Cyial tried his best to hold in the yawn, but he failed, releasing it with his jaw tightening and his mouth releasing in a large 'O' before the tension relaxed and so did his weight against the tree. He wasn't against helping Sairek out at all but this—this was...
Boring.
...Very boring.
There was no way to tell if Sairek was succeeding, there was no way to tell if he was failing, there was nothing happening at all. He was just sitting here... staring at the Prince, or occasionally his book, but he didn't want to pay too much attention to the book either, because the less attention there was on Sairek and his surroundings, the more danger he would put the Prince in the off chance of creature that did actually come would be a threat to his well-being. There was such a slim chance something bad would happen, but if something did happen, he would never be able to forgive himself.
It was frustrating to say the least and it wasn't even because he necessarily hated what he was doing right now. He just wished he could do more. Something, anything to help Sairek out more directly or even train with him, but because of his nature, that was basically impossible, right? All he could do was to impart his knowledge from his own experiences, which didn't even help much, again, due to his nature; and pass whatever knowledge was in his book. However, when he looked through the tome, the information he found in there seemed complicated and beyond his comprehension. Far too advanced than the both of them would probably be able to figure out.
Indeed, it was frustrating... but he didn't know why he found this to be so frustrating. Was he simply being impatient?
...No. That didn't seem right. He was patient. Very patient in fact. It was how he resisted his hunger for so long after all, and even now, it wasn't the waiting that was bothering him, despite it being boring. Was he... envious?
No, that didn't seem right either. Although, perhaps a bit closer to the feeling he was describing…
What was unbeknownst to Cyial, was that, without even meaning to, he was reflecting deep within himself into a state of meditation. Deeper and deeper his thoughts went, forgetting the world around him, looking deeper and deeper into himself, until...
‘Deeper... must look deeper…’
Sairek thought those words into his head over and over again, beginning to become frustrated with his lack of progress, even after sitting in the same spot for over an hour. Was he somehow doing it wrong? What did look deeper into himself really mean?
He took a moment to stop and remember what Fuyiki had said about contemplation and reflection upon one’s self. He supposed that wasn’t exactly what he had been trying to do for the past three hours or so, but he still did not quite understand what that meant. Did that mean criticize himself? Or did it mean—
“AHHH–!!”
Sairek’s eyes opened wide in startlement, snapping him out of his thoughts and the world became present around him yet again. It took him a couple of seconds to realize that the scream he had just heard was actually Cyial. With his eyes closed for so long, he squinted through the evening daylight to look where the boy had been sitting to find a worrying sight of Cyial looking utterly shocked or perhaps terrified. Sairek scrambled himself up and ran over to him. “Cyial? What happened, what’s wrong?!”
The other boy didn’t answer and as Sairek got closer, concern carrying him to aid his friend, he realized that terrified didn’t quite describe Cyial’s expression.
“I… I did it!” Cyial exclaimed with bewilderment.
“Did… what?”
“I… um… the—the meditation thing…! I didn’t even mean to, I’m so sorry! I should have been watching you more carefully but I began getting lost in thought and—” Cyial began to apologize profusely in shame.
Sairek blinked in confusion and cut Cyial off before he began to ramble. “W-Wait, how long ago did you start spacing out?”
“O-Only two minutes ago… I think? I promise! It wasn’t for very long!”
Sairek blinked again. “Why are you apologizing so much?”
“I’m supposed to be paying attention to you and—”
“Cyial, geez, it’s not that big of a deal.” Sairek frowned before sitting down in front of the smaller boy on his knees. “Tell me what you did.”
Cyial opened his mouth to speak, pausing for a moment as he tried to formulate his experience in words. “Well.. I just… kind of day dreamed, really, I guess.” He finally said, pausing again before his eyebrows furrowed further in thought. “I guess I understand what Fuyiki meant that meditating this way would be impossible for a demon, though…”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I felt what Fuyiki talked about and the surprise of it kind of threw me off, but despite what I could feel for that brief moment, it also felt very distant. I didn’t… feel a connection exactly. I felt the presence of everything, vaguely, but I don’t think I would be able to reach out the same way. I guess… kind of like I said before. It felt like a more physical than a spiritual feeling. I don’t think I would be able to go to the next step.”
“I can’t believe you did it already and so quickly—and by accident no less… you’re much better at this sort of thing than I am…” Sairek groaned, dejected at himself.
“Don’t be like that, I know you can do it.” Cyial tried to encourage him. “It’s not something you can just do so consciously. I think you’re trying too hard.”
“Trying too hard?”
Cyial nodded. “I guess the best way I can describe it is; don’t think about doing it. Just… let your mind go. Like day dreaming; but still being vaguely lucid and aware that you’re doing it.”
