(finished) RANGER ELF GIRL AND SHITTY RANGER ANON

-----CHAPTER 1-----
“One.”
Ready the arrow.
“Two.”
Hold your breath, take aim.
“Three.”
Fire.

You let go of the bowstring as soon as the last word escapes your lips. The arrow takes flight in a straight beeline towards the deer and a few moments after you watch as it swiftly digs deep between the animal’s eyes, downing it instantly.

Or so you’d like.

In fact, the arrow went generously above the deer and hit the tree behind it. The animal, startled by the sound, takes flight alongside your dreams of a good dinner tonight. Closing your eyes, the only words that escape your lips now are an annoyed “God fucking dammit”.

After recovering the arrow you ponder if you should pursue the hasty little shit, but you decide not to, it’s already well into the afternoon and nothing good can come around if you find yourself at night still within the forest. Either you get kidnapped by rogue Arachne, raped violently and eaten, or you get kidnapped by Sarleon patrols and indoctrinated as a foot soldier.

Making your way back to your hometown, you look back on your thoughts to kill time while at the same time picking fruits and other edible stuff for the night; would it really be that bad to get kidnapped by Arachne? Sure, they’ll rape you, roughly, and are probably into incredibly kinky shit, but you heard that the rumors of them eating their mates aren’t completely true. Besides, Arachne aren’t bad looking at all, the one that lives down the street back home is pretty good looking, she seems kind too. You’ll never talk to her, of course, she’s kind, and you’re a bitter asshole.

Getting kidnapped by Sarleon patrols, though, would be a pretty bad way to go. According to wandering travelers that passed through your village, Sarleon’s an Order of crazy zealots that base their faith around the murderous hate of monstergirls and any that consorts with them, “consort” meaning everyone who doesn’t go into a bloodthirsty rage as soon as a monstergirl comes into sight. They view humans at peace with monstergirls as depraved, impure, and worst of all, irredeemable. This goes against many coexistence laws of the Empire, but Sarleon’s not some small group of mad fanatics, they’re well trained, well equipped, well organized and have friends in high places. They can’t rival the Imperial Guard in brute force, but it’s not like the latter will ever find one of their bases without Sarleon’s higher-ups knowing and scrambling the entire order across the Empire overnight.

You snap back into reality, however, as you see your village’s walls, along with its numerous and variated inhabitants, closing in. Relieved to finally be back safe and sound, you step into your house. After hanging the cloak, longbow and the quiver, you planned on sitting down and start preparing tonight’s dinner from the fruits you recovered. You planned, yeah, until you smelt the smoke, and heard the screaming.

“The fuck?” Is all you manage to say before burning wood felt on top of you.

You are trapped beneath a 15cm thick burning wooden pole, your house is on fire, and you can hear people screaming outside. “Gee, being kidnapped by an Arachne doesn’t sound that bad now” you wonder before start trying to push the thick burning stick out of your body. As expected of burning things, it hurts to touch with your bare hands, but not so much as you thought it would. Maybe it’s the adrenaline running through your veins and your mind screaming “get out of here” blocking the really nasty pain, but you manage to do it anyways. You snatch the cloak, bow and quiver and run out into the street just a moment before it all collapsed. You don’t look at it though as your minds and eyes are fixed on the northern village’s gate, not so much a gate now as it’s a burning wreck, with men dressed with armor running through it with swords unsheathed and shields bearing the insignia of lions.

You can’t do much more than observe as they butcher every single villager in their path, be it monstergirl, man, woman or child with no second thought, no apparent remorse. The guard doesn’t seem to be any kind of match for them. You watch them as they put the Arachne girl you liked to the sword, and you start to feel your heart burning, but you don’t have time to ponder whether it’s hate, fear or pain as you fix your eyes on the man running towards you with a longsword in his hand. Feeling preservation instincts kick in, your right hand goes for an arrow, places it in the bowstring and tenses it. You take aim, and while backpedaling in fear you release the string. This time the arrowhead does connect, and it buries itself in the man’s heart, making him instantly collapse to the ground. Without a second thought or glance, you start to run towards the southern gate. What the heavens didn’t give you in bow skill, they gave to you in speed, and in less than two minutes you’re running through the forest.

You don’t really remember how much you ran, but you eventually came to a stop when the adrenaline ran out and you felt your limbs’ aching exhaustion. Sitting down at a convenient tree stump, you try to collect your thoughts.
“What… what the fuck just happened?” you mumble as you recall what happened what must have been hours ago. Your hometown, the place you were born and raised, and never left, was just razed to the ground by zealots. “Do they know I was there? Or that I escaped? Will they come after me?” you question no one as you desperately try not to panic. The image of your Arachne crush comes to mind and any desperation you had was replaced by heartache, short-lived, however, as your mind drifts off to another event that same night. You killed a man.
As soon as the realization sinks in, you feel sweat drops running down your face, your heart starts to beat quicker than you thought possible, and your hands begin shaking.

“Don’t move.” A girly voice from the darkness.

In the midst of your exhaustion and desperation you really aren’t in the mood to listen to feminine voices in the darkness so you try to turn around, earning yourself you a swift punch in the face, making you turn back right quick.

“I just can’t catch a break, can I?”
“What do you… anyway, don’t move or it’s your end.”
“Why are you here, human?” the voice questions. “How did you find this place?”
“I ran, and I don’t know what you mean by ‘this place’.” This seems like the wrong answer, as you were rewarded by a kick in the back which sent you off the tree stump and into the ground.
“I’ll ask once more, how did you find this place?”
“I already told you I don’t know what “this place” means, all I see are trees.”
A kick to the sides.
“I’m not going to ask again”, say s the voice.
“And I’m not going to have a different answer”, you mutter with a wise-ass tone, expecting a new kick. As soon as it comes, you throw your arms towards the leg hoping to the heaven’s it’s a humanoid leg. Thankfully it is, as you grab it and pull hard and you swear you heard an “eep!” Now, this would’ve thrown any normal human to the ground, but this one wasn’t you realize as she quickly unbinds herself and knees you in the face. “W-what are you trying to do?” she shouts. Now on your knees, you look up and face your assailant. A blond, sapphire-eyed elf, aiming at you with an arrow ready, promising to end you if you so much as blink the wrong way.

