Hah...my heart beats so fast...

Riveria sighed while she walked next to Bell. The thoughts about the morning circled around in her head. She and Bell had confessed their love to each other...and they had kissed...more than one time.

I can´t believe myself...I had my first kiss with Bell...half-naked!...After he hugged me for a whole night! If I count the dream it were more or less three months! And we were half-naked! And then,...we just kissed...and I wore this lewd swimsuit...we were half-naked!

In the past, Riveria had never much thought about love...but even she had pictured her first kiss more romantic than...that. Yes it had felt incredible and she was really happy...but a part deep in her heart wished for something...more...well...girly..like. A beautiful sunset...a romantic scenery...maybe...some flowers...
that would be...perfect...and of course proper clothes! Riveria was a bit old fashioned...

"Hah..."

"Riveria?"

"Bell...everything is okay..."

"Really? I mean..."

"Hm?"

Bell smiled wryly and tapped against his ear. "Your ears are really red...and they twitch...that tells me...you are a bit upset."

"Y-You can read me so well, hm?"

Now Bell showed her a special look. "I try my best to understand the woman I love."

"Mmmh..." Now Riveria´s cheeks got slightly red too.

Hah...I behave like a young girl...

"Wh-What are you staring at..."

"The woman I love."

Kuh...

Riveria had often scolded Ais, Tiona or Lefiya when they got too distracted or acted lovey dovey with Bell...but now she could understand these feelings...it was hard for her to focus on the path.

But Riveria just couldn´t help it, her mood was as good as it wasn´t in a long time. She had a vision in her dream where the flower might be, so she had a direction to move into...and she was finally honest with her feelings about Bell.

"Bell...I´m sorry...please give me some time...I´m not used to that...okay?"

He nodded while they walked. "Take your time, I won´t push you or anything like that."

"Thank you, Bell. I l-l-lo..."

Her ears got redder by the second...it wasn´t easy for her to speak the words out loud. It still was an interesting new experience for Riveria, what she had imagined it could be like wasn´t even close to the real feelings.

But first things first, they had to travel to the Royal Forest now. Moving all the way to the south to get to Wishe again, then to north would take over a month, and they didn´t had that much time. Amid told her that Aina had six months at maximum and Riveria didn´t dared to challenge her luck. So both would move to the south, the big city Altenia had a small port to the west, it was the closest point to cross the sea to the main land...it would take maybe half a day or so to travel with the boat, they still had to travel south first.
From time to time, Bell bent down and picked various things up from the ground, like nuts, mushrooms and other things. Sadly Riveria didn´t got a bottle with wine from this forest, but she would try to get two in the Royal Forest.

"How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much wood As a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood."

Bell tried to improve his elvish further with a tongue-twister that Riveria teached him.

"Bell?"

"Yes?"

"Tell me, why are you so eager to improve your elvish? It sure helps to talk to my people, but..."

His smile was filled with love when he looked at her. "So I can tell the women I love just how much I love them...and thell them honestly how beautiful they are."

"*Cough* Th-That´s your main reason?"

Bell shook his head. "Not my main reason...my only reason to be honest."

Riveria raised an eyebrow...was the man she fell for that romantic?

.

.
Their travel through the Forest continued, but while they walked pretty fast, they wouldn´t get out of it today.

Riveria frowned slightly.

"Mmmh...it looks like it is about to rain...I am not eager to repeat the experience from yesterday..."

Bell chuckled.

"While it was wet and cold...I won´t complain about it."

"*Cough*..Y-You know what I mean..."

He just couldn´t resist to tease Riveria a tiny little bit, Bell was just too happy to be honest with his romantic feelings towards her. They traveled through a part of the Forest where the elves didn´t went often, even the elves of Ryumilua couldn´t control the whole forest and there was a chance of monsters lurking around somewhere.
While Riveria´s senses, especially her ears, were really sharp...Bell had something of a sixth sense...he felt eyes on them the whole time...as if someone or something was watching them.
The rumbling of the sky got louder as it became darker, the wind slowly got colder and other signs appeared that spoke of another thunderstorm. Both didn´t wanted to get all wet again...Riveria wasn´t eager to let Bell see her again in that swimsuit...at least not so early...maybe some day in the future...but that would be a long time until then.

"Anyway, we should seek shelter."

"I´m with you there, let´s look for it while we walk."

