Darkest Light

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Kana had simply nodded to her question, too tired to try and explain it fully. Yes, his body was forcing the toxins out and that was sped up by him using his powers, forcing the drug to react with his system in a more 'violent' way, but what he failed to explain was that the herbs had been effecting the way he functioned for years. It wasn't just that they activated when he tried to use his power, it was that they suppressed it so completely that for the longest time he'd been unable to even connect with it.

His gift was almost wild now and it took more effort to control it than it did to use it.

No, he didn't need to explain that and didn't see the point in it right now. Yes, Elidi had seemed completely shocked by his information - and that, strangely, reassured him a little even though he didn't understand why it should matter - but that didn't mean he trusted her yet.

Wait...yet?

The Prince frowned off into space, coughing after a moment, spitting the blood that resulted and he closed his eyes, head pounding. Why had he thought 'yet'? Did he really think that because she was being nice and was nothing like he'd expected, and seemed not to know what was happening to the Dark Elves - or maybe it was just him, he didn't know - that she could become...what, an ally?

Kana didn't know, but for the first time in a long time, he felt the first sputters of hope igniting in the dark.
 
Elidi had no troubles finding her way back and sat next to Ekanath once again, putting the cold, wet, and folded cloth on his forehead after moving his white hair out of the way. Then she shifted into a more comfortable position and hovered her hands over his chest and stomach, a light yellow glow coming from her hands as she began to heal him, her eyes flickering to his to catch any pained reactions. She would try and fasten the process of the toxins flooding his body, making him heal and feel better faster. After all, they needed to get on the road as soon as they could.

She didn't know what to think of the Dark Prince. She knew him and his kind were far from deserving such oppressive acts and she would definitely speak to her father once she was home. Which made her go back to them being followed and the reason why. It was peculiar and didn't make any sense to her since Ekanath 'legally' bought her. She had a feeling that there was a bigger picture. Maybe the slavers had wanted her for themselves? Maybe they didn't want her to be with a creature of her kind? She had no idea.

After a little while, more blood had flown from the prince's mouth and nose, faster due to Elidi's healing. She cleaned it all up before looking to Kana, pausing her powers to see if he felt better. "Better?" she asked, hands in her lap.
 
He hadn't know if he should tell her to stop or not and her actions with the wet cloth, the care in them had thrown him off guard. By the time he realized what she was doing with her power then, it felt to Kana like it was too late to tell her to stop. If she was looking for pain, she would have found it as the process was anything but smooth sailing. The Prince had a great deal of control over his reactions, though, and while he couldn't help the coughing that resulted nor the blood that once again ran from his nose, he did resist the urge to vomit and shake, to convulse with the pain that seared like fire through his system.

By the time Elidi stopped and asked him how he felt, Kana was both raw and yet, strangely more alert and he could feel it...he could feel his power again. It wasn't just snatches here and there, but a constant thrum deep within him and he found himself smiling in incredulous disbelief. His gold eyes, colder again, brighter like they were supposed to be looked into the female's warmer-hued ones and the gratitude that shone there was sincere.

"Yes." He swallowed, tasting blood but none of it new and sat up carefully, his head no longer threatening to split open with the movement. "I mean...I feel like I got hit a couple dozen times by a troll's hammer, but...it's good."

Kana's brows furrowed then and he looked back at Elidi, puzzled. "Why did you help me?"
 
Elidi knew that it was not an easy feeling to ride with, but when she was finally finished, Ekanath's eyes were back to their gold brightness and usual coldness. Just that let the healer elf know that he was feeling much better. But there was also something else hidden in his eyes... gratitude?

She nodded when he answered her question, taking the wet cloth from his forehead at the first movement of him sitting up. She chuckled at his next words, a small smirk playing on her face as she put the cloth next to the blood red one.

Elidi looked back to him and cocked her head. "Because it was the least I could do for you," she answered honestly before standing with both the rags. "I'm going to go rinse these once more. You should rest more if you still feel nauseous."
 
The least she could do.

Kana was honestly unsure if he knew what that meant or not. What did she owe him? Certainly she wasn't helping because he'd 'rescued' her. That had been simple enough, a duty he was forced to comply with. It wasn't...guilt, was it? He'd never known a Light Elf to be guilty about anything they did to him and he'd not expected Elidi to be either. The Dark Elf watched her go, puzzled.

