Well into the night, the door to the treehouse was opened. The crystal girl looked at the entrance to see Thom silently entering and closing the door without saying much more. Crystal didn't ask. She let Thom take his time as he gazed down on the blonde woman. Even after noticing her body was still covered in wounds, he didn't say a word. His gentle, sorrowful movements seemed to pray for the tranquility of the night to remain. The girl acted as if he wasn't there. She simply waited. She let him take long minutes to look at the broken lady between the sheets, to appreciate the state of the person whose life he had decided to save. But her consideration seemed unnecessary. Thom grabbed a chair from the table and sat beside the bed. The crystal girl looked at him as if searching for a way to understand his actions, all of them. Answers were hard to find in that tired, distant visage of his. "You didn't heal her..." He whispered in a gravelly, guttural voice, as if he was trying to not wake the woman up with his speech. "You hadn't given me permission." The crystal replied. "I didn't want to decide. It seemed important." "..." Thom showed a small smile. "That's very considerate of you. Keeping her alive and all..." "Did I do the right thing?" "Yeah..." Thom closed his eyes. "You did. Unlike me, you did what you should have." "I don't think that's true." "That's fine..." He leaned against the backrest of the chair. "I guess we all have our opinions..." His eyes scanned the room. Suu and Erina were not there. Not even their aura lingered. They had probably left not long after he had rushed out of the house. "They said they were going to help with the iron mine." "I see..." The room fell silent. Only the sound of the wind entering through the windows could be heard accompanied by the rustling of the trees outside. Such dead silence didn't feel uncomfortable. It was like things returning to normality after a small interlude. It was the natural state between two strangers. So it really is love, hm? Thom couldn't help but mock himself. He was sure it wasn't the kind of love that existed between a married couple, but a shred of humanity which had stopped him from taking the right decision. Maybe physical love had been his brakes. The pain of having to taint that face of hers had been the hand on his chest, pushing his blade away from her chest. He didn't want to think about it. Thom wasn't willing to take back his decision. If what he had done would bring the people around him more suffering than what he bargained for, he would assume the responsibility for it. If, on the other hand, it ended up being beneficial, he would take full credit for it. He sighed a last regret out of his mouth and smiled. "Heal her." He said. "Yes." The girl took a step forward, began chanting her prayers to the goddess. Her voice became a chorus that shed light on the darkness of the room, turning the wood to a cold blue. Her hands rested on Valta's abdomen, the warm shine embracing the woman's body. Bright spots of light danced in the room for the length of her chant, until a few seconds later, she finished. Thom observed the serene scene go down, until finally, the light died. Suddenly, her wounds began to heal. Tranquility was stolen from the room. "Gh—" Valta's eyes suddenly opened like plates. "GYAAAAGH!!" "Valta?!" A gut-wrenching scream came from her mouth as her body contorted into an arch, her hands ripping apart the sheets under her back. "Crystal, what is this?!" "I don't know." The girl's voice was calm but tremulous. "I didn't recognize a link before when I checked." "Aaaargh! Urgh! Uuuuuuugh...!" Tears streamed down her cheeks as the wounds around her body began to heal, her arm cracking with the same morbidity in it's sounds as her voice. Thom began to tremble in fright as he heard the deafening screeches from her voice, but the shock wouldn't let him open his own mouth. Then, as if hit by lightning, she arched her back even further and let go of a sound so high that could only be compared to someone scratching a blade against a plate mail, so horridly high and distorted that did not even sound human. Thom was woken up from his stupor at the very moment in which he thought he was hearing the voice of a beast instead of a woman's. "What the fuck are you doing?! Cancel the spell, Crystal!" "But—" "No buts! Cancel the fucking spell!" The crystal reluctantly nodded and was about to remove her hands from Valta's body, when a trembling hand held her wrist and violently pulled from it. She looked up to see Valta gritting her teeth with a frown so deep that her eyes could fall out of their sockets, tears in her eyes, and her mouth salivating so much that it drenched her neck. "Don't...!" She said with a raspy, low voice. "Don't stop...! Don't stop!" "Valta, are you—?!" "Don't stop!!" She said again, before letting go of a shriek that accompanied the sound of her cracking arm. "Aaagh...! If you stop now...! Ha... Ha...!" A fiery passion enveloped her eyes, one that pushed Thom