CHAPTER SEVEN
Fen'Harel remained that way on the table for some time, contemplating what her words meant. Maybe, he thought, I am reading too much info false words, and grasping for a false hope. She had been beautiful this night, and he had found it difficult to keep his gaze locked to her own. Both his mind and thoughts had wandered far beyond the scope they should have, given current circumstances. Heaving a sigh, he stood and stretched his aching limbs, heading toward the door she had shut behind her hours ago.
What surprised him though, was that she awaited him on the opposite side; she had fallen asleep against the door, he guessed, and had somehow fallen down into the floor and was snoring softly. Fen'Harel couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the sight of her sleeping form, and gently hoist her into his arms to carry her to her bed. As he picked her up, her arms reached up to curl around his neck, and she nuzzled her face into the dreads that lay across his shoulder, and he froze with the contact. He had not anticipated her to react this way, nor was he expecting himself to gaze down at her almost reverently.
She began to mumble in her sleep as he progressed his steps to the throne room. Even his elvhen ears could only pick out bits and pieces of what she was saying, his name among the few things he could understand. He allowed himself a small private smile at the mere thought that even in her dreams, she thought of him, Fen'Harel, and not her Solas she admitted to loving so dearly. Her vhenan.
He slipped inside the throne room, and pushed open the door to her quarters with his foot, still trying not to wake her peaceful form as she lay in his arms. Fen'Harel laid Pharen down on the bed gently, and covered her with a fur to keep her warm. Unable to help himself, he knelt down next to the bed where she lay, and pressed his lips to her temple softly. She stirred slightly, groggily opening her eyes, and when her gaze met his, she gave him a small, tired smile. "Goodnight, Fen'Harel," she whispered before immediately slipping back into the Fade. That vulnerable smile had made his heart melt as soon as he had seen it, and so there, against his better judgment, he whispered, "Goodnight, ma'arlath."
The following morning found Pharen very sore. She stretched her aching limbs until they gave a satisfying pop, from which she sighed in contentment. A note was laid next to the looking glass, her name scrawled in near-perfect script on the front. Curious, she opened it.
Da'enansal, it began, which drew a bright smile from her lips before she continued reading. I have come to the conclusion after our discussion that there may yet be things I am able to show you, even away from Arlathan and the temple you have come to call home. Come to the banquet table when you have finished dressing – we have an adventurous day ahead of us. –Fen
Tucking the note away in a pocket of some leathers that were laid out for her and hurriedly putting her thick ebony hair up in a messy bun, she raced out of her quarters to the room where they'd had dinner the night before and flung open the door, grinning, only to find the banquet hall empty. Pharen approached the chair in which he sat the night before, hoping there may be some clue as to his whereabouts. Her stress was unwarranted, however, when her eyes were covered from behind, and the smell of papyrus and a hint of embrium invaded her senses.
"I did not expect you to be up so early, da'enansal," he breathed against her neck, smiling against her skin at the involuntary shudder she made under his simple touch. Giggling, Pharen reached her hands up to place them over his own and gently pull them away from her eyes. "Good morning," she said, punctuating her sentence with a barely stifled yawn and stretching her body against him. Fen'Harel immediately stiffened and took a step back, hesitantly dropping her hands that were still within his own. Her smile faded slightly, but came back almost immediately.
"So, what do you have planned today?" Pharen smirked, crossing her arms playfully. He couldn't help himself, and so decided not to indulge her just yet. Cryptically, he replied, "You will be accompanying me to one of my favorite past times. I see that you are already prepared for the day, so let us make haste." Smirking and turning away, he exited the room, leaving her no choice but to follow him.
Pharen strained to keep pace with his much longer stride as he walked briskly outdoors, leading her toward the woods at the rear of the temple itself. Reaching a bend in the pathway, he stopped suddenly, forcing Pharen to almost run into him again, had she not been paying attention. "Wha-," Fen'Harel pressed a finger to her lips to silence her, and beckoned her to the edge of the pathway. She felt his mana press insistently upon hers, forcing her to let her defensive barrier down. He rushed magic into her own aura, cloaking her from sight, though Pharen knew better than to ask what was going on when he was so incredibly tense.
After a few moments in silence, her elven ears finally heard what he had initially; a whimper, coming from the other side of the wood from where they currently sat. Fen'Harel turned to look at her to ensure she was still right behind him. Pharen cocked her head to one side, while he pressed a single finger to his lips, never breaking eye contact. She nodded in understanding, and watched him change into a plain white wolf cub with blue eyes. He crawled through the underbrush, in search of the whimpering, and Pharen sat up on her knees to watch him, and possibly warn him, if need be.
