The moon was little more than a swollen dome tilting just above the horizon when Theiden and Lenesa left the cottage for training practice. Against the fresh blue of the morning sky, the moon shone with a pearl-like radiance, and Theiden found himself briefly admiring it before it was swallowed from view by the sharp tips of the pines as he followed Lenesa deeper into the forest.

Lenesa took them down a little-used path Theiden vaguely remembered from a walk a few weeks prior. A few steps ahead of him, the witch's cloak was a murky green that would have melded in with the flora around her, were it not for the blue sheen that the wisp cast at her shoulder. They walked in silence, with only the interruption of an occasional birdsong off in the distance.

They finally came to a stop in a small clearing, dotted with several large boulders in a sandy shade of brown. Lenesa removed her cloak and hung it over the branch of a moss-covered tree, while Shwei zoomed to the top of the largest rock, morphing into an owl and settling down to watch.

"Here, catch." Something silver flew towards Theiden, and he jumped as his hunting dagger buried itself in the tree beside him with a solid thunk.

"Your reflexes are better," Lenesa commented upon Theiden's glower.

"You could have hit me," he growled.

She shrugged. "But I didn't." She stepped forward and into the dappled sunlight that filtered down from the overhanging boughs. Her old sword was now at her side, held firmly in her grasp as she awaited their duel.

"Is there ever going to be a time when I have an equal chance fighting you?" Theiden asked. "You can just shoot spells at me, so why can't you give me the sword?"

"You must always be prepared to be at a disadvantage, Theiden," Lenesa responded, her left foot brushing over the pine-needled ground as she began to circle him, looking for an opening to attack. "It makes winning with an advantage that much easier, if you are so fortunate as to be in that situation."

Without taking his eyes off the witch, Theiden yanked the dagger out of the tree trunk and began to match her steps in the opposite direction, careful to keep a safe distance between them.

"It wouldn't hurt to switch things around just once though, would it?" Theiden asked, knuckles tightening on the hilt of his weapon. "You wouldn't want to discourage your pupil, after all."

Lenesa had no sooner scoffed at his attempt to reason with her before she lunged, her blade singing through the air as it sliced towards him. Theiden barely managed to put up his dagger in time to deflect the attack, and the force of the impact sent him stumbling backwards, nearly tripping into a wayward bush.

"Are you trying to kill me?" he snapped. "If you haven't forgotten, I agreed to help you!"

"I'm just playing the part," Lenesa replied, unconcerned. Without missing a beat, she tried to stab at him again, but Theiden spun to the side, trying to put some distance between them.

"I don't think," Theiden began, parrying another swipe, "that you have to be—" clang! "—so convincing."

"Of course I do," Lenesa answered, her tone infuriatingly calm in comparison to the whirlwind of her attacks. "If this wasn't difficult, you wouldn't be learning anything."

Steel clashed against steel once more as the witch pressed forward. Too late, Theiden realized she had maneuvered him downhill, and he found his back up against the rough bark of a tree, trapped. When she came at him with a heavy swing of her blade, he brought both his hands to the hilt of his dagger in an effort to block the witch's sword from continuing into his neck.

It worked, but he was at an awkward angle, and wouldn't be able to hold the defense for long as her blade continued to grind against his. After a breath, Theiden reached out with his left hand, grabbing Lenesa's wrist and trying to push the sword away. She only responded by leaning closer and pushing in with her free left hand.

It wasn't working. Lenesa's sword was only inching nearer to his neck. The witch was now so close that Theiden could just make out the faint patterns of her irises as swirls of dark amethyst among the lighter purple hues. Strands of damp hair clung to her forehead and against her cheeks, and her breath ghosted across his face, shaky with the effort she was putting into her attack. Theiden was breathing heavily too, acutely aware of the growing ache in his arms.

"Truce?" Theiden panted, feeling a trickle of sweat run down the side of his face.

"No truce," Lenesa gasped. If anything, she was now putting even more force into her efforts. "Find a way to beat me first."

