(Not) a clichéd fairy tale

Chapter 15

Liarya

The following morning I woke up to Tirian making some strange round wooden plates with a stick at the bottom and then covering them with his magic.

He wasn't very quiet while doing that, wich led me to tell him not so nicely to let me sleep in peace.

He had other plans and pushed me out of my bed, before telling me to get ready as training would now get serious.

At our usual training place Tirian stuck the things he had made earlier in the grass and then told me to "Hit them with ice."

At first it didn't work at all and I missed every single one of the targets. This continued the next few days until there was finally some improvement visible on the fifth day of practicing.

Tirian was surprisingly patient with me  this time and whenever I managed to hit a target he even told me that I was improving.

I had just hit a target again and couldn't help but feel proud of myself. The number of targets I hit had been increasing in the last few days and seeing my success filled me with happiness.

"I take it back." Tirian said and after seeing my confused look he added "That you're a hopeless case. I take it back."

After he had said that I just couldn't help but brag about it for the rest of the day, which ended up with Tirian deeply regretting his words in the end.

And even though everything seemed to be going so well, there were moments when Tirian was acting strange. Like him going out every single evening and not telling me where and then coming back in the morning and being in the worst mood possible.

He had also started on giving me "survival lessons" where he told me what I should and shouldn't do in certain situations if I were to be on my own.

For example: "Don't make deals with merchant goblins" (I was 100% sure he said that just to tease me)

"Never sign any contracts without having discussed every single aspect of it"

And most importantly "Never ever in your life sign a contract with blood unless you're the one to make the contract"

Those lessons were even more tiring and, in all honesty, also more boring than the physical training.

With that, our daily routine became basically getting up before sunrise, eating breakfast, going into the woods to train until sunset, eat dinner, having survival lessons until midnight and then going to bed.

Despite it being very exhausting, I liked this kind of life way more than how I spent my days back in Nularis' royal castle.

I also started to get along even better with Tirian and we became sort of friends, as the tingling feeling in my stomach became more persistent over time.

One time, after Tirian had taken a bath and his hair was still wet, I just couldn't help but want to look at him.

He also seemed to have some allergy against shirts when we were in our room which wasn't at all helping me to get rid of those thoughts I had.

But I got pretty good at ignoring those feelings and the days basically flew by.

I also continuously got better at where to aim with the icicles I made with my magic.

And after a few weeks of training , I had finally hit every single target with my icicles.

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"Congratulations. You learned fast." Said Tirian and I saw him smile a tiny bit.

It made me unbelievably happy every time he smiled because he looked even more handsome and I also took it as proof that I was actually pleasant to be around.

"Thank you. I couldn't have done it without you. In fact, I couldn't have done any of those things I did in the last few weeks without you and I'm really grateful for your help." I said and walked over to him to give him a hug.

I honestly hadn't put much thought into wether he wanted me to hug him or not and when I realised he probably wasn't a person for hugs and affection at all, it was already too late.

Curse my brain for thinking slower than my body acts.

I expected Tirian to push me away or at least tell me to let go, but I most certainly didn't expect him to hug me back tightly and bury his face in the crook of my neck.

I could feel his warm breath against my neck and it sent shivers down my spine, immediately reminding me of the day we hid from the guards in that little side alley.

No no no! What am I thinking?!

After a while of me trying to get my racing heart under control again, Tirian broke the hug and we just stood there for a while in silence.

"I'm sorry..." He then whispered.

"You don't need to apologise! I hugged you first after all. I would've been quite sad if you didn't hug me back so there's no need to apologise!" I quickly said, almost stumbling over my own words.

"That's not..." He sighed, "Fine, forget it. Let's go back to the Inn for today. You're finished training after all."

The walk back was filled with uncomfortable silence.

Back in Pearlyn Tirian took my hand and dragged me into another side alley.

"People know you're here. You can't just walk around and risk being spotted."

With that, we continued our way to the Inn through numerous side alleys, one darker than the other. But they were empty. In Nularis they would've been home to countless Fae that were deemed outcast by the rest of society.

Suddenly, something small crossed our path. It was fast and we couldn't really see what it was. I let out a small scream and took a few steps back.

"Seriously? You're afraid of a stray cat?" Tirian asked, completely unimpressed. He reached for the little creature and picked it up.

It really was a small little cat and it looked even cuter than in the books.

"Oh my god it's so cute! Can I pet it?" I asked and Tirian nodded, still holding the small animal.

It wasn't moving or making any sounds at all, so I slowly reached out to pet its head.

Only to be scratched.

"Maybe it doesn't like you?" Tirian chuckled and I shot him a glare.

"Let's go back now. You can pet stray cats some other time. I still have something to do later." He then said before setting the cute animal back down on the ground and walking away.

When we arrived at the Inn, I immediately went to take a bath and Tirian walked off again, still refusing to tell me where he'd go.