Stephen dropped down into the small ditch, landing next to Alexis and making her yelp with fright.
"Don't you make any noise when you move?" She hissed.
"No." He grinned, setting down the basket. "That's kind of the point. How's the arm?" Alexis rolled her shoulder experimentally.
"Better," she reported. "Though it makes climbing trees a #####." Stephen winced.
"Language, or I'll stop bringing you lunch."
Alexis rolled her eyes, reaching into the basket to rummage around. "What'd you bring me?" She pulled out half a loaf of bread and immediately started gnawing on it.
"Leftovers." Stephen replied cheerfully, pulling the cloth off of the basket to reveal the rest of his offerings. "Only the best for my ungrateful forest friend." Alexis gave him a long-suffering look, then mumbled around her bite,
"Thank you, Stephen."
"You're welcome."
It had been four days since Stephen had first encountered Alexis in the woods, and, to his surprise, she'd stuck around. He would admit to being as worried as she was that one of the valkyries would encounter her, but so far she seemed to be safe. In return for her company, Stephen brought her food after each meal, and was keeping an eye on her wounded arm to make sure its condition didn't worsen. So far, none of the valkyries had noticed anything amiss, as he made sure he had a good excuse each time he vanished into the woods. That, and teleporting around camp and leaving a false trail before going to where his friend was taking shelter.
He felt guilty about being dishonest with them, especially Lucius. The man had practically raised him, and had filled in the void of the paternal figure Stephen lacked, but… Steve worried he would overreact. Besides, Alexis would be furious if he told anyone, and he quite frankly was afraid to face her wrath.
Steve sat by quietly, working on some arrows he'd brought with him to fletch while Alexis devoured her food. Already, he noticed, her skin had a healthier glow to it than when they first had met, and he was hoping that the longer he was able to care for her the more she would start to gain some weight.
"Hey, Stephen." Her voice caught his attention. "How old are you?"
"Sixteen." Very few personal questions had been asked between them thus far. "-ish. I'm not entirely sure when my birthday is."
"Hey, same here." Alexis grinned, wiping her mouth off on her sleeve. "I'm in the same range, though. Fifteen or sixteen, maybe seventeen."
"I see." Steve nodded. "And you… raised yourself?" Alex's smile died, and he felt a stab of guilt. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Yeah, I did." She interrupted him. "Got a little help from strangers sometimes, when I was a kid, but people get less charitable the older you get. So, it was just me." Steve frowned a bit.
"Ever thought of… getting a job? Or an apprenticeship?"
"Not when I look like skin and bones. No one wants to hire a dirty urchin." Alexis paused, glancing up at him. "So yes, I stole to survive."
"Right." Stephen folded his arms, but didn't argue with her. Trying to have a discussion with her about morality had, so far, proved rather fruitless.
"And you… what? Said these guys took you in?" Alexis nodded towards the camp. "What for?"
"They found me as an infant outside of a human settlement." Stephen resumed his task. "Lucius took me in. As I got older, they found that I had potential to be a soldier and started to train me."
"Huh." Alex nodded thoughtfully. "So… they made you able to teleport?" Stephen shot her a quizzical look.
"No, I can just do that."
"You can?" Now it was her turn to look confused. "So they just happened to find an abandoned child who happened to have innate magical powers?"
"Yeah." Stephen was a little put off by her line of questioning. Lucius had told him that he had a rare gift, but it wasn't that complicated. "If I didn't, they probably would've dropped me off at a human settlement when I came of age."
"No, hey. Listen, no one can do that." Alexis insisted. "Teleport, that is. Short of highly-trained sorcerers and maybe Notch himself. Are you sure they didn't do something to you?"
"Yes! I've been teleporting around since I was a toddler." Stephen threw up his hands. Alex glowered at him.
"So you were 'found' as a child and assimilated into this- these 'Sons of the Aether', with magic powers that make you fast, quiet, and capable, and you don't see anything odd about this?"
"No! Well," Steve tried to placate her. "I understand where you're coming from, it does seem unlikely." Was she just… jealous that he had a home? "But I don't have any explanation for it other than that's the way it happened."
"How do you know?" Alexis challenged. "You don't remember it, you're just blindly accepting what these people tell you."