She was a mystery to him. He'd thought he'd known what she'd be like, but it was turning out that everything he'd assumed was wrong. And now Kana was curious, very much so. He liked challenges and Elidi...well, she presented one in a very tempting way.

He no longer felt nauseous in the least and Kana stood carefully, leaning against the tree he'd been laying under. He brought his fingers up toward his face and watched, with the delight of a child, as frost coated his hands and ice sparked from his fingers into the air before disintegrating. It didn't hurt.
 
It was the least she could do for him after complying with her father when he could have just ran away during his mission. The least she could do because, even if he was a bit abrasive, he treated her fairly well when he could treat her like the monster he saw in the other Light Elves. Because he had legally bought her from the black market and never tried to touch her inappropriately. Because she was guilty about the way his kind were treated when the Dark and Light elves were basically brethren. Because... well... because of a lot of reasons.

She was back soon, the dark red cloth now only a mediocre pink and the other free from sweat. When she came back, Elidi found him standing against the near tree and she smiled as she put the cloths away. "We should get going, no?" she asked. "Only if you feel you can ride, though..."
 
"I can ride." Kana assured her and then proceeded to mount Darkstep with ease. He felt fine. Sore, but fine and he could live with sore. He'd dealt with a lot worse in wars and....well, he didn't really want to think about that right now. Better to stay in the good mood he now found himself. Once Elidi mounted, they were off again and the horses were rested enough that they went at a decent pace, most of the land transforming into brush and spares trees, a scraggly grassland that would give way to a desert on it's journey to the mountains.

They'd have to cross those before arriving in Sanesia. It was the mountains that was going to tempt Kana so much. His own people, Dynasha was among those peaks and the desire to see that land again, to see his family again was overwhelming even now. He couldn't imagine what having to cross those mountains again, knowing he was going back to a place he didn't want to be, was going to be like.

The Dark Elf shook such thoughts away, not wanting to deal with them until they came and as evening approached, he sought some distraction, glancing at Elidi and noting that she appeared tired - after all, she'd stayed up all night, but this was good for her. It would get her back on her regular sleep schedule.

"We'll stop soon. Are you hungry?"
 
The princess nodded and soon they were off again, the horses healthy and rested enough to trod at a decent pace. As they traveled across the rather bare grassland, she knew the region well enough and remembered that they'd be crossing the desert before the mountains which happened to hold Kingdom Dynasha, the kingdom of the Dark Elves. Obviously her Dark Elf companion knew this and she very strongly felt that he'd want to visit his home. Maybe if the situation deemed it well, they could stop at Dynasha...

Elidi was indeed tired, her eyes hazy as the day was starting to turn into night. She was glad to hear that they'd stop soon. "Not really," she answered realizing that she didn't feel that hungry. She should probably eat anyway. "But I'm pretty parched."
 
Kana nodded, retrieving the water skin and he handed if over to Elidi, looking for a suitable place to camp as she drank. He found it at the next tree they rode up to and halted the stallion, looking around in all directions before he was satisfied and dismounted. This time when he went to help Elidi dismount, it was by pure choice and he set her on the ground gently but avoided meeting her eyes as he turned back to their mounts.

"I'll see to the horses. Gather what you can to start a fire if you'd like one."

The Prince proceeded to unsaddle the horses then ,feeding them and brushing them down before tethering them securely. He seemed a bit uncertain then, but made his way back toward the Princess, sitting across from her and brushing his white hair back as the sky started to darken. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Kana finally spoke, testing something, wondering if maybe...just maybe there was something to this mystery that was Elidi.

Something good.

"You are nothing like I expected." he intoned quietly, meeting her gold eyes.
 
Elidi took the offered water and drank from it generously even if she was still a bit thirsty afterwards. After all, the next stream or river was probably only going to be reached the following day and she'd have to get used to drinking generously since they'd soon be in a desert. They only had, what, three flasks? Unless Ekanath was hiding more, but the princess certainly wasn't.

She was also a bit surprised that the darker prince had helped her dismount. She knew it might be out of general politeness since she still was a princess, but he got a hint of what she was like outside of the title, hadn't he? It didn't bother her though and her thoughts dwindled elsewhere as she looked around for fire starters and remainders.

She found quite a few dry bushes and some sticks and larger branches that fell from the sparse trees, huddling half of what she found in as much as much as a slanted piece as she could before pointing a finger to one of the dry bushes and letting out a single flame until it caught fire. She sat watching the fire, the two elves in silence before Ekanath broke it. She slowly looked to him, meeting his own gold eyes as she smiled.

