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“Wait,” Linnea said softly, and instead of rushing forward as he usually would have, he actually stopped.
She stood slightly away from the path, a tiny bird trembling in her outstretched palm, one of its wings injured. Two more birds hopped cautiously through the grass nearby, their feathers ruffled, too wary to come any closer. Linnea looked at them with such care, as if she wasn’t holding a few frightened creatures but an entire fragile little world that could be shattered by a single careless movement. Lohen tightened his grip on his weapon.
“Linnea,” he said through gritted teeth, his eyes never leaving the shadows moving between the trees. “This really isn’t the time.”
“It won’t take long.”
She looked up at him, and there was something about the quiet certainty in her voice that made arguing feel pointless. He exhaled and, almost reluctantly, stepped forward, placing himself between her and whatever was approaching.
“Just make it quick,” he muttered. “And don’t look at me like I volunteered for this.”
The corners of her lips lifted slightly. The first enemy lunged from between the trees without warning, and Lohen immediately threw himself into the fight — fast, precise, dangerous in the effortless way he moved. Metal rang through the air, sharp strikes cut through the silence, and everything around him became the one thing where he truly felt alive. But even in the middle of the battle, he could still hear Linnea’s quiet voice behind him. She whispered something to the bird, carefully holding its injured wing in place, and then smiled when the creature finally stopped trembling. And that smile — calm and bright — annoyed him almost as much as it fascinated him because while he was fighting enemies, she was doing something far more important.
When the last monster collapsed onto the ground, Lohen slowly lowered his weapon and turned around. Linnea was already covering the little bird with her hand, helping it calm down before letting it go.
“Done.”
Lohen looked at her, then at the birds that finally spread their wings and flew into the sky.
“Because of you, I missed all the fun again.”
“Not all of it,” she replied. “You still won.”
“Yeah. And only because I wasn’t given a choice.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
She carefully took his sleeve, making him turn towards her. For a moment, he froze at the touch, because Linnea was looking at him as if he had done something truly remarkable.
“Thank you, Lohen.”
He opened his mouth, ready to brush it off, ready to say something sarcastic like he always did, but before he could, she leant closer and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. It lasted only a second. So brief that Lohen could have convinced himself he imagined it. All of his usual confidence, all the thrill and excitement he had felt moments ago in the middle of the fight, disappeared without a trace.
“This was my reward?”
“Were you expecting something else?”
“No.”