Chapter Three

Charise and Elaina arrived at the institute just as the sun began to set, people they didn’t recognize were milling around idly speaking quietly amongst themselves.  

Elaina looked down at her feet and cursed herself for asking Charise about borrowing a pair of shoes.  Charise of course had shoes that she could borrow, but she hadn’t bothered to think about the comfort of the wearer.  Being a woman Elaina should have been used to wearing heels, but being a warrior she stuck to wearing comfortable shoes, and now Charise had her in heels and her feet were screaming at her.

“You look great, did I mention that?” Charise asked smiling from ear to ear.  “I should really be a fashion consultant.”

Elaina glared, “You should really be trained to torture people actually.”

Charise of course was much too excited to get mad about Elaina’s little hit at her.

Instead she twirled and grabbed Elaina’s arm pulling her through the crowd with her.  As they moved people took them in, mostly the men admiring the two lovely women amongst them.  

It wasn’t uncommon to see women warriors, but they were hard to come by, most gave up the fighting in order to become wives and mothers.  

The ones that didn’t usually had something wrong with them, but Charise and Elaina were different and everyone was noticing.

“Hey there.” Charise purred as one man reached out to her.  “Sorry honey, but the night is still young.” She winked and blew him a kiss before hurrying on her way.

“Must you flirt with anything that has a penis?” Elaina asked now glaring at her friend.

Charise turned looking hurt, “I do not flirt with anything with a penis, only if it is good looking I do not do ugly.”

Elaina couldn’t help but laugh, “That’s my girl.”

Up ahead Elaina spotted two familiar heads, they were ducked towards each other speaking quietly with Brother Gabriel.  They only managed to look up when Charise squealed and hurried towards them leaving Elaina alone in the crowd.  She watched as Charise embraced her parents and began talking animatedly to them her arms moving as if to enunciate everything she said.  

They looked to Elaina and waved before disappearing into the crowd.  

Sighing Elaina looked around for any other familiar faces.  

Growing up in the institute she had gotten to know most of the warriors her age, but since a lot of them moved to join different divisions it was hard to really keep any major friendships.

All around her unfamiliar faces acknowledged her, but continued on their way.  

Suddenly feeling very out of place Elaina squirmed her way towards the back door, where she knew she could sneak away into the garden of meditation in order to collect her thoughts.  

It took a bit of elbowing and force, but finally she reached the door.  Opening it slowly she snuck out.

Outside the moon had already risen producing an unearthly glow on the flowers and bushes that surrounded the garden.  The flowers swayed in the light breeze as if they were waving to Elaina calling her towards them.  

She slipped her shoes off and made her way down the stairs, hoping to disappear into the shadows for a few moments.  She knew as soon as Charise realized she was missing that she would surely come looking for her.

In the distance she could hear a string quartet playing indicating the dancing would be done outside amongst the moon and the stars.  

Elaina sat and closed her eyes listening to the rhythm that was currently being played; it wasn’t too slow, but also not too fast.  Something from a completely different time period. 

“Seems we had the same idea.” A voice said from beside her.

Elaina’s eyes snapped open and she looked over coming face to face with the man that had helped her fight the beast.

“You!” Elaina snapped glaring.  “Are you following me or something?”

Looking confused the man examined Elaina closely his eyes widening as recognition overtook him.  “You clean up well.”

“Thanks.” Elaina snapped crossing her arms.  “You didn’t answer my question, are you following me?”

The man looked taken aback, “Of course I’m not following you.  You’re very full of yourself if you think that.”

Elaina continued to glare her eyes narrowing even more.  “Then what are you doing out here? “

“I was invited thank you very much.” The man said simply.

“That isn’t what I meant.” Elaina was beginning to lose her temper again.  “I meant what are you doing out here, shouldn’t you be inside with your fellow warriors?”

He shrugged, “It isn’t like I’ve been gone for hours.”

Fed up with the conversation Elaina stood placing her shoes back on her feet and headed towards the institute once more.

“Did I do something to you?” The man asked now getting up and following her. “Something to make you not want to be anywhere near me?”

Elaina whirled, “You called me a stupid girl and said that I had no business fighting.” Her voice was harsh, but she didn’t care.  “And now you ask me if you did something to make me mad?  Really are you that dense?”

