Of Frost and Flames

Chapter 2

The sound of the running water behind her helped her focus on what was important as she just looked at the man in front of her. How long had he been awake? Did he know where they were? Of course, he knew where they were, he seemed to belong quite well into the area, and his knowledge about the lurking danger was also an indicator.

Cahira stepped away from him and crouched down, her focus on a patch of grass on the ground as she pursed her lips. She tapped her finger on the grass, following a rhythm. The girl glanced up at him for a second before looking back down at her fingers. He didn't seem like he could do much without collapsing again, but she couldn't be too sure with all the dirt and mud patches that painted his skin. She chewed on her bottom lip in thought. Would he tell her what she needed to know to get back? Did he even know where she'd come from? There were so many questions roaming around her head as she kept tapping the patch of grass. But she had to start somewhere, and just tapping the grass wouldn't get her anywhere.

"Where am I?" she asked, looking up at him, "how do I get back home? Can you walk? Because from the way you seem to know about this place, I can trust your judgement when it comes to the danger lurking."

A bad habit of hers. Rambling when she became nervous or didn't like the silence. All she knew was that she wanted to go home and if he could help her, she had to do something.

"You ask a lot of questions," he replied, seeming to be thinking just as she had, "you are frightened, you are lost..."

He had been right about her being lost and frightened. She was somewhere she didn't know anything about. And if she had gotten lost in the woods, then she wanted to find a way to return to where she belonged. Cahira looked at him with a tilt of her head as he continued; "not safe? Perhaps for me, yes. My good looks are sullied for a time. But yours appears wonderfully pardoned by fate. Your hair... hair like yours is rarely seen in these lands. And you are in distress, which lends another layer of allure. It is certain you will be saved by someone eventually."

She'd let herself examine his face, taking notice of the cut that went through his eyebrow, and another one at his bottom lip. She watched him raise up from the ground, swaying slightly. Once he seemed to find his balance, he started walking away.

"Just not, I'm afraid, by me."

Cahira could feel the heat go up her neck as she looked after his back. She stood up, her hands clenched at her sides. How dared he just assume that she needed saving by some stranger? Did he really think she was like how everyone else seemed to be?

"You know something I don't," she called out, even if it met his back disappearing between the trees, "who said I need saving? Who said I am a damsel in distress? The only things I'm confused about is where the hell I am and what my dog followed and caused us to be here in the first place!"

She took a deep breath as she ran a hand through her hair, turning back to the lake again. If he had wanted her to follow him or not was unclear, but she went with not. She hadn't found his attitude very charming either. He was indeed a weird one. Cahira looked down at her reflection in the water. Her reflection seemed clearer in the water than in the mirror in her bathroom.

'You look like a mess, Cahira. Didn't your mom show you how to always look your best?' she thought. But it only made her miss her mother, not knowing how her situation with her dad affected their relationship.

"Cahira Cross, the expert in getting lost," she exclaimed, throwing her hands around herself.

She let out a sigh as the lullaby her father sung when she was a child popped into her head.

"Sleep little one, one day you'll find, the world of our own, a journey you'll take, finding the sign, until you come back to my arms again."

Why it calmed her so, she couldn't figure out, but she was pleased with herself that she had remembered how it had gone. She looked up at the sky and frowned. It couldn't be later than noon.