Laurel

2:08 Sky

After the night of Laurel's nightmare, our days were fairly uneventful. The very next day we found ourselves in the grasslands, heading towards the blue mountains and outside the boundary of My Lady's territory. No more invasions into my mind which I was glad for, but no help either. Laurel and I were truly alone and on our own until after we cleared the mountains and would reach other Fae settlements.

We didn't talk as much as I would have liked, I wanted to get to know her better, and her to know me. But I had no idea how to start such conversations. She still reached towards her neck for her missing pendant several times a day, her sadness could almost be tasted on the wind in those moments.

After a week of walking with nothing of note occurring, no more nightmares, no other creatures crossing our paths, Laurel broke the silence between us, surprising me. "Tell me about your name." She asked me, out of nowhere, her voice quiet like she was scared to ask me.

"I told you, my name is Sky." I had noticed that she hadn't ever used my name the entire time we had been traveling, I had thought it a bit strange but since her whole situation was strange I had brushed it off.

She made a face, again like something tasted foul in her mouth, "No it isn't. Or I don't know. It's not the full truth." She looked at me, her eyes so sad and confused.

"Sky is a name I have taken for myself. Recently. I was named Morose at birth by my mother, for Morose is how she felt about having another son instead of a daughter." My voice was quiet, I didn't like sharing my past, but I knew she would sense a lie anyways. Honesty between us would be best.

Her mouth fell open into an O shape before she quickly slammed her jaw back up with an audible click. "I'm so sorry. Sky is a good name. I'm sorry I pried, I'm not used to any of this non-human stuff. I'm trying to get better..." she looked back at her feet as we kept walking.

"It's not your fault. You are basically a newborn when it comes to magic, and have no teacher, no elders, no one of your kind to help guide you." I trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

"I am not a newborn, I'm 24." Her face full of defiance. I had struck a nerve, she might have been an adult in the human world, a young adult at that, but I was right, in the Fae world she was nearly a newborn. "How old are you anyways? Are you immortal like Damon?"

"Not immortal no, just very long lived." I answered her.

"How long lived?" she continued to prod. For someone who claimed they didn't want to pry, she was asking lots of questions.

I was happy to answer, glad to finally be talking to her more than was strictly necessary as we set or broke camp every day. "220 give or take a couple years? It was hard to keep track of time for a while." I shrugged my shoulders as I answered her. Again her eyes went wide while her mouth fell open in an O shape. I liked how her face looked when she was surprised.

"Well maybe I might seem like a kid to you then." she resumed looking at the ground, "sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry all the time, I'm not upset with you. In fact meeting you has been the most interesting thing to happen to me in a long, long time." I held back how strange she made me feel and what she did to my mind and how she stirred my body. I had no regrets about her coming into my life. After our talk, we walked until the suns began to wane and made camp. Laurel was less reserved now, we talked more this afternoon than we had in the past week. I liked the change in our dynamic.

We had been making good time, and were nearly in the shadow of the great mountain range we needed to traverse to get into the heart of Fae civilization. The nights were growing more chill the farther we moved from the ocean and its stabilizing force on the weather.