10 Start of a Journey

Eva awoke sometime at midday. She rubbed her eyes roughly with her left hand.

'Where am I?' she thought.

Realizing she was not in her comfortable bed, the memories of the last few days rushed to the forefront of her mind and dazed her slightly.

The pain in her foot was the first thing she felt. Another wave of embarrassment hit her at her clumsiness. It was almost comical how easy it had been for her to get injured. How many times had she entered the forest? All of them on horseback.

'A simple skill is to walk in a forest. I even managed to walk an entire day without tripping. The moment someone else is with me, I trip.' Her thoughts were overwhelmingly negative. 'No use lying here useless!'

Her eyes blinked away the bright light from the sun and a fire's warmth warmed the side of her cheek. She raised her body up slightly and she looked for Lucas who she remembered carried her through the woods.

'He even carried me this far. I have got to show him that I am not just some useless human,' she thought.

Again, another blanket was wrapped around her. The gentle actions of the elf baffled her once more. 'Why does he take such care with me?'

She had not shown him her good side once. In fact, he probably thought she was just a weak human who constantly needed protection and guidance.

It was mildly irritating that not only had she shown him weakness by being sick, but also injuring herself almost immediately.

'I can't blame him for my own folly,' she thought.

Noticing the elf was not at the campsite she briefly wondered if he had abandoned her.

'Why would he go through the trouble of taking care of me just to leave,' she scolded herself.

A pain in her chest warned her that she had way too many emotions toward an elf she had just met. What was worse was that she could never get a good read on him. In her weakness, she even got him to agree to escort her to the country's capital!

'How can I rely on someone whom I barely know to escort me thousands of miles in the first place?' she thought. She wasn't sure if she was just some brilliant schemer or so pathetic he took pity on her.

Removing her boot she examined her ankle that was hurt. The swelling from the day before had gone down noticeably. It looked like a fresh poultice had been applied recently. Her cheeks burned at the thought of sleeping through that. She pressed her hand against her forehead.

'What kind of person sleeps without waking up when their clothing is removed?' she thought. 'No calm down. He is an elf and you are a human.'

It just reminded her that she had not learned a single thing that would help her make this journey on her own.The overwhelming thought of taking advantage of Lucas made her feel sick.

Such thoughts were made worse as the guilt of using someone else to achieve her goals crushed her as if she had been run over by a boulder. She shouldn't think like this.

'He is such a pure soul, helping a person of another race. I will have to just manage by myself somehow,' she thought.

*********

Lucas realized Eva was awake as soon as he stepped near the makeshift campsite. The firewood in his arms fell when he saw her cradling her head. 'Is she sick again?' he thought. He quickly ran over to her side.

The sound of the wood falling to the ground startled Eva. She looked up and immediately made eye contact with Lucas, who was staring worriedly at her face. The sudden closeness shocked her further causing her to reel back slightly.

Lucas caught her before she could fall completely over. They fell into a position that had Lucas slightly leaning over her. His main concern was to prevent her from hitting her head, so he was positioned well in the first place.

Lucas managed to stop her fall by landing on his knees and pulling her slightly into his chest. His knees took the brunt of the slight fall, but it was worth it to make sure this human didn't get hurt again. He sensed she wasn't entirely comfortable with being carried.

"Are you hurt?" he asked. His eyes looked worriedly at his charge. 'I knew I shouldn't have left her to gather more wood,' he thought. 'She couldn't even run away if some animal or monster attacked her.'

He silently was glad that they were traveling away from the dangerous mountains to the west. By staying on the outskirts of villages it would guarantee that the monster population would be slim. Even human villages made a point to reduce monster populations around where they lived. Still, due to the men that were chasing after Eva, he had increased his distance from such villages by a little bit.

There was still a chance that a monster could wander into their camp, and that thought scared Lucas.

'I will need to gather more Ishe Grass to throw into the fire,' he thought.

It would only deter weaker monsters, but it was better than nothing.

"Eva, are you ok?" he asked once more.

Her eyes were staring at him widely and one of her hands gripped the fabric over her chest. Lucas looked down at her and realized how close he had gotten. He quickly released her and she settled onto the blanket once more.

"I apologize for getting so close without warning."

He was sure that she could see how embarrassed this situation made him. All he could do was look at anything but her directly and make his apologies.

Using his hands to push himself up into a standing position, Lucas strode over to the wood he had dropped and began piling it up into his arms once more. He stacked it by the fire and tried to think of a way to end the silence that was awkwardly hanging over them.

*********

Eva didn't know where to start. One moment she was lamenting over how weak she was and the next she was suddenly in Lucas' arms.

'No one told me elves could move this fast!' she thought.

His reaction made it all the more clear how weak he thought she was. After he released her, she had tried to process all this information as quickly as she could.

'Do elves have no personal space?' She desperately wanted to find an expert on their race and asked them if anything Lucas had done was normal.

No one could blame her, elves and humans were at odds more times than none. To actively see the two races existing to help one another was shocking. The eastern cities had some populations of elves, but in the west it was almost unheard of.

It also didn't help that she was overwhelmingly aware that he was a male. Different, in a way, from the knights who served her family faithfully. It was like he came straight out of a story book to save a damsel in distress, while still going by a code of honor.

That thought made her blush more deeply and she pressed both of her palms against her cheeks to cool them down. If elves were this strong and kind, then why did everyone she know hate them so much?

It was always, "The elves took out the merchants we sent for", or "We must exterminate those elf barbarians". Eva felt like maybe what she had learned her entire life was wrong on a fundamental level. Now that she had a moment to sit and really think about it, the elves were living in cities to the east.

Wait, what did Lucas say when he showed up? 'Are you ok?' Her gaze shot up and met Lucas' from across the fire. He looked at her anxiously.

"I am fine. There is just a lot on my mind," she said.

Relief crossed his face and he began fumbling with the cookware. She watched as he threw some bandages into the boiling pot.

"Are you disinfecting the bandages?" she asked.

Lucas nodded his head. "For later. I will need to change your bandage tonight," he said.

She nodded her head back at him.

It seemed it wasn't impossible to communicate with him. He just tended to use the shortest amount of words possible to convey his actions.

"Do you have experience with healing?" she said.

Lucas' eyes narrowed a bit. "My job required me to know how," he said.

"You don't have to tell me if you are uncomfortable," Eva replied.

His shoulders loosened a bit. "No, I am just not used to questions," he replied.

'Was he a loner type? That would make him more like me,' she thought.

She had been left out of so many conversations at home, parties, and among the knights. It was almost like she was cursed.

Lucas laid out the now clean bandages on a rock to dry. A gurgling noise from across the fire made him smile a bit. He picked up the pot with the hot water in it and lifted it up.

"I am going over there to clean this pot. Yell if you need me," he said as he motioned towards a set of trees to Eva's right before he quietly left the camp site.

Eva felt like she had finally gotten Lucas to loosen up and talk with her more. She smiled at how many words he managed to speak just now.

******

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