As Riyel and Kiva returned to her home after spending the evening in Inver's tent, Riyel held tightly to her hand as if he could keep her beside him with his touch. They walked to the foot of the ladder, and Kiva paused, studying her feet. She drew in a deep breath, forcing herself to be honest with Riyel as she had promised herself she would be.

    "Justyn's gone."

    "What?"

    "Wyn...Wyn ran away a week ago, and Justyn went after her last night. He deserted. He deserted the Resistance, and...he left."

    Kiva had nothing to say or to feel. All the emotions had been squeezed out of her in the death and the anger and the hatred and the joy and the love. Everything was mottled inside of her, and she did not know whether to feel anger and hatred towards her brother or to jump on the nearest horse and go after him.

    Riyel said nothing but stared into her eyes as if he were reading everything she could not say. The day had been heavy and words failed to carry its weight. Today, she had killed for the first time. She had defended the Resistance from attack. She had lost her brother. She had confessed that she loved Riyel. She had forgiven Inver.

Her legs struggling to support her, Kiva sunk to the ground against the tree, and leaned against it. Riyel touched her arm, his eyes assessing her face, and then he ran a few yards away to fetch a canteen and a spare cloth. He wiped the dirt and blood from her face and her arms and Kiva let him work, not sure what to say or do.

    "Wounds?" he asked as if he knew that healing her outer wounds would somehow soothe the ones inside as well.
   
Kiva pulled her shirtsleeve up, allowing him to cleanse a laceration on her shoulder. Once he had finished cleaning her wounds, she took the cloth and offered to return the favor. He looked at her once, his eyes a tad uncertain. However, he turned his back to her and gently pulled his shirt over his head, revealing a shallow wound that stretched from his left shoulder to his right side.

    His back had other wounds, other scars. She traced each scar along his back and he tensed under her touch, muscles rippling down the length and breadth of it. With her fingertips, she studied the broadness and strength of his shoulders, and reveled in the way her fingers tingled all the way up her arm when she touched him. Kiva looked to his eyes, and they were both aware of the power they had over each other. There was a vulnerability in skin touching skin, and even as she cleaned the wound gently with the cloth, wincing herself each time he shuddered under her touch, she could sense their trust in each other. There was no return from how they felt.

Once their wounds had been cleaned, they sat together at the foot of Kiva's large tree. Somehow, she could not bring herself to climb the ladder to the empty house—not when she felt safe just sitting next to Riyel.

    "Remember..." Kiva cleared her throat and continued, "Remember how you...you held me during the nights on the trail? Can you...is it wrong, to do that here?"

    Kiva knew that unmarried men and women could not share a bed, and so she knew better than to welcome him into her home or under her blanket. But she also knew she could trust him. He would never touch her like that, not with what he knew. And she needed him.

    Riyel said nothing in response to her question but shifted so she could rest against his chest as they leaned against the tree. His heartbeat sounded in her ear, and the steady beat soothed her.

    Kiva turned and sat up, looking directly into his eyes. For a moment, she was lost there. His eyes were so green that the forest lost its color in comparison. But there was a bit of fear there, and a bit of crazed passion.

    "Do you need me...do you need me as much as I need you?" She knew her question was out of insecurity, but she needed to know.

    Riyel gathered one raspy breath and said, "I don't know how or why...but it's hard to breathe away from you. I think we've crossed a line, and...I don't think we can return now. By the stars, Kiva, I need you. I will never stop needing you."

    Kiva closed her eyes slowly, savoring his words. Things could never return to before Riyel. This terrified her, but she could not stop now. She would never stop.
____
    Over a thousand Sarian soldiers had died at their hands. The realization struck shivers down Kiva's backbone. The burning of their bodies had lasted through the night into the morning, and the stench of sulfuric flesh carried through the village as if the many dead and injured warriors were not reminders enough. The Lavri Resistance had lost over fifty warriors; while this was grievous, it was miniscule in comparison to the thousands of Sarians burning in the center of the town. While many lives had been saved, the infirmary was overloaded with critical wounds, and the death toll was rising more quickly than they had hoped.

    After falling asleep against the tree with Riyel last night, Kiva awoke with the sun. All training had been halted so warriors could spend time with their families and care for the injured. Kiva slipped out of Riyel's arms and walked to the hundreds of wounded both in and out of the hospital. Blankets had been thrown outside of the infirmary and the wounded laid on the ground awaiting treatment. Kiva frowned and rushed to find Sylvin in the mess.

