The Quest (The Shambler & Ranya)

[Ranya]

Tahira sighed as she finally stopped to rest. She had been traveling all day, making her way toward the Castle of the Vampire King. The sun was setting, and she could have seen well enough to keep going, but she was far too tired. She had left home only a week ago, and the forests were sometimes quite difficult to traverse, so the trip to rescue her brother was taking far longer than she liked. It didn’t help that she was not yet used to the constant walking. She was grateful, however, for Kaze, a wolf she befriended her first night away from home. She would’ve been miserable if she’d had to go all that way by herself.

The young Elf girl, only eighteen, felt guilty for her brother getting kidnapped. He was only ten, and she knew he was the child mentioned in the Prophecy. She had done her best to protect him, but he had been take away while she wasn’t looking. She gave another sigh as she settled herself at the base of a large tree in the middle of a clearing. Using her magic, she started a small, contained fire, just large enough to keep her and her companion warm and keep any other animals away without setting anything on fire. She knew she should eat something, but she was far too tired. She closed her dark blue eyes, and rested  her head on her small pack, her long blonde hair flowing along behind her as she slowly let sleep come to her. “Kaze…” She mumbled to her wolf companion just before falling asleep. “Keep an eye on things…wake me if something isn’t right…” She reached out a slender, pale hand to stroke his fur once before falling asleep.

[Chevalier des Poissons]

"Kaze"

He normally would hate that name, but thru Tahira´s voice, everything sounds sweet. He couldn´t stop looking at her, wishing to tell her the truth, to tell her who he really is, and how he loves her. Anyway, time could just stop right now, with her hand over his head. Her presence was just enought to make everything go away. But the sun has almost disappeared, and 'Kaze' had to get away. Every night he turns back into his real form, an Elf boy, only 2 years older than Tahira, named Dahler. Every night, his heart feels the eternal pain of wondering if Tahira would still like her wolf if she knew the truth, after all, she despises Dahler. He got cursed because he is an Elf from the lowest class in the village, and she is the highest. Now he turns into a wolf at day, and gets back to normal when the sun is set.

He gets away just in time to transform back into his Elf form. But it is not easy to go from a wolf to an elf and keep running silently, so Dahler   falls in the ground and makes a loud noise. He stands and hides as this noise probably woke Tahira.

[Ranya]

Tahira awoke with a start, having heard something loud not too far away. Sitting up, she began to look around for the source. As her eyes scanned the circle of firelight, she noticed something was missing. She sat up, looking around once more. “Kaze?” She called out. “Where did you go?”

She knew he was a wild animal, and not a pet…but she cared for him. She was sure he’d be fine off by himself in the woods, so she shouldn’t be concerned for him. She shook her head slightly. That noise hadn’t sounded like him though. “Is someone there?” She asked. She pulled herself to her feet, and began to walk toward the source of the sound. “Please...if someone’s there…show yourself. I mean you no harm…”

Even as she said this, she hoped it was Kaze.  She couldn’t imagine who could be out in the woods in the middle of the night. Unless…a sudden thought came to her. What if it was bandits? Her blue eyes widened. “If you mean me harm, I can assure you I am able to defend myself…” She stopped near the small fire, and listened closely for any sort of noise. ‘Oh, Kaze…where have you gone?’ She thought silently.

[Chevalier des Poissons]

'Oh no', thinks Dahler. What kind of situation he got into. The night was so dark that if he does not show up and talk to Tahira, she will probably mistake him for some bandit and attack him. He knows he could probably defend himself easily, but he would never be able even to consider the idea of attacking her. The only safe option is to go over her and explain himself. But how would he explain all the situation?

As Dahler moves, he makes more and more noise. That forest is perfect for a wolf to move quietly, not an Elf like him. But hey, maybe Tahira can make the connection between the missing wolf and Dahler´s sudden appearence, maybe she recognize him and finally find out about the curse, or maybe she would appreciate his company in this moment and stop despizing him so much. Dahler fills his heart with hope and decide to go over to talk with her.

"Tahira, don´t worry, I am not a bandit. It´s me, Dahler", he says out loud, happily.

He aproaches the area hoping to find a comprehensive friend, but he forgot a very important detail: wolves don´t wear clothes, as there is nothing covering his body..

