfy grumble below me, but I know he is exhausted from the night we have had so far. "And Halfy, too." I say just to please my beast knowing that even if he was drained, he will not rest until we are back within the castle walls, until I am behind those walls again.
Zanir is as close to the fire as mortally possible... He rolls over, looks at me and lingers there for a moment. The flame in his eyes gone, the light gone, and somehow his cerulean eyes look blank…almost hollow. "I didn't realize how much of my past life I had forgotten, thanks little bat." And with that he rolls back to the fire without another word.
Ch. 6
“Reminiscence”
He looks at me, and then walks to the shoreline closest to us. He pauses, and then starts pacing down the shore, looking for something. I just patiently watch. Or as patiently as I can. Which is not much. So hurry up. He picks up a long stick and a sharp flat rock.
Oh, I may not have to wait long after all. Thank Nyx.
He pauses, looking between the stick and rock in his hands. I can sense when something in him shifts. As I am trained to notice. The burrowing of his brows. The twitch of the edges of his lips. The narrowing of his eyes. Remembering something? Hmm... He then starts to use the rock against the end of one side of the stick, sharpening it. Once he is appeased with the sharp end, he walks into the water only a few feet and remains still, even his breathing becomes slow and calm. Waiting for what feels like forever, or at least to me, he suddenly strikes the water. With much to his surprise and my own, there is a small, quite small, fish on the end of his stick.
He looks back at me with a slight grin reaching the corner of his mouth. "I... caught a fish..." He says barely more than a whisper, as if speaking it would make it not real.
Zanir starts to walk back to me while looking at his small fish over that is at the end of his makeshift spear. I noticed a huge white shadow gleam behind him. I glance past the slightly rattled mortal vampire man, as the fish spasms at the end of the stick.
Within those mere seconds I see Halfy's tail flick across the surface of the water. Before I could even warn Zanir, even though I would not have if given the option. We are here because someone did not listen and let go of the bat.
Fish and water are flying over him. I feel my mouth gape and my eyes widen as fish start hitting the ground around Zanir, who is now drenched...
HALFY. A laugh runs down our bond. You naughty dog…
I feel the edges of my mouth trying to hold the laugh inside. My lips pressed in a hard line trying to hold it in. Halfy now out of the lake, walks to Zanir, who seems frozen in place, his eyes wide and his mouth holding a slight smile. Halfy sniffs at the fish still at the end of Zanir's makeshift spear. Halfy scoffs, judging his mere tiny fish, and then grabs a few fish laying at Zanir's feet. He walks over to a nearby tree and starts to get his fill of the large catch he made instead.
I finally let out a laugh and they continue to flow out of me, unable to contain it any longer. I feel my cheeks pushing against my eyes as the corner of my mouth rises. Zanir's eyes shoot towards me with a smirk. There is something in those cerulean eyes, a flame within the blues, but I quickly look away to Halfy eating his more adequate fish.
“We are bonded, yes, but Halfy is his own creature. With his...own...opinions... and I would say you are not on his list of favorites...Although I cannot say I am opposed to his actions or opinions..." I say while wiping a few tears that escaped with my laughter.
He shoots me a sideways glance and sneers. Zanir is now trying to shake off the water that drips off his face, his shoulders, his clothes. "You remembered fishing as a mortal. What about making a fire?" I tilt my head slightly back toward him, laying out the next challenge.
Zanir walks around after giving himself a little shake as water drips off his brows. "I can't remember the last time I even needed to make a fire." He sets his spear and his fish by the pile of ones Halfy flung threw the air. He continues to walk around, scanning the ground, trying to find the best spot where a fire can be managed.
"I could simply just tap into my inner powers... normally…" He says, but stops and looks at me, waiting. No comment mortal vampire man. He starts walking around, again, and I watch him pace back and forth, searching. "However, that is not an option as a mortal man." That makes one of us, although I am not a man, even though sometimes that seems like an easier option.
I can tell when his brain starts to swirl with memories. He has some easy tells. Not as good at hiding things as he thinks. I bet these memories weren't even mere thoughts after so many centuries passed.
His brows burrow and something flashes in his cerulean swirling eyes. It is different from the flame he had earlier, more so like his eyes got brighter and filled with more light. He starts to gather things, some small sticks, rocks, and dry leaves. Which is impressive. Almost everything around us is still coated with a layer of water from the rainfall.
He places everything within a circle. Rocks first outlining and making the circle shape. He places the leaves in the rock circle and then arranges sticks on top of the leaves. He studies the pile he made. It must be so strange to remember only vaguely something of a life lived a long, a very long time ago.
