Part 3
In the morning I wake up alone in the bed with crook cuddling with me in bed I rub my eyes and sit up
Whitney:"good morning crook who's a good boy" I pet him and smoosh his face gently his tail starts wagging rapidly I get up and get dressed heading outside crook is off playing with the kids already zul comes walking towards me
Zul:"good morning I've got some stuff ready for when we leave to find Benjamin"
Whitney:"what why? You aren't coming and neither is Barg I have to do this by myself don't you two listen when I talk"
Barg:"No" he is standing behind me I jump when I hear him
Whitney:"you both need to be here I will be fine"
Zul:"you don't know the first thing about fighting let alone how to actually use a weapon" I stop and think for a moment he isn't wrong
Barg:" I hate to agree with zul but he isn't wrong with us at least you will have protection"
Whitney:"hm I won't deny that maybe I could stay for a little but you'll have to teach me to fight and no going easy on me if we do this I will need to take the beatings to learn"
They both look at each other they seem to have an understanding and nod
Zul:"okay fine we will train you barg is good with weapons I'm good with hand to hand you'll have to learn both"
I nod smiling as if I won this argument
Whitney:"let's go then I'll give it a week to learn but then i have to go"
They nod and we start off towards where they train barg stops looking at my dress, he looks at zul and then at me
Barg:"you are going to need pants and a shirt to fight let's go get you set up and then we can start" I nod we head to the clothing area as we start searching for pants and a shirt that will fit me properly I manage to find tight black leather pants, a brown belt to put two swords in and a pouch holder, a red off the shoulders shirt and a black corset with fingerless brown gloves I tie my long brown hair up into a high pony tail leaving some of the front of my hair down and a metal shoulder guard on my right shoulder, we head to the training area I grab a sword and a small dagger I put the dagger into its holster and hold the sword barg comes over
Barg:"ok you have to hold it tight or else it will get knocked out of your hand move your left leg back just a little and plant yourself in place don't let anything move you unless you want to"
Whitney:"ok" I get into the stance and plant myself the best I can barg is standing beside me and pushes me I falter a little but regain my balance
Barg:"not bad but that was a light push out your sword away for now we are gonna work on getting you to a point where you can stay standing in place"
I nod as we start it starts off light pushes I do pretty well and then he goes to a normal push and it hits me like a brick wall I fall and hit the ground I grunt but get back up hour after hour I continue to hit the dirt getting a little better each time until I can finally stay standing it pushes me back but I don't fall
Barg:"good that's good you did it that's what I wanted now we can start with the weapons"
We start training and keep it up all day long we practice until my arms feel like jelly and I'm sore from missing his it's luckily he was using a wooden sword as was I while we practice, the ends with me feeling slightly defeated but determined to do better, we wake up early the next morning and go back to training with the wooden weapons we do it all day again getting my ass handed to me zul watches as we practice chuckling as I get frustrated we keep going I slowly start to block some of his attacks but more get past me I grumble and grab another wooden sword now duel welding I can now block more incoming attacks a few get by but not as many he picks up the pace and so do I, another day ends I'm still sore but doing better, this continues for another day we start getting to the attacks I do much better with attacking as it seems to come pretty naturally the fourth day ends with success, the next few days are for hand to hand combat me and zul train all day long by the end of it I feel as if I can hold my own with a weapon or without, the night before we leave there is a storm rolling in again me and zul are sitting by the fire everyone else is getting ready to eat I don't feel very hungry as I sit with zul he is looking at me, I can feel his eyes burning holes in the side of my head
Whitney:"what is it zul?"
Zul:"I uh want to apologize again for distancing myself right after we had sex I do have feelings for you It's just difficult for me to express them usually and I don't exactly have much experience with relationships but I know I messed up and I hurt you and barg was there for you I know you two have had sex as well I don't blame you for doing it, dura means nothing to me you are the only one I have feelings for"
I sit a little surprised as he says all that deep down I'm happy he said it but I cannot let him know that, what he did was wrong and it will take more then an apology to move on from and start to trust him again, it doesn't help I also now have feelings for bargs we have been close and training with him was fun it was also rather sexy seeing him be so strong and demanding, zul was sexy to it's a bit of a mess now having two male orcs wanting me and me having feelings for both.
