Chapter 146: It's Time

AARYN

"El?" he pushed under the trailing branches and leaves of the Weeping Tree and didn't immediately find her where he'd expected—in her usual spot, with her back to the trunk of the large tree and her knees folded up in front of her.

"Over here." Her voice came from the other side of the trunk, and Aaryn frowned. They didn't usually spend much time back there anymore because the tree's branches began much closer to the ground, so it didn't allow as much clearance for adult Anima height.

But he made his way around the tree, hunching slightly to keep the smaller twigs and branches out of his hair.

Then he stopped dead and his mouth fell open.

She'd collected grasses from the meadow and spread them over a space about as large as a sleeping platform. And she had laid down in the middle of it.

Naked.

"El, what are you doing?" he asked breathlessly.