Galena calmly walked over to Tark first for he had many more wounds to heal. Elenio followed her with his eyes, a look of pure joy and shock on his face. She could feel the wondering that encompassed his mind and the love he felt for her. The connection they’d shared before her fall had apparently been healed too.
She bent down and taking Tark’s face in her hands, she called to him softly, “Tark, come back. It’s not your time yet.” She placed a hand over an ugly wound on his chest and thought of the muscle reconnecting, holes repairing themselves, of blood replenishing, and lastly of the skin re-growing, making him whole once more. She did this to several more places, including the broken ribs she felt as she passed a hand over him. Each time she felt her magic well up in her and pass through to him, easing the look of pain she saw etched on his face.
When she saw nothing else, she called to him once more, “Tark, open your eyes. We’re not finished here yet.” As she instinctively knew he would, his eyelids fluttered open. They filled with tears when he found her eyes with his own. Sitting up quickly, he embraced her in his arms, giving her the biggest hug she’d ever received from him. She felt the tears on her back and heard the choking sound of him trying to stifle those tears as he continued to embrace her.
“I truly thought you were gone. Even as we continued on, I didn’t think it would matter in the end.” He squeezed her tighter still until she thought her own ribs were on the verge of cracking.
“I missed you too big brother,” she told him quietly. Untangling his arms from around her, she stood, and strode over to Elenio, who continued to watch her. His breathing was much shallower and he was a deathly gray color, but he remained alert. Waves of sickness and pain flowed over her as they must have for him. Galena gritted her teeth in response to a particularly nasty twinge of pain that seemed overtake her whole torso.
“You came back,” he said in a strangled sort of voice. He began to shake uncontrollably as shock set in. He coughed wetly, blood oozing from his mouth. Galena crouched down beside him. She heard Tark walk up behind her and crouched down as well, but he seemed to be giving her space for which she was grateful.
“You didn’t think I would leave this world without you, did you?” Galena brushed the hair from his eyes. She tilted her head so she could see his face more clearly. “Hold still my love while I heal you. We’ll have time for hellos in a moment.” As she had with Tark, she placed a hand over the gaping wound in his stomach. She found it slightly harder to concentrate on healing him while painful waves continued to pour through her, but she fought on. Her magic flowed through her, healing Elenio as she’d done with Tark. She had quite a bit more blood to replenish with him though. When she finished, she sat back on her heels and watched him sit up.
He kept his eyes trained on her the whole time. She could feel the uncertainty running through his mind. She reached out a hand and stroked the side of his face, enjoying the texture of him. She smiled at him, hoping to prove that it was truly her. Tears filled his eyes as he continued to stare and then he tackled her. She was on her back with Elenio’s arms wrapped around her and laying on top. He kissed every inch of her face, telling her how much he loved her with every kiss. Galena didn’t know whether to cry or laugh, so she settled on a combination of both.
Pushing on his shoulders to encourage him to let her up as breathing was suddenly becoming an issue; she sat up and wiped the tears from her face.
Elenio kneeled on the ground before her, a goofy smile spreading across his face. “You came back,” he said again.
“No, Mira sent me back. I remember overwhelming pain and then everything went black. I felt like I was swimming in a void, unable to catch my breath and not wanting to. I felt my mind slipping and I no longer cared. Then, there was her voice. She called to me and I came rushing back.”
Elenio reached out, grabbed the nape of her neck with one hand, and hauled her to him. They had shared a couple of kisses, but this spoke of his gladness and love. Breaking the kiss, he leaned his forehead against her own as he’d done so many times before. Tark came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her too. The three of them sat that way for some time, enjoying their triumph.
Elenio grabbed her hands and really looking at them for the first time since he’d placed her in the pool, he exclaimed loudly, “Your marks are gone.”
Galena smiled at him while Tark looked over her shoulders so he could see as well. “Mira took them away,” she said shyly.
“If we step in the pool, will the same happen to us?” Tark asked grabbing her hand so he could get a better look at her clean skin. “Amazing,” he remarked, his voice filled with awe.
“No, I asked.”
Tark released her hand as she stood up. Elenio, however, kept a hold of her other hand, and stood with her, his eyes trained on her through the whole process.
“I know roughly where we’re headed. And if we want to get some distance between us and Rau, we need to get going now.”
“You don’t think he can sense you still?” Elenio asked as they headed to where Tark dropped their packs.
“No, but I’m sure he’ll hear of this soon.”
“How?” Elenio asked, smugness filling his voice as he swept an arm in the direction of all the dead torlic bodies.
“I imagine he’ll piece it together when his minions don’t return with their reports,” Tark said, falling in stride with Galena.