There’s no winning this one, so you simply say “Fine, you win, what do you want?”
“I want you to tell me how you found this place.” Again the same question.
You lower your head, remembering what happened. “I ran.”
“From what?” Asks the elf, irritated at your lack of explanation.
“From Sarleon troopers.” You try to dodge explaining what really happened.
 “If I had a gold coin for every time I heard that one.” She smirks, “what, afraid the bad humans will make an example out of you?” Her words cold enough to freeze a lava girl.
You look up, tired of this cheeky cunt’s shit-talking, “Not me, my hometown, asshole.” The mean girl, not without a heart, lowers her bow seeing as you’re not really a threat right now, and switches her expression from snide to concern, “Your hometown?  What do you mean?” She asks as she sits in the tree stump. You sit on the grass and start explaining.

After two or three interruptions to regain your composure, you finally conclude narrating the events, as well as you remember them anyways. You look up and see her opening her mouth, as if to say something, but not finding the words, she shuts it again.
"You don't have to say anything, it already happened." You decline her words of comfort.
"I... I'm sorry if I came out as hostile." She says as she looks at you with eyes of pity. "I mean aside from the kicking and punching and bow aiming at you, it was necessary, you understand?"
"Yeah, it's fine, you're forgiven." You say, you're feeling way too depressed to say anything snarky.
"Where will you go?"
"Huh?"
She's right, where will you go? You've got no home now, no family, no friends, well, you never had the latter anyways, but still.
"I... uh... I don't know. I guess I could travel to the city and find work as a refugee, which is usually slave work..." The idea doesn't seem very attractive. "I don't know."
"I could take you with me".
You look up at her and find her looking at you with a completely serious expression, does she really mean it? Elves don't particularly like humans, but then again, they don't particularly like anyone.
"And where do you mean by 'with me?' Inside a living tree?" You say, hoping to regain the dry sense of humour you dropped as you ran.
"Take that back or I leave you in the woods." She snaps back at you.
"Sorry."
"I could take you to my village and find you something to do, you won't exactly be welcomed warmly, but it's not like we'd leave anyone to die out in the forest." she explains. "Besides, the Elders need to know about this, and a witness is needed, else the old coots won't believe me. If a city so close was destroyed by those zealots, they'll need to decide what will we do."
"Old coots?" Is this girl...
"I... don't get along much with the Elders. Reason why I'm out here and not in guard duty." Yep, she is. An outcast.
"Uh-huh." You look at her with a smile. "I know what you mean. But anyways, where would I live, what would I do?" She shoots you a smile.
"You'll have to come if you want to find out." Bitch.
"God, fine, I'll go with you." It's not like you've got much of a choice. Amazingly, she looks pleased. This girl doesn't act like an elf. Not at all. The only two you ever met were pretty much the greatest assholes you've ever known.
"Great, then, follow me." She states. "And try to keep up."

After about thirty minutes of walking through the forest you both came across an elf guard. Your companion asked you to let her do the talking, and so you did, you were a stranger here and you weren't going to complain about it. After she finished, you continued for a bit, and you came across a clearing nearby a water spring, surrounded by several caravans.
Your newfound friend noticed your confusion and explains "We elves don't really settle down forever. Eventually we move from the place if we feel that we're overstaying, so there's not much point in building homes."
"So that means you never set roots? You never stop travelling?" You ask, a bit confused and a bit amazed.
"Settling down simply doesn't have the same value for us." She shrugs.

As you walk through the village, you notice that the elves noticed you. There are elven men, too, weird, you thought elven men didn't exist, being monstergirls and all. Feeling out of place, you also take note of the looks you are getting. Most of them are curious ones, but some of them are also dirty and nasty looks. You guess it's only natural, but that doesn't help you stop feeling that you don't belong here.
Again, as if reading your mind, your companion tells you "Don't worry, most of them never even saw a human."
"Some of them did?" You ask.
"Uh... yeah." she answers, nerviously "they're the ones giving you nasty looks." Great. "Okay, I'll take you to the Elders now and then we'll see what will we do with you, okay?"
"Fine by me" you reply. Actually it isn't fine, you realize you haven't slept in a day, and you're basically falling apart, but you feel like making things easier for this girl, so you'll just tough the drowsiness off.

At the center of the village, you find an important looking tent. The guard beckons both you and the ranger in. As you walk in you notice many elven men sitting, staring at you. These must be the elders. Yet contrary to what you were expecting, they don't seem to be neither judging you nor murdering you with their eyes.
"Hello young human", one says. "Welcome to our village."
"Uh, thank you mister." You answer as respectfully as possible.
"Tell us, ranger, why have you brought this human to our village?" One of the Elder asks your companion.
"This human used to live in a village not far from our encampment. However, the reason of his presence here is because his hometown was raided by the Sarleon zealots, I found him lost in the Forest, and saw it fit to bring him here." She explains in a very serious manner.
"Is this correct, young man?"
"It is."
"And we should believe a human?" One of them states angrily. "Do you even have any proof of this, human?" You resist the childish urge of telling him "I've got your proof right here" and grabbing your crotch, mostly out of respect to your friend. "I do" you declare bluntly, and show your burnt hands.
"And what does that mean? You may be one of them for all we know. Maimed himself to spy on us, that's very human-like." He snorts.
"Enough." The eldest looking elf declares. "That alone is enough at least for now. Scouts shall be sent tomorrow morning to prove this human's words." He concludes. "In the meantime, you look tired young man. You should rest, this ranger's home shall be yours for now." Your friend, surprised, butts in.
"M-my home, elder? But it's really small, and, uh, I don't have much space, and..." she exclames, blushing a bit. The man simply laughs. "I thought you were over this." He says with a fatherly aura about him. "I understand Elder" she mutters, unpleased.

You both leave the tent and head for her home.
"Sorry about that, I won't be a bother." You try to ease the awkwardness.
"No it's okay, it's just that, well, I never shared my home with anyone." She says. Maybe she's lonely?