    The kind, elderly doctor was stationed at a table and orderlies and volunteers were bringing people to him. He was tying tourniquets, severing limbs, cauterizing wounds with hot irons, and providing poultices for healing when he could. Kiva hated to interrupt him, but she grabbed a chunk of bread and a canteen of water and walked up behind him, touching his shoulder. Sylvin started at her touch but smiled gratefully when he saw her. He handed the scalpel in his hand to another man who continued the grotesque work and he paused for a moment of respite with Kiva.

    He touched her arm, drinking the canteen dry in just a moment. "Thank you, dear child. I am glad to see you are here and not counted among the dead."

    "I have somehow survived virtually unscathed although I cannot say the same for those I faced," Kiva answered. "But I came to help. I have no skill, but what can I do?"

    "They need food and water desperately. Some have gone for nearly a day without nourishment. If you could help those who are in need, you would be doing me a great service as well as them."

    Kiva nodded, "Of course. It's the least I can do. Is Trysti here? Tal?"

    "Trysti is recovering over there—she was exhausted and dehydrated and just needed rest and nourishment." Sylvin gestured to a dimly lit corner of the hospital tent. "And Tal, the general, was stabbed in the ribs with a knife. He will live as infection does not appear to have settled in yet, but he is in severe pain and can't be moved. He's being cared for yonder." Sylvin motioned to the outer edge of the tent.

    "Thank you, Sylvin. Please promise me you'll sleep at least a little tonight?"

    Sylvin smiled gently, silver lines whispering from the corners of his eyes. "I sleep enough; these are the times I can serve my family. These are my front lines." He gestured to the rows of cots of the injured and dying.

    "And I'm sorry for taking you from them." Kiva walked him back to the stained operation table. "I'll do what I can. Thank you, as always."

    His smile was gentle and his hands steady as they moved to a needle and thread for the next open wound. Kiva went to the bakery, fetched a wheelbarrow of bread, and brought it to the grassy outskirts of the injured. She then carried a yoke with buckets of water from a nearby well and walked through the writhing bodies lying in the hot sun, providing draughts of water to the injured. Their faces were dry and scaly and many lapped up the water offered like starving animals. To those who could sit, Kiva gave them the water and food she could. To those who couldn't, she tried to serve them what water they could swallow.

    Throughout the day, Kiva lost track of time as she scrambled to do what she could to relieve the suffering of the needy. Most of the time, she felt entirely incapable as they screamed for mercy or for relief; however, she continued on, ignoring the sweat that dripped down her face, mixing with the blood and dirt from the day before.

    At one point, Kiva took a break from her work to visit Trysti. Trysti was curled up on a flea-ridden cot, her coal black hair matted and dark bags under her eyes. Kiva pulled a barrel as a seat beside her and touched Trysti's shoulder. Trysti rolled onto her back and slowly sat up, her dark eyes glowing at the sight of her friend.

    "Kiv!"

    "Hey, Trys. How are you feeling?"

    "I'm...I'm just tired. I need to leave here soon, but I'm so tired...so tired. What happened with all the soldiers? I've seen men and women brought in here all day and all night. What happened?"

    "We rode back and warned the Resistance in time, and we fought. We fought for hours, and some died, but we won, Trysti. We won."

    Trysti smiled, her eyes disappearing into tired crescent moons. "Raul visited. He sat next to me all night. I think I was feverish or something because I don't remember what he said or did. But he stayed beside me all night."

    The two friends shared a smile and Kiva laughed lowly, "I'm so glad. Even with so much death and fear, there are new things being reborn."

    Trysti smiled, and she lifted a tremulous hand to Kiva's face, touching her angular cheeks. "You're sad, I can see it. What happened? Did someone die? Riyel?"

    Kiva smiled gently, "No one died. Riyel is fine, good, even better than I could have ever thought. But Trysti, Justyn's gone. You know Wyn? The girl he...the girl he was with all the time?"

    Trysti nodded. "The girl he was in love with?"

    Kiva shuddered. "Yes. Her. She ran away from the Resistance a week or so ago; no one knows where she went. Inver told me that Justyn was heartbroken, and he disappeared the night before we came back. He deserted to go after Wyn."

    Trysti frowned, her eyebrows knotting together. "He left us? How could he?"

"I guess love makes people do crazy things."   

    "It scares you, doesn't it?"

    Kiva closed her eyes as she always did to keep the outside world out. This is why you are my best friend, dear Trysti. You speak the words I can never say.

    "It scares me. What if...what if I lose control? Justyn's stronger than I am."

    "Riyel would not make you choose between what you believe, who you are, and him. Isn't that why you love him?"

    "How could I not?"

    Trysti laughed, the sound of a waterfall descending over a thousand rocks, and a few of the injured warriors around them turned and smiled at the sound. Kiva leaned forward and pulled her friend to her chest. Trysti hugged her back, and everything was alright, even though it wasn't.

Enjoy! :)