Alyze slowly opened the door to the forge so as to not attract any unwanted attention. Her attention was fixed on this one thing and nothing else, so as she motioned for Umbren to follow her, she didn't look back to see him.
She tried not to trip over any of the equipment lying around on the floor, but she didn't have much success, as she stubbed her toe more than once on multiple helmets.
More than once she wanted to summon a light to her finger tips, but she feared that would catch someone's attention. So whenever the thought came up all she could do was shake her head.
After exiting the forge, instead of going left to the main road of the town, she chose to go right into the wilderness. When she got well away from town she remembered that Umbren was behind her and turned to look.
He wasn't there.
Alyze had a moment of panic, and without thinking lit up the area around her with a bulb of light on her finger tip. It wasn't much, just enough to see if Umbren was anywhere around her.
What she found brought a mixture of surprise and confusion.
In front of her was a black mass of darkness. Honestly, it hurt her head when she looked at it. It was as if the darkness that should have been driven away by her light didn't move an inch. An outside viewer could even interpret it as her light being absorbed by the unmovable wall of darkness.
Alyze's eyes lit up, and a broad grin spread across her face.
"What's that look for?"
Umbren's voice came from the black mass. It was as clear as day, but Alyze had a hard time associating it with anything, since she couldn't see the source of it.
"Wow...I've never seen it so up close before, it really boggles the mind."
"I could say the same thing about...well I guess I can't really, but it's softer compared to that one." A tinge of sadness was felt from Umbren's voice.
"Anyway, you should really put it out, what if someone sees us."
Alyze's eyes widened as if realizing what she had done, "Oh! sorry about that. Well, I guess we should get going."
As the pair walked towards a hill about twenty yards from them Alyze spoke as if nothing was happening, "Ya know, that was pretty smart doing that. now we don't have to worry about anything."
"I wouldn't say that. What if someone saw you talking?"
Alyze laughed, "I would just say I was talking to myself."
A sigh could be heard, "Do you really think that will work, what if they don't believe you?"
"They'll have to believe it."
"Isn't that a little too optimistic?"
As the two got to the top of the hill, Umbren was greeted with the view of a forest, but Alyze couldn't really see anything but the outlines of the tops of trees.
Umbren had seen the forest as they were walking to it. At first he thought it was Euma, but that belief was quickly squandered, as the trees were half as big as those ones, and instead of spanning several miles it seemed not big at all in comparison.
"Did we really have to come all the way up this hill?"
Alyze scoffed, "Well this is the quickest way."
When they finally reached the bottom, Alyze summoned her light again to illuminate the forest.
She turned back to look at the wall of darkness, "You don't have to keep that thing up, ya know."
"What if someone sees us?"
"Don't worry. There's absolutely no one out here. Especially at this time at night."
Alyze heard a ruffle and then the wall seemed to collapse in on itself, slowly revealing Umbren until it was nothing. Umbren wore the same black cloak with silver lining, but also looked as if a burden had been taken off his shoulders.
He shielded his eyes, "Why don't you point that thing somewhere else."
Alyze pointed her finger away from Umbren, "It's not that bright."
Umbren lowered his hands blinking, "Maybe for a luxcian, but for me that was painful, especially after coming out of that thing."
Alyze turned and put a finger to her cheek, taking a mental note.
As they walked, Umbren noticed that Alyze never wavered as she guided him through the forest. It was as if she committed each and every step to memory.
"How do you know your way around here so well? You couldn't have become this familiar with it just because you hid that attoka where we're going."
Alyze turned careful with her finger to her lips, while she was careful to keep the other one away from him, "It's my little secret, but you'll understand in a little bit."
She turned back to pay attention to where she was going, "Anyway, you keep referring to him by that 'attoka,' doesn't he have a name?"
"Well..."
Alyze interrupted him, "Oh! good we're finally here."
The pair had arrived in front of a giant bush that blocked all who viewed it from seeing what laid behind it.
"C'mon," Alyze grabbed his hand and pulled him into it."
Umbren tried to fight her off as she was dragging him through so many branches it was annoying, and he really didn't want a repeat of how he arrived at her house. He also doubted Alyze in her eagerness wasn't running into any either.
As they finally emerged from the bush, Umbren was left breathless.
If gaze was filled with a field of glowing violet flowers. As Umbren looked closer he found that there was a bountiful amount of flowers of all types overshadowed by them. In the middle of the field sat a lone tree that had a presence that demanded awe from all those that gaze upon it.
To add to its beauty the moon's light shone directly on the tree illuminating the small animals that lived in it's branches eating a pink spherical fruit.
At its base was a lone Dorcha Attoka.
