Oh, noes! It's the last chapter. And please don't read while eating something sticky or sweet, or you might die of a cutie-overdose.

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Jah'ren crouched in the bushes just outside of the light from the village. His ears picked up sounds from humans and animals as they ate their supper or did the day's last chores. He had not intended to come, but it had proved too hard.

The last week he had kept to the area, being careful not to leave obvious tracks anywhere, every day telling himself this would be the last one before he left for good.

Now that day had come. He could not stay any longer without doing something stupid or she noticing his presence. This was just the final goodbye, the desperate last chance to see her, to make sure she was fine.

It was hard for him. It had been hard enough leaving her; watching her sit on the rock until sunshine came and Simon had almost dragged her home. He had felt he did the right thing at the time, but watching her from his hiding place, hearing her weeping, had made him want to go to her and take her away again, away from this place she belonged.

He could smell her familiar sent from the house nearby, but he did not dare to go closer to it in case he was discovered. When the village settled down he might chance a look through the windows, maybe he would see her.

He imagined her there now, sitting by the fire, Simon by her side, and maybe she was reading. He liked to think she was reading. There was nothing he wanted more than to knock at the door and have one last word, one last look from those brown eyes, but he knew all too well that would do neither of them any good.

Lost in thought he did not notice the human sneaking up on him until an arrow hit the treetrunk beside him. He swirled around, still kneeling, with the bow ready.

"You must have been very far away to let me sneak up on you like this," Cassandra laughed.

Jah'ren blinked confused. For a moment he thought he must have fallen asleep and this was a dream his troubled mind had come up with. His eyes fell on the bow in her hands, the daggers at her waist.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Kass! No!"

"Oh, shut up," she said. Then she leaned down and kissed his lips quickly.

"No," Jah'ren moaned, but still taking her hand when she squatted down beside him. "Kass no come. You are human now."

"If you did not want me to come, why are you sitting out here? I could hear the call in my heart. I could feel you out here."

"Kass be with human," he begged her. "With Simon. Be happy."

She sighed, she had expected this; he never would admit what he wanted.

"Simon is nice and everything a girl could want," she agreed. "But he wants to marry me. He wants to keep me here forever."

"And that Kass dream, when young girl. Good dream still."

"There are other dreams now. I don't want to be chained. I am still a hunter even without you. Hunt, live, forest, sky. Simon does not understand."

Jah'ren could not keep from smiling, his heart was beating as fast as if he was in the middle of a fight and it thrilled him. But there was still the feeling that things had to be right, he had to do something right in his life and convince her to stay.

"But you human. Jah'ren troll. Not right."

Cassandra knelt beside him looking at the ground thoughtfully. When she spoke her voice was firm and serious:

"I'll admit it is scary; waking up one morning and realizing the one person in the world you want to share your life with is blue, has constant bedhair and likes wrestling crocolisks. But there are worse things."

"What?" Jah'ren asked, numb from the shock of her confession.

"Waking up one morning and know that you might have to spend your life without him."

His eyes stared at her in the dark and she could see the green flame somewhere inside them that made her soul ache.

"I realized that if I can not be with you, I would rather be alone. I thought of trying to track you. I though that if I searched you could be found. In me, all paths lead to you. And then I felt you."

He held her then. Held her closer than he ever had, whispering softly in his own language, clutching her to him and hating himself for it.

"Will you let me come?" she asked. "I don't care what as. I can be your pet, I can be your apprentice, just don't leave me here to be something that is less than I need to be."

"No," Jah'ren answered, making her wince. "Kass not pet. Not appre… app… other thing. Kass be Kass."

"And hunter," she whispered.

"Hunt, live, forest, sky, and Kassandra. Jah'ren happy."

After clinging to each other for a while they stood up as there was the sound of people from the village. Cassandra noticed the figure of Simon standing in the square, surrounded by some men with torches. So, her escape had been revealed. She had left a letter, but she knew it said everything he did not want to know.

"We must stop her," she heard him tell the others, and it pained her to hear the desperation in his voice.

Heart beating excitedly, she turned to Jah'ren and made a gesture towards the forest. The tall troll grinned, nodding happily and took her hand.

They ran through the forest, side by side, not in any hurry to get away, but thrilled to be together again and knowing very well it would not matter if the humans tried to follow. The darkness had enveloped the world and even if the humans had reached them, the two hunters knew how to use starlight and shadows to hide. Soon they were nothing but shapes of dark flowing through the night.

After a long run they stopped in a clearing. The smallest of the shades put her head back and looked at the stars above them.

"There need to be romance?" the tallest shade asked. "Flowers and diamonds and saving Kass from dragon and everything?"

"I would like to be saved from the dragon anyway," Cassandra answered. "But I guess I can manage without too much romance. Just don't hit me over the head and drag me to your cave."

The other shadow laughed; a rumbling sound of happiness.

"But now princess not marry prince, that is not how things happen in story."

"No," Cassandra smiled. "But just think of all those princesses who did marry the prince. They might not have been happy, and besides, every once in a while there needs to be a princess who actually chooses the ogre."

"Troll," he said firmly. "Not ogre."

"Oh, but there's always an ogre."

"Jah'ren not ogre!"

She laughed and ran on, her feet silent and light on the grass. The tall shade followed, the only sound from him the low, humming rumble of his laughter.

In the moonlight under the forest roof the shadows merged together, becoming one running shade as the tall one picked up the other. Then the movement stopped, and for a moment the only sound the forest would hear, if it was listening at all, was the hushed gasp of breath against breath.

*****

I know. I know. I'm sorry it's so dang cute.

There's a poem on the next chapter, it is Jah'ren and Cass's explaination to the hunters way, they made me write it. Okey, Jah'ren made me write it, and paid in naturalia ;) So how could I resist?