The First Note (Katrina)

[Kioh]

Kioh walked down the hallway to Katrina’s bedroom. He had a handful of roses, and he looked his note over quickly, that read:

Here are the roses, just for you.
The girl that my heart has loved so true.
Should you ever give up on the King,
Come to the forest, where the flowers will sing.

And I’ll be waiting,
Just for you.
Always waiting
Like I always do.

Should you ever grow annoyed by me,
Burn one petal, and set it free.
Free to the wind, where I’ll see it fly.
For then I shall say goodbye.

He placed it beside the door, the folded poem hidden in the roses. Kioh knocked twice, and ran down the corridor, turning quickly to hide behind a corner and he stopped. There was no turning back now. She would open the door any second and see what he had written. His head peered around the wall, watching. Waiting.

[katrina]

Dreams came and went endlessly. This was normal for her, but now they had been interrupted. When she looked up she realized that she had heard someone at her door, but that they had left. She almost didn't leave but after a while curiosity bid her to see what happened. She opened the door to find no one as she thought, but flowers at her door. It was not beyond elf custom to sing flowers into being. It was a process that did not take long but the energy required to make them was immense. She lifted them and smelled them enjoying their fragrance. Only then did she see the message hidden between the pedals and read it. Who had done this? She looked around searching for him. She saw for a moment a boy hiding around a corner. The boy's ears were pointed like an elf's. "ono," She called to him using the elven tongue, "kvertha älfa," by then he knew she had called to him. She straightened her spine and put two fingers to her lips in greeting, "Atra esterní ono thelduin."

[Kioh]

Kioh sucked in his breath when she saw him. He had meant for that to be a surprise. A secret admirer surprise, as in: He wasn't meant to be caught. But it was rude now to run away from her after she had greeted him, so he took in a strong breath and swallowed hard. He came walking around the corner, trying to look confident, but anyone could tell that he was as nervous as a little puppy when he was around her. Enemies? Swordsman? Not a problem. But Katrina Ravenfrost was enough to make him anxious. Kioh returned the second half of the elven greeting and bowed to her, showing respect. "Good evening, Miss Katrina." he said, waiting for her to say something now. Please, don't let her ask about the flowers... Kioh begged in his mind. But what else would ask about? She had seen him hiding! Please, don't let her ask about the flowers...

[katrina]

"Un du evarínya ono varda," she compleated the greeting ritual and bowed at the waist to the boy. He looked nervous, more than she had been having to approach Caspian after killing his father. "I know you from somewhere, don't I?"

[Kioh]

He settled down a bit. Maybe she only stopped him because she thought that she had seen a familiar face. Kioh looked at her, as if trying to decide himself if he had, even though he really knew the answer quite well. Yes. As children, he had fallen in love with her. But Katrina never knew. "Perhaps." he said, taking advantage of the situation to look into her eyes. "I think I recognize you." he told her. This might just be enough to make him less of a suspect for the flowers.

[katrina]

"No I do know you from somewhere, I just can't place it." She looked over him completly trying to place his body in her memory somewhere. He wasn't much older than she was it seemed. His hair still had it's color and his body still had it's strength. It was very possible she had known him before her parents died and she lived with her master who kept her mostly isolated from the other elves because of her constant training that left her too exausted to go anywhere. She had even missed several of the agaetí blödhren because of it. "It must have been well over a hundred years ago."

[Kioh]

"Perhaps." he nodded again, glancing back down the hall to where he had been hiding. "That seems about right." he told her. Kioh's eyes flicked towards the flowers in her hand, and then back down the corridor. The elf rocked back and forth on his heels. "Is there anything else you wanted from me?" he asked politely. If she answered no, he would happily be on his way, away from her and the flowers and his hiding place behind the corner. He felt nervous talking to her, and he didn't want her to pick up on it. But still, she was actually talking to him. Maybe he didn't want to leave just yet.

