The next morning, Eva woke up to the fire and the sight of the elf, Lucas, once more. The smell of the cloak he had given her had soothed her enough that she was able to get a good night's rest.
'Do all elves smell this nice?' she wondered.
Shaking her head, she covered the small blush on her cheeks. She heard movement behind her and looked over to where the elf had been sitting. He was standing now, and had started to reach for the bow and arrows on the side.
"I can do it!" Eva said. "I can hunt for us. You have already done so much. Please allow me to hunt this time."
Lucas paused as he thought it over. 'It would be rude to refuse her,' he thought. He straightened and nodded in her direction, pointing towards where he had placed her bow and arrows.
Eva's eyes trailed over to where Lucas pointed and saw the bow she had pulled out of the saddle bags.
"Right," she said. 'Why can't I have a normal reaction?'
Quickly scrambling to her feet she stumbled over to the bow and picked it up with the quiver beside it.
"I will be back." She quickly left the fire and rushed into the trees. 'I am such an idiot. Not only did I force him to let me hunt, but I am acting like a silly child who cannot speak.'
Eva stopped and leaned against a tree. She pressed her forehead against the bark until she calmed down to remember the lessons the knights had given her on hunting.
Lucas watched her walk into the trees with a smile. It appeared he wasn't the only one who was nervous. He wanted to object with the elf village so close, but she had walked in the opposite direction of the village. It was better for her to feel like she was contributing, just like Alva's little cousins.
It was probably not right to apply elf logic to humans, but he had no other way to approach the situation he was in. He could just silently follow behind her in case she got into any trouble. Lucas paused.
'What if she got into trouble?'
Slightly panicked, he threw some dirt on the fire, grabbed his bow and arrows, and slipped silently into the trees where she had disappeared.
The forest was silent as Eva walked through the leaves. It was a lot thicker than the forest surrounding her home.
'I will probably never see my home again.'
The images of the burning building would forever haunt her nightmares.
It shouldn't have been so simple to take over a viscount family, but she remembered the look she had seen on Hans' face. He was much too confident. Eva felt hopeless.
To even begin to petition for her title back she would need merits. Right now she was just a young girl with nothing to her name. Hans had taken everything.
'No, my path is the same. I was going to become an adventurer anyways to earn the title. There are just a few extra steps now,' she thought.
Her inner pep talk helped her feel more confident and she saw a rabbit in the distance.
Lowering her body so she wasn't seen she quickly drew an arrow with the bow. The bow was large and hard for her to draw. She realized the bow she used at home was a lot smaller than this one. Gritting her teeth she managed to aim towards the rabbit and let loose the arrow.
The arrow missed the rabbit and it ran away before she could load another arrow. Eva didn't understand. The rabbits were extremely easy to hunt near her home. Furrowing her brows, she decided to find another prey to hunt. Maybe it was just a fluke. She wasn't used to this bow after all.
Glaring at the new, unfamiliar, bow, she crunched through the leaves once more. Sweat ran down her back as she focused on her next target. Her arms ached from holding the bow at full draw. Taking a deep breath she pursed her lips in concentration.
The arrow flew straighter this time, but still missed the target by a few inches. The deer she was targeting immediately took off deeper into the forest. Eva kicked a rock nearby in irritation. This happened over and over until she finally found a decent sized boulder to rest on.
Her stomach grumbled. "Why is this so hard?" she asked.
"The weapon is too heavy for you."
Lucas' smooth voice made her jump and look behind her. He held up his hands in surrender and waited for her to settle back onto the boulder.
Eva stared at the bow in her hands and said, "I normally don't use this one. I don't think mine made it through the fire."
She wanted to be mad at Lucas for not trusting her to hunt, but all of her energy was gone. She looked sadly at her hands.
"Humans are often bad at hunting."
Lucas settled on the boulder beside her. Eva felt even worse after Lucas mentioned that. Her shoulders slumped and tears threatened to fall down her face.
She heard him get up and a swooshing sound made her raise her head. Lucas was staring into the distance with his own bow raised. He nodded his head towards the rabbit he had killed after it had walked into the clearing in front of them.
'I didn't even hear him draw his bow,' Eva thought.
Were all elves masters at archery? It had taken less than a second for him to take down the rabbit. While it took all morning and most of the afternoon for her to get nothing?
'I feel stupid for demanding to hunt,' she thought.
Lucas reached out his hand to her. She looked up at him in shock.
"I can teach you to hunt better," he said. The tips of his ears were slightly pink.
Eva realized that he was offering to teach her. "I would be stupid to turn you down. Thank you Lucas."
She took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. They both went over to the rabbit. Lucas pulled out his arrow and inspected the arrow thoroughly. Wiping the arrow free of blood he placed it back into the quiver on his back.
Lucas bowed his head before the rabbit and closed his eyes. Eva stared at him curiously.
"We thank the forest when we take from it," Lucas said.
He looked at her expectantly. She quickly bowed her head and thanked the forest as well. Lucas nodded and drained the rabbit of its blood. He placed the rabbit into the bag he used for kills after that.
"We need to move camp today. We're too close to the elf village."
Lucas then started back towards their camp site. Eva was curious about the village, but Lucas moved so quickly that she needed to run to catch up to him.
The dampened fire had burned itself out by the time they reached their camp. Lucas quickly packed the two packs and pushed one into her arms. He had seen scouts in the forest as she hunted. They were far enough away from the village, but why were the scouts out this far?
Luckily he had cleaned the cooking pot and utensils last night, so they were dry enough to pack away with everything else. He made sure to pack the lightest things into the smaller pack for Eva. He didn't want to be rude, but he also didn't want to be questioned by the scouts that had been sent out.
Trying to hide the fact they had camped in this place for a few nights, Lucas quickly plotted out a course that avoided most elf and human cities. Nodding to himself he motioned to Eva to follow him. He could only breathe a sigh of relief once they were far away from here.
Eva struggled to keep up. It almost felt like something spooked the elf, with the pace he was setting. She wondered if she should ask him what was going on. Biting her lip, she missed the tree root she stumbled over in her inattentiveness.
"Ow…"
Lucas stopped immediately and turned to see her sprawled out on the ground. Internally hitting himself for not matching her pace as he reached down to help her up.
"Why are you in such a rush?" Eva asked as she took his hand that easily lifted her to her feet.
"The elf village here does not like humans," Lucas replied. Then he looked away.
More than likely they were actually looking for him. It was too hopeful of him to think that they would just give up on him after he left.
Lucas realized that Eva had injured herself. She was limping on her foot. Another reminder that she was not an elf, like him. Apologizing with his eyes, he wrapped his arm around her waist and helped her continue.
The sudden closeness made Eva blush. She was only a burden to the elf, but he was patient and helped her anyway. The pain in her ankle hurt, but the fear of being hunted down by a new source propelled her forward.
A feeling she desperately wanted to shove back inside her was largely overtaking her. No one had been this kind to her. The knights had always separated themselves from her in a professional manner. Her father had grown cold to her in her later years.
This was just an elf who decided to take pity on her. If she wasn't so helpless, he wouldn't need to help her so much. She must not let her emotions get to her.
'You allowed Hans to take control of your family, because you felt the tiniest bit of affection for him,' she thought. 'Not only do you barely know this man, but he is an elf.'
No distractions could be allowed if she was going to be strong enough to regain her title. A small part of her heart broke inside her. Fortunately, it was much smaller than the piece that broke when her parents were killed in front of her.
******
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