You arrive at her tent as she excuses herself to find another bedroll. "Well, it's quite small" you think to yourself. Moments later she steps in and places the bedroll on the floor, a few centimetres away from her's. "It's all I've got. Sorry"
You express your gratitude by collapsing on the bedroll.
"Your name?" You ask.
"Huh?"
"You never told me your name."
"You first."
"My name's Anon."
"I see... well, my name is Alma."

-----------CHAPTER 2-----------

That night, you had a nightmare.
You dreamt it happened all over again. But you didn't see houses burning. You saw trees in flames.
It was the forest, with all its inhabitants being put to the sword, from elves to any other monstergirl that dwelled nearby. And you could do nothing to stop it. You're not a Champion of the blade, you're not a masterful Ranger, you're not a wise old wizard, what could you do?

And in the middle of it all, she was there. Alma was there.
--
You wake up sweating and you sit upright suddenly, making you somewhat dizzy for a few seconds. Wondering what was that dream all about, you look to your left and don't see Alma, so you get a little nervous and leave the tent. However you realize the sun is up, meaning that you slept for an entire day, so it'd make sense if she had already woken up.
"Hello Anon." You hear a girly voice, you turn to your left and see Alma already wearing her ranger outfit, you exhale a sigh of relief.
"What is it?" She asks innocently.
"Nothing, doesn't matter." You dismiss her question. "Did I sleep the whole day?"
"The whole day and night" she answers smiling. "Didn't think you were such a sleepy-head."
Her expression, however, changes to one of worry. "Are you okay, though?", she asks, "you seem... worried about something."
"No, I'm okay", you lie, "It's just that yesterday's been a long day."
"I know what you mean." She says, but then Alma looks away, "I-I mean, I can't think of what you went through but..."
You smile at her "It's okay, don't worry about it. Thank you." She looks relieved and smiles back.
"Now", you try to change the mood, "what am I supposed to do?"
"Well, the Elders told me you should simply rest, nothing about making you work or anything." She smiles, "But I said I was going to find you something to do so that I will. Pick up your bow, I'm going to teach you."
"Teach me what?" You ask. "I know how to use a bow."
Alma laughs at you for a good 3 seconds. Then she looked up and smiled proudly. "Not like an Elven Ranger, human."
Oh, so she wants a challenge, huh.
You let out a chuckle. "Fine, let's get out of here then." You conclude as you put on your cloak and quiver and snatch up your bow.

After some minutes of walking, your elven companion suddenly stops.
"Stay here, Anon, I'll be right back."
"Where are you going?"
"Up there." She points to an apple tree. Before you can even say 'what', however, she starts climbing the tree with dexterity you've never seen before.
"Well, nothing I can do", you think, so you use the time to look at your elven companion.

Alma is a pretty, pale elven girl. She has got her long, blond hair tied up in a ponytail, you suppose it's that way so the hair won't get in the way when she's firing her bow. She's got gorgeous sapphire-coloured eyes that go along with her light hair colour, complimented with a small beauty mark just a bit below her left eye. She's got pretty, red-pink lips that are usually curled up in a light, easy smile. Her chest is apparently quite flat, which makes sense, else her breasts would get in the way. Her waist is small, and you assume she's very fit, too, running through the forest scouting can only lead to that. Her hips are what you'd expect of a fit girl. Not waspish like a succubus, yet "still mighty fine" you judge. Then, her hips give way to her long, athletic and beautiful legs. All in all, she's very attractive and in good shape.
She's wearing a sleeveless earthy grey shirt with a leather chest guard to protect herself over her left shoulder. In her hands she uses two forearm-long leather gauntlets. Covering her waist, she has a green skirt and thick dark over-the-knee boots, over a pair of earthy grey long socks. She has her quiver hanging on her back and a pair of daggers on each side of her waist, plus a few leather pockets scattered around her waist and thighs.
You hear an embarrassed scream. "H-hey! W-where are you looking at?" Oh fuck, just when you were about to focus the fabled Eagle's Eye in her panties.
"Nowhere specific~." You answer with a fake innocent tone.
"Jeez!" She shouts, "Then take this!"
"Huh?" is the only thing you manage to mutter before an apple hits you in the face. "Ow, that hurt!"
"Well that's what you get for ogling me! Pervert!" She says, still flustered.
"Fine, fine, I'm sorry." You smirk, "I was just amazed at how lucky I am for finding myself such a cute companion" you add, snarkily.
Yet no reply comes.
Just another apple, a bit faster than the last one.
"Hey! What was that for?"
"For being a pervert." a shy, girly voice from up the tree.
Alma comes down without a word, with a handful of apples in a basket, blushing and frowning.
"Oh ho, this could be an interesting thing to know." you think, plus some ways to torment her when you know each other better.

Alma proceeds to set the apples in different low branches of the surrounding trees, as if they were targets. When she's done, she comes next to you.
"Alright, let me show you how it's done." She says proudly as she readies an arrow.
A few seconds after, all the apples she carefully placed are pinned against a tree with an arrow dead center. You look at her and she has this proud, smug expression on her face.
"Well, Anon? What do you think of that?"
"That was, uh..." Amazing, incredible, wonderful, unbelievable, "That was nothing, I can do it faster."
"That so, huh? Well, let me place the apples for you then."
As she's done, you wonder what have you gotten yourself into.
You ready an arrow, you tense the bowstring and...

You scream in agony.

Collapsing to the ground you look at your hands, the source of the pain. The scars and blisters on your hands burning with pain. You desperately try to find anything to stop the pain, yet can't find anything, so you turn for your companion, tears in your eyes begging for some sort of help. She quickly unhooks her canteen and pours cold water over your hands, which doesn't stop the pain completely, but at least makes it bearable.

