As of finishing cottg, this is officially an AU now! Also I don't know why the phrasing was so confusing to me, but I'd been having trouble requesting new categories/characters, and I'm super excited because I finally figured it out and got them to add Eve!
Eve sat with her eyes closed, listening to the soft sound of the river, a gentle breeze brushing her face.
Quiet, peaceful moments like this were rare. These sorts of times didn't fit into the type of life Eve led, and she was fine with that for the most part. She absolutely loved going on adventures and finding small thrills every day.
And that just made moments like this all the better when they happened. The weather was nice today, a little bit cool but warm in the sun, just the way Eve liked it. The sound of the river was strangely calming, and Eve loved the way the wind played with her hair. She could sit outside for hours.
It might've been a half hour of pace and quiet after she'd finished her sandwich when Eve noticed something strange. She could feel a dark presence nearby, bringing chills to her arms. She opened her eyes and looked around, but the source of the darkness was not in clear sight.
Concentrating a little harder, Eve thought she could pick out the general direction it was coming from. What should she do? Try to confront it? Things could go bad with a dark being quickly, and she didn't have a weapon in that case anyway. And if this was something from the Blackwood, why would it dare to come this close to the village? All of a sudden, Eve had an idea about what (who) she might be sensing.
She looked straight in the direction the darkness seemed to be, focusing intently. "Seth?" She asked, hoping she was right. If not, this would be awkward at best, a horrible mistake at worst.
The absence of a response was deafening, and Eve could almost hear her heart from how hard it was beating. She was beginning to think that she had been wrong and the dark presence might just stay there watching her when it moved closer and Seth stepped into the open.
"Hi," he said lamely.
"Hi," she said, equally lamely. Eve had not been expecting to run into Seth today. "Umm … what brings you here?"
"Actually, I didn't really come here on purpose," Seth said, shifting on his feet. "I wasn't expecting to end up here today." He smiled at her. "I guess I'm not really complaining, though."
Eve couldn't help but smile back. "Hey, do you want to sit down for a while? Since you're here. If you don't have other business."
"Oh, no," Seth said. "I mean, no, I don't have other business. I'd love to sit with you," he corrected quickly.
Eve scooted to the edge of the bench and patted the spot next to her for Seth to sit down. He did.
"How's life going for you?" Eve asked. "Any new or exciting developments in the Under Realm?"
Seth laughed. "No, not really. It's not super exciting there, but I keep pretty busy."
"What do you do in the Under Realm?" Eve asked before Seth could say whatever he was going to say next. "If you're the king … what kind of stuff do you have to do then?"
"Well, it's kinda more than I expected," Seth said. "Recently I've been moving some undead, giving them a new home in the Under Realm. I find ones that are bothering people up here and bring them down where they can live- well, you know what I mean- with others like them. And they like it better down there. They really do better in dark places. I guess that makes sense, seeing as the Under Realm was kinda made for them." He laughed, and the sound made Eve feel warm on the inside.
"That sounds really nice," she said. "Giving them a new home. Being undead seems … pretty lonely." She shuddered to think about what it must be like. A lonely, cold, miserable life. She felt a little bad for them.
"Yeah, they usually are." Seth shrugged. "It's pretty sad, but they chose that for themselves. Classic case of actions have consequences."
"Wait, they choose it for themselves?" Eve asked. She'd never heard about that before.
"Uh-huh. Well, mostly. They all started off as people, or other magical beings too. Most of them were scared of death or just wanted to live longer than they should, and they sought out this fate. A few exceptions are unfortunate victims of people running into the bad ones, the ones that are able to change others too."
"Wow," Eve said, considering the implications of that. "Huh."
Seth nodded. "How about you?" He asked, changing the subject. "Anything new or interesting going on for you?"
"Not a whole lot of news here either," Eve said, and she was telling the truth. "Although I think I have more excuse to be bored than you do."
They both laughed. "You got me," Seth said. "It's not like I don't have things I could be doing."
