Chapter 197: Group Shenanigans (1)
That night the group made camp across some rocky terrain where the grass had slowly stopped growing. Arawn and Axel agreed it was best to remain hidden in the grass than out in the open, though it looked like others had sheltered beneath some rocks providing shelter from the weather. But these were the forgotten plains; if they wanted to stay warm by firelight, it couldn’t be where other creatures could easily see. At least they had better chances of defence in the grass.
The day had been a strange one between the company of two elves, three humans, a fae and well, the princess of mixed heritage. The elves led the way, followed by Axel, their original group’s ’leader’, with Ger and Ronan guarding Evanna, leaving Fiza to walk by herself.
At first, they all remained in tense silence, each deciphering who to trust and what could be said among one another. But Axel was the first to break it when he interrupted the elves, telling them they were going the wrong way. This caused a debate between the three until Fiza spoke up, agreeing with Axel.
That opened the group to talk to one another, it was all sarcasm and jokes aimed at one another, but it made the atmosphere much lighter, making Evanna smile. She had remained quiet throughout it all, though it had nothing to do with feeling antisocial, as she was thrilled to have her friends with her once more. No, it was because she was like one of Conrad’s walking dead, though not quite as energetic.
The princess was fatigued. Her feet shuffled against the ground, though she distracted herself by watching Arawn or Garrett and Axel interacting, listening to Ger and Ronan jest.
But overly fatigued, she still was. That last little push of fighting and the tiny amount of power she was readying to use on Fiza earlier had started to take its toll. Ger tried to bring her into the conversations with him and Ronan but soon stopped, reading her features with a troubled look.
Not long after, Axel picked her up, holding her against his chest. She did begin to argue, but her tiny voice was drowned out by a soft tune sung by none other than Garrett. She stilled in Axel’s arms then her body began to relax.
Evanna was shocked at first, but the melody floated across her ears, whispering to her stories of the ancient days of elves. Except for Evanna and Arawn, the others did not understand what Garrett sang, but they did not need to. Everyone listened to the brute’s surprisingly soft singing voice. With his soothing singing and the rhythm of Axel’s significant gait, it didn’t take Evanna long to drift off to sleep.
At some point, she did feel a change in movement; her eyes fluttered open to see herself cradled in Garrett’s arms though it didn’t last long, and she ended up relaxing in Arawn’s embrace. Occasionally he whispered in her ears, endearing words that would make her face heat if she was not drifting in and out of sleep. Evanna believed it had all been a dream until a tender kiss behind her ear told her that was not so, and she melted further into Arawn.
"*I would scold you for feigning to be asleep if it were not for the warmth of your body against mine and the sweet smell of your hair,*" Arawn whispered against her hair.
Evanna’s cheeks became rosy, and her lids fully opened, blushing further when she met Arawn’s tender gaze. She had been asleep most of the time he carried her and even felt bad that he was holding her, but that guilt fled when she fell into a daze of just watching his profile. That was only for the last thirty minutes, though, watching the sun turn his white hair golden and a shade of orange and pink from the sunset, his eyes sparkling brightly againast that marble-like, smooth skin.