Maribel came from her spot among the trees, reaching a hand out that Jairo gladly took.
"How do you just disappear?"
Maribel shook her head. "Unfortunately I can't teach you. It's just normal from people of my family to vanish."
A voice rang from behind them, along with the sound of footsteps. "Oh my. Jairo you must do better? Not even being able to draw the blade?"
"Hey, I can swing a sword, but I was useless with the sling. I thought now was the time to use it."
Harken quickly chimed in. "Hey, my gifts deserve love two. Let him try his sling. Don't be mad that he used mine first."
In truth, the only reason he did was because it was placed in his hand in the head of the moment.
"Well, let's head back." Ariel said as she walked past everyone. "I've had some preparations made while we were away."
——
After heading back to Ariel's house, A lot of things were cooked, a few things normal. What looked to be duck and perhaps deer. The rest were not. Still pieces of meat, just on abnormal creatures. some even had different colors this time.
He would have been absolutely disgusted, but his body had changed by this point. Moreover, it genuinely seemed good. he would never disrespect Ariels cooking Ever.
he looked over to Nero, his hand fully wrapped around a cup that was used to chug to be what he assumed was wine down in one single gulp. on another side, Harken was telling something to Maribel that seemed to make her giggle.
he wanted to say something, but did not. though he began to wonder if he was interested in her.
that quickly became irrelevant. he had someone to focus on. Ariel came back with more preparations, and Jairo quickly stood up to help her with them.
she quickly pulled away upon seeing him get close. "you know I don't need help with any of this."
Jairo walked closer to her. " And you're getting help anyway. im just too empathetic to see you do it all on your own."
she looked closely as she watched him put things up with haste. their was clearly something that seemed anxious and rushed in his movements.
she put all of her things down, and dragged him outside. "you alright?" she asked.
"yeah, its just....this may be the last time any of them see me. one of the last times you see me. id be lying if I said I didn't want to come back to them better than ever, but fate can be cruel. Especially to those in war."
"you're not wrong, but I have faith in you. besides. something tells me you won't have to deal with too much."
Jairo turned to see a smile on her face, and raised an eyebrow. inside of his heart, there was nothing he wanted more right now than to get out of this war. he looked to her, thinking she was hinting at something smaller, but a part of him hoped for something else nonetheless.
"Don't think you're saved from anything yet." she said, the words fell upon him crushing his optimism like a ton of bricks. "some things can be arranged to get you away from here, into one of the bigger wolf tribes."
"what do you mean?" Jairo said.
"im not entirely sure where you came from Jairo, but this place is simply a backwater piece of nothing compared to what's really out there."
"other monsters, Elves, Humans..."
He was intent for her to continue, but she seemed done with the topic altogether.
"come on. lets get back to the festivities. Everyone else probably thinks were making out over here."
"we could prove them right." Hey, a shot had to be made. he was gonna potentially die in a war after all.
"Perhaps." She said, before walking back. "They're never know for sure however."
Damn. That woman was a marvel.