[Ranya]

Tahira noticed movement, and took a step back; stopping right next to her thins at the base of the tree. When she heard the source of the noise speak, introducing himself as Dahler. ‘Could it really be?’ She wondered. ‘I thought he left town a while ago…’

She’d never really despised him…not like she acted, anyway. Truth be told, she had wanted to be his friend, but her father had forbade her from associating with her. Still, Dahler had always been so nice. Tahira had hoped by being mean to him, he would start being mean in return, and then she wouldn’t feel as badly for not associating with him. He never did though…not until his sudden disappearance.

When the young blonde finally saw the familiar figure approach, she gave a small squeak, quickly covering her eyes with both hands. Her cheeks turned a bright red. She certainly hadn’t expected him to be naked. ‘Why is he naked? Where are his clothes?’ She thought.

“Dahler…c—cover yourself, please…” She managed, her voice betraying her embarrassment for the other. She reached over with one hand and blindly groped until her fingers landed on her cloak. Grabbing it, she held it out before her for him. It wasn’t until she felt him take the cloak, and was sure he’d had enough time to put it on that she uncovered and opened her eyes. Despite the shock, she was a bit more at ease to see a familiar face. She slid into a sitting position, motioning for him to do the same. “What are you doing here?” She asked. She examined her companion in the firelight, and noticed, not for the first time, how handsome he was. She shook her head slightly. ‘What a silly thing to think…’ She mused silently, the blush from earlier slowly fading from her cheeks.

[Chevalier des Poissons]

"Oh....so..sorry, Tahira". Dahler was as surprised as her. After all that time, how could he forget a simple thing like that? 'It was a bad idea to come here', he thinks, but at least he would be near her in his Elf form for a while.

After getting her cloak, he sits in front of Tahira. He stays quiet for a while. He was always too shy around her, and today was no different, specially after this incident. Then, after some minutes, he decides to break the ice and starts a conversation. As the random talking goes by he feels confident again and decides to tell her the truth.

"Tahira", he says anxious, "there is something I have to tell you. I....I...".

But then the sun starts to rise. The curse was about to return, he had to go away. So Dahler simply gets up and runs away, leaving Tahira behind. Two minutes later he turns into his wolf self again, and decides to return to her confused friend.

[Ranya]

Tahira was just beginning to enjoy the conversation with Dahler, having realized that out here, station and class didn’t matter. He began to tell her something, but stopped suddenly. Jumping to his feet, he ran off, leaving the petite blonde rather confused. “Dahler!” She called after him. “What’s wrong? Come back!” She stood, starting after him. She stopped however when she found her cloak laying at the edge of the clearing. Picking it up, she blinked in confusion and returned to spot near the fire. With a wave of her hand, she extinguished it before settling down to try and get a little sleep before setting out again.

She smiled when Kaze reappeared. “Where did you go, my friend?” She asked, stroking his ears affectionately. She gave a small yawn. “It seems we were both up all night. We’ll rest for a bit before heading out again.” With that, she made herself comfortable, pulling the cloak over her to block out the increasing sunshine. Her mind wandered back to Dahler as she fall asleep. This had been her first time talking to him, and she found she really did enjoy his company. ‘I wonder where he ran off too…’ She thought sleepily. ‘I would’ve liked it if he’d travel with me…’

After a few hours’ rest, and a good meal, Tahira set out with Kaze once more. She sighed deeply as she walked through the heavy foliage. “I wonder why Dahler ran off like that…” She commented. She looked down at her wolf companion. “I enjoy your friendship, Kaze…but I can’t converse with you. Last night was the first time I’ve had a conversation since leaving home to save my brother. It was…nice…” A content smile settled over her features as she continued on her way.

[Chevalier des Poissons]

'Kaze' goes along with Tahira as he feels sorry for not trying to tell her the truth sooner, or not having enough courage for such. His only comfort is that he made her smile. She was actually happy for meeting him in his true form. Maybe she didn´t despise him as she acted too, maybe she was even missing him.

As the hours go and they set out to the way, 'Kaze' decides to show Tahira how he was enjoying to be her companion, somehow as a way to thank her for her opinion about him in his true form. Even as a wolf, he was really happy.

