As Cold as Stone

There were so many trees, there was absolutely no point in entering the forest. No doubt people could get lost in it, running around in circles, but he had looked in the obvious places, and the woman was no where to be found. He often thought about the fact he might be just a bit lonely at the Castle, his ex had someone to be with, everyone seemed to stick to themselves it seemed. He was all by himself. Henry refused to believe this fact though. No way he would feel such an emotion. The only loneliness he could feel was the lack of family he had now. The library was one of his favorite places to be here, and he did not see anything wrong with it at all.

Entering the woody scenery he looked behind all the trees in his path, feeling a bit desperate. No, he wasn't desperate, just...bored, that was it. After about ten minutes wandering he found that he was in the forest pretty deep. No way Esha would be in here, but he couldn't help but still look."Esha, where are you." he sighed to himself. Near by was a large bolder, sticking half way out of the ground. He lowered himself onto it and buried his face in his hands. Maybe some more time alone wasn't bad... Yuuki and Aesis weren't around either it seemed. The only people he would ever find would be those he didn't want to see.

This was bad, so very bad.

One minuit the horses were there and the next-! they scrambled through an open gate. Ran straight into the forest. Esha sighed heavily, slumped against a tree and tried to figure out what direction it went. If she was a horse, where would she be?...this was hopeless.

She made a little 'Tssk' of annoyance and jogged in the direction it might go- the largest track. She had no idea if it went that way, but Esha wasn't going to get filthy from a dirt track if they were on a less mucky one. She hoped they didn't split up- Esha, where are you. The statue girl spun a little when she heard her name, started walking towards it.

Horses temporarily forgotten, she approached sitting the figure "Henry, are you alright?" She said, with concern on her voice.

Rubbing his temple Henry sighed, there was a little internal struggle he couldn't quite get, along with his frustration. He thought for a moment he heard a horse whinny somewhere out into the wood. There was a voice though, feminine, and addressing him. Looking up sharply he stared straight to the direction the voice had spoken from. He stared at her eyes unmoving, analyzing the fact the person was not a threat. Softening a bit he exhaled his breath, tension leaving his rigid form.

Standing up smoothly he ran a hand through his hair nervously, "Finally, I've been looking everywhere for you." He walked towards her getting closer quite fast with his long legs. Now she was here he wasn't sure what to do. He looked her up and down a blank expression on his face, then his eyes rested on hers. He hadn't realized before that they weren't like usual eyes. How did she see? His curiosity started filling his mind, resulting in the boy seeming to space out.

Esha didn't really know Henry, or what was bugging him. She took a few steps forward, cautiously, like maybe stepping on the wrong branch would upset him further. She wasn't really good in these situations. At all. What to say...

It was a relief when he didn't seem too down. She couldn't judge. He was loo- Now that surprised her a bit. Why?

"If there was a reason that you were looking for me...then shoot, I'm here now." She said with a lopsided smile, not missing the upwards-downward look. She didn't bother returning one, but was rather curious as to why he thought she might be roaming out in the woods. This was all...she didn't like the woods very much, so if she hadn't seen the horses get out the the boy would be waiting here a while.

Looking away from her now he put an arm out to lean against the closest tree, his gaze shifting around, taking in his setting a bit better, "Well, that's true. You are here, oddly enough." He let out a breathy laugh. They were in the middle of the forest, this was such interesting luck they were both out here. Composing himself he let any amusement leave his expression and went back to watching her eyes. Would they be moist? Could they create tears?

"To be honest I've been looking so long, I forgot why I wanted to find you in the first place." Lie, pure lie. Would she be able to tell though. He had gotten pretty good at hiding truth, the key was not to focus and think about what topic was being discussed. His mind restless as always looked at the leaves over head, noticing the different hues where the sun reached the higher leaves. Deciding that he should probably seem more focused about the girl he tried to bring up something relevant. "So grandma, what exatly were you doing in the woods? Not looking for trouble I assume." He raised his left brow while giving a little smirk.

Esha gave a slightly unladylike laugh-snort "Says the boy looking for me in the woods, oddly enough." She rolled her eyes. Having no pupils, irises or whatever else, it wasn't recognizable as an eye roll.

Esha shook her head at him a bit, getting her fringe in her face in doing so. She needed a haircut. It was getting silly how long her fringe was. The thought of taking a pair of scissors to her own hair was horrifying, and she would make a mess of it. So he forgot...right. She believed him, just didn't think he'd be the vacant type. She put her hands in her pockets, rocked on her heels.

"Touche whippersnapper. I could ask you the same" Esha said, raising an eyebrow at Henry and send him back a smirk.

He couldn't do it, a quick smile was there and gone at her re-use of his words. There was a shift wit her eyes but he wasn't quite sure about it, he guessed it was an eye roll though, seeing as she was being sarcastic. The stone woman seemed to get irritated a bit with her hair, moving it about. Long hair was something he was use to, it felt safer, less exposing. His wavy hair didn't look good short any way.

After he had asked his question, and received her response he let his wall fall again. It was frustrating that he couldn't keep his closed demeanor around these new acquaintances, but wasn't that the reason he had been looking for them. Esha had been some one who had made him want to smile, Yuuki too. Though there was frustration it didn't show for he enjoyed joking around for once. "Oh, of course I was looking for trouble. I think it might go by Esha." He winked at her before looking off to the side. He was so cool. Smiling back at her Henry pushed off the tree and stretched himself out. "By the way, did you even think of why I was looking for you in the first place? Let alone here."

