Wardon made a mistake.

He misjudged the angle of the leap, and forgot to count in Relyn in his attack.

So Relyn narrowly avoided being impaled along with the bandit and escaped unscathed, save for one thing-

Nadila gasped aloud as Wardon slammed, chest-first, into Relyn, knocking both of them to the ground.

For a moment, no one moved, and there was not a sound, save for the dry, bloody moaning of the dying….

And then Relyn landed with a thud on the ground, Wardon falling on top of her with a thump.

Ray could have sworn he saw Wardon temporarily faze, but that was probably just a vision. As gracefully as he could, Wardon got up to help his 'victim' up, cleaned his blade on the grass and continued to walk.

"Come on."

Ray found that watching Wardon walk was quite fascinating, the way his guardian seemed to glide across without even touching the floor, the way he moved so fluidly that he seemed to be sliding, not walking, totally unfazed by the little skirmish... Although maybe a little bit at Relyn's little incident. He continued to look and stare until Wardon suddenly stopped, stuck out a long arm and Ray, not seeing it in time, crashed into it. It was like running into a long arm of stone.

"Ow…" he moaned, the breath and wits knocked out of him. "Wardon, you didn't need too…"

Wardon didn't turn around. "You shouldn't be staring in the first place," came the cool reply.

It was sunset when they finally stopped for camp. Nadila would have laughed at the day's events…. If she wasn't so shocked. She never thought that Relyn, Cold Relyn would have had the misfortune of being in the collision course of a fully-grown man twice her weight.

"Let's set up camp," Ray suggested, unshouldering the pack. As his sister and Relyn set out their own sleeping rolls, Wardon had already disappeared into the woods. There was a scream, like a little child's cry, and then silence.

Wardon faded in from the trees, two dead rabbits in hand. Sitting down, he skinned them, and soon, there was a little fire merrily crackling and a pot of rabbit stew, er… Stewing over the fire.

Ray sat down beside Wardon, smiling. "Hi Wardon!"

Wardon's impassive, icy face turned towards the smiling boy. He said nothing.

"So… Wardon, where were you born again?"

Wardon merely humph..'ed and turned back to watching the stew boil.

Relyn and Nadila sat down opposite of them. The fire flickered mysteriously off of Relyn's face, her winter's night-storm eyes and dark lips adding to her overall sense of a warrior from another world, contrasting with Nadila's round, cheerful face. On his side of the fire, Wardon's nothing-seeming eyes reflected no light, looking like pits of smoldering nothingness in his white face. The silent scream of dying stars and the cold, uncaring universe somehow materialized and were given personification in Wardon's eyes.

"Mmmm, looks good," Ray offered, smiling. Only his sister vocalized her agreement- the space between the two stony guardians had frozen the night air and sucked the warmth out of the void.

When the stew was done, Ray doled out servings to Wardon, Nadila, and Relyn. Wardon immediately finished his in one gulp, the wooden bowl suddenly clean. Nadila chattered away with the impassive Relyn (or perhaps to herself) as Relyn looked on at the proceedings with her air of cruel disapproval, not eating.

Ray smiled in what he hoped was a friendly grin. "Relyn, why don't you eat?"

Relyn turned her dark eyes on him. "I don't eat flesh." Simultaneously with Wardon, she drew her sword and turned around, her back to the campfire. They both struck out, and twin cries echoed. The bodies of two men fell forward, their grizzled beards and blank staring eyes glazed over already. They both kicked the bodies back to the trees and sat down again, returning the amazed stares of their guardees with cool indifference.

"Hmph. Lowly bandits. Let us get some rest," Relyn said and turned away with a swirl of dark hair and white face.

Wardon nodded and set out his bedroll. He didn't lie down, nor did Relyn. Instead, they both sat, firelight flickering off Relyn's icy eyes and nothing reflecting off of Wardon's.


Dear Reader,

I'm so sorry about the long wait and how I haven't been here for months, perhaps even two years or so. But I would like to thank you for coming here and reading. Perhaps you would grace me with a review, maybe?

Thank you!

-Mako Streak