#semc

“How long have you been standing there?” He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, blinking out what his hand missed. He hears a scoff from above him, like she couldn’t believe his question, and he has to hold back his growl. Whether she was setting out to irritate him or not, he was not in the mood for it this early, especially having just woken up.

“I rise with the sun.” She says it like it’s obvious, like it’s what everyone does. He has to look up to see the sun, and it’s not dead center of the sky but it’s pretty close, and he wonders how long he’s really been sleeping.

“And you didn’t think to wake me up first?”

“Who knows what you might have done if I woke you up. I don’t feel like dying yet.” There’s no humour in her voice, back to that proud little girl he knows from yesterday, and he rolls his eyes at the attitude. Treating him like he was that dangerous- how absurd, even he had standards and knew when to attack someone.

He brushes her off, ignoring the serious tone, and stands up. He can feel the morning dew of the grass on his clothes, and feels the lingering morning breeze brush against his side, tickling the exposed skin. It was surprisingly cool, and pleasant. Not frigidly cold like Camprestria was, but pleasant and a comfortable change.

He picks up his hook, the weight familiar in his hands and that’s all he really needs to be fully awake. He takes in his surroundings, but barley sees anything besides trees. The clearing was framed by trees of all different sizes, all reaching to the skies and towering over the two still in the middle of the clearing. It was much easier to look around the forest in the day, with the sun shining down on them and providing much needed light, and he realises that he’s not too sure how to leave.

“It looks the same everywhere, how do you even know where to go?”

His question perks her ears, and she turns to him with a taunt in her smile. She’d barely moved a few steps ahead of him, ready to leave as she hears the trees gossip about her and the stranger spending the night together. It was embarrassing, and she was lucky normal humans couldn’t understand, but it made her blush lightly nevertheless.

Trees could be such busy-bodies sometimes.

“The trees lead me where I need to be. Don’t tell me you don’t know how to leave?” She smirks at him, because they both knew that was exactly why he brought it up. She watches him shift his weight from one foot to the other, a hand scratching the back of his neck, and her smirk only widens.

“Well, either way, I’m sure I can leave you alone. Take care.”

“Hey! You’re not really leaving me alone here are you?”

“If you want my help, you’ll have to ask nicer than that.”

He frowns, lips tilting down to the side, as if contemplating whether his pride was worth it or not, and she started her first few steps away from him before her ears picked up his sigh.

“Could you please show me how to get out of here?”

“Gladly.”

She starts walking the same direction, towards a mess of trees for all he could see, but he had to take only a few steps before he caught up with her.

Their walk was mostly quiet, safe for the sound of crushing leaves under their feet. The trees whispered, teasing her as if the awkward walk was supposed romantic. Still, the trees giggled and teased all through the walk, news passing as they watched the pair walk through to the end of the path. She kept her eye straight forward, on the path she knew like the back of her palm, and tried not to be too annoyed at them. It wasn’t often they had peaceful visitors after all.

Birds sung above them, even later into the day and providing a choir that gave him little comfort. There was nothing that looked different, the branches were ever-so slowly unweaving from each other, though he could only tell from the sunlight seeping in through the gaps between the trees.

“Hey,” he reached out, placing his hand on her shoulder to stop her and catch her attention, “How much longer until we’re out?”

“Not much further,” she looks around, listening to the trees still giggling and rolling her eyes, “Probably. As long as we don’t stop.”

“Do you even know where we’re going?”

She whips back, pushing his hand off of her shoulder in the process, “Of course! If you don’t trust me, I can leave you here.”

“I was just asking.”

She clicks her tongue at him, and turns back around, footsteps harsher and louder as she continued on the path.

Eventually, he thanked the Gods, he saw the exit and heard muffled speech as the trees parted more and more. Cocking an eyebrow, he unconsciously fastened his pace and saw a whole group of people right outside, a half-shaved head of pure white hair reflecting the sunset being the first thing he saw.

The group quieted down a bit when he fully came out, and the makeshift leader of the group turned around, eyebrows furrowed before her eyes widened.

“You’re safe.”

He smirked at her, only a little arrogant at her shock, “I’m here.”

“Yates, what were you thinking? You could’ve gotten lost forever in there.”

“Yeah but I had help.”

He turned to show the rest of his tribe the girl standing at the entrance of the forest, barely hidden by the shade of the trees, staring at the group of people with her head tilted.

