Author's Note: Thank you for your patience everyone, and I bet that you must've loved the last cliffhanger! :3 Just kidding! Anyway, I'm sorry for not posting for so long, but Y'all can appreciate how I hand-wrote this chapter first, then typed it, and then proofread it three times! In the meantime, thank you this time though to GreencloakJess, daughterofhadesneeksdiangelo, and Tsukuyomi125 for your subscriptions!
Also, I didn't notice this earlier, but happy birthday to this fanfiction story! It has now survived for over a year and a half! I've also decided that the minor romance themes and a small increase of bloodshed later will have to raise the story's appropriation rating to T. Don't worry though, you can put your faith in me, because I won't have anything inappropriate happen for sure. I still will have the love-shipping of Reilin though! :D Without further ado, enjoy the benchmark, that has been set with the support of so many fans. Enjoy this chapter… and the facepalm-worthy actions of our lovely, Spirit Animals couple! :3 Love brings surprises around the corner!
Rollan hollered, "No!" as Meilin made the perilous fall. She fell out of their reach and disappeared into the darkness. Rollan couldn't watch this anymore. He bowed his head and let his dark strands of hair cover his face. Refusing to believe this, he forced himself to use all his might, and used his fist to strike the dirt beneath him, as he felt his own, moist tears cover his face.
A small rainstorm begun. A few raindrops splattered in his hair, while Rollan tried to swallow the feeling of horror. How could he just let her fall? Why did he suddenly hesitate in his attempt to save her?! Rollan threw his hair wildly and cried out in anguish, as he let the stars spin around him, while he shook his head. It was difficult to drag his muscles into doing what he wanted, as he was still frozen in place. He was practically wrestling himself in place now, before he forced himself into a kneeling position and peeled his eyes open.
He didn't peer behind himself, but he could hear Jhi moan in grief. He could also sense that Essix was still struggling to even keep her own eyes open, while she was shaking and squawking behind him.
Rollan listened to his own shuddering, heavy breathing. He had created a mistake that he could never fix, but if there was one thing that he could do right, he resolved that it would be to find Meilin's body, and bring it back home.
Unanticipatedly, Rollan suddenly found himself staring at a set of teeth that suddenly appeared and flashed in the dark of the night, before the hulking figure of its owner of that pair of teeth, dashed off. Its owner swiftly used its four legs to bound over the edge of the cliff, before it reared back. Slowly, it used its hind legs to drag itself back up, sending dirt particles flying from underneath its feet. Unexpectedly, what dragged up with him was…
"Meilin!" shouted Rollan exhilaratingly.
At this heartening surprise, Rollan promptly broke out of his paralysis, and dashed towards Meilin's slumped figure. He pulled her back up with Jools, her savior, and together, they propped her up gently against a twisted tree trunk. Jools let go of his nip on Meilin's collar, before he strode aside to let Rollan analyze her condition.
Jhi sprung over too, after she and Essix broke out of their trance too. Jools let go of his grip on Meilin's collar when Jhi nudged him affectionately, before Essix soared into the air.
Rollan observed Essix's strength, as she took off at such speed in the darkness. Afterward, he then settled down, and watched after Meilin. Rollan gazed at Meilin, as he heard her soft breathing again. It was such a relief that she was alive, but what she clearly needed now was someone's care.
Rollan edged towards Meilin and kneeled down gently, before he brushed her bangs aside. The light rainstorm had now strengthened a bit, causing more raindrops to land on Meilin's eyelashes. Rollan gently wiped off the raindrops as they plopped onto Meilin's eyelids. He secretly admired her beauty, while he revived the memory of how close he was to losing her. He would've never heard her breathing again, nor would he ever have a chance to hear her laughter. Rollan wondered how her laughter might sound, as he pursed his parched lips together. This gave him the reminder that they needed to retrieve food and water at some point.
Besides him, Jhi, the Great Panda, and Jools, the brown bear, made eye contact with each other about this couple in front of them. They snorted and smiled mischievously at the pair, before they lumbered off at a quiet caw from Essix. Meilin was slowly regaining consciousness, as she was groggily blinking. She then raised a hand to her head and groaned from pain, as she rubbed it.
Rollan was watching Meilin doing this, as they rested underneath a crooked tree, that was barren of leaves. Unexpectedly, he saw that Meilin's eyes flashed, and she lashed out at him! Rollan yowled, "Ow! What was that for?" when Meilin high-kneed him, and he felt the blow on his chin, sending him plunging back.