[katrina]

"This master of yours," She said not bothering to hold back the subject any longer, "the one who gave me these, what dose he want from me?" Whoever he was he had watched her far to closely to be a true elf. Her love for Caspian was obvious among the humans she had spent so much time around. But in general elves never loved. They took mates for a few decades, perhaps a few centuries, and then they drift apart. There are no marriages and rarely are their children. In the capital city there were only two children out of the hundreds of elves that lived there. "do not hold back his identity, eka weohnata néiat haina ono."

[Kioh]

"Master of mine?" Kioh asked. "I have no master." but that little sentence would only make him a likelier person to have sent her the flowers. He thought quickly. "Let me see the paper." he said, taking it from her hands and reading over the familiar words that he had tried so hard on. "By the looks of it," Kye began. "He thought that you might enjoy some flowers." a chill ran up his spine. He was nervous again. Why? Always, he had to act so nervous around her. "It looks like he hopes that you'll give up on the King and love him back." Kioh told her. "But if he annoys you, it says that you should burn one of the rose petals and let it free. He'd say goodbye." he knew that she probably already knew all of this, but he had to buy himself some time. He stood back, glancing down the hall again. But he had to ask. He didn't know why, but he had to. "You're not going to burn the rose petal, are you?"

[katrina]

"Eka sé," She answered knowing that he would understand that she spoke truth. "You tell me things I already know. But did you see who send it if it wasn't a master of yours. I need to know. I need to talk to him. Now tell me," She didn't mean to be harsh with him, she just was. She didn't like how someone was watching her while she didn't know. It made her feel uncomfortable and exposed, if she had understood what it was. So it was directed to anger.

[Kioh]

Kioh jumped at her voice. "Um..." he said. Damn it. He couldn't lie to her now. And she had probably already labeled him as a fool. She would never love him if he told her that it was him. But she wouldn't love Kioh if he lied to her either. The elf's face went red as he looked down at his boots, then down the hallway. Now? Did he really have to tell her now? Yeah, he kinda did. "Me." he admitted, and then couldn't look at her. Kioh was afraid of the rejection that she would probably show him. "I-I'll just... go." he said, beginning to back up slowly and pointing down the hallway.

[katrina]

"blöthr," She called as he started to leave. Inside her a small battle fought. She could not be angry at him for doing something kind. But then again, could she be happy for him trying to take Caspian's place in her heart. She tried to match her emotion with a name, paying attention for the first time to how others describe their emotions. After what seemed like a long while of them standing and staring at eachother she finally thought she knew another emotion for the first time since she met Caspian: Confusion "Why did you do this?"

[Kioh]

"I care about you." he said. "A lot." Kioh wanted to leave, but wanted to stay at the same time. At least her anger hadn't come back. "I thought you might like some roses, and a poem." he said. "It was meant to be a secret admirer note, but it's not really a secret anymore." Kioh's voice was quiet, almost under his breath. The poem had been more than just ink on a page though. It had been what he truly felt. The roses were more than just simple flowers. They were big and full and more beautiful than any other bouquet. They would decide if he even lived till tomorrow or not. "Are you mad?" he asked. His entire body felt cold, his face felt hot. It was as if he was in a blizzard, with nothing to hide behind that might ease the wind's short temper. It was an anxious feeling, the emotion that he got when he was waiting to hear what Katrina had to say, especially when it might be in anger. This feeling was close to fear, but not quite. It was undescribable.

[katrina]

"But why?" She asked unable to understand as this new emotion of confusion tore her apart. "I don't know you and you don't know what I've done. If you did you'd turn me away for someone else just like Caspian has done. I'm not meant to be loved. Why should you love me?"

[Kioh]

"Because." he said. "You're sweet, and kind, and I love your personality." Kioh even liked her anger, so long as it wasn't directed at him. "You can stand up to any man, and probably plow him into the ground if he gave you any trouble. You're strong, and you aren't afraid to speak what's on your mind. In short: You aren't like other women. You aren't foolish, and you don't go looking to play the damsel in distress." he finished. "How can you say that I would turn you away, when you do not even give me a chance first to know what happened? You are meant to be loved, because I'm in love with you." as those words escaped his lips, he wanted to run. Never did he want to hear what she might say to him after hearing that. Kioh thought that she might be mad, and he didn't want to see that again.