Jia screamed as she pitched over before a pair of arms grabbed her around her waist and yanked her backwards onto safety. She was shaking slightly and clutching the plant tightly in her hands.
"Jia! Hey, are you alright?" someone yelled into her ear. The person behind her smell of sweat and pine. He had grabbed her in time before and was trying to bring her out of her shocked state. Jia was still in shock when the person behind her turned her face around to him.
It was Tristan. His face was sweaty, red and he looked really anxious. He ran a hand over the white haired sorceress cheek. Tristan was mentally thankful of the nullifying effects on of the land otherwise he was sure that he would be an electrocuted Knight right now.
He had followed her when he saw her sneaking away. Keeping his distance but still watching her until he saw her nearly pitch over into the Forbidden Falls. Everyone in the Academy knew to stay away from there, unfortunately, that curtesy didn't reach the walls of Viola. The only girls who knew that were the girlfriends of the Knights who didn`t want their girlfriends falling in the watering hole.
He made her lean against him until the shaking stopped but Jia managed to turn in his lap and hugged him close. Jia blinked rapidly as she senses came back to her for her to register that she was hugging Tristan in nothing but her bikini top and shorts.
She quickly pushed away from him and stood up to fuss over the plant. Tristan released her without resistance before watching her scan the place for her bag pack.
"How do you feel?" Tristan inquired, watching her put the plant into her bag pack after a second of hesitance.
Jia paused as she closed her bag pack and swung it on," I`m good now."
"Alright. You should probably sit down for some time, that must have been shocking."
"I- "Jia croaked before a tear fell from her cheek. She swallowed harshly as she touched her went cheek. Shoot! She wasn't the type to be scared or crying.
"Hey, "Tristan said as he put a hand on her shoulder," Jia?"
"I…I haven`t cried since I was six," Jia revealed as Tristan nodded but still his hand slide from her shoulder up to her neck before drawing her in slowly. Jia leaned in and clutched his shirt tight. Her eyes shut tightly as she tried to stop herself from crying. It was close call. If Tristan hadn`t caught her, she would be dead. It was simple. It was fact and that scared her.
After a moment of two, Jia pulled away from his and turned to scan the place she was standing before her impending doom had occurred.
"Here."
Jia turned to see Tristan moved to remove his outer shirt and held up her hand to stop him, "No thank you."
"Excuse me?" He frowned and dropped his hands," You need to cover up."
"Since when do you care about my appearance? Besides I`m good." Jia said as she took in his appearance. Unlike at the beach where he was shirtless, this time he wore a black wife beater and a dark blue beach shirt that lay unbuttoned on him. He had two black gloves hanging from his side pocket.
"Don`t be stupid."
Jia snorted, "Don't worry, I trust you not to do anything illegal."
"Illegal?"
"You know what I mean." She retaliated as she put her hands on her hips, which in Tristan`s opinion made her look really curvy. He then pushed away the thought as Roy`s warning rang throughout his head.
"None of you are going to date my cousin, Jia is off limits, "Roy had warned them all in their dorm room after the night of the first Mixer where they had all met her.
"Why? Think she can`t handle us? "Dylan drawled from his bed.
Roy had simply shaken his head, "She's too naive for relationships and boys."
"Come no man, I`m sure she`s not that bad," Chase spoke up for the white sorceress, "I mean, she did take down a monster by herself."
"Yeah, in my opinion, any girl who can do that, can handle herself," Mike added.
"Either way, no romantic attachments."
"You`re insane, "Tristan stated.
Roy turned to glare at him, "The Nether world did you say?"
"You can`t stop emotions bro," Cole said, they all turned to see him removed his shirt and toss it into his closet making Chase snort. He was always against Cole tossing his dirty clothes back into his closet of clean clothes. "If one of us do develop feeling for Jia and decide to make a move. It will be up to her and only her to accept it or not. All you have to do is either be supportive or against it but you cannot stop us if we like her."
Tristan, for the first time in the two years that they were all together, found himself agreeing with the resident playboy of their squad.
"Hello, earth to Tristan!" Jia yelled at him, bringing him back to the situation at hand. His friend`s cousin nearly dying and trying to hide how scared she is.
"What were you doing here?" Tristan asked.
Jia ran a hand over her mouth, "Looking for the Tears of Moon."
"The Plant?"
"You know it?"
"Yeah. "Tristan nodded before moving over to the edge of the falls and turning to her, "Why were you looking for it? Doesn't your school have a stash of it?"
Jia nodded slowly, "Yes, but I sort of need it for something personal."
"And it was worth sneaking away and nearly risking your life?"
"I get it! I was stupid!" Jia exclaimed as angry tears fell from her face. She growled before giving her back to him to furiously wipe them away. She felt that it was weak to cry in front of a boy, "I need to stop freaking crying or else Roy will burst a blood vessel when I go back."
Tristan watched her battle with her emotions before sighing, "You don`t want to go back looking like that, right?"
"Why?"
"I know a place; we can go there so you can calm down."
Jia sniffed and glanced over her shoulder at the Knight. A second passed before she nodded slowly. He moved forward and grabbed her hand, "What are you doing?"
"I f I don`t hold your hand, you won`t be able to see them."
