by Jen Wylie
"You are walking?" Neena looked to Kei and back to her. "You are human." With an irritated huff, she turned on her heel. "We better get started then."
Picking up her pack and settling it on her shoulders, she shook her head. "This should be fun."
Kei laughed quietly as he donned his pack. "She'll see." He lightly punched her shoulder as they followed the Were. "Don't overdo it though. You don't need to prove anything to her."
She smiled but didn't promise anything.
Once away from the settlement she settled into an easy jog next to Kei. The sun rose higher, sending more light into the trees. Though she didn't see Neena again, Kei seemed to have no trouble knowing which way to go.
She found it comforting to be out running with her best friend again. Unfortunately, their slow pace gave her time to think. It didn't take long for worry to tense her whole body.
Kei…what I felt. I don't… Is it because of the bindings?
She stopped running when she heard laughter behind her. Turning, she found Kei stopped, a hand braced against a tree, and laughing uncontrollably. Frowning, she headed toward him.
"You think," more laughter cut off his words, "the most ridiculous things sometimes."
A smile curved her lips as she crossed her arms and watched him try to stop laughing. She didn't care if he laughed at her. The relief his words brought took a great weight off her mind.
Still grinning, he walked to her side and threw an arm over her shoulder. They started walking and he tipped his head toward her. "You felt what I feel for you. Our bindings have connected us. They don't create feelings."
She mulled over his words for a moment and then glanced over at him. "So you felt what I feel for you?"
A wide smile lit his face. "Yes."
From his reaction, she assumed he was happy with how she felt about him and relaxed even further. Even though she was in love with Prince, things were still good between her and Kei.
"So then what does it do?"
"It is a promise."
"I know that," she said in irritation.
He laughed again, making her smile. It was good to see him so happy and relaxed. "If you find that spot within you, then you can find me. If you ever need me, I am there. No matter where I am."
"So I really will never be alone again."
"No," he answered softly. "We'll always have each other."
∞ ∞ ∞
Aro managed to easily keep up with Kei throughout the morning. When they stopped around noon to eat, she only felt a little stiff. Neena regarded her thoughtfully but remained quiet.
When they finally stopped as the sun set, Aro welcomed the fact they wouldn't set up much of a camp. They ate dry food from their packs, and both she and Kei spread out their cloaks to sleep on next to a small fire.
"Humans do not run like that," Neena stated suddenly into the quiet.
Aro blinked at her, unsure where that comment came from or what exactly to say.
"I suppose it is true then, what they say about you," the Were continued.
"That depends on what they say," Aro said carefully.
Can you hear me?
Yes.
Neena nodded, as if to herself. Her gaze moved to Kei. "You can heal them? Their fury?"
"Yes."
"And yourself, I hear."
"With their power, yes." She looked down, uncomfortable with the memory. Many things had faded, but not the pain of healing.
"You can mind speak him as well," Neena continued. "Because you created a pack."
Silence hung between them. She wasn't sure what to say, not knowing how much Rhee-En had told his pack. "Yes," she said finally.
Neena looked away and sat quietly for long moment, clearly lost in thought. Aro glanced at Kei, who just shrugged and yawned. Not helpful.
"The king will not be pleased. Packs are only created by his leave. You are not Were. It is not done." The Were frowned and shook her head. "Yet you are different. Having the Fey fight by our side once more would work in your favor. I am curious though, how far you would go?"
"I don't understand," Aro admitted.
"To gain favor with the king. He will not just let this pass. Even should he allow it, I wonder what it will cost you."
Holding in a wince, she shrugged. "I guess we'll see." She didn't regret doing it. It had saved Prince's life. "Good night, Neena," she said, ending the conversation.
∞ ∞ ∞
In the morning, Neena told them they would reach Westport before noon the next day. Shortly after they started out, Aro heard from Bo that they'd possibly found a suitable house. Though she enjoyed running, the silence of the forest threatened to overwhelm her. The quiet set her mind to spinning. Between Prince, the Were King, and Kei, her head quickly began to ache.
Kei darted ahead of her and she was too slow to dodge the branch he'd pushed out of the way. Stumbling to a stop, she raised her hand to her cheek. "Rot!"
"Are you hurt? I…I'm sorry," Kei stuttered, his cheeks flushed as he appeared in front of her.
Pulling her hand away, she found streaks of blood. "It's just a scratch. I'll be fine." She grinned. "I've gotten worse."
He frowned and reached out to touch her before pausing and letting out a low growl. Instead of dropping his hand, he instead pressed his palm against her chest. The shock of power and fury startled her.
"Heal it," he said quietly.
Staring at him, her lips formed words that didn't come.
"You know how," he insisted. "You need to practice."
He was right; she couldn't deny that. Still, she frowned anyway as she closed her eyes and went within herself. Pushing herself deep inside wasn't hard now that she knew how to do it. The strange lack of sensation disorientated her for a moment, but eventually she sorted herself out. Finding the wound took a little more time, but once she did, pushing the power Kei had given her into it came easily enough.
