Leto was still slightly rattled by the situation but managed to compose himself. He gathered dry sticks and leaves. Then put the dry leaves in a pile with some sticks on top, then formed a pyramid around the leaves with more sticks. Then he reached into the center and forced his Soul Aether out of his fingers, forming a searing blue flame to light the small kindling.
Amira watched with amazement in her eyes and a bright smile.
"Wow! How did you do that!?"
Leto looked at her with a stoic expression, beneath however, he was confused.
'Does she not know how to use Soul Aether?'
He slightly smiled to try and seem like he hadn't spent the last four years alone, in truth, his expression was quite terrifying. Amira's eyes slightly dimmed and closed a little. Leto then held up his hand, his palm facing upwards, a blue flame danced in the wind. He then changed the intensity of the heat to make it appear red, nearly the same red as Amira's eyes and hair.
Her face jubilantly brightened and she laughed. Leto cleared his throat and looked away.
"Amira, excuse me for asking but I'm very curious, why were you inside the bears body?"
Leto got up and walked to the Blood Bears corpse, peeling away large bits of succulent meat to eat.
"Well… I'm not really sure. The last thing I remember was running through the woods after my home town was attacked and burned down. Wait! Do you know where we are? Have you seen my parents? Are… are they dead?"
Amira panicked and stared to look around, she brought her knees to her chest and hugged her legs with a terrified expression. Sweat and tears dripped down her face as she realized where she was.
Leto dismissed his armor momentarily and removed his shirt, then put his armor back on. He walked over to Amira and handed her his shirt as he put his other hand on her shoulder. She looked at him with a scared look in her eyes and put on the shirt. It was a large on her small body as Leto had recently made the shirt from the hide of a beast he killed, he intended to make the shirt loose fit on himself as well.
"Amira, I need you to calm down a bit. Here, have some water."
Leto handed her a cup he kept in his small bag and filled it with water made from his Aether. Due to it being made from Aether, it naturally helped heal any injuries left on her and relieve her fatigue.
"As for where we are, I'm not too sure. I was dragged here four years ago and I've been looking for a way out since. Your the first human I've met since I came here so I don't know where your parents are, if their alive, or really anything else that could pertain to you."
Amira cried softly as Leto told her what he knew about the forest.
"Do- do you know what happened to the Keira Empire?"
Amira spoke with a broken and pained voice as she tried to compose herself.
"The Keria Empire?"
"Did we win the war against the Lee Empire? What happened?"
Leto looked at her puzzled then his expression turned grim.
"The war… ended. Hundreds of years ago."
Amira's face turned pale and she slowly lowered her head to her knees. Leto decided to giver her a little bit of time to digest the truth and focused on cooking.
When the meat was finished, he handed her a few strips that were on the end of a stick. She ate slowly and silently with tears still falling from her eyes occasionally. The sun was high above them in the sky, meaning most forest dwellers of the day were awake and would be looking for food.
"Amira, we need to move somewhere else so that we don't get attacked by anything. If you have any more questions or anything you can ask me when he get to our destination."
She silently rose to her feet and Leto reached out his hand. She stared at it for a moment then softly grabbed it. The two silently walked, Amira sometimes tightening her grip on Leto's hand as she remembered her past.
They arrived at the ancient cathedral and went inside. Leto closed the door behind them and lit some of the candles that were still standing to brighten the area.
"Amira, I'm going to hunt a few beasts for food and some more hide to make you a better set of clothes. You stay here, I've already made sure nothing could harm you here, but I haven't checked the entire place. So, it'd be best if you stayed near the candles I've lit."
"Wait, your leaving? When will you be back?"
Leto gave her a reassuring smile and nodded.
"I'll be back soon, and when I get back, you have a fresh set of clothes, and we'll have more food. Trust me, I'll be fine."
She looked at him with concern through her ruby eyes but decided to trust him.
"Okay… please be safe."
Leto turned and opened the large doors and looked at Amira again. He smiled and then closed the doors and walked away.
Leto had… a lot to think about.
Is she telling the truth? Is she really a refugee from the war? Is she as harmless as she makes herself seem? How did she live for all those years? Why did his Soul Aether have such a profound effect on her condition? Is she human?
There were too many questions and not enough answers.
Leto decided to ask her about it all another time, for now… it was time to hunt.
He trekked through the forest, looking for the animals with the best tasting meat on their bones. He already had gathered some of the Blood Bears meat previously, which tasted immaculate.
As he was searching, the whispers of the Lords of The Night grew loud. So loud that he could not focus on heeding to Amira's words.