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Chapter Two:
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"Zane, calm down. They'll be okay," Adelina said as she put an arm around my waist.
"I can't. What if something happens? I should have gone," I sighed.
"You know you couldn't have. Now come, you need rest. They won't be back until around dawn, and you need to sleep."
"I can't," I said, and went back to pacing. I couldn't even sit still. I had been pacing my room for over an hour.
"Zane, sit down," Adelina said, a little more firmly.
"Fine, but don't expect me to sleep," I sighed.
"I can think of other things to do . . . " she trailed off, and began kissing me. I finally started to relax.
"This is a lot better than pacing," I said while kissing her neck.
"I figured it would be," she laughed.
"Much better," I sighed, content.
We stayed like that for a couple hours. Talking, laughing, kissing, just altogether enjoying each others company. I loved Adelina. She meant more to me than anyone else, but we both knew I couldn't marry her. As soon as I were to, the avians would kill her. Adelina was tough--tough enough to be the leader of the palace guard--but she could never be able to fight off all the avians that would try to kill her.
I would stop this war first. Than I would marry Adelina. My plan was to propose as soon as we declared peace.
"Zane."
"Yes?" I said with my eyes closed. I was tired, but I didn't want to sleep, so I was laying down.
"It's almost dawn," she said.
I sat up immediately. They should be back soon. Irene had promised me she would be out of the Hawk's Keep by dawn, and they would head right back afterwards. That meant they would be here in three or four hours.
"Zane," she laughed, "I was just telling you. They won't be here for another four hours or so. And you still need to rest."
"How am I supposed to do that after you just told me how soon they will be here?"
"I told you that because . . . well, I guess it wasn't a good idea to tell you," she laughed, than paused for a second. "Please try to sleep, Zane," she pleaded.
"I can't, Adelina," I sighed.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because every time I sleep, I dream," I sighed.
"About?" she pushed, trying to get me to tell her everything. There was no way to tell her about Danica. It wasn't as if they were bad dreams about her, but Adelina had a tendency to be very jealous, and hearing that I was dreaming of another woman would not sit well with her.
"The battles. Death. Decay. The faces of all the avians I have killed over the years," I said.
"Zane, it's normal for you to dream about that. Everyone does," she replied.
"Do you?"
"Not often," she confessed.
"See? It's not exactly normal. Neither is constantly dreaming of Dan--" I cut myself short, realizing what I was about to say.
"Of who?" Adelina asked curiously.
"No one. Never mind."
"Obviously it's someone, Zane. Who?" She asked.
"No one, never mind," I repeated.
"Zane," she said, worried.
"Never mind, Adelina," I snapped. I hated yelling at her, but sometimes she just wouldn't drop it.
"I'm sorry, but I really don't want to talk about it."
She rolled over, and rested her head on my chest. "It's okay, Zane. I know how you can get, and I understand."
I just closed my eyes, resting. I would not let sleep take over, but I was tired.
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"Zane, wake up." I felt someone nudge my shoulder, but I just rolled over and ignored it.
"Zane, come on. They will be here in ten minutes. We can see them from the tower," the girl continued. I buried my head deeper in the pillow, hoping to tune her out.
"Zane!" she finally shouted, fully waking me up. Everything came back to me. Irene and Galen went to the Hawk's Keep to make peace; Adelina was with me.
I sat up. "When will they be here?" I asked.
"Within the next ten minutes. We saw them when they came over the hill. Now go get dressed and ready, you don't want to greet them like this, do you?" she smiled, waving her hand at me, and my lack of clothing.
"No, I don't," I smiled back, than got up to get dressed.
"Irene was unharmed, right?" I asked Adelina when I got back.
"As far as I know. I didn't actually see them, but another guard did. And they were too far away to see anything in much detail," she said.
"I hope they're both unharmed. If anything happened their child . . . " I trailed off.
Adelina put a hand on my shoulder. "Lets go meet up with Charis."
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Charis sat in the dining hall, looking just as--if not more--anxious than I was.
"Hello, mother," I greeted her.
"Hello, Zane. I assume you're down here because you heard?" she asked.
"Heard what?" I asked, worried that there was more than Adelina had told me.
"That we saw them, and they're on their way back," she replied. Good. That was all the news there was.
Adelina and I sat in silence. Charis didn't speak either, and then room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. I closed my eyes, sighing and hoping they were okay. The lookouts had seen them, so there really was no need to worry, but I still did. Losing so many family members had done that to me. Even if I know they are all completely safe, I worry.
"Are you okay, Zane?" Charis asked me, concerned.
"I'm fine. Worried, that's all," I assured her.
"You have nothing to worry about, Zane."
"Yes, I do. What if the avians didn't accept the meeting with the Mistari?" I asked.
"Of course they did. If they didn't want peace, they would have killed Irene, not sent her back to the Palace," Adelina said.
"Not necessarily."
"Than what else would they do?"
I sighed again. "I guess you're right."
"Of course I am. You may not think it, Zane, but I know a lot about war. Your father wasn't the only one."
"I know. I just forget sometimes. You don't seem at all like the other warriors," I replied.
"That's because I never fought. Your father wouldn't allow it. But I did see my share of death," she said quietly. I assumed she was thinking of my father.
"How much longer until we can expect them back?" I asked impatiently.
"Patience is a virtue, Zane," Adelina laughed.
"Easy for you to say," I mumbled.
"No, not really," she smiled.
"Milady," one of the guards said to my mother.
"Yes?"
"They're here. Irene and Galen."
"And?" she inquired.
"Everyone is unharmed, and they wish to speak to you," he replied.
