The Land Set Aflame

Chapter 41: The Second Kiss

Svenden awoke to sunlight tickling his face, and blinked a few times in confusion. Callyndia was there, lying asleep just a foot or so away on the forest floor with a blanket wrapped around her.

But, he didn't remember falling asleep

He looked around and quickly located the form of Leofric Banin lying on the ground a few paces away, wrapped in a blanket and attended to by a dutiful campfire that was undoubtedly Kithana.

He sat up and thought back to the night before. The last thing he remembered was Callyndia kissing him for the second time in a day. Everything after that was hazy.

He blinked. He knew that Callyndia had a sleep spell, and that she usually cast it through a kiss. He looked at her in annoyance and scooted a few paces away from her.

His movement caused her to stir, and she sat up partially, her eyes still full of sleep and her ginger hair frizzed up everywhere. "Sven?" she asked groggily, "Are you okay?"

"Your hair looks ridiculous," he replied. It was a petty thing to say, even if it was true. Of course, even with sleep-snarled hair, she still looked amazing, and that only deepened his desire to be petty with her.

She gave him a girlish pout face and put a hand up to cover parts of her frazzled hair. "You don't have to be mean about it," she pouted as she started up the magic to fix her hair again, "But now you'll have to tell me how nice it looks when I'm done fixing it."

"Did you put me to sleep?" he asked, refusing to acknowledge her silly, girlish games, "With that kiss you gave me?"

"You looked like you could use the rest," she replied, "Your mind was going to a bit of a dark place, I think."

"You shouldn't have done that!" he said, "Ilyssia might have come back for us!"

"Kithana was watching camp," she replid, "It was fine."

The little flame in Svenden's heart wavered for a moment. "You've got to stop!" he said, running his hands through his own sleep-tousled hair, "If you want me to trust you, you need to stop controlling me. That was dangerous! They might have come after us last night! And I wouldn't have been awake to help protect you!"

The campfire flickered a few times, and Svenden could see, out of the corner of his eyes, that Kithana was molding her flames into her humanoid form and turning to watch the drama as it unfolded. But he refused to look towards her, instead focusing his gaze on Callyndia.

"I'm not controlling you," Callyndia said, "I was helping you sleep."

"I didn't ask you to!" Svenden snapped, a little harder than he'd intended, "And, ask permission before you kiss me next time, okay?"

"A nymph's kiss is a gift," she said, "And you know you liked it."

He sighed. She was right, of course. "Nonetheless," he ground out between clenched teeth, "I'd appreciate you asking for my consent first."

She exhaled in exasperation, then looked down and played with the ends of her hair. "Fine," she muttered, "I'll ask. But it seems silly, since you're never going to say 'no' to me, anyway."

He frowned at her and raised an eyebrow. She looked up and caught his gaze, and he watched her face blanch, her eyes go wide and her jaw muscles undulate. Her hand went to her mouth, and she suddenly seemed very awake. "Oh no!" she said, "Sven, I didn't mean that!"

He held up a hand towards her, and gave her a look that clearly communicated his desire for her to stop talking. She obediently clamped her mouth shut and turned her face down, looking back up at him through her eyelashes with a childishly exaggerated pout face. All the while, invisible fingers were still teasing the snarls out of her long hair.

He breathed carefully, an act that was resisted by the willful ember in his heart. "I imagine you might not have said that if you'd gotten enough sleep last night," he said, wondering where he'd gotten the courage to talk down to her like that. She nodded emphatically. "How about we try talking about something else?" he continued, "Like, what's our plan for the day? I guess Ilyssia didn't kill us in our sleep, for some reason. Are you still hoping to do something with this kallaw? Or are we going to start walking to Aevenwy?"

Callyndia seemed quite happy for the change of subject. She tossed her hair back, and the invisible hands caught it and began separating it into strands for what promised to be a monumental braiding venture. "Well," she said, "Leofric's spell won't work, so I was thinking I could try something. I know how to send my voice through a kallaw to my mother, so maybe I can figure out how to get a message through, even if the shadows are impeding it. We should probably do it at midday, when shadow magic will be weakest: that might give me my best chance."

He nodded. "So what will you need from me?" he asked, "Am I doing anything here, or is this just for you magic people to deal with?"

She knelt down and tipped her chin in a very particular way, clearly trying to put on some non-magical charm as she looked up through her eyelashes again. "Well, I don't want to ask," she said hesitantly, "Because... you never say 'no' to me. So, asking you is basically the same as controlling you."

He sighed in irritation, knowing that she was right about that. "Go ahead and ask," he said, "What do you want to me to do?"

"Just do what you're best at," she said.

"And what's that?" he asked, feeling some annoyance at the extra step involved in the process of getting an answer from her.

"Protecting me," she said.

"Protecting you from what?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Well, if my magic works, Abdus or Myndrith might try to stop me," she said, "I'd feel much safer with you watching over me while I do it."

He let her see a smile on his face. "Of course, I'll protect you," he said, "You may be a heartless witch who controls my every action, but I'll still willingly defend your honor."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Thanks, I suppose," she sniffed.

He stood up and held eye contact with her for a moment. "Your hair looks nice now," he said dutifully as he turned to walk away, "I'll see if I can find us something to eat."

As he walked away, he sighed: he really did do everything she asked of him. He was pathetic!