[Ranya]

Tahira looked down at her companion. “You seem very happy today too, Kaze…” She paused in mid step, and crouched down to the wolf’s level. “Just where did you go last night? If it had been anyone other than Dahler, I might’ve needed you to help protect me.” She laughed a little, stroking the wolf’s side once before standing up straight once more. “I bet you don’t even understand me, do you, Kaze?” With a shake of her head, she continued walking. She had a few more hours of daylight, and wanted to cover as much ground as possible.

After a while, Tahira started to look for a good place to rest for the night. It wasn’t quite time for sunset, but she set up camp anyway, fixing something to eat and sharing it with Kaze. After that, the blonde elf decided to get ready to sleep. After starting a fire, much like the night before, she took her cloak, and hung it on a nearby branch in case Dahler showed up naked again. She knew it was silly to think Dahler had followed her this far, after all, she had covered a good bit of distance despite her late start. Still, part of her hoped that her Elven companion would visit again tonight.

That done, she settled down to rest for the night. “Kaze…” She said, eyes already closed as the sun went through its last setting stages. “If you see Dahler…wake me up…”

[Chevalier des Poissons]

As the sun sets and Tahira sleeps, 'Kaze' knows it is the time for him to turn into his Elf form again. He keeps looking at her, how beautiful she is even when sleeping. Then, he grabs the cloak with his mouth and runs to get some distance, until he turns back into his elf form again. As Dahler, he wears the cloak and returns to the place where Tahira is. He makes some noises to get her to be already awake at his arrival, but he gets into the clearing and she is still sleeping.

'She is so perfect', he thinks. He gets close to her face and admires her bautiful blonde hair, contrasting with his short black hair. He nearly touches her face when he realizes Tahira is awaking. Before she notices, he gets away into the branch where she left the cloak, trying to pretend he was coming right now, but she seems no impressed. Somewhy Dahler has the slightest impression that maybe she was already awake before opening her eyes.

"Sorry, didn´t mean to wake you up, you seemed so peaceful sleeping", he says to her. "Tahira, there something I need to tell you about your wolf", he says when sees her trying to find 'Kaze'. "Look. I.....I....I...". Something was wrong. He was trying to tell her the truth, but the words got stuck, like something was preventing him to say. "That wolf...you know...". Dahler kept trying to tell Tahira the truth at different ways, but he was only causing her to worry about her lupine companion.

[Ranya]

Tahira awoke to sounds of someone approaching the camp, rather noisily at that. Part of her said it could be someone dangerous, but her hope that it was Dahler outweighed her wariness. An idea came to her, and so she continued feign sleep. He sensed him come close to her, looking right by her face, and had to fight hard to keep from blushing. For a long moment, they remained close like that before she slowly began to pretend and wake up. Slowly, she opened her eyes and sat up, almost laughing as he backed up and pretended to just be arriving. She noticed he was wearing her cloak again. ‘Where are his clothes?’ She wondered, but was too shy to ask.

She sat across from him, happy for the company again. However when he began to talk about Kaze, she became worried. “Is he hurt?  Have you seen him?” She asked urgently. “He’s been leaving at night…I worry for him…” She reached out and placed a hand on Dahler’s arm, the first physical contact she ever shared with him. “Do you know if he’s safe?”

She tilted her head as a sudden thought came to her. “Did you follow me here? Why don’t you just travel with me? I’d love your company.” She blushed at the sudden confession, hoping she didn’t sound too silly.

[Chevalier des Poissons]

"Don´t worry, I´m sure Kaze is safe and happy right now", Dahler says, as he starts blushing. He couldn´t believe that Tahira just made physical contact with him. And more, she really wants his company. Could it be that she never despised him at all? Or is she like that just because of the situation? It doesn´t matter, it was his perfect chance to get close to her.

"Look, don´t worry about Kaze. I could travel with you, but Kaze and me can´t just be at the same place.." he takes a break when realizes his voice was about to fade again. "Nothing would make me happier than.....be with...i mean...travel with...you" he starts blushing once again. "But...I am....busy...and I can´t be with you until the night. I can´t tell you why, forgive...me...".

Dahler looks at Tahira´s face, just to see a disappointed Elf. So, he tries to make her a little more comfortable. Confident in the situation, he grabs her hand and gives it a smooth kiss. Then he says to her "Sorry, maybe you discover my reason at the right time. But if you wish, I can visit you every night I have the chance."

