After a bit of time, Ililith finally caught up with Zephyr. She moved closer to him, catching his hand from behind.
"What do you want?!" he shouted, pulling his hand away. He tried to turn back on his way, but his hand was once again caught by the girl.
"Zephyr, please, calm down…" Ili spoke, her voice getting a little softer.
The kalzraak wanted to pull his arm away once again, but seeing the girl's pleading eyes, he sighed, relaxing his arm.
"Listen, Ili. I appreciate all your help, but I think it's best if we part ways."
Ili listened to him, but clenched his arm harder, not letting him walk away.
"No, it's not!" she spoke. "It wouldn't be better at all... I know we can make this work! I'm sure of it! We'll find a way to make it work..." Her eyes trailed off as she said the last words, not entirely believing herself either.
"Ili... Better to let go now. I'll manage on my own, as I did until now too. And I'm certain that you'll manage too."
"That's not the problem! I just... Don't want you to be alone anymore..." the girl looked at the ground, feeling her eyes get teary.
"Ili..."
"No! I won't let you go! I've made up my mind! I don't care about what everyone says. You'll be coming with me..." Her voice got a little softer, her eyes trailing to the side. "You owe me at least that much for saving your life..."
Zephyr looked into her blue eyes, not knowing what to say anymore.
"Ili, I..."
Through the trees, Kulhun finally reached the two. Seeing him, Zephyr's body tensed slightly, a crystal dagger taking form in the palm of his free hand.
"Hey, it's alright!" the dwarf said, raising both his arms in front of him, showing that he wasn't armed. "I'm not going to attack you."
"Then what do you want?" Zephyr spoke, keeping his eyes fixated on him.
"Listen, I'm sorry for my cousin..."
"Damn right you should be! The damn animal nearly killed me!"
Kulhun kept his distance, so as to not provoke the boy further. He lowered his arms.
"I understand that you're angry, and you have every right to be. I know that you don't have any reason to trust me, as I otherwise don't have any reason to trust you either. But please, hear me out."
Zephyr calmed down slightly, letting the hand with the dagger down, but still keeping the weapon intact.
"Alright. I'll hear what you have to say, dwarf."
Kulhun stood a few seconds, contemplating whether or not to say what he was going to, but finally decided to talk, letting out a deep sigh.
"I'm willing to trust you, boy. I'm willing to believe that you aren't as all the others say. I'm willing to vouch for you in front of others, and try to make them less hostile towards you."
Zephyr's eyes narrowed.
"Why?" he asked, keeping his guard up.
"Because she trusts you." Kulhun responded, looking at Ililith. "And because I'm willing to give you a chance to prove that you're not like how everybody describes you."
Kulhun took a few steps towards Zephyr, his brow furrowing, in a cold and menacing manner.
"But should you ever dare lay even a finger on her, or anyone else for that matter…"
Zephyr's eyes narrowed, but calmed down slightly.
"I won't."
Kulhun looked him up and down a few times, but finally accepted his words, holding out his arm.
"Be it as you say, boy."
Zephyr was surprised by Kulhun's sudden shift in behaviour, but finally dropped the crystal dagger and shook the dwarf's hand. They looked at each other for some time, before finally letting go.
"Alright, kids, let's get back to the village!" Kulhun spoke, before looking back at Zephyr, who seemed hesitant. "Don't worry, you'll be safe. At least as long as you're with me and Ililith."
Ili looked down at the ground, a little shy and hesitant to ask what she wanted to say, trying not to seem rude.
"What is it, Ili?" Kulhun asked, seeing her hesitation.
"So..." Ili started. "You know... The Festival..."
Kulhun chuckled.
"Don't worry, we'll all get to see it tonight. You won't miss it!"
"A-Alright... Thank you..."
Ili was still looking at the ground, so she shook her head and slapped her cheeks twice to get back to her usual self, and raised her head with an excited smile on her face.
"Alright, let's go!"
The three of them began walking through the hard snow, following the trail of footsteps Kaeldor and Kulhun left when they first came. Ililith and Kulhun were walking in front, as Ili was telling Kulhun all that had happened while she was gone. Zephyr walked behind them, a few steps back. He felt... strange. A peculiar feeling of loneliness he had never experienced before... Or, perhaps, the absence of it. His mind went blank for a few seconds as he kept staring at the snow beneath his feet, until Ili came up beside him.
"Heya!" Ili said, a sweet smile lighting up her face. "How're you feeling?"
"I'm... good. I guess it just feels weird, that's all."
