I looked around to observe the area after Arinas loud exclamation to see what made her so proud to find. And I'm instantly awed by the beautiful sight that lay bare before my eyes.
A small clearing that raidiates a peacefull aura and seems to effect all living creatures that pass by, creating a sense of harmony between all races. From the very flowers in the ground, the fish swimming in the river as well as the wild animals just passing by, none of them even showed even a hint of any killing intent and just calmly passed each other.
Some even huddled up with each other, sleeping under rays of sunshine in groups of various diversity, something hard or even impossible to see anywhere else.
Looking out of the corner of my eye as I come out of my awed state, I see Arina giving a smug smile right to my face.
"Well? Did I just find a magical place or what?"
In response to the attitude she is displaying I just stare at her with a blank gaze. She quickly starts getting shy and embarrassed so she tries to avert her gaze elsewhere, that part of her awkward atempts of looking around caused me to laugh and a big smile is followed that breaks apart my usually stone cold expression, freezing her in place in shock.
"Yeah. It's a good place, I like it a lot. Thank you for being me her Arina."
I eventually say to her, expressing the gratitude to her for showing me this beautiful sight. After saying this though, I look around and find a nice spot by the river flowing by to splash my feet into and observe the fishes as well as get a view of all the animals in the surrounding. This touching sight that brings a sense of peace to my stone heart makes me wish I had a camera to take a photo with, or perhaps be able to paint this sight to immortalise it through art. Too bad I'm not much of a painter, only trying it briefly over a decade ago in school.
Though it might seem exaggerated to anyone else reading my thoughts right now, this is something I haven't been able to experience since back them. Since 'the incident' I lost all my ability to see colours or see, not becoming exactly colour blind but not being able to see any beauty in anything, only being able to see the dark side of anything that enters my sight turning my world into a monochromatic wasteland.
But being reborn, having this loving family surrounding me brought me out of this state partly, and all though not completely, their love helped me to finally grieve the deaths of my loved ones, to finally say goodbye to them and to not only recall the horrible last moments with them, but all the joyous time we spent together.
And through this. Through being able to let go if even only slightly, allowed me to see the beauty of the world once more. And not only the ugly side that is always as plain as day in front of my eyes.
I'm brought out of my thoughts as a pair of arms wrap around my shoulders and a chin resting on my head. Yes suddenly I'm wrapped up in Arinas arms and legs. Usually I might try to distance myself as she can be a bit touchy in situations like these, but as of right now due to being thankful to her for think of me and bringing me here, I also find the love I can feel through the contact calming and touching so I just relax in her embrace and make myself comfortable.
****
We ended up sitting in that same spot for hours just observing the surrounding nature, as well as its animals. Also we did a lot of talking, mostly about random things and a bit about each other but just allowing our thoughts to drift in a peaceful flowing conversation, in each others soothing company.
Though as I quickly start to feel her touch me up, not exactly in a inappropriate way, but definitely weird and not something I believe people usually do to each other. Her hands just roam my body, just feeling around as if memorising it.
This puts me deep into thoughts about her behaviour. For a while now, well since I was born really, Arina has had an almost obsessive attitude towards me that she doesn't express towards our other sibling. At first it was nothing big, just an older sibling wanting to see their baby sibling and taking an interest which is nothing out of the ordinary. But it quickly evolved to following me about a lot, staring at me from a distance and the excessive amount of skin ship.
Sometimes she also slips into bed with me while I'm sleeping, which for some reason it doesn't trigger my trained instincts and wake me up despite my keen sense. Even lulling me into deeper sleep which caused me to sleep longer and without the usually nightmares.
Though, I've never had any sibling before and she has, so it's probably normal and she'll get over it eventually.
Anyway back to the topic at hand. This obsessive behaviour came out of nowhere really, it's also shared by Mary. Not her viewing me as her favourite or anything as far as I can tell. Is it perhaps my appearance resembling someone else and that love is directed at them? No it doesn't feel that way, and with {empathetic eye} I can feel it directed to me…. Well, guess I will forget it for now since it doesn't matter much anyway, just got me curious that's all, I know it comes from a place of love anyway… no matter how dark and deep.
_____
[elsewhere]
In a dinning room of lavish design, as if maticulously crafted to shout at the guests or visitors that 'I'm richer than you' in a subtal but plain as day view kind of way to anyone watching, a man dressed in dark clothes made specifically for stealth can be seen kneeling to another figure.
This one in a noble attire littered with jewels and gold, showing of wealth and perhaps holding different purposes, can be seen eating a meal and ignoring the others presence for a while with a look of arrogance perpetually plastered onto his face. Though due to the dark of the room and only with the dim glow of candles can the outline be seen.
"Well? What do you have for me, spy?"
The blond noble eventually speaks out in an impatient tone as well as looking at the kneeling figure with a look of pure disdain.
Blind to this look due to his lowered head and deaf to the mockery his lords voice is laced with the man of assassin attire speaks up.
"Yes, my lord! We have placed people in the area and have began observing the target already."
______