HighlanderQueen (ChelseyPudge):

Hey guys! How are you all? We are having a blast with this story. We are loving your reviews! Here's another chapter! Hope you like it!

Imadaywalker (Mrs. Peacock):

Yay! We have been working very hard on this and we hope that you guys are all liking it so far! So, enough rambling! On with the show!

DISCLAIMER: We don't own anything….OK, we own Hafwen and Rhoslyn. And any characters that C.S. Lewis did not come up with…

Rhoslyn's POV

Hafwen keeps stirring the stew, trying to avoid my gaze.

"Well…?" I ask eagerly awaiting her reply. I hear her start to clear her throat.

"No."

"You lie!" I accuse her.

"No, I'm not." She says with an even tone.

"Yes you are! You did that thing you do when you lie!"

"What thing?" I giggle at her feeble attempts she's making of hiding her red face.

"Your throat-clearing thing! Plus, you're blushing like a little girl!" I squeal giddily prancing around the room.

"Soups up!" Hafwen announces trying to change the subject. She spoons the soup into two bowls and places them on the wooden table.

"Stop bouncing around and eat. Wouldn't want you fatigued for your Nen." I stop spinning and give her my worst look.

"He's not my Nen…" I murmur. "Wow, this soup looks terrific." I smile.

"Why thank you Rhos!" She grins triumphantly at my blushing face but lets it go. We eat our soup in silence. I glance up at her and notice that she's muttering under her breath.

"Why did I have to call him by his first name? Good move Hafwen!" I give her a kick under the table. She looks up sharply.

"Sorry, leg cramp…honestly Hafie, you need to stop worrying, you're bringing down the room. Let's discuss something else!" I grab both our empty bowls and begin to wash them in the sink.

"What do you want to discuss?" She raises an eyebrow, Oreius obviously still on her mind.

"What do you want to discuss?"

"You never did tell me what you and Nen were up today!" I drop the bowls in the soapy water causing it to splash all over my face.

Hafwen let out a very loud laugh. "I didn't know males could have that sort of effect on you Rhos!"

"What effect? The dishes slipped!" I say, blushing.

"Well, you're normally very graceful, being a Nymph and all…so are you going to tell me about what you two did or what?"

Hafwen's POV

She glances at me and sighs.

"Do I really have to?"

"Yes."

"Fine."

She is rather reluctant to tell me what happened, until she gets to the part where Nen gave her gills.

"Oh, Hafie! It was the strangest feeling in the world!"

"What was it like? How did he give you gills?"

"Well, he put his hands on the sides of my neck. It was rather like that feeling you get when bugs crawl up your arm."

"Strange!"

"I know! And then we went underwater…"

Rhoslyn chattered for almost 2 hours about her experience. I was glad to see her going out to meet new people. Being cooped up in that tree of hers does her no good.

"By the Mane, Hafie! It's very late!" She pipes as she stifles a yawn.

"Well," I yawn as well, "it's time for bed. Do you want to stay the night? It's a long way to your tree."

"Sure!"

"I have a tree outside my room, it's the right size. Do you want to sleep there tonight? Or would you rather sleep in den? I have had a nice comfortable chair made for company."

"I prefer trees. Chairs are for sitting in. Not sleeping in!"

"True…"

"Goodnight Hafie!"

I wander into my room and pull my tunic off and let my hair down. Now that I was alone, thoughts of General Oreius came flooding back. I curse myself once more and lay down on my huge bed. Sleep would not come easy tonight. It didn't help that Rhoslyn was singing to herself outside my window.

"Can't sleep?"

I shriek. The creature has stuck her head in my window, and she was hanging upside-down.

"Well, I don't have any hope of sleeping now!" I groan and put on a robe.

"Why can't you sleep? Think of something? Or…someone?"

I glare at her, "If you don't leave me alone, I'm sending you home."

She just giggles at me and pulls her head out of the window. I can faintly hear her say something along the lines of, "Gee, is someone in love?"

I yell, "I don't know, are you!"

And with that, I flop back on my bed and bury my face in my pillow.

Rhoslyn's POV

It's before dawn and I hadn't gotten a wink of sleep last night. I look into Hafwen's window and see that she has finally stopped tossing around and has fallen into a much-needed rest. So as not to wake her, I gingerly hop down from the tree she let me borrow and start walking in no particular direction. The stars were still shimmering brightly and it was freezing.

"Typical winter weather." I sigh.

"Well, what do you expect Flower-Girl?"

"AHHH!" I screech into the darkness. "Who's there?" The figure that stood before me smirking was none other than Nen himself.

"Who do you think?"

"I don't know, you just caught me off guard." Thank goodness for the darkness or otherwise he would have seen my burning face. "Why did you refer to me as Flower-Girl?" I question. Nen shrugs his shoulders, his smile widening. He winks at me. Why did he wink at me? What's with all of this winking business? "Why?" I say when he doesn't respond. "I'm not a flower!"

"You look like one…" He says eyeing my green dress and red hair. "Just like a rose." He adds cheekily.

"Aren't you the bold one?" I state.

"Me? I'm not the one pacing around outside a rather suave looking sea-nymph's sleeping quarters." I look around, finally noticing my surroundings. He's right. I am outside the cave he brought me to yesterday. How did I get here?

"Oh, sorry. I was just walking around, couldn't sleep. Bye!" I could feel my face growing brighter by the second; soon it would surpass that of the stars.

"Don't go Flower-Girl!" I could hear Nen pleading behind me. "Just stay, we can spend the rest of the night and the day together, I would like that a lot…" I couldn't help but grin at his begging.

