© 2002-2024 Evie and Heidi
Part 4

Pyre had to bite her lip to keep from yelling back at the chief, the tiny hairs on her body standing on end. But what she hated the most, was that he was right on most accounts. She couldn't think of one time that he himself had treated her like anything other then one of them. And she wondered why, when she continually gave Wildlight every reason in the world to send her packing. After several moments, standing there, and looking pretty much defeated she mumbled out. **I'm scared Wildlight....** It never occurred to her that it was the first time she used his name rather then title. **I fear the future...and how lonely it could be if things stay as they are.** Her eyes were lowered, never before had she admitted so much of a weakness to anyone. For all the elves in Stormrise knew, Pyre had no feelings at all.

**I wish, with everything that I am, that I had one solid reason to come back here. I wish that all I needed to be content in my lifetime was hunting and swordplay...** She raised her eyes to look in his direction. **Most of all I wish I knew why you fight so hard to keep me here at Stormrise when I give you every reason not to...**

Admittedly, Wildlight felt a twinge of sympathy toward the huntress. It could be difficult to feel the outsider in a group--he'd felt that way at times when his sister's talents had blossomed and suddenly she was the talk of the tribe. But he discovered, all too quickly, that it was himself keeping his progress in check.

He reached out a hand and put it on her shoulder. **Is friendship not a good enough reason for your return? Family? Yes, your mother's people and her ways live in her birth village, whereever that might be. But your father's way is here, too. In this tribe, we are all family, and every time I lose one of my family I can feel it,** he pointed to his chest, **here.**

He looked directly at her. **I fight for you to stay because you are part of that family, too. And I like your company, what little of it you've granted me.**

He hadn't expected to be so direct, but once it was said, he felt no remorse for saying it. It was true. Their sparring in the woods those days ago had brought him out of a depression he'd thought might be impossible to surpass. It had brought him back to the NOW.

Friendship. It was an odd feeling for the huntress who had never before experienced it with another. Wildlight's hand felt warm on her shoulder, and also surprisingly, helped to ease that trembling fear she expressed to him. **Friendship is a good reason...** she sent with a sigh.
As their sparring had helped him pull out of his depression, for Pyre it allowed her to connect with another on some level. Wildlight gave her a chance, and for it she respected and felt towards him as no other. She owed him to give Stormrise more of a chance, and more importantly she owed her and her sire. With her lips faintly flickering a smile, she nodded her head. **I'll return, when I've finished what I need to do..** she promised. She paused for a more, her silver eyes flickered in the dark of the den. **Wildlight, because we are friends, there is something else I must tell you. There is another reason I am leaving the hurst. I..** She again paused in apprehension, instincts to keep her secrets to herself closely guarded. But she had to trust somebody, and she somehow knew she could trust Wildlight with anything. **I don't know my soulname..** It felt some weakness to her, a lacking that she never accomplished and that other elves achieved in their youth.