"What does that mean?" she asked, looking at him curiously.
 
Well, he supposed he had that question coming.

The Prince shifted a little and after a moment he drew his knees up, resting his forearms on them, watching the flames dance between the view of his fingers. The fire was far enough away that he could barely feel it's heat and that was the way he wanted it to stay. His gold eyes glanced up into her warmer ones again and Kana sighed, searching for a way to answer and finding one slowly.

"I have only ever been around your soldiers, court officials and prison wardens. I've learned that your people are either aloof and cold toward me or hostile, and...I thought that was what you'd be. I was wrong. That's what it means." he explained softly and another thought came to him, something he wanted to ask, but was unsure she'd answer. Kana bit his lip, but in the end decided to risk it.

What was the worst that could happen?

"I..am not allowed to speak with my people. Do you...know how they are treated?" Just because he was not in fair hands did not mean they were in similar situations, those that had to live in Sanesia, and Kana was hoping Elidi would know.


(( Just to help out, yeah, the other Dark Elves are being treated fairly for the most part. :) ))
 
(( Thanks! ))

Elidi watched the shifting prince, observing him lightly but also closely. She was just as curious about him as he was of her.

"Just as you had expected ill behavior towards yourself, I expected the same towards me. So I suppose we both got each other there," she replied lightly. Unlike most of her kind, or at least higher officials, she did not think her race as superior.

"The people in your homeland are treated fairly, as far as I know," she replied honestly, glancing at him before looking back to the fire. "My father may be a hard man, but he still truly cares for the well-being of your kind, believe it or not."
 
Kana smiled faintly at her first words, finding he agreed with them and thought them fair. They had misjudged each other greatly, but now realized their mistakes. Did that mean that perhaps they had more in common than they thought? The idea cautiously interested the Prince, but he said nothing of it at the moment, listening to Elidi's answer to his question. He felt relief sweep through him and closed his eyes, feeling just a small bit of the weight on his shoulders ease away.

It wasn't a lot, but it was something and he felt it keenly.

Just as he felt doubt at Elidi's last sentence strongly. He found that he WANTED to believe the female elf, but he also found it extremely hard to. If the King cared so much then why was Kana- No. The Dark Elf shivered, not letting himself complete that thought, but another came in its place, and the male elf looked up, his gold eyes piercing as they caught Elidi's.

"Does your father know what happens in his dungeons?"
 
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Something about the relief that washed over Kana's face made Elidi feel like she got to him, at least a little bit. Especially that faint smile, because even though it was faint, it was still a smile and perhaps the first one she'd seen on his face.

"I'd like to think that he knows..." she answered, not sure since she wasn't King Thorontur. "Why? What happens in the dungeons?"
 
Kana wished he could backtrack. Why had he asked that!? Dammit, why did he always let his mouth run away from his brain!? He hadn't wanted to think about this and now...now he'd done far more than that and the Dark Elf didn't answer Elidi's question right away, putting his forehead in his hands, his fingers delving back through his white hair as he truly debated about what to do. He should have thought about this beforehand. He should have just kept his mouth shut.

But there was something about Elidi, something pure and sincere that drew him in despite himself. She was like his sister, Nayali; gentle and soft-spoken, but also had a combination of Sefarana, a streak of fire and resolve. He'd known her two days and already he could sense she was not like any Light Elf he'd ever met and he didn't know why. He shouldn't trust her - and some part of him didn't - but a deep instinct inside him told him he COULD.

And that instinct had never actually led him wrong.

Kana sighed and looked up at the Princess, something unsure and young in his expression before he seemed to come to a decision and slowly straightened. He unclasped his cloak, letting it fall away behind him and then slowly took off his tunic. What might draw the eye first was the black tattoo on his dark skin, spiraling down his side down to his stomach, one symbol in the shape of a large sun on his neck and shoulder - something that was truly odd considering what he was, but Dark Elves were born with their markings and had no control of what they'd be. What would next come to one's attention was the multitude of scars covering the male elf's strong body. Some of them were clearly battle-earned, accident-earned from childhood, but most...were purposely made by another's hand.

Thin burn marks across his stomach and chest, wrapping around to his back were certainly not of his own doing nor were the knife marks carved out on his torso and his arms. The worst damage was on his back, though, the whip-scars wrapping around his side, all the way up to his shoulders and down to his lower back. None of them were open or 'new', but they weren't old either and Kana looked at Elidi steadily even though he hated the position he was in.

