[Aelin x Taiʼli]
Complete


Stop. Glance back for a second. Start moving again. Wait five minutes and repeat.

That was the routine that Aelin found herself in for the fourth day now, and carefree as she was even she had a breaking point for these sorts of things. Really, she was nearing her limit. She wasn't quite there yet, but give it another day or so and she just might explode. That wasn't really like her, but put enough pressure and of course even the calmest of lions would.

It'd been well past noon when she, and the straggler who was tailing her, finally stopped to take a rest. She was beat, and who wouldn't be after non-stop walking for over half the day? She lay down in the shade of a decent-sized tree, rolling onto her side and facing the horizon to get comfortable. She always loved the view of the horizon. The one following didn't take too long to catch up (even though she thought she'd left him behind hours earlier) and was soon lying on his stomach not too far away. He greeted her with a smile before starting to pointedly ignore her, much to her irritation.

"Hey you," she finally called over to him. "Would you stop following me already?" Lin raised a brow at him, who was then looking in the opposite direction with a rather preoccupied look about him, and waited for a reply.


Honestly, they'd just been going in the same direction. It started out rather normally; they didn't even cross paths. He just happened to spot her a little way's ahead at one point and, for some reason, since then everything he looked straight ahead he could always see her figure in the distance, a tiny blue speck against the usual savanna golden-brown. No, he wasn't following her.

It jsut so happened that, after he lost sight of her once she'd gotten over a little hill, he spotted the same resting spot that she happened to stop at. He was tired too so he stopped there and, no longer able to hold in the smile that crept onto his maw whenever he caught sight of that distant blue speck (who at that moment was not so distant), offered her a little smile when he saw her before taking the spot a little way's to her left and lying down to rest.

That's why, when the question came he was a little taken aback. Whether it was her tone of voice or the look on her face when he turned to face her, he wasn't sure, but there was no doubting the that he, Tai'li, was rather...annoyed.

Breathe. Calm down. Breathe. After he managed to regain his usual composure he wiped the disbelief off of his face and cleared his throat. "Excuse me?" he asked, a polite smile now on his maw.


"You heard me," she retorted, a little thrown off by the sudden change in his expression. "You've been following me since a while ago haven't you?" Not all that specific, but she was sure he knew exactly what she was talking about.

She rolled onto her stomach and raised her head, meeting his gaze. Again, it threw her off, and the confusion was written all over her face, so with furrowed brows she lowered her head once more. Her expression then mirrored his just moments ago, and from where she lay she looked up with just her eyes to see what expressions he would show then.

And now that she noticed, she took not of a couple of things. One, he was a guy; two, he was something of a looker; and three, right then when her eyes met his she caught the slightest bit of a kinder, gentler look in them before it changed again to the same, practiced politeness from earlier. She blinked a few times and huffed.

He's not that attractive, she thought, her annoyance returning.


Seems she was just as confusing as he was when it came to expressions. One minute she's annoyed, the next she's innocent and vulnerable, and the next she's confused. He wasn't sure why, but somehow the observation was a little reassuring - the thought was expressed through the look in his eyes, then he caught her gaze and it was gone.

He cleared his throat again. "Not on purpose," came his answer. "We just happen to be moving in the same direction, hard as that may be to believe." A bit of sarcasm was thrown in with the last bit, but he hoped she wouldn't notice it. Even if he had his emotions under control for the most part, some thing still manage to get through some of the time. He was still just another lion, after all.

"Putting that aside, my name is Tai'li. You can call me Tai though, or Li if you prefer." A short pause, then he added with a little waving of his paw. "To make things more civil, so we're not calling each other things like 'hey you', right? So what's your name?"

While waiting for her reply the male took a moment to look her over, as her figure in the distance hardly did her any justice. She was a rather striking blue, reminiscent of the night sky, with markings that were somewhat similar to his own yet unique at the same time. Also, though at the moment she had a sort of pouty look on her face he could easily picture her with a bright smile in its place, which only added to her charm. Simply put she was something of a beauty, though he wouldn't say that out loud.


She let a few seconds pass after his question, contemplating whether or not she would give him her name or not, and in the end decided that she would.

"Aelin," she said rather bitterly. "Lin for short."

And that was the end of the conversation between the two former strangers, as Lin's annoyance had finally piqued and she lowered her head once more and rolled onto her side so she wouldn't be facing him. She didn't want to put in any more effort trying to talk to someone she, at the moment, just wanted to get away from.

