The next few days were torture for Lucas. Eva would not allow him to do anything without her assistance. He tried to explain that he healed fast on numerous occasions to no avail.
"Just let me take care of you," she would tell him.
Finally, he just finally gave up.
Lucas stared up at the stars above their campsite. The fire had died down and he could now hear the deep breaths from Eva near him. He sighed, as he lightly got to his feet. Despite the darkness level he was still able to see perfectly clear.
How many nights had he repeated this exercise?
'She is too defenseless,' he thought.
Eva was sleeping on her side with her hand tucked under her head. Again, Lucas felt an urge to touch her face and brush away the loose hairs that fell onto it.
He knew that she was sleeping, but he pulled his hood over his head covering his face all the same. Careful not to make noise, he picked up the pouch holding the dwindling herbs used to make the medicinal tea he needed in order to recover.
She would be angry, but he could not allow her to wander about the woods alone. Three days of playing the patient was enough anyway. He could now draw his bow with almost no pain and his full range of motion had been restored.
Lying still and watching Eva struggle was unnerving. It went against every fiber in his being. It made him feel weak. It made him feel useless.
Taking one last glance at Eva's soft, sleeping face, he quietly stepped into the surrounding trees. He was glad this was a relatively safe part of the woods. At first he was worried. Each night he would quietly leave the camp as soon as Eva fell asleep and patrol around the camp.
The last thing he wanted was for a repeat of what had happened with the beast because of his inattentiveness. He must make it a priority to increase Eva's combat ability so that she can survive as an adventurer.
The west was more like a frontier and wilderness. The farther east one traveled, the more humans one would come across. There were even cities where a small part of the population were elves. Lucas wondered if he would be able to integrate himself into a city.
Being near Eva seemed like a good idea. The only way to free himself from the imprinting would be to die or to kill Eva. Since he could not bring himself to choose either of those options, then he would just need to stay close.
Staying close would allow him to soothe the need to see her. It was confusing. Did he need to see her because he had fallen in love with her? Or was it just another side effect of imprinting on her?
'Is there a reason to even debate the reason at this point?'
Lucas shook his head to clear his thoughts. He reached down and collected the sparse herbs that grew near the stream. The light blue color of the flowers reminded him of the color of her hair. Storing the herbs into his pouch he moved on to the darker part of the forest.
There were herbs they needed that only grew in the humid, well-shaded areas. He hoped they grew in this stretch of the forest. With each step he found himself moving farther and farther from the camp. Each step felt heavier than the one before.
'No, I must finish this task,' Lucas reminded himself.
Three days of Eva constantly being at his side had caused this much difficulty? Lucas began to fear actually arriving at the Capital.
Finally Lucas spotted the herb he was looking for and began gathering it quickly. His chest felt tight and the usual care he took with gathering herbs had been diminished as he threw the plants into the pouch as quickly as possible.
He was convinced that some harm would become of him if he spent even a second longer than necessary away from her. The only thing that stopped him from rushing back to her side was the thought of not disturbing the predatory night creatures of the forest.
It would be foolish to alert them to his presence, even if this was a safer part of the forest. As usual, the thought of causing Eva more danger because of his actions helped him focus on other thoughts.
Soon the stream where they had been collecting water came into view. Lucas paused and refilled the waterskin at his waist. He splashed the cool water onto his face and he washed away the small bit of dirt that had accumulated on his hands.
Lucas stared at the usual features of his face in the moonlight reflected water. No, something was different this time. At this time of night, the stars shone brilliantly in the sky. This was the one thing that he loved the most about the forest.
His thoughts began to wonder and, amongst the glow of the stars, he felt that Eva would fit perfectly amongst them. There was some part of her that glowed from within. At times she would put on a mask.
Lucas could already tell the difference between the mask she sometimes showed and the true feelings she held deep within her. They crept out each time she accomplished a task from her training, or when she was concerned about his injury.
Each time he noticed this, it made him happy. So much so that he wanted to pull his hood further over his head so that he could hide his expression. He was usually good at hiding his expression, but Alva told him that his ears always gave him away. So he had developed the habit of hiding them away when he wanted to hide his feelings.
Alva would laugh and say, "Even if you hide them, the fact that you needed to hide them gives you away anyway." He would then sling his arm around his shoulders and roughly pat his head.
'I wonder what Alva would think now?' Lucas thought. 'Would he mock me for falling for a human? Or would he simply roughly toss my hair like he used to for trying to hide my reactions?'
Lucas stared back into the water and the sad expression on his face made him feel lonely. He lightly touched the water with his fingertip and his appearance blurred with the ripples of the water.
Returning to the camp was as easy as breathing. His tense body relaxed the moment he confirmed Eva was safe and still sleeping. He laid back down on his blanket and gazed up at the stars once more.
Traveling with a human afforded him more time to stargaze. Eva would often murmur in her sleep, which amused him to no end.
"No, Mr. Bunny…" He heard from across the camp. Lucas held back a laugh.
He positioned himself onto his side where he had a full view of her sleeping face. She looked like she was reaching out for something before finally resting her hand back next to her body. He was glad tonight was a good dream.
On nights when the dreams were bad, she would cry out in her sleep. Smoothing back her hair seemed to settle her. However, Lucas found this activity to be hard. It was hard because, with each stroke, his feelings would grow deeper.
Who wouldn't hold affectionate feelings for a soft, cute thing? But, it wasn't the type of affection one would hold for a small creature. Each time it happened he wondered what stroking her face would be like or how she would feel in his arms.
Yes, he had held her multiple times before, but it wasn't enough. There was also the fact of what she would possibly think of him if she knew he harbored these thoughts about her.
Rejection. He was terrified of it. Wanting to be with Eva was the singular most important thing with him. Because he was aware of this fact it scared him all the more. It made him second guess himself and his intentions.
'The only thing that can free me from this line of thought is if she confesses that she loves me back.' And he spiraled back to the same line of thinking again. 'No, the only thing I must focus on is training her so she can become an adventurer.'
His hand reached up above him like he was trying to reach the stars that shone so brightly above them.
'My reach is like the distance between my hand and these stars…. Eva is already this far from me.'
He felt the moisture build in his eyes and he turned away from Eva and the stars, not letting them fall. Tears wouldn't get him out of this impossible situation. Until the day Eva would offer him her hand, he must stay miserable like this.
************
Eva was surrounded by a meadow filled with flowers. A smallish white bunny hopped amongst the flowers. It seemed to glow slightly which made it stand out amongst the many flowers.
Standing on its hind legs it cocked its head sideways and stared at her. Eva had never seen a bunny act in this manner. Even the ones they raised as pets wouldn't stare so intensely at humans.
Eva felt drawn to this mysterious bunny. She reached out her hand, but suddenly the bunny was several meters away from her. "No, Mr. Bunny…" She cried out trying to reach for it again.
Just as she was about to touch the bunny once more, it vanished into a white mist. The mist was blown away by a breeze that suddenly twisted the dress she was wearing and her hair blocked her vision as it flew over her face.
By the time she had pulled her hair back and fixed her dress the mysterious white mist was nowhere to be seen.
Eva felt frustrated, because she felt it was important that she reach the bunny. Something deep within felt that touching the bunny would be important for the future. As with most dreams, the meadow faded into the next scene.
Soon she had forgotten why she needed to accomplish that mission and the memory of the dream was sealed away so she could not recall it even after she woke up.
******
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