back, covering him in a fear that did not come from her gaze. She yelled once more and destroyed her nails on Crystal's arm, before coming back to herself, darting her eyes at the fallen angel beside her. "If you stop now...!" She sobbed shortly. "I won't be able to hold my bow ever again...!" Thom gritted his teeth and felt his knees fail him. He fell backward and landed on the chair, tripping and hitting his back against the wooden floor. Crystal looked back into Valta's eyes, and upon understanding her decision, the glistening in her chiseled eyes became ten times as intense. The room was lit with a faint light once more. "Hold on tightly, human. I will try to finish this quickly." She stated firmly, and the room was swallowed by light. Valta's screams soon became deafening. ••• Thom was sitting on the staircase. His head was heavy, but not as heavy as his eyes. Two weeks without sleep tending the field had not tired him as much as Valta's suffering, but then again, it was probably a thousand times more tiring for her than for him. His unmoving body just made his cowardice even more apparent, and his heart sunk even deeper by the second. His hand graced his jaw. There was a trace of a stub growing there. I couldn't kill her... And then I was afraid of her will to live. I wonder if I can keep going around calling myself a man after today... A small smile decorated his mouth. The door behind his back suddenly opened. He slowly turned back to see Valta standing a few feet away, holding her arm as if she was afraid that it would fall apart. Her face didn't look like the one of a person that had gone through hell, but Thom was sure that was only because of her lack of training in displaying emotion. He stared at her weak figure for a few seconds until their gazes met, and, in silence, they observed each other. Her long, sharp eyes looked tired and about to shut down. Her face hadn't changed from before, it remained drained of color and sunken. Only her hair had been neatly combed and braided, surely not by herself, giving off the sensation of a starved commoner trying to appear elegant regardless of her condition. Thom knew full well that wasn't the case, however. After the silence lasted enough, Valta lowered her head and walked towards the staircase. One step down was enough for her to sit down, and as she did, a small sigh escaped her closed mouth. She wasn't concerned by proximity or manners, and instead sat as close as she could to the man by her side. Their shoulders touched, and the sweetness of her fragrance reached Thom's nose. She closed her eyes, and spoke. "It's uncomfortable..." Her frail voice sounded. "Getting your hair done by someone who you can't speak with... It's uncomfortable, hm." As she finished that weak-spoken sentence, goosebumps traveled all across Thom's body. That voice, her elegant, monotone voice, reached his ears. The sudden realization of her presence made him imagine the gruesome scene of her death had his heart not faltered. Her screams, her voice, her shoulder next to his, those were all things that he could not have experienced, and instead, the last thing he would have felt would have been her heart stopping under his blade. His eyes detailed her slow movements as she took her cold hands to her face, then pressed them against her cheeks to warm herself. He blinked once, and as he looked away, a knot formed on his throat. A small chuckle escaped his mouth as he lowered his head and his lips formed a smile, attracting Valta's attention. In her confused face bloomed a question, which Thom felt the need to answer. "I was simply thinking that... Even if it was only for this moment, then I made the right choice." He looked at her and smiled. Valta didn't seem to understand, but also didn't show the intention to pursue for an explanation. "I see." She said. "I'm glad you, too, have taken a decision you don't regret." She showed a faint smile as she spoke. "Have you done that recently?" "Hm." She nodded. "Recently. Maybe a day ago. I've thrown away things I didn't need." "Like what?" Thom crossed his arms. "Tell me all about it. I'm willing to listen even if you tell me an entire book worth's... No, actually, I'd be even more eager to listen if you manage to talk that much." At his proposal, Valta shook her head. "It's not worth a book. I let go of my title, my faith, and my job. I'm..." She touched her braid and hesitated for a second. "I think I'm free now." "So you left the army...?" Thom's eyes opened slightly. She nodded in reply. "And knowing Miel, he must have gotten confident. Just how he thinks you were dead... He must think I am too." "How are you so sure about that? Hey, maybe this forest is the afterlife and we're both dead." Thom joked with a smile. "That theory cannot be discarded." Valta nodded with a pensive look. "However, I don't think that's the case. Hell is not described this nicely by the church." "What's nice about all this?" Thom let go of a dry chuckle. "Hm." Valta delved into thought for a