Where the Forest Breathes

Kael stood up for the first time since the battle. Every muscle protested, his body still echoing the chaos he'd survived, but the sharp pain had dulled into a manageable ache. Liora’s healing magic — gentle, luminous, like the forest itself — had worked better than he expected. Better than he deserved.

He made his way to the small stream that cut through the clearing, the soft gurgle of water strangely calming. Kneeling beside it, he stared into the current. His reflection wavered with the flow — golden eyes, disheveled hair, lines of exhaustion etched deep into his face.

But he was alive.

And for the first time in a long while, he looked it.

Behind him, Liora approached, her footsteps light and unhurried — more like a breeze than a person.

"You're looking better," she said, her voice bright but soft, like sunlight through leaves. She placed a small woven basket on the grass beside him.

"Still hurts," he replied, not looking up. "But I'm alive."

She knelt beside him, pulling out bits of fruit, forest bread, and a few herbs wrapped in leaf bundles. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. The way the light hit her silver hair made it shimmer like moonlight. Her eyes were curious and bright — lilac and unguarded. She didn’t belong in this world of blood and shadow… yet here she was, in it anyway.

“You know I can’t stay,” he said suddenly, the words heavy, like stones dropped into still water. “It’s only a matter of time before someone senses me here.”

“I know.” Her fingers paused mid-motion. She kept her gaze on the bread she was holding, as if it had become terribly interesting. “But you’re not strong enough to leave yet. And I…”

She hesitated. He turned to her slowly.

“You?”

“I… don’t want you to go yet.”

The words left her lips like a confession. Honest. Unapologetic. A little afraid, but more certain than she expected.

Kael blinked. It wasn’t the kind of thing he was used to hearing. Most wanted him gone the moment he arrived — or dead before he got there.

"You’re strange," he said quietly, with the hint of a smirk playing at his lips.

"Fae are like that," she replied, mimicking his tone and shrugging playfully.

Before he could say more, a sharp noise cracked the air.

A branch — snapped. Then hurried footsteps, not far off, crunching leaves and brush from the northern trail.

They both froze.

Kael rose immediately, every sense on alert. “Someone’s coming.”

Liora didn’t hesitate. She grabbed his wrist with both hands — tiny compared to his — and yanked him toward a large, hollow tree nestled beneath an ancient root system.

"Quick! Here!" she whispered.

They slipped inside. The hollow was narrow, and the mossy walls pressed close. Too close.

Kael could feel her pressed against him, her small frame trembling slightly. Her heartbeat was fast — fluttering wings trapped in a cage. His, steady as ever, but coiled with instinct. He could smell the wild sweetness of her hair. She was warm, and alive, and real — and too close.

Outside, muffled voices drew closer.

“There’s something off here… I sensed a foreign aura. Could be a spirit. Or worse — a stray outsider.”

“Fae lands don’t tolerate strangers. Search the area. Carefully.”

Liora’s fingers curled tighter around his cloak.

Kael leaned down, voice low in her ear. “You should turn me in. It’d be safer.”

She looked up at him. Her voice trembled, but her eyes didn’t.

“I already saved you once. I’m not going to change my mind.”

Kael stared at her for a moment longer — at the raw determination in her lilac eyes — then nodded.

Outside, the voices faded, and eventually, only the sounds of the forest remained.

They stayed like that a few moments longer than necessary.

When they finally pulled apart, the air felt different. Thicker. Charged.

Liora exhaled. “That was close…”

Kael gave her a glance. “You're reckless.”

“Says the guy hiding in a tree with a fae girl he just met.”

He opened his mouth, then shut it. She wasn’t wrong.

Liora stepped out first, brushing leaves from her skirt. Her cheeks were still a little pink, though she pretended not to notice.

Kael followed, his expression unreadable.

But something lingered between them — a thread pulled tight, fragile but real.

A bond, barely forming.

Liora glanced at him, unsure if she should say something. But Kael beat her to it.

“…Thanks.”

She blinked.

He’d said it so simply. So unexpectedly.

“You’re welcome,” she said, a little breathless.

Then, with a grin, she added: “So, are we going to count that as the second time I’ve saved you?”

Kael rolled his eyes. “Don’t push it.”

Liora laughed. He didn’t.

But something in his chest stirred — a warmth he hadn’t felt in years.

And just like that, the forest felt a little less dangerous. A little more like a place he might not want to leave.

Not yet.

Not if she was here.