The ties that bind (Ekkane)

[ISABELLA MARIE SWAN]

Travelling in the woods, the twenty four year old needed a reprieve. With all of the information she had recieved—the ill advised human wasn’t about to allow the risks to stop her from living her life. She had all but gotten her life back to normal. To where the pain was not as sharp as it had been. She had to accept that she had to move on with her life—just like she had hoped Edward had. Being a woman—she was just watching the scenery. She knew she wasn’t alone. Instincts had told her that.

Of course she had no idea what the day might bring her. Of course she needed something—anything to keep her mind on the straight and narrow. At once she had been walking through the forest, but at once she nearly bumped into what appeared to be a nine year old. She had no idea at first if this was just a simple child walking through the woods or if the child was the daughter of a shifter or even a vampire. Anything was possible.

Taking a deep breath she made her way toward the young girl. “Hello.” She said hoping to make herself known in case the girl hadn’t seen her walk up. “My name’s Bella...what’s yours? What are you doing out here by yourself?” She asked sweetly, taking off her jacket. “Are you cold? You could use my jacket if you wanted to...” She asked thinking maybe this was the best way to get the girl into talking to her, although whether or not she’d say anything was important. “Where’s your Mom and Dad, sweetheart? I’m sure they are worried about you. I know I would be.”

She was curious about what the little girl was doing out there in the woods given the woods were a very dangerous place, vampires were lurking everywhere and there were shifters nearby patrolling. She didn’t want to see the little girl get hurt. All she knew was she felt this instant connection to this little girl and she had no idea why. She was just a beautiful little girl, and she was just worried about her safety. Perhaps it was because she had only dreamed of being a mom—a fact she’d never discussed with anyone due to her fears of marriage that she had once shared with Edward.

Of course that was all but in the past and now she wanted to focus on the present. All she knew was that she didn’t want this littel girl to be left alone. She couldn’t explain the bond that she felt towards her. It was like they were destined to meet. Words could not describe what it was that she felt toward the little girl, but no one that age should be left alone like this.

[EKKANNE OPHELIA GRACE]

It really hadn't been a good day for Ekki. First thing in the morning, she'd been woken up by some lawyer of some sorts in her bedroom who'd told her that someone wanted to buy the beach house and she'd either have to find money and stay, or the community could find another place for Ekki to stay, maybe find a parent for her? And what could the young girl do? She could only get out of the beach house and plan. Well, not before she punched the lawyer in the nose out of shock of seeing a six foot tall man bending over her bed and in her freaking bedroom! Had anyone ever heard of privacy? Ekki crossed her arms over her, "For The Sake Of Pinocchio!" Shirt as her faded blue jean clothed legs came to an abrupt halt. She looked up from her continous gaze at the muddy ground below as a raindrop dripped and suddenly, she was caught in a rainstorm. Freezing cold, she looked from left to right to see where she was. The Woods, that was where she was. Smiling, she pulled her boot clad feet out of the mud puddles they'd sunk into over time. She trekked through the forest until she asked herself what she was doing and where she was going. A very good question too, unfortunately, she had no answers. Shivering, Ekki turned to go back when she realized she was lost. The girl knew the woods left and right, at least she'd thought that as she was in a place uncommon to her. Panic rose inside her as she frantically started a chant of "Eenie Meennie Moe" between eight pathways. One of them would lead her out, right? Ekki sighed and let her pointed index finger drop. This was pointless. Maybe she should ask an animal for directions? Thus, the young vampire continued on to try and find an animal but none were in sight, all of them had seeked shelter already from the rain. So there she was, lost, with no help at hand or any to come. The panic built further but she refused to cry as she desperately tried to think when...

"Ooomf! What in the name of Cinderella's stinking slipper?" Ekki yelped as she almost fell into a mud puddle due to someone or something bumping into her. Wobbling slightly, Ekki caught herself and turned around. Normally, she'd be mad that someone had run into her but she was too relieved, it was a person! Someone who could help! Without thinking, Ekki jumped up and hugged the person. She half expected for her to scream "Creeper!" Or something. It didn't matter if she was nine or not, anyone would be creeped out. Smiling, she removed herself from the woman and upon closer inspection, the woman seemed familiar. She had dark hair and brown eyes and a kind of awkward stance but nevertheless...

"Are you the daughter of Chief Swan?" Ekki asked just as the woman spoke up too. Charlie Swan, Ekki had met with him on some occasions, like when she was first found. He took her to his house and talked with her a bit, called someone, and told her he'd gotten her a place to live of at leats temporarily. She'd never dreamed that her house would be taken away but now that it was, she didn't know what to do. She wasn't some lawyer or estate realtor or whatever, she had no knowledge in things like this. She was shaken out of her thoughts as the woman spoke.

