A Refugee in the Mountains

Life, Relationship change

Fenneck finds Natalya in the mountains and comforts her. They talk all night about the guilt and pain they're both wrestling with. They decide to try and make this work. They spend the next few weeks alone in the mountains together mapping out the terrain and finding the best route to and from Lenisily.

Natalya slowly opened her eyes. Everything hurt. She felt sharp hunger pains in her stomach and her lips felt cracked and bloody. Her eyes were foggy and crusted over. She felt warm though. She felt like she was lying on top of soft furs and she heard the crackle of fire. Finally her eyes opened enough to see that she was in a cave of some sort. She was close to the fire and saw a pot of soup cooking over it. She tried to move but her body seared in pain. She felt herself start to panic. She heard footsteps from outside the cave and she managed to pull herself into a sitting position. She saw the fur over the door open and Fenneck walked in. Natalya felt a cascade of emotions attack her body at the sight of him. She tried to say something but her dry throat prevented her from making any noise. Fenneck smiled when he saw her but quickly became concerned. He hurried over and knelt down next to her. "Don't speak. Hold on." He pulled out a water skin and helped her drink it in slow sips. He made her finish the whole thing before grabbing some pillows and putting them behind her back, helping her sit up. He fixed her a bowl of soup and helped her eat as her muscles started working again. He was so gentle and comforting. Natalya couldn't help but be glad to see him. She felt so weak. She couldn't remember how she ended up here. The last thing she remembered was being in the snow. Her conversation with Dimitri started to come back to her and she felt the pain from it well up inside her. Fenneck saw this and rested his hand on her face. "It's okay. You're safe now. Don't think about anything." She tried to speak again but her voice only cracked. "Shhhh. Don't speak." He took the now empty bowl from her and climbed behind her. He wrapped her in his arms. She felt a wave of peace come over her. Fenneck caressed her and after a few moments he started singing a soft elvish lullaby. His voice was so pure and enchanting. Natalya felt herself fully collapse into him. The next morning Natalya woke to feel Fenneck's arms still wrapped around her. He was still meditating. She felt stronger after having eaten and she felt warm. She sat up and Fenneck awoke from her movement. "Good morning," he told her in elvish. She smiled at the sound of his beautiful voice. "Good morning," Natalya cracked back to him, her throat still dry. He reached over and grabbed another waterskin and handed it to her. She drank it thirstily. "I'm glad you are okay," he told her sweetly. She looked at him and felt shame overcome her. "Where did you find me?" She asked him. "In a pile of snow. Luckily I saw your hair in the sunlight," he told her. Natalya looked around at the cave they were in. It was small and cozy. There were quite a bit of supplies and tools lying about. "Where are we?" she asked him. "As of two weeks ago it was a bumblebear's home. I guess you could say it still is seeing as it never left," he said, giving her a guilty smile as he caressed the fur they were bundled in. "But... where are we?" she asked him. "In the mountains, not far from where I found you." "You followed me?" she said accusingly. "No," he said as he stood up. "I'm up here to study the land and map out the mountains. Finding you was either an accident or an act of the gods," he said as he tended to the fire. "You should have let me die," she said looking away from Fenneck. "All I've done with my life is cause pain and suffering for others." Fenneck started digging through his supplies. "Don't be morbid. I couldn't have just left you there." She turned to look at him. "How did you know?" she asked him. He picked some fruit out of his bags and sat down across the fire from Natalya. "Know what?" he asked as he started cutting the fruit. "Know that you would see me again." He didn't look up. "I didn't." "But you wouldn't kiss me. You said we'd see each other again," she argued. "I said nothing of the sort," he said combatively. "I said the moment wasn't right. Not that the moment would ever exist or not." His pretty green eyes met hers with an almost pitying look. "I did not know if I would see you again, Natalya." Natalya felt angry and confused by this. "I should go," she said trying to stand up despite the pain in her legs. "You are not well enough for that. Sit down before you hurt yourself," Fenneck said passively. Natalya felt herself growing frustrated with his sudden lack of affection and the aching of her muscles. She stayed on the ground and glared at Fenneck. He looked up at her, bemused. "You think this is funny?" she spat. Fenneck squinted at her before returning his attention to his fruit. "Did you actually make it to Lenisily or did you decide to kill yourself so that Pufuktin wouldn't have the pleasure of doing it himself?" he asked her. Natalya glared at him. "I made it just fine." She crossed her arms and felt herself growing frustrated and upset as her encounter with Dimitri came back to her mind. "I take it it went well," he said sarcastically. Natalya rolled her eyes and didn't respond. Fenneck stopped what he was doing and looked up at her. "Look, the least you could do is thank me for saving your pathetic ass from freezing to death," he exclaimed, frustrated with her. "I didn't ask you to come save me!" she shot back. He looked exacerbated. "Oh okay," he threw his arms up in annoyance. "So next time I see someone in a fetal position an inch from death you're telling me that instead of helping the poor soul I should think to myself, hmm, maybe, just maybe they wanted to die here. So who am I to interfere with that desire?" he said mockingly. "I would just ask them but, oh, they are completely incapacitated and are unable to inform me of their desire to continue living or not!" he rubbed his chin as if he was considering this. "Oh well." He sarcastically shrugged. Natalya felt herself