Following a few minutes of silence, all you can manage to mutter when it stopped hurting is a soft, broken "I'm sorry."
Alma tries to fix the situation "Hey, it's alright", she grabs your hands with hers and pulls them up as she looks you in the eye. "Let's try to fix this up, okay?" Alma smiles at you, like a mother to a child who has hurt himself.
She turns around to her backpack and takes out some bandages, afterwards, she pours some sort of gooey tonic into them. "Now, give me your hands" she commands.
You do as she says, and she starts wrapping the wet bandages around your hands and forearms. It feels cool and comfortable.
"Better now?" Alma asks. You nod.
"Now, let's try again. Pick up your bow."
You look at her, wondering if it won't hurt again.
As if reading your mind, Alma dismisses your thoughts with her hands "Don't be such a crybaby, it won't hurt, now come on, pick up your bow."
You sigh and do as she says. Reading an arrow, you tense the bowstring and it's not painful. It stings a bit but it's not the burning pain from before. With confidence, you start firing at the targets.

Nowhere as fast as she did, you conclude your firing session. After recovering the arrows, you go back to your companion, smiling at you.
"Not bad", Alma says, before starting to set the targets again, "but you still have a long way to go".

The day came to an end as you and Alma continued training around the forest. From shooting targets to sneaking around (and trying to scare each other), and overall easy-going ranger training. A few days ago you never would have believed you would be playing around with an elf around the forest. You never thought you'd get rid of the routine. You feel very guilty, but you prefer this kind of life over to the other, at least if it's only for a few days, until you really have to leave. Silently, you hope that day never comes, as in this day alone was more fun than the rest of your life combined.

When night fell, Alma told you to follow her to something she called 'a special place', you followed, assuming it was some big-ass tree or some stuff Elves like, but you never thought it would be this.

"A water spring?"
"Yup, face it, you stink." Alma says nonchalantly.
Yeah, you kind of stink, it's been some time since you last took a bath.
"Well, how are we going to do this?" You go straight to the point.
Alma slightly tilts her head, "What do you mean?"
Is this girl serious.
Alright, you warned her. Kind of.
"Fine", you declare. "Just don't throw a rock at me if you can't handle my perfect body."
"What?"
You start to undress.
She looks surprised at first, then blushes "Wait, what are you doing?!" As she turns around and covers her eyes.
"You asked for it."
"I didn't ask for anything!"

After a discussion you finally convince her that at least underwear is fine. She still makes you cover your eyes and look away as she undresses and shyly enters the water spring. In her stuff pile, you notice some bandages.
"Hey, what are the bandages for? You're not hurt."
"B-bandages?" She blurts out, blushing. Is she still embarrassed?
You point at them. "Yeah, those right there."
"Oh, those are for my, uh, my..." She points at her chest.
Oh.
Oh.
"Nice. How big?"
"E-excuse me?!" You need to defuse this, and you'll do it with logic.
"Nothing. I mean, would you like to be flat chested?" you calmly explain.
"It would be better, these things just... get in the way."
"I bet they look mighty fine." You give her a thumbs up.
She, however, doesn't give you the usual embarrassed fit.
"It's nice to dream, isn't it, Anon?" She says smugly. Oh, so she wants a challenge.
"You're nicer." You conclude with a deadpan tone. Oh, that made her blush, and look away! Bitch thought she could out-tease you?
"You're a hundred years too early to defeat me, Alma." you mock villains, "which brings the question, how old are you?"
"I'm 23." Fuck. "You, Anon?"
"I uh, I'm 21."
"Oh ho~, you're still a little kid, Anon! You should call me Alma-oneesama, don't you think?"
"Shut up. Elves don't even use those honorifics, nobody does in this kingdom."
"A friend of mine traveled to a realm where they did, but she came back quickly because everyone there was weird."

Well this escalated quickly. But you don't mind, it's nice in it's own way. You enjoy spending time alongside this girl, and you suppose she does too. You again feel guilty about enjoying all this, mostly due to the cost of it, but they say that when the Goddess closes a door, she opens a window. Maybe this is her way of helping you after what you've been through? According to the writings the people at the orphanage made you read, the first and most important rule she gave to humanity was "enjoy yourselves." You wonder if a being that nice could actually exist, but you stop. Right now, you can just enjoy what she is giving you.

-----CHAPTER 3------

"Anon, wake up." A voice from beyond the void.
You shuffle a bit.
"Come on, wake up, we haven't got all morning."
More shuffling.
"Geez, fine, have it your way."
You hear some footsteps go, and then come again. Then, you feel waterdrops dripping in your face.
"Goddess, leave me alone." You mumble as you slowly traverse the abyss to this reality.
"No way, I have ranger duty today and you are coming with me."
"You have ranger duty every day", you protest.
"Yeah, because I'm a ranger, genius. Come on, up and at 'em."
"Fine, alright, I'm getting up, I'm getting up."
"I'll be at the Elders' tent." With that, she turns around and leaves.

After putting your clothes on and gearing up with your bow, cloak and quiver, you leave Alma's tent.
Making your way towards the Elders' tent, you do your best to avoid the nasty glances. Most of the elves stopped minding you, guessing that if you're still around the Elders must have some use for you, but there are still some that aren't big on having you around. No one has walked up to you and straight up told you "you're not welcome here". That must be due to the respect they have for their Higher-ups, though.
Finally arriving, you give Alma a nod, and enter the tent.
"Remember to let me do the talking." Alma tells you.

"Hello Alma, Hello Anon." the High Elder seems to be the only one in. "You have come for today's orders, Alma?" the old man asks.
"Yes, High Elder." Alma is speaking very politely. Maybe she really does respect the Elders, even if she doesn't show it.
"Very well then, you are to patrol the western side of the forest. That is where Anon came from, so we must be wary of Sarleon incursions from that side. Understood?"
"Understood."
"Very well, and you, Anon, why have you come?" the High Elder asks you.
Alma butts in, "I will be taking Anon with me."
The High Elder gives her one of those 'Father knows best' smiles. "Hoho, you seem to be taken a liking for the young human." Nice, old man.
Alma gives a slight blush, but maintains her serious expression, "I-I don't know anything about that, High Elder."
The High Elder looks disappointed, "You're no fun when you behave like a soldier, you know." This man doesn't look very Elder-ish, at all.
Alma states "If you'll excuse us, Anon and I will be heading out now."
"Alright, alright, off you go, younglings."
Outside the tent, you look at Alma, frowning and still blushing.
"Hey Alma you-"
"Not a single word. I hate it when he does that"
Smirking, you keep up with her.

