Magika [Completed]

Chapter 6

This idiot again...

Kitaya ducked away from the window as Aldeheid came back around the cottage, ignoring the waves of pain ripping through her. She hadn't the strength to deal with him - physical or emotional. She'd woken up outside the Orchard at some ungodly hour, and immediately began searching for her horses.

Alvere hadn't wandered too far - she'd found him in the forest outside the human village. But Kaza had decided to frolic near the south mountain. It had take nigh three hours for Kitaya to find her, and the sun was gracing the east by the time she got back to her home.

Foregoing her health to find them hadn't been the wisest decision. So here she was, in pain with an idiot darkening her doorstep. The porch steps creaked, and she scowled weighing her options.

Perhaps she could pretend to not be home. But then he would probably come back. No... she had to scare him away, get rid of him for good. 

Three soft raps echoed through her home. It was a polite knock, one that a neighbor might give when coming to return something.

Kitaya steadied herself and looked down to make sure her sword was within reach before answering. Aldeheid stood on the other side of the threshold with one hand poised to knock again. His eyes widened at the sight of her in a way she wasn't entirely comfortable with.

"Aldeheid," she said with a sigh. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm fine, and you?"

Do you even have a brain? Her mind filtered that thought out, but she was sure it showed on her face.

He coughed, and a little colour rose into his cheeks. "I meant to say uh..."

It took everything within Kitaya not to slam the door in his face. She probably didn't have the strength to do it anyway.

"You uh... don't seem surprised to see me," he finally said with a nervous smile.

So that's what this was? A surprise visit? And people wondered why she hated surprises so much, but at least now she could use this idiot as an excuse. She kept her face impassive and her tone clipped and said, "It's hard to be surprised when you've been so boldly snooping around my home."

"I'm sorry," he began, but her eyes drifted elsewhere as he blathered on with some reason she didn't care about. A familiar weapon sat at his hip. One with a lion's head pommel and a gilded sheath.

Mellidius' sword? But what would he be doing with it? Kitaya gestured in its direction. "Where did you get that?"

"It was a gift," he said, placing his palm on the pommel.

"May I?" She extended one hand, palm up, and he made quick work of unlatching it from his belt. There was no mistaking it. She stroked the pommel -- a hand-casted lion's head -- and trailed a hand up the leather wrapped grip to the upswept guard. The sheath was partially gilded with a gold-like metal. She gripped it gently and pulled the blade free.

To Kitaya's surprise, Aldeheid remained quiet the whole time. "This is astral ore," she said, turning the blade over in her hands. The white flecks in its dark blue surface shimmered with the motion. There was no question. Well... she had several actually. "Who gifted this to you?" Or did you steal it?

"My mentor, Mellidius of Kon." There was a strange tone to his voice when he said it, but he didn't seem to be lying.

Well, may the gods damn me. Mellidius took an apprentice. No wonder this guy was such an idiot. Mellidius couldn't teach a lion how to roar. "Interesting..." Kitaya gave the blade a practiced flourish. "So, you're from the Etheria Bastion then. Yet you didn't have enough sense to not venture into my orchard. Twice. Don't you know how dangerous this place is? You could've died."