Iris hurriedly changed clothes in the carriage as excitement pounded in her chest. She began putting on a set of leather armour that she bought a few months back to prepare her to get back into hunting. The feel of strapping a quiver over her shoulder gave her a warm nostalgia that brought some life to her. She felt her confidence flow through her as she fantasised her victory. She knew that this would be easy; Arylos relies in his inhuman sense all the time so this should be easy.

And then she would get a massage from—

No, Iris scolded herself sharply. She gently slapped her cheeks to keep her sanity about her; the last thing she wanted was for her impulsiveness and raging emotions to cost her a win.

She steaded herself with a solid nod and as she lifted up her old bow she heard a knock on the carriage walls. As she turned, she saw Bellona come into view at the back of the carriage.

“Are you really doing this?” Bellona asked, half joking as she leaned against the carriage frame.

“Why would I not? He’s an idiot that needs to be taught a lesson,” Iris returned while mentally checking that she had everything she needed.

Bellona sighed as she bit her lip, deep in thought about how to talk to Iris. “Look, I know he’s your friend but you do remember he’s not human, right?”

“And?” Iris asked while motioning for Bellona to move so she could get out of the carriage.

Bellona stared at Iris in disbelief before moving to the side as Iris jumped out of the carriage. “I just mean that he’s a Titan; a Vlajhilsen. That makes him stronger than us Templarians. Not going to lie, it’s a little awkward for me to hear you talk to and about him so casually. None of us would dare call him an ‘idiot’ as you do so regularly.”

“Is there something wrong with stating the obvious?” Iris asked while masking a laugh.

“I just think it’s a little…disrespectful,” Bellona cautioned in a soft voice. “He’s ancient and powerful. When you’re so casual and nonchalant with him, it’s kind of unnerving. We’re talking about a god here; a real god.”

Iris lifted her bow over her shoulder as her smile began to fade. “He’s different, yes. But he’s not that different from us. He’s just like the rest of us and that’s how he wants to be treated. Since that’s what he wants, that’s how I’ll treat him.”

“And that doesn’t feel wrong to you?” Bellona asked while rubbing her chin.

Iris laughed as she rested her hands on her hips. “Listen; a year and a half ago, I was convinced the gods were just people we never saw up in the sky somewhere. And then I find out that not only are they real, but some living amongst us. I take a Titan as my best friend and find out that our king is really a Templarian. Name one thing about anything that happened over the past year that wasn’t wrong.”

Bellona laughed under her breath as she understood Iris’s point. “Your life really has changed a lot over the past year. Was it for the better?”

Iris turned her attention to the forest as she lost herself in her thoughts. “I could have done without my village dying,” she answered with a smile. “Everything else was what I wanted and more so I can’t complain.”

Bellona smiled, satisfied in Iris’s answer before gesturing towards the woods. “Go on now; you have a Titan to race.”

Iris smiled and turned away and ran into the woods, trying to get through before Arylos could follow her. After running for a few paces, she slowed her pace and walked through the woods while hunched low, taking in the earthy smell of the forest and the sound of the crunching twigs and leaves under her boots. She felt a giddy excitement come to her as she slowly walked through the forest, taking in the sights and the smells as she searched for tracks to follow.

Iris knelt down on the forest floor once sufficiently far away from the group and ran her hand through the moist soil. She closed her eyes while taking in the ambiance; the smell of the wood, the sound of the birds and wind, the feel of the sun. It reminded her of simpler times as she succumbed to the serene.

She slowly moved through the forest floor, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells as she stalked. She had to remember what was at stake; her pride as a human hunter was on the line. Iris had to maintain something over Arylos; something even he couldn’t excel at.

Iris fell into a trance as she slowly stalked through the forest as time began to pass overhead and the sky began to turn a dull orange. She felt impatience gnaw at her as a part of her wondered if Arylos made his way back already. As Iris began to lose hope, she saw a lonely deer in the distance grazing near a bush. She cracked a smirk as she lined up behind a tree and prepared her bow while finding a path to move closer. She only had one shot to get this and her aim could have gotten rusty over time.

Iris masterfully manoeuvred through the underbrush, ensuring she stayed downwind from the deer so it couldn’t smell her. As she moved, she found herself just under twenty metres away and hiding behind a tree as the deer peacefully grazed; unaware of the human stalking it. Iris smiled and notched an arrow and lined up the shot.

I win, Iris cheered internally as she took a sharp breath and slowly released it until her lungs were nearly empty and she felt her fingers loosen on the string.

Suddenly, a sharp bird whistle sounded through the air, startling Iris and the deer as the animal looked around and looked right at Iris. Before Iris could react, she saw a blurred shape of an arm come out from behind the deer’s head as a hand holding a large stone struck it in the head, sending it to the ground and braying in confusion and pain.

Iris watched in horror as she saw a familiar shirtless and tattooed man step out from the bush and strike the deer in the head once more with the stone until the animal fell silent. The man then turned and looked right at Iris with familiar red eyes.

“I win,” the Titan growled with a wicked smile that Iris not only found annoying, but rather punchable.

Iris couldn’t believe what just happened as she felt her blood start to boil. She gritted her teeth and let out a sound that could only be a high-pitched growl. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?!” She hollered while keeping her bow sighted right on Arylos.

Arylos smiled and threw the blood covered stone to the side and gave Iris a shrug. Iris felt a nerve pop in her and she let go of the bowstring, firing an arrow right for Arylos’s head but was caught cleanly by the Titan as if he expected the shot.

