Chapter VII – Refilling Stores, Starting a Love Story

After allowing the meal and her embarrassment a moment to settle, Y'Fran ran her hands through her hair with a long sigh "All I need now is a nice long soak in a warm bath" Spoke Y'Fran as she got out of the bed. The Miqo'te let her hands run along the length of the bed, grabbing hold of her top at the end. The fabric was torn at the sides and would more than likely need to be thrown out rather than repaired, another sigh escapes her lips as she begins pulling it over her head. 'This was one of my favourite travelling tops, no saving it now though..' After adjusting a strap on her pack the girl lifted the small backpack over one shoulder, taking in a deep breath and pushing aside any remaining embarrassment Y'Fran took her first step towards the mouth of the tent. Another step closer, another step, another.. Stop. Y'Fran was standing right behind the thin fabric that created the tents door, through the gap her eyes locked onto Alstar. The Hyur was sat on a tree stump just outside the tent examining his hands, the two deep cuts on his palms had bled through the bandages he had applied after he'd seen to her wounds. 'Has he been sat there all night?.. Had he cleaned the wounds?.. Don't be stupid.. Of course he had, he's a soldier.. But what if it was coated in poison?.. Stop!.. I can fix him no matter how bad the injury.. Elementals give me power' Taking another step Y'Fran walked out of the tent towards Alstar, placing a hand on his shoulder 'Cure' Upon speaking the word in her mind the healing magics discreetly flowed through Alstar's body to his hands. Y'Fran releasing the man's shoulder sent a smile to him as she started walking away "I'll hand these potions to your quartermaster, be right back okay?" "Yeah, I'll be here" Y'Fran looked over her shoulder at the Hyur as he removed the bandages from his hands, a warmth filled her heart as she skipped towards the quartermaster's, a tune whistling from her lips. Y'Fran arrived at the quartermaster's store to be welcomed by the battle-scarred man's large smile. He had recognised the tune she was whistling and the smile had quickly grown on his face, only widening as he saw her round the corner. It was always a nice sight for the older man to see such a young thing like her helping out like she did "Ah my girl, I was wondering when you'd next visit, it is although you can sense when my stores are getting low, eh child?" Y'Fran giggled at the man and planted a kiss on his cheek, "Fawkas, I've told you many a times, I have no such power, but yes, it has been quite some time since my last visit, shall we?" Y'Fran motioned to the man's store tent. "Of course business as usual eh my child?"

The pair walked into the tent where Y'Fran emptied the contents of her pack onto a table "Two.. Four.. Six.. Eight.. Ten potions.. Ten hi-potions.. Ten antidotes.. Five eye drops.. Five smelling salts.. Four sleeping potions.. Ah, that's everything.. Now look at this place, it's a mess" "Well, it might be a mess but I know where everything is so it's fine" "Give me just a moment and I will have everything back in it's rightful place.. Wouldn't want you giving someone a sleeping potion instead of a antidote now, would we?" The man replied with a huff before speaking again "You are so stubborn, you remind me of someone" "Oh.. Who? I hope it's someone pretty" Both the Miqo'te and the Hyur burst out laughing at her reply. Y'Fran's laugh turns to a quiet giggle as she works on re-organising Fawkas' stores. Putting potions in their labelled places and putting empty vials back into her pack. "There we go, that's all nice and tidy now" The quartermaster let out another laugh, and turned the girl around, "I hear from a little birdie that you've been here all night" The man looked at the girl with a raised eyebrow, "What's more is that I hear that you spent your time in the captain's tent.." A silence fell over both of them as Y'Fran stood looking at the man, who let out another bellowing laugh "Well done my child, you finally told him how you feel yes?!" "I.. I don't know what you mean" "Come now, I've seen the way you look at him" Y'Fran felt her cheeks blush "Really, what's with you guys? First Joseph, now you?" "Ah, Joseph.. How is my little brother? Is he still trying to get into the royal kitchen?" Y'Fran smiled, the memory of the amazing fish sauce nearly made her mouth water "Yeah, he's recently made progress on a new dish, you should try it when your next home" Spoke Y'Fran as she walked towards the door "Hmm, we'll see.. Now, about Al.." Before the man could finish his sentence Y'Fran was already out of the tent waving goodbye to her friend, the man about to shout to her stopped, instead he simply smiled and waved back. "Good luck child"