As you two travel through the woods at a brisk pace you keep wary so as to not get hit by branches, nor trip with stray rocks or exposed roots. You first started to hunt when you were 16 when the orphanage basically kicked you out on your ass, and have been doing that for 5 years, so you aren't inexperienced in matters of traversing the woods, but you still have to push yourself to keep up at Alma's pace. The way she dodges the branches and the trees, the way her nimble legs make their way through the ground without so much as a doubt. She never trips, unlike you, never falters and never doubts that her way of moving is the fastest and most efficient possible. It's as if she had spent all of her life doing this, and knew the woods as well as the back of her hand.
"Hey Alma, how long have you been a Ranger?" you ask, curious.
"I started when I was 14. I used to travel the woods with my mother and sometimes with my father. They were the ones who taught me most of the tricks I know today." a smile grows in her face.
"I see, where are them now?", you hope you haven't step on a bear-trap.
"Mother and father? Right now they're with a group of scouts in the east, trying to find a suitable place for when we move." She then adds, "where are your mother and father, Anon?"
You give her a smile, "I don't have a family. I grew up in an orphanage."
"Oh, I see" she says in a low voice. "I uh, sorry for asking."
"It's okay." You have had 21 years to get over it. "I don't mind it, I suppose it was better to leave me than to grow a kid they didn't want."
"Well, you have us now, right?" Alma gives you a smile, which dies rather quick as another thought enters her mind.
"What will you do when we move, though?" Alma asks. Huh, you haven't thought about it.
"I don't know. I mean I am enjoying my time around you all, but it still seems like I am an outsider. And I kind of am. I would like to stay, if that's okay, but it seems that it isn't for many."
"Well, for an outsider and for a human you're the only one I truly get along with. Everyone else seems happy with living in the woods, there is a whole world outside and not one of them wants to see it." Alma protests, "It's as if they were afraid of it."
You question her, "and you're not?"
"No," she continues "I mean I don't know what the world out there has in store, maybe good things, maybe bad things. I just don't think that the right thing to do is to lock ourselves away inside the woods and hide from it."
"Where did you get that idea from?"
"Father is a scout. Back when I was a young girl he would travel to cities and kingdoms and act as the ears and eyes of the Elders. He would buy trinkets and little gifts from the stores and bring them to me and Mother." She looks happy, the memory being a beautiful one.
"That sounds nice." you agree.
She gives you a glance. "You lived in a village, anon, what was it like?"
The village, huh.
She quickly realizes what she just asked and looks at you, "I-I mean, I didn't want to-"
Her foot collides against an exposed root and she trips.

"Ow!"

You stop dead on your heels and go help your companion, who is face down in the ground. You help her to sit against a tree, where you ask her if she hurt herself somewhere.
"My foot" she says with a painful expression, "I think I hurt my foot."
"Alright, let me see." you tell her and smile, "it's my turn to heal you now." which steals a laugh from her. Good.
You look at her ankle a bit, back in the orphanage being hurt by one of the older kids wasn't an uncommon way to end the day so you know a bit about this. You poke it firmly.
"It hurts!"
"Alright. We need something cool, and something to wrap it around, do you have more of that tonic?"
"Yes, but don't do it here." She looks at you with a serious expression. "We're too exposed."
Well, she's right about that, we're in a clearing right now, anyone could see us.
"Can you walk?" you ask, "we need to go somewhere else then." Alma stands up and tries to give a step, but would've fallen to the ground again if it wasn't for you supporting her.
Okay, you know what you must do.
You put your bow in your back.
"What are you doing Anon?" she asks, curious.
"Stand still", you answer, "and please don't kick me."
You place one of your arms in Alma's back and grab her with your hand by the shoulder. You then slip your other arm behind her knees and grip one of them, like that, you stand up and lift Alma with you, in what's called 'a princess carry.' She's surprisingly very light, even though she's nearly about your height.
Alma looks surprised at first, then she blushes and starts to squirm. "Wait! Anon, what are you doing?"
"Come on, Princess Alma, let's not make this more embarrassing than it needs to be."
"But why like this?" she asks
"Would you prefer me to throw you over my shoulder?" She gasps and blushes even more, but doesn't answer.
You chuckle a bit, then ask "Now, princess, where should I take you?" teasingly but seriously, you have no idea where to go.
"O-over there there is a cave" she whispers, "w-we should be okay there."

You start to walk over there. Alma doesn't say a word and keeps her gaze fixed between her thighs.
"You're really embarrassed, aren't you." You tease.
"Shut up! Stop teasing me!" she says a bit loudly.
"Sorry, it's just that it's so easy with you."
You notice the cave and enter. Carefully, you place Alma on the ground, your internal man feeling a bit sad that the ride was over as her thighs felt really nice against your arm. And she was very soft, like all girls are.
You grab the cool tonic she hands you and place a bit against a bandage, which you wrap around her hurt ankle. Then you take a seat alongside her.
"Let's just wait 10 minutes until the pain stops." You conclude
"10 minutes?" she asks, "but we're going to be late for the patrol!"
"Alma, it's been 20 minutes since we left the village. You've been going at a pace that would leave a centaur behind."
"Really?" she asks, innocently. What is up with this girl?
"Really."
"Still," she looks gloomy again "I shouldn't have tripped."
"Everybody makes mistakes" you say in a fake motherly tone while pinching her cheek.
"Hey, Anon?" You hear a whisper.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you" Alma mutters as she now rests her head on your shoulder. An unexpected move, but a welcome one, you feel good knowing she's comfortable with you.

10 minutes pass.
"Alma, can you walk?" you say as you help her up.
"Yeah, it doesn't hurt anymore."
Alright, time to continue patrolling then.
"PLEASE HELP!" A woman scream is heard through the woods.
"What was that?" you both go at the same time.
"Crap. Anon, we need to go help!" Alma says. You nod and you both get moving.
After running top speed for a few minutes, you find the source of the scream. A centaur girl with her husband and something behind them.
"Oh Goddess, they've got children." Alma sighs.
In front of them there are three men with clubs and torches wearing armour.