"Weird? What do you mean?"
"I don't really know either," Zephyr answered, still looking at the ground. "Eh, I'm sure it'll pass." He smiled, feeling slightly guilty for looking so down for no apparent reason, especially with Ililith right next to him.
"Well, either way," he said, "thank you! Really..."
Ili's cheeks reddened at his thanks, caught off guard by his words. She stumbled a bit over her response, letting out a soft, embarrassed chuckle before finding her voice.
"Oh... no worries! I'm happy to help! But... Why did you thank me?"
Zephyr smiled softly, looking into her eyes.
"For everything... You saved me, thrice, and who knows how many more times in the future. I know we just met yesterday, but... I'm glad we did!"
A warm smile spread across Ili's face.
"Aww... thank you!" she replied, patting Zephyr on the head.
"Hey, stop that!" the boy protested, pulling away. "I'm not a child!"
"Heh, I know," Ili said, not the least bit bothered by his reaction as she slowly took her hand away. "Just take it as a token of appreciation for your kind words, okay?"
Zephyr wanted to reply, but couldn't find the words when he saw Ili's smug, proud face.
"Just... don't do that again, okay?"
"No promises!" Ili grinned, patting him on the head again before darting back to Kulhun to continue her story.
The kalzraak sighed, trying to maintain a serious demeanor as he resumed his 'snow viewing'. Yet, a slight chuckle escaped his lips as he watched the overly enthusiastic girl ahead, animatedly recounting her little adventure to Kulhun.
"Maybe it's not so bad after all..." he murmured quietly to himself as the three continued their path, through the snowy forest.
After a few hours, they finally made it back to the road at the edge of the forest. It was a bit further along the path than where they had first entered the woods, but still not too far from the village.
On the road, a wagon pulled by large bovines trundled along, moving away from the village. It looked like a merchant's wagon, packed with items made from animals: woolen clothes, leather shoes, cups carved from animal horns, and more. The driver was an old-looking dwarf, yet his physique was strong and imposing, with an axe strapped to his back. Beside him sat a small dwarven child, likely his son, humming.
Kulhun stopped, eyeing the wagon thoughtfully.
"You know what?" he said, a proud smile spreading across his face. "I think I just found a way to make our lives much easier! You two, stay here! I'll be back in a second."
"Alright..?" Ili replied, uncertain of what Kulhun planned to do but choosing to trust him.
Ililith and Zephyr retreated into the forest, out of the merchant's sight, as Kulhun climbed down to the road. As they waited, they heard the wagon come to a stop, followed by a brief conversation between the two dwarves. It was too muffled to make out any details, but soon after, they heard a friendly dwarven greeting, and the wagon continued on its way.
In a few seconds, Kulhun returned, holding two empty animal horns, a grin plastered on his face.
"Guess wha' I got!" he said excitedly.
"Two animal horns? Wow, so impressive..." Zephyr muttered sarcastically, annoyed at what seemed like a waste of time.
Unlike Zephyr, Ili's eyes widened as she immediately grasped Kulhun's intention.
"Wait!" she exclaimed, her face lighting up with excitement. "This might actually be a great idea!"
"What are you guys talking about?" Zephyr asked, completely confused.
"What do you think?" Ili responded eagerly. "We're making you into an axialus (1)!"
"Axialus?" Zephyr echoed, blinking in surprise. "Huh?!"
(...)
A few minutes later, after a lot of threats and swear words from Zephyr, Ili and Kulhun finished their 'masterpiece'! Using a piece of rope from Ili's satchel and a bit of binding magic that she knew, they managed to secure the horns tightly onto Zephyr's head, right over his natural ones.
"Tada!" Ili exclaimed happily, picking up a piece of ice from the ground and holding it in front of Zephyr as if it were a mirror.
Zephyr glanced at it, then hung his head, rubbing his temples.
"This is so stupid..." he muttered.
"Well, stupid or not, at least this way I won't have to convince everyone to accept a cold-blooded demon in the village!" Kulhun replied, clearly pleased with himself.
"I'm not a cold-bloo–!" Zephyr sighed, defeated. "Fine, whatever... As long as this plan works, I guess it's fine with me."
Footnotes:
1 - Axialus: The second type of kalzraak. With horns resembling those of animals, axialus were mixed-blooded kalzraaks. Unlike the dexus, the pure-blooded kalzraaks, axialus weren't feared by others and were seen as a different species, lacking most of the abilities that dexus had thanks to their kalzraak blood. In short, the non-threatening kalzraaks.