Edited by: Flubbykin tommyjl7

Incredible – how just a little bit of care and makeup can turn somebody in almost completely different being. I actually considered Giselle as quite beautiful, though her beauty was a bit savage – like a tiger or panther. She was the best description of the Amazon – a creature you would best adore from afar, for you never could surely know if after you would approach her she would let you pet her or rip your spine out of your back. Sometimes, very rarely (and usually after she would drink too many drinks) and after she would do something silly she would show such a shy, clumsy smile which would make my heart melt.

Yet now, after Madame Agnes took care of her, her primal beauty was completely whipped out replaced by a most sophisticated piece of art. Oh, she still managed to catch her beauty of warriors, yet lipstick on her lips and still spotless-clean skin which after being treated with oil reflected light made her much more…

… no, there is no word which could be used to name my admiration.

The only reason I didn’t ask the beauty “who are you and what did you do to my woman” was because of her behaviors. Just as un-lady-like as I remembered. She was just chewing loudly on a piece of meat she ate using her hands (because, as she stated a moment earlier – she won’t be able to pick shit with those “tiny-ass-forks" which they gave us).

And “tiny-ass-forks” were pieces of art – made of silver with beautiful carvings, I actually stopped eating for a moment to take a closer look at it. When I took a sip of some fancy red wine which was brought to us by a maid and savored the taste, Gis was gulping her third mug of beer. And when together with Lana we wipe our mouths with a piece of serviette she burped loudly. Not to mention the way she sat by a low table (we were sitting on the floor) – with her legs crossed. And let me remind you – we wore bathrobes so her “sensitive areas” were almost exposed. There is no way that on the same planet there can be another woman which would pay so little mind to her own image (if she wasn’t posing for a heroine, that is).

- “Phew. That’s one hell of a meal.” Dragoness slapped her belly twice with a wide smile as she put away a fourth empty bowl – a large one.

- “Indeed. The quality of meat as well as the way they prepared it can compete with royal chefs.” Lana was also resting after filling her stomach (with only about 1/8 of Giselle’s meal).

- “Not that I will miss this place… bloody torturers…” dragoness whined again “… Zari, I get it, you had to punish me… though I see no reason why you had to, Aira started it!!!... but what they did to me there was far too cruel for the deeds I supposedly commit!”

- “The alternative was being nailed to the oak tree by your guts and being forced to run around it till you would completely entwine it with your intestine.” I finally raised my voice “… you would be dying in agony for a few hours. Druids are not screwing around when it comes to desecration of holy forests.”

- “… I would rather have been nailed to the oak tree…” she pouted quietly “… I would at least die. Those bitches didn’t let me have that privilege…”

- “You are so overdramatic.” Lanele rolled her eyes

- “SAY IT AFTER THEY WOULD PULL EVERY LITTLE HAIR OFF YOUR BODY! One at a time.”

- “Elves don’t grow hair anywhere except for their head, so I will never know.” Another sly smile from Lana only added to Gis’s rage. She almost flipped the table.

- “Screw you guys! I am going to bed! And we better leave this unholy place tomorrow!”

She slammed the door. After a few seconds of silence, Lana finally spoke to me.

- “Weird. As for someone who slammed the door she looked awfully cheerful.”

- “Because she saw herself in a mirror and knew that all words of appreciations we said about her beauty were not something we said to calm her down. Despite her brutal nature, Gis is extremely vulnerable when someone praises her.” I put the glass of wine away. As fancy as it was, I was not a fan of this kind of alcohol.

- “Just like most women.” Priestess smirked with a corner of her lips

- “I can’t believe I heard it from a woman herself.”

- “Why? There is no reason to deny our nature. Just as men like to be called brave and strong - women like to be appreciated too.”

- “Sometimes I wonder if Gis prefers to be called beautiful or strong…” I sighed “… I got myself one needy lady.”

- “Does it bother you?”

- “No. Not really.” I moved a little further from the table as I finished eating “…everything is just as it is supposed to be.”

- “Yet, you seem to feel bit… uneasy?”

After a moment I nodded.

- “Something is changing Lana. I can’t put it in words, it feels like something I feel under my skin, like a hunch that something will happen. Bad or good – I don’t know… Like the smell of rain before the drops would fall from heavy, grey clouds. Like a sight of moving branches of trees before you would feel the breeze on your face. Like a calm before storm. On my spine, on my palms and face… this crawling, as if hundreds of bugs travel in my body.”

I talked with people. The event of a night of three moons happens every few hundred years. The time between last one and yet the previous one was around 450 years, the time between that one at the earlier one was around 510, and yet earlier one 480. Yet, the difference between this and the previous one is merely 300 or so years. Nobody was expecting it a few decades ago, suddenly, the stars started traveling faster on the sky as a prophecy of an event that we cherished a few nights ago.

Aira didn’t act as it was anything serious… or was very good at hiding it. Yet, if I would take into consideration everything that happened…

… of me appearing in this world, of inquisitor that started hunting me way faster than the information about my localization could spread…

… it’s like someone is playing with a hand of fate – speeding up events that were not supposed to happen just yet. And my senses were letting out something that could be compared to muffled scream.

