Darius wondered about the topic which seemed important enough for her to call him out this late at night. The wood creaked under their pressure as they descended the stairs as he assumed their conversation to proceed in the dining area or near the fireplace, she exited the house.
He followed after her ponderingly. Noticing she was seated on a bench that rested under a tree, she gestured for him to join. Darius sat beside her. She had her head tilted upwards gazing at sky. He trailed her gaze and beheld the sight, his breath caught in his throat, eyes unblinking and glimmering in wonderment, reflecting the cause.
The firmament was closely packed with shining gems known as stars. It was blue like an ink, and the hue became lighter as it reached the center where a lone cosmic cloud loomed majestically, cradling within it countless stars that shone brighter than the ones around. The twinkling stars were accompanied by the two moons.
One blue, another white. Both embellished by beautiful imperfections. He could not remember when he had seen such a sight in his life before, "It's beautiful."
"I know." Fiona softly affirmed and a moment later asked, "Do you not witness such sights from where you are from?"
"No." He replied, directing his gaze to her, "Not at all."
"I see." She continued to stargaze silently. Yet, his eyes remained on her mesmerising face, skin tanned and glowing under the celestial light, the fragrance of earth and herbs hypnotised him.
His gaze unmoving as if frozen and if he could move away his eyes, he would not. The desire grew stronger in his heart together with his heartbeat, it began to surface through the quickening breath and twitching arms that begged him to let them hold her. However, he resisted.
Fiona turned to him, lotus eyes shimmering mesmerising him further, strengthening her affection for her. How unfair it was that a woman whom he acquainted for no more than days two would make him feel like this.
"How far do you want me to fall for you?" His voice a soft whisper.
So soft that she had to ask, "Did you say something?"
Darius was compelled to profess his love to her, embrace her and again scream his love to her. However, he had gone back to appreciating the night sky, "Just asking, why did you bring me here?"
Now it was Fiona's turn to have her mind occupied by him. Sixteen years of loneliness, sixteen years of suffering, sixteen years spent raising and protecting her daughter. All this anguish to keep the promise, to keep the memories.
The promise was so close to be completed, after all the hardships. But she had never anticipated, or maybe did not want to anticipate that someone would come in her life calling her "friend". This accursed word that refused to leave her mind, oscillating like a mocking reminder of her previous life.
She doubted her actions of saving him. It would have been better to leave him at death's door at that time. Or, sent him away when he awoke. At least, she wouldn't be in this dilemma right now. His face contained maturity that was not to be found in her daughter, but it also had a hint of ignorance.
Fiona knew not as to why she let her guard down before him unlike when she encountered travellers before. Maybe, due to the companionship she felt from him. As though, she could trust him. And he proved her intuition right, she could trust him. She did not want to. She would become weak if she did. She could not keep her promise if she did.
Her feet pushed her up, carrying her to the door, unable to bear his sight anymore, "It was nothing." She sounded uncaring, "I just wanted you to accompany me to watch the sky."
"Oh," he said in realisation, failing to notice her tone due to his mind replaying the scene of her beautiful eyes, he ran to her, "Fiona!"
Her steps came to an halt, she turned around, "Yes, Darius?"
She smiled like before and it again bewitched him. Quickly, regaining stability he said, "I wanted to ask something."
"What is it, Dear?"
"Can you..." He could not bring himself to say these words, he tiptoed trying to think of a better a way to express his question.
Fiona giggled amusedly. He looked cute when nervous, "Can I what, Dear?"
At her spur, he said, "Promise me you won't laugh."
The response was intriguing to say the least, what could make him so nervous, "Okay, I won't."
"Alright so..." His eye looked around searching for words. He resolutely took a breath while thinking, 'Please don't laugh at me.'
"I know I'm super weak and super unreliable and I caused you much trouble. So I wanted to ask if you could teach me how to fight. Please." He abruptly looked upwards, going through with the saying 'If I can't see them, they can't see me.'
Now one must be wondering that why would he be embarrassed to ask such a simple question. However, things that are not supposed to be embarrassing at all, become embarrassing when in front their crush. Especially, if that person is Darius who has an ability called Genius. Because of this, he developed a tendency to overthink everything.
Fiona listening to his question, frowned, "Darius, you might be weak but you are not unreliable. Take this afternoon for example, if you hadn't been there with us. Me and my daughter would have died or even worse those Goblins would have taken us captives."
His face reddened, "Th-Thanks."
"I'll teach you to fight but are you sure you want to learn from me?"
"Yes, why not?"
"Because I am not a warrior and don't have have the knowledge to teach you properly like a warrior would. My combat ability is based on archery I learned from the hunters who lived here and my experience in fighting beasts and monsters all my life. I am afraid it won't be compatible with your swordsmanship."
"I don't mind." He told her, "Your experience would still prove to be extremely useful for me."
"As you might have figured, I am a newbie Adventurer. Because of my inexperience, I followed another group of Adventurers in the Silent Forest. The bare minimum rank to safely explore the Silent Forest was B-Rank. However, I fell for their promises of riches and fame that I made this mistake."
Fiona's eyes widened at the revelation, "You remember..."
"Sorry, I forgot to tell you this afternoon. I remembered during the battle with those Goblins." Smoothly, he lied.
"But how did you end up here?" Fiona asked.
"There is a cave in the forest where a Great Salamander lives. They made me the bait saying they would quickly steal its egg then help me escape. But they never helped. Those adventurers stole the egg then ran away, leaving me to fend for myself. I barely escaped the Great Salamander, too exhausted and injured to do anything else. I was waiting for my death when you helped me."
Fiona listened in anger. She felt her blood boil in rage at what those adventurers did. Soon confusion enveloped her, 'Why am I so angry at what happened with Darius? I have only known him for two days.'
Perplexing indeed. Quickly, she snapped out of it and promised him, "Alright, I'll teach you."