I woke up before dawn. The sky was starting to turn grey from daybreak, the camp was silent and calm.
I stretched a bit, yawned and carefully stood up. I took a look around, at the slumbering druids and embers of the bonfire that emitted only the faintest of smokes now. I cast Sril a short glance, before slowly wandering off into the shadow of the trees.
The forest in early bright was unique. The only things I heard were the murmur of the leaves and the whisper of my own, careful steps among the soft grass, covered by morning dew.
I took a deep breath, stretching again, my wings included this time. Staying in the Sevren Forest was doing wonders to the body and soul. Still, I wasn't able to stop thinking about what Yanka told us just hours ago...
I let my arms fall with a short exhale and looked up into the sky. I had to admit... she impressed me even more than she did until now. Not with the fact that she was some 'Empress' though... she impressed me with her inner strength. She carried such a cruel past with her, she lost and suffered so much... but despite all that she maintained her cheerfulness, still had faith in other people and there was not a single day where there wasn't a beautiful, honest smile on her angelic face.
I kind of forgot myself in all these thoughts. When I returned to reality, I stated that I had not the slightest idea where I've wandered to. The only thing to still accompany me was the whisper of the darkened trees, the still too faint light of day dispersing between them.
"Oh fantastic... The last thing I need right now is waking up the entire camp by flying there or having Sril raise an alarm when he notices the usual sleepyhead has vanished even before daybreak..."
My response was the rustle of leaves somewhere up, behind my back, and a silent, purr-like voice: "I can lead you back there if you want..."
I turned around in the exact same moment when Talia jumped down from a nearby tree. For a long moment I just stared at the fascinating creature.
"Well..." I stammered. "If it's not too much trouble, then I would really appreciate it..."
She moved her tail slightly, smiled at me and came closer. "Of course it's not," she said, grabbing my sleeve and gently pulled me in the direction I assumed I came from. The silence that fell upon us as we walked was a bit awkward, but after what seemed like a few minutes the still sleeping clearing appeared between the trees, that still breathed the memory of the passing night.
Talia stopped and after a brief moment turned to face me. "Will you be leaving again today?"
"I don't know, that will depend on Yanka's condition I guess..."
She hung her head, dipping her ears slightly. "I don't want her to leave again. I feel so lonely without her..."
"Well, maybe you could just come with us then?" unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to bite my tongue in time to prevent that offer to leave my mouth.
But Talia's ears already perked up, little sparks of hope appearing in her eyes. "Really? I would be so happy if I could help Yanka somehow..."
I sighed silently. "Look... you will have to ask Yanka first. If she will be sure, that she can protect you from what awaits us, I'm sure she will allow you to come. And me and Sril will gladly do our best to take care of you as well," I added with a smile.
Before she could answer, a slight movement at the border of the camp caught our eye. Sril sat up underneath the tree and started to look around, most probably looking for me. Without thinking much, I took Talia's hand in my own and left the shadow of the trees to prevent him from unnecessarily waking the others.
"Where have you been?" Sril asked after sighing in relief.
"Just doing a little morning walk."
"Oh?" one of his eyebrows rose in what seemed to be amusement. I noticed that he was looking at my hand, still holding Talia's, and I released it abruptly. "You getting up before dawn? Are you feeling alright?"
"Says the one who was sleeping like a log until just now."
An innocent smile was all I received in response.
When Talia left us alone, we just sat underneath the hornbeam for some time, discussing yesterday's events. When the druids started to stir and get up one after another and began the preparations for breakfast, we decided to help, ignoring our guest status.
When we all sat down by a fresh fire one of the female druids informed us, that Yanka is still asleep, and it would be good to leave her in peace as long as she needed to. We ate without her, and after cleaning the dishes started to repair the hovels.
We didn't leave as early as Talia feared. Yanka slept almost through the entire day, while two of the other druids were regularly checking on her. When she finally woke up in the evening, she seemed as energetic and healthy as ever.
During the evening meal she suggested we return as soon as possible. Now that Shaeth has shown his face to us already, we needed to concentrate on developing our magic as best we could while trying to figure out what he was really up to.
