Trinity Awakening (14 page)

             
"He is 1200 years old." Aarion answered matter-of-factly.

             
"Wow!" Trinny looked up at Aarion. "Aarion, how old are you?" Aarion smiled, she really loved it when he smiled like that.

             
"I'm 320 years old."

             
"Oh.... is that all, you don't look a day over 200, you must use a fabulous anti-aging cream." Aarion laughed.

             
"It doesn't feel like that long, I'm only giving you the years it would be in your world, in our world it doesn't really matter, we don't worry about time here, and even though it is an immortal world, there is a time when we die like anyone else, immortal here just means a very, very long time. If I was in your world, I wouldn't be that much older than you."

Trinny had leaned up against a tree.

             
"It must be great to not worry about time, where I come from everyone is rushing everywhere and living like tomorrow could be their last, it gets scary sometimes." 

             
"There is some good in that too, it makes people want to get out and live their lives to the fullest, here, everyone puts things off, thinking they have forever to do it in, but sometimes they don't!" Aarion was looking thoughtful. 

             
"Did you feel that?" Trinny asked with a surprised look on her face. 

             
"What?" Aarion asked concerned. Trinny had her hand on the tree trunk; she turned around and placed both hands on it.

             
"The tree, it's like it has a heart beat." She took Aarion’s hand and placed it on the bark, then placed her hand on his.

             
"How are you doing that?" He asked in amazement.

             
"I don't know. I was just leaning on the tree and felt it, what is it?" Her face was close to his now, and she could feel a tingling sensation in her hand that was on top of his. He looked at her.

             
"It's the trees life force, it is a living thing like us, and I think we're feeling it's connection to the earth, you must be getting stronger."

At that moment Trinny felt strong, confident, she leaned in and kissed Aarion on the lips, she wasn't sure if she was doing it right, but his lips were warm and soft, and then they became forceful as she felt him kiss her back. His arm slid around her waist and his hand rested on the small of her back, his other hand ran up her neck and through her hair. She had never felt so alive, she could feel every nerve in her body tingling, and she felt goose bumps ripple up her back and
neck. Then just as suddenly as it had started, it finished. Aarion had pulled away. "I can't do this."

Trinny looked devastated.

             
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that...was I terrible?"  Aarion’s expression softened.

             
"No, you were wonderful." She smiled back and went to take his hand but he pulled away for a second time. "We can't do this Trinny, we need to go, we have to get to Taeith, and there are more important things than this." His look was firm; he had gone back into his leadership mode he used when they were with the others. He walked ahead a little, turning back once motioning for her to follow. Trinny's moment of pure bliss was over,
why did you do that Trinny? Why did you ruin your chances?
She took a deep breath and followed after Aarion. She always thought her first kiss would be with someone that wanted to be with her. She could feel how passionate he was in those few moments, but she couldn't understand how someone could turn that off in a second.
I will never make the first move again
she decided,
I wish Emma were here, she would know what was with him.
Trinny was not going to let him see that she was hurt, she put her chin up and fell in behind him, there was no way she wanted to walk beside him now. Aarion kept his head forward, it had taken all his strength to pull away from Trinny when she had kissed him, now he was wrestling with the overwhelming urge to turn and take her in his arms and be the one to kiss her. He was annoyed at himself for allowing a girl to make the first move, and the fact that he relented fully to her for those few moments. The morning breeze was blowing from behind them and Aarion caught Trinny's scent, he inhaled the sweet smell of dewberry, he could also taste it, it must of been on
her lips, he shook his head to get the thought out of his mind, determined to keep his focus on the mission.

It was early afternoon and the breeze had picked up to quite a strong wind. Aarion had stopped at the edge of a huge wheat field. Trinny could see in the distance there were farmers harvesting the wheat using old-fashioned tools that she had seen in pictures of school history books. Trinny and Aarion were standing where the wheat was tall and not yet harvested. 

             
"I didn't expect to see farmers here." Trinny said. 

             
"Do you think we conjure up our food?" Aarion didn't mean for his tone to be so severe, but he didn't correct himself either, maybe it was better to make her think he wasn't interested. Trinny didn't answer, she didn't look his way; she remained silent as Aarion lead the way through the field. The tall wheat grass was scratching against Trinny's arms and neck, the wind gust was whipping her hair around her face. She was getting very agitated by the situation, but she was not going to complain, she didn't want to give Aarion an excuse to preach to her that there were more important things than worrying about her hair being blown about. 

             
"Just stop it!" She yelled in frustration at the wind. She didn't mean for the thought to become words. Aarion turned and looked at her.

             
"What?" He said in a short tone. But Trinny didn't look at him, she was looking around her, she held up her finger, nothing, there was complete stillness in the area stretching out a few feet around Trinny and Aarion, everywhere beyond was still blowing wildly. 

             
"What's happening?" She asked Aarion. 

             
"Did you just ask me to stop, or the wind?" He questioned back.

             
"The wind, it was getting so infuriating, I couldn't see a thing and the wheat has scratched all up my arms, my hair was getting in my eyes..." she realized she was going on a bit as he was looking slightly impatient with her. 