Sairek wrinkled his nose for a second as he pondered Cyial’s explanation. A moment later, he spoke again. “I think I can do that.”
“I know you can do that.” Cyial corrected him. “You doubt yourself too much.”
“You’re not any better.” Sairek countered.
“Oh… well, I…” Cyial began, fidgeting as he looked away from Sairek and down at his lap for a moment. “It’s not so much I doubt myself so much… but I doubt what other people think of me.”
“I guess I’m sort of the same, but it’s the opposite case for me.” Sairek said as he pushed himself up to stand. “I worry that about people think too much of me.”
“Yeah, kind of like that.”
Sairek glanced away from Cyial for a moment, placing his hand just above his eyebrows as he scanned the skyline, or what he could through the trees, trying to discern a rough guess as to where the sun may be. A few seconds later, he turned back around to face Cyial. “I’d like to keep trying, but it would probably be best to get back before it starts getting dark.” He mused. “I doubt I’d be able to get it in what time we have remaining.”
“There’s always tomorrow.” Cyial agreed.
“Yeah, well I’m not looking forward to more physical stuff. I’m still a bit sore…” Sairek grumbled. He reached a hand down to help Cyial stand up and the other boy took it. Sairek wasn’t sure if he was more sore and weaker than he thought, or if Cyial had just pulled super hard unintentionally, but he underestimated the force and with a small yelp, he went collapsing forward as Cyial was halfway up, landing right on top of the other boy and sending them both back onto the forest floor.
Cyial’s first reaction was concern and worry if Sairek was okay, but before he even had a chance to ask, he heard Sairek laughing in a childish giggle and his concern turned into giddiness as he chuckled a little too in response.
“You know, I’ve never actually really played and fooled around with anyone before...” Sairek responded once their chuckles died down. “I was just holed up in the castle the entire time and any time I did get out—without my father’s permission, none of the other kids wanted to play with me because of who I was.”
“Me too...” Cyial agreed, barely above a whisper. He thought back to what Fuyiki had said before about 'play'. Then, something primal took over him and he put his book gently onto the forest floor some distance beside him and then pushed against Sairek and tried to roll him over forcibly.
Sairek started in surprise at Cyial’s sudden ‘attack’, but was soon fighting against the demon. Before long, they were both playfully rolling around in the forest clearing, playfully wrestling, giggling gleefully at each other, for what may have been the first time in their lives, playing with each other and having fun.
About fifteen minutes later, their sudden energy was nearly fully expended. With one final roll, Cyial pinned Sairek down, holding his wrists with both hands and pinning them down to the forest floor, legs on either side of him to keep him from rolling anymore or being able to kick out effectively. Sairek writhed and squirmed, struggling to get out for a few seconds, but he let out a big exhale, breathing hard, harder than Cyial was anyway and went limp. However, he surrendered with a grin on his face.
Cyial looked down at the Prince, a bead of sweat rolling down his neck, bits of grass dotting his clothes and bits of his skin. He heard a voice inside of him telling him this was the perfect opportunity he had been waiting for. He was even sitting on his lap, able to feel a faint lump and—
“Stop.”
Cyial swiftly and sternly shut the voice out of his head. His hunger was not going to ruin this moment for him.
“...You got me.” Sairek breathed out, looking up at Cyial who was still pinning him down.
The demon blinked once, smiled gently and moved to stand up, releasing Sairek and still holding both of his wrists, pulled to help him sit upright. He glanced over the Prince once more. “I hope Fuyiki doesn’t mind his clothes being a bit dirty.”
Sairek shrugged dismissively, watching as Cyial began rubbing a gloved hand against some of the bits of grass and such stuck to his body and clothes to brush them off. After a few seconds of silence, he broke it. “I, uh… wouldn’t mind doing that again. You know, just now and then.” He said, almost sheepishly.
“I’d like that, too.” Cyial smiled. “What about Nayleen though?”
“Uh, I know she’s a bit of a tomboy but uh… she’s still a girl.” Sairek mumbled. “Even though she’d probably like rough housing too, I guess. Seems like her personality.”
“Us boys will be boys?” Cyial smirked.
“Yeah. She’d probably beat both of us even if we ganged up on her anyways.” Sairek laughed.
The hoot of an owl brought them out of their reverie and they both looked up, not realizing the sun had begun to set by now. There was still enough daylight, but by now the forest tree shadows were very long, and any area where sunlight poked out, it was a red-orange glow.
“I guess that’s our cue to hurry on back.” Cyial noted, moving to help Sairek stand up with him. When they were both up, he quickly brushed off his robes, which seems to have absorbed the most out of the two of them when it came to random bits of grass, leaves and twigs. Sairek moved over to help brush off his back hastily.
