Lewis wanted to speak for a while, his mouth agape as he stared back at her face in total shock.
"Is it possible to hug you?" He asked with an unsure tone of voice.
"Its not like I want to oppose it either." Aefia spoke while letting out a huff of breathe. "I guess you are free about it. Its been a long time, hasn't it?"
He placed the artifact inside his pocket before standing abruptly to his feet and pulling her into a hug. His forehead dropped to her shoulder, while his hands rested on her shoulders and head respectively.
Aefia suddenly turned rigid. Perfectly reminded of the moment before she had chosen to take her life. Her arms hesitantly reached out of her pocket, hovering over his shoulder. Her fingers were violently trembling as if it weren't reality she was being faced with. It felt, like a momentary hallucination like the one with Brittany when she was killed.
So many people loving died in Aefia's life that now, the feeling of reaching out and touching air was a threat that wanted to happen whenever. She knew that if she hugged him back, she might not want the moment to end. Who knew? What if after this very moment, a spear strikes him across the chest and suddenly he is buried under a bunch of stone and dirt.
She had a chance of reawakening, but he might not.
Now it felt more relatable. When she was younger at ten years old, she would read about now novel characters would break down whenever their close people died. She thought it was a sick joke, saying that death was a small matter.
But now, as she was experiencing it herself, she truly felt the pain of the loneliness after a loved one has passed away. Especially if they were the reason you are who you are right now.
Lewis was someone who had returned Aefia much of her lost childhood moments, making her a playful person like now. She might be insane in the mind a little, but he was not to blame for that. Mostly, he had given Aefia a sense of security and mental help, although he couldn't do much. She did hurt him a little, but she won't stop looking up to him as a brother who she could run to during a bad day.
The most sickening fact to her right there in that position, was that after a time that she gets back along with her people, they get captured and killed. Ms. Avry was taken away from her due to the Imperial family, and she did communicate with her in the few days before she went missing. Then was Brittany, who was killed after she dressed Aefia up for the last time before a breakfast with the Empress got her killed. The previous Countess... She seemed to understand her by a bit before she took her life to allow Aefia extra time to save Nada.
Then...
After Aefia fought with Lewis over the toxins she used to secretly take, she got back along with him after she was beaten to coma at their mother. Time went by without much interaction, and the last interaction was when she took her life. If they got back along right now, that meant she would face another one of those rotten fates again.
But wait...
Didn't Ms. Avry die after Aefia got along with him? Then Brittany died after she forgave Lewis. It wasn't making sense to her, it caused a head ache to appear at her head. Because... Her fate was entangled so much here and there, it was hard to deduce what will happen next. Maybe nothing at all?
That didn't make her stop from trying to keep people alive though.
She didn't know why she was suddenly recalled with so much at once... What if her life was covered with red lines spinning between loops that tangled with other lines that made it hard for her to deduce exactly what was going on. What if someone was controlling her fate?
Of course God could control human's lives... But this one felt like she was being pulled into a mystery that involved a second person with the reigns of her life.
She briefly hugged Lewis back and stumbled backwards due to her dizzying headache. However, she didn't show signs of one in front of him. He will be concerned and ask unnecessary questions that would piss her off. Adding to the already lasting headache.
"I need to go back to my team. I will meet you another time?" She asked while forcing a smile on her face.
"Sure Husky." He tilted his head while rustling her hair.
She folded her arms while glaring at him. "You still haven't changed."
"Really? Other people said I have changed." He asked while tapping his chin.
Then, a second pair of footsteps followed into the tent.
"Captain... I think you need to–Hoh!" The knight gasped in a huge amount of breathe while looking at Aefia's direction. He immediately ran forward and fell on his knees, slamming his forehead to try ground.
"Holy–" She clasped her mouth with her right hand, staring with an astonished face. It was the knight who was slightly obsessed with whe ever since she had taken down the Banshees. Though she ignored him all the time, rolling her eyes rudely everytime he complimented a thing she did. He was young though, apparantly he was a knight-in-trainimg. That young.
"What the heck?!–" Lewis shrieked at the sudden shadowy movement.
"The Princess is alive! All hail your Imperial Majesty Princess Aefia!" He shouted with excitement, bobbing his head up and down ten inches from her feet. "I need to immediately inform the Empress! We need to tell Prince George! We need to tell–"
"No. Don't even open your mouth about it." Lewis commanded while stepping between Aefia and the armour-clad figure.
The knight looked upset, looking quite shocked.
"I was the one who ordered my death be brought to light. Don't frath over it." She folded her arms while looking away. "It is for the best that you don't let the others know."
"Alright!" He beamed.
"If you don't mind. I have something I need to discuss with Lewis in private." She added, and he immediately obeyed. Fleeing the tent like his life depended on it. The flaps rose for a bit, at his momentum.
Meanwhile, his head snapped to her direction with an arched brow. "What is it that you wanted to speak about?"
"I know you recall I told you I was the Guardian of Death."
"Yeah?"
"Can you shut up about it as well? Don't even say you know who the Guardian of Death is."
"Alright?" He spoke while shrugging. "And what?"
"..." She frowned at his face. "You are not going to congratulate me?!"
"Congratulations?"
"No! Not like that!"
"Wow! Congratulations to my sister for being waking up form the dead!" He clapped his hands in front of him, in a sarcastic manner. "Now what?"
"..." She stared at his face as if he wasn't even serious. Then, with a sigh, she walked backwards and sat on the bed. "Here is the thing. Do you know that I am the captain of the Countess house for the hunting competition?"
