Shanane hesitated, her fingers tightening against the edge of the door. A part of her wanted to refuse. To retreat back into the house, into the only space where she felt somewhat safe, even if that safety was an illusion.
But another part of her, the part that had spent the last seven days suffocating under the weight of her own thoughts, knew that she couldn't keep hiding forever.
She let out a slow breath, glancing up at Eoghan. His green eyes were steady, waiting. He wasn't pushing her, but he wasn't backing down either.
Finally, she exhaled and gave a small nod.
__Shanane: "Fine."
The huntsman didn't say anything, but something in his posture eased slightly. He stepped back, allowing her to step outside.
The moment she crossed the threshold, she felt exposed.
The air was crisp, carrying the faint scent of damp earth and autumn leaves. The sky above had begun to shift into the deeper shades of evening, streaks of orange and purple stretching across the horizon. A light breeze stirred through the trees, rustling the branches in a gentle, rhythmic motion.
Everything felt too open.
For a brief second, she had the irrational fear that the villagers would somehow sense her presence, that they would come creeping from their homes just to watch her like she was some cursed thing.
But Eoghan had been right. There was no one here. No voices. No distant stares. Just the forest ahead, vast and untouched.
The blonde man started walking, and Shanane followed, keeping a few paces behind.
The path was uneven, lined with tangled roots and patches of moss-covered stone. The deeper they went, the denser the trees became, their towering forms stretching toward the sky, their golden and red leaves swaying with the wind. The scent of pine and damp wood filled the air, the kind of scent that reminded her of childhood walks with her grandmother, before the world had become so heavy.
She hadn't realized how much she missed the sound of the earth beneath her feet.
For days, she had been trapped inside, surrounded only by wood and silence. But out here, she could hear everything: the crunch of leaves beneath their boots, the distant chirp of birds settling into their nests, the occasional rustle of small creatures moving through the underbrush.
She had spent so long in the darkness of her own mind that she had forgotten what it was like to exist outside of it.
The huntsman walked ahead of her, his movements fluid and deliberate. He was used to this, used to the wilderness, to knowing where to step, where the land shifted. She wasn't. Her feet faltered slightly over the uneven path, but she forced herself to keep moving.
For a long while, neither of them spoke. And somehow, that was okay. The silence wasn't heavy. It wasn't suffocating, like it had been in the house. It just existed, stretching between them like an unspoken understanding.
After a while, Eoghan glanced over his shoulder.
__Eoghan: "Are you doing alright?"
The braided hair woman let out a breath, glancing around at the towering trees, at the golden leaves scattered across the forest floor, at the way the sunlight barely peeked through the thick branches above.
She wasn't sure how to describe what she was feeling.
But for the first time in a long time, it wasn't fear.
"Yeah," she murmured. "I think I am."
The blonde man kept a steady pace, his boots crunching against the forest floor as they walked deeper into the woods. The towering trees above stretched their branches like outstretched fingers, filtering the dying sunlight through golden-red leaves. A soft breeze stirred the crisp air, carrying the scent of damp earth, pine, and autumn decay.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Shanane felt like she could breathe.
She didn't know why she had agreed to this, to follow him into the quiet solitude of the forest. Maybe it was the suffocating stillness of her grandmother's cottage, or the way the nightmares had started to blur into reality. Maybe it was the way he looked at her, not with suspicion, not with pity, but with the quiet understanding of someone who had seen others lose themselves before.
Whatever the reason, she was here now.
The green-eyed man was the first to break the silence.
__Eoghan: "How are you holding on?"
His voice was even, calm, but there was something beneath it. A quiet concern.
The young woman hesitated, stepping carefully over a gnarled tree root before answering.
__Shanane: "I'm surviving."
He made a soft sound in the back of his throat, a noise that wasn't quite approval but wasn't disagreement either.
__Eoghan: "Surviving isn't the same as living."
She let out a dry chuckle, shaking her head.
__Shanane: "And what do you suggest? That I go into the village and pretend everything is fine? That I ignore the way they look at me? The way they whisper?"
He didn't respond immediately. He walked a few more paces before glancing at her, his sharp green eyes unreadable.
__Eoghan: "No. I'm not telling you to pretend. I'm asking if you want to talk about it."
She exhaled through her nose, looking away. She didn't, not really. But at the same time, she was so damn tired of keeping everything bottled up, of feeling like she was the only one carrying the weight of her own thoughts.
Still, she wasn't sure where to start. Instead, she shifted the conversation.
__Shanane: "What did Harlin tell you?"
The huntsman tilted his head slightly, as if considering his words before answering.
__Eoghan: "That you don't come out. That you don't talk to anyone. That people are getting… uneasy."
__Shanane: "Uneasy. Right. They think I'm cursed, don't they?"
Egohan didn't deny it. She let out a bitter laugh, running a hand through her hair.
__Shanane: "Typical."
They walked in silence for a few more steps before Egohan spoke again, his voice lighter this time.
__Eoghan: "What was your life like before coming back?"
She blinked, caught off guard by the sudden shift.
__Shanane: "What?"
__Eoghan: "Your life outside the village," he clarified. "Before all this. Before…" he hesitated, then simply gestured vaguely, as if summing up the chaos of the past week.
The young black woman sighed, her fingers brushing against the bark of a nearby tree as they passed it.