"I don't know, wouldn't you want to get back to sleep?" I ask trying to refrain a giggle.

"Oh come on, I'm up now! Plus, I know you want to spend your day with me, Flower-Girl." As much as I don't want to admit it, he got me there.

Hafwen's POV

The sun once again blared in my face and I let out a groan. 'Not another day.' I didn't bother pulling a robe on. I left it on last night. I poked my head out my window to see if Rhoslyn would pop up out of nowhere. Satisfied with my findings, or lack of, I went into the kitchen to pour some juice. As I was downing it, I heard a knock on my door…well, what was left of it.

"Come on in. As you can see, the door is open," I shout.

"Are you sure that is alright, Lieutenant? I would hate to intrude."

I gasp and drop my empty bowl.

"Well…sir…I don't…mind," I stutter, "Please, come in! Ignore the mess, I haven't had time to clean."

He picks up the pieces of the door and sets them to the side. I rush to fix him a bowl of something to drink.

"I hope you don't mind my barging in."

"Oh, I don't mind at all, sir! What brings you here?" I ask as I hand him the bowl.

"I would like to apologize."

Of all the things I thought he would say, this was not one of them.

"Sorry? Sorry for what, sir?"

"I feel I was too forward yesterday."

"You, sir? Oh, no. You were not forward at all!"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, sir!"

He lets out a satisfied grunt and drinks the juice I gave him.

"Sir?"

"Hmm?"

"I would like to apologize too."

"What for, Lieutenant?"

"I…referred to you by your first name." I sigh and bow my head.

He looks at me and gives a grin, "You did? When?"

"When we were mock fighting…don't…don't you remember?"

He cocks his head and scrunches his face. He then turns to me, "Vaguely…but it didn't bother me. You can call me Oreius, when we are not around the recruits."

I grin at him, "Well, in that case, Oreius, you may call me Hafwen. When we aren't around the recruits."

"Alright, Hafwen."

Rhoslyn's POV

"So what would you like to do Flower-Girl? We've got all day." Nen drapes his arm around my shoulders and laughs.

"Well I, Rhoslyn, don't know. What would you like to do?"

"I can think of many things I would like to do…" There is a hint of suggestion in his voice and I immediately shrug his arm off of me. I knew he took this as a sign of dislike since the smile on his disappeared. 'Oh no, he thinks I don't like him!' In an act of desperation I take hold of his hand and smile shyly. "I think I have an idea of what we can do." I squeeze his hand and meet his gaze.

He smiles bashfully and entwines his fingers in mine. "What do you have in mind?" He asks in his cheeky manner as he inches closer towards my face.

"Follow me!" I whisper in his ear.

He glances down at our tightly clasped hands. "Like I have a choice." Before he was done speaking, I dragged him along through the forest at a breakneck speed. "Where are you taking me?"

"Well, since I got to see your home last night, I'll thought I would show you mine!"

I turn to see a nauseating green tint cover his usually pale blue face and sigh. "Maybe we should go a little slower."

Hafwen's POV

Oreius waited for me to change and he walked with me to the training grounds.

"Do you remember growing up with me?"

I smile fondly at the memories we shared, "Yes, Oreius, I do."

"Remember beating up my cousin?"

I really start to laugh at this, "Oh, I remember. The creature was so annoying."

"You don't have to tell me! I'm related to him."

"Do you remember the early days of training? My dad refused to let the trainer move me to the female division?"

His body resonates with a chuckle, "Oh, I remember. They made you fight with me to prove you were just as good as any male."

"You never could beat me."

He chuckles again.

Silence.

"Oreius?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did we never address each other by our names?"

"I never thought about it. I suppose it was drilled into us. I remember having to call you Sprats."

"And I had to call you Dodge."

We kept chatting until we arrived at the grounds. He suddenly stood taller and became the General we all know.

"Well, Lieutenant, it was a pleasure. Inform me if you require assistance with your recruits."

"Thank you, sir. Have a pleasant day."

And with that, we parted.

Rhoslyn's POV

After what felt like years of urging him along, I guess swimming was his main way of transportation; we finally made it to the tiny clearing in the forests where my tree lay. It felt good to be home, to see the serene faces of my flower friends. The sun started to shine and it reflected brilliantly off the brook near the trunk. "I would like to welcome you to my home!" I let go of his hand and danced amongst the sleeping flowers. Nen just looked on smiling. "What's so funny?" I give him an incredulous look.

"You. You're a very unpredictable creature. One minute you're shy and the next you're dancing around. I can't quite figure you out."

"Nymphs are unpredictable creatures! Aren't you?" I ask giving him a wink. I could tell this took him aback.

"Yes."

"No, I don't think so, Nen." I shook my head. "No, not at all." Nen's head drooped in defeat. Feeling responsible I stopped my dancing and walked to where he was standing. "Fine, you're not predictable."

"I know!" In one fluid motion he scoops me into his arms and spins me around.

"Very unpredictable Nen." I say sarcastically.

"I'm not done yet."

"Well now it's not going to be unpredictable since you just tol—" I couldn't finish my sentence cause at that moment I found his lips covering mine. But as soon as they were there, they were gone.

"How was that for unpredictable?" He laughs.

"I, well…um, I…okay?" I stammer. 'He just kissed me. But I'm sure he does that to all the girls.' I think bitterly. I turn away from his gaze. "Did you hear that?"

"Um, hear what?" He asks.

"I think I just heard Hafie!" I spring up into action and run through the woods, all the while trying to keep the tears from falling down my face.

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