“Ok, so we started out on the wrong foot.  How was I supposed to know that you were a fellow warrior?  You weren’t even in battle gear and only had a tiny little dagger.” The man tried.

“Please, just leave me alone.” Elaina snapped hurrying up the stairs and disappearing inside, being sure to get lost in the crowd so that the man couldn’t find her.

“ELAINA!  There you are!” Charise yelled pushing her way through the crowd.

She looked a little flushed and Elaina noted that she held a half empty wine glass in one hand.  “I thought you had flaked and ran home.”

“No such luck.” Elaina said faking a smile.  “I just had to step out for some air.”

“Sure you weren’t necking with that guy?” Charise asked thrusting her chin out.

Elaina turned to see who she was talking about, although she knew exactly who it was.  Nobody else had been outside in the garden with her.

“He’s not too bad on the eyes.” Charise continued.  “Looks like he is coming this way, couldn’t get enough of our dear Elaina I see.”

“Charise please can we go somewhere else, like now?” Elaina whispered quickly looking around.  “I really don’t want to be near him.”

Understanding dawned quickly on Charise’s face and Elaina mentally kicked herself.  

Of course it wouldn’t take long for Charise to realize that this man was the one that interfered with Elaina’s fight.  Instead of looking like she was going to help Elaina she just smiled in his direction.

“Hey there.” Charise purred putting on her thousand watt smile.  “Do you happen to be the gentleman that helped my dear Elaina last night?”

The man smiled, “Yes that would be me.  I suppose she was talking about me then?”

He looked absolutely pleased with himself while Elaina continued to glare.

However he didn’t seem to be phased in the slightest by the look she was giving him.

“Do you have a name then?” Charise continued.  “I’m sure Elaina would love to know the name of her savior.”

“Chase.” He responded sticking out a hand.  “Chase Gregory.”

“Nice to meet you Chase, I’m Charise, and I’m sure you already got Elaina’s name.”

Chase smiled, “Actually she failed to tell me her name, but thanks to you I now know it.  Nice to meet you both Charise and Elaina.”

“The pleasure is not mine.” Elaina snapped wanting nothing more than to leave this conversation.

“How many times do I have to apologize about what I said?” Turning to Charise Chase continued.  “Last night I thought she was one of the normals, she wasn’t even in battle gear how was I supposed to know that she knew what she was doing?  That thing was just circling her like she was its next meal.”

“Elaina is a risk taker, she doesn’t think she needs to wear the proper armor in a fight.  She thinks she is invincible.” Charise offered.

“I do not.” Elaina glowered, “I hadn’t expected to run into anything last night I was simply trying to clear my head.”

“Nightmares again?” Charise asked sympathetically.  Turning to Chase she smiled.  “This time of year is really hard on Elaina, you see her…”

“CHARISE!” Elaina snapped.  

Charise looked shocked, “What I was simply explaining why you are so moody right now.  You always get like this near the anniversary of your parents death.”

“And there it is.” Elaina huffed throwing her hands up in defeat.  “Feel free to sit down so that Charise can tell you our whole life story, she knows every detail after all.”

“Only because I have been around for it all.” Charise pointed out.

Elaina looked to Chase who had grown quiet.  He was watching her thoughtfully.

“What?” Elaina was getting really tired of people staring at her like she was some side show freak.  “Seriously is there something on my face?”

Chase blushed ever so slightly.  “Actually, I’ve heard the stories about what happened to your parents.  That must be really rough.”

“No, it’s super easy losing your parents at ten I suggest everyone give it a try.” With that Elaina turned on her heel and started stalking away.

“Elaina wait!” She couldn’t tell if it was Charise calling for her or if it was Chase, either way she didn’t bother turning around to acknowledge either one.

“Elaina!”  A hand grabbed her arm.

Whirling Elaina lifted her hand ready to hit whoever had touched her, but stopped as she saw the look on Charise’s face behind her.

“Listen Elaina, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to upset you.  I’ve been drinking wine and I guess my mouth got the best of me.”

Elaina sighed, “It’s alright.  I suppose he was going to eventually find out about me.  Especially if we keep running into each other.”

