Chapter 220: Chapter 220
Illyana woke up with the peasant girl clinging to her, the soft feel of steady breathing caressed the elf's sensitive ears, causing the nearest one to flick about periodically.
Despite waking up, for a long time Illyana simply didn't move. There was no need, and that felt best of all, the fur was soft and faintly tickled where it touched bare skin, and above in the tree, birds were already starting to chirp.
The sun had not yet fully crested on the horizon, that much she could be sure of given that it was still almost pitch black. She glanced out of the corner of her eye to the sleeping human woman and realized something quite unexpected. 'I didn't have any nightmares last night… what an unexpected thing…' It was a wondrous thought, though her more candid reasoning quickly became, 'At least I don't remember any nightmares… which is basically the same thing…'
The human woman must have started to cling to her arm at some point during the night, 'Needy girl.' Illyana pondered, though without criticism. After so long together in what remained dangerous work for both of them, though in differing ways, she'd come to realize that for whatever reason, Skana had an insatiable need, not for sex, though it was often presented as such, but to be near someone.
Illyana's blue eye pierced the veil of the dying night with ease, and she reflexively glanced toward the rickety fence she built for her privacy. Her ear flicked about again, no elves breached it. Though she would never tell Skana, the truth was that their hatred for humans ran much deeper than Illyana wanted to admit. 'Especially with the Elf King's progeny… what they would do to humans if given the chance…' Her own hatred for humans wasn't much less than theirs, but this one at least, she liked. This one at least, was on her side and took risks for her people she hadn't thought any human ever would.
So she let the clinging continue and simply lay there, staring up at the canopy of dying green shrouded in shadow that would itself die soon, and waited for the human woman to return to life… and tried to ignore it when the auburn haired girl began to snore, rather than to wake.
How long it would be before they were presented with that absurd magic again and brought to report to Lady Albedo, Illyana had no idea, only that it was close, and so Skana should, following a particular point, be with her. Given the nature of the Southern Holy Kingdom, that necessitated that Skana hide among the elves.
When she awoke and found Illyana simply stretched out languidly on her back, and herself clinging to the elf, she blinked away the sleep, let go, and immediately shot up. "I'm sorry! I ah… 'cling' in my sleep for some reason." Skana admitted and inched away.
Illyana gave a silvery laugh, "It's fine, I noticed, and you're alright. It's just an arm, and," while still on her back, she raised them up toward the sky, stretching them out, "I've got two, I can spare one for a friend for a few hours."
"Hours?!" Skana exclaimed and looked up at the trees overhead, the canopy was so thick only a few bright spots on the ground revealed it was daytime, at least where she was lying.
"Yes, hours. Don't worry about it, nobody is going to do anything today, you're our only link to the outside world, and you're stuck here till we're called back to Lady Albedo." Illyana said and crossed one ankle over the other. "So relax." She said, and then chuckled, "Humans, you're a funny lot. Always in such a damn hurry."
"Well… ah… things… we have to get things done and all…" Skana pointed out, flushing a little in the face, the elf woman only smirked.
"Maybe it's because of our long lives, but we see no reason to rush things that will happen whether we hurry or not. Your race is such a frantic lot that it's a wonder you ever relax over anything." Illyana mocked the woman, but rather than argue, Skana lay back down beside her.
"My mother always said I was lazy, maybe by human standards, I kind of am. I mean, I will work hard for something I want, but the rest of the time… why stress? But you all make me look industrious." Skana chuckled a little in a self-effacing way and stretched out.
"I will take that as a compliment." Illyana graciously said, and let out a long, slow yawn, one immediately matched by Skana herself.
So they relaxed that way in amiable silence until finally the smell of stew from somewhere close by, hit their noses. Their stomachs growled at the same time and with the same thought, they sat up.
Finding the food was easy, a hulking behemoth of an elf whose body was crisscrossed with burns and scars over his bare torso and back, was standing over a large iron pot, nearby, several smaller elf women were holding their hands out, and a pulsing blue glow was passing from where they crouched, to the pot itself.
Skana looked at the scene, and then up to Illyana. "Cooking without fire. We don't want the smoke to give us away." The elf explained, and Skana nodded several times.
