𝑷𝑹𝑬𝑫𝑨𝑻𝑶𝑹

19

Finally in the middle of the night a carriage entered into a small village. The harmless villagers are all asleep by now so no one saw a predatory being that also came along with it.

Aryah's sleepy head was bunching along with the bumps of the road and finally a hand touched it to lay on a frim shoulder and she was asleep without her permission.

"we are here!" Doek announces and quickly gets out of the carriage to breath a sigh of relief. Soon that relief vanished as she remembers the danger of bringing a predator although he is not a savage beast, a village full of harmless creatures who are not used to being contact with them will be easily afraid.

Aryah wakes up from her nap hearing her voice. A  hand is holding her head, keeping it steady on the shoulder. As she looks up Eros looks down and their eyes meet. She feels the fierce eyes that she saw earlier can be gentle with adoration and her breath shakes. "Let's got." Eros's voice, breath brushes her face.

Eros gets put first and is going to hold her out but she quickly avoids that and gets out with a jump. After landing she looks up at him, he shakes his head holding back a smile.

"This way" They were lead by the siblings and soon reached a small house.

They have three small rooms and kitchen and bathroom squished in the wooden house . "You can sleep in this room."  Dorian leads them to the bigger room.

"I am sorry for the trouble!" Aryah says with gratitude.

"No trouble!" the siblings says in unison shaking heads and hands.

At that time Eros checks the room and then turns around seeing her slightly wobbly figure "Go to sleep quickly." Aryah nods with a yawn and moves to the bed. She carefully puts her bag on the table beside it and curls up on the big bed. Although it is not a soft bed she is glad that she got to sleep safely. The she turns cautiously and glances at Eros who is busy closing the windows. Her heart - thupm thupm. It's the first time she has to face him after running away and she is embarrassed.
She buries her head on the pillow. If she can't see then she can't be seen.

"Aryah" Suddenly she hears Eros's voice close.

Looking up she sees his face which is grim.

"...."

"Why did you ran away today?"

She looks down then sits up. "I need to find the flower I told you before and go back to my world  . I can't trouble you any more."

The more she talks the more grim his face becomes.

Eros controls his emotions. Calmly says, "And I couldn't help you find them?

"... I just didn't - " her voice becomes smaller.
" You just don't trust me enough. " Eros stands up.

" Not that! "

" Then why?" he tries to calm down again. He realizes it is also his fault that he didn't make one thing clear. But he will now. Because he does not want to feel what he felt when he couldn't find her today. So he carefully formed his words,
" Aryah listen to me, I will never hurt you. I will help you whatever you need to find just stay close to me okay? In this world there is danger everywhere for you. Can you please listen to me?" 

Aryah looks up at his eyes that is determined sharp mixed with worry.Worried about her.

Eros does not know what to do with his troubled heart only thing he can think of is protect her. She must be protected.

Suddenly two small hands clasps his hand. He stops."I will follow you" there is a small voice but it is full of emotion.  In this unknown world Aryah is alone, there is someone that will worry about her.

Eros 's heart that was troubled all day long finally calmed down just with this voice. And soon a new wave arouses in it hearing what she said. He turns to look at her.

He hums, satisfied. "Go to sleep quickly We have a journey waiting for us tomorrow."

"Where to?! Are we going to find the flowers?"

Eros curls up his mouth slightly "Yes"

"... I will sleep now!" Aryah hurriedly jumps under the blanket with excitement.

The movement is stilled. Eros eyes the small form that is curled up on the bed like a baby bird in a nest. The ear is red and perked up as if cautious ready to hear any danger that may approache. His burning eyes roams over her one more time before going out of the room. "Don't need to worry, Sleep."  his voices like a soft lullaby...

Aryah falls asleep finally with a peace of mind. She will soon find the cure flower and grandma will be fine again.

Eros goes out of the house, outside is cold but not that he minds. It is better that he sleeps outside a little away. He walks towards the two leopard that are standing still mingling with the shadows no one but his sharp eyes can spot them at a glance.  Only when he reaches them the leopards shifts into their human forms.

"Are we not leaving?" Kiram says coming out of the shadows.

"Tomorrow when the sun rises." Eros leans against one of the trees.

Both of them stare dumbfounded, when do they care about the sun and shit. In fact night time is the best time for them to travel. But they don't question Eros's decisions, ever. He is always thoughtful and responsible . They have been with him for a long long time now.

Eros:"Everything is ready as I asked?"

They nods,"yeah only some small things are need to be handled."  Although they were surprised at his demand of things for the journey they don't question him. Those foods, quilts must be for the little creature.

They both hesitate. Rikwar can't help but say, "well, who is the small ones?" 

Both of the warriors looks at each other without getting answer. 

Eros: "Both of you can rest now."
He just climbs out on one of the the tallest trees and closes his eyes.  some words repeatedly rings in his brain,'i will follow you -' 
it feels comfortable.

However Eros does not sleep, his eyes drift off to the wooden house frequently.
Like this the night passes...