Chapter 82 - Laila, Leia and Hazel

And the ride continued. Hazel was silent throughout the journey, occasionally wiggling her body to find a more comfortable place on Aile to nestle. Soon it was nighttime, and Aile woke up from healing himself.

His wound was further agitated from the fight with the ox-like creature in the afternoon. After waking up, Aile asked Hazel to see if there is a place with a water source and an area to camp. He also told her to keep an eye for a food source nearby.

Hazel soon found a suitable location. It was good for camping and not too far from the water either. She then pointed at another direction and told Aile that 10 minutes in that direction is food. Like before Aile first arrived at the campsite and made sure everything was fine. Then he laid down the ox's furry skin to sit and sleep comfortably on. Once everyone was comfortably sitting, Aile went hunting. It was simple this time, he arrived and found rabbits, he killed them with projectiles, and then using his blade, he skinned them and brought back the meat.

He started a fire rubbed the flavouring on the meat, and on low heat, he cooked it and allowed the flavours to sink deep into it. He looked back and realized that Leia and Laila were missing. He quickly extended his senses and realized that they were doing the same thing as Hazel in the afternoon. The food would be cooked in one hour. So, he came back to the ox rug and slept next to Hazel.

He told her that once Laila and Leia comes, she should inform them to move the skewered meat, so it does not burn. He wanted to get one hour of sleep because he will have to stay up as a guard at night to make sure everyone remained safe. Today was very tiring, and Aile fell into slumber quickly. He did have his vigilance high to wakeup if he feels any danger.

After some time, Aile opened his eyes and noticed that the darkness of the night has set, and the stars became visible.

Hazel noticed Aile's open eyes, she could move her head with ease now. "You woke up earlier, it has only been forty-five minutes." Aile smiled back and said that it was enough. He then went towards the food. He was feeling hungry.

Once he arrived close to the fire, he noticed Leia looking at the stars describing them to Laila. They both seemed very happy and cheerful as they talked to each other. Seeing their happy expression, he did not want to barge in to disturb them. He went and checked on Sara. It seemed her condition had improved a lot. She had her breathing stabilized, and she no longer held her left upper waist in pain. After making sure she was ok, he got up and heard Leia call to him, "Hey Aile, you woke up?"

Aile nodded and went close to them. He sat down next to her and gave her a hug while saying thank you. While leaving after lunch, he had given Laila a hug, and he had forgotten to give her one.

She had commented about it to Laila during the journey, and Aile heard it. He felt angry at himself for forgetting to do this.

He then saw a beautiful smile that blossomed on her face as she also reciprocated the hug.

The two of them sat in front of the fire. Laila then said she wanted to sit next to him too. Aile then brought her next to him on the other side. Aile had by now gotten used to describing the environment to Laila and whatever he was talking about he would make sure that he describes it in detail for her.

Hazel, who was seeing this from afar, had her eyes water and a few drops escaped her eyelid and dropped on the ox carpet. She was envious of what she was seeing ahead. Hazel was also thinking, why she was not treated the same by the people in her life. She had a complicated emotion and was not sure if it was envy, jealousy or pain.

Then she thought of the oath she made.

She wondered if Aile will be this caring towards her. From his immediate question, if there was a way to break the oath, she felt that it was unlikely, making her shed a few more sorrowful tears. She wondered if she was cursed to not me liked in this world.

It did not take long, and the food was ready. Like before Aile brought the food and started to feed everyone. Even Leia was fed occasionally. Then they finished the food and everything that remained was buried by Aile to prevent from attracting animals. It was time to sleep. Laila and Leia told Aile that he should sleep for now and they will wake him up after two hours, and then they will sleep, and he can keep watch. Aile nodded, he needed more time to heal.

Aile then wanted to sleep, and Leia offered her lap as a pillow and Aile took the offer and slept.

Then Leia and Laila started to talk, and occasionally Leia glanced at Hazel. She wanted to engage her in the conversation, after all, they were all here together. However, before she said anything, Hazel said, "Thank you so much, for helping me during lunchtime."

"It is ok, I like helping people, and sorry that I had to ask for Aile's support."

Hazel blushed as she looked at Aile.

Hazel muttered in a low volume, "You two are lucky to have him."

Laila heard it and nodded; however, she also noticed the melancholy and sense of longing in her voice. She asked, "Are you ok, Miss Hazel?"

Hazel nodded and replied with a fake smile, "I am fine!"

Laila realized that she was not willing to talk about it, so she did not insist.

However, this time Leia noticed the single drop of tear that dropped from her eye.

Leia decided to change the topic and bring back the dying conversation, "Can you tell me more about Aile?"

Hazel decided to tell them about how Aile had saved Sara when he was 5 years old. As she narrated the story, her mood lightened up, she also got closer to them. Like this, they started to talk about many things, each one chiming in a little.

This was the first time Hazel was talking to someone so openly, and soon two hours passed. However, as they were conversing and having fun, they did not notice the passage of time.

After three hours, they were surprised at how quickly time flew and decided to wake Aile up, as they will have another journey tomorrow. Thus, they did not want to be a burden to Aile, and they were not sure that they could remain awake. They did not want to fall asleep without anyone keeping a watch on the surrounding.

By now Hazel could move her body a little.

Leia then warmed her hands up by rubbing them against each other and then touched Aile with them, waking him up. Aile greeted them and gave them a happy grin as they allowed him to sleep a little more.

Aile then became a pillow for all of them. On his left thigh was Leia and Laila and on his right was Hazel and Sara. Aile meditated and connected with the broken energy channels. While keeping his vigilance high on the outside. The night passed uneventful, and it was morning time.

Aile was planning to take a quick bath before everyone was awake. He folded the ox carpet and made it into a pillow-like shape. Aile then gently left, not waking them up, as he walked towards the running river close to their camp.

He took out his shirt and pants but not his underwear and jumped into the water. His body was looking very different. It was coloured, purple and blue all over, the wounds were still there. If anyone saw him, they would be surprised, because a lot of areas in his body was raised as they healed. As these inflammations were getting quite big and painful, Aile decided to swim and clean himself in cold river water so they can settle down.

Aile had been in ice-cold water for 20 minutes, and then he noticed that all of the inflammations had settled down. He got out and wore his pant when he heard, Sara... Sara, something. This made Aile worried as he ran towards them. Once he got there, he sighed, Sara had woken up that was why it was a bit noisy.

He sighed and started to dress. However, he heard gasps. Leia asked, "What is wrong with your body Aile?" She had seen his upper body at Siren's Song, and it was not like this black and blue, she knew all too well how badly one had to be injured to get such wounds.

"Just some injuries from yesterday." Aile just brushed it off, as he finished dressing.