Chapter 78: Can’t take it Back

  Azaa stopped still. “You are an incredible woman.” the words rang inside her like a bell and echoed through her mind. Out of nowhere, without any prompt or reason he had said something like this.

  She controlled herself and turned her head to Marcus, who had not complaint for the last two hours, even so she had been purposefully rude to him. “Why would you say that?” She asked, keeping her voice cool and her breath calm.

  “I’m sorry, I only now realized how amazing you really are. It must be obvious to everybody around you, but with your high level and many years of experience, I failed to understand that you are a genius.” Marcus with the warm eyes, soft hair and faint smile said.

  Azaa only nodded “I will be done soon.” and turned back around.

  Five minutes later she joined Marcus and apologized for the delay. “It was important work, that I had to do myself.” He was understanding and handed her another gift. It was a pretty wind chime and she thanked him for it with few words. She carefully made a cut on his arm and started to draw out his blood as she had done many times before.

  Marcus wanted to keep the conversation going after all the silence and asked something he had thought about before. “You have not mentioned your mother before. Is she in the city, too?” He was kind of curious about the woman who had married the Protector and had given birth to Azaa and Uela.

  “No, she is gone.” Azaa said, happy enough that they had moved away from “You are an incredible woman.”.

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. My mother has died too.” Marcus said, kicking himself for not thinking about the possibility that the mother of a 140 year old woman could be gone already. Azaa looked up and tilted her head.

  “My mother is alive, she is on one of her journeys. It might take a few more years before she returns.” she said and after a few seconds added “What happened to your mother?” And there it was, the lack of social skills he knew too well. He understood she did not mean anything by it, but now he had to decide what to tell her. Hiding it was stupid, she nor any ginghi was at fault.

  “When I was still a kid, she was killed… by a Wildling.” he said, leaving the whole “in front of my eyes” part out. Since the talk with his father he could handle the topic much better.

  The blood draining suddenly stopped. As the last drop of blood fell into the glass container, Azaa buried her face in her hands. In a fraction of a second she had understood and it made her feel wretched. Thanks to her over one hundred intelligence crests and powerful natural mind Azaa had crystal clear recollection of the past. Including her first meeting with Marcus. Even she had not missed the fear in his eyes in front of the city gate or how his friends had suddenly stepped forward to protect him. She had taken him for a particular anxious young man that day, who had failed to control his emotions in her presence. But now she knew why he had been afraid.

  To make matters worse, she had dragged him away from his people and drained his blood nearly completely. The mistake she had made that day, in her excitement to regenerate her father, it weighed even heavier on her now. Azaa looked between her fingers at Marcus’ worried face and felt a wave of regret “I am sorry.” she said.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “No, it is alright. I don’t blame the ginghi, I understand the difference.” He said but Azaa sat up straight and looked at him with eyes he had not seen before.

  “You were afraid of me, but I ignored it. I forced you to give your blood. I nearly killed you because I did not care enough about your well being. IT IS NOT ALRIGHT.” Her words hit Marcus unprepared. He needed a second to understand what she was talking about. So, she did overdo it that day, Marcus thought. A long silence followed.

  “If you wish you can leave.” Azaa said with a soft voice.

  “You are not going to do the blood massage?” Marcus answered in an equally soft tone.

  “You still want me to touch you?” She said and he smiled,

  “We all make mistakes. It is in the past, I do not believe you want to harm me now.” and added a breath later “I also really like it.” Azaa nodded and stepped behind him while he took his shirt off. She placed her hand on his bare back and started slowly. She enjoyed touching him.

  The door closed behind Marcus, and she listened as his footsteps moved away. Azaa took a deep breath and followed Marcus with her mind. She could feel his life essence moving to the embassy and once he had packed up, he would leave for a whole Earth month. Until now this had not been a long time to her. She thought for a moment and then moved with purpose.

  Marcus packed his bags and prepared to put on his armor, but his mind was somewhere far away. He understood Azaa much better now. The single puzzle piece he had finally grasped made so many things clear to him. Her honest words and the expression on her face, Marcus could still see it in his minds eye. He cared little about what happened back then in comparison to how happy it made him to see her express her feelings in front of him. Her vibrant eyes, her proud cheeks and nose, her moving chest… it was not a good idea to follow this train of thought, Marcus knew. Azaa was a being on a whole different level and he could count himself lucky that he was allowed to spent as much time with her as is. It would take a long time until his blood would be able to fully heal her father and until then he would see her once a month. That had to be enough.

  He closed his bag and started to take off his clothes to switch to his armor as a soft knock sounded from his door. Marcus put on his shirt again and opened the door, and looked into the dark eyes of Azaa. “You promised to improve your play.” She said and had the game board in hand.

  They moved to a small garden upon a house, which as it turned out belonged to Azaa. She put the game board and the pieces on a table and they sat down to play. It was a complete disaster.

  What ever skill he imagined he had gained did not make any difference against the heavenly master Azaa. He felt like he was running against a steel wall, unable to make even a scratch. Human level Go was like child’s play in comparison. The only good thing he could find, was that he was at least learning something. With the little knowledge he had already gained he started to see some reason and strategy on the board. The other, really minor detail, he enjoyed was that Azaa had changed her dress to a lavender colored one, which looked really good on her.

  Between the games and explaining ideas and strategies to Marcus, Azaa brought various foods and drinks for them, ginghi food for her and human food for him. The day ended again with Marcus feeling completely lost and his brain drained dry. “I was so confident I would play better.” He said and Azaa smiled,

  “You have improved, it is just a very long journey to master the game. You can not expect to succeed after only trying for a short time. We can work on your skill next time you return.” She said and Marcus was happy for the opportunity.

  As they parted ways, he thanked her for the hospitality and left for Earth. Azaa stayed in her small garden with her eyes closed, until she felt his life essence vanish from this planet. She opened her eyes, looked at the game board and let her finger run over some of the stone pieces. He tried so hard, even so he had little experience and no intelligence crests.

  She moved to her home and installed the gifted wind chime next to one of her windows and let it open for the night. There were still several tasks unfinished, but she went to bed and wrapped the blanket around her body. The soft sounds of the wind chime filled the air, “You are an incredible woman.” Marcus said and gently took off her dress. He was not bothered by her coloring and his lips told her that he desired her as a woman. Heat ran through her body and she gave into it. Azaa no longer cared how young he was.