Chapter Twenty-Four - Remember Me (Aide's POV)

                                    

                                          
[The picture above is from Deviantart. I stumbled across it and thought it looked exactly like Aide and Tessmia!]


                          
Aide's POV;
                          
He walked across the frosty ground, the earth cracking beneath his feet. The wind blew through the trees and pulled softly at his hair. 
                          
It was strange being home. 
                          
So many years had passed, yet everything looked the same. The small creek that ran through the woods, strangely enough still running despite the frozen weather, was exactly how he remembered it. The trees that were colored white from snow crystals, and glinted in the sun's light, were just as beautiful. The view of The Cold Sea across the cliffs, which he had gazed upon so many times, still amazed him. It was all the same. Yet for some reason, it wasn't. 
                          
The village had expanded since. The kids were growing up. His friends looked different. 
                          
But even as everything had changed, he realized that it wasn't his home that had changed. It was him. 
                          
"Well well, if it isn't my Hero," He heard a beautiful melodious voice speak to him in Elven. "Out looking for trouble?"
                          
A smile formed on his lips at the sound of his friend. He glanced over his shoulder and sent her a smile. "Hello, Sunshine."
                          
Tessmia came up to him, her soft golden curls bouncing as she jumped over the roots and rocks. She wore a white, airy dress that flowed in the soft wind. How she was still without a mate was a mystery to him. 
                          
"What are you doing out here alone?" He asked her in Elven. "You know it's not safe."
                          
"I'm not a little girl anymore, Hero. I can take care of myself. I don't need you to rescue me again." She smirked, and he smirked back. 
                          
He thought back to the first time he met her. He had been out wandering the woods when he heard a scream and the sound of splashing water. He had run towards the sound and found - what he at the time had though was a siren - a golden haired girl, drowning in the wild waves of the tides. He had jumped in, saved her from the water and pulled her to shore. When she came to consciousness and looked up at him with her big blue eyes, the first words from her mouth had been, "My Hero."
                          
Later he had met Kai who turned out to be her brother. He had adopted her nickname when he saved him from falling off a cliff. He remembered how he had pulled him up, and finally, when he was safe on the ledge again, Kai had looked at him with a smirk on his lips and exclaimed; "My Hero!"
                          
After that, they had been inseparable. Kai convinced him to join their village, and well, from there on he finally had a place to call home. After that, their relationship had developed, but that was a completely different story.
                          
"I know," He replied when his mind finally brought him back to the present. "But the last time I saw you, you were just sixteen. I have the right to worry."
                          
"Oh-oh," She suddenly said, after noticing a flicker of something on his face. She rose a brow. "You have that look on your face. What's wrong?"
                          
He rose a brow back at her and sat down on a small stone ledge. "I have a look?"
                          
"Yeah. You get this sort of... sad, concerned look in your eyes," She replied and took a seat next to him. "You press your lips together and get a crease between your brows," She ran a finger over the area between his brows. "You should stop that, it makes you look old."