But before Tahira answer him, the sun starts to rise. Dahler says a quick goodbye and runs away, leaving the cloak in the ground when he gets some distance. As the sun rises it is time for 'Kaze' to return.

[Ranya]

Tahira’s eyes widened faintly as he kissed her hand, a small blush creeping into er elegant features. She smiled slightly when Dahler said he’d like o travel with her, but looked disappointed when he said he couldn’t. Her face fell more when he said he could not tell her why. What was going on with Dahler? Why was he behaving so strangely? And where was Kaze anyway?

Dahler mentioned coming to visit her when he could at night, and her face lit up. She was about to answer when her companion took off suddenly, much like the night before. “Dahler!” She called out. “Come back!” She sighed. “Please, come see me again…” After that, she was speaking more to herself then to her missing friend. “I didn’t get to apologize…for how I used to treat you…”

She shook her head, and laid down to rest just a little before setting out for the day. She felt something…different…when she was with Dahler, especially when he touched her...kissed her hand like he had moments ago. A blush returned to her cheeks as she thought of it. Shaking her head, she settled down for a rest before setting out again.

[Chevalier des Poissons]

The sun rises again, and Dahler becomes 'Kaze'. He returns to where Tahira is, just like the nigh before, and like he now will do each day. He really liked to talk with her, to be there when he is actually himself, not that cursed wolf. He holds the cloak in his mouth just when Tahira wake up.

As they set off, 'Kaze' has no idea of where are they in the forest. It was a completely strange place, everything looks the same. They keep going on and on, and the walking seems to last an eternity, but it is still morning. They didn´t walk more than an hour, but still, that place was odd. 'Kaze' is worried about where to hide when the night comes once again.

Despite everything, 'Kaze' is divided between happyness and sadness. He can get to be with her all day long, and he is still not sure if she is only apprecating his company due to this lone place, or she just likes him at all. Not only that, she likes his wolf side truly, and each time Tahira demonstrate his friendship for the wolf, 'Kaze´s' heart wants to screm and vocalize how sorry he feels for being unable to tell her the truth. He looks at her, and she is different. Until yesterday she was looking happy, protected and strong, but today she looks like something is missing.

[Ranya]

Tahira sighed deeply as she stopped to res later that day. It was early afternoon and she felt a little tired after two days with little sleep. “We’re going to rest a few moments, Kaze.”  She informed the black wolf before settling down at the base of a large tree near a winding river.

Sighing happily, the blonde leaned her head back and closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of the sun on her skin. Reaching out, her hands found the cloak she had been letting Dahler use at night. She pulled to close to her before opening her eyes and looking at Kaze. “I’ve decided something, my friend.” She announced to her companion. “Tonight, I have to tell Dahler the truth. I’m afraid I’ve been dishonest with him, and I have to set things right. I only hope he doesn’t think I’m a horrible person.” She wanted to tell him she was sorry for how she treated him when they were both back in their home village. She hoped he would understand her reasoning, and continue to act as her friend.

She shifted her gaze to the nearby river, and smiled. She was quite at ease in and around water, and suddenly realized that a bath would be quite refreshing. Glancing around their surroundings, she noticed the area was very secluded. Standing, she started for the river, removing her clothing as she went. “I’m getting a bath, Kaze.” She said as she slipped in. “Don’t peek.” She laughed. It was quite silly to think a wolf would peek at her as she bathed.

After soaking for some time, she climbed out and redressed, feeling much better. She returned to her seat at the base of the tree. “I think I’m going to sleep a while…if Dahler comes, wake me up.” It was still some time before sunset, but she was tired. She slept peacefully until after sunset, waking to find Kaze gone one more. Starting a fire, she decided to eat something, having not eaten since early that morning.

[Chevalier des Poissons]

'The truth?'. 'Kaze' can´t understand. What Tahira means with that? Could it be that she has some feelings for him? If this is true, he will finally be free of that hideous curse, and they will be together forever, like his dream coming true. But why is she afraid of being considered a horrible person? 'Kaze' gets confused, and goes on thinking about her and what is that truth she is talking about. He barely notices when she talks about taking a bath, but his attention returns to her when she takes her clothes out. For a moment, while she is walking towards the water, he  stares at her. 'She is so beautiful, so perfect', he thinks.

