It was difficult to tell time when you awoke. The dark clouds overhead draped all around in a thick grey shroud. Blanketing the sky in a gray morass. You had been fastened to Noire's shoulder via a thin strap of leather that snuggly wrapped around your stomach. Checking her surroundings with each stride. Noire was walking at a steady pace when she slowed herself before stopping completely. Kneeling before the trunk of a massive oak tree she pulled the bowstring taught and launched the arrow straight forward. The slight push on her body shaking you.
Beyond her shoulders stood trees as old as song itself. All looming silently against the cool autumn breeze. Leaves of fiery orange and bronze. Swirling madly as they cling to the brittle remains of branches. Waiting to alight on the ground below. Noire lets fly a few more shots into the distant darkness. A satisfied smirk graces her face when she lets loose an arrow into a tree a hundred paces ahead of her. You know it to be her preferred type of archery practice. It was nice to see Noire smile. How rare it was that she would smile. But you thought you caught something off in the way she did it. A twitch in her right cheek. A slight sneer on the edge of her upper lip.
You decide that you're being far too paranoid. A day and night with Noire. A night spent sleeping against her body. It had left you on edge. But then, a change of wind, a lightening in the gray above. Noire was the first to feel it. You were nearly thrown off by the sheer ferocity of the gust of wind that seemed to blow directly upon you. The trees behind her began to sway as the storm approached. Thunder could be heard rumbling off in the distance. It was a harsh reminder that as large as Noire appeared to you, she was just as powerless compared to the wrath of nature. The young woman wasted no time in finding refuge. Darting down a steep ravine to where an old road laid. Noire began to run as the rain poured down on the pair of you. The wind roared through the forest like a primordial monster. Thunder shook the ground. Sending you into a near panic.
Noire found a large overhang in the rocks above her and pressed her back up against it. Shielding you from the pelting rain with her arm as she glanced about with an apprehensive expression. Her eyes focused on an opening in the side of the ravine a dozen paces off. With a sense of urgency, Noire hurried down the narrow path to the shelter of a large cave. You felt your heart race with relief as the rain stopped soaking your skin. A wave of coldness washes over your skin as she pulled you off of her shoulder. Now laying you down in a dry corner of the cave. Noire begins to shiver. The chill wind and soaking rain had done a number on her clothes.
Your heart ached at the sight. Noire in that moment was not the image of a towering giantess with her head stretching into the heavens. Shivering and sniffling with water dripping off her every limb. Her skirt is drenched. She lays herself against the cave wall as the shivering continues.
You find yourself taking a few steps forward in an effort to reach her. The feeling of helplessness, and fear begins to take hold in the back of your mind.
"Mother." The word escapes from the archer's lips as you froze in your tracks. She continued to sniffle, her arms crossed over her knees which she pulled up close to her face. A low whining could be heard outside as the storm raged on.
The sky darkened to a deep purple hue as night approached. Noire still sat there with her arms crossed, legs pulled up. Her gaze turned downward at her feet. You looked all around unable to stand the sight of the broken woman before you. Then you saw it. A long jagged rock. 'It must be flint!' you thought with joy. You made your way towards the flint and drug it over to the side of the cave. Using your newfound flint, you cut away several pieces of moss from the cave walls. Tying the moss to the flint you began to drag your bounty over to Noire.
You wanted so badly to be of some use to her. The fear, the anger and frustration melted away as you saw the slight grin cross her face as you pulled your makeshift cart across the cave floor. You found yourself growing cold again after you stopped for a moment and leaned against your new friend's ankle.
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