NOTE: All the words in italic are dreams or thoughts !

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I had left my pack to come warn Osoe of the war brewing, the tension had thickened with the wolfs and bears, we kept loosing more and more to the Unseelie and the humans, they kept eating away our land to build their cities, pushing the packs closer and closer, war was brewing and we needed every possible fighter we could get to help us.

My powerful paws pounded on the floor as I ran through the dense trees until i arrived at the boarder of Osoes territory, consisting of a small town, with a creaking of bones i change back into my human form and started walking to the tavern that Osoe owns, I passed merchants and farmers, ogres and fanged beings until I reached the front doors of the crowded tavern, it stood up tall, at least three stories high, with a creaking sign hanging off a metal pole;

"The Tavern"

Tch, creative much?

I thought and I ducked under the threshold, greeted instantly with the musky smell of sweat and mead, turning my face sour as I look around the room, looking for Osoe, wanting nothing more to leave this human infested place.

But as I observe the crowded space, filled with endless forgettable faces, one stands out, a small woman, squeezing past people, with chocolate brown locks tied to the nape of her neck and forehead shining with sweat, her beautiful blue eyes weary with exhaustion as she carried a heavy tray filled with empty glasses, her simple blue dress complimented her pale skin and showed off her curves in all the right places, as she turns I glimpse her pointy ears.

Nymph.

And by the looks of her, a water nymph, interesting.

What is she doing in a rough place like this, something so delicate like her.

Distracted with my thoughts, I don't see where she disappears to. I look around the room, not seeing her, I turn around and suddenly feel something crash into me followed closely by a soft body.

I look down and see the beautiful blue eyed nymph on the floor looking very pale, her lips are dry and she's struggling to keep her eyes open.

I scowl, why has nobody noticed how dehydrated she is, why are they making this delicate creature work so hard, my face hardens as I notice her hands are cut and bleeding from the broken glass. As I'm picking her frail, shaking body up as delicately as I can, I smell Osoe approaching. Noticing her unstable knees I gather her up, cradling her protectively in my arms. I'm instantly hit with the sweet smell of water lilies and early dewy mornings with a hint of lavender. Heaven.

Another man is following Osoe as he approaches, I sniff him and smell a pure stench of untamed chaos, bersker. I tighten my hold on her, but the bersker seems to look at the little nymph in my arms with concern.

Osoe grips the mans shoulder, halting him, before he can approach me.

"Ragnar. What brings you here?" Osoe asks me with a hard, guarded voice, but his eyes are soft with concern as he looks at the nymph.

"Matters we need to discus in private" I answered.

"What did you do to her" the man demands with barley controlled anger.

I looked at him, annoyed. "I did nothing, I found her like this"

His face tightens. "Go get Kat" Osoe instructs a woman with a simple blue dress, a worker there and she scurries away.

"How is she?" Osoe asks, while the other men stares at me with a hard look.

"She is weak" I tell him, trying to suppress my impatience as I hear frantic footsteps, followed by a skinny looking woman with red hair, run into the tavern.

When she sees the state in which the little nymph is, in a panic she turns to a maid working there, she seems in her early 50s and is also looking at the nymph with concern. They murmur to each other for a few minutes and then she turns to Osoe with fear in her eyes.

"Osoe she hasn't drank any water the whole time she was working" me and the the two men tense.

A nymph going too long without water could be lethal, she could even die, the man that was staring at her looks panicked and shrugs off Osoes warning grip, approaching me, when he reaches me he holds out his arms.

I look at Osoe, he nods his head, I tighten my grip on her once last time, hating having to let her go, and glare at him, as he takes her, trying to suppress a growing feeling of possessiveness.

God, what is this woman doing to me!?

"What will you do to her?" I asked.

"Tarken will put her in a water bath" Osoe replies tensely.

Every muscle in my body tense at the thought of him seeing her bare body. I fell a strong grip on my should and look at Osoe remembering the reason I came, and embrace him, trying to suppress the feeling that nymph ignites in me.

