eight (1/1)

Minho had told Taemin he wouldn’t be able to come back for a while, so in the mean time he thought of things they could do when he did come again.  It was a little reassuring at first, he didn’t want their meetings to be too frequent for the fear of his sister finding out.  He would see her around the castle from time to time, but he would avoid actually getting to close to her, and she made no effort to go to him.  He figured he was safe.  After a few days of tip toeing around the castle Taemin started to relax, and think about Minho again.   He wanted to take Minho to his favorite tree to climb on, and he had a trail up to the waterfall that was so beautiful, he knew Minho would love it.  Most of all he wanted to take Minho to his favorite swimming spot.  Taemin loved to swim and he found a place that would surely impress the human.  He didn’t forget about their daily trades either.  He would wake up extra early to go to their spot, sometimes, he would make it before Minho left for work and he would wait for him.  The first time Taemin got their first he was heart broken thinking Minho had forgotten.  He sat up on one of the low branches for a few minutes to ponder if he wanted to leave the little grass doll or keep it and not give it to his friend as punishment.  He was about to go home when he caught a familiar smell on the wind.  He looked down the path to see Minho running up the hill.  Taemin waited in his tree until Minho was directly underneath him before he slid down to the ground behind the man.  Minho was busy arranging a napkin full of treats under the tree he didn’t even hear Taemin come up behind him.  When the little elf poked Minho in the shoulder to get his attention the man whipped around and fell backwards unto his rear.  For a split second Taemin felt bad about scaring his friend but it didn’t stop the little giggle that escaped him.  Minho grabbed at his heart in a dramatic display before he got up and tickled Taemin as payback.   Taemin let himself be scooped up in Minho’s strong arms and swung around as they both laughed.  They presented their gifts to each other that day in between fits of laughter, and both held a fairly good mood for the rest of the day.   Later that week Taemin had an idea to leave Minho clues as to what he wanted to do.  A long time ago Taemin had seen a few people in the woods playing cards. It looked like a lot of fun and Taemin tried to pick up on the rules.  When they packed up their camp the next day they forgot one of the cards which Taemin had gladly taken as a keepsake. He put the card in their usual spot and when he went back the next day he was delighted to find a whole deck with a note, ‘you know how to play?’ Taemin wrote on the back of the paper, ‘teach me.’ He took the deck home that day and spent a good amount of time laid out on his stomach and sorted the cards into different categories.  He made a pile of all red and black, then mixed them up and put all the picture cards together, then all the numbers together, whatever way he could organize them, he did.  It was a few days after that Taemin woke up to feel Minho’s presents in the forest.  He threw on his clothes and rushed to their meeting spot.  He sat on the rock in the clearing and waited for his friend patiently. He had brought the cards with him so Minho could teach him.  Minho moved steadily closer to him and he was happily humming to himself when he was pegged in the back of the head with something.  He grabbed his head where he had been hurt and hissed in pain.   He looked to see what had hit him.  A small acorn was on the rock next to him.  Taemin picked it up and looked all around the meadow to see who had thrown it but found no one.  He stood on the rock and carefully checked all around, still no one.  Minho was still pretty far away and Taemin didn’t sense anyone else nearby.  He wasn’t near any trees, let alone an acorn tree, and there was no wind, he couldn’t even imagine a wind strong enough to make the acorn hit him as hard as it did.  He grabbed his cards and ran to the trees in the direction the acorn would have come from.  As he approached he saw something dart from the branches of the trees above.  It was small, white, and moving much to fast for him to clearly see.  He scurried up the tree and after the little thing.  It was too big to be a fairy and much to fast to be a sprite.  He chased after it and would loose sight of it every so often. When he was confident he could catch up to it he leapt from his branch directly at it, reaching out his arms to grab it.  His fingers seemed to pass right through the white material of whatever it was and he fell right through the branches, but he was able to grab some part of it as he fell.  He tumbled into a patch of grass head first and somersaulted into the clearing.  He shook his head and sat up.  He was back in the clearing right where he had started the chase.  He looked down at what he had grabbed from the mysterious thing.  