"Is that so?" He asked while stepping forward with folded arms.
"I don't really care about that part, but I do care about something. The ducal house looked suspicious to me. And he seemed to be targeting our house from afar. I know for once that a major chaos is about to occur on the third day, and it won't be a good one. The ducal house... Is trying to do something. I am certain my house will be robbed, but my team members are bullshit and... Can you do me a favor?"
"What?"
"Let's join forces. I know the Imperial family is only participating as the host and can't claim the price. All I need, is for you to stand for my house whenever the ducal house tries to say that we stole their rations." She explained with a quite manner after the moment of embarrassment she had caused herself a few seconds prior.
"No."
"Why?"
"You are going to steal it... Aren't you?"
"No!"
"Still no."
"You are so annoying! Just do as I say or we are all going to the ground because do that yellow flagged bastards!" She threw her arms up in frustruation.
***
On her way back to her own camp, she decided to stop near the lake one more time before officially going out for a hunt.
She didn't climb into the water this time. But she did reach out and channel her magic into it. By now, the sirens should be able to tell, right? Unless she accidentally called on a mermaid.
Luckily, that wasn't the case. A coral blue head bobbed out fo the surface with pointed ears.
"Ah! The Guardian of Death!" Their sweet voices rang out onto the wilderness. "How can we help you?"
"Are any of you injured? Just wanted to make sure." She answered while crouching down to be eye-level with them.
"No. Not at all. How about you?"
"Not really." She answered back while clenching her fist at her sides. "Listen... I know that you wanted to tell me about something back then when I was in the water. And I also wanted to ask about a question of my own."
"Oh! Right! The thing that we wanted to warn you about was something related to your eyes." The siren smiled.
"My eyes?"
"Yes." She nodded. "Do you know that if you get injured at her right eye, it means it was just an accident. But if you get injuries at your left eye all in a straight row... It means your fate is not good. You are tangled in your own strings of mystery."
Aefia's eyes widened with the answer. "So... Wait–Is it like someone is controlling me like a puppet?"
"I am not certain darling." She shook her head. "That is all I wanted to say. He same goes to beauty marks... A mole at the bottom of your right eye means intense beauty. A mole at your left eye means a life full of misery. We as sirens know this, and wanted to warn you. But we found you at a wrong timing."
Aefia only knew that sirens were beautiful creatures, but to think that they could dictate a person's life using beauty marks was shocking to know.
"I get it now..." She stood up on her feet. "Thank you. My question was going to be exactly what you answered. Alright. I will see you all later then." She waved with a smile at her face.
"Alright." The sirens was about to swim away, when suddenly, her face lit up and she swum back forward. "Did you know that you have both of them?"
"Both of what?"
"Beauty and misery? You are immensely pretty to even catch the eyes of a siren but your fate says otherwise."
***
Beautiful and misery... What exactly is it supposed to mean...?
Aefia tapped her chin while sitting on a log, staring blankly at the fire in front of her. It was evening and the rest of the crew was chit-chatting about their day. Glancing backwards and speaking loudly to try and irritate her. But she didn't bother.
Just few seconds ago, they were struggling to lit a fire, and grew angered when Aefia lit hers with her magic. They spit bad words at her, but she didn't care, since she was hungry from the entire day.
She spent the rest of her time hunting. The forest was swarming with creatures. Beast and animals all together. She also came across dungoens and decided they were going to become valueable for her by nightfall. But for now, she needed to stack up on her energy after she nearly drowned twice at that lake today.
Suddenly, her teammates interrupted her thoughts.
"I can't believe we caught twenty animals today! It is so unbelievable how we did it!" The muscular guy shouted.
So that guy hasn't chilled out yet? Oh well...
Aefia bit down on her wooden spoon which she used to eat a soup and bread Nada had made for her, using Cindy to sneak it in. She was honestly so glad she had a cousin like her. Immediately, without wasting anymore time, she finished it up and vanished the cutlery into her inventory.
Her fingers reached out for her water bottle beside her, but she didn't drink from it. Her fingers tapped a rythm onto the plastic surface, as another thought engulfed her mind completed. She turned more and more bored until she remembered to use her map and review the marked places where dungoens were.
Length and colour of the crack could tell how hard it was. She had marked the initials of a colours beside the crosses. When the reading was too dim, she snapped her fingers and immediately the fire would become more vibrant. This made the others jealous. Except of Samantha, who watched with a concerned face from a distance.
She yawned, growing more and more tired. When suddenly, the light dimmed again.
Her gaze lifted to see a figure standing in front of her. The slender boy she had promoted to the captain position.
"May I help you?" Aefia asked with a polite tone of voice, closing her map and placing it into her inventory.
He laid the coat of the captain on his arms and fell on his knees in front of her, hanging his head low to avoid meeting her eyes.
"I can't do this anymore. If there is anyone fit for this role... It will only be you." The slender boy spoke, raising his voice for the rest to hear.
She leaned forward, crossing her legs and propping her elbow on her knees, while her chin rested on her palm. Her eyes scanned the fabric at his arms, it was slightly dusted and ripped at the hems. The tassles missing.
"What happened–"
"Please! Just take it! The team is in a state of losing if you don't do anything about it." He shouted while looking down at the ground. And when he did look up at her face...
She was grinning, staring down at her red eyes that were practically glowing. It was as if she was expecting it from the time she declared she would leave as a captain.