She glanced down at their intertwined hands, "Them?"
"You`ll see." He promised. He then led her through the jungle for a minute or so. The vegetation getting thicker and thicker making Jia wonder how anyone could navigate their way through the place without cutting or blasting away the plants that blocked their view. The only thing Jia could see at the moment was Tristan's back and the high flowering plants surrounding them.
"Why`d you follow me?" she asked after a while." I thought for sure you`d be back at the beach getting it on with Juliet or one of your other adoring fans."
Tristan snorted, "Because if I didn`t, you`d be in some kind of trouble. Aren`t you glad I was right?"
He, however, chose to ignore the comment about Juliet and the other girls.
Jia rolled her eyes," You just got lucky. "
He stopped in front of two huge water plants that Jia recognized from her Magical Biodiversity Class, "Those are Gate Lotus. Aren`t they supposed to be extinct?"
He turned to smirk at Jia before reaching forward with his free hand and parting one of the plants. Jia gasped as she took in the most wondrous sight she had seen.
Fair Folk of all kind of lights flew around little homes and huge tree tops. The trees provided a lot of shade but a single ray of light had managed to break through which shone into what looked like a town square. It looked like a little city, compete with jewel lights in the trees that were dim but still pulsed with life and color. Butterflies, birds and little field mouse moved around with the Fair Folk like family. They all seem to be busy with work and life.
She could also hear what sounded like numerous people whispering. Tristan put his hand on her lower back and ushered her in closer.
The Fair Folk moved around, as if unaffected by the sudden appearance of her and Tristan. However, a few of them stopped and hovered for a minute or so before flying down to them. At the tallest tree, Jia saw three bright lights break away from there and glide down to hover in front of Tristan.
She turned to see Tristan bowed his head slightly. A whispering sound could be heard as Tristan nodded," I`m sorry for being away so long. It`s getting harder and harder to sneak out of school these days."
"The whispering? Is that them speaking? "Jia leaned close to him to whisper.
He turned to nod at her before facing the three Fair Folk.
She heard what sounded like bell chimes as Tristan smiled and Jia`s breath caught. He actually smiled a full smile. She`s only seen him smirk in the months that she`s known him.
The whispering started again before Tristan nodded," Yeah, this is Jia of House Norvel. She can be trusted." He then watched her step forward and bow properly to them," Jia, the three Fair Folk before you are Elina, Rona and Alb. They are the Fair Folk Elders of this Village." Jia smiled at them as the Knight continued," I brought her here hoping Elina could calm her down, she just had a near death experience."
The whispering started again.
"Right, "Tristan. Two of the lights flew away while one remained which Jia deduced was Elina. She couldn`t make out the Fair Folk`s body but she got the feeling that it was female and a very kind female. The light whispered before flying away with Tristan ushering her forward.
"How do you know them? How can you speak their language?" Jia questioned him.
Tristan chuckled, "That is a very, very, long story. "
"I have time."
Tristan stopped to scan her face. She looked curious and happy and for some stupid reason, he felt the urge to tell her. He wanted to tell her everything but, some small part of him kept nagging him at him to keep his mouth shut.
A second later, he nodded reluctantly, "I'll tell you. But first, you need food."
"Food?"
Her stomach growled and Jia frowned down at it before huffing," Fine, let`s go eat."
The Fair Folk lead Tristan and Jia to nice secluded place where a small creek which must have been part of the falls had broken away and run through the jungle again. Funny how, it was jungle in the rest of the forest but this part of the land had woodland trees. Jia chalked it up as Fair Folk magic. Elina had arranged for fruits to be brought to them so Jia ate bananas, strawberries, pineapples and apples.
Tristan began to explain that he had come across the Fair Folk during his younger days of exploring the land. He was about seven when he got lost and they kept watch over him. He kept their secret and coming back to them ever free time he had. It wasn`t until when he turned fourteen did they give him a tattoo that would enable him to hear the Fair Folk speak and also do other things.
"May I see it?"
Tristan paused in mid bite of his apple to arch a brow at her," See what?"
"Your tattoo?" she added.
Tristan put down the apple he was eating and leaned back on his hands," In order to do that, I`d need to get shirtless, do you have a problem with that?"
Jia fixed him with a deadpan stare, "I was just on beach with shirtless guys. I think I can handle you."
The Knight nodded mischievously before moving to remove his outer shirt and wife beater, turning around to expose his back to her.
"Wow," Jia whispered in awe as she took in a spiral tattoo at the base of his spine. "That…looks like it might have been painful."
"It was," Tristan revealed. As he turned back around to face to her. He hadn`t made any move to put his shirt back on though, "But it was worth it."
Jia nodded thoughtfully, "I'm sure it was. You've got an extra skill that not many other Knights have."
"Yeah," He agreed. He watched Jia turned to get her water bottle out of her bag before he heard Elina speak up. Reminding him that he wasn`t alone here.
He glanced at the book inside her bag before asking her if it was a book from Azazel to which Jia confirmed.
"The Fair Folk love that Kingdom." Tristan explained," Elina said that book has a story of one of her friends."
Jia immediately brightened up and gave her full attention to Elina," Which one?"
Tristan heard her whisper before translating," The Dragon Rider Cybil."