Chapter XXVI

„The watching Eyes"

I woke up before dawn. The sky was starting to turn grey from daybreak, the camp silent and calm. Eugeo was still sleeping soundly by my side, breathing peacefully.

I stretched a bit, yawned and carefully stood up. I took a look around, at the slumbering druids and embers of the bonfire that emitted only the faintest of smokes now, at a single rabbit, watching me from the other side of the camp, at the morning dew glistening on fresh leaves. It felt like I could hear the breath of the forest among the soft silence embracing the clearing... Feeling some inexplicable urge, I cast Eugeo a short glance, before slowly wandering off into the shadow of the trees.

The forest in early bright was unique. The only things I heard were the murmur of the leaves and the whisper of my own, careful steps among the soft grass. The moist freshness of daybreak filled the thicket, not one living thing in sight. The warmth and the delicate mist caused me to feel like I was still asleep, as if I left my body under the tree next to Eugeo and was wandering with my soul only.

I took a deep breath, stretching again, my wings included this time. Staying in the Silivren Forest was doing wonders to the body and soul. I felt well-rested despite having slept pretty short. Still, I wasn't able to stop thinking about what Asuna told us just hours ago...

I let my arms fall with a short exhale and looked up into the sky. I had a dream about yesterday's events tonight, my imagination adding in things recreated from Asuna's words on its own accord. It felt like she placed a crystalline clear vision deep inside my soul, a vision that I could recall at all times, even if I didn't want to. As if she passed a memory on to me, one she relived many times, but now not just her own... It was so unexpected and I had to admit... she impressed me even more than she did until yesterday. Not with the fact that she was some 'Empress' though... she impressed me with her inner strength. She carried such a cruel past with her, she lost and suffered so much... but despite all that she maintained her cheerfulness, still had faith in other people and there was not a single day where one couldn't find a beautiful, honest smile on her angelic face. Compared to me or Eugeo she was just astonishing...

I kind of forgot myself in all these thoughts. When I returned to reality, I stated that I had not the slightest idea where I've wandered to. No landmarks as far as the eye could see, no sign of human activity. Even the vague path, meandering between the trunks was suddenly gone, leaving me in the middle of nowhere to contemplate my own stupidity. The only thing to still accompany me was the whisper of the darkened trees, the still too faint light of day dispersing and vanishing between them.

"Oh fantastic..." I whispered to myself in annoyance, looking towards a huge spider web hanging between two trunks, a composition of silver droplets on the delicate threads. "The last thing I need right now is waking up the entire camp by flying there or having Eugeo raise an alarm when he notices that the usual sleepyhead has dematerialized even before daybreak..."

My response was the rustle of leaves somewhere up, behind my back, and a silent, purring voice: "I can lead you back there if you want..."

I turned around in the exact same moment when Ronye jumped down from a nearby tree. For a long moment I just stared at the fascinating creature, now in a crouch from cushioning the fall and watching me vigilantly, but in a friendly manner. There was something in the warm sadness of her sapphire eyes that made her seem a bit older than her looks suggested.

"Well..." I stammered. "If it's not too much trouble, then I would really appreciate it..."

She moved her tail slightly, as if in mild amusement, smiled at me and came closer. "Of course it's not," she said, grabbing my sleeve delicately with just her thumb and index finger and gently pulled me in the direction I assumed I came from. The silence that fell upon us as we walked was a bit awkward, but after what seemed like just a few minutes the still sleeping clearing appeared between the trees, still breathing the memory of the passing night. An orange glow already formed in the sky above it.

Ronye stopped and after a brief moment turned to face me. "Will you be leaving again today?" she asked silently.

"I don't know, that will depend on Asuna's condition I guess..."

She hung her head, dipping her ears slightly. "I don't want her to leave again. I feel so lonely without her..."

"Well, maybe you could just come with us then?" unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to bite my tongue in time to prevent that offer to leave my mouth. I knew far too well, that it could be too dangerous.

But Ronye's ears already perked up, little sparks of hope appearing in her eyes. "Really? You think I could? I would be so happy if I could help Asuna somehow..."

I sighed silently. "Look... you will have to ask Asuna first. If she will feel certain, that she can protect you from what awaits us, I'm sure she will allow you to come. And me and Eugeo will gladly do our best to take care of you as well," I added with a smile.

Before she could answer, a slight movement at the border of the camp caught our eye. Eugeo sat up underneath the hornbeam and started to look around, most probably looking for me. Without thinking much, I took Ronye's hand in my own and left the shadow of the trees to prevent him from unnecessarily waking the others.