I see his face change, frustration, and annoyance, "This mortal body is certainly not much help..." He goes quiet and then says, "It seems I may need some guidance." He says before begrudgingly looking in my direction. Water drips down his cheek.
“I mean, I am just a bat.” I raise one of my wings to my face.
“Hmm…”
Tapping my mouth a few times. I sit like this longer than needed and Zanir sighs.
“Please…oh gracious, little bat…” He says while bowing, but his eyes never breaking from me. His voice is raspier than I have ever heard, almost like a growl. That flame flicks in his eyes again.
I shake my head with a little grimace. As much as I like taking the powers of a cocky vampire and then having him ask me for help…I hate the way his stare makes me feel, exposed, but we will need a fire to keep away dark hungry creatures that fill this forest. I give Zanir a smirk and roll my eyes.
I look past Zanir where Halfy lays next to a tree. His watchful eyes, watching. He meets my gaze. He raises his head. I quickly look around us. Faint wisps dancing along the water. No distance roars or shrieks of creatures. No crunching of leaves of unwanted visitors. My large ears flick. No breathing of any unwelcome company…other than an annoying mortal vampire man.
"Turn around." I say to Zanir. A command.
He looks at me puzzled for a moment. Again, his eyebrows burrowed and his eyes narrow. Studying me. The flame in his eyes growing more intense. He reluctantly turns around, as slow as mortally possible.
Halfy is now standing meeting his stare. Zanir’s body stiffens but he remains calm. His breathing even and relaxed. I wonder if he is looking for the nearest tree...but he remains still. Halfy is a fearsome beast, my beast, who is fast and I, am a creature with unknown powerful powers. I doubt I would try and run either. He must really want his powers and immortality back, or we are just that scary, Ha.
I look at the pile Zanir has made. I slow down my breathing. I raise my wings, and with a flicker of them a small ball of fire reaches the circle Zanir assembled, hitting the sticks and leaves. More training proving the result of hard work, and mentally tiring effort.
Zanir, I know, can feel the warmth on his back and the glow of the fire that moves past him and revealing his shadow, one single shadow. Zanir does not move, until I say, "You can turn back around...I guess." Good mortal vampire man. At least you know when to pick your battles.
I can see him finally take a deep breath and he turns, not looking at the small blazing fire, but straight to me. Staring at me, analyzing me, yet again. I freeze at the feeling of being exposed, exposing my true self. As if this form is being torn away exposing my true form, and my beast underneath. I can handle creatures of all shapes and sizes, but his stare, that stare, almost makes me want to squirm out of my skin. The flame in his eyes look like they could have lit the fire rather than me with my powers.
I break his gaze mostly because I cannot take it anymore. I need to distract myself. I stretch my wings fully. I have not really used them in hours. I quickly hop over to grab a fish and then flutter, not gracefully, back up into a tree. Soon after landing, Halfy walks over and lays at the base of the tree I am perched in. "You'll want to keep adding sticks or leaves to fuel the fire, or it'll die out..."
I try to take a small bite out of the fish, but am unsure how to make this bat mouth work. They are known to eat bugs, gross, and even soft fruits. I am definitely not brave or skilled enough to figure out which of the fruits aren’t cursed or a trick to get lured to bigger hungrier creatures. Should of went with a carnivorous bat. At least they have fangs. I honestly did not think this out thoroughly and now I’m stuck with this form. I’m going with a fox or a kitsune next time. I start basically gnawing at the scales of the fish with not much success.
Zanir's gaze never breaks from me. I hate it. Every second. This is going to be a long, unpleasant few days.
"Fascinating." Is all he finally says before realizing the warmth reaching toward him, clawing at him.
He is still in his wet, torn cold clothes. His stare lingers on me for a while before he looks down at the small fire that is now crackling. Thank Nyx. He reaches his hand as close to the fire as he can get, absorbing the warmth, the power.
"Fire is unique as a mortal. This...sensation...is different against my hands, my skin, the warmth." He looks down at his still dripping clothes. He talks a lot, I notice. Gross.
He slowly takes off his tunic, or well at least the pieces of what remain after his first encounter with Halfy. He places it next to the fire. All that is left is a once blue buttoned shirt, but it is slightly brown now and its sleeves are short and jagged. It clings to him, with water. He unbuttons a few more buttons. He walks to where he laid his spear and fish down and then comes back to the small fire. He settles onto the ground and scoots closer, trying to absorb every part of it. He pokes his stick with his fish into the blazing circle.