Both sped up a bit and looked around, even if the forest was close to the sea, there should be one or two caves here.

.

.

"What do you say?"

"It looks better than nothing...and I hear the first drops coming down from the sky."

"Then we should go in."

After twenty more minutes walking they had found a cave...it looked more like the entrance to a tunnel than a cave. With a height of about two meters it was not very high, but far better than camping outside. Bell went first, for more than one reason. Vesta was the best weapon for close quarters, he was wearing pieces of his armor so he would be better protected in the event of an ambush...plus his heart rebelled against letting Riveria advance into the unknown.

Bell activated the small magic stone lamp he had and walked ahead.

"Bell, I hear something...but I can´t tell what it is...the sound is strange."

"Okay, let us be careful."

They had to explore the tunnel, camping at the entrance might bear the danger of getting ambushed in their sleep. Riveria looked behind her every few seconds and focussed on her ears, it was her job as the rear guard.
The tip of her staff gave off a faint glow, so she used it to look at the sides, there might be hidden side tunnels in the shadows. The tunnel went down and down...it reminded Riveria of something that she couldn´t put her finger on.

Eventually they reached the bottom, a big room...no that didn´t really desribed it...it was an enormous cave...at least as big as the whole Loki Mansion. Small crystals hang from the ceiling, glowing faintly, Bell turned off the lamp and looked around.
They could see enough to notice other tunnels leading away from the cave, suddenly Riveria turned her head to the right.

"Riveria?"

"There was a movement over there...I heard something but it went away too fast."

"Do you think there are monsters down here?"

"Most likely, but I can´t tell which ones."

"This cave...the crystals...it somehow reminds me of the Dungeon...but the walls are made from earth and not stone. It almost looks like an animal den."

"I thought the same...well there are monsters that look close to animals...and since they are natural on the surface, maybe wild living monsters don´t behave so different."

"The question is now...should we turn away and leave?`I have the feeling that these tunnels are pretty long, maybe with other caves."

"And probably other exits...even if they aren´t as big as the one here. The air down here is too clean for just one entrance, otherwise it would smell more musty."

"And there is something else."

"It is too clean, right?"

"Exactly."

If monsters lived here, the cave was much different from what one would expect. There were wild living monsters out there that attacked and devoured people...like they had seen the Minotaurs cave. But here was mostly earth and a few smaller rocks...even some leaves in small piles...another sign that something lived in here.

"Maybe it would be wise t-!"

Riveria stopped her words when the cave started to shake a bit...from all directions.

"What?! Riveria! Get behind me!"

Immediately, the elf moved with her back to Bell, so that they nearly touched. Bell readied Vesta and held his left hand up, in case he needed to use magic. Riveria readied her staff with both hands, she was trained enough to know which kind of movements she could do with a staff while someone was behind her.

"I hear squeaking!"

"Should we try to run?!"

"There are sounds from the main tunnel too."

"An ambush?"

"Most likely...here they come!"

Squeaks and whistles swelled from all the tunnels at once...it was like an avalanche moving toward them...a living avalanche. At the last moment they both got into a fighting stance...then the avalanche poured into the cave...a very small...furry...white avalanche...with red eyes...

"Al´Miraj!"

Dozens and dozens of the small rabbit type monsters washed into the cave from all sides, some of them used sticks, some small tools or weapons they had got their paws on. They didn´t attacked immediately, but waited until their sheer number would overwhelm them. Even with both being level six...this was a very dangerous situation.

"Kiii! Kiii!"

One of the Al´Mirajs was slightly bigger than the others, this one held an elven short sword in it´s paws...probably stolen or found in the forest.

"Is that their leader?!"

"I don´t have time to look behind me right now, Bell!"

"Read-!"

"Kiiiiii!"

The leader Al´Miraj raised the short sword and the army of monsters washed forward...the whole cave was filled with white fur, small horns and red glowing eyes.

You won´t hurt her...not on my watch!

Bell growled, raised Vesta, which runes started to glow as she already charged his blade, a small flame appeared on his left hand...and the hood of his travel coat slipped back, revealing his head.

In only a few seconds, the Al´Miraj were within striking distance...and stopped.

"Ki...Kiii?"

The Al´Mirajs in the front row just stopped, everyone else behind them stopped as well...and stared at them...no...not both of them...just Bell. They weren't all the same size, some were a little smaller and the largest ones were just up to Bell's waist...not counting his ears.

