If Only{{Kina/Ardell Dark Mabinogi}}You Could Have Looked Like That Sooner

After a few moments of her crying, the sobs began to thin. She took a deep breath to settle herself, then looked back up at her lover. "...I...I was so scared they had..." She swallowed and looked away from him, "....I wasn't there....and because of that...you..." She shook, threatening to fall into tears again.

"I'm glad you weren't there..." Ardell murmured, "You would have been hurt...there was just too many of them." He couldn't stop holding her. It had been too long since he'd seen her, for him to even consider it.

His own tears wouldn't stop flowing as the shock began to wear off.

"I just kept fighting...I kept moving." Kina whimpered, "I couldn't stop-- not until I found you. I had to get stronger...strong enough to...to kill them all if they got in my way." She gritted her teeth, "And I would have....dammit I would have if I had to."

Those words made Ardell more conscious of Kina's condition, of how exhausted she was. "Hey...sit down," he said gently, leading her back to the bed. Now that he knew it was Kina, of all people to encounter here, he cared a good bit more for her general health and well being.

Now realizing that her journey was for the most part over, the young woman eagerly obliged the offer to rest. She took a seat on the bed, exhaustion beginning to sweep over her once more. She let her eyes fall on Ardell, and they still twinkled with disbelief. "...Ardell.." She sighed, more of a reassurance than an address.

The blond elf smiled gently, helping her get seated. He pulled the covers back to her. His mind felt clouded, muddled. He would have never even imagined that he would see Kina again so soon.

Kina reached up and took Ardell's arm. "P-please...do...do you have to leave?" She breathed, the sound pathetic, "Please don't go..." She clung to him tighter.

"Not right now," Ardell assured her, hand resting on her grasp. He didn't take his eyes off her scarred face.

Kina smiled softly- the first time she had done so in so many years. It felt almost foreign to her lips now. "...I love you, Ardell." She breathed, her eyes feeling heavy now.

"I love you, too, Kina..." Ardell murmured, fingers stroking along the top of her hand. The smile on his face seemed to be struggling with the idea of tears. "Thank you...for coming for me..."

Eventually the human woman fell asleep, and Ardell continued to keep guard- but for a very different reason than before. He didn't want to leave her.

But soon Con came into the tent, alerting Ardell that the best time to hunt had come about. He left only reluctantly and after a desperate explanation of who she was.

Despite that explanation, Con still felt the need to get Enoch to continue the guard.

After several hours of heavy, deep sleep, Kina's eyes fluttered to life. She yawned and pulled herself up- mind still hazed with sleep. She looked around her with blank, misty eyes as she continued to float to consciousness. Finally, when her conscious mind decided to join her once more, her eyes shot wide and began to wildly survey the room.
...Where was Ardell?

"Ardell?" She called, looking around, "Ardell--where are you?!"

"He's out hunting," the airy voice of Enoch answered, blank eyes staring in Kina's general direction. "He should be back soon..." they blinked, head tilted in seeming observation. He found the discovered relationship between Ardell and this woman rather interesting. It was, frankly, difficult to imagine any of their lives before being brought to enslavement.

Kina gave an annoyed huff and stared at the door, feeling an uneasy churning in her stomach. "...How soon is 'soon'?" She asked impatiently, fingers tapping irritably. She didn't like the idea of him out there- what if they were separated again?

"Soon." Enoch repeated. Without a sound, the elf was next to the woman's beside. "How are you feeling?" he asked, wide blue eyes now aimed downward. Some light spotted through the tent wall, highlighting once again that damaging, malformed scar on his face. As well as torn and ruined flesh along his cheek, hanging there...

Kina noted the scar now, having not cared about it when she had spied it before- when she first came into camp. "....How did that happen?" She asked, "...Did...they do that to you?" Anger welled up in the woman as she thought of the brutish men, so many feet taller than herself.
She had always resented giants for their natural strength. They hardly needed to work for it.

Enoch's hand rose to the side of his face, as though he had forgotten about its presence. He winced as his own skin touched it, as though it still sent a sting of pain through him. "Yeah..." he answered, expression unchanging from when he had questioned her health. "They messed up when they branded me. It hurt." he blinked once.

"Are you hungry?"

Kina blinked, thinking on that for a moment. It only took a moment, as she immediately realized how ravenous she was.
"Yes." She replied simply, looking back at him. "Very much so. But do you have enough food?"

"No," Enoch replied. "But we'll have more soon." he turned, heading back to his earlier seat and coming back with a small bit of meat on a plate-like surface. It somewhat resembled a broken piece of armor. He held it out for the woman.

Kina, never quite the one to be selfless, inhaled the bit of meat without a second thought- keen to eat a lot of it when it was available and no stranger to it. Though once she had downed it, she found herself even more desperate for food than before. She said nothing, however, and handed him the 'plate' back.

Enoch took the 'plate' back, looking down at it as though he himself was hungry for a meal. He probably was. He headed back to his seat, plopping to a sit. "I may have to switch shifts with Con soon," he informed, eye no longer even looking at the woman. They stared at the ceiling almost without consciousness.

"Who?" Kina responded on impulse, "...-Oh, don't tell me it's that chick from before?" She muttered, face twisted into a grimace. That woman...just didn't sit well with her.

The elf nodded. "Con's strong." he stated, smiling softly with those blank blue eyes continuing their speechless stare. "She's the one that got us out of there." he blinked, eyes reopening to Kina's direction. "Don't be mean to her." there was no demand in that tone. It was no different than his earlier, airy speech.

"If she watches her mouth, I won't have to." Kina snarled in response, tone testy, "But if she flies off again, I'm going to have to do something about it."

Enoch seemed saddened. "You'll hurt each other," he determined, "and that will hurt all of us."

Just then, the tent flap stirred, and the spoken of female elf appeared. Her violet eyes pierced through the space in the tent, landing almost viciously on the human woman. Her hair was a reddish color, held tight around her head in a bun. It would have been difficult to tell that she was an elf, as even her ears remained hidden behind the strands.

Enoch got up without a word and headed for the exit. Before leaving, he turned his wide eyes once more on the woman. "Bye," he left.

Con sighed, stepping over to the corner of the tent and sitting down. She said nothing to the other woman.

"..." Kina narrowed her eyes back at the woman, then looked down at the furs and layed back down. She said nothing to her, either.