It was a small wooden mask much like the one he had and used the night he went visit Minho the first time, but made for a child.  He cocked his head trying to catch his breath, none of it made any sense.   Before he had enough time to think about it though, he heard Minho yelling for him at the other end of the clearing. He shoved the little mask in to his satchel along with the acorn and dug out the deck of cards.  He would investigate more later, he thought maybe it was a type of animal, gathering things and causing mischief in the forest.  It wasn’t uncommon.  It didn’t weigh heavily on Taemin’s mind.  Minho was much more important.  His human was here now and that’s all that mattered.  He stood and frolicked through the tall grass of the meadow bounding right over to Minho and pounced on him like a happy puppy.  Minho caught the little elf around the middle and swung him happily. “Hey, little one, did you miss me?” Taemin snuggled his face into Minho’s shoulder nodding. “I brought you a new snack, have you ever heard of pudding?” Minho moved away from Taemin and continued to walk towards the rocks in the middle of the clearing.  Taemin scrunched his nose.  He had no idea what pudding was but it didn’t sound like cookie and trying new food was something Taemin hated.  They settled on the biggest rock and Minho took out a covered cup. He pulled the lid off andgrabbed a spoon he shoveled some of the weird substance out and held it up to Taemin.  The elf sniffled it first; it looked disgusting but smelled sweet. He looked at Minho first before he took a small lick.  It was cold and gooey in his mouth. He smacked his lips and shook his head.  Minho laughed, “What do you think?” Taemin hummed trying to decide if he liked it or hated it.  “I don’t know, it’s sweet but it’s very strange too.”  “I guess it’s got a different texture from a lot of things, I’ll leave it here and you can eat more if you want.”  Minho set the strange food to the side after he finished the bite left on the spoon.   “Did you bring your cards?” Taemin’s ears twitched ever so slightly in excitement, he handed Minho the deck and watched in amazement as he shuffled them together to mix them up.  He talked slow and explained the rules to a game called Gin.  Taemin listened intently to the rules but he couldn’t help and think about what had happened earlier.  Even if it was just an animal there was something very unsettling about the whole thing.   ~*~*~   Hyora sat in her room perched on her window sill.  She seemed to spend more time curled up on this sill than she did anywhere else now.  She didn’t know how long she had sat there.  Her mind was spread across the forest as she listened to the vast amount of noise it had to offer.  Somewhere in the forest Taemin laughed.  She tried to focus on where he was but she was pulled in many different directions by the forces of Lyf.  She could feel him in the meadow they used to play is as children.  He was not alone. The human was there.  She felt rage surge through her. She didn’t hate the human she envied him. He was what she wanted to be to Taemin.  She wanted to get rid of him and the forest offered her some many ways to do it.  But the idea of breaking Taemin’s heart kept the human alive.  She couldn’t hurt her brother like that.  She would let him see the human.  Even if she couldn’t be there, she felt like she was granting him happiness. She pulled her mind back from the two; it was hard to watch him enjoy himself when she was falling so deeply into misery.  She pulled her arms away from her legs where they rested.  She brushed off the small vines that crept up her legs and plucked leaves that and sprouted from her shoulders.  She felt trapped by the forest she used to love so much.  How badly she wanted to escape and run free as she had done before, but now she was bound and being consumed. The growth came faster and faster every time she let her mind slip into the river of Lyf.  She would fall and feel like she would drown in the voices and each time it became harder to resurface.  When she did she was tired and weak, and now the forest was reaching her physically. Tying down her free limbs.  She feared one day she wouldn’t be able to come back and the forest would take her whole.  She had no idea what would happen then. If she would just forever be a drift in the endless cycle of life or if she would be set free.  She didn’t know what the forest would do if she let go.  She felt so over powered by it, and she knew she was the only barrier holding the forest back from over growing and consuming everything in its path.  She knew it was her duty to keep everything in balance and contained.  But the more she suffered the less important it seemed.  If she let the forest over grow after all, Taemin could run for ever and never get board.       (A/N; Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed this weeks update.  Please leave a comment and tell me what you thought! I have a few days off this week and will hopefully be able to add another chapter in the next few days.)