Page 43 of Sun Elves of Ardani

He had been in Ardani for less than a month, and already he could see that things here were going to be much different from what he was used to. But the thought of going back to Ysura made him nauseous. At the moment, he did not care for his own people any more than he cared for Ardanians.

He shivered and raised a hand over the fire to push the flames higher. The damp of the rotting log on which he was perched didn’t help with the cold, but it was better than the ground.

Light footsteps through leaves announced Kadaki’s return. He craned his neck to watch her descend the slope to their campsite.

She walked like a deer, her head held high, her steps careful but sure. He watched for the line that always appeared between her brows when she was concentrating. And there—it popped into place as she reached the muddier part of the slope and had to slow down. A lock of hair fell in her face. It was a dark, warm brown, though it was gaining brighter reddish highlights the longer they spent on the road, under the cold sun. It was a color he’d never seen on anyone before her.

She smiled when she looked up at him. The expression always made his heart feel like it was splitting in two, an unfamiliar feeling that was somehow both painful and beautiful at the same time.

It worried him greatly that she had this effect on him.

“So, Sair Neiryn,” she said as she reached the bottom of the slope. “I found someone to ask for directions.”

“It took you long enough.” He’d wondered if she’d finally realized that an Ysuran runaway was more trouble than he was worth and had decided to leave him behind.

“I had to walk along the road for some time before I happened across another traveler.” She came to a stop beside him and peered at him curiously for a moment. At times like this, it felt like she was waiting for him to do something, but he didn’t know what.

She reached into the bag at her side and withdrew a bundled cloak. “I got this for you,” she said, holding it out to him. “The woman I met up there had a horse with an injured leg, so she sold this to me in exchange for a healing spell. It’s wool. It’ll be warm.”

Surprised, he took the cloak and unfurled it. It even looked like it would be long enough for him. “Should you be casting spells in front of other people? We’re still not far from Kuda Varai. Someone will realize who you are.”

She looked a little embarrassed. “I’ve seen you shivering,” she admitted. “I don’t want you to freeze.”

It wasn’t really the cold that bothered him, it was the lack of proper sunlight. But he pulled on the cloak and found it comforting nonetheless. He did not often receive gifts. “Thank you, Lady Kadaki.”

She looked away. “The woman told me that the closest settlement is a small village. Probably not someplace where we’d want to linger, but we can stop there and get some food before we move on. But thirty miles beyond that is a town. I think it might be a good place for us to stay for a while.”

He nodded, but said nothing. It would be the first settlement they’d stopped in since leaving Kuda Varai.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He tried to smile. “Do you think it will go well, staying in a town?”

They both knew what he was referring to. They’d stayed at an inn a few days ago, and had ended up leaving surreptitiously in the middle of the night.

“Maybe we overreacted,” she said.

“Everyone there was staring at me. I don’t think it was merely because they were admiring my beauty.”

“It was a remote place. They probably don’t see a lot of elves there, that’s all.”

Neiryn remained unconvinced.

“What, then?” Kadaki asked, her brows furrowing with concern. “Where else do you want to go?”

With the war going on, he didn’t know of any place in Ardani where an Ysuran would not be treated with suspicion. He could do his best to blend in with the other Ardanian elves, but he didn’t know if they’d ever find a place where he could be completely at ease. “I don’t know.”

She sat down beside him, crossing her arms over her knees. There was a long silence, and then she said, “Do you want to go back to Ysura?”

He glanced sideways at her, narrowing his eyes. She was watching him closely, her expression blank.

“That would make things simpler for you, wouldn’t it?” he said. “Not having me around would make it easier for you to go unnoticed.”

She was quiet for another moment, guarded. “I suppose,” she said.

He’d hoped she would argue with him. Apparently that was too much to ask.

He shouldn't have wanted her to argue, anyway. She was too young. She was too human. Too Ardanian. This was an illogical fascination that he needed to get over sooner rather than later. He knew this. Really, he did.

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