Chapter 73: Village of Elves
They walked through the forest. The three dark elf sisters were in front, Mela in the lead, Liesa still looking annoyed, and Valeria silent as a shadow. Nox followed, his steps steady, with Serian on his back. Her arms were around his neck, just quiet.
After a while, she shifted a little, her voice a whisper right next to his ear.
"Nox?"
He grunted, a quiet sound to show he was listening.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked. "Going with them so easily?"
He was quiet for a few steps, his boots crunching on dead leaves. He didn’t have a good answer, not really.
’She’s right,’ he thought. ’The old me would have just killed them. Or tried to. Would have been less complicated.’ He remembered the cold feeling from the fight with Liesa, the dark power. It was easy to fall into that. Too easy.
But then he thought about the girls, about Serian. It wasn’t the same.
’I’m tired of that,’ he thought. ’Tired of being alone all the time.’ He had pushed Kendra, Yeda, and Vasa away to keep them safe, but he had missed having them around. It was a stupid, weak feeling, but it was there. ’Maybe this is better. Seeing what it’s like to have... people. Not just enemies.’
"I don’t know," he said out loud, his voice low. He kept walking. "The me from a few days ago would have just tried to kill them and moved on."
He felt her stiffen a little on his back.