Moons Apart | Ferry's Tale # 3

High meeting

Short recap: Ferry's adjustment to his new world is not as easy as it he thought. The training is difficult (especially with Lord Stephan),  the people of Akna do not understand his appreciation for humans and the human world, and he finds himself in the middle of the rivalry between the Amalghams, his guardians, and the Solacers, the warrior elves.

Ferry tries to understand his new home, but doubts are coming over him when he hears a rumor that his Guardians might not be as honest as he thought and had something to do with his departure to the human world.

But with perseverance, Ferry makes new friends, he is getting better at handling weapons and earns the respect of the inhabitants of the Cloud Fortress. He even beats in fight Stot, the right hand of Leomh, but wounds the elf pretty badly. Ferry is particularly worried that Stot doesn't seem to heal very fast as the rest of the Solacers.

On top of that, his relationship with Oona is getting complicated. The red-haired fairy kisses him, but she bites his lip at the end of their first kiss. Now everyone in the Fortress knows what happened. And Ferry fears that his hasty gesture might have hurt some people. Especially Matilda...

And now, without further ado, let's get on to the next chapter!

***

There was no need for Oona to say anything about their kiss. Now, all the inhabitants of the Fortress glanced at him meaningfully just at the sight of his swollen lip. Even his training companions could hardly concentrate and not stare at his face. Only Raghnall kept his eyes on the ground, without saying a word, except for a short nod of the head.

"I'm an idiot," Ferry whispered to himself and his lip hurt again as a reminder of how foolish he had been.

But he was most surprised by Raghnall's reaction. The young elf greeted him briefly, yet he did not join him as usual but retreated somewhere to the edge of the cave and began to angrily hit a sandbag.

"See you later at the usual place?" Ferry asked him after training.

Raghnall avoided looking at him. "I can't... I'm busy..."

Ferry frowned. Ragh had never said no to him. And Ferry loved spending time with him. And he had to admit – training with him had made him more self-possessed and more confident and a better weapon handler. Thanks to him he had defeated Stot.

"Then maybe later?" tried Ferry.

The young elf hesitated. "I-- I have to stand guard at the east tower..."

Ferry knew that the Fortress was guarded against all four corners by towers that reached the skies where there was always a permanent guard.

Raghnall then nodded and withdrew, away from everyone's gaze.

The hour of rest found Ferry wandering the windy corridors of the castle towards its depths. He was surprised when he realized that he was shivering. It felt colder than usual, now that the Long Night was coming. Or maybe he was just shivering at the thought of seeing Matilda. He had to explain the kiss between him and Oona. She had to know that it wasn't what everyone thought - and probably she, too - that there was nothing between them.

He arrived at her door and it took him a few minutes to knock. He heard rustling on the other side of the door, a sign someone slowly stepped closer.

"Matt, it's me. Open the door. Please..."

The steps on the other side stopped. "Ferry, what are you doing here?" she whispered.

"I need to talk to you. Open up..."

"What do you want to talk about?" she said, and the words sounded even fainter, melting into the surrounding silence.

"I wanted to talk to you about... About–" Ferry sighed. "Please let me in..."