Dawn arrived with a pale, crystal-blue sky, the crisp morning air stinging their cheeks as the healer finalized his preparations.
Outside the shelter, the snow crunched beneath his boots as he adjusted the leather straps of his traveling pack. Elowyn walked alongside him to the edge of the treeline, pulling her sleeves down over her finger to ward off the biting wind.
"This is where we part ways for now," the healer said, his voice carrying that familiar, grounding calm. "The capital is a long journey down the mountain. Be sure to look after yourself, and Ares as well."
"I will," Elowyn said softly, bowing her head slightly in deep respect. "Thank you, for everything. Without your kindness, we wouldn’t be alive today, and I’ll always hold that in my heart."
Feeling that simple words could never be enough, Elowyn raised her slender hands to her hair, deftly unlacing two small, hand-carved wooden beads from her tribal braids. Stepping forward, she offered them in her open palms.
"I have nothing of grand value to offer you, but in my tribe, these beads aren’t just for decorations," she said softly. "They are traditionally given only to family before they depart for a grand conquest, like a prayer for a safe return. Since I have no family left, please take this as a daughter’s blessing. I pray they deliver you safely to your loved ones."
The fox healer stared at the worn, hand-carved beads resting in her open hands. His immediate instinct was to gently decline, unwilling to strip her of her few remaining, tribal keepsakes. But catching the quiet, hopeful light in her eyes, he knew that turning them down would shatter her gesture.
Elowyn smiled warmly as she transferred the beads into his palm, relieved and happy that he accepted them.
"I receive these with deep gratitude, Elowyn," he said, a rare tender warmth softening his amber eyes. "Moving forward, I pray the mountain spirits guard your steps. Should you ever find your way to the capital, find me. My doors will always be open to you."
The healer offered her a respectful, fatherly bow. Elowyn bowed deeper in return, holding the posture until he straightened.
She stood motionless, watching his solitary figure trek into the white expanse until he faded completely behind the pine trees. As his footprints vanished into the drift, a heavy, cold stillness descended on the clearing,broken only by the quiet whistle of the mountain wind.
When Elowyn returned to the shelter, she slipped the leather flap aside just in time to witness Ares forcing his battered body to his feet. His knuckles turned bone-white as he clung to the central wooden post for balance, his long, thick, silver waves of hair falling over his shoulders and hiding the grimace etched onto his pale face. The source of this chapter is NovelPing.
"What are you doing?!"
Panicking at his reckless attempt, she rushed across the space, instinctively slipping her shoulder beneath his to take on his trembling weight.
"Have you lost your mind? If you need something, tell me! You are in no condition to be moving about. The healer clearly warned you to let your body heal!"
Ares turned his head to look at her. Being reprimanded by a woman, or anyone at all to be oddly specific, felt questionably new to him, least of all for something as fundamental as standing on his own two feet. He wasn’t some delicate ornament now.
Yet, as his golden eyes locked onto her wide, frantic blue eyes and her unshielded worry, the defensive retorts hanging on his tongue completely vanished. Rather, an intoxicating, dangerous warmth bloomed in his chest. Instead of pulling away, like he intended to just seconds ago, he found himself subtly relaxing his body onto her delicate shoulder, thoroughly enjoying the realization that she was so genuinely shaken by his pain.
"Outside," he muttered. "Take me outside."
"Outside?" She stared at him in disbelief.
Seeing he wouldn’t be swayed by the cold, she quickly reached for the heaviest fur scarf. Dangerously stepping back into his space without a second thought, she stood on her tiptoes to carefully drape the warm fur snugly around his neck and broad shoulders.
It was only after her fingers smoothed the final fold over his collarbone that the sheer, suffocating closeness of their bodies hit her like a physical shock. Her gaze darted up, instantly colliding with his. He was staring down at her with a strangely, intense searching look in his golden eyes.
Up close, his features were unfairly mesmerizing, rendering it nearly impossible not to notice how impossibly perfect he looked. Her heart hammered against her ribs, every train of thought instantly scattering under his heavy gaze.
Panic-stricken, she quickly scrambled two steps backward and blurted out. "It– it’s for the cold. You’ll freeze without it otherwise. Don’t get any wrong ideas!"
The corner of his mouth twitched into a dangerous, barely perceptible smirk, but his golden eyes gleamed with wicked delight. There was something absurdly satisfying about watching her steel composure crumble, but he was far too proud to let her catch him enjoying it.
"Rest assured," he purred, his voice low and smooth. "I am in far too fragile a state to attempt anything... untoward."
But as he looked at the space between them, he realized he loathed the sudden distance. He wasn’t ready to relinquish her warmth just yet. Without an ounce of shame, Ares let his shoulders slump and leaned heavily against the wooden post, pressing two fingers to his forehead as he launched into a masterful act of overwhelming, sudden vertigo, just so he could lure her back into his arms.
Elowyn’s eyes went wide. Forgetting all about her racing heart, her maternal instinct took over in a flash. Hook, line and sinker, she fell for his transparent act completely, darting back to his side and wrapping a firm arm around his waist as she tucked herself under his side to anchor him.
"I’ll take you outside and brew your medicine right away," she said frantically, gently steering her ’fainting’ patient out into the cold morning air.
Ares squinted against the pale sunlight.
After being cooped up in the dark shelter for so long, the vast mountain landscape felt incredibly liberating.
Elowyn helped him onto a fallen, frost-covered log before darting over to the stone fire pit. She knelt in the snow, coaxing the dying coals back to life to boil his tea.
Ares rested his chin against his palm, his golden gaze glued to her as she bustled around the clearing. The sight of her laboring so tirelessly on his behalf pulled an unexpected, nagging thought to the surface.
"Are you alright?"
Her hands stilled over the iron kettle. She looked back over her shoulder, giving a look of utter bewilderment. Realizing how uncharacteristically soft he sounded, Ares sat up straighter, masking his slip-up with his usual indifference.
"I mean... with the healer gone," he corrected smoothly, crossing his arms. "What are your intentions? Do you truly intend to stay in these woods forever?"
Elowyn averted her gaze, watching the thin wisps of smoke rise into the pale sky. His words sliced through her defensive shell. The reality was a bleak void she preferred not to look into.
Noticing the sudden shadow falling across her face, Ares remembered her quiet pride when she spoke about her heritage, he asked. "What exactly happened to your tribe?"