Armour with the insignia of lions.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here, a horse bitch with his cum slave, huh? And what are those, little horse bitches?" The man at the front grunts.
"Our God doesn't like this, not one bit." He fakes a gasps, "In fact, he just told me what to do with you!" He laughs as he grips his club tighter.
"Back off!" The centaur's husband shouts.

"Anon, we have to do something." Alma tells.
"We can't fire from here, trees are in the way." You state.
"Then what do we do?"
Fuck, what DO we do? If we find a good position, they'll kill the family before we reach. If we go straight up, we'll be outnumbered. You could always...
Yeah, that's it. Well, guess it's time to play Hero.
"Go around and find a good position."
"But the family-" she pleads.
"I'll distract the soldiers."
"What?"
And with that, you jump out of cover.

"Hey, you three, leave them alone." You say, putting yourself between the family and the men.
"Who the fuck are you? The Guardian of the Woods?" one of them taunts.
"Damn straight."
"We're going to turn cut you down, deerfucker." One of them shouts as he puts his hand on his blade.
"Three against one?" You say as you open your arms as if to say 'really?'. "Let's settle this like men." You propose.
"What do you have in mind, treehugger?"

You know how these people think.

"A fight, one on one, no weapons. If I win you fuck off."
"You? A fight? Don't make me laugh."

And you know how they react when their masculinity is threatened.

"What, afraid you'll get roughed up, soldier-boy?" You laugh. "I bet you like it, though."
The leader then stopped laughing. Threw his sword and gauntlets to the ground and got into fighting position.
"Let's see what you're made of, greenie."

The only thing you don't know very well, is how to fight in close combat.

The man launched a punch at you which you manage to dodge, barely. And then another, and another until one connected and sent you to the ground.
He came, grabbed you from the floor by the neck and pulled you up, which you answered by a swift kick to the stomach, not losing momentum, you run up to him and kick him in the sides, right in the kidney.
This should've downed any normal man. But this was a soldier.
He got up. Laughing at you.
"That all you got, ranger-boy?" he banters, you try to go on the offensive again, but he parries your punch and sends you to the ground again with a fist straight to the nose. The pain being too unbearable you can't do anything but take the kicks the man is giving you as he cackles at you.
As you're on the ground in a fetal position, being hit in the sides and in the head, thoughts cross your mind. Most of them asking yourself why the fuck did you do this, what were you thinking. But then a single one silences them all.

Alma.
Where is she?

After that thought crossed your mind, you heard a scream, a man's scream. You look up and you see an arrow deep in the guy's thigh.
More screams are heard as the other men are also fired at. The soldiers, not in the mood for an actual fight, run away, limping.
"Anon!" you hear a girly voice this time. You feel a pair of hands pulling you. Now lying on your back, you see a pair of sapphire eyes looking at you with concern. Concern and tears.
"Anon! Are you okay?! Can you hear me!?" Alma rains worried questions on you.
"Y-yeah, I-I'm fine" you lie, "got me good, huh?" you smile, then cough a bit. Blood came out.
"No, you're not fine, you're not fine at all. Oh Goddess, we need to get you to the healer."
The couple you saved look at each other. Then the man speaks. "Dear, take the couple where they need to go. I'll carry the children back home." His spouse nods.

The man picks up his crying daughters and leaves. The centaur woman comes closer and urges you to climb on her.
You try to get up, but you feel yourself losing consciousness and fall to the ground. With the help of the centaur and Alma you both manage to climb on top of her, and thanks to her speed, she arrives at the village in less than ten minutes. You, however, are barely awake by now.

"What happened to him?" The old elf lady asks.
Alma hurriedly answers, "he jumped in to distract some soldiers who were about to kill a family. The soldiers, h-he was, they..." but she's too shaky to continue.
"Alright dear, calm down, I'll take care of him." The lady calms Alma down as she places you on a bed and begins preparing several medicines to heal you.

As reality slowly fades away and your eyes slowly shut, you feel a hand holding yours tightly, foreign tears falling on your arm.
"Anon, please, please, be okay. Please."

-----CHAPTER 4-----
"Ow."

Fuck.
Fuck fuck fuck.
"Young man?" A voice, "are you awake?"

You open your eyes.
"Where... where am I?"
"You are at our village, the elven village, young man. A centaur brought you here."
A centaur?
"Centaur?"
"Yes, oh my, do you have memory loss?"
The centaur... the centaur... Oh, THAT centaur. The one whose family you saved from certain death.
Well, Alma saved, you just got beaten down.

It's quite amazing, really, in less than a week you lost your home, scarred your hands, and got beaten down nearly to death by a lowly grunt. You're doing pretty well at trying to get yourself killed.

"No, I'm fine, I uh, I remember everything."
"Oh," she sounds relieved, "then do you remember how many days were you sleeping?"
What.
"Uh... More than one?"
"You were sleeping for three days, young man." She pauses. "Alma is worried about you and so is the High Elder."
Alma, oh fuck. Alma, is she okay?
"Alma, is she-"
"She's okay, she came unharmed, so are the centaur and her family."
You feel the need to see her, so you try to get up.
"Take it easy young man." The lady stops you on your heels. "You should be fine by now, but you need to take it slowly."
Fine, you accept her help. You thank her as you leave the tent. Now, it's the afternoon, so Alma should still be on patrol.

So you head to the High Elder's tent.
You give a quick nod to the guard and enter the tent. Inside, you find the High Elder.
"Uh, hello."
"Hello Anon." He acknowledges you. "Please, take a seat."
"Thank you."