"Why wouldn't I? They raised me!" Stephen huffed a breath, irritated. "Why are you so up in arms about this, anyway?"
"When something's too good to be true, that usually means it is." She said. "It just doesn't add up."
"So what do you think happened?" Stephen asked, lowering the arrow in his hand. "How else do you explain me ending up here?" Alexis pressed her lips into a thin line.
"What do you know about nobility?"
"Nobility?" Stephen echoed. He was aware of it as a class, of course - families who were just short of royalty, whether from blood connections, great wealth, or personal favor with Notch. "A little. What does that have to do with-?"
"Some noble families," she interrupted him. "have hereditary powers." Steve stopped, waiting for her to go on. "I think they knew- or thought - you would be born with powers, and they kidnapped you."
"That's- that's nonsense!" Stephen sputtered. "These are Notch's elite warriors, they would never kidnap a child!"
"On that note," Alexis peeled a piece of chicken off of the drumstick in her hand, sticking it in her mouth. "These don't look like any valkyrie soldiers I've seen, and they live in a secret camp in the middle of nowhere."
"They're elite warriors. This is a secret training camp, which is why you're not supposed to be here. Look," Steve caught her gaze, blocking her hand as she tried to reach into the basket for more food. "I understand that you're… concerned. But I'm perfectly fine here, and it's none of your business where I came from. As well as rude to say such horrible things about the people who raised me." He added. "Maybe I'm an illegitimate child." Alexis smacked his hand away, scowling again.
"Whatever." Pulling out the last thing in the basket, Alexis stood, shoving the orange into a roomy pocket of her tunic. "I'm going to go wash off."
"Alright." Satisfied with the conclusion of their argument, Stephen stood, tucking his arrows away. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow, Stephen."
Despite his impassioned protests, Alexis's words continued to grate on him, and Stephen found himself wondering about them late into the day.
"Lucius?"
The valkyrie turned at the sound of Stephen's voice, accompanied by the soft sound of the tent's hardware clinking as the boy poked his head in through the flap. "May I speak to you?"
"Of course. Do you need something?" Lucius rolled up the reports he had been going over, setting them on the small table propped up in the corner of his tent. Stephen hesitated, stepping inside and letting the flap close up behind him. His face was grave, and Lucius bit back an urge to demand he speak.
"Where does my power come from?" The boy finally asked. Lucius frowned, tilting his head.
"We do not know. We found you abandoned."
"I know, but, you said my gifts were rare." Stephen went on. "How rare?"
"Why these sudden questions?" Lucius asked instead of answering. The boy was usually quiet and cheerful, such curiosity was unlike him. Stephen shrugged, looking a bit sheepish.
"Is it so wrong to wonder about my origins?"
"No," Lucius assured him. He supposed the vague 'we don't know' couldn't be expected to placate him forever. Of course, his true parentage was a closely guarded secret, one that was kept from the boy under pain of death. If he knew of his true origins, of the power that he was capable of, their control over him would be forfeit.
"I'm afraid," The valkyrie began slowly. "There is no way to truly know. We found you in the Femoa region, outside the town of Brixx, so it is likely your parents originated there. Perhaps they died, or perhaps…" he lets the next words go unspoken. They didn't want you. "As for your power," he went on. "Hereditary magic is contained primarily within royal and noble bloodlines, but if a union occurs between a noble man and a peasant woman - or vice-versa, for that matter - such genetics can appear in the common populace." He glanced at Stephen, and found him nodding.
"I see." He seemed, to Lucius's relief, satisfied with this answer. "Thank you, sir."
"You're welcome. I'm happy to ease your mind." Lucius gestured at him. "Go get ready for bed." Stephen nodded, then hurried from the tent to obey.
Lucius lifted a hand to knead his forehead, frowning as he mulled over the odd interaction. Yes, Stephen was a teenager, and curiosity was not unusual for his age. But it was unusual for him. What had prompted this?
It wasn't the only oddity he had noticed in the past days… he had seen less of the boy around camp than normal, he spent more time in the woods. Likely another phase, but it would be worth keeping an eye on.
Lucius picked up the reports again, removing the boy from his mind. He would inform the others of his concerns come morning.