Alyze ran up to the beast nearly tripping multiple times on her way. The attoka still held a strong and stubborn expression on his feline face. However he just laid without making any move at their entrance.
One Alyze reached him, he didn't seem to know what to do. She started to pet his ears, but he tried to shake her off. She tried to do the same thing a couple more times to no avail.
She turned back to Umbren, who hadn't moved at all since coming into the garden, "He doesn't seem to like me too much, but depending on his mood he'll let me pet him a little."
"It's probably because he was taught your kind was the enemy."
Alyze raised an eyebrow, "Oh, really. He likes me just fine. It's just that he just doesn't like to be pet. That's all. Besides the attoka in the village like me."
Umbren stopped in his tracks as he walked towards the beast, "I can't believe I was that stupid. Alyze! When we arrived here, how did the Loinir Attokas react?"
Alyze smiled as if amused "They panicked of course. You should have seen it, it took the stable hands forever to calm them down. It was lucky for us because it made a nice little distraction."
Umbren shook his head, "Still if the mayor is no stranger to us, then I wouldn't be surprised if he thought of a tenebrage soldier being nearby."
Alyze turned back to the attoka and resumed trying to pet him, "That will explain why he got so tense when I mentioned his clothes."
Umbren resumed his walk to the two, "Regardless we need to be more careful."
Alyze gave him a thumbs up without looking at him, "Sure thing."
When Umbren confronted the attoka, he turned his head away from him. This actually made Alyze snicker, "So who doesn't he like?"
He signed at the attoka's actions, "So you're going to be like that, uh? I don't really blame you. You did have to lug me all the way here. Don't worry, I'm okay."
The attoka glanced back at Umbren as if to confirm his words.
Umbren's face quickly filled with agitation, "Though all of that was partially your fault."
At that, the attoka jerked his head away from him.
Alyze frowned at the interaction, "You can't just do that to...to..."
Her face lit up, "I know! We should give him a name."
"Can't do that. Only a person that is soul bonded with him can."
Alyze looked at him questioningly, "So are you?
Umbren through his head back and laughed, "I literally just met him the other day. There is no way that I could be soul bonded with him. Though maybe if he saves my life a couple more times I'll consider it. As long as he's not the one responsible for causing it."
The attoka snorted at Umbren's comments, prompting a discouraging look from Alyze.
"Don't be like that, he's your partner isn't he? Even if he did do something, he carried you all the way here despite his own injuries. Look at him, he can't even stand."
The attoka tried to stubbornly stand, but failed to do so.
Umbren shrugged and kneeled to get eye level with the attoka, "I guess I do need to thank you. I don't really know why you went through all that even though we barely know each other, but I'll try to make it up to you one day."
The attoka again glanced back at Umbren
"But you really need to work on listening to me."
Again the attoka jerked its head back away from Umbren.
Alyze wasn't too happy about it, "Why did you have to go and say that?! You were making progress, too!"
Umbren shrugged and moved away from the tree to the field of flowers. Once he was among the flowers he felt the innate urge to lay and look at the moon.
He stared up at it for some time while Alyze tended to the attoka. The moon itself was only a mere sliver at the moment.
"Beautiful isn't it. I found this place when... I was looking for a quiet place. When things were a little chaotic."
Alyze sat next to him picking flowers.
"That reminds me. You said that it was the closest you've been to a tenebrage's power. So have you seen it before."
"Mmm...Yes from very far away though. Especially when the old war was still going on when I was little."
Umbren's eyes widened, "Oh. I forgot the luxcian have a longer lifespan than us. Don't they?"
Alyze looked away from her flowers towards Umbren, "What was that?"
"Nothing. Just I remembered that you're probably older than me right?"
Discontent spread across her face, "I'm not that old, I'm only fifty-four. What about you?"
Umbren yawned, "fifteen."
Surprise spread across Alyze's face, "You weren't even alive for the old war then!"
"Well I was..just a baby."
It took Alyze a minute to organize her thoughts, but Umbren didn't mind; he was actually on the verge of falling asleep right at that moment.
"Hey Umbren?"
"What is it?"
"Since you're gonna be here for a while, can I ask you some questions about your home?"
Umbren looked towards the attoka, It didn't seem to notice his gaze, as it didn't look away from him.
"How long do you think it will take for him to recover?"
Alyze brushed the flowers around her. She glanced at Umbren like she was trying to read his every action. "I don't know, maybe a couple of days, but Umbren back to those questions, you don't have to answer all the ones I ask..."
Umbren cut her off, "I'll answer any you ask. It's the least I could do."
Umbren plucked one of the purple flowers, and turned his head to smile at her, "Just as long as you ask them in this garden, okay?"