"Bella? Like Isabella Swan? Hi! I'm Ekki, do you have food?" Oh yeah, real smooth of Ekki. The first thing for the girl to blurt out was, "Do you have food?" But she was hungry, famished really. Then a thought hit her. How could she be cold when she was a vampire? That was weird, but then again, it could be normal for vampires as Ekki wasn't an expert on them.

"Could I? I'm pretty cold," She said, "I don't have a mom or dad. They're..." Ekki thoight up a lie immediately, a very unconvincing lie but nevertheless, "They're traveling the world on an elephant shaped ship named Dumbo." Yep, even Ekki knew that was pathetic but she had panicked under the pressure as she was never cooperative or proffesional when under pressure like that. But she didn't want Bella to think she was being sarcastic or inconsiderate, so she put on a serious face instead of busting out laughing at her own pathetic fail. Jumping up and down, she smiled at Bella. She was helping her and so Ekki needed to help her back.

"You must be cold too, ma'm and I know that if you're cold, you can move around a lot and you won't be cold anymore," She said, grabbing Bella's hand. "So, come on! Let's get uncold!"

Laughing, she started running, dragging Bella along with her, making sure to prevent her from tripping.

"Come on, I know you can keep up...Uh, is it that way? Wait, no, the right, right?" Now, she was stumped, halting to a stop Ekki glanced up at Bella. "And so this is where you come in, because I doubt me doing 'Eenie Meenie Moe would help us. At all."

[ISABELLA MARIE SWAN]

Today had been an interesting sort of day. She’d gotten up that morning, had made Charlie breakfast, since he didn’t want to go to the diner that morning. She then went to work for a while, and had gotten home barely been home half an hour when she had gone into the woods. The woods were a comforting scenery to where she had come from. The city lights were pretty of course but nothing compared to the serenity of the woods in her oppinion. After all it was where she and Edward had gotten to know eachother better.

So yes the woods held both beautiful and painful memories but she focused herself to think of the beautiful memories as opposed to the hurtful ones. She had no idea that today she would be meeting a beautiful little girl like the one she was right in front of.

The weather was something to be desired, but the rainstorm was beautiful, and it reminded her of what might have been. Her bright green v neck top and her blue jeans complimented her quite nicely. It was cold out but she didn’t mind the cold, especially considering she may not have liked the rain but the cold was another story altogether. Getting lost in her thoughts is what brought her into the middle of the woods.

She wasn’t afraid or in a panic as she knew where she was, which was a good thing. The path to the right lead to the exit, to leave the woods, the path to the left would lead deeper into the woods. A fact she thought of following the path to the left. But the woods were quiet, mostly due to the rainstorm...but even that made her nervous. Vampires and shifters alike both hunted in these woods, Vampires often for either humans or animals, and shifters, for the vampires who drank humans dry.

She hadn’t meant to cause the young girl to nearly fall in a mud puddle. Suddenly the young girl had hugged her and she felt herself wrap her arms around the girl momentarily before releasing her. She’d seen worse, than this so she wasn’t terrified at all. When the little girl asked if she was the daughter of Chief Swan, a small smile appeared on her face. “Yeah, I am. Charlie’s daughter that is. And yes, I’m Isabella though I prefer going by Bella if that’s alright.” She smiled as she looked at the young girl. “I’ve got a couple sandwiches.” She replied as she pulled one out of her backpack and handed it to the young girl named Ekki. “Ekki. Pretty name.” She said as she removed her jacket and handed it to the young girl. She couldn’t help but chuckle. “Alright now I know that’s not the truth. I can tell you that. However, if you don’t want to tell me that’s fine. I’m just trying to help. Before I drag Charlie...I mean Chief Swan into all of this.” She said softly. She sighed in relief when the young girl grabbed her hand and started dragging her along. Although she tried to run and keep up, she wasn’t nearly as fast as the young girl which only meant one thing. She was incredibly fast, which meant she was a young vampire. No doubt about that. She smiled softly as they came to a stop. “Go to the right and you’ll get us both out of here, although I’d be careful about your speed, given you’re incredibly fast, faster than the average human.” She said softly which would alert the girl to let her know that she knew what she was.

[EKKANNE OPHELIA GRACE]

"So you are the chief's daughter? Huh. I know him! That big guy with the gun and black hair that almost looks blue? That old man? Oh...Uh, sorry," And there Ekki was again, mouthing off without thinking and being completely and utterly inconsiderate. She hoped that Bella wouldn't be mad about what she'd just said, after all, she was her key out but there was also something else...The fact that this woman was kind enough to stop in the middle of the woods, in a fierce rainstorm to offer a little nine year old her jacket.