"Come, we have much to discuss." He says as we step back and he leads me to a separate room, his office.

As I explain the situation to him, his face hardens "What do you want me to do? I left the pack a long time ago Ragnar, it's no longer my concern."

My face tightens " This is bigger than you and the pack Osoe. I am asking you to put aside our problems and focus on the lives of hundreds of innocent families." I reply coldly.

"Give me one reason why I should help you and your pack, one reason why I should help you after you abandoned Marien when she was sick, when the pack stood back and watched as my mate died" he shouts, his eyes shinning with tears.

"She could not be healed Osoe, you know that, it was her time, but you could help save others you know? Other innocent families , prevent them from going down the same road Marien did"

His anger dissipated at that and he sags against his dark, leather chair, holding his head in his hands as he signs sadly.

"You're right. You may stay for as long as you need to recover from your long journey, Ercos is arriving soon, we can discus the details when he is here."

I nodded my head in thanks.

"There is something else"

Osoe tenses.

"An old friend of mine is meeting me here, he is a strong fighter, an assassin and would be a great help in this fight."

He nods his head "He may stay here as well, we have spare rooms. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go check on Lillian."

He says as he stands up and walks out, when he is gone I let my mind wonder to her, Lillian.

What a beautiful name.

                                                                                                                  _______

"Neftary come here i want to show you something." Az urged me with his had as we walked through the forest one late afternoon.

It had been 2 years since we meet in the cellar, we where walking along the forest that bordered masters estate, he had let us have a free afternoon for good behavior.

"Nefta come on he urged as I slowed down, i stepped towards him hesitantly.

"What is it?"

"A surprise" He replied with mischief.

I huffed in annoyance, i hated surprises. But he grabbed my hand in his big one and started leading me though the foliage, passing pixies and gnomes and strange creatures, the only sound was the chirping of birds, the fluttering of wings and crunching of the foliage and dry leaves under our feet as we walked  through the mossy forest floor.

After a wile, I frowned "Az we can't stay away too long, master will be angry" i said warily, remembering the 20 lashes he had given me in the morning for being too slow at making breakfast.

His face hardened and his lips thinned at the memory, i learned that he does that when he is not happy about something.

"We are nearly there " He reassured me.

As we reached a deserted field, the trees seem to forma protective circle around it

"Happy birthday Neftary." Az says, looking down at me with a soft expression that I can't place.

And then I see it.

Right in the middle of the field is the most beautiful flower i had ever seen, it was a blue orchid plant and it had ray of sun lighting up the blue petals of its orchids, i approached cautiously, wanting to get a better look as my eyes brimmed with tears.

He followed me and soon we where both looking at the flower, its blue colour so captivating i couldn't take my eyes off of it.

"It's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." I whispered, my eyes still on the flower.

"It is" he murmured back, but as I turned to thank him I found him looking at me.

"Thank you Az"

He smiles at me warmly and kisses my cheek. Heat radiates from where his lips touched my skin and when he pulls back I quickly turn my back to him, not wanting him to see my red face.

Suddenly I fell strong arms wrap around my waist and I'm suddenly spinning around in the air. A laugh rings out of me. He spins me until I'm dizzy and then sets me down gently, as my feet touch the ground he spins me around and cups my flushed face between his rough hands.

Then he looks me in the eyes and whispers "Don't ever hide yourself from me, you have nothing to be embarrassed about."

I nod my head in awe.

"Promise me" He demands.

"I promise" I whisper back. "But you have to promise to never hurt me" I tell him, with a vulnerability that almost scares me.

"Never" He whispers back fiercely. "I promise"

The scene slowly fades away as I begin to resurface, my soul cries, wanting to go back to that happy moment. I start hearing frantic voices.

"Do you think she has enough water?" A gruff voice asks, concerned.

