After agreeing to speak with her father Rue tracked down Ezra among the busybodies as he passed the trees outside the temple. Within no time she had his back hit against the bark of a tree so hard fruits fell to hit the ground. His wide-opened eyes return to their normal dead-like stare once he realized it was her.
"What the bloody corpse are you doing here?" demanded Rue. The three guards that surrounded her from behind didn't just allow her to have her way with him but also prevented anyone from interfering. It was another drop in the bucket of reasons to have her guards with her.
"This is a Zunbera-xefi-only meeting," she growled.
Ezra pushed her hand grasping the front of his shirt too tightly away and he leaned off the bark of the tree. Thick black strands of hair hung over his annoyed expression and he said, "Nice to see you too your highness--and they say I don't have any manners…"
"Answer my question!"
He began to brush debris that had fallen from the tree off his shirt. With his eyes looking down and away from her he spoke low so only they close could hear him.
"I changed my order and now I'm a proud member of the Zunbera-xefi. Oh, and I'm also going on the Quest."
The second he looked up Rue's eyes searched his for any signs he might be joking but his hard stare back into hers proved unsuccessful. He was serious, it caused her left eye to twitch.
"What? Are you crazy? You won't last a day past our borders!" she told him while poking at his chest with every word so he went back into the tree's bark.
"I've been training in this order for five years and even got a spark of my telekinesis. Roshar's strong and a great archer, Skinner's the fastest with swords, Dayrue's the best stealth and second greatest telekine after my father the greatest warrior! What could you possibly bring to that mission?"
She folded her arms and kept her glare at him waiting for an answer. Ezra's eyes wandered to the passing Meras behind her three tall thick guards armed with spears and swords. He realized he wasn't going to escape and so had to answer.
He sighed before he moved his dark brown eyes to focus back on her. "I bring with me revenge," he said and leaned off the bark.
"Do you know how many of my family got slaughtered by those oversized mongrels?" His teeth gnashed and his words mixed between growls as he moved closer. Rue had to step back and her arms dropped as she stared into his hard eyes.
"With my parents gone I have nothing to live for anymore!" he yelled at her and it got her to blink and step back twice from the harshness in his voice. His eyes got red as the water settled in.
Rue had never seen him this mad. It was only for the large space now between them that her guards did not intervene.
"I will kill them--every last one of them, even the mother with child, and bathe in their blood until my skin gets stained red…"
"That's you're plan? You're going to strike revenge on the Werewolves," she interrupted. The stupidity of it got her to puff as she tried to withhold laughter. She folded her arms again, stood firmly, and said.
"You poor soul, but weren't you listening? The path they're taking steers far from the Werewolf civilization and will be venturing through the uninhabited terrains of the rocky mountains--which is far far away from them. So what you're saying has absolutely no logic."
"No," he blurted. "Once we step foot inside the Werewolf Domain that's where my Quest begins. I will break away and go my own way, and I don't intend to make it back."
"You unlawful little…" Rue could not find the right word to call him. The thought of a Mera abandoning their comrades halfway on such a crucial mission just to venture his silly revenge reminded her of Turill. But before she got to tell him that he continued.
"I remember the scar on the face of the mutt that killed my mother. I saw it just before it came off her dead body from biting her skull out right before it ran off." His hands rolled into a fist and he turned his head away from her.
"It's one of those that got to flee. I won't stop until I have its lifeless head in my hand and of all those it holds dear."
Rue's heart dropped after realizing what he was going to do. "You're going to commit a suicide attack aren't you?"
Ezra did not look back at her and instead kept staring off to his side.
"This is crazy--you're being crazy. You will withdraw today right now. I can't believe you of all Meras went and changed their order for something so stupid…"
"That's not happening my mind's made up," he said before he started to walk off. Her guards parted a way for him to leave but Rue held him back by the grab of his arm.
"Wait!" she pleaded. It got his feet to stop and she let go.
"I also volunteered remember but I'm not actually going. It was all part of my brilliant plan."
Ezra's left brow raised as he looked back at her. "Your brilliant plan?" he asked her.
She nodded and a bright smile appeared on her face as she talked with excitement.
"Once Callum hears word that I'm going on this dangerous Quest he'll remember his feelings for me, beg me not to go, and even take me back. And in the meantime, I'll convince you to withdraw before you get yourself killed."
Ezra's blank expression stared at her for a good minute which caused her to stop smiling and uneasiness to settle in. Soon his head lifted to the trees to let out a loud laugh. Several Meras turned to look back at the psychopath laughing his head off under the trees. Rue was annoyed as she knew he was laughing at something she had said.
He bent his back forward to rest his hands on top of his knees and wiped tears from his eyes. His hair hung to the ground to block his face out.
Rue began to wonder if he was drunk. By the time he stopped all the Meras had left the temple and only they were left behind. It was silent and the sounds from the flowing streams got louder.
"Why do you sound so concerned about me hmm?" he asked as he stood upright. He walked over to her and stopped when both their noses almost touched. Both their eyes stared deep into each other.
"Just confess you like me before I leave and you never see me again." He got even closer until both their foreheads touched and his words vibrated on her lips. "It'll be just like old times."
Those last words got her cheeks to harden and get red before she pushed him so hard at the chest he had to step back several times.
She hated that he brought that up and was embarrassed with her guards hearing everything.
But he was right she did care about him after all one can never stop caring about their first crush. She remembered the days when they were much younger and she had just started her training with the Zunbera-xefi. On the evenings when she left her forest alone he would follow her to a distance close to the royal walls. She always pretended she didn't like his company and that he was annoying.
But her strong feelings for him ended when she met Callum. Unlike him, Callum was not that deep from poverty and felt there were too many signs pointing her away from him. She knew she had made the logical choice too.
"You low-life peasant. Fine go ahead and get yourself killed see if I care," she told him before she and her guards left.
***
Rue found her father on the grand patio of the Palace where they usually sat and ate dinner together. It was well past noon and the lantern posts with their orange glow began to break through the dimming skies.
They used a small table so there wasn't much distance between them as they sat at both ends facing the other.
"Good evening milord," she said as she approached from behind trying to mimic one of the servants. He could always tell when it was her and would reply letting her know. However, he said nothing and waited until she sat and placed her napkin on her lap.
"We're having your favorite today, roasted Slapfish," he said in a low voice that was unlike his usual strong one
A smile appeared on Rue's face as the servant removed the silver cloche from her plate.
"I can't believe you volunteered. What on earth--"
"Dad I know I volunteered but I'm not going," she interrupted and stared into his eyes the second the cloche lifted past his face.
His confused expression stared at her before she began to explain.
She told her father about her brilliant plan to get Callum to take her back but unlike Ezra, he did not laugh. His brows lowered into a concerned look before he told her, "Rue my dear, be careful. The cut-off time to withdraw is in four days and after then it will be confirmed that you bind your heart to complete the Quest."
Rue assured him. "I will withdraw before then. I also know you will make the Kingdom proud and return home safely."
It got a smile to return to his face.