You take a seat next to the man in the Elder's table. You try to make yourself small in a subconscious attempt to be respectful.
"I see you are in good shape." The man starts, "they brought you here pretty roughed up."
You give a nervous laugh, "yeah, I hear. A bit."
The old man pauses, and gives you a good look, which makes the situation rather awkward.
"Alma told me what you did." He smiles. "It was very honourable of you."
"Elder I-" You try.
"Risking one's life to save other's is an act worthy of notice, Anon, and I have." He stops. "Alma has told me about your situation, you don't have anywhere to go, do you?"
Just what did that cheeky girl tell him?
"I... no, no I don't."
"Have you thought about what will you do when we relocate?" She told him everything, didn't she.
Well, it's pointless to fight it now.
"No, I haven't."
"I see." he pauses. "Now, I will go straight to the point, would you like to stay with us?"
"Eh?"
"I mean it. Some of the elves might complain but they'll do as I say. I'm not the oldest around for nothing."
He smiles at you. "Unless you have other plans, of course."

This is kind of sudden. You thought that your stay here was one out of kindness, due to you having no home anymore, but live amongst elves, as the only human, really?

"I..." you mutter, uncertain of what you really want.
The Elder notices your uneasiness."You don't have to decide now, there is still some time before we depart, so take your time."
Relieved, you thank him.

"There is still another matter I'd like to discuss."
"Yeah?"
"Alma." Oh man. "She's taken a liking to you, it seems." The man grins.
"H-has she now?" you ask, blushing a bit.
"Don't think to fool me, young man, I've got decades on you." He laughs. "Alma has never gotten along with the Elders, nor with any of us. Her idea of exploring the world, instead of living a simple life, has kept her alienated from the rest of the community, who only wishes to live their lives in peace. Seclusion is a... 'big deal', as you say, for us." He pauses, "and now you, a tiny shred of the world outside fell outside her doorstep. It's only natural."
"I... don't think we should be talking about this."
"Maybe, but we just did." A fatherly smile. "She likes you, Anon, and I can see you like her too."

Maybe this old man isn't as fatherly as you think.
"The village may whine and moan a bit, but they'll accept it."
Nope, he definitely isn't.

"I uh, thank you?" You say, unable to form a proper response.
"No need." He laughs it off. "Now, Alma should be arriving right now, you should go to her tent."
You turn to leave, the old man stops you. "Good luck."
As you head for the tent, you collect your thoughts. Specially the last batch of thoughts the old man filled your head with. Sure, you like Alma, she's nice, but do you REALLY like her?

You don't have much time to ponder, though, as Alma has just opened the tent and saw you sitting on your bedroll. You clear your head.
"Hi there Alma."
But she doesn't answer. Alma just goes to her knees, crawls up to you and stares at you.
"Alma I-" you try to apologize. But before you can she interrupts you.
"Anon, follow me." She commands you.
"Where?"
"Just follow me."


You trail behind Alma through the woods as she leads you to the 'special place' of hers. That water spring where you took a bath together four days ago. There, she just stops for a few minutes looking at the image of the sun in the waters of the spring.

"I was worried about you." She states in a low voice. "Very worried." she turns around. The image of a blond, blue eyed teary girl mixed with the water behind and the reflection of the sun makes a very pretty picture.
With tears in her sapphire eyes, she walks closer to you and pulls you to a hug. "Don't do that again. Okay?"
"I'm sorry, I-"
"You know, I just met you, what, a week ago?" She interrupts using a sad tone that cuts deep and breaks the hug, turning to the spring again.. "But even so, I feel like I know you since, well, forever. Boring moments have turned fun since you appeared, and you don't treat me like the outcast everyone knows. And it feels so nice to know that someone thinks like me, or at the very least understands me." Tears started running from Alma's eyes. "So please, don't put yourself in a position where I could lose you, okay?"

You open your mouth, as if to mutter a reply, but you close it.
No words fit these moments.

You take some steps forward and you grab Alma by the hand. You hear a little gasp as you turn her around and kiss her in the lips.

At first Alma seems surprised, which makes you doubt whether she's okay with this or not, but not a second after she returned the kiss right back at you. Placing your hands in the back of her waist, and Alma placing her's on the back of your head, you two share a most beautiful experience. Two lovers finally coming up with their feelings towards each others.
The kiss seems to last for an eternity. It could have lasted so long and you wouldn't have minded. Slowly, Alma separates her lips from yours, looks at you in the eyes, and grins. "I'll take that as a yes."

-----CHAPTER 5 (and ending)-----
You pull Alma towards you to kiss her once again and to strip her of her Ranger gear as she does the same to you. Slowly but surely clothes fall until you both are completely naked. Alma then asks you to join her inside the water spring. Obliging, you sit down in a shallow part of the spring and Alma places herself on your lap, facing you. Putting your arms around her waist, you lead Alma to a kiss again, which Alma responds in kind. Wrapping her arms around your neck, Alma begins moving slowly forwards and backwards, rubbing herself against your member as her large chest presses against your own. Muffled moans come and go as you two hold each other until you're fully erect. You break the kiss and look at Alma in her deep blue eyes, now filled with love and lust. She smiles at you and blushes even more, melting your heart yet hardening yourself even more. She leans up a bit and with her hand she leads your manhood towards her entrance. Slowly, she begins to come down, yet stops, gasps winces a bit when your penis tears something inside of her. You place your hands on her back and lean forward, trying to ease her pain a bit by teasing her breasts.
This seems to help, as she seems to ease down a bit, letting your dick enter even deeper, until you're completely inside of Alma. When this moment comes she gives a sigh of relief, looks at you, smiles and gives you a small peck on the lips.
Alma seems comfortable by staying like this, simply being connected in the most intimate manner. You kiss, hug, cuddle, tease each other for a long time, yet at one point Alma shoots you a glance of uncontrollable lust which you're happy to respond in kind, as you slowly start moving in and out. Alma lets out a few cute moans, yet as your thrusting increases in speed they turn from cute to womanly. When the pace is settled you reach out with your hand to one of Alma's pointy ears.
"A-anon, wha-?!" she tries to stop you but as soon as you touch her ear all protests cease, overran by moans. "M-my ears... ahn~, no~... they... they're sensitive, oh~." Cute. You keep rubbing and touching Alma's ears as you slide in and out of her and kiss her. Alma's barely holding herself with her arms linked behind your neck and muffled moans and gasps, half lost in pleasure.
Yes, cute, but you're at your limit right now, and it seems that Alma's too due to your incessant teasing.
"Alma, I'm going to..." you say as you try to pull out, but she isn't having any of it, with amazing dexterity she locks her legs on your back and pushes your head between her breasts.
"I... Inside" she moans, and you don't have much choice. Just as you climax inside of your lover, she lets out a loud scream and trembles a bit, reaching her own orgasm. You both are left panting and caressing each other inside the warm waters of the spring just as the sun begins to set.
With no words you two decide to simply stay like that a bit longer, even if it's just a bit, holding and cuddling with each other.
"Alma?"
"Anon?"
"I love you."
Alma giggles and smiles.
"I love you too."

