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Note to my readers #3: This chapter has been hard to motivate myself to get started on. Just a slow couple of days, I guess. Sorry to keep all you guys waiting! As an apology in advance for the contents of this chapter, please don't hate me. This is a very emotional stretch, and I hope it is bearable for all my readers. Well... see you all story-side!
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"Phial! Phial! Phial!" Sinika's voice was loud and sharp, echoing into the empty dry air of the snowy peaks near Pokke. They had hunted the Tigrex without luck for days. Now that they had seen it, it was too much for a lifetime. Sinika was running along in a trench at the bottom of a fifteen foot drop with one angry Tigrex plowing towards her from behind. There was barely enough room for the wyvern's broad wing-arms, so it was moving far slower than it may have ever travelled in its chaotic and angry could hear the snow above her crunching where Yu-Yian was running parallel to her on the ledge. That is... she could hear him in between the ear-piercing roars of the enraged monster on her heels. She suddenly felt the air open up around her, and she peeled off to the side, holding a hand up over her head towards the ledge. Just in the nick of time, she felt a large phial pressed into her palm, and she immediately snapped it in place in her switchaxe. Acting almost faster than she could think, she began the swing of the great switchaxe, toggling the mechanisms to switch it into a sword mid-swing. As its massive weight swung out to the side, she could hear the hiss as the phial engaged the veins running through the blades, and the explosive vapor left a trail halfway through the swing. With perfect timing, the Tigrex blasted out of the constricted cavern like a bat out of hell, only to be met in one of its wingarms by the massive sword blade. There was the sound of crunching bone, and Sinika felt the monster's hot blood spatter her arm, and then that expected explosion as the phial's special liquid detonated, further obliterating the monster's wing-arm in a intensely hot blast. She knew that wouldn't be enough to put it down, so she used the momentum to swing the sword in an arc around her, switching it back into axe mode in the middle of her swing. Far sooner than she expected, she heard a roar, still not of pain, but of fury as the creature spiraled with its shattered second wing-arm dangling into the snow, and with its remaining three legs, it charged her. She wasn't ready for it to bounce back so fast. It was like destroying one of its limbs had only made it faster. She couldn't get the blade of the heavy axe into position in time before she was suddenly thrown back by a full-on headbut from the giant rage-machine. It took her a second or so to register the pain, and she lay in shock on the ground as the creature plowed past her with its momentum, one of its hind legs stepping on her arm on its way. She lay on her back in shock, unseeing eyes staring wide-open at the sky above. Her ears were ringing, and she was truly blind as she lay there. Then, the adrenaline kicked in. Her hearing returned sharply, and she hopped to her feet. She went raise her sword arm with the switchaxe in it, but it refused to come. Something was wrong, but she didn't have time to figure out what. Reaching around her, she soon found the switchaxe sitting nearby in the snow, and she used the arm she still had command over to pick it up. In an adrenaline-amplified show of superhuman strength, she raised the switchaxe up, and toggled it into sword mode. She might only have one more swing left in her, so she braced herself. Nothing happened, though. In fact, it was frighteningly quiet. Until she heard Yu-Yian. His words were all hysterical. She couldn't make out what he was trying to say. Soon, he was directly in front of her, and she felt a hand go to her shoulder. He sounded panicked. Soon, she picked out what he was saying. Even hearing what he was saying word for word, her mind only managed to translate the sum of his frantic words in a basic idea. Apparently the Tigrex was dead... it had lunged off the cliff, unable to stop itself with one less arm, but it had... taken her arm with it?" she paled for a moment. Dropping the switchaxe, she reached over with her good arm to grip the wrist of her unresponsive arm, and felt... nothing... she reached higher and higher, and still nothing... and then she felt it. She had thought it had just stepped on her... but she could feel the tattered flesh from its bitemarks. The heat of her blood was radiating from the wound, but at least it seemed to not be bleeding profusely. She felt arms go to her shoulders as she started to list a bit, and then... nothing.
It could have been hours. It could have been days. Sinika felt the infinite void of her awareness starting to materialize as distinctive sounds came in, and her mind began to make sense of them. It was warm and dry around her. There were half a dozen men and women around her, all muttering and whispering to each other, she made a motion to sit up, but found she was restrained. There was a leather strap across her forehead, and again across her stomach and ankles. She heard an apologetic man mutter at her, and the restraints were removed one by one. Sitting up, she felt a fatigue over her. She must have been immobilized for days at least based on how sore and tired her body was.
