Disclaimer:I don't own anything!
Author's Note: Can you tell I already can't wait for another summer vacation?
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Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.
~Sam Keen
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It was a stolen moment, really. They were supposed to be picking herbs to bring back to the Healers. And they had, the basket full and sitting on the grass that coated the hills that made up the capital and the surrounding area.
At the moment, they were lying on said grass, the powerful noon sun weaving its lethargic spell. Martel dozed and Yuan let her. He knew how little sleep she'd had lately. The War was getting shorter and shorter on Healers as more people were sent out to the front lines. Yuan and Kratos had been sent out to fight too, but they were short missions, never too far from the capital.
The hill that they were currently on was in full sunshine—not that either of them minded. The capital—with its high walls and tall buildings—often seemed too close for them. From here, if Yuan sat up, he could see the capital with its buildings gleaming in the sun and the nearby river. He could see even farther than that, beyond the hills to where they flattened out to the farmland and the plains. The horizon here was a warm gold-brown color, like healthy wheat.
Noishe was staying with his master, still refusing to leave his side while Kratos healed. Not that there was much left to heal. Healing magic worked much better when the blood could accept the Healing mana easier, or so Martel had tried to explain to him.
"You're thinking too hard." Martel said, voice drowsy from the heat. Her accent—lyrical and lovely—became more pronounced at times like this.
"Can't help it."
"I'll bet, you being such an educated man and all."
Yuan chuckled and raked his hair out of his face. It was getting long again. "How was your nap?"
"Fantastic. I love this hill." Martel sat up on her elbows, green hair loose from its braid and tangled about her face. "Could you imagine building a house here?"
"Like right where we are?"
"Yeah. Think about it. There's plenty of room for like a garden, maybe even some goats or sheep. It's close to the capital, but not too close."
"Sounds like a good dream." Yuan said, resting his elbows on his knees.
"What do you dream about? After this war is over, what do you want?"
To live with her, here, on this hill with that goat and the few sheep. To wake up next to her with this kind of sunshine making her face glow.. To make breakfast together. To have Kratos and Mithos over and laugh over dinner. To have an entire bookshelf, as tall as from the floor to the ceiling. To tend those sheep like he would have if he hadn't left home, to let them roam these hills. To garden with her.
But the words didn't want to come out
"I haven't really thought about it yet. I guess I can't really imagine it. A world without this war. As far back as I can remember, it was always going on, y'know?"
"Mm. But it can't go on forever."
"Tell that to the guys in charge." Yuan said, twirling a dandelion in his fingers. "…The fields back home would fill up with these every spring. I remember asking my brother once why only in the fields. You know what he told me? They were fluffy, like sheep, so it was a sign that those fields were good for the sheep."
Martel chuckled. "We didn't really have dandelions in Heimdall. It's very…swampy…near there."
"Wait, so the ground is always soggy?"
"No. It's so hot and humid there that the sun dries it quickly. But it isn't good farmland there."
"So what do people do for a living?"
"My uncle was a bookbinder. But since elves live so long, they usually work at whatever craft they want to master. There were blacksmiths and potionmakers. It's all very tranquil, really. Very still."
"It sounds beautiful and a little boring."
She laughed, the sound like silver bells ringing out over the land. "It was a little."
"Do you miss it?"
Her eyes darkened slightly. "…I miss the one that was there before my parents died. It was very different. If the elves hated half-elves then, they never did anything about it. I would go to school and play skiprope with my friends."
Yuan tilted his head back, looking up at the sky. The only clouds were out towards the horizon, signaling a storm soon and a respite from the heat of summer. "Kratos was the first friend that was my age. I was the youngest in my village."
"Who knew that we would end up here?"
"Yeah…who knew?" Yuan didn't know why he did it, didn't know where the impulse came from, but his hand was moving without thought, poking the dandelion into Martel's hair just above her ear. She laughed as some of the spores feathered into her face and Yuan wanted that moment to last forever.
They saw Mithos before he saw them, a blob of blonde bobbing and jogging up the hills. When he finally reached them, his lips twisted in a smile. "And you call me lazy."
"You are lazy." Yuan said, his limbs feeling very much not up to moving.
"Then you should appreciate me coming all the way out here more because of it." Yuan wasn't sure if Mithos had a natural smart mouth or if he'd learned it from him. "Myra wants to talk to you."
"The both of us?"
Mithos shook his head. His hair looked shaggy as it was growing back out and in the morning, it looked worse than Kratos' hair, as Yuan had been kind enough to tell him. "No. Just you, Yuan."
"She say why?"
"You know how she is. I tried to ask and she just told me to get going."
Yuan huffed a sigh. "Alright then." He hefted himself to his feet and held a hand out to Martel. The dandelion in her hair was missing half of its spores and it might look a little ridiculous, but neither of them minded. "Coming? Or do you want to stay out here some more?"
Martel took his hand. "Just let me get my basket."
Mithos looked up at Yuan as Martel crossed the hill to where they'd left the basket. "You like her, don't you?"
"What?"
"You like my sister."
"Your sister's very difficult not to like, kid."
Mithos bristled. He hated being called kid and Yuan knew it. "I meant that you like her."
"No, I don't "like" her."
It wasn't even a lie. Yuan was sure that he loved her.