In the dark of night, sitting under the glittering stars, with a brightly burning bonfire in front of them, two people were sitting outside the tenants.
There was an awkward silence between them.
Though they were sitting quite a distance away from each other, that seemed weird too.
It was late and there weren't many people around.
-SWEEEEEE~.
The wind was quietly blowing between trees and leaves were dancing with it.
Sitting quietly by the bonfire, the masked man with a magician's robe spoke in a quiet voice.
"Miss Nolen, you should go to sleep now."
"Shouldn't you sleep a bit too?" she asked with a worried tone.
"I have to keep guarding here, and I don't sleep much anyway," his voice carried helplessness and tiredness as he replied.
"And why don't you sleep much?" she asked again, anxiously.
Her eyes were fixed on his mask and those red eyes.
She had some worry in those deep brown eyes.
But, maybe she already knew the answer.
Even still, she wanted to hear the full story.
With a very sorrowful expression, he snapped his fingers.
-Onnnnnnnng.
A blue, green, and red barrier enveloped them.
"It's always been like that way. When I was little..." He started talking about his past.
For the first time, he was telling someone what had happened to him, to his family, to his life.
This wasn't something pleasant. Something he would never want to recall ever again.
But, right now, he wanted to speak.
He wanted to tell this person before him what agony he had felt, being by himself.
He wanted to share his darkness with the small glimpse of light in front of him.
She listed quietly. She focused; focused on every single word, every single emotion, and absorbed them.
It was... painful.
She didn't know how, just how can someone live with no one to talk to, no one to share his feelings, and no one to be by his side.
No one to support, no one to truly call a friend.
There was no one who truly knew about the person before her.
He talked, talked until he couldn't hold those sparkling crystals of tears back.
They were tears that had always been in those beautiful eyes.
Always, clinging to the ends of them.
They never dried out and always kept his eyes moist.
Until one day, an unrealistic thing called fate brought him to someone.
Someone who made his cold, lonely self warm.
Like a spring breeze, passing through a riverbank.
Calming as well as soothing.
He was able to gather courage.
Courage to escape a prison he created himself.
A prison binding him to his past.
The past that he never escaped.
Past that made him who he was right now.
But, he never wanted this.
He never wanted to be called a hunter.
A hunter who massacred any and all beast villages he saw.
The unnecessary bloodshed he did was something... something he wanted to forget.
But... this prison chained him.
He did everything he could until one day, that fate brought him to her.
He felt warm. He felt happy.
He didn't feel lonely.
He felt a hope... to live.
And now, miraculously, he was with that person.
Telling her about the unknowns that he himself thought he had long forgotten.
He cried, he cried but never stopped until he had said all that he wanted.
She listened, with wide eyes.
Tears were flowing out of them unnaturally but, she still heard every single thing HE said.
This was strange for her too.
She had gone through many things in her life but, right now... was something different.
She was feeling someone else's emotions.
She was bathing in the sorrows of a person she thought she knew.
She was crying, not only because the things that happened to the person before her were cruel.
No.
She was crying because she felt his emotions.
She felt the sorrow, the anger, and... the coldness of those words.
They were devastating.
At least, for her.
And, when he stopped talking, when he was done with everything, she stood up.
She ran close and hugged him.
She didn't know what she was doing or why she was doing that but... she didn't care about it.
This feeling... was unexplainable.
She didn't know, and neither did he.
He just hugged her back. Still, crying.
Neither of them knew how much time had passed but, it was long.
She felt like an eternity had passed. A calm and warm eternity.
For him, it was just a moment. A moment very happy that, he wanted it to last for eternity.
But, this wasn't the time or place for those kinds of emotions.
They had to go back, out of the barrier.
Back... to the present.
And the first to break this moment wasn't her, but him.
He pulled himself back, and with an embarrassed expression, he apologized.
"I-I am sorry, miss Nolen..."
But, she just shook her head and answered in a happy, cracking voice.
"Don't worry. I w-was the one to..."
"N-no! I'm sorry," he bowed his head but, because they were so close, it bumped into hers.
"Ah~. Hay... don't do that. I told y-you it was my fault," she took a step back and rubbed her head.
"Thank you..." After a moment, he thanked her in a happy, quiet tone.
Those were genuine words and the first thanks to ever come from the bottom of his heart, after that incident.
She felt that and smiled warmly.
"No. Thank you. Thanks for telling me," She also thanked him.
He opened up to her. Not anyone else but her.
This meant a lot of things, and she understood everything.
Everything that may be even he didn't know about.
Maybe he understood that, but he was still hesitant to accept those feelings.
But, she knew. She knew that it won't be too long before he was ready.
For the world and... for her.
"Ok, we should go and sleep.
We will enter the forest zone tomorrow and... my work will start," he suggested.
He felt that he will have a good sleep, after a long time.
"Ok~. Sweet dreams~," she happily said and walked towered a distant, large tent.
"Good night to you too," saying that with a happy smile, he turned off the three barriers and walked towered his tent.
Witching from the carriage, holding a cup of tea, the merchant leader Cody smiled brightly.
"Young miss finally found someone..."
He was happy. It was one of his many wishes to see the cold and sharp young miss being warm and happy like this.
He smiled again and continued reading.