“Either way, I have had my fill of mountain top brawls.” Elenio reached down to grab his own pack and swinging it onto his back exclaimed, “It’ll be nice to have only a single pack to carry this time around. I don’t know if you realize this, but you’re heavy when you’re not conscious.” He grinned mischievously at Galena, taking in her murderous stare.
She glared at him for a moment and then grinned. Elenio began to rise in the air, lifted by the wind as Galena raised her hand, looking extremely alarmed. His cocky expression turned into one of shock as she turned him upside down, no less than ten feet above the ground. His pack came sliding down and crashed into the back of his head with a resounding thump and he had to grab his sword before it went racing to the ground too.
“Sorry, sorry I didn’t mean it!” he cried out.
Looking up at Elenio floating upside down, Tark burst out laughing, practically falling over himself.
“I like this way of revenge so much better,” Galena said, smugness radiating through her. Lowering her hand slowly, she brought Elenio down and righted him before placing him gently on the ground.
“I say you should learn to bite your tongue until we’ve finished this or the next time she might send you into a tree just to prove a point.” Tark chuckled as he wiped a tear from his eye.
Elenio made a point of ignoring Tark while he continued to laugh at him. “You might want to show your furry friend that you survived. She’s been a bit off ever since your...accident,” Elenio finished lamely. A haunted look crept over his face with these words.
Galena felt a sadness sweep over her. She reached for his hand and taking it in her own, squeezed it in a reassuring way. Letting go, she bent down and opened the flap of her pack. There, curled up in a tight ball was Twoit. She wasn’t moving except for her rapid breaths. Galena reached in and gently stroked the tiny creatures head. Twoit’s tiny noise began to twitch, slowly at first and then more quickly as she recognized Galena’s scent. She lifted her tiny head, eyes wide open, and regarded Galena for all of a second before racing up her arm. Galena fell back in surprise as the ferret raced around and around her neck. She nipped Galena’s ears as she passed them, too excited to stop for more than a quick bite. She raced down her other arm and continued her frenzied movements while she ran circles around Galena.
Galena laughed, finally reaching out and grabbing her around the middle and bringing her up to her face. She nuzzled Twoit’s head against her cheek, mumbling reassuringly to her friend. Twoit calmed down and nibbled at Galena’s fingers indicating that she was ready to be put down, to which Galena complied with her unspoken request. The happy ferret scampered away, in search of a meal.
“She’s probably hungry,” Elenio said quietly while Tark and Galena gathered their belongings.
Tark started toward the edge of the mountain, giving Galena and Elenio a bit of privacy.
“She just gave up. We couldn’t get her to eat anything, but we were able to force some water down.”
Galena looked at Elenio when she felt the heart breaking sadness wash through him once more. He had the same haunted look on his face as he had when he first told her to check on her pet.
“We could do more for her than we could you.” Crossing the few remaining steps that kept them apart, he grabbed her face in his hands, bringing her within an inch of his own. “I never gave up. I knew you would come back to me.”
“I never doubted you would,” Galena whispered, placing her own hands over the tops of his.
“You were dead when I put you in the pool. I checked. I think that’s when I finally thought it was all over.” His voice sounded hollow and Galena felt as if her own heart was breaking with his. “I was ready to join you then, even in death.” He stared into her eyes, willing her to understand, almost as if he was trying to apologize for even thinking about stopping.
She reached up and very lightly kissed him. Pulling back after a moment, she caressed his face, taking in every minute detail and smiled. “Elenio, I could never hope to do this without you by my side. I’m sorry for what I did to you back on the other mountain, but I felt it was necessary.”
“Why did you have to do something that used so much magic though?” he practically yelled, which caught Tark’s attention.
He turned back to check on them and seeing Elenio was still firmly on the ground, resumed his trek down the mountain.
“Peace, my love. It wouldn’t have matter what I did. I was so tired and hungry already. Even a slight breeze would have pushed me too far. I knew I would have to do something to assure that you and Tark could make it to safety with or without me. No matter what I did, I knew I would be crossing a line and looking at you and Tark, I was willing to do just that.”
Understanding and acceptance crossed Elenio’s face and he mulled over what she had told him. “I blame myself. I was too weak to do you any good and they overwhelmed us.”
“No. Don’t. There was too many altogether. No one is to blame.” Galena felt a rush of gratitude race through her and Elenio pulled her in for a hug.
Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, he placed his cheek on the top of her head as he had done so many times before. “I love you and I’m so glad you’re back.”
Smiling again, Galena wrapped her arms around his torso and returned the hug in full force. “I’m sorry I scared you. Again.”
Chuckling slightly, Elenio stepped back and reaching out, he proceeded to mess her hair up as he use to in the past. Growling, Galena kicked out at him, missing by several feet.
“Yeah, one of these days, you’re going to cause my heart to stop all together.” He grabbed her hand and together, they followed Tark.