Fire's Spark

Chapter 5; Trial of the Mountain

He kissed me for what felt like forever. When we finally let go of each other I had nearly forgotten how to breathe.

Zanir looked surprised with himself, "Sorry I-I—"

I covered his mouth with my hand, "Don't apologize, you did nothing wrong."

He tried to say something, but it was muffled by my hand.

I took my hand off his mouth, "Come again?"

He sighed, "It's just...I know we used to be betrothed, but I went missing and, and..."

"And what? The betrothal was nullified because you were presumed dead, there was no protocol for your return." I said, still trying to clear my thoughts.

He gave a shaky smile, "R-right. So...what now?"

"I don't really know, I presume you being alive means we're still betrothed," I said.

Zanir laughed a little, "This is going to be interesting when we tell Sycar."

I shrugged, "Well, best get it over with now."

"Agreed."

I jumped down from branch to branch until I reached the ground. Zanir had beat me down, "You're going to have to show me how you do that eventually."

Zanir laughed, "Possibly."

Despite how long we had talked only a few hours had passed, and the night was still young.

We found Sycar by the fire with Etan, "Where have you two been?" he asked.

"We need to talk to you." I gestured for Sycar to follow us away from the fire.

We explained the entire situation to Sycar, and by the time we finished, he was staring into space.

"Sycar?"

He shook his head, "So, let me get this straight," he pointed at Zanir, "You're Catara's first betrothed, Zanir Kamazal. But you went missing, and the betrothal was nullified."

Zanir nodded.

He pointed at me, "And you had no idea he was alive, or that he was a Kamazal until today."

I nodded.

Sycar threw his hands in the air, "And you kissed each other?!"

We both nodded.

He ran his hands through his black hair, "I need some time to process this." He walked off.

Zanir put his arm around me, "That went...about how I expected it would."

I leaned into him, "That went better than I expected."

We finally went our separate ways for the night. I went hunting, and Zanir went to sleep. I came back the next morning with five dandi-rabbits, four ducks, and two general boars (they're twice the size of normal boars.)

Zanir was sitting near the remnants of last night's fire, he looked relieved when I walked over, "You were gone all night! I thought a stone troll had gotten you!"

I gave him a quick kiss, "Sorry to worry you, I got caught up with my hunting."

Alkai emerged from the woods on the other side of the clearing, "Looks like I have some competition for hunting."

The giantess held a king boar (They're twice the size of general boars.) in each hand, it seemed she had slit their throats. I, on the other hand, had shot my prey in the heart. Zanir looked from Alkai's kills to mine, "It's apparent that you two have very different, yet equally effective killing styles."