Chapter 4

Torin pov

We have searched for Roisin everywhere we thought she could have gone. My heart aches thinking she could have fallen to her death. I stand in the darkness outside of my home with my stomach tied in knots. I looked through her drawings and was impressed by her talent. The subject matter not only included me but many of the nature and scenes she encountered in her travels. I sigh, she whittled her way into my heart and I have come to care for her more than I should in the short time she's been here. I run my hand down my face. Cadac and Adrit are still out searching for her. A high-pitched whistle breaks the silence of the night and I gasped at Cadac carrying a limp Roisin in his arms.

"She's asleep, she was deep in the hunting grounds," he mumbled softly. My eyes widen, surprised she could make it that far on her own. I look down at her tear-stained face and feel like a complete asshole.

"Bring her to my bed," I sigh, opening the door for him. I followed him inside and to my room. He placed her gently on my bed and glared at me.

"I don't know what is going on between you two but she's a good female, can shoot a bow extremely well, and is an asset for us if we do the team archery challenge, don't be stupid," he growls softly at me. I nod my head and watch as he leaves, Cadac has always wanted to claim the victory in the team archery championships. I grin realizing he considered the female part of our group. I sit next to Roisin and brush a strand of her red hair from her face. Her eyes flutter open and she stares at me in confusion.

"Cadac found you and brought you back, you went far on your own, impressive," I grin. Her eyes scowl at me and I can see the water collecting in them.

"I want to apologize for what I said before, um, nothing of it was correct, I mean about you and me," I mumble turning red. She grins and gazes at me and puts her face in front of mine. I look directly into her green eyes and my heart starts to race. She leans forward and presses her lips to mine and I smile at her. She's grinning back.

"So we're good then," I question. She nods and I stand. I pulled the covers over her and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Get some sleep and we'll talk more tomorrow," I grin and walk out into the living room. My heart was beating frantically in my chest. I lay on the couch and smiled, grateful it had all turned out for the best.

Roisin's pov

I rub my face into Torin's pillow and sigh. The uppity asshole does like me, I grin to myself. I look across his room in amazement. I couldn't understand why this area was so fancy and the rest of his home so rustic. Perhaps I would ask him about it today. I get out of bed and go to the small closet in the hall to search for another outfit to wear. I grab a pair of leather pants covered with intricate beadwork. There were designs of purple flowers and filigree, they looked beautiful. I instantly fell in love with them. I looked for a shirt to match and came across a deep purple button-up with billowing sleeves, the same beadwork covering the top. Fancy, I grin and head to the bathroom to shower. After getting cleaned and changed I go back to his room and brush out my long hair. My arms ached by the time I finished and it was almost dry. I look myself over in the mirror and I'm shocked at how nice I look, my dark red hair is long, straight, and shiny, and the pants were amazing, hugging my butt perfectly. I smile at my reflection and go to the living room in search of Torin.

Torin was standing in the kitchen and his eyes got large when he saw what I was wearing.

"Where did you find those," he questions with his brow raised.

"In the closet with the other clothes," I grin and twirl around. He pursed his lips, confusion clouding his eyes.

"Is something wrong," I ask. He shakes his head and goes to the door and does a high pitch whistle. I'm learning that he does different ones to call Cadac and Adrit. A few moments later Cadac walks in questioning Torin who has his thumb pointing at me. Cadac's eyes also get large when he glances over what I'm wearing.

"Looks the same, right," Torin mumbles softly to Cadac.

"Too bad she isn't an elf or it would be very concerning," Cadac sighed.

"Perhaps one of her parents is actually an elf," Torin smirks, his eyes brightening at me. Cadac grins and shrugs his shoulders.

"Ask her about her lineage then," Cadac mumbles. They both look at me and I'm frowning at the pair.

"Roisin, who are your parents," Torin asks me curiously. I cock my brow, wondering what this is about.

"My father was Liam Putnam, and my mother was Fiadh O'Cleirigh," I mumble a frown on my face, I haven't thought of them in years. Both Cadac and Torin elbow each other with big grins on their faces and I'm looking at them like they're insane. Torin walked to me and wrapped his arm around my neck, looking down at my face.

"You are a halfling dearest, like me," he chuckles. I shake my head at his madness.

"Why do you think that," I ask.

"Your mother was well known for her rejection of everything the elven capitol stood for, she was also full of fire," he grins. Cadac nods in agreement.

"She rejected her status to marry your father, a human, something frowned upon by our society," Cadac adds.