"Tarken, she is literally in a bathtub full of water" I hear a more feminine voice respond with impatience.

I try opening my eyes, but close them and groan quietly as the intense light hits them.

"She awake" I hear Sam say with a calm voice, followed by a thud and some frantic footsteps and suddenly my bathtub is surrounded by Sam, Tarken and Kataly.

"Are you okay?"

"Are you okay?"

I remember the first thing Az said to me and quickly push the painful memorise  down.

"Yes, I'm fine" I answer croakily.

Sam hands me a class of water, I smile at him gratefully and down it as fast as I can.

Im in a bathtub with my white underskirt and a big white cotton shirt loosely floating around me like a billowing cloud.

"How long was I out?" I ask as I grab the sides of the bathtub and sit up, smiling reassuringly at them.

"Only a few hours" Sam answers as I step out, and am instantly brought into a group hug.

"We where really worried" muttered Tarken as they let me go.

"Why didn't you say anything when you where feeling dizzy! And why didn't you go get a glass of water?" Exclaimed Kat sharply, worry clouding her grey eyes, turning them ashy.

"Im sorry, I was so busy and it was nearly the end of my shift and there was so much work to do I couldn't just leave-"

"I see you're finally awake" A deep voice says from the doorway, my head snaps towards it.

Standing there with shoulders touching the door frame is Ercos, with his dark purple robe and his long, braided locks.

Happiness bursts inside off me and I spring towards him not bothering to dry myself.

"Ercos! You're back!" I shout, but before I could reach him my wet foot slips on the wooden floor and I end up barreling into his waiting arms, my giggling rings out as his arms close around me and Im enveloped by his pine, woody smell, closely followed by his booming laugh, the sound resonating in his chest.

"As clumsy as always I see" he retorts when his laughter dies down and he losses his hold on me, I step back a little and peer up at his warm brown eyes.

"I missed you so much!" I mumble as I press my face agains his chest once again. Ercos was the only one able to calm me down whenever a panic attack hit me, the ones I had in the beginning when I had just arrived at the tavern.

"I missed you too little one, but unfortunately i won't stay for long, urgent matters bid me to the North "

After nodding and smiling warmly at him even though the news saddened me i let him go. While he is greeting everyone else I noticed that Osoe wasn't here.

"Where's Osoe and that scary gu-"

I was interrupted by a throat being cleared behind me , I slowly turned around.

 Right in front of me stands a huge man, bigger than Tarken, he has tribal tattoos creeping up his neck that stop at  his sharp jawline, he has really intense dark brown eye that could easily be mistaken as black.

He also has a beard that is trimmed short and a crooked nouse, describing a history of broken noses and a scar going across his left eyebrow. In conclusion he was really scary looking, and he was staring down at me.

 Osoe comes to my side, at the same time the scary man take a step towards me, i accidentally let out a squeal of fear and hide behind him, but not before seeing an amused look swimming in his deep eyes.

"Everyone this is Ragnar, an old friend of mine" He introduced.

Everyone muttered hellos, including me, Ercos just nodded his head as Osoe continued.

"He's come here because he needs our help, he is having some trouble with neighbouring packs."

Taken clenched his fists "So what, are we just going t-" Osoe interrupted.

"We haven't discussed any details yet, we are still waiting for one of Ragnar's allies to arrive, he is a powerful asset that  we could use in this fight."

The whole room was suddenly tense with the news, sensing this Osoe broke it and looking at me.

"I thing everyone needs a brake after your little accident" he said, sending me a wink.

My eyes widened "Can we go to the lake!" I practically shouted, bouncing lightly with happiness. 

Everyone chuckled, except Ragnar. "Yes little one" he looked around "What do you all think, should we have a picnic?"

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TA DA!  i hope its not too long for you guys and if you made it till here, thank you !

Stay tuned for the the next chapter where Ragnar and Lillian have some alone time ;) 

NOTE: All comments are welcomed just don't be too mean