He didn’t argue with her, figuring she knew what was best.
Before long, the town was gone from view once they went over the hill he’d been ascending, so he could go down it on the other side.
What lay before them were more fields, more meadows of grass – varying in length – and more hills. There was no forest in sight, not even the speck of one on the horizon. There were odd scatterings of trees, but nothing dense enough to hide a Demon, not if it didn’t want to get burned at some point throughout the day.
Ingram found it as peaceful as the first time he’d seen it all those years ago with Aleron.
At the thought of his kindred, his sight turned blue. That was quickly overshadowed by Emerie when she patted and rubbed at his sternum, seeming to do it absent-mindedly as she stared out at the horizon.
She must have seen his orb change in the corner of her eye.
He lifted his gaze in the direction hers was in.
Thick grasses moved like waves as wind dipped through their stalks, rustling quietly. Brown birds glided above them, before darting high in the sky in twos or threes, only to drop back down and fly above them. Their chirping didn’t sound panicked or aggressive, as if they were only playing with each other.
Ingram changed direction slightly, making sure to avoid that area so he didn’t disturb it with his imposing presence. Instead, he created a path to where he could see the grass was much shorter, and from there they climbed another hill. As they reached the highest point, he followed along it towards the tops of trees that appeared in the distance.
He was a little disappointed to see them.
Although she hadn’t said it, Emerie was enjoying the unimpeded sunshine. She often closed her eyes, stealing his ability to admire them, so she could bask in it with her face turned upwards.
At one point, he’d thought her hair reminded him of fire as much as it had the sun. Now, he no longer wished to associate it with her, not after how she had cried against him. Currently, it glowed and sparkled, like streaks of malleable crystal.
His gaze dipped to her freckled cheeks, nose, and forehead, noting a few new spots and none of the redness from days ago. Even after she’d rested the night she told him of her story, her cheeks and nose had been swollen, pink, and kind of cute. He knew it was terrible he felt that way about her teary face, but he thought he found it appealing because she’d been vulnerable with him.
She had willingly let him comfort her, and he was rewarded with a cuddle that had ached his chest while making it swell with tenderness.
Her tears had alarmed him, of course. They reminded him of the floating drops that hovered around his face whenever he deeply missed Aleron.
She shared with me. She also shares… my pain. Although their stories weren’t the same, the emotions that came from them were.
He hadn’t realised Emerie had faced a tragedy so horrid.
I always knew she had sadness inside her. Now I understand why.
Like he once told her, when she wasn’t focussed on him, her gaze was sombre as she looked off into the world. It’d taken him a while to realise what she was secretly expressing.
She looked… lost. It was the same hopelessness that had grown inside him from the moment his kindred was taken from him.
She even wore it now as she eyed those trees, then a disdainful expression flickered over her features.
She didn’t want to go into the forest, either.
“Hey,” she said, looking up at him. “Could you put me down? I’d like to stretch my legs for a few hours, and I think it would be better if you rest here in the daytime. It’ll be safer.”
I do not want to put her down, Ingram mentally grumbled, as he carefully lowered her to her feet. He knew she’d argue with him if he didn’t.
The grass only came to her knees, and he was glad he didn’t lose her.
Her pretty face grimaced as she took a step, but she made no noise of discomfort. She did, however, lift her arms above her head, go to the tips of her toes, and let out an awful, grating groan as she stretched.
His sight shifted to yellow at her doing this, at her.
She is a funny human.
“Alright, big bird. Time for you to have a nap.”
Ingram, glad to rest his legs, sat with his clawed feet inwards, his legs bent and falling slightly open. He didn’t want to straighten them, since he’d been walking on them, but he also didn’t wish to cross them.
“I will sleep soon.”
He would like to… decompress first, as she often said before she actually laid down.
Shrugging, she turned and limped over to the other side of the hilltop. With her hands on her flared hips, she stood, surveying the landscape before her, and he took the opportunity to look his fill.
There was barely a breeze, but it still played with the ends of her hair, making them sway just above her tightly clad arse. When she turned her head to the side to look somewhere else, his sight ran down the profile of her nose, noticing the slightest bump near the middle. Her lips were currently thinned in thought, but they were usually pink and plump.
He wasn’t sure if she realised, but she’d turned the scarred side of her face to him.
He had a new appreciation for it.
Despite her struggles, despite the pain she must have endured – as he himself had been burned many times by humans waving sticks of fire at him – her scars were the evidence of strength. Strength she shouldn’t have needed to wield, but had done so anyway and was alive, here with him now.
He touched a claw to his chest, remembering when it had been cracked open so someone could show him his own beating purple heart.
He did not bear scars like she did. His suffering had only lasted a day before it disappeared.
As his gaze dropped down to her still-injured leg after days of it happening, he wondered how his mind would have twisted had he been forced to live with his wounds. For days, weeks, months.
Ingram knew he wouldn’t have been able to bear it; not like she had. He didn’t like pain, and even when it lasted only a day, it still took too long for his wounds to heal.
Emerie was stronger than him – not in body, but in mind.
Perhaps that realisation should have made his sight turn blue in sorrow or self-pity, but it turned yellow with pride for her.
A moment later, his orbs darkened in their hue when something flittered past his skull. Easily distracted, Ingram followed what was flapping around his face. Colourful and tiny, it flew away erratically.
When he returned his gaze to her, she’d already turned back to him. His tail tip curled against the grass in delight at knowing her blue eyes were upon him. The light beaming down on her made her appear to glow, and he didn’t know if the warmth he saw was her expression or a result of the sun’s rays.
Then her eyes crinkled and bowed, and her lips curled up in his direction.
Just as Ingram tilted his head, unsure of what he’d done to be rewarded with a smile, something fluttered in front of his skull again. Like before, it was colourful, small, and stole his attention.
Since it lingered near him, he darted his hand forward to grab it so he could inspect its colouring in closer detail. He missed, but as he was trying again, a set of hands lightly ran up his forearm to his wrist.
“Don’t try to grab them,” Emerie whispered, her face inches from his own. “You’ll only damage their wings.”