Slowly, then it won't hurt as much.
If she could have glared at him she would have, but she did as instructed. The wound closed, and she began to pull away.
Not yet. Give a little more and will it to be as it was.
Though vague, she understood what he meant.
Good. Now you're done.
Opening her eyes, she blinked at the shock of the real world again.
This time Kei did touch her cheek. His fingers swiped the blood away, and he smiled. "Well done."
"Thanks," she said quietly.
"We should practice this. And giving you power. That startled you."
She shook her head. "I don't want to…get like that. Not out here."
Making an annoyed face, he looked away, thinking. "I'll just give you a little, and you can let it go." He shook his head. "But if you can learn to hold some, that would be better."
"Can I do that?"
He shrugged. "I don't know."
They started walking, both trying to think of ideas. "Maybe I can just let the fury go and keep the power. That would work."
"You can do that?"
"You can't?"
He laughed at her counter, but shook his head. "It is one within us."
"I'll try that."
"If it goes well, then try to hold some fury, too. It also is power."
"And has its uses?" She remembered him saying how it increased his senses. It had done that for her too in the past.
After noon, Bo let them know they now owned a house. She told him they'd be there the next day and made plans to contact him when they were closer so he could meet them at the city gates.
For the rest of the day, when Neena wasn't close, she practiced. Though she didn't make a lot of progress, she did get better at letting the fury go and was able to hold a little power without it driving her crazy.
Another good sleep left her refreshed, and she had no trouble keeping up with Kei the next morning. Neena ran with them now and then, sometimes asking more questions, other times just making conversation. Aro didn't comment on the change in her at
titude, but inwardly grumbled she lost time to work with Kei.
By late morning, she began to hear the familiar sounds of stonecutters echoing in the distance. "Do you hear that?"
Kei gave her a wry grin. "I have for a while."
She punched his shoulder and ran ahead. With a laugh, he followed after her.
Not long after they found Neena waiting for them. "We are close now. Listen carefully." She proceeded to tell them, twice, the route to take down the approaching escarpment.
When they finally reached the tree line they stopped and said quick goodbyes. Aro thanked Neena, but the Were only shrugged before shifting and darting into the woods.
"Friendly woman," she muttered.
"We aren't Were," Kei said, as if that explained everything. Perhaps, in a way, it did.
Aro stepped forward and peered past the trees. The land dropped below them, falling into the familiar rolling fields from left to right. In the distance, she could make out the sea, and a bit to the right, the sprawling city of Westport.
"It's big," Kei commented.
"Not as big as Kingsport."
"True."
They started down, moving slowly among the falling slabs of gray rock and the occasional trees and brush. To the right was the ravine where humans quarried the stone, blocked from their sight by fallen rock, trees, and scrub. The going wasn't too hard, though contained many forks.
As they finally neared the bottom, Aro stopped and pointed at Kei.
"What?"
"Hat!"
With a scowl, he dug the black piece of knit wool from his pack and put it on, hiding his slightly pointed ears. "Good?"
She grinned. "Perfect. Let's go."
It didn't take long for Kei to grimace and scratch at his head. "It itches."
"You'll get used to it, again."
"I know," he grumbled. "Why couldn't Prince have given me a glamor as well? That would have been helpful."
She raised her eyebrows in mock surprise. "And you'd have accepted it?" At his scowl, she laughed. "Didn't think so."
Finally, they reached the piles of discarded rock at the bottom and stopped to peer around it. The bed of the old ravine rested on the other side. Now, it became the road for the workers. People, horses, and carts moved in both directions. It wasn't hard for them to slip onto the road unnoticed.
They walked quietly for a while until Kei took her hand. She hadn't noticed how tense she'd become until Kei pulled her closer.
I'm here.
His words brought a smile to her face. I know.
They reached where the real road crossed, and there they turned right, heading toward the city's southern gate. The number of people on the road increased.
Despite Kei's words, so did her anxiety.
He pulled her off to the side of the road and turned her to face him. Her fingers trembled in his hand and she pulled away. "I'm fine."
"You're not."
Closing her eyes, she took a slow breath. Too many men. Scruffy and dirty from a long day's work, they reminded her of other men, the ones who had cornered her and beat her and almost…
"Aro," Kei said softly.
"I'm fine," she whispered hoarsely. She wanted to be. She tried to be. It hadn't been so bad the last city they'd been in, but then, she'd had Prince, Bo, and Cain with her, too. She didn't now, and that brought a different kind of pain.
Kei took her face in his hands. "Look at me."
She did and struggled to stay strong.
"We will always protect you."
"I know."
He shushed her. "But you don't need it." He smiled slightly. "You tell us this often enough. You can take care of yourself now. You're strong. You've faced wild Fey and Were. You stood against a Dragos. What you would call monsters, you've shown no fear of. You don't need to fear humans."
His words left her speechless. Not only that he'd spoken so much, but that he was right.
Humans might be monsters, at least some of them, but she'd grown strong enough not to fear them any longer. She leaned in to Kei. "You always know what to say."