Eve stared at him thoughtfully for a moment. "You mean should, don't you? Don't tell me you're ignoring your responsibilities," she laughed.
With a shrug, Seth refused to confirm or deny it. "Like you don't ever ignore responsibilities!"
"I don't have a lot of responsibilities. I'm not the one in charge of the settlement- or, say, a whole kingdom."
Seth rolled his eyes. "I didn't come here to be attacked like this!" He exclaimed dramatically.
Eve laughed again, realizing that she hadn't stopped smiling since he showed up. She didn't really want to. "So how come you're here? Any particular reason?" To see me? The thought popped into her head before she even consciously recognized it. Her first instinct was to dismiss it. She didn't even know why it was there- but, she realized, she did. She knew fully well what that was about.
It took a moment for her to realize that Seth was talking, and she hurried to listen. "...left the Under Realm just to get outside for a little while. Sometimes I like to go on little adventures, you know? Visit somewhere new and also get out of the dark into the fresh air for a while."
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense," Eve agreed, fighting off the disappointment settling in the pit of her stomach. "It must be-"
Seth started talking again at the same time as Eve did. "I sure didn't expect to run into you today. But I'm glad I did. I…" He seemed lost in thought for a moment, like he'd forgotten the word he was looking for. "Sorry, I interrupted you, didn't I? What were you saying?"
"No, you can keep going, it's fine," Eve rushed to assure him, trying not to smile too big. "I won't forget what I was saying in the time it takes you to finish yours."
Seth smiled at her. "I was just saying I don't think I could've come across an adventure that would have been better than getting to see you. I … didn't realize until just now that I actually missed you." He looked away.
Eve could feel her face heating up, and she looked away too, as much to hide the redness she was sure was there as the smile she couldn't crush anymore.
"So … what were you saying?" Seth asked. Eve blanked. She suddenly forgot everything she'd ever wanted to say to anyone in her life.
"Umm … maybe I did forget what I was going to say in the time it took you to finish what you were saying."
They both laughed at that, and Eve felt less nervous than she previously had. "I was talking about why I came here," Seth said slowly. "I left the Under Realm because I wanted to go on some sort of adventure-"
"Oh!" Eve exclaimed. "I've got it! I was just saying it must be kinda tough to stay down there in the dark by yourself."
"Oh, yeah," Seth agreed. "I'll take whatever chance I can get for some sunlight and fresh air. It can be kinda lonely sometimes, but it's not like I'm all alone down there. The Under Realm has plenty of subjects, even if most of them don't talk about much other than complaining. They're better than nothing. Besides, it's not all bad down there. It's actually really nice sometimes. I've got a legit castle thing, and that's really cool! There's a lot of stuff to do. It's only really boring if I let it be. I dunno, I guess … it's only as bad as you make it, you know?"
"I … yeah, I think I do," Eve said softly, looking away again. She knew as well as anyone how tough life could be sometimes. There were always difficult circumstances, whether they were problems within her own family or outside in an entire war. Either way, whatever happened would happen and all she could control was how she responded to that. She couldn't help but admire Seth's optimism about his situation.
They sat together and talked for a while, long enough for Eve to lose track of time. They talked about a lot of things, from small things like how good it was to be in the sun to more meaningful things like appreciating every little good thing in the bad parts of life. Eve told Seth about her family- she didn't mention her parents' divorce; she was never supposed to talk about that- but she told him about the difficult things, how she could barely stand being in the same room as either of her parents sometimes. Seth told Eve about what he did as the Underking and the details of some of his favorite adventures he'd gone on.
It felt like far less time than she knew it had been when Seth finally left. Before he'd gone, he invited her to come back and visit the Under Realm again sometime. Eve had immediately agreed. She already couldn't wait to see him again, and any excuse to get out of her house was good enough for her.
When Eve went to bed that night, a warm feeling embedded in her heart, she wondered what it meant for her that she was already missing Seth again. She knew the implications of that, and she fell asleep wondering what it meant to be in love.
conflicted by the goodness in the love we know
afflicted by the weight of all the pain we sow
