I whimpered and opened my eyes, but everything was far too bright for me to see.

"Sleep, Mars. You don't have to be awake yet," Astral murmured softly in my ear and I heeded his command. I did want more sleep. There was no point in trying to fight it when my body demanded more.

I awoke again but this time I felt marginally better. I was laying on something soft and the smell of nature filled my nostrils. Herbs, water, dirt, fresh air. It all attacked my nose and comforted me because those were the opposite smells of Venus' castle. Hers had smelled damp and clammed. But here, there was a smell of freedom and I revelled in it before opening my eyes.

When I did open my eyes, I was sure I was still dreaming. Bioluminescent plants shone from every corner of the world, as if the stars had descended from the sky and taken up residency here on earth.

"It is beautiful, yeah?" Astral said softly from beside me. "How are you feeling?" He helped me sit up and that's when I realised, we were not on the ground. We were far up in the trees, on platforms. Roofs made of massive leaves kept our heads dry from the drizzle outside of the platform.

"Where... Where are we?" I whispered.

"Keefe took us to his home." Astral helped me up to my feet, leading me to the small fence keeping us from falling right off the platform. We were so far up I was feeling faint just looking straight forward. I grabbed tighter around Astral's arm before I dared to look down. I couldn't even see the forest floor from all the leaves.

Even though it was in the middle of the night, it was still so bright. I had never seen this many bioluminescent plants before in my life. We had had some at the college in a greenhouse, but this was beyond my wildest dreams.

"It's beautiful," I said with a hoarse voice and looked back at Astral. One eye was back to its regular brown while the other stayed dark blue like the night sky.

"Like you," he murmured and softly kissed my cheek. "You scared me. I didn't know you could do such a thing."

"You didn't know I could scare you?" I asked as I motioned to going back to the soft pillows.

"No, that thing you did to Venus. You're no regular cursed human."

"I know." I laid back down with Astral's help and he let me snuggle up to him, putting my head on his chest.

"For how long have you known?"

"Not long. I think I subconsciously knew for longer than I'd care to admit. But I've always just wanted to be normal."

"It's hard to be normal when you're extraordinary." He ran his hand up in my hair, placing a kiss on my head.

I couldn't help but smile. "You flirt."

"All day, every day." He repositioned a little, getting more comfortable. I moved my leg up and realised neither of us were wearing trousers. And we were in nightshirts. It just meant so much that he had taken the time to get me ready for bed despite me being completely out. He knew my legs got uncomfortably hot when I slept, and that I hated sleeping in my regular clothes. He knew me better than I knew myself sometimes.

I gently got my hand under his shirt, pulling it up a little. He'd do that himself during the night. He always slept with his stomach out. It was so cute.

"How did we get here?" I asked, closing my eyes.

"Keefe got us here. He had horses and everything. We rode for about two days. He and Zeke got tired of waiting and decided to plan for the absolute worst, which was that we had been captured. Neither believed we'd stay there without even sending word for them."

"They were right," I whispered, feeling sleep slowly overtaking me again, beckoning me to let go.

"Sleep now, love. I'll be here."

I loved that he ensured me that he'd still be here. I was always a little afraid after dying, especially the last time. I needed him to be with me.

I slowly recovered. This death was vastly different from the others. While I was very tired and my body was sore, it felt different. I was healing, yes, but I didn't feel cold. I was warm all the time, but not in an uncomfortable way. And while I slept a lot, it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been the other times.

On our third day there, or more like, on the third day after I had woken up, Keefe had finally gotten me to leave the platform that was our temporary home. He desperately wanted us to meet his family.

I was leaning against Astral, him offering all the support while still letting me walk on my own. I tried to keep the complaining to a minimum, but it was hard. My legs were hurting badly.

"Welcome," a very tall elf said clasping their hands in front of them and offering us a bow.

"Thank you. I'm sorry I've been such a bad guest, letting you wait." I was actually a little mortified. These people had let us come to their home and it had taken me days to even meet them.

"Keefe told us you were injured. We'd take great offence if you rushed your recovery just to be polite." They smiled and it was infectious.

"Then I'm happy I didn't. Thank you for your hospitality. I'm Mars." I offered them a bow back, not really knowing how to properly greet an elf.

"And I'm El, Keefe's mother." She was extremely pretty. Had the same dark hair, eyes and brown skin tone as her son, and the big pointy ears too. Keefe definitely took after his mother. Even the way they moved had the same soft grace to it. Long slender limbs, though Keefe was wider across the shoulders than his mother. She was all slender. Nothing on her could really be described as wide except for maybe her mouth, lined by full lips.

"We've got food!" Keefe exclaimed gleefully and pulled me towards a table with a wide variety of dishes I had never seen before. "And it's all the best too. And absolutely no meat!"

I glanced up at him, arching a brow. "You don't eat meat?"

"Oh gods no. Animals are friends." He grabbed a plate for me, leaving me to almost tip over before Astral caught me.

"Careful Keefe!" he growled, wrapping his arm around my waist.

"Sorry," Keefe said and cringed. "I forgot you can't stand properly."

"It's alright," I chuckled and grabbed a better hold of Astral's arm. "Get me food and all is forgotten."

Keefe's whole face brightened, and he enthusiastically told me about the dishes, piling food on my plate. We went to a bunch of pillows and sat down. I was already feeling tired again, but I desperately wanted something to eat. Starving and tired.

"You do look a bit better, Mars," Zeke said as she joined us, handing Astral a plate too.

"I feel better too. Just exhausted. And hungry."

"Well, we can immediately mend one of those," Astral said and smiled at me, trying out what looked like meatloaf. "This is good. You should try it."

I tried it from my own plate and was absolutely blown away by the taste. It was so rich and full, and I had never tried anything like it before. It wasn't hard to leave meat behind if this was what was the substitute.

Though I'd probably not swear off meat forever. I liked my meat.

"You'll meet the rest of my family once you feel better. But I just wanted you to meet my mum," Keefe said with his mouth full of food. It was pretty hard to understand what he was even saying, but it was alright. He seemed so happy, and I thoroughly enjoyed his happiness.