The light hurts my eyes slightly as I turn over to try and get away from it, pulling the covers up more as I do my best to keep sleep at my side. The smell of food cooking makes my nose wrinkle and my stomach growl. I've been in human form for too long if I think that smells good. Groaning loudly as I shove the blanket up over my head, laying there in silence for a moment.
Shooting up I realize I'm sitting on the floor, not a floor I should be on at that. Someone else is here, cooking food that smells good, and this house doesn't smell like mine or Kierens. Several scents overlap each other as I try to figure out where I am, pushing my hair out of my face a bit roughly as my agitation grows more. I've never been an early riser, unless on patrol, and I don't get a say in that, so being up this early is not great for me. Plus after everything that happened yesterday I— OH SHIT!
Tripping over my blanket as I try to stand, instead I slip back down to the floor; kicking the blanket away and standing back up again as I sprint to the door, creaking it open to look around and see if I'll get yelled at again. The hall looks clear as I slowly peek my head out to fully check around. Zipporah seems to be busy, that means I can finally go check on her. Opening the door slowly so it doesn't creak and sneaking down the hall to the door at the end, and peeking inside. The curtains are open to allow light to flow in freely, as a small breeze blows through and brings in floral scents as well as a few spices. No Ava to be seen, however. Scrunching my brows and trying to find her, I turn back around and look over to the door slightly cracked by the one I just snuck out of. Peeking in there as well, Kieren isn't there either. Not like I'm terribly surprised by that fact.
Light laughter travels down the hall, as a deep groan travels not too far behind it. Letting out a quiet chuckle I know who that groan belongs to. Turning the corner to see an open living room and kitchen, with Ginger, Kieren, and Ava sitting at a small bar while Zipporah smiles and flips something in a pan. Light pours into the space from all the windows, while birds chirp in the background and everyone seems happy. Their backs turned and engaged into some sort of conversation that Kieren doesn't want to be a part of, making their humor escalate even more.
"Nice to see some things never change, no matter how long you are away. Sleep well Mr. Bed Head?" Zipporah's chipper voice travels toward me, making everyone except her turn around to look at me standing on the cusp of the hall. Zipps attention never leaves the stove. Ava's bright smile is all I focus on for a moment before her and Ginger burst out laughing, Kieren follows shortly after with an 'I told you so' kind of face to the women.
"What did I miss? What's so funny?" I ask, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes as I walk up to where they are. Zip finally turning around and burst out laughing as well, as she looks me over. Looking down and seeing my clothes messed up, I fix them quickly and look at them curiously as they laugh again.
"Your hair is a mess, Sul. It looks like a half finished bird's nest." Kieren finally speaks up with amusement thick in his voice, as he shakes his head and picks up a cup to take a sip.
"Need some help?" Ginger asks and hops off her chair to walk over to me. With a small wave of Zips hand, a brush appears to float next to Ginger. An amused smirk on her lips as she turns back around to finish making breakfast. Sitting down in another chair, close to the group to join in the conversation. Turning to Ava to make sure she is ok.
"Nice to see you two are alright. Sleep well?" Kieren and Ava turn to me and nod, her smile making me feel more at ease.
🜹🜹🜹
Eating with everyone was nice, and reminds me of a home I once had as a child, long ago. Ginger has now decided she is going to make it her mission to braid my hair before we leave, even though it is not going so well.
"Ava, do you know how to braid?" Ginger's frustrated voice calls out to her new friend, as she holds strands of my tangled hair with confusion. I'm also curious to know the answer now, but she just sits there quietly as if she wants to answer but is unsure if she wants to be touching my hair.
"After all those lessons as a child, and you still haven't gotten it?" Zips' voice comes closer as she walks into the living room with us. Ava gives her a grateful look, as Zip gives her one of sympathy. It makes an anxious knot form in my chest at the sight of her to still be uneasy around me for certain things. Her feelings are validated, and I'm trying to be patient, but I'm just starting to realize how hard that is going to be.
"I couldn't even do it then! I have no idea how you do it to yourself almost everyday?!" Ginger's argument with her mother pulls me back to reality as I sit there awkwardly. Zip comes down to sit next to Ginger on the couch and pat my shoulder reassuringly, as they use me to show Ginger how to braid again. Ava is brought into a conversation with Kieren while all I can do is sit there and let the two mess with my hair.
Eventually Ginger gives up and storms off, mumbling something about patrol as she leaves. Zip sighs and ideally braids my hair, needing to do something to keep from going to comfort her grown daughter.
"I know it's none of my business, but why do you not go talk to her? Why let her storm out of the house like that?" She pauses for a moment, her fingers gently tangled in my hair as she takes her time to think of an answer.
"I'd like to say that she's a Fire Sprite so her emotions are big and there's not much I can do to help. We both know that would be a lie, however. She's an adult, she has to learn how to handle her emotions without me there to help her at every turn." She continues to braid my hair, her voice sounding as if her thoughts are far off.
"But you will always be there…. So I don't understand." Staring at my hands I wonder if I've pushed too far as the silence becomes deafening from her. Her hands never let up, never stop braiding and tying my hair. "You had a vision?" I ask slowly, worried for the answer she might give. A long sigh pushes past her lips as her hands slow.