I finally give up on my fish and drop it down to Halfy, who gladly devours it in seconds. I groan and my eyes move back to Zanir. I watch him, his every move. I wonder what he was like before. Even though it had been centuries according to him. Memories of fishing and making a fire coming back to him ages later...What was his life like? I watch him while the fish roasts in the fire, the smell filling the air. Once he is satisfied with the look of the fish, he takes a small bite. The fire lighting up his face fully. At first his face is blank and then his eyes flicker with the fire, that light filling them like earlier, different from the flames. He takes another bite. He continues to do this with about three or so fish before his gaze moves back in my direction.
"Fish are...not bad." Is all he says while wiping his mouth with his free hand.
I watch him and then ask, "What did you do before? Before turning? You knew how to fish and make a fire." My expression turning blank. Digging for information. Play it cool…
He continues to take a few bites out of the plump fish in his hands. Must be nice. In between bites he says, "I was a deck hand for my father most of my life. So, fishing came naturally, but we usually used poles or nets. He was a traveling merchant who sailed to Osnya, Vuplar, Uscia, Nathor, here on Adros, and even to the high fae lands Crytho and Naflory. Sometimes we would have to camp out between certain towns or villages. So, a fire was needed plenty of times." He says, but his focus is on the fish. He takes another bite.
I instinctively scan the area around us, information is leaking into an unknown environment. He talks too much, and I ask too many questions. But has he been to all those places?
The mixture land of Espa, where he is originally from, plateaus with mountain peaks, and ice fields and glaciers, with a coastline to the sea marked by fjords. Filled with humans and other creatures that have learned to live in respectable limits.
The always wintered lands of the north Osnya, where only brave mortals live due to the frigid temperature and environment. Filled with some beasts that thrive in those type of conditions, one of which is the giant white bears, that many compare Akhlut’s size to.
Vuplar, a human and mortal filled island. Their own rules and policies. Anything that does not fit into their molds is either killed or thrown to Adros' endless forest to be consumed.
Uscia, an island filled with unknowns other than the little information I have found about having dragons and their riders. I have not found much more about this island in the grand library back at the castle unfortunately because that sounds cool as shit. Many believe that Uscia is guarded by wards that keep anything and everyone out.
Nathor, the south, opposite of Osnya. Nathor has two seasons, spring, and summer. The thought of that just makes my nose itch. Warmth and greenery fill the lands. Nathor has a mixture of mortals and creatures. It is said even some high fae dwell there.
Adros is the largest of the islands. The home of the endless forest, full of all the creatures that fill nightmares and stories. It has a few human villages, but is mostly filled with creatures, powerful beings, and some fae not fitting for the higher fae lands.
Speaking of high fae lands, after spending many hours reading with Oana in the grand library there is one main high fae island that is split down the middle, the north filled with high fae ruled by the darkness in Crytho, and the south is filled with high fae ruled by the light of Naflary. Some creatures that are also ruled by the same dark and light gods where the high fae get their powers live within the endless forest. Scouts mention that the endless forest sometimes gets visited by high fae lords and royalty of both dark and light, I personally have never seen them. But, has Zanir? Could he possibly have information that is not within the grand library. I have read every book, and even some multiple times.
Zanir is almost finished with his fish. Halfy is now watching him. He wipes his mouth with his hand again, and their eyes meet. Halfy licks his chops. His teeth shining against the light from the fire. I watch them. Zanir thinks for a moment and then tosses the rest of the fish he cooked to Halfy. As if they had an unspoken conversation, even though that is OUR thing. Halfy catches the fish, effortlessly.
"Appeasing the beast may be in my favor." Zanir laughs, a true laugh, deep from his chest. I feel something within my stomach.
I’m going to chalk it up to not eating in what feels like days. I’m regretting not eating that stupid moth, but only ever so slightly. I will try and sneak off later and find something to soothe the growing hunger in my belly and to replace some of my life force.
The moon is completely hidden behind the tallest peak of the mountains now. We should rest, dawn is only a few hours away. If we are to tread through the valley of the two mountain ranges, we must do it during sunlight hours. Only a select few dare to risk the possibility of the sun touching their skin, so we’ll have a better chance when the sun is scorching through the valley and forest.
"You should rest while you can. I will take the first shift..." I hear Halfy grumble below me, but I know he is exhausted from the night we have had so far. "And Halfy, too." I say just to please my beast knowing that even if he was drained, he will not rest until we are back within the castle walls, until I am behind those walls again.
Zanir is as close to the fire as mortally possible... He rolls over, looks at me and lingers there for a moment. The flame in his eyes gone, the light gone, and somehow his cerulean eyes look blank…almost hollow. "I didn't realize how much of my past life I had forgotten, thanks little bat." And with that he rolls back to the fire without another word.