In fact, after turning away she promptly decided to go to sleep in hopes of finding sanctuary in some dreamland or another. As an added bonus, this Tai'li would probably be gone by the time she woke up. A genius plan, she had to admit.

So sleep she did, all other cares flying out the window save for the one that pleaded she get away from him as soon as possible.


Sleep, huh? he thought with a wry smile on his maw. Shrugging, however, he didn't let it bother him and he simply went on with resting. At some point he went on a little hunt for dinner and cam back with her portion which he set down nearby her, and he lay down again.

Truth be told, he had no intention of leaving just yet as it was already nightfall and Lin was still asleep and defenseless. Even if she wanted him to go away there was no way he could (or would) given the situation, so he waited there patiently for her to wake up.

So morning came and he was still waiting, occasionally glancing at the lioness through his sleep-deprived eyes and smiling through the exhaustion, until she finally woke.

He yawned at that.


The smell of meat permeated her dream and Lin at last stirred back into the waking world, a yawn escaping as she slowly opened her eyes.

And you couldn't imagine the disappointment in those sky blue eyes when she, upon opening them, saw once more the very lion that in order to get away from she had resorted to sleeping and escaping into a dreamland. A dreamland. The lioness could hardly believe it, and just as she was about to give him a piece of her mind her stomach protested and she became aware of just how hungry she was at that very moment.

Glancing down she saw that there was a piece of meat there so, with the energy she was about to put forth to demand an answer from him, she ate. She ate until she had her fill (which was all of it) and then she looked up at him, just a touch of gratitude in her eyes.

"Morning," she greeted before getting up and stretching out to wake herself up a bit more. Just from the look on his face she could tell that he didn't sleep. What he did all night that kept him from sleeping she'd never understand, but somehow she felt a little bit at fault. Just a little bit. No, a tiny bit. Tiny.


"Good morning," he returned, this time with a genuinely polite smile on. "Seems you had a good sleep." The male laughed a little at that, then stood and stretched out as well, and for the same reason.

Afterward he lay down again, wanting to save up even just a bit of energy so that he could start walking in the opposite direction of whichever way she went. Just so she wouldn't say that he was following her again. "I ate after I woke up by the way, in case you felt a little guilty about eating that entire piece on your own." Again he laughed, attempting to hide his exhaustion, and he stood up.

"So which way are you headed?" he asked, shaking out his mane as it felt a little dirty just then.


She eyed him curiously. He lied, of course; even she could tell that he hadn't had any rest the previous night. He also hadn't eaten yet, but she couldn't help the little smile that made its way onto her maw when he made the little joke. Clearing her throat, she feigned annoyance and faced a random direction.

"This way," she announced with a slightly louder voice than normal. She looked back and him and noticed that he was still smiling, which...to be completely honest, was a little eerie, but she shook the strange feeling and turned around to face him. "I take it you'll be coming after me again?"


He shook his head at her question and turned to face the opposite direction. "No, I'll go this way. Seems you don't like having me around much, so I won't bother you on purpose just to poke fun. Anyway, I'll be seeing you...perhaps. If by some chance we run into each other again I think I'd consider it something of a miracle."

So with that he bowed his head, bid his goodbye and started walking, his pace much slower than it had been the day before. And why shouldn't it be? He didn't sleep, after all, and nor did he eat breakfast. He had a big dinner though, so the hunger wasn't exactly too much for him to handle. It wasn't long before he glanced back at the little oasis, hoping to catch just one more glimpse of that blue speck in the distance.

It wasn't exactly what he was hoping for, but he was surprised by what he did see. The blue speck was getting...closer?


Lin watched him start off on his own, her 'goodbye' coming out a little mumbled as she was surprised but what he said. It was all really confusing for her, and she couldn't quite figure out this Tai'li and what he was like. Still, she couldn't say that he wasn't interesting. Plus, if she left things as they were and let him leave then she'd owe him something and she had a hard time being carefree knowing she owes someone something. So, with the better part of her judgement (at least as far as she was concerned) stowed, she hurried after him and walked at his pace, by his side.

She said nothing at first, even after he'd stared at her in somewhat of a stupor for a good minute, until they'd been walking for quite some time already and had caught sight of another resting spot. It was still well before noon then, but she spoke up.

"Let's stop for a bit, okay?" she said firmly. "You rest. Sleep even, if you want. I'll find us lunch."


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