             
"You just commanded the wind to stop and it did. That is not an Earth Elemental power." Aarion was talking abruptly with Trinny. She was not appreciating it. 

             
"You know, your cutting tone is not making for an enjoyable trip. And I personally have no idea what an Earth Elemental can do, it's new to me, so lets just move on shall we? As I can see you are finding our time together uncomfortable, so the sooner it's over, the better for both of us." She brushed past Aarion and stormed ahead, the wind stayed still the rest of the way through the field, but only in the areas that Trinny walked, Aarion was left out in the flurry behind her, feeling very small. He longed to catch up to her and make everything right again, but he was feeling bewildered by her new skill, and her strength. He knew he deserved what she said.
             
             

CHAPTER TWELVE

'O welcome, pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope,

Thou hovering angel, girt with golden wings!'

- John Milton

"How far now?" Emma asked Morthos.

             
It's just over the next rise." Morthos was leading the small group of three, taking large strides with his long muscular legs; Emma had to take two steps for his every one. Emma looked back toward Garus.

             
"Hurry up fairy boy." She yelled.

             
"I did explain to you that I'm not really a Fairy didn't I?" He said trying to look annoyed, but to Emma it looked more like he was constipated.

             
"Fairy, Fairon, sounds all the same to me." She teased. 

             
"You'll have to..." Garus tripped and fell flat on his face. His head popped up quickly. "I'm alright." He got up and took another step, just to find he was in the same position on the ground. Looking down at his feet, he saw there was string around his ankles; muffled laughter came from behind his head.

             
"Greetings Garus." A small voice said close to his ear, but he couldn't see who it was. Then Emma’s voice was suddenly above him.

             
"What's with the clown feet?" She asked offering him a hand. 
             

             
"Tricky Pixies!" He sat up and began unraveling the tiny ropes from his legs. More laughter came from behind him. Emma knelt down to see three tiny child like creatures about five inches tall. They had golden lucid wings that were another inch taller than themselves and dark short wild hair. They wore short fitted dresses that looked like they were made of a tea stained muslin. Bright violet eyes and the cheekiest smiles Emma had ever seen looked up at her, she loved them already.

             
"It's a pleasure to meet such charming ladies, anyone who can put Garus in his place is a friend of mine." Emma
held out her hand to the Pixies, they looked at each other for a moment, and then one of them flittered up onto her palm.

             
"Like wise mortal girl. We haven't met your kind before, but we like you." Her little voice was just audible to Emma.

             
"Well thank you, I like you too, you have the best hair, very Goth.” The Pixies giggled. 

             
"Away Pixies, we don't need your nonsense right now." Morthos voice boomed at the tiny creatures, they jumped in fright and took shelter behind Emma.

             
"Leave them alone Morthos, they were just having a little fun." They smiled at Emma as she looked down at them. 

             
"Fine. Go now pixies, we are on an important mission and we don't have time for fun right now." He spoke like he was talking to a three year old. Emma rolled her eyes. The Pixies blew Morthos a raspberry, waved at Emma and flew toward a nearby Willow tree. Garus got up and took a deep breath; Emma put her arm through Garus's and led him along.

             
"So you do have a way with the girls Garus, you just have to learn to get the big girls to like you now." Emma smirked at him.

             
"They don't like me, they hate me, they're always playing some kind of trick on me, they never touch Morthos." Garus was agitated.

             
"They like you, girls always hurt the ones they like, one day you'll understand my friend." Garus shook his head in disbelief at Emma’s last comment.

             
"There it is!" Morthos called out. 

Just beyond a row of huge weeping Willow trees stood an old stone building, to Emma it looked like an ancient church without the cross and stain glass windows. It had a huge
arched doorway and thick wooden doors that opened up on both sides, which is exactly how Morthos opened them, Emma had always imagined he had a little of the dramatic in him. The three of them stepped into the doorway to find that they were standing in front of five tall men with long dark dreaded hair tied at the back of their necks. They had fine pointy ears and noses; Emma thought they had stunning high cheekbones.

             
"Are they Fairies?" She asked Garus quietly.

             
"No. Elves."

Silence was not Trinny's favorite thing, she was used to a constant buzz of noise in her own world, conversations and music always filled the cafe, crashing ocean waves and street traffic met her when she left her house, now she had none of it. For three hours Aarion had led her through glades and farmlands, he avoided people he saw in the distance, and every now and then he would stop and motion for her to not make a move or sound, she was getting sick of it. Was he punishing her for kissing him,
you would think he would have a lot more maturity after 300 years
, she thought to herself. '
Old man'
, she mouthed toward Aarion mockingly, and let out a giggle. 

             
"Something funny?" He turned and asked.

             
"Just thinking about how old you are, and how hard Emma is going to laugh when I tell her my first kiss was with an old man." Trinny was finding it hard to contain her laughter, but she couldn't help herself, she had felt annoyed for so long, she was starting to see the funny side of the situation, she wasn't meaning to be so honest, but she really didn't care if she hurt his feelings, he hadn't cared about hurting hers.

             
"Well, maybe next time you'll wait to be kissed by the guy, rather than making the first move." Aarion spoke very directly.