second. "That I'm sitting by your side, I guess." "Ahh, that's unfair." The man held his chest with a pained look but a genuine smile. "We just met for the first time in months and you're already trying to conquer me? Truly vicious." "It would be best to make good use of the time." Valta smiled almost indiscernibly. "Speaking of what, have you been living here with that construct girl all this time? "Suu and Erina are here too." He replied, looking at her eyes. "And a couple thousand hobgoblins... And orcs." "Hoh." The woman raised her eyebrows slightly. "You'd get an instant death sentence in all human countries for that." "Living with monsters?" "It's a sin. Not all countries worship Periphia, but they all despise the God of the Grotesque. They wouldn't take it as seriously up at Wenders. But Kulkus is something else. They'd burn this whole forest if they knew." She looked at the half-built huts in the distance, a few camps lighting the forest like fireflies. It was beautiful on itself, although the ones surrounding the bonfires were not human. Thom smiled as he saw that woman appreciating what he had worked so hard towards. "I've been here for a while... I didn't like them that much when I arrived, but now it's kind of hard not to think of them as part of the same community. Maybe it has to do with the fact that they look more human now... But they don't look that gross, you know?" "Hm." Valta tilted her head as if she was trying to show her surprise. "I thought you were more superficial than that." "What's that now?" "Judging by how quick you were to fall in love with someone like me, I mean." "And who told you I was in love, hmm?" Thom crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows as he put his face closer to the woman's. "Oh, it wasn't like that?" Valta touched her cheek with a stone face. "How embarrassing. I'm heartbroken." "Hmph." Thom laid back and closed his eyes. As he looked up once more, he saw the moon peeking through the moving clouds. There was a faint smell of rain in the air that threatened to fall down. Cold, the breeze caressed their bodies softly. Valta placed her hands on her cheeks, shuddering slightly and making Thom regret not having a jacket with him. However, he did not want to waste an opportunity either. Instead of handing her a coat, he slowly grabbed her hands away from her cheeks, and tightly embraced them with his own. His warm, soft hands heated her own, making the woman feel a soft palm that did not belong to a farmer like Thom Arburson. She looked at him in silence. The lack of sound between them didn't seem uncomfortable, but appropriate. There was not much to be said at an unexpected encounter. At least, Valta thought that way. However, Thom opened his mouth calmly and said: "I almost killed you today." Valta didn't react to his sudden confession. She intently stared into his pitch-black eyes with a still gaze, searching for something behind that ebony iris that fused with the night. Thom parted his lips slightly and his brow grew tighter. Had she not understood what he had said? "I..." He repeated. "Was about to kill you today. I thought you were... Dangerous to keep alive. For a moment I... Decided that your life would be worth less than the monsters in this village and... No, that's not true." He pressed tighter on her hands. "I thought this feeling of superiority that I get from their need of me was more important than your life." Her reaction was cold as before. Those hands didn't squirm to escape his, but instead remained trapped as if looking for that warmth she was lacking. It made Thom's face contort in pain. Was she just choosing to ignore what he was saying? "Listen...!" He lowered his eyes and gritted his teeth. "I almost—!" "I was lucky." She interrupted him in the middle of his screams. "...?" "Lucky me, that you were living in this forest. Lucky me that you didn't kill me. And, lucky me, that you're here now." The woman showed a warm, short smile, and retired her hands from Thom's. She wrapped hers around the man's, tightly, holding onto his fingers that were roughly the same size as hers. Thom bit on his lower lip and felt a knot forming in his throat. He didn't want to say a word. "I have never liked monsters." She said as she closed her eyes. "I find them disgusting. I wouldn't mind if they die because you saved me. It was just a coincidence that you found me, after all, and I think, from the bottom of my heart, that my life is more valuable than theirs. If I were in your spot, I wouldn't have doubted. I would have saved you without a second thought." "That's..." Thom smiled bitterly and cleaned the end of his eyes with his shoulder. "That's a lot of words for your mouth, and... That's a little too much for a mere acquaintance... like me." "Hm." She shook her head. "The only man... The second man who's made me laugh in my lifetime cannot be just an acquaintance." "So I'm not the first one, huh...? What's up with that, I'll get jealous..." "The fact that you saved me means you care for