Damian

"What happened?" Jae asks, while hopping off the horse.

"Tess pissed off Mel" Leo says while taking the food from Jae and placing it over the fire.

"Mel isn't pissed," I tell Leo, "Tess had mentioned that if it wasn't for the King we wouldn't have met."

Jae sighs and takes a seat.

"Shouldn't you go talk to her?" I ask Tess.

"She prefers being alone," Jae interrupts. Tess raises an eyebrow at him.

"If you say so," I say, not pleased by Jae's response.

"Anyways," Tess interrupts the awkwardness and lays out a map. I lose focus and try to remember the direction Mel went.

"I can place a thin cover over us," Tess says, interrupting my thoughts.

"But won't it be hard for you to maintain it if we are moving?" Derek asks.

"That's why I'll only put it up once we are there," she explains, "however, it has to be thin otherwise other elixir users might be able to sense it."

"Which is bad sense the King Chosen are expected to perform at the festival being held," Anna elaborates.

"Right, Damian, can you go get Mel? We are about to leave."

I stand up, the grass crunching beneath my feet. Firmly grasping the reins of my horse, I take off in the direction of Mel. I guide my stallion around the colossal trees that loom over the forest floor until I come upon a creek.

There, crouching on the ground, Mel is attempting to create a mini water tornado with her finger. I take a step towards her and the fallen leaves crunch beneath me causing Mel's breath to hitch as she spins around and stands up.

"What are you doing?" She asked me before I could ask her the same.

" Looking for you"

"I wasn't lost"

"I know"

"Then why are you here?"

"Because I was told to look for you," I give her a playful smirk. "C'mon," I wave her over to my stallion, "You could always ask Tess if you have any questions about her commands."

"Tch"

Mel unwillingly takes my outstretched hand and I gently pull her onto the horse. Her hands gently grasp my waist; the bare minimum but enough to keep her from falling off. I feel the cold water that remained on her hand slowly begin to seep into my shirt.

"Are you okay?" I ask leaning my head to the side as if it would help me hear her clearer.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know.." I ramble, "It just doesn't seem like you want to walk off the way you did for no reason and to play in the water unless you had something on your mind."

We reach the group and Mel hopes off the horse before I can offer her a hand. She looks up at me and asks with flaring eyes, "What do you know about me?" signaling that any chance of our relationship improving was shot down.

Leo walks up to me with that cocky look of his, "I told you she can be such a bitch," he says with a laugh.

I harshly shove him out of my way frustrated that what she said was right. I grip my hair and let out a deep breath.

"Why do you care so much," Leo asks with a playful smirk knowing he's getting under my skin. "Why do you care so much about her? Surely it's not just out of goodwill because she's your teammate." I glare at him. "No, you wouldn't have that look in your eye if that was the case"

"Leo." I glare at him.

"Hm?" His grin grows wider.

I feel my fists clenching tighter and tighter before I decide to just hop on my stallion and get into formation. I glance over to Mel whose eyes are as firm as ever, probably caused by the towering wall beneath them. We take off towards the city, our stallion's hooves pounding against the Earth propelling us forward. 'Mel doesn't have emotions, Mel is a bitch,' "Tch," if it wasn't for my time in the castle and spending my entire life trying to read people seeing beyond their composure then I would probably believe the same. But what is behind her fortified walls? I wonder if her walls have distanced her from reality for so long that her persona of 'no emotions' is actually reality. No, that can't be it either. The few times I catch her off guard I can see a flicker of her real self. As if the gate to her walls has a tiny sliding window that allows her to look at the outside whenever she wishes but keeps the onlooker questioning what is on the inside. I let out an annoyed sigh and ran my fingers through my hair. What is she hiding? Why is she hiding her emotions? Why can I not remember where I have seen her eyes before?