"Trouble, me?" She put both hands up to to her chest and put on the most offended face she could muster. "I'm shocked and appalled you'd think that" Esha said flippantly, crossing her arms around her chest and 'hmmphed'.

All in a theatrical manner, a few seconds later she smiled widely and returned to normal.

She almost laughed at the little at the wink, and stuck her tongue out at him for a second. She couldn't wink well, and would end up with blinking with both eyes instead. That would be a blink.

Eyes narrowed at the question, Why..? If he forgot- No, he didn't. The stone girl thought as much "No..I think you do though. Care to enlighten me Henry-" Esha said looking at his face intently with a slight smile on her lips "Why did you want to meet me, why here?"

Esha's little offended act was kind of cute, he couldn't help but chuckle as he shook his head. "From how I see it, you could cause a lot of trouble woman." The idea of someone seeing her move in her stone form was pretty funny. No doubt that she had been up to all sorts of fun before.

To tell her or not to tell her? To tell her the straight truth, or to tell her with a different word choice? Might as well, "Well, to be honest, I like your company. I was looking here because I couldn't find you anywhere in that labyrinth." Henry's head nodded in the direction he believed the castle to be in. His face calmed from it's amusement, but didn't return to it's usual emptiness. It was a simple, lonely look. "I don't have much to do here except work, and it's boring. " He moved right up in front of her now and attempted to use her as an arm rest.

The stone girl had an 'of course' look on her face, there was lots to be had in the academy.

Nothing but work? The stone girl couldn't not look alarmed at that. How terribly boring! Esha had been in all work, no play situations before. It wasn't fun unless she was enjoying the work. School work wasn't her favorite thing to do in the world. By the way Henry was talking it wasn't his either.

The labyrinth? Ah, castle. "I'm usually hanging around the castle. It's a rare occurance for me to be out here" If she hadn't lost those horses she would have been in the academy. A smile grew on her face when he admitted that he liked having her around.

At the arm touch she didn't protest but she was wondering what he was trying to achieve with the contact. "And how do you suppose I could...make you not bored?" Esha said with a slight amount of sassiness but otherwise not deviating from the way she usually spoke.

Hours and hours spent alone, even days here on the Island didn't really help one who had decided to try new things. Henry had chosen to try and be more social, but after so long in his misery, he had trouble figuring out how to start. The only person he knew here personally, he had tried to kill, and she had allies to kick his butt. Hearing those words from Esha, not matter how how weird her word choice was, made him feel a little warm inside. "Well you weren't in there today obviously." He chuckled again.

Not bored, as silly as it sounded, it sounded good. "I'd like that. Being not bored, I mean." His tone was soft and he let out a barely audible sigh. Letting off some of the weight from being isolated felt good, even just thinking about being with some one and doing something fun made the fairy feel better. "What is there to do? What do you think is fun?" Was there even a way to make him amused other than conversation? A pessimistic view was creeping into his thoughts. No he had to stay open minded. That's what his father would have said, his father would know how to make any one feel better.

"Well If I hadn't watched those horses escape then I would be in the castle." Not searching for stupid beasts in the woods. She had the mind just to leave them, this was an island after all.

She liked socializing, and doing fun things. Even helping a ratgirl take a bath had been fun, if not slightly hazardous. It wasn't really what was being done, it was who it was with. She looked at him with a bit of sympathy, the last few years had been a bit boring for her so the stone girl could sympathise.

What to do..."I like hanging around with friends, but apparently there is a wine cellar that I haven't explored. So that's in my plans. Would you like to go" She searched her head for a word. Sample. that was it. "..sample some vintages with me?" She asked him, the thought that maybe it wouldn't be responsible even passing her mind.

Ah so that was why he heard horses. Well thanks to the creatures it brought Esha to him, and together they were going to try to have fun. Something Henry hadn't had in a while. A large grin, probably his first one here, stretched across his face, excitement showing through. A wine cellar? Why not, he'd get to hang out with her and have a drink or few. He wasn't usually a drinker but it was nice to have some every now and then.

In a sudden move Henry swung his other arm around the girl to hug her, "Thank you Esha." He quickly stood back though after. It had been a bit strange, but he was happy enough to show her he felt better. Sticking his tongue out at her he turned around, "I bet I can get there first!" He started to jog back the way he had gotten there, looking behind him to see if she was coming.

Esha hugged Henry back, and smiled a little to herself.

"No..." Esha sighed, she couldn't tun very well, and it tired her out. She turned her attention the the horses...aha. Yes. She ran the other direction for the horse emerging form the forest. She approached it with a jog and jumped over it's back whilst swinging her leg around.

A light kick and they were off, it seemed to want to go home. Which was good because the stone girl couldn't guide a horse.

She stopped to pick up Henry, or just got the horse to slow down. Somehow. "C'mon. Jump on before it speeds up again" She said, holding a hand out to Henry as she passed.

Seeing girl go the other way he paused. What was she... oh. As she came by he hopped on and they rode to the castle.