To Owe a Favor

Killian's POV

The rest of training could've gone better. Through my own impatience to end training, my opponent got the better of me. Leaving me with an inch-long cut across my forearm and even worse, a chip in my sword.

Neither of which would have happened if Lillianna hadn't been on my mind. I tried not to think of her but that only made me think of her more. The branch, her imbalance, and the fall. And how Elik made it to her before I did.

I'm the last warrior to arrive in the living room area after training, taking a slower flight to calm myself. Someone passes me a drink and I take it without much thought. Scanning the room until I see Lillianna, her head thrown back in laughter, along with the five warriors surrounding her. I look to see what has made her laugh, finding Prince Elik in the midst of the group gesturing wildly with his hands. That peacock is always making people laugh.

Yasmil, dressed in familiar royal armory, collapses into the seat besides mine. "Those princes, I swear, get into a heap of trouble every minute."

I grunt out a short laugh, "You could say that again."

"Who did you have on shift?" she asks innocently.

Removing my attention from the Elik, I shrug, "The youngest. Erin."

Yasmil looks over her shoulder to where I had been staring, "Gosh, what's Elik doing here? Shouldn't he be off exploring some far-off land." I smirk at her response. Finally around someone who knows the bullshit these princes spew around every corner. Her next comment makes me scowl, "Oh, the fairy raised human girl. I'm sure he wants to explore her."

Yasmil finishes her drink and gestures for a refill, then she turns back to me, saying, "You look a bit tense, Killi."

"I am," I acknowledge, shifting my gaze back to Yasmil after I unknowingly went back to watching Lillianna, "I told her I'd protect her. But it seems she doesn't need it anymore."

Yasmil fills in the blanks easily enough, for a while now I'd been around Lillianna for favors or at dances. "You could try to take your mind off of her. Come to the races tonight, a group of us are going."

It has been so long since I'd been to one of the races, I almost forgot they existed. Every other week there'd be teams of the fastest fairies competing until the final two remain.

With a shrug, and one final glimpse of Lillianna enjoying herself across the room, I nod, "I'll go."

Yasmil smiles, ever the strong and stoic woman, "Great, I'll let the others know. We're meeting by the training field and flying over to the stadium at sundown." She stands, having finished her second drink, "Oh, and wear green. We're rooting for the Falling Leaves."

I chuckle finishing off my drink after she leaves. When I get up to go to my room, hunting for something other than armor to wear, I realize I hadn't checked Lillianna's whereabouts.

With an annoyed shrug, I know that she'll be around Elik, who won't let anything back happen to her.

"Woah," shouts Yasmil from across the training field, "Is that Killian? Without his armor on?"

The other warriors cheer as I scowl, but the closer I get the more my face lifts until I'm laughing along with them. Selivan is among one of the warriors joining, and does a quick circle around me, "Ope, no. He's brought a dagger." Selivan sighs like he's failed everyone but gets knocked on the shoulder by Yasmil.

"We all brought a dagger, idiot," she says.

Selivan rolls his eyes dramatically, showing off the knife in his belt loop that he brought instead of a dagger. Our group begins flying toward the stadium, and I get a rundown from Yasmil's friend, Thera, "So we're in the semi-finals. This is the first time in, like, five years, that there are an even number of teams." She quickly lists off all the names, and I pretend to know each of them.

"What game is this in the semi-finals?" I ask, noting how large the crowd is at the stadium. Usually, the final game is the only one I pay attention to.

Thera waves her hand, "Oh, only the second, we have four more teams that will play on the weekend for the next four weeks."

I look to Yasmil, whose been quietly listening to our conversation, "And why do we care about the Falling Leaves?"

Selivan gives a dramatic gasp, "Killian!" Pretending to faint out of the sky.

Yasmil rolls her eyes, "The Falling Leaves has a retired royal warrior on the team. So, of course, we're rooting for them." Everyone nods and I take the information in stride.

We reach the stadium just as the first race begins. It takes me a minute to remember the game's strategies and point system, but soon I'm cheering like a young boy who is watching the games with his mothers after a long week of school.

My mind wanders to Lillianna. As much as she doesn't seem the type to like sports, I can't help but wonder if she'd like to watch the games.

I shake her from my mind until the end of the night, when the games are over and our group flies back. I look to Selivan, "Do you all go to games every weekend?"

Yasmil nods, "We plan to." She turns to fly backwards and kicks her feet out, "Is Killi thinking of joining us?" The other warriors, who look so different out of their armor and custom scowls in the kingdom, look to me expectantly and I nod my yes.

Selivan wraps an arm around my neck and cheers but is interrupted when I jab my elbow into his ribs, "Ah," he chokes out, "Same old Killian."

Thera laughs, "You should've known better than to touch him." Selivan puts his hands up in surrender, and for yet another time, Yasmil and I roll our eyes at his antics.

We reach the kingdom and begin to head our separate ways, but Yasmil slows. She lands in the entranceway to walk, and I follow suit, walking beside her.

She breathes out a soft laugh that sounds something like a sigh, "Remember when we were kids growing up to be the kingdom's warriors?"

I look to her, but she continues looking straight forward, "I do. We spent most afternoons together after training."

"We did. I was thinking about that tonight and was curious if you'd want to make dinner together like old times?" she doesn't look at me when she asks, but I find myself shocked. My silence stretches on a moment too long, and Yasmil looks at me with a smirk, "I've taken cooking lessons from Lona, maybe you could join us tomorrow night? We can all make dinner together."

"It has been a while since I've cooked. It'll be fun to do it again."

She grins, hiding it once she gestures down the hallway she needs to turn into, "Great," she says.

"Great," I copy, "Just promise you'll still respect me if Lona berates my horrible cooking skills."

Author's Note

Thank you for waiting ;) With both fingers crossed, and a complete outline on my end... the rest of the story will be coming out soon!