"So you're telling me my mother was some elven royalty," I balked at the absurdity. Both of them nodded their heads at me and I rolled my eyes.

"So you're the same as me, a half-elf and human," I ask Torin.

"Yes my father was a noble elf, and my mother was a human, who also ventured here by accident. My younger brother was full blood and received my family's titles," he states unbothered by the fact.

"They don't allow halflings titles, they are outcasts of elven society," Cadac frowns. "Fantastic, I'm an oddity in this realm as well," I huff and sit on the couch, my lips pursed in disgust.

"She needs to join us in the archery championship, Torin, just the chaos it would cause would be worth it," Cadac chuckles at a smiling Torin. Torin nods, staring intently at me. He heads to his closet and brings out his large black bow and then another, much smaller than his. He walks to me and hands me the smaller one. I looked at it and then up to him.

"Take it, this will be yours to use in the championships," he grins. I grab the well-crafted bow in amazement. The slick black polished wood was marvelous.

"I think we should practice today," Cadac chuckles. Torin nods and offers his hand to me. I place my hand in his and he hands me my quiver full of arrows. The three of us headed to a different area of the forest where an obstacle course for archery was set up.

"How well are you at hitting moving targets," Torin questions me. I laugh, these stupid elves have no clue how skilled I actually am.

"I'm gold medal good," I smirk and wink at him.

"Excellent, Cadac set up the targets," Torin yells to Cadac. I watched as small targets were attached to a pulley system. I grinned as Cadac started pulling the rope making the targets move along in a straight line. Torin readied his bow and quickly hit each of the targets, hitting a bullseye on each one. I swallowed the lump in my throat, I hadn't realized he was extremely skilled as well. He chuckles at me.

"Your turn Roisin," he grins. I ready my new bow and wait for Cadac to add new targets. When he was ready, I calmed my nerves and concentrated. I hit them all but the first one. I frowned and looked at Torin. He nodded his head, grinning at me.

"You did well, you just need more practice and you'll get faster and better," he smirks. I roll my eyes and grit my teeth. It was a new bow and I wasn't used to it yet. We continued to practice until late in the afternoon. I was now able to quickly hit the moving targets hitting the bullseye each time. Both elves were very impressed by me and continued to marvel over my skills. Apparently, "females" weren't supposed to be able to use a bow so well. I rolled my eyes over their male chauvinism. I rubbed my arm muscles, they were sore from repeatedly pulling the bow string. "Tomorrow will test your distance shooting," Torin smiles, climbing up the tree. I hoisted myself up on the branch and nodded at him. I followed quickly behind him, wanting to soak in a hot bath to ease my muscles. When we reached his home I dropped to the couch, completely worn by the day's activities.

"Are you hungry," Torin asks. I glance at him and nod.

"I'm going to go soak, I'm sore," I mumble. He smiles at me, moving to sit next to me. "Turn your back to me," he sighs. I do and feel his hands start to kneed my tense shoulders. I relaxed and sighed at his skilled hands. I almost closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep. He chuckles at me and pats my back.

"Go soak and I'll find us some food," he grins. I nod and walk slowly to the bathroom. I turn the hot water on and strip. I lowered myself into the steaming water and sighed, my muscles thanking me at the relief. Leaning my neck against the rim of the wooden bath I closed my eyes and relaxed, not realizing I was drifting off to sleep.

Torin pov

I was tickled by Roisin's skill, she was the best female archer I'd ever seen. I could tell she was tired and decided to prepare a meal. There wasn't much so I cut up the fruit she had gathered to at least fill our empty stomachs. Adrit was drying the deer meat and it wouldn't be ready for a few days. I sat at my table waiting for Roisin, she was taking a long time. I'm debating on whether or not I should check on her. I frown and head to my bathroom. I knocked on the door and there was no response. I grit my teeth and open the door. My eyes land on a snoring Roisin laying nude in my tub. I grin and grab a towel. I release the plug for the water to drain and keep my eyes away from her naked body. I did sneak several peeks. Her skin was a creamy white where the sun had never touched. Her breasts were small with tiny pink nipples. I frown at my wandering eyes and the growth in my pants. I'm attracted to the small female and grin slightly by that admission. The water finally drained all the way and I wrapped the towel around her. I lifted her easily out of the tub and carried her to my bed. Laying her gently down, I smiled at her snores. I pulled the covers up over her and gazed down at her peaceful face. I sigh, bend over her and place a kiss on her pink lips. Grinning like an idiot when I stood and turned back to my living room.