The moon hung high in the sky, its silver light casting long shadows across the forest floor. The air was thick with the scent of pine and damp earth, and a cold breeze whispered through the trees, rustling the leaves like a thousand soft voices. Kael stood at the edge of a small clearing, his amber eyes fixed on the healer before him. Aria had insisted on staying by his side despite his protests, and tonight, she had come prepared.
She had gathered herbs, and a small bundle of leaves wrapped in cloth, and set up a makeshift camp at the clearing's center. Kael could feel her gaze on him, even as she worked with her back turned, sorting through the items she had collected.
For the first time in years, Kael found himself uncertain. There had been no one to care for him in so long that the very notion of someone tending to his needs felt alien. The beast inside him the part of him that had been forged in the fires of rage and loss whispered that he should leave. That he should push her away, before she saw too much, before she saw the truth of what he was. But somewhere deep within him, a flicker of something hope, perhaps kept him rooted to the spot.
"I don't need your help," Kael muttered, his voice rough like gravel. The words came out more sharply than he intended, but he couldn't help it. His pride, his instincts, fought against the vulnerability she was offering.
Aria didn't respond immediately, but Kael could hear the soft rustling of her hands as she continued her work. When she finally spoke, her voice was calm and unwavering.
"You don't have to need it, Kael," she said, her back still turned to him as she carefully mixed a salve from the herbs. "But you've carried this burden alone for so long, and I'm here now. I can help if you'll let me."
Kael's chest tightened, and he looked away as if trying to shake the feeling of her words clinging to him. Help. That was something he hadn't had in years. His mind flashed back to the day of the betrayal the day he had been cursed. He had been alone then, too. Alone and betrayed, with no one to turn to.
"I've never been helped," he muttered under his breath, mostly to himself. "Not by anyone."
Aria finally turned to face him, her brown eyes warm yet steady. She smiled softly as if she could see straight through his hardened exterior, straight to the heart of his pain.
"You're not the only one who's been alone," she said, a quiet sadness in her voice. "I've spent most of my life caring for others. Healing them. But there's only so much I can do from a distance. You've been hiding from the world, Kael, but the world doesn't have to be your enemy."
Kael clenched his fists, his claws digging into his palms. Her words stung, but not in the way he thought they would. They didn't hurt because they were cruel. They hurt because they were true.
He wasn't just running from the kingdom that had forsaken him. He had been running from himself. From the man he had once been and the monster he had become.
"You don't understand," Kael growled, his voice low, a tremor of frustration barely contained. "I'm not who I was anymore. I can't go back to that life. I'm not welcome there."
Aria took a step closer, the firelight dancing in her eyes, and for a moment, Kael saw not the healer but something more of a person who had lived through her struggles, who had faced darkness and come out the other side, stronger for it.
"You don't have to go back, Kael," she said gently. "You don't have to be the man you were, but you can still be something. You can still make a choice, and that choice doesn't have to be to hide forever."
Kael opened his mouth to argue, but the words caught in his throat. It was easier to be angry, easier to push her away, to let the pain of the past define him. But with each passing moment, Aria's quiet strength wore down the walls he had so carefully built around himself.
In the silence that followed, Kael's gaze flickered to the fire, watching the flames crackle and spit, their light casting long shadows on the surrounding trees. He remembered the warmth of the hearth in the castle, the laughter of the court, the feel of a sword in his hand, the sense of purpose in his chest. Those were things he would never have again.
"Why would you waste your time on me?" Kael asked finally, his voice barely above a whisper. "There are other men out there who still have something to offer the world. Why not help them instead?"
Aria bent down, picked up the small jar of salve, and walked toward him. She stopped just in front of him, the scent of the herbs mingling with the sharp night air.
"Because I see you," she said softly, her voice steady and unwavering. "I see the man you were, and I see the man you can still be. And I see the beast inside you, too. But the beast is not all of you, Kael. You're still more than that."
Kael's heart tightened in his chest, a mixture of bitterness and something softer, something almost like hope, rising within him. He had been a knight, a protector. A man who had once sworn an oath to defend those weaker than himself. But now, he was nothing. Or at least, that's what he had believed.
He looked down at his claws, the dark, gnarled fingers that had once held a sword. The claws that had slaughtered in the name of the kingdom. And now? They were nothing but reminders of everything he had lost.
Aria took his hand then, her fingers surprisingly gentle as they brushed over the rough surface of his skin. Her touch sent a ripple of warmth through him, and for a moment, Kael's breath caught. Her touch was a reminder that he was not a thing to be feared, not a monster in need of slaying, but a person, still living, still capable of feeling.
"Let me help you," Aria repeated softly, her eyes searching his.
Kael hesitated for a moment, his mind a battlefield between his pride and the growing tenderness in his chest. But then, with a slow, deliberate motion, he nodded.
"Do what you must," he muttered.
Aria smiled, her touch remaining on his hand as she reached into her pouch for more herbs. "I'll start with your wounds. We'll take this one step at a time."
As the fire crackled behind them, Kael allowed himself a moment of peace. He didn't know what the future held, nor did he fully trust the healer who had wandered into his world. But for the first time in years, he wasn't so sure that he was meant to be alone anymore.