"I'm sorry, Miss. The restraints were necessary. You're lucky to be alive," the young man over her spoke, the rest of the voices going silent. "Your partner will be here shortly. He carried you over three miles, you know?" the man informed her. She opened those hauntingly beautiful unseeing eyes and stared off into oblivion numbly. She could hear the murmur start to pick up again for a moment, and then heard the familiar frantic voice of her apprentice approaching. He went silent when he broke through the crowd, and she immediately felt a hand grip her own remaining hand, fingers intertwining with hers, and she felt his lips press to the back of her hand. Slowly, her situation caught up to her. For the first time in a great many years, tears welled up in her blank eyes, and she closed them. Those fingers twined with hers did not leave as her body lurched with sobs for hours. She felt the warmth of Yu-Yian's cheek pressed to the back of her hand, and that was what she focused on until her regained her composure. She went to wipe her tear-stained face with her other arm, but when nothing happened, that sobered her up a bit. She'd been crying over the loss of her arm, but in spite of that, she hadn't accepted it fully yet. It had sunk in, but it would be a long time before she stopped trying to use it. She sniffled and soon pulled her fingers from Yu-Yian's and raised her palm to his cheek. She could feel tears on his cheeks as well, and she cupped his face gently in her hand, and whispered.
"I... am glad you're still alive..." she whispered, her voice weak and wearied. He placed a hand overtop hers and she felt him nod.
"You beat me to it... They found the Tigrex, though... you did a number on it. That one swipe sheared its wingarm off entirely almost at the shoulder... It apparently died when its spine shattered at the base of the cliff some two hundred feet down. Their information had been incorrect about it though, and the quest assigner has paid for your medical recovery to compensate you. The Guild is actually furious about it. Hunters are not easy to come by of your quality... bad information is the worst way to lose a..." he trailed off. She knew what he was getting at. It would be unlikely that anybody would give her a task again. She'd proven she could compensate for her blindness well enough, but it would be impossible to convince someone to give her a hunt with only one arm. She opened her eyes again, a fire in her blind gaze.
"I'm not done..." she spoke, but suddenly felt Yu's hands clench over where her hand was on his cheek. She expected him to speak up... to tell her in a no-nonsense that she had to drop the hunting. She steeled herself for it. She was ready to insist even if she had to repeat herself a thousand times that she would keep hunting. He said nothing, though. "I... I can't go back to smithing, you know... You know that, right? It takes two hands to work metal..."
"I know..." he answered understandingly. Almost patronizingly. "I... If you want to hunt, I'll do whatever I can... But we didn't give up on you anyways. Noran is already out spreading tales of your badassery in the guild halls," he replied with a chuckle, bringing the first hint of levity to the situation. "They named a drink after you at the Crested Kirin, you know. Courtesy of Dewnia. Not something you'd like, though," he chuckled. Sinika nodded, suddenly laughing freely.
"Lemme guess... strongest drink in the tavern?" she asked. Yu-Yian laughed loudly at that.
"How'd you guess? They call it 'Sinika's Brutesbane'. Dewnia won't sell it to you if you don't say the 'Sinika's' at the beginning of it. It's for when you want to get drunk-stupid in a hurry. Knocks you flat on your butt in a few sips," he chuckled. "Your injury may have cost you some credit with the Guild, but if you ask just about anybody local, they'd probably trust you against a Jhen Mohran with a butter knife," he added. "However, because of your injury compounded with your fame, the Guild will be monitoring you. You won't be able to take just any hunt a local trusts you with. You're iconic now. If they let you die against a Barroth or Arzuros after taking on a Brute Tigrex, it'll destroy the morale of all new Guild Hunters. It's already bad enough that they sent a two star hunter on a G-Rank quest. You're something of a hero. They won't let you die if they can help it," he pointed out. Sinika grumbled at that.
"Politics..." she muttered. Yu-Yian let out another good-natured laugh.
"Well... like it or not, your name means something more than just who you are now. This political sword might cut both ways, though. Noran seems to have some plans. That's why he is spreading rumors about you. There will be an outrage if the Guild shelves you completely," he said, and then abruptly, as if it were the natural next step of the conversation said something that caught Sinika completely off guard. "I love you, you know."
Sinika sat silent for a bit, open eyes focusing on where his voice had come from. She couldn't see anything, but she felt the need to look into his eyes. She didn't know what to say. She'd thought of the possibility of it. He'd been more dedicated to her and her work that most would have let themselves be. But somehow, in spite of all the signs, she hadn't been sure.
"I... Thought you should know that..." he murmured and she felt his gaze tear from her, and he spoke to the side away from her. She used her good hand to turn his face back to her and without a moment of hesitation, she sat up and their lips locked. Neither one of them knew or cared how long that lasted. It was neither overly passionate, nor was it underwhelming. It spoke of the true nature of their feelings in a way Sinika knew she could never put to words. It was a patient kiss. It was not the foreboding kind of kiss that promised passionate ups and would inevitably deliver painful downs in between. It was the kind of kiss that said that she would never for even one day be different than she was right then. It was a grounding kiss. It painted for the two of them a reality they could feel secure and happy in. Sinika became lost in the sound of his hearbeat. It was odd to her. It wasn't racing like she had expected. It was almost as if confessing his love had calmed him... relieved him of a heavy burden. For the briefest of instants, she was reminded of how she had told him she was afraid of him risking her smithing knowledge, but in that kiss, those pangs of guilt materialized as a pair of tears at the corners of her closed eyes, and like tears, were shed and gone from her. Gone forever on the far side of the landmark in her timeline titled, 'The First and Final Kiss'.