"Where have you been?" Eugeo asked after a relieved sigh.

"Just doing a little morning walk."

"Oh?" one of his eyebrows rose in what seemed to be amusement. I noticed that he was looking at my hand, still holding Ronye's, and I released it abruptly. Luckily, he chose not to make any comments about that, but he didn't spare me another one: "You getting up before dawn? Are you feeling alright?"

"Says the one who was sleeping like a log until just now."

An innocent smile was all I received in response.

When Ronye left us alone, her cheeks beautifully red for some reason, we just sat underneath the tree for some time, discussing yesterday's events and exchanging opinions about what Asuna shared with us, all the time listening to the chirps of waking birds. When the druids started to stir and get up one after another and began the preparations for breakfast, we decided to help, ignoring our guest status.

When we all sat down by a fresh fire, one of the female druids informed us, that Asuna is still asleep, and it would be good to leave her in peace as long as she needed to. We ate without her, and after cleaning the dishes started to repair the hovels.

We didn't leave as early as Ronye feared. Asuna slept almost through the entire day, while two of the other druids were regularly checking on her. When we were starting to feel worried due to this long absence, the archdruid soothed us by saying that she already "sailed around worse cliffs" in the past. When she finally woke up in the evening, she seemed as energetic and healthy as ever.

During the evening meal she suggested we return to the Apries Lake as soon as possible. Now that Sharish has shown his face to us, we needed to concentrate on developing our magic as best we could while trying to figure out what he was really up to.

After these words I more felt than saw how Ronye, sitting on a low branch of a nearby oak, stirred uneasily and dropped her ears. I decided to help this matter a little the next day.

We convinced Asuna to gather her strength for another night and leave tomorrow. We finished our meal in silence, listening to the gentle murmur of a storm in the far east, and called it a day. This time Eugeo and me got to sleep in a hovel that has been built exclusively for us.

When we made ourselves comfortable in there, I laid down on my stomach, rested my chin on my crossed wrists and started pondering. Was it really a good idea to take Ronye with us? I didn't want this little heart that was so attached to Asuna to suffer, but was it right of me to give her hope and suggest she come with us? I knew far too well how that could end, I've seen enough yesterday and I didn't want to see more...

I sighed silently, choosing to let Asuna decide, and fell asleep not long after, listening to the far singsong of some night bird. The delicate rain that came that night fell steadily, calmly and long.

The first, still blurry thing I saw after opening my eyes was a petite figure with lynx-ears, sitting by my side, roughly at the level of my knees. They moved, clearly intrigued, as if the owner was just waiting for me to wake up.

My mind was still too sleepy to process what I was really seeing and I sat right up, utterly startled, waking Eugeo with an unintended twitch of my wing.

"I'm sorry!" I quickly said when he jerked up as well, probably even more terrified than I was.

Meanwhile Ronye, completely unruffled by the panic she has caused, smiled at me sweetly and said: "Thank you. You were right, I just needed to ask her." And with a happy sway of her black tail she vanished from the hovel.

I supported myself with one hand against the pillow and just stared at the entrance, now empty, with just the first rays of morning sun peeping inside. When I finally realized what just happened, and that the problem I wanted to solve just solved itself, I couldn't hold back a short laugh.

Answering the inquisitive look of still confused Eugeo, I explained what caused the unexpected dawn sighting. Shortly after we left the hovel and went to freshen up by the brook. When we came back, Asuna and a few other druids were just about to finish making breakfast by a small fire. We treated ourselves with delicate, smoked fish and fresh fruits, without any rush at all, and proceeded to make preparations for departure.

"Are you taking the amulet with you?" Eugeo asked at some point and I glanced over just in time to see Asuna putting it into a deep pocket inside a leather bag.

"Yes," Asuna closed it carefully and then tied her hair into a lax ponytail. "It will be safer this way, Sharish will sooner or later notice that the one he has stolen is fake. And when he comes again for the real one, he will have me to deal with immediately this time."

"Us," I corrected her, and got a grateful smile in response.

Asuna then placed the bag securely on her shoulder, with the leather band crossing her chest, and called Ronye. She then got down on one knee and extended her arms slightly behind, clearly intending to take her piggyback. But the younger girl seemed to hesitate.

"What's wrong?" Asuna asked.

"Um..." Ronye cast her eyes down a little, moving her tail nervously. "Could I maybe try it with someone else today?" When Asuna raised her eyebrows, she quickly added: "It's not that I don't like flying with you, but... you were just hurt, you should still be careful, even if you feel better for now."