burning red with anger. "You're a real charmer, you know that?" she angrily huffed at him. "Oh darling," he said condescendingly. "You lost the right to my affection when you left me to run off to your little half-elf boyfriend. Last night was your last freebie. From here on out you'll have to work a little harder for it," he told her clearly ticked off by her attitude. She forced herself to stand despite the pain in her legs and she stumbled over to her things laying against the wall. "Fine. Run away," Fenneck said, done with trying to reason with her. "You clearly don't know how to do anything else." Natalya felt these words cut through her heart and she stopped dead. He was right. So was Dimitri. Natalya wondered how far she could get if she kept running like this. The reason she had let herself go in that pile of snow was because she wanted to stop running. "Well then," she hesitated. "Since you seem to think you know everything, what would you do if you were me?" She glanced back at him. Fenneck matched her gaze. "I would fight for my people. I would do what I could feasibly do that would help the most individuals." He looked down and bit his lip. "I learned long ago that running away only makes things worse." Natalya hesitated. Fenneck continued. "You know there are other solutions to problems than taking someone's life... even your own. Stay here." he said as he stood up and walked toward her. "Help me navigate these mountains and map out this land. There are refugees, your people, out here trying to escape the tyranny of Lenisily and we have a chance to help them. To offer them new lives and homes in Glitterfjell." She turned to him. "You just want me to stay because I'm your soulmate. If this thiramin bullshit didn't exist you wouldn't give two fucks about what happens to me." He stood a couple feet away from from her and looks conflicted by this statement. "You know I'm right. All I have done since I met you is disappoint you. I ruined this thing you've dreamed about your whole life. You shouldn't want to be with me," Natalya said, upset. "No, I don't," he said, rather coldly, turning from Natalya, "You aren't what I wanted. Not at all," he looked her in the eyes. "I wanted easy. I wanted simple." He started pacing. "But the gods don't tend to give us what we want. If they did the world would be a pretty crummy place." He met her gaze. "No, they give us what we need. I needed your perspective Natalya. I needed your distrust. I needed to be disappointed. I needed to be hurt the way you hurt me. I needed you. I need you Natalya. I may not want you yet or even like you. You're incredibly difficult to understand, you're frustrating and confusing. You are cynical and morbid and quite frankly, you scare the hell out of me. Your past terrifies me. When you left, I wept for two days straight. Not because I missed you, but because I felt like the gods had played a cruel, evil trick on me in making you my thiramin. But the gods are clearly not finished here." He paused before looking her in the eyes. His gaze was fierce and wise. Natalya hated how well he understood his own feelings. "Stay with me. We can figure this out. What other choice do you have?" He reached out his hand to her. Natalya felt her pride pushing her toward the door but as she looked into Fenneck's wise defensive eyes she knew he was right. Her heart softy called to her brain and asked it to let go. To let it take the reigns for a bit. To trust Fenneck and accept this proposal. Before she could answer Fenneck dropped his hand and walked back over to his fruit. He sat down and continued cutting up the fruit. Natalya slowly took her pack off and walked back over to where she had been laying. She stumbled to sit down, still silent. Fenneck didn't look up at her as he continued cutting the fruit. They sat in silence until Fenneck finished. Natalya sat and tried to work through her thoughts and emotions. She looked up as Fenneck nudged a plate of fruit toward her and she thanked him quietly. He nodded and they ate in silence. Natalya felt her heart grow heavy. She missed the closeness she had felt with Fenneck in Flottenheim. She felt a single tear slide down her face as she realized what she had cost them by leaving. She thought about how much hurt she had caused not just him by her selfish actions, but Dimitri as well. They sat in silence that day. The air tense but not dangerous. When night fell Fenneck came over and sat next to Natalya, not close enough to touch but enough to bring them both some comfort.   Over the next few weeks they learned to work together as they ventured deeper into the mountains. Some days were hard, full of bickering and dangerous paths. Some days they laughed and enjoyed the wondrous nature around them. At night, no matter how hard the day may have been neither tried to hurt the other by abandoning them. A few nights they even leaned against each other, never as intimately as they had in Flottenheim, but close enough to comfort each other against the cold winds. The best days were when they would run into a dangerous troll or a pack of ice wolves. Natalya loved fighting along side Fenneck. They worked well together and always seemed to make a challenge out of it. Natalya loved watching him with a bow. She had never seen such skill and precision. She hated to admit that he even put Dimitri to shame. He moved with such grace and composure. Sometimes they would fence together to pass the time. He was a worthy opponent and Natalya enjoyed watching his footwork. They often spent hours sketching and marking maps. It was a lot of work but Natalya found herself enjoying the work. The purpose. She felt at home in the mountains. Especially in the bumblebear cave they used as a base of operations. Fenneck was much more reserved than he had been in Flottenheim though. They didn't talk as much as they had before but Natalya didn't mind. She found herself enjoying just existing with him. He was a good companion. Trustworthy and dependable in battle, gentle and compassionate during desperate hours. Natalya was grateful he had convinced her to stay, that he had found her in the snow that day, grateful that she was alive.