Obstacles

After she had run away the first time and continued watching him she did that until the very end. She watched all his facial expressions from the initial nervousness he felt and the little confidencehe had in himself at the beginning to when it grew easier for him at the end. Throughout the day she observed him and he never left her vision and eventually she was even able to notice the more subtle difference in how he was feeling even if it was just a bit more than before.

When she first saw him she noticed he had a big aura of coldness around him for the most part like he was trying to keep people away and scare people off that were more weak willed but as the day went on she noticed more and more that it wasn't to keep people away from him but more like he was trying to protect himself and if that was the case it would explain his harshness he displayed but the gentleness she saw every once in a while.

After figuring that out he looked less and less cold to her as the day went on and more and more lonely and sad then anything. It just wasn't something people would notice though without experience of observing people or interacting with the person himself. She might have thought he was more on the handsome side before but with that revelation he looked more on the cute side instead.

He had also fought a lot of Astral beasts and each time she saw him fighting one she saw him improving slightly after each battle. But he didn't just go after any creature he went for ones that were more hostile and aggressive and left the ones alone that ignored him or posed no seemingly threat to him as well. With each fight and expression he made she was able to continue further proving that he was different from everyone else she had seen in the forest and because of that she had an even stronger urge to get even closer to him to observe and find out more about him.

Which led her to his fight against the Fire Charger.

She knew he was taking a pretty decent risk but at the same time he was practically safe so she had the idea of pushing the Fire Charger out of the way at the last second to dodge his attack. She had watched him gain quite some confidence but at the same time he needed more growth from what she observed and with this fight against a stronger opponent not being easy anymore it would definitely make him grow more then if he just sneakily killed it.

If anything dangerous happened she could step in to help but she hoped that wasn't needed at least or else he wont get as much benefits as he would of doing it on his own. Though honestly after she watched him get pounced on she almost did help him but she managed to hold herself back and continued watching. Which thankfully was the correct choice after she watched him pound the Fire Chargers skull into the ground and kill it.

He also took some meat from the Astral beasts afterwards which he had been doing all day. She did notice it and while it did raise some questions in her mind for the most part she waved it off figuring he was hungry and waiting to eat it later.

Now with that all done and her keeping all the beasts out of the nearby area she approached him once again. This time though she wanted to move closer than last time.

After stepping in front of his path again and noticing he didn't call out or anything this time she moved forward slowly a bit a time till she got close enough to be in dashing distance to him. But it was still silent between them and he had yet to speak anything. That quickly changed though after a little bit of waiting

"Hello."

Even if she knew to some extent what he was really like his voice still appeared icy cold and was off putting to most normal people that heard it but it didn't have any stopping power against her anymore, unlike the last time where it did affect her slightly.

After his voice rang out in the forest she slowly watched him a little more before attempting to get closer until she watched him slightly raise his hand a little bit. When she noticed that she instinctively backed off and ran away instantly not even considering what he might have done at the time.

"Damn it, am I really that scared of someone weaker than me?"

After running away and cooling off slightly she finally realized her mistake. All he did was raise his hand a little bit and she instantly bolted.

"How pathetic."

She knew she was stronger than him but after her first encounter with humans she had become fearful of them to some extent even if she hoped to interact with them some day and it was something she had to get over eventually. Every horrible encounter she had with humans over the years of watching and seeing all the things they could began to slowly grow a small seed of fear into her without her noticing and now that she finally was trying to actively interact with them again it seemed that it came full force and was hell bent on holding her back.

With that said though he was raising his hand and probably wasn't going to do anything and with her interest in the boy growing she could probably find a way to hopefully cure the phobia she had or at the very least lessen it.

She might of evaluated him as a lonely and sad boy but she wasn't very much better herself. Being too afraid of humans because of the first couple ones and only ever observing them afterwards for years on end. Who was she to talk about others about being afraid really. But everything has a beginning and an end even if it starts off rough around the edges. She had time and more chances to get closer to him all she needed to do was push herself along the way and she'd get there.

After having calmed down and thinking it over she continued her observation from afar once again of the boy. This time around though he looked a little sad to her though.

"Was it because I ran away or something else?"

"Next time I will definitely do better even if just not to make him sad I hope...."

Watching him produce a lonely smile after that and turning around to walk out the forest she slowly followed along with him keeping him safe.

After he reached the exit of the forest though she made no attempt to follow further. The only thing she did was say some words to him in her heart and watched him walk off in the distance.

"I hope to see you soon once more boy."