No. I don’t care.

Cut me some slack.

I don’t give a fuck. About politics. About some transcended secrets of the universe. About glory, wisdom, honors or immortality.

Whatever you are – if you want to - feel free to turn the tide of universe upside-down. Feel free to destroy every monarchy of this continent or set an absolute dominance over this world. Just leave me alone.

I just want to live, to travel and breath in the breeze of the sea as I would stand on the cliffs. To cherish every day without being bothered by lords, kings, and merchants of any kind.

All I want is a warm set of clothes, sword by my belt, a scroll with a quest in my bag and party member by my side. And all the devils and angels may try to stop me crossing my path, and may they weep over their misery if they would do so. For I will never stop nor turn around.

Onward.

Onward.

I snapped back from day-dreaming like state. Lana kept watching me, yet this time with a pleased expression.

- “It’s the first time I saw you lost in thought that deep. You were smiling like an idiot watching fire. What was so nice that kept you that occupied?”

Now, I wouldn’t be myself if I wouldn’t gross her out.

- “I was wondering if my little weakened by terrors of this resort Giselle would allow me to use on her our special equipment toda…”

- “Gross! Shame on you, Zariel!”

Sorry, Lana. I had to.

I walked toward the other building in which we were supposed to stay overnight. It was already dark, and two bright moons were basking the mountain in silver light. The paths leading from one building to another one – the one decorated with little white and grey perfectly round stones – curved lazily here and there in a beautiful display of skills of a person who designed them.

Every now and then the path was “broken” with a beautiful wooden bridge which helped travelers cross small, azure-blue ponds. Before I walked over one of such bridges I stopped frozen.

The lights of moons feel directly on Giselle which was looking deep into the waters of the pond with an expression full of melancholy, the breeze of the night was playing with her hair. She didn’t have to turn to notice my presence.

- “Incredible. Never before I actually bothered myself with admiration of such… unpractical things. Yet, somehow, after I saw it, I have completely calmed down. Looking at this fills me with such peace and serenity I never felt before… Do you get what I mean?”

- “Yes.” I smiled with corners of my lips

- “Such perfection, don’t you agree?”

- “Indeed, the most beautiful scenery I saw in my whole life.” I agreed again… yet, not even once I looked at the pond.

- “I could be staring at it for hours and hours.”

- “I feel exactly the same.”

She finally shifted her gaze at me and noticed that I never stopped looking at her. She needed a moment or two to realize that the two of us were talking about completely different matters.

In the silver light I could clearly see the blush covering her face.

- “Idiot.” She whispered.

I started walking toward her, taking place by her side.

Our shoulders touch, and for the first time, we feel how cold was this night. With few little mo,ves we approached one another seeking for heat of our bodies.

- “Would you mind if we stay like this bit longer?” she asked so quietly, that I have troubles to hear her words through the gentle wind of the mountain.

- “With you? Till the end of the world, and a day longer.”

- “Idiot.” She said again, yet this time she looked at me for a split of second with a pure smile.

With a gentle smile. With a shy, clumsy smile I fell in love with.

- “Wait…” she snapped back from her melancholy for a moment “… you aren’t telling me all those beautiful things only because you want to…”

- “Make love with you? Giselle, I want to make love with you every single day and night. Each time I see you I want to just trap you in my embrace and kiss you till both of us would gasp for breath. If it was up to me I would find us some lone hut far away from civilization, maybe on the edge of forest, near a river, where I would spend with you time till the God of dragons would swallow the sun… Actually, it’s not such a bad idea…” once again I got lost in my thoughts “… just imagine, only you and me, living by whatever we could hunt. Independent. No country, no guild, no cities. Only sound of water splashing in the river and howls of wolves in the night…”

I snapped back to reality. Gis was looking at me with somewhat sad yet at the same time happy smile, as if she knew it was just a silly dream.

- “Forgot what I just said.” I only added after moment or two.

- “No! Why? It’s a wonderful idea… maybe, when we would already become legendary adventurers, just like papa Jericho, and would sit on the mountain of gold… we could actually spend our retirement far away from everyone… with only papa Jericho visiting us once a year… no, once a year is too rarely… twice? Still, but every quarter of the year sounds good. Yeah. Only you and me, and papa Jericho every three or four months. And Marika. And Mrogul. Loki is an asshole, but if we wouldn’t invite him no one will, then he will kill himself as he couldn’t bare with an idea of being hated by everyone. Oh, and Miroslav, Aloizy and…”

- “… the whole guild?” I asked.

- “Sounds like a plan.” She nodded with a serious expression.

- “But hosting the whole guild on a single day would be hella difficult.” I noticed

- “Indeed, we would have to invite smaller groups but bit more frequently.”

- “So – the house far away from everyone, only you, me, and everyone else every two weeks? Am I right?”

- “Yes, that would be sufficient.”

Again this smile. This bloody smile.

- “It’s a deal, love.”

I take you as my witness, guys, we have a deal.