Chapter Eighty-eight: Missing halves

I wake up peacefully, which for once I find unexpected. I sit up and rub my eyes, slightly disorientated. I look up and notice the sky is darkening. How long did I sleep for?

I look over to where I last left Elijah and I see him lying down, his chest moving up and down in rhythm with his breathing. I stretch out, my muscles feeling strange after being inactive for so long.

I stand and move out of my sleeping bag. I push it to the side and decide to put it away later. I walk towards Elijah and see him look over to me when I enter his peripheral vision.

“Hello. You slept extraordinarily well.” He says with a smirk, but then wipes it from his face instantly. “Honestly though, you’re looking a bit better after a good rest. When was the last time you had more than four hours sleep?” He asks.

“A while ago. Before Lukas was taken.” I admit, not fully realising his and Nuria’s concern till I say it out loud.

He sighs, loudly. “You know, we’ve been really worried about you. It’s strange, your powers are growing and you’re getting stronger in a sense, however we look at you and you look frail, Aliana. You’ll need your strength, mind and body for the fight that’s to come.”

I look down at the ground ashamed that he feels the need to tell me this, but I know it’s been needed. I’m vaguely aware that I’ve been neglecting my physical health, and I have a slight suspicion it’s the real reason Athena’s been tucked away in the back of my mind, trying to savour every ounce of strength I have for the upcoming battle.

“I know. I appreciate it, I really do” I sigh heavily. “I’m working on it….it’s just hard without Lukas by my side. I feel like one part of me is missing and in all honesty…I’m unsure I’ll ever get him back. What we’re up against, it’s evil. Beyond measure.” I feel my eyes well up with tears. “I miss him Elijah, and I know they’re torturing him, hurting him. It’s the reason I’m scared to sleep…..I’m worried that he’ll kill him before I utter another word to him. I can feel his pain through my sleep.” I can feel the tears roll down my face and Elijah gets up and embraces me in a giant hug as I start sobbing.

He pulls me away slightly with worry written across his face. “Shhh…I know. I worry about Loretta too. I didn’t say goodbye to her properly, but some comfort comes from what you told me that no one else has died.” He pulls me in for a hug again, stroking my hair, memories resurfacing from when he used to do this before I left the Druida community. “Be comforted in the fact you know he still lives. Even though he’s hurting, you know he’s still there, waiting for you. It’s what makes us stronger, our other halves.” I feel him take in a deep breath knowing he is also in pain, being apart from Loretta for so long. I applaud him for managing to suppress his feelings of being away from her whilst we’ve been on our travels.

We stand there for a few moments more before he stops and let’s go. He holds me at arm’s length. “You need to be strong now. Not just for you, but for your wolf, for Lukas, for your pack. We’ve got a lot ahead of us, and it’s only going to become more difficult.”

He wipes the tears from my eyes with his thumb. I look at him and nod, unbeknownst to him that he’s helped me in more ways than one by saying what he said.

“I’m going to get a fire going. Who knows how long Nuria will be away for. There’s no more rabbit or chicken left but there is some berries and nuts that I can throw together to make something.”

I smile up at him, knowing I’m sure whatever he makes will taste good. Elves are taught from a young age how to use the environment to feed themselves, what to eat and what not.

He departs from my proximity to gather some wood to create a fire from the treeline. I go back to my sleeping bag to wrap it up and place back into my bag for later.

As I’m rolling it up, I hear a small swooping sound to my right and looking over, I see the black circle opening, higher than I’ve seen before. I smile, seeing Nuria walk through after a few moments, a goose hanging over her shoulder.

Her portal disappears after she jumps through, and she sees me and smiles.

“Hi! I brought some food, didn’t want to come back empty handed.” She says cheerfully.

I reciprocate her smile. “Hi Nuria! Well you’re just in time to get it on the fire, as Elijah is making some nuts and berries that can go with it.” I say pointing my thumb over my shoulder in his general direction.

