Never Let an Elf Steal Your Heart

--Markos --

Markos felt her approach long before he saw her. He'd been riding north through the storm and forest in the bitter cold for weeks trying to shake the others that were following him. It was a a matter of time before they caught him to stop him. He took advantage of the frigid waters and the knowledge of the hidden trail on the other side of the Tooth River to shake his pursuers two days ago. He knew they'd need to take another way around, they had an idea of where he was headed and then like a phantom stepping from the shadow of a draugr pine Sintija appeared. A tangle of emotions bubbled up when he saw her, heard her voice.

Was it another illusion? Would the dream end if he spoke her name? But he said her name hoping to end the torment if it was another dream but then and she hadn't. Her appearance did not flicker and she even drew closer.

This woman who'd haunted his thoughts for the past ten years of his life was finally before him again. He fought his instinct to grab onto her and hold her close for fear of her disappearing forever. She'd slipped through his hands once in a word. It'd taken five years to find her again. If he lost Sintija now, there was no telling how long he'd merely be a figment of his imagination once more.

Markos felt the waves of heat radiating from Sintija's body on the blanket beside his. It was too cold to shed his clothing and he felt awkward. He wanted to ask her so many things, tell her of all the years that'd passed since they first met but now that she was beside him, his tongue was tied in a knot.

"I don't know how long it will be until the storm passes." Her voice was light, tinged with shyness. Perhaps she too was uncertain of what to do now that they were finally together. The sides of her mouth curled up with a smile, her cheek settling against her knees as she sat up to talk to him. "It's just us to fill the silence. What's it like? Did you grow up where I found you that first time at the pool?"

Just like that, she wanted to hear about everything since that fateful day by the pool. Markos awkwardly coughed. Sintija was the most important thing in this cave in this moment, his attention was on her. It seemed impossible that he was shivering in his heavy clothing, wrapped in a blanket beside the fire while she was barely wearing clothing sitting on the blanket. It was like seeing Iliana settling down after a ride all over again. Thinking of Iliana while looking at Sintija made his heart hurt in a way he couldn't articulate. It was only when it was these two. He'd bedded many trying to clear his mind and heart of the memory of them.

The Order desperately wanted to regain hold on him, they sensed him drifting away after the incident in the North at the Mara's temple and had urged Jo forward to bring him back into the fold. But the fateful night of the festival cemented a truth that he'd been trying to deny for years, no other women could fill the hole Iliana and Sintija had left in him no matter how much he cared or how hard anyone tried.

"Give me a moment. This has been to strange a day for me to answer sober." He grabbed his canteen, hiding the trembling on his hands as he swigged a mouthful of strong, peppery ale. He'd always joked about templars facing against demons without hesitation but needing liquid courage to talk to a woman but here he was, in front of the literal woman of his dreams, needing such portable libation. It burned in a familiar way that helped him sort his thoughts. "Since that day in the forest, is a fairly long story. You mean for me to tell it then?"

Sintija's eyes met his when he looked back to her for confirmation. In this light some of the brightness of the vivid sky blue he remembered had dimmed. She nodded, settling closer at his side near the edge of where their blankets met on the ground. It felt strange to have such a tiny barrier left between them. He set the canteen out of the way.

"It's been ten years since that day." Confessing it again without the frustration he had before made it seem more real.

Sintija smiled. "It does seem like it wasn't so long ago." A strand of hair fell across her cheek. Without thinking, Markos brushed it from her face, tucking it behind her long, blade shaped ear. She blushed as he removed his hand. "I'd thought you would've forgotten by now."

Markos shook his head, pulling a leather cord tied to a grey arrowhead from beneath his clothes, worn smooth on both sides from constant wear and worrying. He pulled the cord from his head and offered it to Sintija. It seemed only right, it was hers after all. "Never."

Sintija's eyes widened at the sight of the arrowhead. She took it lightly in her hands staring at it in the palm of her hands. "From that day?" She turned it over and ran her fingers along the edges, worn smooth. "You kept it after all this time?"

"It was the only thing you left behind that didn't belong there. I never found that river pool again, though I tried." His face felt hot. Confessions that Jo and Kant had tried to extract from him but had failed each time were easier to admit know before the only other person that knew the truth. "I took it so they wouldn't look for you." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Never told anyone about what happened."

"What were you hoping to accomplish by messing with our cloaks?"

Markos awkwardly laughed. He hadn't thought about it, not really. "There was a story about gaining a wife from claiming a cloak of a bathing maiden. I don't think I really considered there to any truth behind it. I didn't even know you were an elf until it was too late and I almost got an arrow in my head." He shook his head. "No one would've believed me even with the arrow. I don't think my pride could've taken the blow with having to explain why I, an aspiring templar failed to subdue a naked woman."