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Something was up with Bella. Kaxus tried to not pry, really, xi didn’t want to. But, she’d been acting strange- stranger than usual. Bella visited their town occasionally, claiming that “Even a wood elf needed the city sometimes,” with that melodic tinkling laugh that set Kaxus’ heart aflame and caused fireflies to dance within xir stomach. So, Kaxus didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.
It was just all a bit odd. Usually, Bella was up with the sunrise, yellow glow glinting off her shining tattoos and letting Kaxus drink in her hazelnut skin, like the trees that skirted the towns, the ones Bella always emerged from. And that was another thing. Bella came into the town at the wrong time. Every other visit she’d arrived with the tolling of the night bell, as the sun sunk below the horizon and the sky faded to the colour of wine. But, recently, she came in the dawn, arms scratched, “Tangled with a thorn bush,” she’d brushed it off, but Kaxus couldn’t quite believe it. Bella loved the forests, and xi always thought that they’d loved her too.
Kaxus didn’t want to accept it, xi didn’t. But it all pointed towards the unspoken curse, the change in the night that remained undiscussed, lest it spread as a wildfire. Xi couldn’t tell the others, not without knowing for certain. They couldn’t have a hunt, not again. Maybe Kaxus could find a sorcerer? A druid? Someone must know, a way to fix Bella and keep the town, and her, safe. To preserve their relationship that fluttered near and far as a butterflies wings.
At least, this explained why the town had started to turn on her. They were suspicious. Bella wasn’t a liar, she was afraid. And Kaxus would protect her.