Enlighten Me, How So?

--The Nydisian Kingdom, Eraregord, Othes Forest--

After several failed attempts of trying to build a fire. Katherine finally managed to do so with the help of Llewellyn, of course. "I believe I was five when I built my first fire," Llewellyn chuckled in a lame attempt to tease her.

"Well not everyone had such an eventful childhood," Katherine said while finding a comfy spot of grass to lay on.

"Enlighten me, how so?" Katherine barely spoke about her life before Lady Morgan, it was uncomfortable reliving those memories but as time passed, one could say it didn't bother her as much.

"I grew up in a town full of bandits and my parents weren't often around," Katherine sighed. Katherine's heart ached thinking about the faded memories of her biological mother.

"What happened?" Llewellyn had stopped what he was doing and stared at Katherine with a look of understanding. Thankfully not one of pity, she thought.

"I don't really know, I was left at an orphanage and Lady Morgan was passing by the area so she took me in because she couldn't have children of her own," Katherine couldn't help but get a little emotional thinking of the memories she had of her parents.

"How old were you when this happened?" Llewellyn asked curiously.

"I was six, I have only a few memories of my parents but it was Lady Morgan that filled in the rest for me," The memories Katherine had of her parents were mainly good ones in their home. Somewhere along the line, she had forced all the bad memories away to the deepest part of her mind.

"Kather-" Llewellyn started but at that moment, Lucian emerged from the bushes holding what looked like a dozen rabbits by the tail.

"You took so long, I was about to send Katherine to go look for you," Llewellyn's comment made her snap her head in his direction.

Lucian remained unbothered and blank as he stared at both of them. "Skin them," He said as he threw the dead little animals in front of Katherine followed by a knife.

Though she had never done it before, she had seen the way the maids at the Morgan manor skinned animals. Without saying a word, she grabbed one of the rabbits by its tail and started shaving the fur off it.

Lucian grabbed a few rabbits from the bunch and tossed them at Llewellyn. Llewellyn hummed and sank his teeth into the poor defenceless little animal.

Katherine watched him feed and when she averted her gaze she looked at Lucian and began to wonder what his diet was. He definitely didn't look like he was going to eat the rabbits.

After she finished skinning the rest of the squirrels, she began to roast them over the fire. She looked up when Llewellyn offered to stand guard far off where the trees were. Although the capital city was considered extremely safe, it wasn't worth taking the chance at this time of the night.

With the crackling noise of the fire filling the air, she and Lucian sat opposite each other in silence. Katherine's thoughts drifted off as she started thinking about her life before all this, a life she so much wanted to go back to but couldn't.

Thoughts of Lady Morgan and Eleanor brought a smile to her face, they were the closest things she had to a parental figure. She could never forget all the things Lady Morgan has done for her over the past few years, she owed her everything.

"How's your shoulder?" Lucian's quiet but deep voice brought her out of her thoughts, it hurt a lot earlier today due to the fighting but now it's reduced to a dull ache.

Katherine looked up through the flames and saw him staring at her. "It's fine," she said quietly. Lucian continued to stare at the girl who had grown quite displeased towards him. Although he had his opinions about the girl, turning her hostile towards him wasn't one of his objectives.

Katherine was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't take note when Lucian sat down behind her. "What are you doing?" She turned my head slightly so she could see his face.

"Relax," Lucian said while she sat as still as possible even though her heart was pounding. He removed her cloak and took a look at the bruise that had formed on her shoulder.

His cold hands touched the area and massaged it, as time passed by the aching dulled significantly. Eventually, she relaxed into his chest and watched the fire roast the small rabbit.

Katherine had no idea how relaxed she was until she caught herself falling asleep. "Thank you," she whispered to the man behind her who helped get rid of the pain he caused.

He stopped rubbing her shoulder and she felt his body stiffen. Katherine expected him to say something but all that followed was silence.