"Kii...Kii!"

One by one, the Al´Mirajs lowered their weapons and stared at Bell with wide eyes.

"Bell?! What happened? They all just stand here!"

Some of the rabbit monsters looked back and forth between them, some just looked at Riveria after looking at Bell, but around ninety percent just stared at Bell.

He was more than confused by their behaviour.

Then...

""""""""""Kii! Kii! Kii!""""""""""

The Al´Mirajs started to chant...and dropped down to their knees. All of them kneeled down before the two...or rather...before Bell.

"Wh-What are they doing?!"

Riveria watched the strange behaviour of the monsters...then the direction they looked at...then at Bell.

"Pfft..."

"Riveria?"

"Kuku..Ku..."

"Ri...veria?"

"Aha...ahahah..."

Bell never heard this noise from Riveria before...she...laughed. Not chuckling or smirking...Riveria laughed.

"Aha...Ahahahaha! I´m sorry Bell...but...Ahahaha!"

Never before had he heard a sound more beautiful...Riveria started to laugh from the bottom of her heart. Her right hand was put around her stomach, her left up and she slightly covered her mouth while she tried to stop her laughing.

"Fuha...Fuhahaha!"

It was the first truly happy sound that Riveria had made since she came to Bell´s home to ask him for help.

"Wh-What are you laughing at?!"

"Their noise! Ahahah...I´m sorry..."

"Huh?"

"They think...ahaha...you are...pfft...their king!"

"WHAT?!"

It was true, when Bell looked at the rabbit monsters...they looked up to him with shining eyes. His Knife, the flame, his white hair and red glowing eyes...together with his white armor...they thought of Bell as one of their kind...a very big and powerful one...a...King Rabbit...

Tears started to dwell from Riveria´s eyes, she just couldn´t calm down...Bell´s shocked expression didn´t helped...the last time she laughed like that was when Ais told him that Bell ran away from her again, after her fight with Udaeus back then.

It took a few moments for Riveria to calm down and wipe away her tears...Bell would never forget this moment...how wonderful her laughter sounded.

Then...

Sniff...Sniff...Sniff...

A few Al´Miraj sniffed at Bell and then at Riveria...she was a bit confused about the way they changed between them...and eventually...

""""""""""Quii! Quii! Quii!""""""""""

"What do they do now?"

"Kuh...is this...payback?"

Riveria frowned...she had a guess what they did now.

The monsters looked back and forth between them...they thought of Bell as their king...and since Riveria had Bell´s smell on her body due to him hugging her half naked...they thought...she was his mate.
Well technically Riveria was...but it was too soon to be thought of having a bodily relationship with Bell.

"Don´t tell me..."

Bell couldn´t help but chuckle.

"I guess so...my queen."

The tips of her ears were slightly red...it wasn´t entirely because of embarrassement.

.

"Kii! Quii! Kii! Quii!"

Suddenly, the Al´Mirajs started to push them and shove them towards a tunnel.

"Eh, Ah...Riveria!"

"Bell, I´m behind you!"

The wave of rabbits kept pushing and shoving them.

.

.

"Hah...is this really happening right now?"

Riveria sighed while Bell smiled wryly. The Al´Miraj had led them towards the apparently main cave of the rabbit hole. It was even bigger than the one they saw...with places all over where the Al´Miraj could sleep...there were fire places in here...all of them lit up.
Bell and Riveria...sat on some kind of thrones...it were actually big armchairs made by elves...Riveria didn´t wanted to ask why they had these...or why they stored them. Many Al´Miraj looked as excited to Riveria as they did to Bell...when they thought of Bell as their king...they seemed to believe Riveria was...their queen.

"Bell...I don´t want to hear a word from you right now..."

"Ehe...don´t worry...my queen."

"Kuh..."

The Al´Miraj seemed to be beyond happy...they started a feast. They seemed to have hunted animals in the forest and started to fry them. But not only that, some dragged in a very big pot...bigger than most of the Al´Miraj were.
It was hard to believe these were wild monsters...but yet wild monsters behaved different from the ones in the dungeon. Al´Miraj even acted together all the time in the dungeon, this is what made them strong and dangerous.