Theiden growled. "You're the one with the sword, and the higher ground. Let's switch and see how well I do against you then." He braced a shoulder against the tree behind him, determined not to let the sword slip any further.

"Your efforts are wasted on complaints," Lenesa retorted. Despite the spring chill, sweat was beading at her temple. "Don't lose your focus. Think your way out of this."

Focus! How could he focus on anything but the blade inching closer to his throat? The witch was intent on truly killing him this time, it seemed. What he needed wasn't to focus—it was for her not to focus.

An impulse sparked into his mind at the realization. At first, he was repulsed by the idea, but he couldn't see any other option at the moment. Every passing second brought the cold metal of the sword closer to his neck.

Would his idea work, though, when the witch was even colder than the blade she wielded?

Don't overthink this.

He had to try.

When the sword slipped another inch closer, Theiden leaned forward and closed his eyes, risking his neck over the blade as he captured Lenesa's mouth with his. Her lips were softer than he had expected, and parted beneath his own with a quiet gasp.

Her moment of surprise was all he needed. As soon as he felt Lenesa's attack weaken, he broke the kiss and shoved her away with all the force he could muster, swiping outwards with his dagger for good measure. The witch stumbled back, and for the first time in all their fighting practices, her calm façade had broken. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was slightly open in shock—it seemed like she thought Theiden couldn't have pushed her far away enough.

A long moment passed, and just as Theiden was starting to wonder if he had somehow managed to steal Lenesa's voice along with the kiss, she finally spoke.

"I see you managed to think of something," she said, clearing her throat. He didn't miss the way she surreptitiously swiped at her lips with the back of her hand.

Theiden raised an eyebrow, challenging her to dispute his move. "Are you going to say it wasn't fair?"

"Not at all," Lenesa replied. She raised her chin, face returned to a carefully neutral expression. "Just remember that particular move isn't likely to work as well on a faun. If you kissed one of them, it'd probably just keep kissing you."

Theiden grimaced at the memory of the faun that had accosted him on the way back from Kivirra's home all those weeks ago. He had needed Lenesa to rescue him from the spell it had cast over him.

"The Turned fauns aren't quite as, um, lascivious, are they?" he asked.

The witch gave him a disapproving look.

"I mean, it's not that I want to kiss one," he hastily amended, "But if it was the only way to throw them off-guard..."

"No," Lenesa said, "They aren't. They'd probably just eat your face off instead."

Theiden winced. "Okay, so I shouldn't use that strategy on them."

Lenesa shrugged. "Not unless you want your face rearranged. Although, who knows? It might actually be an improvement." It was a slight movement, but Theiden caught it—the corner of her mouth twitched upwards in a quick, small smile.

"Rude," he huffed.

The witch's humor was gone in an instant. Something he couldn't quite catch flashed in Lenesa's eyes, fierce and dangerous.

"Don't do it again."

Theiden gave an exaggerated sigh. "Maybe you should just agree to stop when I ask next time."

"And there you go, complaining again," Lenesa said, turning to look off into the forest.

"I wasn't! I just meant that—"

"Shh!" The witch held up a hand, still gazing through the trees.

Theiden froze, ears straining for the slightest sound. When he failed to detect anything, however, he began to grow uneasy. His work as a hunter had taught him that the forest would only grow this still if there was a predator about—or several.

Shwei took this moment to catch up to them, whizzing over to Lenesa's side as a bright ball of light. Theiden slowly took a few steps in the witch's direction as well.

"What is it?" he whispered. Lenesa had become as still as the trees around them, staring off into the distance.

Theiden squinted, trying to follow the witch's line of sight, but only found more rocks and bushes scattered between rich brown trunks covered in lichen and vines.

"Theiden," Lenesa began, slowly turning back to him. Her eyes were wide, and Theiden was shocked to her a tremor of uncertainty in her voice. "I need you to stay here for a moment. Promise me you won't move."

"What's wrong?" he pressed. "Can't I help?"

"It might be nothing. Just don't wander away, okay? I shouldn't be gone long."