"Yes. I haven't told her yet either, and neither will you!" I nod, letting her know her secret is safe with me. "There will come a time that I won't be there to help her. She'll have to learn how to control her own emotions when I'm not there, and if I don't start now, then she could get hurt badly. No parent wants to see their child injured, especially because they coddled them too much." Her voice sounds sad, and I can only imagine how she looks at this moment.
"What does that mean? Zip, if there is anything I can do then please let me know." I try to turn to face her, but her hands turn my head back so she can keep making intricate small braids to overlap the large one.
"Something is coming, Suluk. Something big and beyond our control. Change is going to happen within these walls, and everyone is going to be tested. You train that girl, and you train her well. She'll stay by yours and Kierens side when needed, but if she gets separated she'll need to know how to fight just like Ginger. There is only so much I can do, and you know that." Her words make that knot of anxiety become a boulder that weighs down my insides, making it hard to breathe.
"Who dies? You only speak like this when someone is going to die, so who is it Zip?" The words are barely a whisper, I can barely form them as my hands shake and I can barely draw breath. The silence stretches out for a while, she's waiting for Kieren and Ava to move further away so there's no chance that they'll hear. Kieren has been listening this whole time, and we all know it, but Ava? Ava can't hear as well as us and that's what Zip is counting on. Sending him a quick message through the link he just nods and stands up, escorting Ava out to show her the garden.
"You finally unlocked the link?" Zip asks, avoiding the topic at hand, as I feel her start to finish up with the styling she wanted to do.
"Yes, two years before I had gotten hurt in that forest and met Ava. When we were lost in that cave and needed each other the link just clicked and set in place. I'm not even sure how to describe it." My voice feels thick as I speak, my throat burns slightly with the fire wanting to escape remembering that time.
"That's good. Helps me worry less if you two can freely talk to each other now. It's even better that you both can use it at your disposal, that means you've been practicing." She gently runs a finger down the long braid down my back, making my scalp tingle slightly. I just nod and don't answer her, turning to look at her finally. Her eyes are distant as she stares at nothing and her thumb rubs her other hand idly, needing to move. "You know my story, where I came from and how I ended up like this. What you don't know is how when I made this deal that it has a price."
"What price?" The worry echoes and bounces in my head and I know it's not only mine. Kieren is listening in, and I don't have the heart to stop him.
"I'm free here, my life is my own, but there was always a limit to what I could do. There's a reason for that. If I draw too much power then that is the end of my time as the woman you know. I'll turn into something dark and unrecognizable. Someone will have to take me down before that happens. I'm worried that it may come to that… Suluk, you have been my friend since you were a boy running around my home, and stealing flowers out my garden for the little girls. There's no one else I trust more than you and Kieren to do what needs to be done, if it comes to it." Her teary eyes hold mine.
"Zipporah, what are you asking me?" I look at her in disbelief, needing her to come out and be blunt with what she's trying to say.
"A war is coming, my friend. If what I saw comes to pass, then someone will need to stop me." The blood roars in my ears, my throat becomes unbearable as she continues. I stand quickly, pacing back and forth.
"Stop… no…" My voice barely comes out, it's small and vulnerable. She continues as if she didn't hear it as she stands as well.
"Suluk, you need to know this. I'm most vulnerable right after I expel all that energy and before the darkness takes over."
"No, no. No, Zip. I can't."
"That's when you strike. You do not hesitate, you do not falter and you do not hold back. You take me out right there in the mud and snow, and you don't worry about me. The woman standing before you will have died the second that attack lands. The woman standing before you will want you to do this for her. To preserve her memory."
"HOW CAN YOU ASK THIS OF ME, ZIP?! I WILL NOT DO SUCH A THING!" I roar at her, my body shaking as tears stream down my face. She doesn't so much as flinch. Instead walking toward me, her hands reach up to cup my face gently as she wipes those burning tears away from my cheeks.
"I ask this of you, because you are my friend. You are my only hope. And because you are a good man, Suluk. You will do what needs to be done to protect those you love, even if it is someone you cherish deeply asking you to do the unthinkable." Her voice is soft, sure, and motherly as she comforts me. Her stance unwavering as I battle with emotions right in front of her.
"Zip… how long? How much longer do we have?" If I didn't look like a broken man in front of her, then my voice surely is. Her eyes are sad, forgiving and warm as she looks at me; looks through me to my shattered soul.
"A year, at most. We have until the snow sticks to the ground and icicles hang off the trees." Her sadness is evident in her voice as she still comforts me. As she shows me her fondness for the boy that used to steal flowers from her garden, who used to help in her shop for herbs; for the man who trained her daughter, who stands before her still broken and unsure, but is trying to pick up the pieces.
"Then it'll be the best year we have together. This I promise you." My hands come up to lay over hers gently as my waring emotions finally give in and come together. As I stand before her and accept this awful reality.
'Did you get all of that?' I manage to ask Kieren as his sadness mirrors my own. I know he heard everything, but I need someone else who understands my emotions right now.
'We won't let this happen. I'll make sure there is a different way, even if I get no sleep for the next year and a half. We are not going to lose her.' His serious tone and determination ring through the link with absolute certainty. I believe him.
'Glad we're on the same page then.' Is all I can think to respond at the moment.
It's about to be a long year, but one I will make sure is unforgettable at the very least. We will change her vision. Kieren has done it once, and if anyone can do it again then I'd bet all my gold on him. He didn't get his nickname from the other soldiers for no reason.