Five

Sindri had spent most of his night making sure Lily could not be seen by the humans on the other side and complaining to Org about her behavior. The troll's only response had been to shrug and walk off somewhere else for he claimed Sindri was giving away his hiding place. Sindri was now sitting on the branch of a rather large tree overlooking the humans' worksite and leaning against the trunk. He was smoking his pipe and creating things out of the smoke. His eyes kept wandering over to Lily, who was sitting closer to the edge of the branch and staring at the humans like they were some kind of specimen to observe under a microscope.

The more he stared at her the more he wanted to pull her back from their view. Her insatiable sense of adventure had been both a blessing and curse on him since they had been children. He, Puck and Lily had played together for endless hours in the forests of Somewhere until their parents had called them to come home for the night. Lily had always been the one who had wanted to keep going until they could not hear the voices anymore, but Puck had always directed her back home. When they had gotten older, Sindri and Puck had gone into training as Warriors of the King. Expected to be a Princess instead, Lily had been left in the dust during the day, but at night the three of them had made up the time by playing as normal.

Now they were older. Now the days of play had been left behind.

It had been replaced with fights against evil ogres and now humans. Sindri secretly longed for simpler times, but never again would he go back in age. He could handle losing his father once. And he did not intend to ever relive the memory. He sympathized with Lily now that her parents had passed on. His father had been killed in a battle against the wolves in the mountains when Sindri had been a young Fae. Lily had stayed with him all night the first night he had been gone and hugged him. He had never forgotten her kindness that night. And he had returned it both nights her parents had died. Puck had been adamant about keeping Lily occupied after their parents had perished and Sindri had agreed with him. He supposed that was why he went along with her schemes nowadays. Other than not being able to say no to her face. He could not believe he was a Warrior and girls could still make him weak.

Or maybe it was just Lily? He did not know.

"They're doing strange things with maps." Lily was keeping him up to date on all of the happenings down below them. "The overnight men. I think they're called. One of them is sleeping."

"Some humans are inherently lazy." Sindri crossed his ankles and leaned back further, letting out another puff of smoke from his pipe. It made a bird this time. "Thankfully I have not met many who are. I would have to flog them."

"When did you stop being care free?" Lily asked him.

"When my home was being invaded by humans." Sindri gave her a look. "And my woods were potentially being torn down."

"Somebody didn't get enough sleep." Lily rolled her eyes. "They're not going to tear down the woods...are they?"

She innocently looked over at him and he found that her gaze made his chest both ache and flutter. He had never felt such a feeling regarding Lily before. He was confused, but something drew him closer to her. He pocketed his pipe after putting it out and moved so that he sat right next to her on the tree branch and she looked back down at the humans. He hesitated, but then took her hand. She looked into his eyes and he smiled.

"Not on my watch." Sindri assured her.

She smiled, but Sindri found he could not look away. He was suddenly struck with this indescribable feeling that welled up deep inside him. It crept into every inch of his body and he almost shivered though the air was unusually warm for a fall night. He felt like his soul was on fire and his heart fluttered. He knew what was happening, it was something he had only described to Dean the first time the human had been with them, but never felt for himself until now, and there was no stopping it.

"We love intimately only once in our lives, twice if we are extremely lucky. It is an instinctual thing called an imprint and we feel it deep inside."

He panicked immediately and started to fall backwards. Lily went with him. Down they tumbled from the tree branch and they hit the ground with a loud thud. The night watchmen turned their heads in the direction of the noise and shouted. Both Sindri and Lily scrambled to their feet and started to run. The men went after them. Sindri readied his bow and arrow if he needed it, he prayed he did not. Lily muttered spells Puck had taught her under her breath and in the construction sign she branded her father's crest as they tore around the bend.

"Anytime would be a good time Org." Sindri muttered to himself, but found the answer to his mumblings when the portal to the other side shimmered before him and he jumped through it only after he saw Lily had made it through. But not before he shot one arrow at the sign too. It stuck perfectly in the man's name and Sindri tumbled through to the other side of the portal.

They both got to their feet and made it down the path towards the field where they promptly collapsed and watched the stars spin. Sindri tried to catch up on his breath and Lily started chuckling ever so slightly. Sindri shot her a look and she stopped for only a moment.

"Y-You shot an arrow at them!" She stifled a laugh and he too found that he had to do the same thing.

"I-I guess I did." Sindri grinned and made sure he had his bearings before getting to his feet and helping her up as well. "Puck's going to kill me, but oh well."

Lily and he both stopped laughing and stared awkwardly at one another. She rubbed her arm and looked down and away. He grabbed the back of his neck and sighed deeply. She spoke first.

"I'm not denying it." She assured him. "But I think we have more pressing matters to attend to first."

Sindri nodded. He had to agree on that one. The two of them made their way over to the horses they had tied up and sneaking small smiles to one another, they rode back off towards the Kingdom.

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