Then, after a while, Tahira is back, and she lays down to have some rest. 'Kaze' looks at her and then at the sky. It was still the afternoon, so he had very much time left before walking away. So, he comes to her and lays down at her side. It wouldn´t hurt to spend some time with her, even in this lupine form, even that she thinks that he is nothing but a little pet. She was there, he was there, and they could be together.

However, this is not a paradise and they are not going to a picnic. 'Kaze' senses something odd, he could smell something fetid and rotten. Whoever owns that smeel can´t be friendly. 'Please, not now, not here. Please'. But his hope is in vain, as someone strange approaches. 'Kaze' barks loud to wake Tahira, but she seems to be expecting him, ironically, so she might not understand his alert. He barks again and again, hoping that she understands that whatever is coming is not a friend, but a menace. 'Please, gods, don´t let anything to happen to the one I love', he thinks.

[Ranya]

Tahira looked up when Kaze began to bark. “What is it, Kaze?” She asked, her brow furrowed. Her heart leapt. Was it Dahler? Already? She frowned, however. Something wasn’t right. She could sense that in how her companion acted. She stood and snatched up her staff. “What’s wrong? Where are they?” She began to look around. ‘Oh Great Goddess..don’t let this happen…I just want to save my brother…see Dahler…not fight with someone…’ She thought as she looked about for the source of Kaze’s agitation. The blonde was worried, but didn’t show it as she looked about for whoever was coming. She moved closer to Kaze as a silent way of showing her friend she understood his meaning.

[Chevalier des Poissons]

'Kaze' gets calmer when Tahira comes near him. She understood his alert. As a wolf, he has better vision than his elf form. Something was coming, and it didn´t look like a human, or an elf, or even an animal. It looked like a monster. In a rush of courage, 'Kaze' runs towards the menace and gets caught in a trap, and screams, scared for a moment. But he was able to see that it was something like an ogre coming. Could it be a servant of that vampire Tahira is going to face?

The weird monster comes closer. 'Kaze' tries to free himself, but it´s an useless attempt. Such a humiliation. His frist trial to be useful, to help her, and he gets caught in a trap like an animal. But he was an animal at that time, and what that monster was going to do with him? He couldn´t get caught there, not now. He has to know what Tahira is going to tell him. He wants to see her in his true form once. Just one more time, at least. He wants to see her, tell her his feelings about her. But lucky was on his side, as that creature gets distracted by his new prey and is looking in the opposite direction. If Tahira comes now, she will surprise him. But will she come here just to save a wolf she met two days ago? 'Kaze' closes his eyes and hopes for the best.

[Ranya]

Tahira made a sound of protest when Kaze took off. “No, come back!” She said in a loud whisper. Her eyes widened when she heard what sounded like a wolf howl in pain and surprise. Without a second thought, she took off in that direction, wanting to save her friend. After a moment, she saw Kaze, caught in a trap. “Oh!” She gasped before rushing to help free him from the trap. She could see the ogre now that she was closer. She was thankful that they were slow, stupid creatures. As she finally freed him, she accidentally cut her hand n the trap. She didn’t have time to worry about her bleeding hand though. She had to get herself and Kaze to safety. Standing, she took off. “Come on, Kaze.” She urged quietly. She saw some caves and ducked into one of them, waiting for Kaze to enter.

With a sigh, Tahira started a fire with her magic and settled down to look at her hand. It was a deep cut, but she had bandages in her bag. Digging around, she began to bandage her hand. “We should be safe in here until the ogre leaves.” She told Kaze. “I hope Dahler is safe. It’s almost nightfall…the ogre won’t like being out at night, so it’ll be safe soon enough.” Once her hand was bandaged, she closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the cave wall. She wasn’t tired, thanks to her nap earlier, but she was out of breath from the excitement just a few moments ago. “Come here, Kaze. Let me make sure you aren’t hurt” She held her uninjured hand out toward him to call him closer.

[Chevalier des Poissons]

'Kaze' feels sorry for what his hasteful idea made to Tahira. Because of him she could´ve get attacked, or hurt. Luckily she only had that cut, but he still feels sorry for that. He goes near her, and in the way he discovers that his leg was hurt. Nothing serious, probably something from the moment he got caught, it would be good by tomorrow, but he wouldn´t be able to run well, maybe in his true form he won´t walk properly. He licks Tahira´s wounded hand to demonstrate how worried he got about her. Then he sees that the sun is almost gone, and he runs - or try to run - off the cave. This time was close, he left the cave just in time to turn into his elf form.