"This is what happens." he replied simply.
 
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Elidi wanted to give Ekanath a push but she knew that she'd have to be patient at that moment. Her eyes drew from the fire to the prince on the other side, going back and forth every few seconds. The sigh made her look up at him, meeting his eyes before he started to unclasp his cloak. She watched him, a bit confused before realizing that he was going to show her exactly what happened in the dungeons of the Light Elves. His tattoo markings did catch her golden eyes first, but as soon as they caught a glimpse of the all the scars, she couldn't look away.

Since she was a healer, the Light Elf was easily able to tell what kind of scars they were. There were simple scars, ones you'd get from the adventures of childhood. And then there were battle scars. But there were also scars that drew out patterns in Elidi's mind and she stared wide-eyed, looking slowly over each burn, whip, and knife mark before slowly looking up to Ekanath's eyes. She stood cautiously before moving around the fire and to the prince's side, looking into his eyes as if to ask the question: 'Is it alright if I touch?'
 
He almost felt a fire blaze across his skin wherever her eyes lingered and the feeling confused Kana. It wasn't attraction, but something different and he found himself frozen as the Princess moved around the fire, his gold eyes watching her every movement like a wary, abused animal might, not trusting. When she came to his side, he resisted the urge to move back and it was probably clearer now why he avoided touch, why he'd withdrawn quickly every time he'd come in contact with her yesterday.

And at her silent question, the Prince's first inclination was to say no and move away, put his tunic back on like the shield it was. He felt vulnerable like this and he didn't like that feeling at all, but in a strange way, as if his spirit was fighting a battle with his mind, he knew he wasn't in any danger.

He could trust Elidi.

He just didn't know WHY that was or HOW he knew it.

His gold eyes met her own, piercing, searching and Kana finally nodded slowly, deciding to take a leap of faith. His mother had always said that was his greatest strength; the ability to have hope, to have faith even when there was little or no reason to see any. He just had to hope that the landing would be a lot better than he was anticipating.
 
Elidi could feel his wary eyes watching her and she was careful not to make any bold movements. She kept careful, cautious, so that Ekanath hopefully wouldn't move away. Yes, it was very clear why he had always withdrawn with contact. She waited for his answer, not moving until she got it. When he nodded, she felt some of her own relief wash over and she took a step closer, one of her hands touching the burn marks on his chest as her eyes flickered up to meet his if they were looking. Then they traveled back down, the other hand resting on a scar on his stomach. "Do they hurt?" she asked in a murmur.
 
Kana had flinched, unable to help it, when her hands made contact with his body, but he didn't back away and he let out a controlled sigh, making himself relax a little. It helped that he knew he could probably move faster than Elidi did if her touch turned painful or hostile and stop her. He watched the female elf intently, ready to bolt at a moment's notice. He'd gotten good at that, though, fleeing or fighting never got him far and usually resulted in more pain in the long run.

His skin quivered under her fingers where they rested on his chest, half-expecting harm, but another part of him faintly enjoying the touch. It was soothing in a way and despite the warmth that radiated from her hand into his cooler skin, it wasn't an unwelcome feeling. His eyes held her own warily, but without fear, though, when Elidi's touch moved down to his stomach, Kana gave a small start. Further warmth bloomed there and he let out a shaky breath before answering her question.

"Not anymore. Not...physically." he admitted truthfully, a bit surprised that he didn't feel adverse to telling her that.
 
The healer looked closely at the marks, looking up at the prince whenever he made a significant move or noise. He was tense at first, but she knew he was trying to relax as she inspected his body. His flesh was cold against her own and she wondered if it was just his skin or if most Dark Elve's skin felt like that. Then she moved her attention to his arms, touching the scars there as well. The only pressure she put on his body was gentle as she moved from his arms to his back, sidestepping around Ekanath slowly as she started from his shoulders and down. She was glad that the scars didn't hurt physically, but the fact that they were there to serve as reminders of her people torturing him... it made her angry and upset and confused, a bottle of a mess of emotions.

"The guards that did this to you... did they ever speak about these doings like it was a secret? Something that shouldn't get out of the dungeons?" she asked, trying to figure out this entire mess. Her father couldn't possibly be the one to put his men up to that could of thing, could he? It made her chest ache just thinking about it.
 
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