Free of the offending branch, her pack strapped to her back once again, and the gift from her mother in her hand, acting as a walking stick, Malati continued her walk through the forest of the Highlands. Had this been under other circumstances, she might have even found the hike enjoyable. Spring had arrived in Canelux, the smell of flowers and the songs of birds filled the air as she moved down the small, but rough trail she had chosen.
Malati had never met this Jyeir, but it was one of the half dozen or so names that was commonly associated with the witches of this wood. The young woman didn’t know if that was because she happened to live here, and the villagers assumed if you lived here you must be a witch, or if this Jyeir was in fact a witch and that was why they had agreed to let Malati go to her instead of before a magistrate in Mamlak. Mother wouldn’t send me to a witch who was going to….do whatever it is witches do, she thought as she continued her journey. Right?
Of course, the fact that Malati knew nothing about this Jyeir presented a problem aside from her being a potential witch. She had no idea where to find this old Monk, her mother had just said that she’d be waiting for Malati. It was not much to go on, so the Tiefling just walked through the woods. So Malati walked and waited to be found.
She was not looking forward to whatever would pass for training with the Monk. As much as getting up before the sun, and working with weapons under her mother’s instructions until her muscles felt like water, had never been her favorite thing, Malati would give up everything to go back to that. She’d happily never go back to that village. The mental image of sitting in front of a hearth with the old Monk speaking calmly while incense burned came to her mind, and Malati would have given almost anything to go back to weeding the small garden they’d had back home.
She was well aware that she was romanticizing her life, it certainly had not been easy, but it had been familiar and she had been with her family. Malati just hated the idea of sitting on her hands for two years so she could “learn discipline.” Well, if those villagers thought she’d come back and apologize to their jerk kids, they were damned wrong. Her dad had taught her to help others, and she’d be damn if she was going to let that lesson go. The Monk could train her to be a proper young woman all she wanted, if she saw those kids harassing someone again, she’d beat them all over again. Let them send her to Mamlak.
As she walked something caught her attention. Without realizing why, she glanced over her shoulder and up to the canopy of the forest around her. She was not sure what she was looking for, but as she searched she heard a soft thud and spun to see a woman land on the ground in front of her. Moving as quickly as she could, though far too slowly she knew, she fumbled to bring her mother’s gift to bear in her defense. But before she could settle into the stance her mother had taught her, much less remove the protective covering that still wrapped her birthday gift, the woman began to speak and Malati’s jaw opened slightly in shock.
This is Jyeir?! She thought incredulously as she began to take in the sight of the woman in light of this new information. She was not what Malati had expected at all. Jyeir was far from an old woman. Malati felt her cheeks heat up so intensely that she could have believed someone was holding a torch too close to her face. With luck her red skin was hiding most of that, but she bowed her head in embarrassment regardless.
Where Malati had expected an old wizened crone, Jyeir instead turned out to be a….her mind raced trying to grasp the correct word. She wanted to say ‘pretty,’ but that did not feel right. The villagers her age had been pretty, not cute in the way of children, and not attractive like Jyeir. No, Jyeir was more than that. She was perhaps ten years older than Malati, maybe a little more or less, but with what might elven blood in her, there was no way for the Tiefling to make an accurate guess.
Swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat and raising her head to look at the woman, Malati forced words to come from her mouth. “You’re Jyeir? I thought you’d be old!” she said, instantly regretting it. Perhaps saying nothing would have been the better bet. But here she was, so she pressed on. “Uh..sorry, I mean… You’re…” gorgeous. That’s the word she’d been looking for, not that she was about to say that. “You’re not what I was expecting. I’m Vasa Malati,” she added quickly, hoping say something that wasn’t quite so terribly embarrassing. But then of course, Jyeir had addressed her by name already. “But you can just call me Malati…like you already did I guess.”
Fuck.
For a few moments Malati walked behind the half-elf as she was led to her home. She studied the way the monk’s muscles moved under her fair skin as she walked. There was something absolutely fascinating about the way her muscles coiled and relaxed as she moved. Before today the strongest person she’d ever known was her mother. But her mother was throw-a-boulder strong, while Jyeir was dodge-between-the-raindrops strong. Her muscles were defined with lines and curves in a way that was best described as beautiful. Like rods of steel wrapped in silk. Malati reached up to try and rub away the heat from her face before she jogged to take a place walking beside Jyeir. Maybe if she wasn’t following the woman she wouldn’t be quite so distracted by her.
“Uh…so…” she furrowed her brow as she tried to think of a conversation topic that would allow her to be marginally less awkward than she had been a few moments ago. Of course, given the amount of time it took her to think of a topic the silence had become awkward as well. Two years, she thought to herself in an effort to reassure her.
But Jyeir had said “for the foreseeable future.” “Uh, so, you said ‘the foreseeable future,’ but my mother, Dagon Vasa, said that I’d only be training with you for two years?” Leaving her mother for this stranger, while it was already better than she feared, had only really been tolerable because she knew she’d be home in a couple of years. The ‘foreseeable future’ seemed like it might be a lot longer. And her mother had said….shit, had she said it would only be two years? As she thought back on it, Malati remembered her mother saying she’d be done “in a couple of years.” To Malati that meant two. A couple is two. But her mother tended to be looser with that phrase. Maybe she had heard what she wanted, not what her mother was actually saying.
They walked for a moment longer, before Malati could not help herself. “You’re not what I was expecting, Jyeir. Master Jyeir? I’m not sure what I should call you. But, you’re not what I expected. What kind of training will we be doing? When I thought you were an ancient witch,” What are you saying?! Malati thought to herself as her mouth kept running, “I figured I’d be like sweeping out your hut, cooking for you, meditating, or something like that. Teaching me discipline. But,” Malati gestured to her new master as if to say “But clearly you are not an ancient witch, so why would you want me to do things for you that you can do yourself?” “So I’ve no idea what we’re…what I’m supposed to be doing here. Did my mother tell you why I was sent here? I mean…I’m sure she did, why would you accept some random girl otherwise…”
Well, maybe I’ll get lucky and she’ll teach me how to keep my mouth from running off without me when I see a pretty girl, she thought to herself as she focused on keeping her mouth shut. This probably was not the best first impression, but she certainly could work to keep from getting it worse. She was not sure why Jyeir’s presence was so….distracting. Malati had been with a boy, and seen girls she found pretty. So it wasn’t like she was all that new to these kinds of feelings, she’d just never felt them so suddenly and so intensely. I just need to concentrate and focus, she thought as she ran her fingers along the ridges of one of her horns while admiring Jyeir’s dark hair, shining almost blue at times in the shifting light of the forest. She’s just the first attractive woman I’ve seen. That’s all. I’ll get used to being around her, then I’ll be fine, she more hoped than thought.