"But—"

"No argument," she ordered, brows furrowing in a glare that made him grow quiet.

"Fine."

With a nod to Shwei, Lenesa took off through the trees, leaving Theiden in the oppressive silence that followed. Now that the witch had made him aware of it, the lack of sound grated on his senses, and he had the spooky feeling of being watched. What was Lenesa up to? Was it a Turned creature? If so, why hadn't she allowed him to go with her? He had gone through enough training by now that he was sure he'd be able to help her out at least a little in fighting one off, like he had agreed he would do.

Minutes passed, and Theiden stepped forward impatiently, a pebble crunching beneath his boot. If he was missing an opportunity to kill a Turned creature, he was missing a chance to go home sooner. The quicker her helped Lenesa fight them off, the sooner he'd be able to return to the city.

How long should he wait there, doing nothing? Theiden paced over to a tree, then back to where he had been originally standing. She had said she wouldn't be gone for long, but—

A scream, unearthly and chilling in its pitch, shattered over the treetops from the direction that Lenesa and Shwei had gone. The sound was soon followed by what sounded like an explosion, startling a flock of birds from a nearby tree. Theiden's heart pounded in his chest as he fixed his gaze to the East.

Stay here, my foot.

He set off after the sound, swatting aside branches and soon breaking into a run as thoughts of worst-case scenarios began to race through his mind. Some distant part of him argued that he shouldn't care so much—she was a witch, and had held him prisoner, at that. But Theiden knew that she had good intentions, no matter how misleading she might be with them. Almost like a child who didn't know her own strength, Lenesa had been trying to set up rules and boundaries to prevent her from hurting others, only to end up doing more damage in the end. No one else would think that traumatizing a child would be the best way to ensure her safety, or that stealing away a father would be for his own benefit—but Lenesa did. And now, as Theiden raced after her, he wondered if perhaps one of her good intentions had finally ended her in deep enough trouble that she couldn't escape from it.

After fifteen minutes of running, however, Theiden slowed, a line of confusion wrinkling his brow and a knot of dread in his stomach. If something had happened to Lenesa, he should have come across her by now. Where was she?

"Lenesa!" he called, spinning around. The forest in this part of the mountains was unfamiliar to him, and he was unsure of which way it was back to Lenesa's cottage.

There was a ledge a few yards away, and he approached carefully, hoping to get a better view of the surrounding landscape. The rock face of the mountain dropped off steeply below him, and vivid green pines stretched for miles in all directions.

To Theiden's right, the mountain range curved inwards and was semi-shrouded in fog that had swept in over the foothills. The rest of the mountain range continued to his left—each successive peak smaller than the one preceding it. Far off in the distance in front of him, the pines on the mountains spread out onto smaller foothills and then gave way to the flat grounds of the plains far off in the distance. He had never seen this side of the mountains before—only the west where Patachal City sat behind its fortified stone walls. The east was beautiful in its untouched wilderness, but he had to get back, find Lenesa, and go home. The west was where he belonged, not on this mountain.

Light flickered in the corner of his eye, and Theiden turned to find the source. Something was hovering at eye-level through the tree branches, casting a sickly greenish-yellow glow.

"Shwei?" Theiden called out. "Is that you?" He had learned that the wisp tended to get a bit off-color when tired, but it seemed as though this time, something had really worn him out.

Instead of replying to Theiden, however, the wisp shot off through the trees, down a path to the left half-hidden by overgrown greenery. Was that where Lenesa had gone?

"Hey!" Theiden huffed, stumbling after the ball of light. The wisp moved so quickly, Theiden thought he would lose track of it, especially on a path so windy and overgrown as this one.

"Slow down!" Theiden protested when the wisp disappeared around another bend.

Panting to catch his breath, Theiden reached the corner where he had last seen the wisp—and stopped short.

It was not Shwei.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Uh-oh!!!  Any thoughts on what Theiden might have found?  And what did you think of the kiss earlier?  Any ideas on where Lenesa went?

Thank you for reading!