Meilin jerked up into a sitting position and stopped leaning against the tree. Her senses had awakened, and she discovered Rollan rubbing his chin and wincing. After observing their situation, Meilin proposed that it might've been her constant, sudden impulse to fight. She clapped a hand to her mouth, before saying, "Oh! Rollan, I'm so sorry!"
Rollan rubbed his bruised chin and snorted with good cheer, "Ya, well glad that you're alright. You were sleepwalking earlier, and I… Well, Jools saved you, before you struck me; probably because you thought that I was a spooky tree or something. But the next time that I try and save you, I'll stand back a mile away, when you're safe, or else I'll get hit again."
Meilin smirked at his comment on her might, before that expression disappeared. She rubbed her arm, as she somehow felt a bit reluctant to apologize, but of course it was wrong to hurt her defender. Meilin thought, "Defender? Did I just really use that word? I don't need a bodyguard." She relived the memories of when her father had always insisted that she should take an escort and a bodyguard with her, back in Zhong. This had all changed though, when she could prove that she could defend herself. When her father had excused her bodyguards and escorts, she still remembered the baffled expressions on their faces, as these workmen found it peculiar of why a pompous girl did not need any caretakers. They said nothing as they had their departure though. Shortly, Meilin found herself staring awkwardly into Rollan's eyes. They cast emotionless expressions at each other as if they were having a staring contest, since neither turned away from each other's gaze.
Overhead, Essix had returned and she cawed, "Aww, what did I miss between you two, hmm?"
Rollan blinked twice and stopped gawking at Meilin, before he looked up at Essix and insisted sternly, "Nothing, Essix."
Essix made a spiral in the air, before she landed on a tree branch and nodded skeptically, "Uh-huh…"
Rollan didn't catch Essix's skepticism, before asking, Did you find our cave?"
Essix fretted at their unwillingness to answer, "I think so, and I'll lead you to it— under one condition. If you tell me what you and your pretty Miss Fiancé were doing here, then…"
Rollan declared in a warning tone, "Essix…"
Essix sighed, "Okay, fine. Come along, and I'll lead you to your wedding arch… I mean, your nice, curvy cave."
Rollan rolled his eyes and exclaimed, "Good. Now, everyone else, please follow along, since I don't want you to get left behind."
Essix tittered, "Ya, and you especially don't want to leave Meilin behind."
Rollan scoffed and ignored that, knowing that it was going to take a while, or an eternity, for a persistent Essix to stop.
Shortly, Meilin found herself trudging alongside Rollan, as Essix was leading them back to their cave up ahead, while she flapped her great pair of wings. The pair of bears behind them were keeping guard, as they made snorts of air of laughter behind them.
Unfocusing for that short moment though, would cost Meilin her dignity for a while. Her boot had unexpectedly got caught by something, and she lurched forward violently. She gasped with pain and looked down to find that the loose tendrils of a tree had wrapped around her leg. She tugged at the wild mess, but that only made her other foot stumble, and cause another pang of pain to shoot up her leg. The next thing that she knew was her unsuccessful attempt at tugging at the tangle of roots had backfired. Her whole body had been thrown off-balance, and with her back facing her hill, she began to topple down from the top of the hill. The gnarled roots of the tree still entangled her feet, and they held on for a moment, before they suddenly released Meilin. This caused Meilin to accidentally jab her knee into Rollan's thigh, causing him to tumble with her! The weight of the two finally caused the roots to sever completely, sending them both somersaulting down the hill together!
The two of them fell with shrieks and shouts of anguish, as they toppled onto one another and slid down the muddy hill, which had been soaked by rain. They finally sprawled out at the bottom of the grubby hill.
Rollan hacked at the disgusting mud, while Meilin finally opened one eyelid anxiously after their perilous fall, and sat up.
Their faces were covered with mud and remains of dead plants, as leaves were strewn in their hair. From a distance, Essix nearly mistook them for treetops. Meilin shrieked, when she finally finished observing her surroundings. She had landed right on top of Rollan's belly! Their faces had been so close that...
"You could've kissed!" cackled Essix.
Meilin took her hands off of his shoulder and chest, before she leapt off of him immediately. It took a moment for Rollan to also regain his senses when he realized what had happened. His cheeks turned red like a tomato, as he thought that he could see Meilin's cheeks glow a bit pink. After his daze, his face expression softened when he charmingly asked, while smoothing his soiled hair, "Are you okay? It's better that you did land on me, rather than landing on top of some rocks that could've cut your captivating... um… hair! Ya, hair! That's what I meant." Rollan rubbed his head and as he grinned absurdly in this awkward situation. He reviewed his clumsy choice of words; what he really meant was 'face,' instead of 'hair'.
