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Zena sat quietly and embarrassed by the whole matter. She was not very good with people, this was clear but being this undressed in front of someone, a man for that matter was a whole new thing for Zena. The little witch clinched onto the blanket and held it close to her body as she watched Kriess take her wet clothes and se them by the fire to dry. He didn't seemed bother at all that Zena was wearing nothing but a blanket and she didn't know how to take it.

As the knight turned around to look at her, Zena blushed more and tried to hide herself more from Kreiss but it didn't help when he got closer to her and was eye level with her. Her heart started racing all the sudden and her face felt so hot as she was turning bright red. Her wild hair now starting to frizz up a little as she looked into the eyes of the man who saved her. " K-Kreiss..." She looked away as she took his hand and nodded a little. " Y-You need to change out of those wet clothes as well before you get a cold..."

"D-Don't say that! I don't want to picture a naked man in my home!" Zena snapped as she shook her head, trying not to think of such a thing which only made her hair get wilder and more frizzy. She then felt a small squeeze to her hand, making her stop shaking her head to look back at the knight before her. She thought about his proposal and once again wanted to argue with him about his health and to change but Zena had the blanket and she did not want a naked man in her home with her in it. " Alright... But make sure you are dry before going outside alright?" She said as she squeezed his hand back a little and gave him a firm nod. " I am not letting go until you are dry." She knew he would try going to work when his clothes were not fully dry so this was her way of making sure that didn't happen.

As Kreiss moved to sit next to her she turned her head away with her cheeks still a light shade of pink. For whatever reason with Kriess being so close and touching her, her chest tightened up so much. Maybe it was just from all the fear from earlier? It must of been..." I thought you would only brush my hair if I was a child?" She teased a little but still didn't dare look at the man. When the question was asked why she was out in the water the frail woman shifted a little. " Its not like I wanted to go into the water..." She said quietly. "I...Found a flower." Zena said as she too looked at the fire. " Nothing grows in these woods other then what I grow here in the garden which is a lot of work and its still really nothing. Even in the spring there are no plants nor fish. This place is lifeless without the work I put into the little garden. But in the water I saw a lotus. It was a single pink lotus floating in the spring. It grew all on its own, I had nothing to do with it as it grew all on its own in a lifeless forest. I wanted to get a better look at it, maybe bring it in and get seed off of it to maybe plant more but I slipped and that why you found me in the water..."

" Alright, alright you can brush my hair." Zena said with a light laugh. She enjoyed having her hair brushed by others so she really did not mind if Kreiss brushed her hair. If he wanted to brush it every night she wouldn't mind one bit. " Only because its frizzy." She giggled as she moved her head a little to move any stray hairs out of her face.

As Kreiss explained to Zena that it would be better to let the flower grow on its own and leave it alone she thought about it for a moment. " But..." She thought about it a bit more. If the flower could grow on its own without her magic to help it grow then it should be able to keep growing along with more right? " I guess if was able to grow on its own there is no reason why it can't live on its own and be able to grow more." Zena said to herself out loud as she thought about it. " Guess I got a little to excited when I saw it." That lotus was the first flower Zena had seen since she left the village she was born in. All she had to remember flowers by was in some of the books she had that had drawings of them. " I hope lots of them grow... And more kinds of flowers, not just the ones in the water." Zena said softly with a soft smile as she thought of the spring filled with lotus's and all kinds of flowers growing around her cabin.

" I don't know... Maybe that witch used her powers to make it happen?" She was only joking but a part of her hoped it to be true and that person be her mother but she knew that was not possible. It was possible some magic was part of it but it was not with Zena's magic. Maybe the spring itself was able to make it with what magic it had in it to even exist? Hard to say but Zena was grateful for however the lotus came about.

" Maybe... She used her magic for good?" Zena pointed out before she turned her head to look at Kreiss. " What if the witch you are hunting in these woods is a good witch? Use's her powers to only for the good?" Zena wanted to know what Kreiss thought about witches in general. From what Zena knew, Kreiss was a kind knight and would never hurt her as he had stated many times he only wanted what was best for her and keep her safe but would he still say those things and feel that way if he knew she was in fact a witch, the very thing he was hunting. Would it matter even if she was not the witch casting all these spells that are causing all these problems?

" I am sorry, I did not mean to scare you Kreiss... I haven't seen anything like that since the day I left my village. Something that beautiful..." She really didn't mean to make the young man worry. " I promise I won't do it again." Zena didn't plan on going that close to the water again unless she was filling up her watering can. The plan about watching over the lotus made the small female smiled at Kreiss and gave him a nod. " Deal." The two of them would watch over the little lotus in the spring and she hoped more would bloom. " Wouldn't it be great if the whole spring was covered in them? It would be so pretty..." She closed her eyes, thinking of how it would look and it made her smile even more.