"Right, right, that makes sense." Skana said before the two took up wooden bowls from a waiting stack and then got into line with the rest of the forest band.
"You know, I always heard that elves were vegetarians…" Skana said while the line inched forward. "I guess that story is total shit."
Illyana looked over her shoulder and laughed, "Have you had meat?! Who in the world wouldn't want it?" She licked her hungry lips, and those elves near enough to have heard Skana's comment, and Illyana's retort, began to laugh as well.
Skana had the grace to blush, "I'd never even seen an elf before, how was I to know? All I knew was what I heard in my village." She scratched her head, "Wait… does this also mean that elves don't hate boats and can actually swim after all?"
Illyana rolled her eyes. "Yes, we can swim. But… No, we don't like boats. We're forest people, we're bound to the earth, a large body of water breaks our connection with it, so… we tend to avoid boats. There will probably never be an elf pirate. I can promise you that." Illyana said with a decisive shake of her head that bounced her long golden hair wildly about.
"Huh, so… you don't actually sink in the water… go figure…" Skana shrugged, and blushed when several elves face palmed ahead and behind her.
"What?!" She exclaimed, "I've just never seen elves… all kinds of stories get around… how am I to know the truth unless I ask?"
It was fair enough, and brought some rumbling agreement that at least felt more bemused than annoyed, and it prompted Illyana to sigh in exasperation, "That's fair… but still. I can't believe the stuff you human peasants make up. We're not dwarves, those sink when you toss them in the water. Now come on, it's our turn." Illyana stepped forward and held out her bowl, a generous helping of meat and vegetables filled her bowl nearly to the brim. She stepped aside and waited for Skana.
The human woman put on her biggest and friendliest smile for the stone faced behemoth, and he dipped the ladle into the heaping pot… only to pull up little more than broth.
Skana looked down at it as the watery brown substance filled her bowl like a taunt. "Ah… humans need food too…"
"Don't care." The cook remarked.
"But…" Skana's stomach rumbled, "I'm on your side… I'm helping you…"
She felt a hand on her shoulder, slender fingers squeezed, "Share mine." Illyana said, and gave a tiny tug that was enough to get Skana to walk away, though not without a backward glare at the giant of an elf.
"I told you," Illyana whispered when she led the human well away from the other elves, "my kind does not like your kind. You are alive only because I know you and I explained everything. Otherwise, they'd have never believed you, let alone let you in."
Skana looked down at her watery bowl, and at the one Illyana held that was heaping with thick chunks of meat and fresh veggies, if she needed proof that Illyana told the truth, that was it. 'I'd starve in here if they only gave me broth… they'd really let me starve…'
To a peasant who knew failed harvests and high taxes, who felt the rumbling of her belly on many a cold night, there was no greater sign of hatred than leaving someone starving, and no greater sign of affection, than sharing food.
Illyana began plucking chunks of meat and vegetables deftly from her bowl and plopping them bit by bit into Skana's, expecting a mere piece or two when the broth first splashed at her wrists, but the elf woman did not stop until her little pale fingers were dipped into her bowl and she'd transferred almost exactly half of the contents of her bowl into that of her companion.
"Th-Thank you…" Skana stared down at the bowl, her fingers were now soaked from the overflow of broth, and she set herself against a tree to lower herself to a seated position on the ground.
"You'd do the same for me." Illyana replied with a little smile on her face which Skana could not see with the bowl tilted up at her face, slurping as much as she could.
"You sound awfully sure about that." Skana finally said, her lips and chin stained with broth, she wiped it with the back of her silk sleeve, "I'm just a spy, a seducer, a liar, and a traitor to a bunch of my own people… you've got no real reason to think I'd do as much for you."
Illyana stretched out against the tree, her own dining was slower, while Skana shoveled the food into her mouth, Illyana took one bite, one chunk at a time, chewed, and swallowed before finally answering…
"I'm pretty sure you would."
Any further conversation was killed when the [Gate] opened between them.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Ai_Evangeline
Ai_Evangeline Hello Guys...
Like it ? Add to library！
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Discord
https://discord.gg/UvhdGv7p2V
Author
springpoweredtoaster
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone