He had run into her yard yelling "What are you doing?" He saw her startle and lose her balance. Cursing himself for distracting her, he picked up speed and directed her fall out and away from the building with his magic and caught her in his arms.
He could have stopped her midair from where he was, yet he felt the need to hold her in his arms so he could feel that she was alright. After all, it was his fault she fell. She struggled trying to turn over in his arms her hand pushing against his chest. Her eyes were clenched shut and he noted with amusement that she hadn't yet realized she'd been caught.
She opened her eyes and stared at him like she was trying to place him. Had she forgotten him already? He had trouble keeping his irritation at this from his voice as he exclaimed "What were you thinking?"
Her eyes darted away from his to look at her hand, then she pulled away as if in disgust when she saw what she was touching. Yep, she defiantly recognized him now. If that reaction wasn't enough she demanded he put her down. He found he didn't want to and felt like arguing no, but worried about what she'd do if he did. Instead, he forced himself to think logically and decided to listen and lay her down to see if she was truly ok.
He could see she wanted to get away badly and thinking back to all their previous encounters he could see why. He hadn't exactly treated her nicely. In fact, he'd been rather cruel. He didn't blame her for her anger towards him for his earlier judgments, but they had fought together... In his mind that changed things.
Did she not feel the battle bond as he did? Was it because she was a girl or from another country or did she really just hate him that much? All that aside, what could have possessed her to scale the biggest building in town? "What were you thinking?" he tried to hide the fear from his words. "You could have died." Just the thought made him feel a little sick.
"I was fine until you interrupted me." She reminded him guilt cut through him and he tried not to wince, but what if he hadn't been there? She might still have fallen. He quickly forced the image of her falling without anyone there to catch her out of his mind.
"Maybe," he said. "But you're lucky I was here."
"Ha!" she scoffed at him. "The ground would have been softer than you." she rubbed at her back. The comment caught him so off guard he almost laughed something flashed over her face so fast he couldn't make it out before she took on a defensive demeanor as she added "Besides, it was a controlled fall. I would have been fine."
She couldn't truly believe she could land a fall like that without getting hurt especially with her eyes shut. "You'd have to be stupid to really believe that." She shoved his hand off her and stood up quickly, putting some distance between them. "I'm not stupid." he knew she wasn't stupid, just as he knew she didn't believe it.
"What are you doing here anyways?" she snapped.
"I came to talk to your parents and tell you that we aren't leaving until tomorrow morning so there's no need for you to be sneaking out yet."
"You are not talking to my parents. Besides Thornjak said I could meet with you guys just outside of town."
Anger at his friend's actions burned anew. "Well, he was wrong to say that, you're not, and I am going to talk to your parents."
"Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?"
Why would Thorn tell her that? Did he have any brains at all? She had no idea that it wasn't Thorn's place to make decisions like that, now he had to be the bad guy and he hated it. Well normally he rather enjoyed it but not this time.
But at the same time, he needed her to know that he was in charge, not Thorn. "Who am I to give orders?" No one questioned his authority, he might be young for his rank but he earned it. And no one would question it, not even her.
"I- am Thornjak's ranking officer." His voice got louder without meaning to. "And if you join I'll be your ranking officer as well. So you better get used to listening to me and obeying my orders without all the lip; or you won't be joining us. And as far as your parents go, they have a right to know where you are and what you're doing.
"Running off and not even saying goodbye? That's not fair to them. I cannot respect that decision, you're lucky you even have the chance to say goodbye to them, and you just want to toss it away." He didn't mean to say so much or so harshly but he found it hard to be calm and think clearly around her, the master of vigilance might have been right. But how could she leave her parents without so much as a goodbye hug? He would have given anything to get the chance to say goodbye to his parents.
"First off, it's none of your business"- she jabbed him in the chest.
She didn't even care, did she? She completely took family for granted, when almost everyone at the castle had lost family and friends to the Demons; and they had her sister. Her parents most likely just lost one child. How could Nieka just disappear and leave them to worry about her too? How could it be none of his business? He spent days convincing the council to let her join. She had been his main priority for the last three weeks. They were battle-bonded, all her fights and business were in some way his too.
He shoved her back, knocking her to the ground then pinned her easily with one hand. "You made yourself my business by deciding to join the army."
She tried to get up but he held her in place, her heart was pounding under his hand and he felt guilty. He had to try hard to ignore it and stay focused on properly reprimanding the new recruit. "Now, if you can't agree to follow my orders then you will not be coming back with us at all. Do you understand?"
She cowered and he felt horrible. He couldn't remember a time when he felt more disgusted with himself. Why was he being so mean to her? Hadn't he hoped to try and convince her that he wasn't such a bad guy? "Do you understand?" he asked again just wanting this to be over.
"Yes." She said and he let her up and gave her a little space. "Yes, I understand, Sir," she said robotically turning away from him. He felt sick again. He may have wanted her compliance, but not like this. He didn't want her to fear him.
Most of the time he enjoyed breaking down and scaring the shit out of the new recruits, but this was different. Maybe it was because she'd already proved herself in battle and he'd already seen her broken. After they break the new recruits they were supposed to build them up stronger, this unusual situation was messing with the order he was used to.
He remembered her sanding so strong and brave against the demons and it killed him that he had caused her to cower. She was more afraid of him than of them. Great he thought, now she doesn't just hate me she's afraid of me.
"I wasn't going to leave without saying goodbye, you know." She said and hunched her shoulders. "And I left them a detailed letter and all…I just wanted a pleasant goodbye." A smile curled the side of her mouth but nervousness broke it apart. Now he felt like a complete jackass for judging her so poorly. Not to mention the boatload of guilt. "I've just already made up my mind, and I didn't want them to waste their time trying to stop me." she took a deep steadying breath.
He couldn't have felt worse. He came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her but startled her instead. Then surprising him she didn't pull away. Instead, she placed her left hand on his forearm, and for a second he thought she was letting him comfort her.
Then in a flash, she flipped an old pair of iron cuffs over his wrist with her other hand and locked them.
She tricked him. That little fox! He couldn't believe it. He stared dumbfounded at the lock, the key still sticking out. He yanked his arm back so he might get his hand on it. They tugged and fought, she pulled one way he pulled the other, though he was much stronger. Before he could figure out that she was still playing him she took one quick leap in his direction and slammed the bottom of the lock on a rock. The key snapped inside. The top fell off, useless. Damn, she was clever. And he was pissed.
"You're insane." He yelled at her
"And you have control issues." She yelled right back and glared at him. "And you aren't leaving without me."
Was that what she was so worried about? Was it his comment that she wouldn't be joining them or maybe the possibility that her parents wouldn't let her go? He'd never actually planned on leaving her behind. Even now he couldn't picture leaving without her. But maybe that was because she was cuffed to him…
He was mad and embarrassed that she had tricked him like that but even the gods couldn't have predicted that. I mean who even thinks to pack iron mancels to join the army? It's not anything like being a peacekeeper. This was utter ridiculousness. Did she realize that now she was literally stuck with him until they found a blacksmith?