A bigger Al´Miraj...maybe it was their cook? Did monsters had something like that? In any case the bigger one started to move a laddle in the pot, after they put in water, vegetables and meat...apparently he wanted to make some kind of stew...

"Bell...do you think...are these...also some of the Xenos?"

"You know the Xenos?!"

"Of course I do."

Riveria raised her right eyebrow. "Who do you think gave Ms. Ray her room in one of our towers? She became rather good friends with Tione, but it were Loki, Finn, Gareth and me who watched over her, I talked to her a few times too."

"And...what do you think about them?"

"They are different from normal monsters, simply as that. Now back to my question."

"I...don´t think they are like that...maybe...well...they see us as part of their...family? You know, like real rabbits."

"Does this happen often to you, Bell?"

"That people think I´m a rabbit? Yeah...more often than I like..."

The Al´Miraj at the pot raised the ladle and waved with it´s paw the steam to it´s snout, sniffing before...smirking... Other acted like butchers for the meat...and they started to use their tools to hammer rhytmic against their pots or boards.
The Al´Miraj that sat around stomped with their tiny feet on the ground, joining the rythm...then they started to squeak. It was a very strange sight to see all these bunny-like monsters swaying back and forth to some sort of song. The bigger ones...the butchers...moved between the rows with trays of meat and vegetables...they bit anyone who tried to do the work for them...apparently it was their part of the community.
From wherever that came, they brought small barrels of some alcohol and wooden jugs...by no means did they drink normal, much of the alcohol ran over their fur as they gulped...many of them were a mess already from meat juice.
Never did the stomping of the tiny feet stopped...maybe they...had fun? Could normal monsters experience something like that? They really let themselves go, eating, drinking, fighting, burping and much more. Some swayed together while singing their squeak.

Bell noticed that Riveria frowned more and more...she didn´t liked that at all.

When one of the butchers came close to her, it tripped and some of the meat juice got on Riveria´s boot.

Oh oh...

Before Bell could stop her, Riveria got up to her feet.

"Enough of this!"

The Al´Miraj stopped their quieking startled, as well as the stomping.

"This is no way to behave! You there! Drink normally, you get it all over your fur! You, wipe your snout and don´t stuff it so much! Chew your food more! Don´t waste so much food and don´t drink so much alcohol!"

Riveria kept on lecturing the Al´Miraj, their eyes were really wide, but as they saw not even their "king"...or rather the "Rabbit King monster" that they thought he was, spoke against his queen, they immediately followed..

Bell thought if he was maybe dreaming...Riveria lectured monsters...and they actually followed her orders. More and more order started to form... The feast continued...but more...orderly. Riveria even told them to stop stealing things from elves and bothering them, that they should live as one with the nature and don´t disturb their neighbours...Bell couldn´t believe when he saw them nodding...they really listened to her.

It was...a strange evening...but Bell had only eyes for Riveria...even this side of her was so lovely.

My princess...my queen...

Riveria Ljos Alfr would be the only mortal to ever do something like that...lecture wild monsters and drill some manners into them...the Al´Miraj would always follow the orders of the "Queen".

.

.

.
Of course there was no way they could sleep in a monsters cave, so after the Al´Miraj calmed down after their feast, Riveria nodded to the exit. She really looked like a true queen, so gracefully did she move.
No monster tried to stop her or Bell, they just waved to them as they went on their way to leave the cave.

"Bell."

"Riveria?"

"Hah...did that really just happen?"

"I...think so...their are strange places in the world."

"Indeed."

Thankfully it hadn´t rained much...also the evening sun came out again. They wandered further to the south, until they found a place near a glade to set up their camp for the evening. Sadly there was no chance to wash themself somewhere, so wiping down their bodies had to do it.
Both went behind some trees before doing that, to look at the others body so soon after confessing was a no go for both.

.

Bell slowly moved his ladle through the small pot, he made a stew on his own...a very special stew.

"Bell...where exactly did you got all those ingredients?"

"I asked in the various forests that we visited or picked them up on the way."

The stew contained of six different kinds of mushrooms.

"I didn´t knew you like mushrooms so much." Riveria looked at him from the side.

"Oh I eat them, my grandfather used to make an excellent stew...but that wasn´t the reason I made this today."

"Then why?"

"Because mushrooms are your favorite food."

"Huh?"

It was rare to see Riveria perplexed.