Her eyes opened up again when Kreiss let out a sneeze and she frowned a little." You really need to get out of those wet clothes Kreiss..." Zena said before standing up and letting go of his hand. " I am dry enough to put some clothes on. Wait here and no peeking!" She then walked to the chest and looked through her mothers old things and pulled out a plain green dress that was a bit to big for her but it would do. Zena walked back with the blanket in her hand and the other lifting up the dress so she wouldn't trip. " Here, take it." She said as she handed over the blanket.

Nodding her head, the little witch turned around and looked out the window where she could see Philip drinking from his water bucket. Kreiss never said anything about what he thought if the witch was good which made her worry a little but she shook the idea out of her mind because she knew if she kept worrying about it she might end up slipping and he will add it all up that she is a witch.

" True... But still think of how nice it will look and smell? I could even use it to make some kinds of tea maybe and use the roots for cooking." Zena started thinking of what ways she could use the lotus's if they were able to grow a lot more of them. The moment Kreiss brought up fish and other animals coming to the spring her eyes lit up at the thought. " That would to wonderful Kreiss! Philip would have someone he could run around with if other animals were to show up. We could go fishing, eat better and have more food as well." Zena's mind went wild at the thought of all the wildlife that they could have but she then gave a weak smile and shook her head. " To bad that could never happen here... Not with those creatures out there that kill anything with a heart. Even if a bird where to fly into these woods it wouldn't last long." She thought of that war horse she saw when she found Kreiss, it was more then likely dead as those cursed creatures stopped at nothing to kill anything with a beating heart.

Once it was alright to turn around Zena did so but when seeing Kreiss in nothing but a blanket made the woman blush and look down at her feet as her chest tighten up once again. " Hunt them? Kreiss you can't just hunt them down, there is way to many of them! Not one man can fight them off, look at what happened to your brother knights and that was just a simple pack of them... There are much bigger creatures out there that are much stronger then that pack you ran into." Zena explained as she clinched her fist a little. " All those things out there were once living beings that have been twisted and cursed by these woods... Every man that steps foot here and every animal that don't make it out alive become one of those things... You can't hunt them down Kreiss as they are the hunters and we the pray..." There was no way that a human could fight them on his own, Zena was just barely getting by hiding from them with magic.

Zena felt sick to her stomach as Kreiss said he would still hunt down the witch as it was his order. She turned away once again so her back was facing him once more. She could die and by his hands if he found out she was a witch but he then said if the witch was truly good he may not be able to swing his sword but there was still that may part. What if he didn't believe her if he were to find out?

" Kreiss Its not that simple, you saw what happened to the others that you were with and that was just a basic pack. You would of been dead if I had not come along. If he went hunting for those cursed creatures he was signing for a death wish. When Kreiss started to question her she bit her lip and thought for a moment what to say next. " The chances of people coming here coming out alive is very slim as those things out there hunt anything with a heart beat until it is dead. Do you see any other living thing but us here? No and that is because everything that was trapped in here has turned into one of them."

Finally Zena turned around to look at Kreiss. " You are just one man! You are dealing with magic here, dark magic Kreiss! Do you really think you can simply hunt it down? You almost died Kreiss! You should be dead that day you were attacked! You got lucky, the gods blessed you that one million chance but don't think it will happen again... You will die..." The witch turned away once more and started walking towards her desk. " Once you are well enough to walk in armour you are leaving and not coming back unless you want to die a painful death and be cursed here..."

Kreiss was asking questions Zena couldn't answer without getting killed. How was she going to answer him? " The spring... The only reason why I can grow anything and live is because of that spring. In a land where the soil is un habitable and now a lotus is growing in it." She had to make up something to think they were safe that was not her own magic. " Think about it, this spring should not even be here, it would make sense that it had magic that would prevent the cursed coming..." He had to buy it, her life depended on it. She turned around and saw the look on his eyes and she knew he was onto her.

" Why do you look at me like you are accusing me so!? I know only what I have told you about these woods." She was scared, scared of the man that showed her kindness that she thought humans didn't have but right now he looked at her like the people back at her village who wanted her dead. " You are no good dead and you will die if you go out there blindly! Kreiss how will you keep your word protection me if you go out there to a enemy you can not beat!?" The frail female had tears start rolling down her cheeks as not only did she fear for her own life but Kreiss as well.