Chapter 2

Arya slowly opened her eyes and squinted at the light that invaded her corneas and closed them quickly with a grimace. It was then that she noticed that her head was cushioned and her leg wasn't as stiff as it had been the night before. Quickly she opened her eyes regardless of the sting of light and looked underneath her head. A green cloak was bundled in a way that suggested it was meant to be a useable pillow.

Smiling unconsciously, she schooled her face so that she could look down at her foot. Briefly widening her eyes she was surprised to see that her ankle was in a makeshift splint with different colored herbs around the wound. Shifting her leg she tested its mobility and was disappointed when she realized she wouldn't be able to walk on it as much as she had hoped, which reminded her of her companion and she scanned the camp for the telltale signs of the man.

She was disappointed when she realized she was alone…wait…disappointed? I don't even know who this guy is…she jumped slightly when she heard him speak somewhere to her right. "Sorry about the messy job with your foot, it looked like it was swelling considerably this morning so I thought that it should at least be splinted before you get it properly looked at." Arya narrowed her eyes as she watched him walk into her line of vision and pushed herself into a sitting position.

Taking the cloak in her hand she grudgingly let out a forced thank you. She was surprised when he only shook his head as if to say no problem, but she was even more surprised at the fact that although forced it was a truthful thank you. Shaking her head as if to clear her thoughts she pulled the stick that was on her side near her and forced herself up on her good leg.

She didn't notice that he had moved to help her but stopped and stood back to watch the mage struggle to right the tangled cloak on her back. Sighing Arya glanced meaningfully at the man in front of her and was mollified when she saw the smirk at the corner of his lips. After he adjusted her cloak he fixed her with an assessing eye and asked "Are you up to walking to my camp with me? It's only about an hour or so away."

She glanced at him sharply before putting some pressure on her bad leg and shifting it to her good one. After doing this multiple times she looked up at him and nodded slowly.

"You can tell me anytime when you need to stop, I'm not in a hurry so don't worry about time." The man began a fairly fast walk towards the woods and a path just barely visible through the foliage. Arya gritted her teeth at the pace but refused to say anything, so she continued to follow where he led.

It had been at least a half hour before Arya decided she needed to break the silence between the two and suggest they stop so that she could catch her breath and rest her ankle. Sitting heavily on the nearest tree stump she could find she dropped as gracefully as she could manage and looked at her companion. During the entire trip she had refused to make conversation with him since she wasn't interested in making friends and he seemed to be of the same mind because he hadn't said one word to her since they left the beach.

But she had to admit that she was being rather rude to this man that had rescued her, if unintentionally, from the corsair that had taken her. She opened her mouth to saw something but thought better of it and decided that she would say something else. Less detailed and vaguer; it was better that way, the less they knew about each other, the less likely a friendship or bond would form between them. "I didn't tell you thank you back there…for the…you know…fight."

Lame, she thought I can do better than that. "My names Arya by the way." She watched as he lifted an eyebrow at her botched up thank you but he; either choosing not to comment on it or deciding it wasn't worth saying anything to at all, nodded. She ground her teeth in frustration, usually when someone offered them their name, the other person would tell them theirs in return. Apparently this man might not be lacking in looks but his manners certainly had a few holes in them.

Shaking her head again she forced herself to get up and began to walk as quickly as she could toward their destination. The sooner she got away from this man, the sooner her headache would be gone.

Alec grinned at the stalking form of the women in front of him and decided that he actually liked her company. He wasn't actually sure why, since they barely talked to each other (his fault there) but he found her expressions entertaining to say the least and he was fairly sure it wasn't just because she was rather cute when she was annoyed or angry.

Glancing away from his charge, he realized they were closer to the village than he thought. Catching up to Arya he pointed ahead and watched as she nodded her understanding before he turned and jogged towards where he knew Koss would be waiting. Stopping in front of the other warrior, Alec nodded his head to the soldiers waiting behind Koss and watched as they returned to whatever task they had been given before he had arrived.

"There were only four of them like you said so they were an easy hit. The fact that they were sleeping with no guards made things even simpler." Koss raised his eyebrow before asking about the figure walking slowly towards them. "And who might that be?" Alec grinned and cocked his head towards Arya's direction, "That would be the bundle in white the soldier mentioned. The corsairs took her not knowing she wasn't a Sunspear, didn't realize it until they had already caught her."

Koss turned his head to look back at his general before returning to stare at the women in white. "Whats she want?" Alec shook his head and followed Koss' stare. Arya was slowly hobbling towards where he was standing and he winced in sympathy when he noticed she had caught her injured foot on a stone jutting from the ground in front of her.

But he stayed where he was; knowing that if he offered his help she would just refuse. He glanced over at his friend and noticed that Koss stood transfixed, staring at the young woman. Alec sighed and remembered his first impression of the beautiful elementalist and lightly kicked the back of Koss' shin to get his attention.

Laughing underneath his breath at the look Koss shot him, Alec turned to Arya as she stood near him. "If you need anything ask Koss here and he will get it, other than that good luck with whatever your journey requires of you. The villagers here will rebuild what's left of this place, but I am sure you can find someone who will let you stay for some extra coins until your well enough to continue."

He watched her face carefully to see if he could tell if she wanted to say anything but she just looked at him with steady green eyes and nodded her head before taking off towards the nearest group of villagers. Slightly annoyed with her lack of expression and gratitude he failed to see, Alec grunted and stalked over to his make shift command camp.