“Are you trying to kill me?” Arylos called out in surprise while examining the arrow.

“You know what, I just might be!” Iris growled in return while stepping out from behind the tree. “Why did you just kill my deer?”

“Have you ever considered how unfair it was to not let me use a weapon nor my magic?” Arylos teased while reaching down and lifting the carcass over his shoulder. “Unsportsmanship pays back in kind, little girl.”

Iris lifted her bow onto her shoulder and crossed her arms, turning away from Arylos. “There’s no way you could have tracked that deer on your own.”

“You’re half right. I wasn’t tracking it; I was tracking you,” Arylos confessed with a nervous smile. “I could smell you a mile away so all I had to do was follow you and you would do half the work for me. I’m surprised you didn’t think about trying to track me.”

“Aha!” Iris exclaimed while turning back to Arylos and pointing a finger in his face. “You admit it; you cheated and used your superhuman senses to track me.”

Arylos looked at Iris with both amusement and confusion. “This is all pine,” Arylos explained while pointing to the woods around them. “This is all very earthy wood and the forest floor smells of moss and petrichor. Yet you use soaps that smell like spring blossoms. It doesn’t take superhuman senses to smell you in the midst of all of this.”

Iris thought for a moment before smelling her arm. As Arylos pointed out, she did stand out against the forest smells; she smelled like a garden of fresh flowers while the forest smelled earthy and damp with summer rains. She must have gone noseblind to it.

“Fine then you big idiot,” Iris exclaimed while lowering her bow and unstrapping her quiver from her back. “Then let’s go a few rounds; you and me.”

“Why are you so insistent on winning against me?” Arylos wondered aloud with a laugh.

“Because you act so high and mighty; so bring it,” Iris commanded as she stretched her arms and clenched her fists, readying for a fight.

Arylos raised one of his hands while laughing nervously, trying to get her to calm down. “Look, I would rather not something bad happen.”

“Like what? You said it yourself; you can’t die,” Iris teased while giving Arylos a crazy smile.

Arylos eyed the girl and felt a little fear come to him as he turned his back to her. “That may be true but I would rather not experience what you would do while trying to kill me.”

Iris growled and went low and reached out for a punch towards Arylos’s lower back to which Arylos quickly turned aside, letting Iris run past him. As she recovered, she picked up a stick and brought it towards Arylos and broke it against his forearm like it was not a threat to the Titan.

“Okay then,” Arylos mused to himself while lowering the deer carcass and spreading his arms, welcoming the challenge. Iris laughed as she went for a series of punches and each one was blocked by Arylos yet he was not returning any hits.

“Come on, boy, too scared to hit me? Think you’ll hurt me?” Iris teased as her smile widened.

“Would you stop if I said I was a little?” Arylos said while chuckling.

“Don’t expect me to shut up about it for like a year,” Iris said while planning her next move.

“Then don’t expect me to go easy on you,” Arylos said while gesturing to Iris to come at him.

Iris laughed and struck forward with a punch. However, before she could make contact, Arylos moved out of the way much faster than Iris knew him to. Before she knew it, Arylos had her pinned Iris up against a tree with his hand on her neck while his other hand had her punching hand locked in place by the wrist and his knee between her legs.

Iris looked up at the Titan and saw him growling heavily with a wild look in his slit pupil eyes and fangs bared. Iris pushed against the grip of the Titan yet he held her fast, pushing himself further against her as his growling filled her ears. Iris felt a strange emotion come to her. As she stared into his carnivorous eyes, she wanted him to do something as her heart pounded in her ears. She felt how tight he held her and how close he was and she couldn’t help but to wonder just what the Titan was planning on doing.

As she wondered, she watched Arylos’s pupils widen back to their normal shape and his growling replaced by a heavy breathing as he slowly came back to his senses. He pulled his hands away while looking for any injuries and taking relief in the knowledge that he didn’t hurt her.

“I’m sorry, that was…odd,” Arylos apologised as he set Iris back down and backed away. “I don’t know what that was, but I shouldn’t have done that.”

“N-No, it’s fine,” Iris assured as her face ran red. “I pushed too far and crossed a line I shouldn’t have.”

“I crossed the line,” Arylos confessed. “I shouldn’t have scared you like that. I wouldn’t hurt you, you know that. I should have been more conscious of that.”

“Is something wrong? You’ve never done that?” Iris asked, slowly approaching the Titan.

“I just…have a lot on my mind,” Arylos explained while turning away and picking the deer carcass back up.

“But I want you to open up; it will hurt less,” Iris insisted, frantically wondering if she had done something seriously wrong.

“It’s not something worth troubling you,” Arylos insisted, looking back towards Iris and giving her a soft smile. “Come on; let’s get back so we can cook this and eat tonight.”

Iris slowly nodded while rubbing her arms together. Arylos turned away and as he walked away, Iris leaned up against the tree. She still felt her heart pounding in her chest and her face warm with a lightheadedness she had not experienced in a while. She rested her hand over her stomach, trying to settle her organs as she tried to collect herself.

Just what was that? She wondered to herself. She thought through everything she knew about Arylos; why he would react like that now. She wondered if he was being overprotective deep down and that side of him came out. Yet why with her?

Did I do something wrong? Say something wrong? She continued to herself, rubbing her churning gut and trying to steady her legs.

“Iris?” She heard Arylos’s voice call out in the distance.

“I-I’m coming,” Iris replied while trying to get her legs to stop shaking. Once stable, she moved away from the tree and gathered her bow and quiver.

There must be something he’s not telling me, Iris told herself, determined to find out exactly what.