Whitney:"thank you for the apology I accept it but that doesn't mean I fully forgive or trust you again it will take time, and yes me and barg have had sex he made it clear he was attracted to me the first time we went out into the forest but right now a relationship isn't important finding Benjamin is my main goal after that I don't know what I'll do but I'll figure it out on the way"
He nods as olfin runs over to us I haven't told him yet that we will be leaving tomorrow, I'm not sure how to tell him, he's going to be heart broken I hate to do that to him,
Olfin:"Whitney look I caught a fish" he beems at us holding open his hand to show us a small minow in his hand I smile and pat him on the head,
Whitney:"good job olfin you'll be a great fisher one day"
Zul:"I agree have you been practicing with the fishing pole I made you"
Olfin:"sort of I'm not good with it I never catch anything" he pouts
Zul:"you will you'll get better it just takes patience little dude"
He nods olfin:"I'll be so patient next time I'll definitely get a fish a big one" he runs off to go get dinner me and zul look at each other
Zul:"you will have to tell him you know"
Whitney:"yes I know I just hate to break his little heart he's already got no family members and now I'm leaving and taking you two with me but I'm going to leave crook here to be with olfin"
He nods and stands up
Zul:"well I'm going to head to bed for the night I will see you in the morning unless you'd like to spend the night with me"
Whitney:"nice try but it won't be that easy plus there is a storm coming so olfin will want to sleep with me"
He nods and walks off to go to bed I get up and go into bargs hut there is hair laying on the floor I look to see him with a knife cutting off his long black hair his hair is short now
Whitney:"woah you cut your hair off, it looks nice actually"
Barg:"thanks and yeah figured it was time for a bit of a change and it will be easier to deal with short I might keep it short from now on"
Whitney:"how am I going to tell olfin.. I don't want him to be sad that we are leaving"
Barg:"I know you don't" he turns and puts his hand on my cheek placing a kiss on my forehead "but we will be back once we find Benjamin I'm sure olfin will understand"
He tries to reassure me but it doesn't really help it starts pouring rain and lightning flashes the wind picks up trees are blowing violently olfin and crook both come running in to me and Barg olfin grabs onto my leg as crook crawls under the bed to hide, I chuckle at them
Whitney:"olfin there is nothing to be scared of it is just a storm we need storms so plants and crops can grow, storms also help animals the more the grass grows the bigger deer and elk can get, nothing bad will happen"
Olfin:"I still don't like them the noise is loud"
Barg:"that noise is thunder it actually comes from the lightning and is pretty cool to watch"
Olfin:"you aren't scared of it?"
Barg laughs and picks him up :"no im not scared of the lightning i like storms they are very cool to watch" he walks to the entrance of the hut holding olfin as they stand and watch the storm olfin seems to be less scared of it but not fully i sit on the bed and listen to Barg telling him about how he was once scared to of lightning and storms but he thinks of it as the skies music olfin giggles as he talks he mentions that Barg has short hair now and olfin rubs his hands all over his hair messing it up I chuckle at them crook finally comes out and lays down beside the bed
Whitney:"olfin and Barg come on now the rain is getting inside close the door and come sit down we need to talk to you about something important" I say as they shut the door and come sit with me
Whitney:"olfin me Barg and zul are going to be leaving the village tomorrow morning, I have a dear friend of mine that I have to go find he used to live in my village I must know he is safe, we aren't sure how long it will take but we will come back, and I have a important job for you while we are gone"
Olfin:"you are leaving, no don't leave you can't leave again!" He shouts in protest as his eyes get watery
Whitney:"oh olfin we are not leaving forever we will come back" I pull him into my lap as he starts to cry into my chest I rub his back gently trying to ease his sadness "I know this is difficult to understand olfin but I will come back for you and I want you to take care of crook for me while we are gone"
Olfin sniffles and wipes his eyes as he looks up at me "but what if you don't come back"
Whitney:"i came back last time didn't I?"
Olfin nods rubbing his eyes again as more tears fall down his face, I keep holding him and rubbing his back
Olfin:"ok as long as you promise to come back, I'll take good care of Crook"
I hug olfin tightly as he yawns we stay like that for a little while before all laying down and going to bed.
The next morning we get up have breakfast say our goodbyes I hug olfin tightly before leaving we set off following a trail south.