Meilin face-palmed herself so hard at that unattractive line, that it sent dirt particles tumbling out of her sordid hair. She pulled a twig out of her hair, and was tempted to whap him for that, thinking that that was supposed to be an insult. Seeing his warm grin though, made her relax. She dropped her fighting stance, and… laughed along with him too. Meilin ran her fingers through her hair and tried to recall when was the last time she had a good laugh. Part of her wanted to land amongst the sharp rocks instead of onto Rollan, but seeing his smile was definitely better than seeing another worried face in the crowds. She giggled, "Ya, and nice… um…" She scratched her mangy hair, before she finally thought of how to complete the sentence. "Laugh?" she completed, and they both started giggling at how absurd they seemed. They laughed until Essix party-crashed!
Essix squawked excitedly, "Oo, oo!I know a better word! How about 'lips,' instead of 'laugh'?!"
Rollan's face fell at Essix's message. Meilin did too, even though she didn't hear Essix's message. It sounded like cawing to her, but she felt that something was off. They both ended up staring at Essix for a while.
An aghast expression was stuck on Rollan's face, while Essix squawked, "What? I'm being realistic for the two of you, lovebirds."
Rollan began to inch away from Meilin to try and make Essix stop. Meilin looked at his action painstakingly, before she decided to do so too when she realized that they both weren't acting… like friends anymore?
Essix didn't even need to use her night vision in order to know that both of them had a small blush that appeared on their cheeks in the shadows. She gave them their time to review their lovely moment, before they turned away from each other. Essix shook her head at these timid lovebirds. She landed on Rollan's shoulder, and tried to urge him to turn around and face Meilin. Unfortunately, they only dived farther away, when the pair of bears came rolling down the hill at an incredible speed! Essix sighed as they only got themselves dirtier, than happier.
Meilin sighed. Before she could come up with another response, an unexpected whistling could be heard above them. Meilin peered upwards, and saw that Essix was pursing her beak into an 'O' shape, as she was doing a little dance on Rollan's shoulder. Meilin wanted to giggle a bit, but she only managed to glare at Essix for ending their moment a bit earlier. Plus, seeing that Rollan was wincing with every moment that Essix's claws were landing on his shoulder blade was more piteous, than funny.
Essix shook her wings even more frantically, and began attempting to whistle faster… no, she wasn't whistling, she was…
Meilin put a hand on her hip, before jabbing a finger towards Essix and demanding, "Don't you shush me!"
Essix narrowed her eyes, and looked away, as she felt annoyed by this girl, who just swung her dark hair behind her arrogantly. She then pulled her beak into what was a bird's scowl, while she kept attempting to shush them. To her misfortune, she was a bird, so of course it was hard for a bird to make a 'shhh' sound with her beak. Therefore, all that Essix could do was keep on making whistling noises to them, even though she thought that her puny whistles sounded more like wind that was howling in the trees.
Rollan used the sleeve of his frayed shirt to wipe debris off of his face, before he used his arm to cover his face. He called, "Okay, okay, Essix. We get your warning. Now can you please stop spitting at us?"
Essix squawked in shock, "First, it's the word, 'may' for that sentence. Second of all, ew, I'm not spitting!"
Rollan stated, "Okay, then tell us what you saw, Essix; it sounds urgent. And Essix, I thought that you'd be keeping guard by looking out for trouble, not leading us to it!"
Essix pecked, "Oh ya, maybe I shouldn't let you know of how I kinda' failed my job then. And er… it wasn't my fault anyway, since both of you managed to tumble down the wrong side of the hill anyway!"
An ounce of irritation began to come down on Rollan, and he began tapping his toes at Essix's untruthfulness, "Essix… I know that you know the truth, so spill it."
Essix let out a bird's sigh, before she squawked and began transmitting more messages to Rollan's mind. She laughed in a taunting voice, "Okay, you asked for it. I'm so sorry, Rollan. I got distracted from my scouting, because I was busy daydreaming about when you both have a wedding, then what type of flowers should I shower you and Mei— I mean, you mystery bride with?"
Rollan bounced back at that message, confusing everyone else, for they had not heard Essix's message, but they saw Rollan's reaction. Rollan exclaimed, "Okay, if that's the truth, then I don't want to hear it."
Essix squawked, "Told you so."
All of a sudden, their quarrel was halted by some unexpected noises. Across from them, the shrubbery's leaves began to rustle, before a twig snapped amidst. Within an instant, to the small group's despair, a pair of Conquerors had emerged.