As Dahler, he comes back, confident and curios about that truth he heard Tahira speaking of earlier in the day. But then he stops in the entrance of the cave. 'He changed our course, how am I going to explain how I found her? And where is the cloak?'. He thinks about not entering the cave today, but he has to know what truth she is talking about. So, he takes a deep breath, grabs some leaves from a bush to cover himself, and enters the cave. At that distance he couldn´t tell if she is sleeping or not, but since he is coming near her and she is not moving, maybe she fell asleep again.

Dahler looks for Tahira´s cloak and then can´t avoid to say loud "oh no" when he sees her cloak behind her. If he wanted to get it, he would have to reach over in such a way that, if she wakes up, she will see just the part of his body he is trying to hide with that cloak. Dahler decides to risk it, hoping that she is not pretending to be sleeping, if she prentended last night. He goes slowly, and for a moment he uncovers himself, and is nearly reaching it when his wounded leg hurts and he says "ouch" out loud. Then, Tahira makes some reaction. Desperately, Dahler takes the cloak and jumps behind, rolling on the floor, pretending to fall. He was such bad at lying and do those things. He hopes that she believes he just fell. But at least he bought some time to put the cloak on. Then, he turns to her and sees her awaking slowly.

Was she pretending to be sleeping? She was awake just before he left her, and hadn´t so much time to sleep. But the way she moves seems like she was sleeping so deeply, as she was sleeping the entire day, seems so forced. Was she pretending? If so, 'oh no', he thinks. Then, he blushes red like a tomato. 'Oh no, oh my god'.

[Ranya]

Tahira felt comforted when Kaze licked her wounded hand. Closing her eye, she began to silently try to heal herself. She knew it was possible, but she had never been very good at it. When it came to healing others, she was among the best from their village, but she had to focus all of her energy to try and heal herself. She was so engrossed in what she was doing, she didn’t sense Kaze eave, or Dahler enter. She also didn’t realize he was so close to her until she felt the cloak pulled from behind her. She slowly brought herself back from her inner state of healing to open her eyes and see Dahler before her, in her cloak. She smiled slightly. “Dahler, I’m glad to see you.” Suddenly she didn’t care that her hand was still hurt.

She waited while he sat down across from her, noticing the trouble he seemed to be having. “Are…are you hurt?” Her dark blue eyes filled with concern. “Was it that Ogre outside? I was worried you’d be hurt as well. Kaze and I were.” She leaned forward, reaching out with her good hand and placing it gently over where he seemed to be hurt. Closing her eyes once more, she easily channeled the energy needed to heal the wound for him. Opening her eyes, she smiled at him. “Feel better?”

She sat back with a small from chewing on her lip. “Before you say anything, Dahler, I need to tell you something.” The young blonde took a deep breath before pressing on. An Elven lad of her status wasn’t used to saying things like what she was about to say to him, but it had to be said. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry I treated you so horribly back home in Malantia. I wanted to befriend you...I really did...but my father told me it was forbidden and I had no choice but to find some way to…to get you to stop being nice to me. I thought if I was mean to you, you’d stop being nice to me…but you never did…” Tears were brimming at the corners or her eyes now. She felt horrible for all the things she’d said to him, done to him. “Please forgive me.” Without another thought, she closed the distance between them, throwing her arms about him and crying into his chest. She felt like she shouldn’t be the one crying now, but she felt so horrible. As she hugged him and cried, she continued to speak, saying whatever came to her mind in an attempt to apologize and relieve herself of some of her guilt.

“I Never wanted to hurt you. I never hated you at all. I had to pretend to or II would’ve gotten into trouble…been disowned. I don’t care about that anymore. I’d give it up to have a life where I could be friends with whomever I like. Love whomever I like.” She stopped speaking suddenly at that. Why had she said that? Did she really love Dahler? She knew Dahler had deep feelings for her. She took a moment to examine her feelings for the elf she was currently clinging to. Looking up at him finally, she blushed slightly. “I think I love you, Dahler…” She said in a whisper, a blush crossing her pale skin. “I know it’s silly...but I think I do…”

[Chevalier des Poissons]

As Dahler takes place in front of Tahira, he sees her talking about the ogre, but before he is able to say anything, she leans towards him and puts her hand on his leg. He blushes and his face gets red like a tomato, but suddenly he feels his leg okay again. He was indeed feeling better from his wound. And he didn´t have to explain her about it. That ogre became more a lucky shot than a trouble, after all. Now he was about to find out what is that truth she talked about the whole day.