She tuts and rolls her eyes, already having enough of fruit and nuts for food. “Well scrap that, tonight I bring a feast, and a lot of new opportunities.”

I look at her curiously, wondering what she’s found. She seems very happy so I assume she has good news, which is what I we could really use right now.

“Elijah!” I call, knowing he’s gathering firewood not too far out.

I hear him drop the wood and rush over as if there was no tomorrow.

He sees Nuria and takes a breath. “I thought something had happened the way you shouted on me!” He says sharply.

I laugh at him. “Sorry! Just thought you’d look forward to seeing Nuria too. She’s brought back food.”

He sees the goose slung over Nuria’s shoulder and his eyes light up. “Well, that’s my favourite kind of meat! I’ve just dropped some perfect wood, let me go and grab and get it set up!” He starts to race off before stopping and walking over to Nuria to grab the dead bird. “I’ll be taking that….thanks!”

Nuria and I chuckle knowing he’ll make a feast out of what we have. I turn to Nuria. “Do you need to rest? You’ve been away for a while.”

She shakes her head, and has a massive grin on her face. “I’ve not felt more alive before. I’ve been travelling all day, but I don’t feel an ounce of tiredness.”

I internally smile, glad she’s finding things easier with the obsidian. She seems much happier and on a high, so I don’t go to mention any of my interaction with Elijah from earlier.

She goes to her bag and takes out some water and drinks it as if she’s not drank in a long time.

She looks to me after quenching her thirst. “Sorry, where I’ve been, I’ve had no time for food or water, so my stop before here was to grab that and come back. I’ll explain everything whilst my stomach is full.” She laughs and I laugh along with her. She’s very much like how I was where food is always first.

I leave Nuria alone and go to help Elijah while she sorts through her stuff. I see Elijah has just started the fire so I walk on over to where he’s sitting, plucking the Goose.
“Do you need a hand with anything?” I ask him.

He looks down to the Goose then back up at me. “If I’m being honest Ali, I’ll probably be quicker doing this on my own.” He looks up and to the fire. “Maybe just make sure that doesn’t go out. I know what you women are like with your food…I’m getting it done as quick as I can.” He smiles.

I go towards the fire and make sure it starts flaring up so it doesn’t go out. I realise that Elijah didn’t need me to do this, but he knew I wanted to stay busy so I didn’t bother Nuria with the endless questions I’m going to start attacking her with.

About an hour or so later, Elijah is cooking the Goose on the fire spit and has a side of nuts and berries to garnish. Nuria comes and joins us by the fire.

“Food ready yet?” She asks Elijah, her stomach rumbling as if right on cue.

He rolls his eyes and smiles. “I’d say so. Let me take this off and portion it out.”

She comes and sits between us and watches Elijah pull the Goose apart and plate it up along with the garnish he’s made. He passes a plate to her first, then sets mine up and passes it over to me.

We sit there and scoff our food as if we hadn’t eaten in days. We say nothing as we eat, then we sit around the fire which was now basically in cinders. Elijah stands noticing it’s starting to get a bit colder.

“I’m going to get a bit more wood. Then you can tell us all about what you’ve been doing today.” He says to Nuria.

She nods. “Go, go get your wood.” She says with a flick of the finger and sits back, her feet towards the fire, getting nice and toasty. Elijah rolls his eyes before turning to go to the tree line.

I look at Nuria, excited to hear her story of travelling today. She’s been surprisingly quiet since getting back, but I can tell she’s bursting herself to get it out.

Elijah makes it back in no time, placing the wood down around the cinders and lighting it back up again till it’s spreading and pushing heat back out to us.

I look to Nuria. “So, are you going to tell us what you’ve been up to today?”

A smile creeps up on her lips. “Oh you’ll never believe it.” She starts, and I look at her interestingly whilst Elijah gets comfortable lying down sideways and rests his head on one of his arms.

“Well, first I found my way into my Fathers realm...”