me. For this former captain. For this older woman who didn't move a finger when she thought you had been imprisoned, who didn't look for you when she found out you were not there. You care for me. And you care for them." She looked at the huts in the distance. "The fact that you chose me over them, that's enough for me." "It was just a memory." He whispered as a wary gleam appeared on his smile. "I got attached to our farewell... I hadn't felt like that before. But a noble with a commoner is just wishful thinking, ain't it? A short and black-headed man like me who isn't good for anything but farming and yelling at other people, how could you and—" He was suddenly interrupted by a pair of lips sealing his own. His eyes opened in surprise and his hands clenched tightly, but he didn't retreat. He freed his hand from the woman's clutch, and as he closed his eyes, he slowly brought it up to her face. She held onto his arm, leaning closer and downwards to compensate for their disparity in height. She held him against the trunk of the tree for a few seconds, until finally, their faces parted again, but only enough for their noses to touch, the only indication of their proximity as their eyes were closed shut. "Huff..." She lowly panted with a hastened breath. "I am no noble... and you are no commoner. I can decide for myself who I love." "Hum..." Thom swallowed dry. "Are you sure... That should be me?" "Hmph." She lightly smiled. "I've always hated taller men." "Pff." He lightly chuckled. "Then... If you want to spend your time with this... King wannabe that I am, and help me watch over this horde of reckless children... I'd be pleased." "Yeah... I'll do that." She got closer again with a slow, smooth motion, and as she neared his neck, she breathed in sharply. She stopped. "Hm?" Thom opened his eyes. "Sniff, sniff. Sniff sniff." Valta made small sounds with her mouth as she smelled Thom's neck, making the man paralyzed with confusion. "V-Valta? What are you...?" "Hm. Territory conditions confirmed." She detached herself from his body and placed her hands together with an expressionless face. "The territory in question is covered in dirt and sweat. It needs a bath." "Hey, hey." Thom's face went red as he scratched the back of his neck. "You don't get to have baths when you live in a forest, okay? Besides, I've been working non-stop these days. Of course I'd smell like sweat." "The territory has become incensed. I suggest immediate retreat." "Ugh!" He acted as if he had been hit by an arrow out of nowhere. "As if you can say anything about that! You smell like coffee all over!" "Hm. That is a proper smell." "A prop... Who says?!" "By the way, I would love to have a cup." She pressed her finger on her lips. "We don't have any of that fancy stuff." "Sacrilegious." "Haah?" Thom smiled and placed his chin on his hand. "Isn't it an import or something? How am I supposed to find coffee in this forest? Where does it even grow, go begin with?" "I see your knowledge is still lacking. Typical of younglings." She nodded with a cold face. "Worry not. I have brought with me some coffee." As she finished her phrase, she pulled from her satchel a small leather bag filled with coffee grains and waved it around. "You're just four years older than me... And do you carry that around everywhere?!" Through the forest their noisy conversation made itself heard, one that all hobgoblins would later decide to forget since the words did not have any meaning for them. Behind the wooden door of the treehouse, a lonely girl stood with her body of crystal, hearing them talk until the horizon became clear. A smile seemed to appear on her chiseled crystal eyes, although she couldn't create an expression, and only her angelical humming could be heard. As the sounds died down, she decided to keep to herself the small bed. The girl laid down quietly and watched the dark sky through the window, feeling no breeze on her lack of skin. Glad, that's how she felt. Glad that she had made the right decision that day, and glad that she had made the right decision when she chose to follow that unimpressive, unknown man. That night, when her body shut down to await for the morning sun, for the first time in a hundred years she dreamed a pleasant dream. At morning, a pair of black-haired girls came dragging her feet to be met by a staircase. With a sigh, they started to walk up, until midway, they stumbled upon a strange scene. "Uwah..." On the staircase, the black-haired man rested his head on the trunk of the tree. His hairs were a mess and his face held a smile, although he was deep into a dream and his eyes were shut tight. On his lap, the blonde woman rested with a peaceful expression, comfortable amidst her uncomfortable position, unharmed albeit her former condition. Suu smiled back to the girl on the lower steps, who simply let go of a sigh as she stretched her pale neck. She stepped down and muttered some words without glancing at her back. "Thom Arburson... I swear I can not understand you."