Alstar looked up to see Y'Fran standing in-front of him, her body rocked from side to side as she placed her hands on her hips, leaning in closer to him. Y'Fran tilted her head and twitched her ears as she smiled at the Hyur, Alstar quickly rose to his feet and cleared his throat, "Y'Fran, I want to apologise for before, had I known you were changing I wouldn't have entered." Y'Fran's cheeks blushed at the memory of him walking in on her about an hour ago. "It.. It's okay.. Maybe next time you could knock?" "Um, you have my sincere apologies" Alstar said as he bowed down on a knee to her. "I.. I.. Said it's okay.. There.. There's no need for.. For that" 'Why.. Why is he on one knee.. Aghh, this is too much.. Does he not realise what bowing on one knee symbolises?.. I can feel my cheeks burning again.. Why? How is he making me like this..' Y'Fran cleared her own throat with a quiet cough then spoke "Be.. Before you said when 'I'm ready to leave'.. Does that mean you are escorting me back?" "Yes, unless your not ready to leave then I can assign one of my men to accompany you later?" He spoke as he rose once again to his feet. "No!.. I mean, no, that won't be necessary, I'm ready when you are" Alstar looked at the girl who obviously wanted to travel with him, and by the sound of her objection, only him. "Okay then.. But I won't be carrying you this time" Alstar smiled. "Oh, but I enjoyed it so much last time" "Oh.. How can you be sure? You were asleep most of the time" "I was?" Alstar replied with a nod "But then, you carried me all the way here.. Don't you need rest?" "I'll be fine my lady, don't worry about me, shall we?" Alstar motioned towards the camp's exit. "Aye aye sir!" Y'Fran pretended to salute the man, and marched next to him, kicking her feet into the air. Alstar simply smiled at the girl as she played her game.

It was only about eight minutes into the walk before she stopped marching and returned to her normal way of walking, only just a few fulm in front of Alstar, who had a perfect view of her body from his position. Her strut captivated him, he watched as her hips and tail moved in unison, just watching her walk made thoughts race into his mind 'She is.. Beautiful.. The way she moves, the way her body moves.. Her hair.. Her hips.. Her tail.. Her arse.. Her legs.. Is she doing it for me? or does she always move this way?' Y'Fran, walking to the sound of her own humming, had tied her hair up into a pony-tale which was now bouncing from side to side in chorus with the rest of her body as she took step after step. Time passed by and Alstar remained behind the girl for most of the journey until they arrived at that one spot. Alstar took a step ahead of the frozen Miqo'te putting out his hand for her to hold. "It's okay, I'm here with you.. Always" Taking hold of his hand the girl spoke "They.. They're gone" "Y'Fran.. Your safe" Those words cut deep into her soul, deep into her heart. She was safe.. Looking up at Alstar their eyes met for just a moment, a moment of pure bliss rushed over her. Alstar's eyes broke the contact as they darted around, the Hyur instinctively covered the hilt of one of his daggers with his free hand. Something had dragged the corpses off. 'Probably just unchecked monsters feeding their young, but if it is something else, I will protect her with every ounce of my power, this girl who has stolen my heart.. No this girl who I freely give my heart!' In the distance a bird takes flight startling the already scared Miqo'te, who immediately jumps towards Alstar, a scream escaping her lips, but none the less quickly wraps herself around the soldier.


Oh.. You weren't expecting another chapter this early?.. Neither was I, but I thought I would treat all my lovely readers (Yes you included). This one is for getting 100+ views and 30+ visitors on my first ever story! *Wooo!*

Y'Fran do-good behaviour taking over for a moment, knowing that Alstar would more than likely decline if she offered openly. The fact that she only had to think of the spell to cast it shows just how powerful she is although magic spoken through the mind will be less effective compared to magic spoken I thought it would be good to show that she has enough power to do both. This obviously not being her first visit to Alstar's camp she knows a few of the soldiers, not nearly as well as Fawkas, the merchant's brother. We see Y'Fran's childish side, and into Alstar's own thoughts, and that the wounds of the previous day are still fresh.

So another nice long chapter.. It seems that I have been editing each of the chapters as I upload them, so these are longer than the originals. But yeah anyway, I'm enjoying it so I'm not going to stop anytime soon.. Thanks for reading guys and gals!

So y'know.. Have a wickedly awesome day!

01L