Chapter Text
Rollan is standing at the edge of the ship, looking for Essix in the air. Him and his friends had already spotted Greenhaven . They had send a letter to Olvan to tell him that they would be arriving shortly from the Red Cloaks’ base.
Rollan was looking at the sky as Abeke sneaked up on him, Uraza following right behind.
“Booh!” she yelled, jumping right in front of him. Rollan looked at her, pretending he hadn’t just jumped in surprise.
“Why hello there, Abeke the brave, and her associate Uraza.” he laughed slightly and looked at Uraza. “How’s she doing?” he asked, nodding towards the leopard. Abeke nodded slightly.
“She’s fine,” she answered, crouching down to pet her. “Still a bit dazed from the parasite. But yeah, fine.” Rollan nodded and continued looking for Essix in the sky.
“Excited?” Abeke asked, nudging his shoulder. Rollan blushed and stared at his feet.
“Why should I?” He asked, as if he didn’t know who she was talking about. Meilin. His best friend. And his girlfriend. Or… He wasn’t sure if she was his girlfriend. He hoped she was.
“Come on, Rollan, you know what I mean!” Abeke laughed and pulled his arm to get him to look at her. “Meilin! Your ‘friend’.” She smiled at him and brought out a flower from her pouch. “Give that to her; she’ll like it.” She took his hand and placed the flower in it.
“Thank you,” Rollan said to Abeke and placed the flower in his pocket. She smiled at him and walked back down to the cabin of the ship. Rollan stayed back, and Essix came flying to him and landed on his shoulder.
***
(An hour later)
As Greenhaven came closer and closer in the horizon, Rollan felt more and more butterflies in his stomach. As Rollan breathed in, he could almost smell the’ scent of Meilin’s hair. He could just imagine how it would feel to see her again. It had felt like forever since he’d last seen her. God. He could barely wait any longer!
“Come on! You’ve gotta see this!” Tasha's voice yelled from behind Rollan. Rollan turned around and saw her pulling Kirat's arm. He was rolling his eyes, trying to pull away, but Tasha’s grip was strong.
“Look, you can see it! Greenhaven!" Tasha pointed towards the horizon at Greenhaven, which was quickly growing closer. They could all see the docks with other ships docked, waiting for their return.
As they were only a few hundred meters away, Rollan could see four people at the docks waiting for them. He could instantly recognize Meilin, her long black hair flowing around her, her green cloak flowing too. Rollan couldn’t help but smile when he saw her, and he waved at her. He could barely see it, but she waved back.
Rollan was too impatient to wait for the ship to dock, so he jumped the two meters to get to the docks and ran towards Meilin. He could tell she was shocked by his action because when he came to hug her, she fell. They were both giggling and hugging on the ground, Takoda, Tasha, Conor, and Kirat watching. The two quickly got up and made eye contact.
“I’ve-” “Hello-” “How are y-” The two spoke over each other, both trying to talk, but it was too chaotic. Rollan pointed to her to let her speak first.
“I’ve missed you.” Meilin said, “And have you grown taller?” she asked teasingly. Rollan laughed and placed a hand behind his head.
“Maybe? I haven’t exactly been able to measure.” The two laughed for a moment, and then it was Rollan’s turn to talk.
“Well, I’ve missed you too.” Meilin was about to talk, but he wasn’t done. “So much that whenever I couldn’t sleep, I just thought about you and I fell asleep instantly. When we were fighting, I thought about seeing you again, just to help me get through it.”
Meilin looked Rollan in the eyes and tried to hug him again. Rollan pulled back, and Meilin looked confused. Until Rollan kissed her on the lips. She was shocked but then kissed him back. She placed her arms around his neck, and his hands were cupping her cheeks. Rollan was blushing profusely, and Meilin was smiling.
When they pulled apart, Meilin gasped for breath.
“Well, that pretty much sums up my dreams for the past month,” she joked and took his hand. Rollan kissed her hand and walked over to Conor. The two boys hugged and Rollan smiled.
“Happy you’re safe now. No more of that parasite stuff.” Rollan said before hugging Conor again.
“Yeah, me too,” Conor smiled. “Well-” he said, nodding towards Meilin. “You two?” he asked, and Rollan blushed.
“Well, uhh–” Rollan scratched his arm. “I’m not sure.” Conor nodded and pointed towards a place in Greenhaven.
“Well, we were making a fire to just catch up.” Conor said, mostly to Rollan but also to the others. “Anybody wanna join?” he asked out. Everybody nodded, and they all went towards this place in the forest. There were fallen trees around a fire as if they were chairs.
As the gang got seated in their usual positions, Abeke noticed Meilin missing beside her. But then she noticed her sitting somewhere else.
Abeke was sitting next to Uraza, dangerously close to the fire, petting the leopard. Conor was sitting on a fallen tree with Briggan behind him, sleeping. Tasha was seated on a rock making flower crowns for herself, and Kirat was sitting as far away from the others as Kabaro, a few meters from him. Takoda was sitting beside Conor with Kovo in passive.
But over by a different fallen tree, Rollan was sitting with Meilin against his shoulder, looking at her hair, trying to make a small braid while Rollan kept messing up her hair, trying to give her a piece of grass that he found very tall, so it was special. Like her.
The rest of the group was sitting around the fire, talking and laughing loudly. Meanwhile, Meilin and Rollan were just talking privately about stuff that nobody else would understand.
“What was your mother like?” Rollan asked suddenly. Meilin looked him in the eyes and smiled.
“She was nice, strong, intelligent, and just… comfortable,” she answered, picking at the grass. Rollan nuzzled her hair and kissed her forehead.
“She sounds like you,” he said, and Meilin blushed. She covered her face, trying to hide it, but Rollan just took her hand.
“You look pretty when you blush,” Rollan said, staring into her eyes, as if it was gonna let him get to her soul. But that just made Meilin blush harder.
As the two kept talking, they didn’t notice the others leaving the fire. The two were just stuck in their own world, talking, joking, and just understanding each other.
As the night went on, the two eventually went to bed in their rooms. And as they both drifted off, they dreamt about their friends, jokes, and cheese.
Note: This is my first ever post on AO3! Also this is only the first chapter, I am already writing more!