"Oh... well if Kirito or Eugeo wouldn't mind to do it, then I suppose it would be better..."

I was busy wondering if I would even manage to fly far with an additional weight on my back, when Ronye gave me a shy look that suggested there was more than that one reason why she didn't want to fly with Asuna. "Well..." the tone I spoke in might have been the most unsure I got out of me in my whole life, "I can try, nothing against strengthening my wings a bit."

Ronye almost beamed, and I mimicked Asuna's movement from before by kneeling down. The young sykerien was surprisingly light, just like a cat should be, and the hands that wrapped around my neck were as delicate and careful as Asuna's. Once I was sure my passenger was secure, we said our goodbyes to the druids and ascended from the clearing into the morning sky above the forest. At first Asuna watched us a bit anxiously, but after a few hundred meters of accident-free flight she smiled and flew a bit ahead, clearly at ease.

The day was beautiful, the sky free from clouds, and the sun warmed the pleasantly fresh air above the tree tops. It was hard to wish for better flying conditions. The three of us never before did it together and while I listened to the barely audible melody of the air being cut by our wings, I started to feel like there was some new, unique bond slowly taking its shape between us...

Ronye must have been flying with Asuna quite frequently in the past, because she showed no signs of fright. She just kept looking around curiously and I could almost feel the joy she was getting from the rush of wind caressing the fur of her dark-grey ears.

We didn't need to make any haste this time, so including the meal break in between, the return to the mansion took us a whole day. When we landed on the vast balcony of the smaller part's of the mansion top floor, I carefully put Ronye down. Before I could turn around to face her, I felt her touch on the surface of my left wing, featherlight and curious, as if she was itching to check how they felt like the whole journey, but didn't want to disturb my concentration in flight until now. When I gave her a slightly surprised look, she flushed an adorable shade of red and ran up to the shelves to our left, as if intrigued by the mountains of books three times taller than herself.

Asuna said to let her explore the place on her own and the three of us went down to the level of our bedrooms.

Almost in the same second the door leading to the bridge came into my field of vision, it opened, and Kaan stormed inside, almost completely out of breath.

"Where have you been all this time?!" we heard instead of a greeting. It occurred to us that he must have rushed here as soon as he noticed us coming from the south. And we suddenly realized that we pretty much evaporated from the mansion two days ago and no one here had the slightest idea what happened.

Asuna decided to take the matter in her own hands, walked up to him and delicately put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, it was my fault..." she said softly, giving him one of those looks that caused men's legs to give up on them. "I acted rashly and didn't think about the consequences. Will you let me explain?"

Seeing the worried anger in Kaan's eyes melt away, me and Eugeo allowed this explaining to happen between the two of them and didn't follow back upstairs.

"Her charm is more effective than any lockpick..."

"Yeah, that's why I'm sometimes jealous, and sometimes I pity him... she will always be able to have things her own way."

Eugeo laughed. "Well, I guess we should get prepared then," he said, watching Ronye, who let the pair upstairs be alone as well and was now observing the water in the bathroom downstairs rather mistrustfully.

"Get prepared?" I repeated unwittingly.

"While still in Silivren Forest Asuna mentioned something about giving us a proper course in being Disciples and that learning through making mistakes has worked pretty good until now, especially for you..."

"Very funny..."

"Anyway, I think we can expect her to teach us everything we need to know in the battle against Sharish the hard way."

"Including how to surprise your enemies, and occasionally your friends as well?"

Eugeo laughed again and I couldn't help but smile even with the perspective of backbreaking work ahead of me. I was kind of wondering why we didn't start doing that much earlier anyway. I always had the feeling that there are still so many things that I wasn't even able to imagine about our second nature, about myself and everything around me...

„Let's make the best Time out of our Lives..."

Hm... Ronye starting to get attached to Kirito might be happening too soon here... but hey, it would have been good if I missed that piggyback-flight opportunuty XD

Thank you for the revievs.

scrambled
Thank you so much for taking your time to read all of that in such a short period and for the love you're giving to this work since the very start :]
Your comment about Asuna's and Ronye's familial relationship was what actually made me realize the huge mistake I've made with their ages XD And you might be right about Asuna being too OP... maybe I can change it a bit like I changed things for Eugeo. Hope the story will continue to give you some joy further on. And I hope you will feel better soon... I just keep repeating that... I'll just shut up.

Li Zelin
As I mentioned, Asuna and Kirito will not become a coulpe in this story, so sorry to disappoint you. They will act as a couple in the bloopers though :P

And a huge thanks to everyone who read, favorited and followed. I'm so honored that this story is recieving so much love. See you next week