When night falls, Alma and you head back to the village. Most of the villagers are inside their tents by now, save by the guards. You two make your way to Alma's tent, where you place your bedroll just next to her's. As you two lie down to sleep, Alma places her head in your chest, giving you a soft, warm smile.
But that cute smile doesn't last a lot.
"Anon..." she asks, with a worried voice. "Are you going to stay with us? With me?"

Oh.

You think about earlier today, when the Elder asked you. You had doubts, should you do this? The images of your burnt home flash by your eyes. Should you simply leave?
But then again, you've lived the last 5 years of your life by yourself, barely scraping by. You never had a friend, a lover, nor a family. Should you throw away all these in the hope that you might just triumph over a centuries old military Order?

...

"Yeah." You give Alma a smile and a kiss. "Of course I will stay with you." There's not really much to think, either die in a self-righteous holy quest against impossible odds, or try to enjoy the rest of your lifetime alongside the girl you love.
Alma looks at you with surprised eyes. Unable to control her emotions she sheds a tear and pounces at you, hugging you very tightly. "Thank you anon. I love you." She says in an excited yet low, soft voice.
You wipe the tear from Alma's cheek.
"I love you too Alma." You say, as you get comfortable alongside your elven lover. "I love you more than anything."


One has to make a lot of sacrifices to achieve vengeance. Alma would have to be one of them.

And it's just not worth it.



-----Epilogue-----

Following the path to the city of Zendar, you just can't anymore. You bring yourself to a stop.

"Come on Anon, you're lagging behind." Alma turns around and places her hands on her hips, pouting.
"It would be a lot easier if you'd carry some of the gear, you know." You tell her, rubbing your own shoulders to ease the pain.
"I'm your soft, fragile maiden, Anon, I can't carry so much~!" She laughs at you.

This girl, you swear.
--

It's been a year ever since you and Alma met. Deciding to stay with the elven village, who came to accept you eventually, you relocated alongside them to another kingdom. Leaving your wishes of vengeance behind, you decided to live a life of peace alongside Alma and her kin. Working as a Ranger, you spent most of your time alongside Alma, speaking, patrolling, bathing, cuddling, or doing naughtier stuff, it's been a life of peace, mostly.
But one day, Alma started to grow restless. And you knew what it was.
She wanted to see the world. She wanted to explore and travel, to discover and experience. But she was holding it in. She had been holding it in ever since you two started to live together.

So one afternoon, in a water spring, you asked her about it.
"I'm okay Anon, it's just been a hard week." She tried to dismiss it.
"No you're not." You stated. "Alma, I know you like the back of my hand. You aren't okay."
"Anon, let's not-"
"Alma come on." You hug her and lead her to your lap. "Whatever it is I'll understand it."
Alma sighed, she was weak to you when you got cuddly. "Okay, but it's only going to worry you."
"I don't mind." You smile. "Your worries are my worries." That made her blush, she was weak to sweet nothings too.
"I... I want to see the world, Anon." She says, as if taking a great weight off her shoulders. "I want to see the world and I feel like I'm stuck in the village and I can't get out." This really is a big deal for her. "And I also want to take your wishes into account, and you might now want to leave."
"Why didn't you ask me, then?" You ask the obvious.
"I..." she stutters. "I didn't want to ask you something you might not want to."
"How did you know I might not want to if you didn't ask?"
"I..." no answer.
You give her a peck on the lips. "That's right." she looks away, but you gently grab her chin and make her look you in the eyes. "Alma, I'll go wherever as long as I'm with you." Alma's wanderlust had proven to be contagious, so even if you were a bit more subtle about it, you grew restless by the minute to by staying in the village.
"So you mean..."
"Let's tell the High Elder tomorrow, okay?"
That old man has always liked you so you have no doubt he'll say yes. The day you and Alma married he came to congratulate you he had this 'I-knew-it-all-along' smirk.
Alma gives you one of the sweetest and happiest smiles you've ever seen and hugs you very tightly. "Okay, Anon, let's."

The following week, you were on your own. As the High Elder said, it's not truly unusual for an elf to leave the village. Many of them do when they're young as Alma is, so he didn't give you all kinds of hell for it.
Alma however, was very worried. She had never traveled outside the village so she was full of doubts. You couldn't do much to ease her worries, just be alongside her and help her whenever problems appeared. You still remember the first time you two entered a city she spent the entire time glued to your arm and didn't speak to anyone. You still tease her with that today.
But as time passed by Alma gained more and more confidence in herself. And so did you, in yourself.
You had never seen the world, either, you just were more at ease amongst crowds, so this was going to be a challenge for you too.

But Alma didn't let her worries stop her. So neither will you.

It's been six months ever since you left the village, and even if they haven't been easy, neither of you have ever felt regret.
Holding each other close while camping in a snowy place. Running, laughing and cuddling in the endless plains. Urging each other to continue in the long desert (and Alma keeping your eyes off the rare Sandworm that passed by and greeted us, afraid she'll take you from her). Bathing and making love in the sea under the afternoon's sun, a reminder of your first time. Every thing you do with her is a fun experience, and as you travel somewhere else it becomes a beautiful memory.

Someday your and Alma's wanderlust will be satisfied. You'll settle down with Alma in a small, cozy village, have one or two daughters, and live together with Alma the rest of your years.


But that day hasn't come yet.

---END---