After these words I more felt than saw how Talia, sitting on a low branch of a nearby oak, stirred uneasily and dropped her ears. I decided to help this matter a little the next day.
We convinced Yanka to gather her strength for another night and leave tomorrow. We finished our meal in silence, listening to the gentle murmur of a storm in the far east, and called it a day. This time Sril and me got to sleep in a hovel that has been built exclusively for us.
~
The first, still blurry thing I saw after opening my eyes was a petite figure with lynx-ears, sitting by my side, roughly at the level of my knees.
My mind was still too sleepy to process what I was really seeing and I sat right up, utterly startled, waking Sril with an unintended twitch of my wing.
"I'm sorry!" I quickly said when he jerked up as well, probably even more terrified than I was.
Meanwhile Talia smiled at me sweetly and said: "Thank you. You were right, I just needed to ask her." And with a happy sway of her black tail she vanished from the hovel.
I supported myself with one hand against the pillow and just stared at the entrance, now empty. When I finally realized what just happened, and that the problem I wanted to solve just solved itself, I couldn't hold back a short laugh.
Answering the inquisitive look of still confused Sril, I explained what caused the unexpected dawn sighting. Shortly after we left the hovel and went to freshen up by the brook. When we came back, Yanka and a few other druids were just about to finish making breakfast by a small fire.
"Are you taking the amulet with you?" Sril asked at some point and I glanced over just in time to see Yanka putting it into a deep pocket inside her leather bag.
"Yes," she closed it carefully and then tied her hair into a lax ponytail. "It will be safer this way, Shaeth will sooner or later notice that the one he has stolen is fake. And when he comes again for the real one, he will have me to deal with immediately this time."
"Us," I corrected her, and got a grateful smile in response.
Yanka then placed the bag securely on her shoulder, with the leather band crossing her chest, and called Talia. When the krien came closer, she got down on one knee and extended her arms slightly behind, clearly intending to take Talia piggyback. But the younger girl seemed to hesitate.
"What's wrong?"
"Um..." Talia cast her eyes down a little, moving her tail nervously. "Could I maybe try it with someone else today?" When Yanka raised her eyebrows, she quickly added: "It's not that I don't like flying with you, but I... I just always wanted to see what you look like when you're flying, and I never got a chance while being on your back..."
"Oh... well if Sian or Sril wouldn't mind to do it, then I suppose it can't hurt."
I was busy wondering if I would even manage to fly far with an additional weight on my back, when Talia gave me a shy look that suggested, there was more than that one reason. "Well... I can try, nothing against strengthening my wings a bit."
The young krien was surprisingly light, just like a cat should be. Once I was sure my passenger was secure, we said our goodbyes to the druids and ascended from the clearing into the morning sky above the forest.
The day was beautiful, the sky free from clouds, and the sun warmed the pleasantly fresh air above the tree tops. Talia must have been flying with Yanka quite frequently in the past, because she showed no signs of fright.
We didn't need to make any haste this time, so including the two meal breaks in between, the return to the mansion took us a whole day. When we landed on the vast balcony of the smaller part's of the mansion top floor, I carefully put Talia down. She immediately ran up to the shelves to our left, intrigued by the mountains of books three times taller than herself.
Yanka said to let her explore the place on her own and the three of us went down to the level of our bedrooms.
Almost in the same second the door leading to the bridge came into my field of vision, it opened, and Kaan stormed inside, almost completely out of breath.
"Where have you been all this time?!"
Yanka decided to take the matter in her own hands, walked up to him and delicately put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, it was my fault... I acted rashly and didn't think about the consequences. Will you let me explain?"
Seeing the worried anger in Kaan's eyes melt away, me and Sril allowed this explaining to happen between the two of them and didn't follow back upstairs.
"Her charm is more effective than any lockpick..."
"Yeah, she will always be able to have things her own way."
Sril laughed. "Well, I guess we should get prepared then."
"Get prepared?" I repeated unwittingly.
"Yanka mentioned something about giving us a proper course in being Apostles and that learning through making mistakes has worked pretty good until now, especially for you..."
"Very funny..."
"Anyway, I think we can expect her to teach us everything we need to know in the battle against Shaeth the hard way."