It didn't take Autolycus long to regain his strength and they started up the narrowing track. Night fell before they were anywhere near the next temple and Hercules shifted some boulders to clear enough space for a safe camp site though it was a little perilous as it hugged the mountainside and the night wind brushed and teased them. As the night fell Tracey could see lights far below of the tiny villages they'd passed on their way to the mountain. The firelight was a warm pool in the dark and the murmur of voices added to the intimacy.
The heat from the fire warmed Tracey completely, put her at peace with everything around her and made her sigh quietly more than once. Her mind began to wander as it normally did when she stared off at nothing. It was scenarios like this that she liked to share with her Elven lover and it was times just like this that she missed him more than ever. With another sigh, Tracey looked down at her forearms and undid the bandages, tracing portions of it with her other fingers before her mind started to wander back to London. The light in her eyes grew dimmer as she continued to stare and contemplate the scarred flesh.
"How am I going to explain this to Legolas?" She asked herself quietly and in Elvish. "What is he going to think if I ever see him again?"
Blinking and averting her gaze away from her arms, Tracey stared into the fire again and clasped her arms at the elbows.
Artemis leaned over and took her arm gently and examined the scars. "These have healed well. You can forgo the bandages now if you want. And you've finished the antibiotics."
Taking back her arms, Tracey nodded and shrugged.
"They've healed just as well as I had hoped, but I want to scars to fade to the point that they're next to invisible." She replied, putting her chin in her palm and resting her palm on her knee before speaking again. "I don't know what I would tell people if they asked about the scars... I don't want them to think I'm a cutter."
She spoke quietly and glanced around at the others, not really caring to share her conversation with them if she didn't have to. It didn't concern them and nothing they did could change what was in the now. Artemis gave her a sympathetic look. "They'll never fade that much honey, it'll be years before they stop being a noticeable dark pink." She held up her own arm and tapped the scar which was a flat shiny deep pink. "This was much deeper and I didn't have mederma to help the healing process so this will always be noticeable but even after nearly a year of doing all this it's still this dark. Yours will fade but it's gonna take time. Until they fade a bit if anyone asks give them a flat stare and don't answer. Most socially well adjusted people will get flustered and stop asking, anyone who doesn't you can be rude and scathing to with no guilt. Or do what I do sometimes and make up something totally outrageous and see how far you can get them to believe it."
"That could work..." Tracey answered slowly and shrugged her shoulders a little. "I guess that will be something I'll figure out if and when something about my arms comes up in conversation."
Rolling out her blanket and pulling out a hunk of bread and her journal, she picked at the bread and reread many of Legolas's entries again. She had memorized all of them and traced the flowing script of his writing, wishing that she had the same skill of handwriting as him.
"If I'm not taking a watch tonight then I'm thinking about turning in early tonight."
Artemis kissed the top of her head and stood up. "I've got this. Get some sleep.