“Or if you two fight alongside each other.” Charise added quietly.

Elaina was once again reminded of the fact that her best friend hadn’t initially wanted to be a warrior.  Sometimes she just assumed that everyone would want to be one, it was an honor to protect the world from the things that go bump in the night, but now looking at Charise she knew that that wasn’t the way it was with everyone. 

“Charise.” Elaina said quietly.  “Have you tried talking to your parents again about leaving the brethren and being normal?”

Charise looked shocked, “No, it would disappoint them so much if I didn’t follow in their footsteps.”

“You shouldn’t be risking your life everyday simply because your parents want you to.” Elaina continued.  “I know there was never any other choice for me, but you, you have so much potential for something else.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, come on lets go dance.” Charise said grabbing Elaina’s arm and leading her towards the dance floor which was in the west garden.

The garden had been transformed from a tranquil place to one of wonder.  The monks had taken the time to string lights all along the trees so they set the grounds in a white glow.  Tables sat around for people to sit and talk, most were on the floor dancing together looking happy and not worried at all.  A string quartet sat to the right playing upbeat music their bows running across strings quickly and efficiently.  A refreshment table sat to the left holding punch and food.  

Charise turned and looked at Elaina happily pulling her towards the dancers. Despite Elaina’s protests and insisting that she didn’t dance Charise won and soon they were swallowed by the crowds.

Together they waltzed like they did as little girls watching their princess movies, stepping on each other’s toes every now and then only to giggle hysterically and continue.  

“May I have this dance?”

Elaina turned to see a man a good foot taller than her with dark brown eyes and golden hair watching her with interest.  He smiled showing perfect white teeth.  

Beside Elaina Charise smiled and shoved her towards the man.

“Take good care of her.” Charise said simply before hurrying off to find herself a dance partner.

Elaina watched as she pulled a guy with dark skin and shaved head from a chair before turning back to the guy that wanted to dance with her.

“You don’t mind do you?” he asked looking hesitant.

“No.” Elaina said simply stepping forward so that he could rest his hands on her hips.

To Elaina’s horror the quartet began playing something slow and the guy pulled her closer.  

Looking up Elaina examined her partner more.  He was smiling down at her looking completely at ease.

“I’m Christopher Goodwin.” He said in the way of introduction.

“Elaina Mason.” Elaina responded.

They didn’t speak as the music played, instead they simply turned together through the dancers.  

Elaina could feel Christopher’s heartbeat as he pulled her even closer making her feel uncomfortable.

She hadn’t bothered ever really having any sort of interaction with a man, instead spending most of her time training to become a better fighter.  

It felt incredibly awkward to her and for once she wished that she was Charise who had no problem flirting and doing other things with men.  

When Elaina looked up again Christopher was still smiling down at her.

“You aren’t used to this are you?” He asked quietly.

Elaina blushed, “Honestly no, I never really had any time for men.”

A laugh rumbled in Christopher’s chest.  “You take your being a warrior seriously I can respect that.  Women get overlooked more often than not.”

“You’re completely right.” Elaina agreed.  “But it didn’t have anything to do with that really.  I just never really found interest in anyone.”

“Hard to win your affections then?” Christopher noted. 

Elaina flinched.  “No.”

Christopher pulled away slightly looking at Elaina curiously.  “Want to explain then?”

“Not right now.” Elaina said simply pulling Christopher to her again.

Elaina continued dancing and talking to Christopher as the band picked up its beat again.  

For once she found herself having fun and enjoying the moment instead of letting her mind wander.  

She learned that Christopher was forced just like Charise to join the warriors, he admitted that he wanted to be a musician and had practiced day and night to prove to his parents that he could do it, but they had told him to forget about it.  After that he trained day and night just like her, only he didn’t like fighting saying it was against his nature he was ‘a lover not a fighter’ as he put it.

When Charise joined them again Elaina let herself get swept away by her friend and left Christopher to find himself another partner.  

Everything was going perfectly and Elaina was feeling light and free, until a loud scream erupted followed by shrieks that could only be one thing.  

Grabbing her dagger from its sheath on her shoulder Elaina prepared herself for the beasts heading their way.