CHAPTER 36
PREPARED
Kiethara opened her eyes slowly; very unwilling to leave the blissful unconsciousness that she had succumbed to for the past few hours. She had no dreams from last night to muse over, which—considering everything that had happened—annoyed her slightly. Were nightmares the only types of dreams she was able to have?
Now that she thought about it, she really only dreamed when she was worried about something. Yesterday’s events had pushed all of her worries out of her mind, leaving one issue solved and the rest temporarily forgotten.
That did not mean that they weren’t there. The main problem lay in one fact: that Gandador would return to the forest. It was incontrovertible. She did not dwell on the fact for long, but she knew that she needed to be prepared.
Kiethara exhaled sharply as she sat up in her hammock. She really didn’t want to ruin her good mood this early in the morning.
A bashful smirk split her face as she recalled the reason behind her exceptional mood. Warmth filled her, but it was only a mere echo of the feeling that she had received when his body had pressed against hers…
She spaced out for a few moments, her mind in the near past, stray thoughts wandering to the kingdom of Redawn.
“I don’t know when I’ll be back,” Navadar had said. “There has been a lot of uproar—I barely had enough time to escape here.”
“Uproar?”
His only reply had been a small smile, but she knew what it meant.
Kiethara sighed and stood up, stretching out her kinks. No doubt Aaron had a whole day of training planned out. Honestly, though, she was wondering how much more they could do.
The moment she thought it, though, she knew she was wrong. She couldn’t imagine Aaron ever coming up to her, informing her that they were done for life, that she could go and rest.
Kiethara jumped into the air and sped towards the center of the forest, weaving in and out of the trees. What would Aaron say about yesterday? She did not exactly make the decision he had wanted her to make, but if what he had told her was true, then Navadar had done nothing wrong. He had helped her in every way that he could have.
Although…
How had Aaron known? Navadar had not uttered a single thing but “wait” before Aaron had shown up. How could he have deduced such a definitive conclusion about Navadar? About events that took place miles and miles away?
Kiethara let her feet touch the ground, barely aware she had reached her destination as she frowned in concentration.
Aaron’s light filled the clearing, causing Kiethara to jump.
“Kiethara,” he greeted.
“Aaron,” she said, but before waiting for his response she blurted out her realization. “How did you know Navadar was telling the truth?”
Aaron sighed. “I’ve seen many things and have met many people, Kiethara. I have accomplished many things. Especially with my form now and my amount of power, I am able to tell when someone is lying and when they are not.”
“Oh.” That was all she could say.
“Now, Kiethara, before we get started with what I had planned, I want to talk to you about Navadar.”
“Listen, Aaron,” she said quickly. “If you are sure that Navadar is telling the truth, then he has done nothing but help me—”
“Kiethara,” he interrupted, holding up a hand, palm forward. “I’m not going to lecture you about the decisions you made yesterday. It was kind and I respect that. I am going to lecture you, however, on the decisions you might make.”
Kiethara stared at him blankly, but for some reason her stomach was rolling uneasily.
“You cannot forget your other duties, Kiethara. At the moment, there are too many threats against the forest for you to get yourself pregnant.”
Kiethara opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. She had no idea how to respond to that.
“The time will come when you will need a descendant, though. It is obligatory that you have a child, but first, we must purge out any threats.”
“I…” she trailed off, and then changed her mind to ask a question. “Well, Navadar stumbled across me by chance, as did Gandador with my mother. What would have happened if no one had made their way to the forest?”
“In each generation there is almost always an adventurous person or two who takes up the quest of traveling into the forest. If not, the guardian is allowed to leave the forest in order to find a mate, or at least to get pregnant, or get someone else pregnant.”
“But, Aaron,” she gasped. “What if no one out there loves them?”
“That is highly unlikely,” he chided. “But you are the guardian and it is your duty, so you must find a way to make it happen.”
She stared at him in shock as his words sank in.
“Just give me your word, Kiethara,” he said impatiently.
She nodded.
“All right. Today we will not be training.”
“What?” she asked, surprised.
“We have quite a journey to make, so I will explain it along the way. Start heading north.”
Kiethara, intrigued, kicked off the ground and elevated to the required height; just above the tops of the trees. The frigid air cut at her face and exposed skin, causing her eyes to water. She longed to duck below the trees, where the wind was less harsh, but she did not know where they were going. It seemed they would be traveling to unknown and unexplored territory, where no memories or childish carvings could help her now.
“Where are we going?” she asked aloud.
“To the mountains,” Aaron’s disembodied voice said. She was used to his eerie voice, but not his words.
“Mountains?!” she cried. “There are mountains in the forest?”
“Yes, but they are situated very far north. I must warn you, it had already started snowing up there.”
Ugh. She was already shivering.
“What are we doing in the mountains?”
“You will be turning sixteen very soon and I wanted to give it to you then, but I figure you need to be prepared. So, you will be receiving your sword today.”
“Sword?” she almost shrieked, losing altitude.
“Calm down!”
“I’m sorry, but goodness Aaron, is there anything else you would like to throw at me before I fall out of the sky?”
“No, that is it for today.”
“Why in the world would I need a sword?”
“It’s branching off of physical combat. It will certainly be helpful against Gandador or anyone else who crosses your path.”
“Gandador has a sword!” Kiethara remembered.
“Yes.”
“But he will be much better at it than me,” she continued.
“Not if we train harder.”
“Is that possible?” she grumbled.
“Yes, Kiethara.”
She groaned. More work, new lessons. Some birthday present. It was never going to end. She had been very foolish to even think that her training could end soon.
As Aaron warned her, it soon got very cold. Flakes began to swirl around her. Her hands and feet were numb and she knew that her lips were turning blue. She had left her cloak behind—always prepared for the worst, she thought sarcastically—and she had a strong feeling that a couple more hours of this flying would kill her.
How much farther could it be? Above her, the sky churned with light gray clouds. Below her, there were more pine trees than anything, most of them already dusted with a fine layer of snow.
“H-How much farther? She asked through her chattering teeth an hour later.
“Not too far,” he assured her.
Yet after thirty more minutes, there were still no mountains in sight and the winds were becoming so icy it was painful.
“Aaron!” she screamed. “I can’t do this anymore!”
Without waiting for a reply she dived into the trees. Immediately the winds lessened as she swerved around the branches and let her numb feet touch down on a thin layer of snow. I
t was still cold, but not half as bad.
“All right, Kiethara?” Aaron asked, appearing next to her.
“Not really.”
“Just a few more miles north, I promise.”
Kiethara let out a long sigh. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of her breath condensing in front of her.
“Lead the way,” she said, gesturing with her frozen hand.