Meeting Her

Zeb is startled by the voice, he then quickly turns around to see whom did it belong to. His expression is priceless when he finally see it.

His eyes delighted, when he finally saw her again, and even closer than before. His eyes connects with hers, gazing into that alluring blue eyes. His heart pump excitedly when he sees her face smiling at him. To him, it feels like a hole in his heart finally filled.

They stare at each other for what it seems like a minute had just passed away. "*ehem*" The girl breaks the long awkward silence and staring.

Zeb came back to his senses now sweating like crazy. Zeb being shy and feeling nervous when around girls and also don't know what to do or say, so he then just kneeled down to her like a knight bowing his head and then says "I'm sorry." to the girl with sincerity, he then looks back up to her.

The girl wave's her hand and says "No no no no no... Don't kneel down at me, I am not a noble or something like that, so please, do stand up." she gestured her hand at him to stand up.

Zeb, because of his nervousness and don't know what to do when around with a girl, he then just obeys what the girl told him, Zeb then quickly stands up straight and puffed up his chest to hide his nervous feeling.

"Please, Milady, allow me to introduce myself to you." while bowing his head to the girl, nervousness can still be traced in his voice and sweaty face. "My name is Zebram of...er..." he stammers. "just Zebram" and then extending his arm to her for a shake hand. "And yours Milady is?"

The girl chuckles slightly before replying to him, seeing him being nervous and trying to be polite at the same time, "How cute." she says in her mind.

"No need to use such polite words, as I said I am not a noble." she chuckles. "My name's Ren, Guardian of the Nature." she continued, and then crosses her arms, clearly not accepting his gesture for a shake hand.

Zeb, then awkwardly retreats his hand when he sees the girl crossed her arms. Zeb that is still in surprised and shocked state, is now even more shocked when he hears the girl saying that she is a Guardian of the Nature. "Guardian? of the Nature?, I hope I will not get punished by attempting to kill a deer." he says in his mind.

"Ren, such a beautiful and unique name, and your name is as beautiful as you. I've never met a Guardian before, let alone talking to one..." he says, trying to calm his nervousness. "And will I get punished for attempting to kill a deer? is that the reason why she showed up?"

When she heard the compliment's that Zeb said. Ren's face blushed and her cheeks turned into a slight reddish colour, and her smile now showing her clean white teeth.

*Chuckles* "Indeed I am, but that doesn't mean you will always use such polite expression, and No, no, I will not punish you for attempting to kill a deer or even killing one, just don't kill too much of them or any animals, and don't kill any... pregnant animals." she chuckles, now her cute face can't hide her expression anymore.

"Er... I thought you were going to punish me, and I will never kill any pregnant animals from now on, but... the problem is... I can't tell that the animal is pregnant or not." he says. "And also, I can't help but to use polite expression, specially when talking to a beautiful girl, such as you." Zeb said, trying to flirt.

Hearing those words, Ren can't help but feel romantic, she then replies. *chuckles* "Please call me by my name, and just talk to me normally." Ren said. She then waves her hands in the air while saying some arcane words. A ball of energy then appeared in her hands, she then shoots the energy ball at him, making Zeb step back a foot.

"Woah! What was that about?" Zeb said.

"You'll find it out yourself." she chuckles. "So, your name is Zebram, I bet you are named after a dragon that died almost two decade's ago, right?" Ren says with confidence.

"I hope that I'll find it out soon enough." Zeb says with a slight chuckle. "And yes, my name's Zebram and you can call me Zeb, Milady.... er... I mean Ren."

"And I don't know if I am named after a dragon because my parent's didn't tell me much about my name, and I also didn't heard such dragon named same as mine. Maybe you can tell me about it?" Zeb said.

"I'll call you Zeb then" she chuckles. "As much as I wanted to talk about that powerful dragon, but let's set that topic aside for another time, instead let's talk about when we first met, that is, if you can still remember." Ren said, locking her eyes into his.