"Okay," Charis smiled, relieved. I wasn't the only one that was worried; I just didn't try to hide it.
Irene and Galen walked in then, mumbling something about it being 'absurd that we have to wait.'
"Irene!" Charis said, and hugged her daughter.
"The baby's made it this far, mother, lets not lose it by hugging each other," Irene laughed, squished.
I hugged her next. I can't believe they made it there and back okay. "Everything went all right?" I asked.
"It went perfect. Thankfully the guards didn't kill me on sight, which was what I was afraid of."
"When did you get there?" Adelina asked.
"A couple hours after midnight," she responded.
"You have to give us more information than that," Charis said.
She sighed, but she was smiling. "Okay, I'll tell you everything."
"How did the avians react to the meeting?" I asked.
"They were surprised, to say the least. The young one, oh, I can't remember her name-"
"Danica," I immediately said, cutting her off and earning a glance from Adelina.
"Well, Danica seemed like she showed the most sense. I think Nacola might have just killed me on the spot if it weren't for her," Irene said.
"Did Nacola actually order the guards to kill you?" I asked incredulously.
"No, but she looked like she wanted to."
"Okay . . . So what happened?" I asked.
"Well, I explained everything to them, and told them about the Mistari meeting. They didn't seem to believe that you wanted this at first, but I told them what you had said to me, and that seemed to make them believe me," she explained.
"And what did I say to you?" I asked.
"You had said, 'Let them. If they do, someone might finally be satisfied that they've won this war, and maybe it will end.'"
"That really worked?" I asked. One little line made all the avians believe I was sincere?
"Of course. Heck, it even convinced me," she said.
"Convinced you?"
"At first even I wasn't fully convinced that you did want peace. That you were willing to sacrifice everything for the serpiente," Irene said calmly.
"You really believed I didn't want peace?" I asked, slightly angry.
"Now Zane, I didn't say that. I said I wasn't fully convinced. I saw you, Hating this war, and wanting it to stop. But I also saw you on the battlefield, killing every avian you could. It was hard to completely believe that you wanted peace when you were killing them like that. I think everyone was confused by that," she confessed.
"Really?"
"Yes, Zane," Charis said.
"I only fight like that because I see my people getting killed. I hate it. What do you expect me to do? Stand idle while they are all getting falcon poison in their stomachs?" I was angry, and wasn't hiding it. I couldn't believe that they would believe I wanted the war to continue.
"I'm just saying what I thought, Zane. Now, may I continue?" she smiled.
I nodded. "Good. Anyway, after I had told them about the meeting, they asked when it would take place, and I said that was up to them," she said.
"And what date did they set?" I inquired.
"The meeting will take place in a fortnight," she replied.
"A fortnight? That means we'd have to . . . " I trailed off, realizing their plan.
"What?" they all asked.
"They still don't trust us," I said.
"Of course they don't. You can't expect them to immediately love us," Galen said, speaking up for the first time.
"They really think they're so smart, don't they?" I asked, mostly to myself.
"What did they do, Zane?" Irene asked.
"If they expect the meeting to take place in a fortnight, we have to leave very early tomorrow. Otherwise, we wouldn't make the date. By doing this, they're insuring that we don't have time to plan anything at all before we have to leave, do you see? We're giving them two weeks to plan, without worrying about us planning something also," I explained.
"You're right," Irene gasped.
"What do we do?" Galen asked. "Should we even trust them? Is this meeting really worth it?"
"We have to go. They're not going to believe we want peace if we don't attend the meeting," I replied.
"Do you even think they'll go?" Charis asked.
"I think they will, maybe not by Nacola's decision, but maybe by Danica's. And if they don't, we get a nice vacation visiting some friends," I smiled. Though I had never been there, I knew the Mistari lands were beautiful. It would be a nice place to go.
"Well, then, we need to get ready. And figure out who is going," Charis said.
"It's very obvious. I had already thought about it, and I though it could be me, Adelina, Charis, Galen, and Irene, if she's up to it, with the baby," I said.
"No, I definitely want to go. I'm early enough along that the baby shouldn't be an issue," she said.
"That does sound like the best way to go," Charis said, "So now all we need to do is get ready. And we need to notify the Mistari of our date, of course."
"I will get talk to Eleanor before we leave," I said.
"I'm going to go get some rest before we leave," Irene said, and got up, Galen following right behind her.
"You should probably try to sleep, too, Zane. You only slept for two hours last night," Adelina said.
"Fine," I sighed, sounding like a ten-year-old.
"Good boy," Adelina laughed.
"But you're coming with me," I smirked, grabbing her and pulling her with me, despite her fake protests.
"Zane!" she said, sounding almost pained.
"What?" Concerned, I let go of her, looking to make sure everything was okay.
As soon as I did, she went running toward my room. "Ha! Try to get me now!"
I charged after her, laughing. I eventually caught up with her, and picked her up.
"Zane," she whined, but I cut her off with a kiss.
When I broke the kiss, she was quiet, leaning against my chest. "That's better," I commented.
She laughed and jumped out of my arms, but still ran in the direction I was taking her. I ran after her again, this time not catching up with her until we were at my rooms. I had to give her credit; she was quick.
I grabbed her once we were in my rooms, and shut the door. "I have you now," I said quietly, kissing her again.
"You've always had me," she smiled.
"I hate to break this off, but we both need sleep if we're going to leave tomorrow," I said after a moment.
"You're right," she sighed.
We laid down next to each other, and for the first time since the battle, I slept for a long period of time without dreaming of war, or Danica.
