Familiar restful scenery

Shayn glanced around at the forest, taking in the trees and brush with reminiscent eyes. 

"Oh? And where are we?" Simone asked, tilting her head with a challenge in her face. 

"The forest I grew up in. Not the exact same part, at least not yet, but everything's too familiar to be that far away from my old village," He said. He'd been fairly young when his family had relocated to Klain, but the enduring memories of early childhood came flooding back. 

"How can you be so sure?" She asked. 

"The smell. Have you ever smelled something and be instantly reminded of many years earlier in your life? This smells like my youth," He sighed. 

Simone frowned, apparently unable to empathize with the sentiment. "The smell?" 

"I don't know all the plants' names, but the mixture of it all. It's too familiar to be coincidence. That would mean we've come quite far indeed." He squinted, pulling up the mental map he always kept in the back of his head. "Almost halfway to the sea." 

"What??" Simone cried. "There's no way we could have come so far so quickly!" 

"We are fast runners, little one." Jarnsaxa whispered a little harshly. 

"I knew that, but I am even more impressed now that I see just how fast!" Simone scrambled to try to cover her disbelief with a compliment. Jarnsaxa sat back, satisfied. She popped another deer into her mouth. 

The sounds of chewing were revolting, but Shayn kept his expression neutral, Simone turned away, apparently unable to hide her disgust. 

"Here, little Sam. You must be hungry as well." The giantess took his pack out of her pocket and handed it down to him. He took it with a bow befitting royalty and rifled through it. The foodstuffs were a little crushed, but nothing else was damaged. 

"Water?" He asked Simone, handing her the skin. 

"Please." She took it gratefully and drank. She winced and almost spit when another deer let out an inhuman sound as it disappeared into a giant's mouth. The four had corralled the herd between them and were all sitting in a circle to keep the live ones contained as they ate. 

"I think it's the crunching part that really gets you," Shayn whispered, and Simone did spit out the water in surprise. 

"Stop, they'll hear you," She whispered back. 

"Surely not, over that sound," The man flinched as another round of crunching bones filtered through the air. 

"Here you are, Creature," Jarnsaxa whisper-yelled to Judah, lowering a deer down for him. He sank his teeth into its throat, killing it silently before consuming it like a civilized predator. 

Simone shivered, and Shayn frowned at her. "Still cold?" 

The sun was sinking lower in the sky. Would they camp for the night or move onward? He didn't want to bother the giants while they were eating so enthusiastically, so he opted to wait until they finished their meal. 

"A little." She admitted, and he felt it as well. The wind was from the South, but had an odd chill to it. He didn't like what that boded for the weather. 

He also didn't particularly want to admit to himself how much cooler he was without Simone pressed against his back. Like a warm blanket, her body heat had wrapped around him, warming him from within. It had been an entirely pleasant sensation having her arms wrapped around him again. 

"Judah's fur is a better shield against the weather than I expected," Shayn said. "It's definitely more chilly on the ground." 

Simone looked at him a little strangely, then nodded. He swallowed. Huddling together again to stay warm sounded better than he would ever admit out loud. Her cheeks were flushed with the swiftness of the ride, her eyes bright with the exhilaration of their unusual travel. They reflected the waning sunlight to him until she lowered her lashes and shivered again. 

He would build a fire if he knew for certain they were staying the night. In the meantime… 

Shayn shrugged out of his coat and held it open. Her eyes widened, staring first at the coat, and then at him. 

"Hurry, before it loses all its warmth," He encouraged, and she startled a little before letting him help her into the oversized garment. 

"Thank you," She said quietly. His hands were still on her shoulders, and he realized just how much willpower it took to remove them. He yanked them away as if he were about to be burned as she turned to look at him. 

He swallowed. This was a mistake. All this time with them as the only humans felt too personal, particularly time where she wasn't constantly goading him… especially when she was so close… 

"That's very kind," Simone looked up at him as she crossed her arms, hugging herself into the warmth of his coat. 

Calling to mind how much she irritated and frustrated him was growing more difficult. Why was it again that he didn't want to grow close to her? 

Because she thought the same of him, obviously. It would be terrible to fall for a girl who found him the most distasteful man in the world. 

Well, second, probably, after Jerry. 

Worse than straightforward rejection would be pity. He had saved her at least twice now, what if that put upon her some sense of horrible obligation to tolerate him despite continuing to inwardly despise him? His lip curled with disgust, and he turned away.

"Are you all right?" She whispered, having caught the expression. "You're not too cold?" 

He glanced at her, and probably imagined the hint of hurt that passed through her eyes when she caught his mood. He couldn't really hurt her. She was impervious to his verbal jabs, except to get riled enough to retaliate with her own. 

A cold-hearted woman would simply rebuff advances she disdained. A spitfire like Simone might be more complicated to deal with. Better to be safe than be humiliated by her embarrassed pity. Or would she laugh at him? 

"I'm not too cold." He replied, putting on a smile. She was still very close to him. The wind picked up and she shivered once more. He stepped to the side to block it, bumping into a tree branch as he did. 

"Why is it still this chilly so far South? It's summer by now," Simone was asking, but Shayn was distracted. The tree he'd bumped had been full of cherry blossoms, which were now floating down around Simone like a shower of beauty. 

It was too much. Gabriel, and the giants, had spoken of the Fae knowing and seeing things. Were they mischievous beings? He felt certain some force was conspiring to make him like Simone more every moment. 

She noticed the display and her expression changed to one of awe and delight. 

"What beautiful flowers!" She cried, uncrossing her arms to lift a hand to catch one that was drifting down. The wind picked up again and carried it away, causing a small line of displeasure to form between her eyebrows. 

But Shayn was looking at her hair. Her braid was disheveled from the ride, and the blond curls made the perfect resting place for stray blossoms to catch hold. 

Hesitating, he lifted a hand. Her eyes widened as it approached her face. It paused by her cheek, and Simone's lips parted, drawing his eyes. A shadow of a thought passed through his mind before he shook it loose and plucked a bloom from her hair, lowering it as an offering to the lady. 

She blinked, and colored. She had to pull up the sleeve of his coat to free her hand enough to take it from him. 

"Thank you," She whispered. "What kind is it, do you know?" 

She looked up at him expectantly, but his mouth had gone a little dry. 

"Ch-Cherry blossoms," He cleared his throat before speaking again. "They bloom in the late spring here." 

"Lovely," She dropped her gaze down as she stroked one of the petals with a finger, leaving him free to stare at her unobserved. He took full advantage of the moment, allowing his eyes rove across her cheeks, take in her full eyelashes, her creamy complexion. Had she ever seen sunlight before this trip? 

Not much, he was sure. 

He had unconsciously leaned closer during his examination, and when she glanced up at him again, he realized it. He froze like a deer, part of him horrified at being caught leaning towards her, the other part intensely curious as to what her reaction would be to his nearness. 

Her eyes widened, her breathing quickened. He could just see her pulse in her throat. Rapid. Heightened emotion, unmistakably. Fear? Attraction? Irritation? 

One way to know for certain was to move closer, and he was tempted… but they had only recently reached the point where they weren't jumping down one another's throats at every opportunity. Surely, surely he shouldn't ruin that tenuous peace between them...