Zeb is surprised and it take him a moment before he replied back. "Yes, that..., I clearly remembered it, besides, how can I forget such scene. Seeing you for the first time is one of my life's unforgettable moments." remembering the scene and recalling what just happened in that time, he then immediately says. "I'm sorry if I scared you at that time, it is my fault acting up like a bad guy sneaking around behind you, again, I'm sorry." he said, now his face is frowning.

Ren just smiled at him seeing his face saying sorry to her, she chuckles before she replied. "I am also sorry for running away, I was just startled to see a man behind me, specially encountering one face to face. In fact you are the very first mortal who saw me, so I think to myself that, why don't I give you a chance."

"When you stopped chasing me and then yelled, along those lines, I heard you saying that you wanted to know me, so here I am." Ren continued, while looking down into the ground. Somewhat nervous.

Zeb, he then feels ashamed when he heard those words. "Oh... hehe... I was just hoping that you will give me a chance, and I didn't really think that you would... er... actually give me a chance. I don't know what to say, but thank you; Thank you for giving me a chance, and I won't forget this moment." Zeb says with slight tremble in his voice, because he don't know how to thank her.

A long awkward silence comes again, they both don't know what to say next, and they are both feeling nervous. Zeb, being a gentlemen, he then broke the long awkward silence.

"Can I say something about you?" Zeb said.

"Uhmm, sure... what is it?" Ren replied while slowly looking back up to Zeb's eyes.

"This is probably embarrassing for me but, I feel like I need to express my feelings." Zeb says, now gathering up all his courage.

"You're very beautiful, and just by staring straight into your eyes makes my heart skip a beat, and I have this strange feeling of mine, something I can't explain." Zeb said in embarrassment, but feel relieved afterwards.

Ren blushed even more and her eyes widen when she heard him saying those words, her ears also turned to slight reddish in colour, her jaw dropped and her expression turned to shock. Hearing those words makes her momentarily stunned.

She then replies. "I... I... I need to go... uhmm bye then." she then turns her back to him, she was about to go when suddenly, Zeb holds her hand, making her head turn and face Zeb. Their eyes connects, Ren then feels something is going on inside her, something she can't also explain just like Zeb's, and she never have this feeling before.

"Will I see you again?" Zeb said, while holding her hand and staring at her eyes.

Ren blushed even more, when Zeb grabbed her hand and the feeling that she can't explain was only growing stronger. She then replied. "I... I don't know... maybe..." she says in stuttering voice.

"Then, I will wait." Zeb said with sincere eyes, he then smiled at her.

Ren, didn't know what to say, so she just pulled her hand out of his grip then ran away before disappearing into the air.

Zeb, being the one that is left alone, he just smiled and then jumped very happily, because he finally met her and know her name. "Yes!" he shouted while jumping. "Finally!"

After that, Zeb walks back to the camp with smile still visible in his elvish face. He walks back to the camp without bringing any food, because of his excitement and happiness, he forgot to hunt some animals.

When he got back up to the camp, he then looks up to the sky seeing the sun that is now high up in the sky, indicating that it is already noon. Khasos and Golus already returned back to the camp, with the animals they hunted.

Khasos and Golus looks confused when they see Zebram arrived at the camp and didn't brought any food. The two of them approached Zeb, then asked him.

"Hey Zeb, where's your catch?" Golus asked.

"Ohh... Yeah... It's unlucky for me, I haven't found any animals, this forest is very darn' scarce of animals." Zeb replied, trying to talk his way out.

# # # # # # # ~

The Captain ordered all of them to gather around and eat, because it is already lunch time.

"Eat up boys, because we will be having a training this afternoon, so fill your stomach's up so you don't faint training under the burning sun. Haha." the Captain said laughably.

All of the men, then gathered up to eat. Zeb is eating while still thinking about Ren, and her beautiful face and also her smooth delicate hands, when he grabbed her. "What a day." he says in his mind.

He still can't believe that they talked to each other. He smiles at while finishing up his food.

Zeb thinks, when will we meet again? I hope that we can talk again tomorrow.