He grinned. "Sometimes." Pulling her back into the flow of people, he still didn't let go of her hand.
Even after everything he'd said, she didn't mind. Soon they'd reach their destination and be reunited with what remained of their family.
Bo, we'll be at the gates soon!
With the slow flow of traffic, it took longer than she thought to finally reach the city gates. The size of the walls threw off her estimate as well. So far, it had the highest, most impressive fortifications she'd seen in the east. She breathed a sigh of relief. Their height and sturdiness meant an attack would be defended more easily. When they passed through, she took note of the massive gates and gave a little nod of satisfaction.
Bo told them he and Garen would meet them a little way inside the gates.
Kei leaned in close. "There they are."
A grin split her face as she spotted Bo, and still holding Kei's hand, they hurried to him at the side of the main road. When they reached him, she flung her arms around Bo. "I missed you!"
He held her tight for a moment. "Missed you too, pup. No troubles?"
"Not at all." Pulling away from him, she bent down to hug the large scruffy dog at his side. "Missed you, too!"
And I, as well.
"Come on, time to see our new home!"
It was impossible not to grin at Bo's enthusiasm, or laugh at his constant chatter about how he hoped they liked the house he and Garen had chosen.
The city was much like all the others they'd traveled through, though the streets were laid with stone.
They walked north for quite a ways, and she worried they wouldn't reach their house before dark. Finally, Bo guided them down a quieter side street to the right.
"The southeast quarter is mostly warehouses and houses, but not a great part of the city. We're mostly past that now. This area has a few homes, but more businesses, like blacksmiths, tailors, and such."
They walked for a while, passing a few side streets before coming to another wider road where Bo gestured for them to turn north again. She noted the high east wall just beyond the buildings to their right.
"The house is right on the wall and not far from the east gate either. There is another main road heading west from it. Where it meets the main road you came in on is the lower city market."
"The lower city?"
"The land rises a bit to the north. The nobles and the prince have that area beyond another wall."
"Where the rich live, then."
"Pretty much, yes. I've not been up there. I didn't bother looking for houses in that area."
"Good," she said with a grin.
They passed business and the odd walled-off strip along the street, which Bo told her were other residences. She liked the idea the houses weren't in plain view of any passerby. Just past another such wall, Bo turned them down a narrow side street toward the east wall.
"And here we are," he said, gesturing to a gate set within the wall that continued east, meeting up with the much higher city wall.
Bouncing on her toes, she waited impatiently as he opened the gate and led them inside.
Chapter 8
A New Home
With so much to see, she didn't know where to look first. A beautiful two-story stone house sat at the end of a stone path before her.
"It is a good sized lot, the biggest we could find." He pointed to the building up against the wall to the side street. "There's a small stable and paddock over there. There is a side door, but I wanted you to come in the front first," Bo said, dragging her along.
She grinned back at Kei, who smiled back as he looked in every direction, taking it all in quietly.
Bo raced up steps and across the porch to get to the door. Amused at his enthusiasm, she followed and paused in the entryway.
"So this is a sitting room, I guess." Bo gestured to the open area to the right and then moved further down the hall. "This
is the living room."
She eyed the large staircase at the end of the hall, but Bo moved past her, pointing to the arch they'd walked by.
"That's the dining room. We can get to it through here, too. Nice big kitchen, pantry there."
She spun around, trying to take it all in.
"That door goes out to the yard. Come see this!" She followed him passed the large cooking stove. He opened another door with a flourish. "A bath, the stove helps heat the water."
"I love it!"
He grinned and stepped out again. "That door goes to a basement. More storage, cold room, and a pump. Ready to head upstairs?"
She nodded, still overwhelmed, and followed him. Upstairs she found three small bedrooms on one side, and two larger rooms on the other side of the hall. Bouncing again, Bo pushed her through the door into the largest room, his face splitting into a huge grin. "This room is yours!"
The room was huge, but what caught her attention was the giant bed. "Oh, Bo. Is that as comfortable as it looks?"
"Of course. Money well spent. It just arrived this morning. Do you like it?"
She dashed to the bed and flung herself on it. "Perfect, everything is perfect!"
"Kei and I will have rooms across the hall."
That made her pause. She'd be sleeping all alone? Sitting up, she forced a smile and didn't say anything. She'd deal with that later.
"You two must be hungry. Next door there's an inn and tavern, and they've some pretty good food."
"Sounds good to me." Climbing off the bed she paused, noticing a small table with a mirror. Averting her eyes quickly, she held in a wince at what she did see. "I think we should wash up first though."
He chatted away as he led them all back downstairs and then gave directions on what levers to pull to get water, either heated or not.
The bathroom had both a tub, which she intended to use later, as well as a washbasin. She and Kei cleaned up as best they could as Bo continued to talk non-stop. His excitement made her smile, and a happy feeling warmed her heart. Taking the winter to rest was the best idea.
"All set, take us to the food!"
Leaving through the gate, she saw the other side of their small side street was also walled. However, as they walked back to the street, the wall slowly sloped down until it ended altogether.