And then, time just stopped. Like this, with no explanation. Nothing more was important for him. She apologized for everything, and told him that she never wanted to be mean with him. Then, she came close to him and hugged. For a moment, Dahler starts to blush again, and this is where time stopped: after Tahira whispers him that she loves him. He doesn´t fell good, confident or anything, he just feels complete near her. The fear is gone, the embarassment is gone. Maybe even the curse is gone. "Tahira.." He gently puts his hand on her head. "you have no idea, or maybe even have, how much I expected this day to come. How I hoped for you to say that. Ever since we first met, I didn´t care about classes or anything. From the very own first moment you said 'hi' to me, I love you."

He looks straight in her eyes, and gently puts his hand on her shoulder. "I had my very own troubles too. My father never forbid me to talk to you, but one day I met a priest that told me the gods may not approve our relation. I wanted to be with you over anything, and then I...". He refrains out of his control. His voice simply disappeared. He stops for a while and waits until it comes back. Unfortunately his curse wasn´t gone yet, but why? What is needed for this curse to be gone? "Forgive me, I wanna tell, but my voice simply fades. It´s part of it". He knows she is curious, but he can´t do anything about it. "Today I´ve wounded my leg, but I was not the only one. You will have to find out for yourself".

He wanted to tell her the truth. Better than that, time to show her. He waits for the sun to come, in order to show her what he is talking about. The sky starts to clear and the sun finally appears. But, instead of becoming a wolf, he simply feels his body burning, the pain was too much for him. "NOO!!" He screams in agony. "LET ME SHOW HER, PLEASE, DON´T DO THIS TO ME!" He keeps screaming. Noticing her confused expression, he runs to her and speaks quickly, as tears of pain goes out of his eyes "Tahira, I am always with you. Think with your heart, not with your brain. You will understand the truth. Justlisten to your heart and feel it. I will never leave you, never!". Then, he simply kisses her mouth. For a moment, he forgets about the pain, the curse, everything. Then, he runs to the outside to get out of her sight, and then he is in his wolf form again. He breaths relieved as the pain is gone, and returns to the cave agaon as 'Kaze', bringing the clock in his mouth.

[Ranya]

Tahira felt as if she was going to melt when he kissed her. The smile on her face faded as she watched him flee moments later in pain. Tears came to her eyes, and she cried, distraught. “I’m sorry I’ve caused you pain…” She mumbled into her hands as she cried. She looked up only when Kaze entered with the cloak. As she blinked away her tears and looked at the wolf before her, something seemed to suddenly click. “Kaze…how did you get my cloak…Are you…?” She reached out and threw her arms around him “Dahler, is that you? What’s happened?”

[Chevalier des Poissons]

'Kaze' looks at her, surprised. She is finally understanding what happened to him. But he remains as a wolf. 'Why?', he thinks in desperation, wondering why the curse is still there. Is there anything he has to go? Is there any act of love required? What would be? He tries to motion to her, indicating he is actually Dahler, but then he stops, thinking that useless. At least she has some idea of what´s happening.

His body starts to tingle, and he feels some pain. This should probably be a good sign for him. Somehow, he has the sensation that they shouldn´t be there anymore. He goes to the entrance of the cave and motions for Tahira to follow him. He somewhy feels that cave is not safe anymore. Maybe it is just part of what he is feeling, maybe it is just an effect of his curse, or maybe he is right..

[Ranya]

Tahira sensed something wasn’t right with Kaze…no, Dahler. She wasn’t sure how, but after what had just happened…what he’d said to her before leaving, somehow she knew her wolf companion and her elf companion were one in the same. It explained so much…answered so many questions.

She quickly gathered her things and followed the wolf from the cave. “Where are we going, Love?” She asked softly, looking around for any form of a threat. “Is is another Ogre? Something else?” She silently hoped it wasn’t something worse.