__Shanane: "I was in college. My final year."
__Eoghan: "Studying what?"
__Shanane: "Medicinal herbs."
At that, the huntsman raised a brow, glancing at her with mild surprise.
__Eoghan: "Like your grandmother?"
__Shanane: "Yeah. She taught me a lot when I was younger. I guess I just… kept going with it."
There was a small pause before she added, quieter.
__Shanane: "I wanted to make her proud."
Egohan nodded slightly, as if committing that piece of information to memory.
__Eoghan: "Do you like it?" he asked.
She hesitated, then nodded. __Shanane: "Yeah. I do."
It was the first time in days she had thought about it, her life outside this village, her studies, the future she had been building for herself. It felt distant now, like a dream she had woken up from too soon.
She glanced up at him.
__Shanane: "What about you? You've been a huntsman for how long?"
He exhaled softly, his gaze flickering toward the treetops.
__Eoghan: "Most of my life. Since I was old enough to hold a bow."
__Shanane: "Did you want to be one?"
__Eoghan: "No one asks to be a huntsman. You either learn, or you die in the wilderness."
__Shanane: "That's dramatic."
__Eoghan: "It's true."
She didn't doubt that.
They walked a little further before she tilted her head slightly, studying him.
__Shanane: "You're not like them."
He glanced at her, his brow furrowing slightly.
__Eoghan: "What?"
__Shanane: "The villagers," she clarified. "You don't think like them. You don't believe in curses, or witches, or gods punishing people for existing. So why do you stay?"
He was quiet for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then, finally, he exhaled.
__ Eoghan: "Because this is my home."
__Shanane: "But you could have left. You could have gone to the city. Someone like you would have done well out there."
__Eoghan:"Someone like me?" he huffed a soft laugh.
__Shanane: "Someone who doesn't think like them. Someone who doesn't believe in things without proof. Someone who…seems too smart to waste his life here."
The huntsman let out a breath, shaking his head slightly.
__Eoghan: "It's not about being smart. It's about loyalty."
__Shanane: "To the village?"
__Eoghan: "To the people in it," he corrected. "Not everyone here is bad. Not everyone here is blinded by fear. And the ones who are still worth protecting shouldn't be left behind just because others are ignorant."
The young woman absorbed his words, watching the way he said them with quiet conviction.
She had always seen this village as a place to escape from, but Eoghan saw it differently.
It wasn't about the place. It was about the people. And for the first time since returning, she realized, not everyone here wanted her gone.
________________________________________
∆☆ ATHERAMOND ☆∆
________________________________________
Shanane walked beside Eoghan, her boots crunching softly against the leaf-covered ground. The air was crisp, the scent of damp earth and pine lingering in the wind as the last light of the sun stretched through the towering trees. It was peaceful.
But she couldn't shake the question turning over in her mind.
She glanced at huntsman from the corner of her eye, taking in his calm expression, the way his sharp green gaze remained focused ahead as if he were always assessing, always thinking.
Finally, she spoke, her voice quieter than before.
__Shanane: "Why are you doing this?"
He didn't react right away. He kept walking, his long strides slow and deliberate. For a moment, she thought he might ignore the question entirely.
But then, he glanced at her, one brow slightly raised.
__Eoghan: "What do you mean?"
She exhaled, crossing her arms tightly over her chest.
__Shanane: "This." She gestured vaguely between them. "Checking on me. Taking me out here. Talking to me like I'm someone who actually matters to you."
Eoghan's expression remained unreadable.
__Eoghan: "You do matter."
The young woman let out a short, humorless laugh, shaking her head.
__Shanane: "No, I don't. You barely know me. You didn't even know my grandmother personally. You're not obligated to care, yet here you are."
He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he came to a slow stop, turning toward her fully. The fading light of the evening cast sharp shadows across his face, highlighting the quiet intensity in his gaze.
__Eoghan: "You're right. I'm not obligated."
She opened her mouth to respond, but he wasn't finished.
__Eoghan: "But that doesn't mean I shouldn't."
The words hung between them, heavier than she expected.
He exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck before speaking again, his tone quieter this time.
__Eoghan: "I've seen what happens when people let themselves disappear. I've seen what happens when they shut themselves away, thinking they don't need anyone."
__Shanane: "People like you?"
His jaw tensed slightly, but he didn't deny it. Instead, he simply said:
__Eoghan: "I know what it looks like. And I know where it leads."
Shanane swallowed, shifting slightly on her feet.
__Shanane: "And where does it lead?"
__Eoghan: "Nowhere good." he held her gaze.
A silence stretched between them, heavy and thick. The young woman didn't know what to say to that. Because in some ways, she knew he was right.
She had spent the last week locked inside that house, letting herself fall deeper into her own mind, letting the nightmares consume her. She had thought she was protecting herself from the villagers, from their whispers, from their judgment.
But maybe she had just been fading away. And maybe Eoghan had seen it before she did.
__Shanane: "I don't need saving, you know."
He let out a small breath, not quite a laugh.
__Eoghan: "Good. I'm not here to save you."
Her lips twitched slightly at that.
__Shanane: "Then why are you here?"
__Eoghan: "Because sometimes people just need someone to remind them they're not alone."
Shanane didn't respond. She didn't know how to. Because for the first time in a long time, she wasn't sure if she was.