They walked through the forest. The three dark elf sisters were in front, Mela in the lead, Liesa still looking annoyed, and Valeria silent as a shadow. Nox followed, his steps steady, with Serian on his back. Her arms were around his neck, just quiet.
After a while, she shifted a little, her voice a whisper right next to his ear.
"Nox?"
He grunted, a quiet sound to show he was listening.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked. "Going with them so easily?"
He was quiet for a few steps, his boots crunching on dead leaves. He didn't have a good answer, not really.
'She's right,' he thought. 'The old me would have just killed them. Or tried to. Would have been less complicated.' He remembered the cold feeling from the fight with Liesa, the dark power. It was easy to fall into that. Too easy.
But then he thought about the girls, about Serian. It wasn't the same.