"I didn't mean to offend you, Bella, because in all honesty, I don't mean anything towards your father. In fact, he just might be my hero. See, if you don't mind me rambling off about my pity story, I'll just say it. There is a reason I'm out here in the first place and no matter how young I am, I'm-nobody would be as stupid to go out in the woods when they clearly don't know there way around," Ekki paused to bite her lip. She'd thought that she knew her way around but then again, it seemed as if she'd never known the forest in the first place considering that she'd stumbled upon a strange house she'd never seen before only days ago and now getting hopelessly lost in the woods? She was torn between trying to venture further and get to know the woods better or just stay away from them. After all, at some point, Bella, or anyone for that matter, wasn't just going to be hanging around Forks forest to help her when she got lost. Sighing, she decided the one thing she needed to do was thank Bella.

"Before I go on with my story, I need to thank you. I most likely wouldn't have gotten anywhere near the exit of these woods if it weren't for you," She said. "And I apologize for all the trouble I've caused you..." Ekkanne glanced at Bella's soaked-to-the-bone wet clothes while her hair was matted and dripping wet. This woman would need a hot shower when she got home and a shower, well, it was the ultimate bane of children's existence, it made them stomp their feet or wrinkle their noses in disgust. This meant that Ekki wasn't discluded and she found herself stopping to look at Bella with sorrowful eyes. She knew that adults didn't think showers were much but...The very thought of them made her shudder and she couldn't help but apologize for causing Bella to come out in the rain and to obviously have to take a shower in the near future when they were to get out.

"I'm so sorry!" She cried, her story long forgotten. "I know you must think it stupid for me to be apologizing for having caused you a future shower but you must know that they're absolutely dreadful, skin crawling and-Rapunzel's nonexistent brush that she should have probably owned! What is that?" And the thing. The preposterous thing that had made young Ekkanne cry out was a...Camel. A camel, tall and slender stood before her, munching on some blades of grass then spitting them out, the camel gave Ekki (Or at least she thought it did) the stink eye.

"Dumbo's flapping ears!" She whimpered, stuffing the sandwhich that Bella had offered her into her mouth and swallowing a good chunk of it then gingerly swallowing the rest, she gulped. "I think...I might adopt a phobia of those foul creatures. You see, I met this one a day ago and it's being very creepy and opting to follow me!" She whined. Then, glaring at the camel, she realized it had set itself right smack in the middle of the right pathway which meant that they'd have to get it out of the way or go around it.

"Peanut butter and gravy! Will you kindly move your rump?" She growled out at the camel while slipping on the jacket Bella had offered her. "Oh! Thank you Bella!" She quickly thanked the woman politely.

[ISABELLA MARIE SWAN]

She chuckled lightly. “Don’t worry, Charlie won’t mind you called him the big guy with the gun and the black hair that is almost blue. He’s been called worse, believe me. He’s family that’s all that matters.” Truth was she had heard Charlie be called things that were even more vile than that. But she wasn’t about to tell the little girl exactly what those words were. It wasn’t polite. “You didn’t offend me, Ekki. He’s one of my heroes too. He’s saved alot of people in his life. And as far as the woods are concerned, I grew up here in Forks. I used to go to the woods all the time when I was a kid, that’s the only reason I know my way around.” She paused momentarily when the girl thanked her. “No need to thank me. It’s what I do. I help people...” She replied. “Even if I can’t help myself.” She thought to herself.

“It’s no problem. At all. I’m actually glad I wasn’t the only one out here. Can be a lonely place if you’re alone. Don’t appologize. Really I’m okay. This is what I do. I’ve always loved the forest even in the rain. Though it rains alot here in Forks.” She explained as she looked at the young girl. “Showers? Yes, well trust me when you’re older they’re alot faster than just sitting in a bathtub.” She couldn’t help but grin as she looked at the young girl recalling her younger years. She’d never been afraid of the water, she absolutely had loved it as a child.

She looked at the young girl who kept quoting disney movies, and it made her think of her younger years. Of course she hadn’t seen what Ekki had until she was talking about having a phobia of one. It was rare, seeing a camel in the forest. Very rare and unusual. It made her think of all the others—the strange creatures in the forest. “Well, they’re just like any other animal. Probably searching for warmth and shade, but don’t worry. We can get him to move. So long as he doesn’t spit at us. We’ll figure it out. I’ll not let you catch a cold.” She said as she walked toward the camel, hoping she could get it to move, even if she had to distract it somehow. She turned to look back at the nine year old, as the camel hadn’t moved but an inch or two. “Any ideas how we get this thing to move?” She asked the nine year old, whom she knew might not know the answer but figured two heads were better than one in this situation. “You’re welcome Ekki.” She replied to the girl, hoping they could get out of there before either of them got really sick. She hoped maybe they could go back to her house—to Charlie’s before the weather got worse.