Falling in Love with the King of Beasts

GAHRYE

Gahrye heaved a sigh of relief when he caught Suhle just leaving the prison tree. The guards were gone, taking a rare afternoon off because Lerrin was gone. She must have taken time to clean things inside before leaving, because she slipped through the door with a huge basket over one arm, overflowing with clothing, cloths, and what appeared to be blankets.

When she saw him her brows rose, but she smiled. "Hello," she said softly, a gentle question in her tone. "Are you looking for me?"

Gahrye nodded. "I know you've had a busy morning already, but I was hoping I might steal you away for some time. There is a… proposition. A matter of work that I would like you to consider. For the crown," he said.

She sighed. "Did Reth send you?"

"Actually, no. Elia."

Suhle blinked, then gave a new, tight smile. "I'm afraid I have to clean all of these things and get them hung to dry."

"Are you going to the river?"

She nodded.

Gahrye shrugged. "If you don't mind, I could come with you and talk with you while you work."

She looked like she was uncertain about that, but couldn't think of a polite denial, so she started to walk and let Gahrye fall in beside her.

He took the basket from her arm, and she thanked him.

They were mostly quiet during the walk to the river, but when they reached the spot she'd chosen and she knelt next to the water and brought out the clothing and soap she'd brought, Gahrye offered to help.

"I'm fine, I enjoy these tasks, especially when I can do them outside," she said quietly and began dunking the shirt and blanket to saturate them and soap them up. "So… what was it you wished to speak to me about? I have to tell you, I don't know that I'll be able to take on any further responsibilities."

"This wouldn't be a daily responsibility—at least, not unless you chose it. I have… something unique. But first, I have to tell you, Suhle, that Reth speaks very highly of you and your character. That's important because I've been given a purpose by the Creator—I know that sounds grand, but it is the pure truth—and I've been looking for Anima that have the… strength of character to join me in it. That's why I'm approaching you."

She'd paused in her work when he stated that he had a purpose, turning her very bright blue eyes on him and staring, blank-faced. "A purpose?"

"Yes."

"Can I ask what it is?"

Gahrye took a breath. "In general terms… I have learned that I am here to… to watch over others. To protect those who are vulnerable from harm. That I have been uniquely equipped to do so. And I think that, perhaps, you have, too, Suhle."

She nodded, accepting this as fact, which surprised him. He had expected her to push aside any compliments, since she seemed very humble. Yet, she didn't flaunt her strength either. She was a strange female.

"I am glad to hear you understand that our purpose lies in the Creator's plan," she said softly. "Many do not."

Gahrye shrugged. "I always knew it as a truth, but recently… recently he has been very clear with me. It's challenging."

"Walking into purpose always is," she said simply. "Helping others find their purpose and pursue it… that is what I am gifted for," she said hesitantly. "So what is yours, Gahrye? Even if I am not to be a tool in your hands, perhaps I can encourage you."

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions, just to make sure you are one of those the Creator has called me to… discuss this with?"

She nodded again, looking thoughtful.

Gahrye was standing over her at the edge of the water, so he lowered himself to sit on a stone just a couple feet away, leaning his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands. "Can you tell me what you observed with the wolves? Why they left the Tree City and rebelled in the first place, and then why Lerrin returned them?"

Suhle turned away from him, and for a moment he though she might deny him the story, but instead she was wringing out the blanket and clothing and hanging them over a tree branch, though she'd barely touched them with the soap. When she turned back to him, she settled herself on a nearby rock and folded her hands in her lap.

"Do you want the story as it happened, or what I believe I saw?" she said carefully.

Gahrye fought a smile. "I read the winds, Suhle. If you do also, or if you have a similar gift, please… tell me what you saw."

She nodded. "I do not read the winds, but I am… perceptive," she said, choosing her words carefully. "And what I observed before the wolves left was a growing feeling of anger and isolation. It worried me. I know Reth is a good ruler, and their heads were being turned. At first, I was too far away from the source to identify it. But once we went to the encampment…" she trailed off, biting her lip, as if making a decision. Gahrye waited.

"I…" she said quietly, "I did not go to the encampment because I agreed with the conclusions they'd drawn. I went because I felt there was a need for… wisdom. And for someone to be able to bring information back if things got bad." She met his eyes then, a challenging spark in hers. "I am not a liar, though," she added, oddly.

Gahrye shook his head. "You do not strike me as one, and I do read the winds. There's no shift of deceit around you."

She smiled prettily then. "Thank you."

He shrugged. "So, what did you see while you were there?"

Suhle sighed and rolled her shoulders like she was uncomfortable. "I saw the enemy at work within," she said quietly. "I saw evil creeping through the people—but most of them blind to it, despite the clinging scent of it on them." She shivered and Gahrye's stomach bloomed with tamped-down excitement. She could smell evil?

"And I saw a leader who… who had been misled." She met his eyes again. "Lerrin returned them all—without their knowledge—because once he learned about the darkness in his people he knew that he needed help to eradicate it. That there were too many leaders among them already infected to be able to make the change effective… he couldn't do it alone. He recognized the light in Reth, and humbled himself to ask for his assistance. I admire the decision greatly."

Gahrye nodded, "As do I, when you put it that way. Can you tell me: You mentioned the stink on them. You have a gift for smelling evil?"

"No, it wasn't that. There was just something… odd in their scent. They smelled wrong, but I couldn't have told you why. But now that I know the scent of it… now I would know it. So perhaps in that way yes, I can smell it?"

Gahrye's mind flashed back to when he'd met Shaw and that smell he hadn't been able to identify, but that made him so uneasy. He went very still.

"Suhle… If I… If I were take you to something that might smell the same as what you're describing… do you think you could recognize it?"

"Absolutely," she said.

Gahrye's heart raced.