Lucas and Eva walked in silence until Lucas felt they were far enough away from the elf village. He helped her sit down on a large log that had fallen to the forest floor.
"It's fine!" Eva protested. 'How could I stumble over something like a tree limb?' she thought.
Her hands pressed against her cheeks as if to hide the small blush spreading on them. She did not want to be the reason they needed to stop so early in the day. Everything she tried to do seemed to fail as of late. The only things she had successfully done were because of this elf.
Lucas squatted down and tried to slip her right boot off her foot. Eva flinched as the slight touch was very painful.
"Ow."
She tried to pull her foot away, but Lucas held it firmly. Slight surprise at his strength distracted her momentarily.
'Right.. Elves are much stronger than humans. How could I forget something so simple?' she thought.
"Don't move," Lucas warned.
"I'm really ok. Y-you don't need…" Eva shut her eyes in embarrassment. There was no way she could overpower a male elf, so she resigned herself to her fate.
Lucas ignored her protests and managed to slip off the boot and her sock. Her bare skin was warm to the touch and he could tell it was swollen. Lucas pursed his lips.
'How could I let her get injured right after she got over her fever.' Lucas slung the pack off his back and started digging for the pouch of herbs he had filled earlier. 'I can make a poultice with this, but I should restock soon.'
His preparations had not been enough. There was no helping the time constraint he had. It was already fortunate that he had been able to get as many supplies as he could.
'If it was just me then I could be fine. I can't treat a female the same way as myself though,' he thought
"Stay still."
Lucas gently took a hold of her ankle once more after he mixed the medicine for her. The serious expression on his face silenced any protests that Eva had.
She bit her lip as the soothing sensation of the medicine tingled on her skin. The herbs he had used were unfamiliar to her. Much of her time in the forest had been spent on horseback after all.
Lucas rubbed the poultice onto her skin with his bare hands. It was at this time she became aware of the fact that no man had ever touched her bare skin before. Even the knights who instructed her made sure to keep their distance.
'Wahhh… I am not going to think about how this is the first time a man has touched my bare skin. No, this is just a normal gesture anyone would do for someone hurt. An elf would just think I am a child anyway. Wait… How old is Lucas?' she thought.
Lucas ripped a piece of cloth and wound it around her ankle.
"T-thank you," Eva managed to choke out. How many times was she going to rely on his help? 'This is embarrassing,' she thought. 'How long is he just going to stare at my bare skin?'
Satisfied with his work, Lucas set her foot down and handed her the sock and boot he removed.
"I am sorry for being so forward." He looked down at the ground as he spoke, but she could see a pink tinge on the tips of his ears.
'No, this was supposed to be just a kind gesture. Don't make it more embarrassing.' Eva's face felt hot and she also averted her eyes. Grabbing the clothes quickly from his hands she dressed herself.
Lucas turned away as she slipped her boot back on. She heard the rustling noises of Lucas digging into his pack and watched as he slipped it back onto his back. The pack that she had set beside her was also slung across his back.
"We will have to travel a bit farther today."
He looked down at her with soft eyes. Eva felt herself get lifted up before she consciously realized that he was carrying her princess style. Her mind immediately panicked as she froze.
"I am too heavy!" she said finally.
It had been years since anyone had carried her. Let alone carry her in princess style!
Lucus just shook his head and said, "This amount of weight is nothing. Heal faster this way."
His usual to the point speech dazed her and she allowed herself to be carried. 'I would just be more of a burden if I walked on my ankle right now. Just you wait, I will become strong and dependable too!' she thought.
*********
Eva's eyes drifted open as she realized she was still being carried. The dull ache in her foot reminded her of what had happened. The darkness reminded her of the night she fled from her home.
'How long have we been walking?' she wondered. It was clearly night time now, and it felt like it was late into the night at that. She could feel a light heartbeat under her cheek.
The warmth surrounding her felt nice. A blanket had been wrapped around her and it reminded her of when she was a child when she had grown too tired to walk after an event. The material of his shirt was different, but the memory of her father persisted.
Lucas paused when he realized that the human girl in his arms had stirred. He looked down and noticed a tear falling down her cheek. His breath caught in his throat and he immediately started to check to see if there was anything physically wrong.
"Father…," her soft voice murmured.
Lucas refocused on her face. Her eyes were still closed. Her face was stiff and a look of discomfort with tears streaming down her face made him realize she was dreaming. Humans were so very different from elves.
Lucas leaned up against a tree. He rested his head against the bark and looked up at the dark sky.
'What am I doing?' he thought.
There was something about Eva that compelled him to help her. It would be natural for him to just leave her to die in the forest. Yet, he had protected her and fed her. It was not even about the fact that she accepted his cloak. He looked back down at her tear streaked cheeks.
The same power that urged him to assist her pulled at him once more. He let his body slide down the tree into a sitting position. It had been nothing to him to kill those men searching for her. He didn't have some unknown love for humans.
'Then what is this?' he thought.
The life he had built for himself in the elf village was gone. Alva, his adoptive parents, and the quiet life he had carved out for himself had disappeared in the blink of an eye.
What was worse was he did it willingly and without much thought. In truth, he should hate this small, fragile human who took his life away. He blinked and realized how emotional he had gotten.
He quickly peeked down at Eva in his arms and made sure she was still asleep. The facade he hid behind quickly returned to his face and the tears that threatened to fall down his face disappeared.
'I have such strong feelings about leaving and yet I cannot return,' he thought.
Something rustled in the forest. Lucas pulled Eva closer to him and whipped his head toward the noise.
A small nocturnal animal ran in the distance and Lucas relaxed. He relaxed his grip and noticed a small hand gripping his cloak. Eva's dream seemed to have settled, so he carefully stood up and began walking again.
As an elf he could see very clearly despite the darkness. The farther he made it from the elf village the more safe he felt. The village he had grown up in was considered more extreme than most.
Elves were long lived. Lucas remembered the stories about a war with the humans that was frequently told in the village. It was the oldest of them that would tell them of the atrocities performed by the humans. He wondered just how many of those stories had changed over time.
When his father was banished the story started off as him just assisting a human male. Now rumors of his father attacking the elf village with the human male passed through the village. This is partially why he chose to be a hunter.
Most of his day was spent alone and away from the glances and whispers. Alva's family had given him the warmth he could no longer receive from his father. However, Lucas felt like he burdened them too much and moved out on his own.
He smiled as he remembered Alva immediately declaring that he wanted to have more privacy, too. That was how they had come to live together in a small house on the outskirts of the village. It was not much, but they made it a home.
'Now Alva can marry Aura.' Lucas smiled. 'This shall be my last gift to you, Brother.'
Birds began to chirp around him as they greeted the breaking dawn, though his surroundings were still dark. The mountains to the west could just barely be seen towering over the breaks in the trees.
'I need to find somewhere to let Eva rest more properly,' he thought.
Walking through the night helped them achieve much distance. It would be safer this deep into the woods.
Laying Eva on the ground, he wrapped his blanket over her once more. He quickly set up camp as quietly as possible. It was almost like he was on an extended hunt in the woods again. Only, this time, there was one more mouth to feed.
******
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