Bell scratched his cheek with his index finger and blushed lightly while he smiled.

"I´m sorry...before we went on the journey...Eina was ordered to tell me from Ms. Aina, that your favorite food are mushrooms...especially fried or in a stew.

Hah...Aina...did you plan ahead again?

Riveria couldn´t be mad with her dear friend.

"And did she told you other of my secrets?"

"No, and I wouldn´t dare to ask...I just...wanted to make you happy, Riveria."

"Why that?"

He said nothing, just smiled...she wasn´t used to flirting, so Riveria kept silent too. The stew tasted heavenly...how much she missed eating so many different mushrooms. Riveria was still troubled with her emotions, she didn´t knew what to do and how to behave after confessing her love to Bell.

But thankfully, it was Bell who she had fallen for.

"Riveria?"

"Yes, Bell?"

"I would like to show you something...would you follow me in a few minutes?"

"Where do you plan to go?"

"The glade...would you do that for me?"

She looked a bit confused about what he might be planing, but she trusted him.

"Of course, go ahead."

"Thank you...Riveria."

.

.

.
That should be enough time...let´s see what he planned.

After cleaning up the cooking tools, Riveria got up and followed Bell´s way. The sun was about to go down and filled the forest in a golden light...it was even more beautiful on the glade.
Various flowers grew here, in many colors and forms. Bell waited with his back to her in the middle of the glade, Riveria slowly walked towards him.

"Bell?"

Slowly, he turned around and smiled to her. He held a simple bouquet in his hands, of flowers from the glade.

"Riveria..."

Bell slowly went down on one knee in front of her and raised the flowers towards her.

.

.

"It is not your conversation

That keeps me entertained

But rather the way you look at me

That makes me feel sustained

It's the curve of your lips

And the curl of your hair

T'is all of the little things

That make me stop and stare."

.

.

"It is not your intelligence

That drew me close to you

It is not your sense of humour

That has thrown me all askew

It's the touch of your hand

And the thoughts in your head

T'is all of the little things

The things that don't get said."

.

.

"It's not your vivid history

That's made me fall in love

It's not your comprehension

Of the world or what's above

It is your soft temperament

And the way you smile at me

T'is all of the little things

That make me want to see."

.

.

"It's not when we are talking

That I want to know some more

It is not whilst you teach me

I learn what I'm looking for

It is the time we spend alone

And the time in utter silence

T'is all of the little things

That form a strong alliance."

.

.

"It's not the job you work so hard

That shows your true commitment

It's not your serious habits

That give me great fulfilment

It is the way you use your hands

And the way I have been chosen

T'is all of the little things

Why for me, your appearance is golden."

.

.

Kneeling like that and raising the flowers to her was not to propose to Rivera. Bell had learned about elven ethics and forms to confess the love...again this was a secret tip from Aina that Bell got via Eina...and also Lefiya to another time.
Since Riveria was a bit old fashioned, Bell wanted to show her his love in a lyrical, old fashioned way. Riveria had dreamed of her first kiss as more romantic...and now Bell gave her a chance to a romantic confession.

At first Riveria said nothing, then she slowly raised her hand and took the flowers from Bell, moving them to her father and smelling them in silence. A smile as beautiful as he had never seen before bloomed on her face.

"I love you, Riveria."

Her smile widened and he saw that she was deeply touched.

"And I love you, Bell."

She held her other hand to him, Bell gently closed his around hers and got back up to his feet. Riveria´s eyes shone from happiness...she had listened to his poem and the feeling of love had spread in her heart...that was why he had learned elvish so hard...to not make any mistake.
The sun slowly went down and filled the whole scenery in golden light...it couldn´t become more perfect...more romantic.

Riveria looked at him without saying a word when Bell moved closer, gently holding her hand, placing his other on her hip. She stretched out her arm with the flowers and closed her eyes...waiting.

She just got the perfect kiss from Bell...gentle...loving...amorous...soft...just...perfect.

Her heart got filled with even more love for Bell...that he wanted to give her this moment...she would never forget it.

.

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They needed all in all two weeks to get from Altenia over the sea, on land again and moving towards the their destination...

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Riveria´s home Forest.

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Authors Note: I didn´t skipped the travel to rush things, but it wouldn´t really add something to the story. Next chapter is for Spirit Child, then here and so on. We´re slowly coming to the climax of Riveria´s story.