“What’s your name?” He calls out, and he could see the elk girl jump a bit at getting shouted at.

“Why do you care?” Still haughty, she crosses her arms and turns her head away.

“Just want to introduce you. You should come closer, it’s a bit hard to hear you.”

He watches her step back, awkwardly looking at the group and thinking about whether she should step closer or not.

“Yates, who’s that?”

“My help.”

He keeps his eyes on her, and smiles a bit when she takes a step forward towards them. Her blades were drawn, and he could see how tense she was, but gave her his lopsided smile as weak encouragement.

“My name is Inara, protector of the forest.”

“I’m Yates, leader of the Mountain Wolves clan. Nice to get your name.”

She nods, and gives a small smile, “You too.”

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She saw him shrug with the arm that didn’t have the hook, and growled at the pained cries of the dirt he drug his hook through. From her place among the trees, she follows the men across, hearing their flippant comments about cutting down trees and landscaping. The whispers of the trees filled any empty pauses when the men stopped talking, and she knows she has to halt them when the trees cry out in fear during the talks of removal.

“Sir, don’t you think clearing this entire area is a bit much?”

“The people need their space, much more than these trees do.”

“We don’t have to clear all of it.”

“If you don’t like my decision, you can leave. You needn’t continue with me.”

She watches the men hesitate, skittering and unsure of their next action. Maybe the one had spoken sense into the others, had jittered the group of 10 others enough to stop them completely.

“Fine, if you don’t believe we’ll need the space more, I’ll go off by myself.”

The leader stormed off, hook strapped onto his back, and she follows, still hidden by the trees. She jumps from tree to tree, swiftly and gracefully, barely a sound as her feet lands on sturdy branches.

She keeps a careful eye on him, a few of her wisps floating behind and around him to light his way for her as it got dark. He stopped near a small clearing, enough for one man without a pack, and settled his items down. He was too far from his men now, and she was sure that none had followed him out of their free will.

So she jumped out in front of him, curved blades out and readied. He jumped back a few steps, hook now unstrapped and no doubt eager to pull.

“What do you think you’re doing to my land?”

It wasn’t a question, it was a demand. She growls at him, ready to go on the offensive should he do the same.

He laughs at her, booming and echoing against the trees around them, “Are you lost little girl? Did you run away from home?”

He didn’t take her seriously, but he smiled and he had fangs like a wolf’s, and it told her he wanted a fight.

“Answer my question!”

“The people need this land more. Trees can be replanted.”

“And people can be relocated.”

“But where do you relocate them once lands become inhabitable? Once lands are taken over and are no longer safe? Once there’s too many people?”

She smiles at him, and she had no fangs but her eyes held all the aggression she needed, “You kill them.”

He was much more prepared than she thought, and pulled her in with his hook. The blades missed her, barely, but she got dragged and pulled ever so closer to him. She can see him smile up close, teeth gleaming and dangerous, and she slashes him with the blade on her right arm.

He grunts, the blade cutting through the flimsy fabric on his side and revealing the chain mail armour he had underneath, and pushes her away. She stumbles back, before jumping back to him, but stops short and screams when an unfamiliar electric shock runs through her.

He uses this chance to swipe at her with his hook, two times and cutting a line through her dress and stomach and drawing a shallow stream of blood, before she manages to kick him and jump away. A wisp flies around his head, as he jumps off and lands behind her, closer to the trees around the clearing, and she jumps back to him, knocking him against the tree behind him.

He grunts again, louder as he hits his head against the trunk, and she dashes to him and spins, her blades out and slashing at the thick piece of leather on his chest, almost managing to cut through.

She places her left blade on his neck, and leans in, snarling, “I hear human arms grow back when they get cut off, let’s find out.”

He smirks at her, a perk of his fangs showing, and she feels a familiar pressure on her torso before she’s jerked against him, her head knocking against the trunk of the tree in the process. Her arms flew out and around her, losing grip on her blades in an attempt to find grip anywhere else to stop her movement.

She hears the tree cry out in shock, but she’s too dazed to register the mocking laugh next to her.

“The trees will grow back. People, on the other hand, will have nowhere left to go.”

“People will find a place eventually, they always do.”

“Because we cut down trees, and make our homes from there.”

She moved a little to glare at him, lips curled and she managed a snarl before her eyes felt too heavy to keep open.

“Are you sleepy, little girl?”