She watched as he approached a hooded elf who seemed to be sitting in the midst of a clearing in the woods, but when Fen'Harel got closer to inspect him, the person panicked, and she heard a clanging sound. The clanging of someone that had been captured. Fen'Harel transformed into his true elvhen form before the hooded figure, kneeling before them and attempting to unshackle them. The elf panicked once more, and tried desperately to get away.
Fen'Harel tried to soothe them in their language, but before he could even ask what they were doing there, a golden arrow flew past Fen'Harel's head and embedded itself in the hooded figure's skull. A bone chilling maniacal laugh sounded from very near to Fen'Harel, but before she could sound a warning, a large hand was clapped over her mouth and her mana drained.
Pharen was dragged to the center of the clearing, and forced to the ground across from Fen'Harel. The dirt and grass had temporarily blinded her, and there were both voluntary and involuntary tears streaming down her face in fear. The crazy laugh sounded again, much closer this time, before Pharen felt a hand at her chin, forcing her to look up into large, glazed eyes. The bow at the person's back was unmistakable. Andruil had caught them away from the temple.
"Pup, you have not been given permission to hunt halla here!" Andruil exclaimed, the glazed look returning tenfold. "Aside, you are far too engrossed in your own deeds to take this," Andruil grabbed Pharen's tied back hair, and forced her to look to the sky, "to bed with you. You need someone…more…well, me!" Andruil cackled and painfully forced Pharen's head back down, nearly pushing her back down into the ground in the process. Pharen did not miss the warning growl that tore from Fen'Harel's throat.
Fen, she noticed, was remaining in his elvhen form but unmoving at the feet of the dead elf. When at length he spoke, his eyes were narrowed and his tone was dangerously low, though still cocky in the words he chose to throw at her. "You dare to tell me whom I can and cannot bed, goddess. You dare have the gall to assume I want your void-crazed love. I do not. I do, however, wish for you to remove yourself from my sight!" Fen'Harel had stood, and moved in front of Pharen, his power glowing green around them both, shielding her from harm.
Pharen felt the pressure welling up inside his mana reserves, an untapped command at a flick of his wrist. Above his head, a snarling Fade-wolf could be seen, a warning to Andruil, to dare her enter his domain. Pharen, though weak, wanted to help him, even knowing she was far outmatched. Augmenting his power with her own, she felt through his aura when he was going to let the ball of energy release toward the towering goddess in front of them. Both Pharen and Fen'Harel pressed his magic against Andruil, forcefully, and knocked her back several paces. Giving them both a feral and sadistic grin, she uttered a warning, "You will regret this,"before turning her heel and disappearing into the woods from whence she came.
Once he was certain Andruil was gone, Fen'Harel dropped to his knees in front of Pharen, looking her over carefully to ensure she had not been injured. "You realize I did not require your help?" He said through short, clipped tones. "I'm sorry I just…I wanted to help and…I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry." Pharen hung her head, and she heard him breathe a sigh, of relief or exasperation, she couldn't be sure. "I say that, da'enansal, because while magic of the gods cannot harm other gods, it can cause permanent harm to other elvhen. Even you."
Standing to her feet with his help, she asked, "What do you mean?" Pharen's brow furrowed, and she worried at her lower lip, concerned she had made a bad situation worse. When at length he heaved a sigh, he grasped her shoulders and turned her to face him. "I mean that gods almost always have some sort of barrier up, much like my own I covered you with earlier, to protect themselves. We are all magic users here, to some degree, and it would be foolish to walk around with nothing to defend yourself. I can only assume Andruil was caught off guard when you started glowing with the power you were given by me, acting like my own foci, and so the power was augmented further by you being a magic user yourself. Had that backfired, my power and your own would have been deflected by her barrier, causing harm to you…"
Fen'Harel trailed off, leaving the last bit unsaid. The air hung thick between them like a fog, and Pharen broke the silence by trudging forward, deeper into the forest. "Where are you going?" He asked after her. Pharen turned and smiled softly, her dimples barely visible. "I can only assume we came here to hunt, right? Well, since you've not been given permission to hunt, I have a better idea. I promise I won't piss off any more ungodly gods." He could not help but snicker at her comment, and fall into step with her as they walked deeper into the woods.