Flipping his tent fold back he threw his cloak off onto the nearest chest and set to work on the missives that had come in whilst he was away.

~.~.~

Shaking her head, Arya glanced back to look at the tent belonging to the man that saved her. 'Man' that's the closet she got to a calling him anything other than a name since he refused to disclose that particular information. She figured he was someone important in this place since the moment she walked into the camp, people always mentioned him in a slight voice of awe.

As if the guy had done something amazing and they revered him as some sort of godsend. But even so, the people who she talked to refused to name him by his real name; always referring to him as general. Whatever that meant. It had been a week since she had arrived; she was now staying at the local inn that was newly repaired.

It wasn't the best living arrangements but it was the best she could afford until she could reach the nearest Xoulni agent. Arya had spent most of her coin on a healer to look at her ankle and heal it as best they could. That meant she now had a slightly sprained ankle, but she was able to walk (limp) if she was careful.

She had taken the opportunity to rest her ankle and her mind for the first time since she had left Vabbi. Arya helped do some odd jobs around the Chahbek village for free; apparently these people never had a trained elementalist in their midst and when she revealed that she could cast spells, they came to her now and then to burn large pries or give them fresh water instead of the salt mixed one they usually drank.

She didn't mind it in the least; it was actually rather fun since she had rarely been given the chance back home. It would have been underneath a vabbian noble to walk around with the commoners.

At this particular moment she was watching a small group of children scramble around in the snow she had just created for them. Smiling she waved her hand and more snow dropped near one of the boys startling him with its coldness.

Laughing the boy picked up a ball and hurled the snow towards his friend who then in turn, threw another one back. Apparently, she thought, these kids had never seen snow before. She laughed, thinking about her first experience with the fluffy white flakes. She was young about their age, and her tutor was showing her how to call forth ice in the heat of the desert. Arya had tried to create the icicle but had failed and instead produced snow in the palm of her hand. Shocked, she had dropped the cold puddle onto the ground and turned with wide eyes to her mentor.

He had explained what snow was and the difference between it and ice. After that she had loved the feeling of the cool fluff and enjoyed creating it out of nothing. She was jolted out of her thoughts as she felt a wet blob hit the side of her arm and looked for the source of the perpetrator. She grinned at the wide-eyed expression of fear from the little boy not two feet in front of her and bent down to pick up a fresh batch to form a small ball.

Closing her eyes, still smiling, she aimed the ball with a spell of growth and sent it hurtling at the boy. Opening her eyes she laughed when the ball hit the kid and exploded into dozens of smaller balls that in turn hit his teammates. The boy recovered from the shock and grinned at his friends before bending down to grab as much snow as he possibly could in his small hands.

Her grin whipped off from her face as she realized when the other kids joined in, that she was now the target for their game. Backing up slowly she held her hands up in front of her as a sign of peace but fell backwards as the barrage of snowballs came flying in her direction. She knew now that she was obligated to repay them for the cold that hit her, so she joined into the fight throwing multiple balls at once towards her little attackers.

Alec walked out of his tent with Koss right on his heels and turned at the sound of screaming and laughing. He had thought that corsairs had decided to retake the village but that was far from what was really happening. He watched as Arya shouted some words and dozens of white balls shot out of her hands and hit the remaining children with wet splats.

Worried, Alec moved to intercept more balls but stopped when he saw the kids pick themselves off the ground and return the same ammo at the mage from the white stuff neat their feet. Koss laughed loudly at the expression on Alec's face and gestured to the balls. "Snow." Glancing between the white snow and Koss, Alec walked over to the group and stood waiting for someone to notice him. Shortly after Arya, laughing, picked herself up from the ground and dusted off her skirts.

She laughed again when she saw his face; he had to admit that when she laughed he thought she looked even more beautiful than she had before, and tossed one last snowball at a boy to her left before walking over to stand in front of him. "Yes?"

Alec narrowed his eyes and pointed to the fight that was still going on behind her. "What is that?" She crinkled her eyes in humor but didn't let it show in her voice as she answered with the same word as Koss. "Snow." He growled, "Yes I know its snow, but what in the world are they doing with it?"

She glanced quizzically at his face before turning to look back at the children. "It's a snowball fight. You know…divide into teams and throw snow at each other until one side yields or the snow is used up. It's a game similar to a battle but not so real." He shot a look at her and turned back to the 'game' of snow. "What's the point?"

Arya huffed and spun around to face him, "There is no point, it's just fun." She squinted up at the sun before adding "You know, general, everything doesn't have to have a point. If there was a point in everything then we wouldn't have war now would we?" He shook his head at that statement refusing to say anything since it was something he neither had nor would think about. War was his job and he accepted it just as he had accepted that people would die.

He watched as she waved to Koss before yelling to the children to tell her when they were down so that she could return the snow to water. As she left to talk to Koss, Alec couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy. She never talked to him like she did with Koss, but then again he had to admit that it was probably his fault. He had neither the time nor the energy each day after dealing with the Sunspears to go and find out what she did every day.

Koss had seemed to take an immediate liking towards the young mage and had decided to make it his job to make sure she was comfortable whilst she stayed. Shaking his head he looked back over to the kids and walked off to go back into the confines of his tent and the work that came with running a small army of Sunspears.