"…"
"…"
The silence was deafening.
Arisa and her father stood before each other, not saying anything. As they stared each other down, Liri felt like she was drowning in the tension.
The difference in their stature let Liri know that as huge as Arisa was, she might just end up even taller in the future. Her father stood almost half a foot taller than her, with curved horns on his head that had red rings painted on them.
Although on her own, Arisa had quite an intimidating frame, her father's musculature put hers to shame.
The drasen's mother stood behind them, scowling in Arisa and Liri's general direction. At first, Liri thought it was her they weren't happy to see, but upon further analysis, it seemed they barely noticed her presence.
"Arisa."
"Father."
With those two cold words being muttered spitefully by both parties, they fell into silence for another set of excruciating seconds. Eventually, Arisa's father asked:
"Why are you showing your face here without a trophy?"
Liri could all but see his words stabbing into his daughter's heart.
"Because, while I may not have bested any enemies, I found something else on my travels. I found love."
Her words were meekly spoken but sincere. So sincere that Liri blushed as Arisa's father glanced at her.
"You fail your warrior's test and then you bring back this human as your lover? Must you insist on disappointing me?"
Arisa swallowed and looked down, remaining quiet for a moment. As the stare from her father's judgmental eyes burned through her skull, Arisa took a deep breath and said:
"I may yet attempt my hunt again, father. I promise this disappointment is only temporary. For now, however," she turned toward Liri, "we have a guest. One who is not human, but something greater."
Finally, the spotlight shone brightly on Liri herself. Arisa's father walked up to her. He stood so much taller than her that it hurt Liri's neck to have to tilt her head up to look back at him.
"You tell me the stone set before my feet is not a stone? Then what is it?" He asked.
"Here, I'll show-"
"No," Liri put her hands up, "I… I think I have a different way of showing I'm not human."
[My pride hasn't healed yet from what I did back at that ring. If I keep doing that, I might just start being into it.]
Having said that, however, Liri went over this matter in her thoughts.
[Arisa hadn't really run into my Mantras before she met me. Maybe I should just show her dad one of them.]
"Do you have a knife I could borrow?" Liri asked.
"You would challenge me to prove you are not human?" Arisa's father asked, arching one brow high.
[… Okay, I didn't think that question through.]
"N-No," she quickly corrected, "I'm just going to show you something."
Somewhat amused, Arisa's father walked a short way to a spear mounted up to the hut's wall. He pulled it off and came back, placing it in Liri's hands.
The way he handed it so firmly to her almost felt like a challenge.
Liri had no intention of using this thing against him, however. Instead, she took the blade at the spear's tip and cut a large gash into the palm of her left hand. Gritting her teeth through the stinging sensation, she looked up and saw that she'd caught the attention of Arisa's parents with that move.
[Wait till you see this.]
Finally, Liri stated:
"Liz ner marin."
The wound on her hand slowly healed.
Satisfaction bloomed within Liri as she noticed the man's eyes bulging out of their sockets when he saw that.
However, the first thing he said was not what Liri expected.
"… An elf?"
[Elf?] Liri asked in her mind and now, it was her turn to raise a brow. [So, some of them do know about magic, but not through humans or ven?]
"Um, no, not exactly. I'm a ven."
"Ven?" His confusion grew as the foreign word came out from his black lips. "I have not heard of your kind… However, I will accept that you are not human. Still," he finally turned back toward his daughter, "that does not mean I will accept your failure to secure a trophy. Lover or not, it is your duty to prove your strength. Until you do, you have no place here."
[Crap. Of course, it wouldn't be so easy. The more I see of this culture, the more I consider myself lucky to have been born into the ven… The more I miss them too.]
"Give me some time," Arisa all but begged. "This woman saved my life, father. As such, I owe her some gratitude. I told her she could stay with us for some time as she searches for something." Arisa paused, considering her options before saying, "once she decides to leave, I will… I will try to secure a trophy once again."
Arisa's parents remained silent for a while. Her mother approached them and spoke for the first time then.
"She does possess some form of healing power. If that is true, then, I suppose it is your duty to see to her needs, for now."
Hearing his partner's words, Arisa's father nodded.
"Fine. But-"
Before he could continue, there was a knock on the hut's wooden front door.
"Hm?" The man looked over at it. "Who…?"
Arisa and Liri exchanged a look.
"Hold on, I'll answer."
Arisa walked over to it and opened the door.
It was then that she and Liri saw a small group of drasen warriors gathered in front of Arisa's home.
"Uh, what?" Liri asked, so confused she couldn't produce any other words beyond those two.
Standing before her were five different drasen. Two men and three women, all of which looked determined to do one thing. One thing that Liri was struggling to comprehend, given what had happened yesterday.
"We wish to fight for your love!"
Liri sighed and gave her forehead the hardest facepalm it had seen yet.
"What the hell are you talking about?"