When they were done, they didn’t even need to say another word to each other as after Cyial recollected his book, they began a brisk walk back to town before it started getting dark.
“I was starting to get a little concerned.” Fuyiki said as he opened the door for the two boys waiting at the door for him. “How did it go?” He asked, stepping aside to let them in.
“I didn’t do it, but I think I can do at least the first step tomorrow.” Sairek responded as they stepped in together. “Cyial managed to do the first step within a couple of minutes, though. By accident!”
Cyial looked off to the side, a bit shy at Sairek’s praise.
“Well, that’s to be expected I suppose.” Fuyiki said in a tone showing no surprise at all. “Like I said, demons are more magical creatures than us humans. By the way, is Nayleen not with you?”
Cyial and Sairek’s faces both turned into a frown in sync. “No? We didn’t see her in the forest or on the way here. Wasn’t she just going to buy a bow and that tent and then test out the bow?” Sairek asked.
“That’s what I thought.” Fuyiki replied.
“It wouldn’t be unlike her to want to catch game with it.” Cyial reasoned.
“...Or even camp out in the forest for the night to see how her catch tastes...” Sairek added. “I would expect her to drop by and say something, though.”
“Maybe I should check the inn?” Cyial suggested.
“Wouldn’t hurt to look.” Sairek agreed with a nod. “It’s only just down the street, anyway.”
“If she’s not there, then we should check the shops. We better hurry though, they will be closing fairly soon.” Fuyiki warned them.
“Right, we’ll be right back, I guess.” Sairek said with a nod, motioning Cyial with him and they left out the door again.
Sairek waited outside of the inn, watching the people walk by. At least without his nobility uniform he ironically felt more… casual. Even though the outfit was anything but. As he waited, he just leaned against the wall of the building, arms crossed.
The sound of the door opening stole his attention and he pushed himself upright as Cyial stepped through the door, hugging his book in his arms against his body. He glanced over at Sairek and answered the bubbling question in his mind with a simple shake of his head.
“Never that easy, I guess.” Sairek sighed. “Let’s ask Fuyiki where those stores are I suppose.”
“I’m guessing by the frowns you’re wearing, she wasn’t there.” Fuyiki answered the two boys with as he pushed the door back open for them.
Both Cyial and Sairek shook their heads in sync.
“Right, figured. Oh well, let’s go together. There aren’t that many shops that sell bows around here. Somebody had to see her.” Fuyiki, stepping out the door with the other two and locking the door behind him. Then he lead the way down the streets.
It wasn’t a considerably long walk, but as Fuyiki had said, it was on the other side of town. It was several blocks before Fuyiki slowed down to a stop and began examining the buildings a little bit. By now, the sun had dipped below the horizon, and street lights were on, lighting up the streets once more with a warm yellow glow. The streets were almost completely deserted as most people were in the houses, either having dinner or starting to finish cooking dinner at least. Only the occasional person could be seen, even in a section that was normally so busy during the day and was still technically open for business.
“Hmm, sometimes there are kiosks out here selling stuff too, but looks like they all departed for the night. Hopefully she didn’t buy a bow from one of them.” Fuyiki mused. “Would be hard to figure out where she may have went if so.”
“How many shops can an eccentric blonde girl visit?” Sairek asked.
“Well, that sell archery stuff? Only one of them really sells one. The other one is more of a general shop, though still sells basic kinds of bows now and then. Then obviously any of the kiosk stuff changes day to day as merchants come and—”
“Excuse me.” A voice interrupted Fuyiki from behind, making the three of them jump in reaction. They turned around to see a woman.
“Oh, aren’t you the lady we spoke to when we first came into town? Who told us where Fuyiki lived?” Cyial asked.
The woman nodded, though no parasol or book in hand this time. She looked up from the two boys to look at… “Fuyiki.”
“...Elle.” Fuyiki responded in kind. There was no politeness or greeting in their voices. It was more like malice.
Sairek and Cyial look at them both, then looked back to each other, blinking, as the two stared at each other for a long, hard and uncomfortable minute. Then, the woman let out a long sigh, breaking the eye contact to look down at both boys. “If you two are looking for your friend, I’m afraid she got in trouble with the guards earlier and they dragged her off.”
“She… She what?” Sairek asked.
“She was taken into custody by the guards.” She repeated with more clarification.
“Sweet Lands…” Sairek let out with a groaning sigh. “What did she possibly do..?” He asked, rubbing his fingers against his forehead.
Elle shrugged. “I was merely shopping and I heard the commotion. It’s not entirely uncommon. I only noted it because I recognized her. I’m missing an ingredient to cook my supper, so I was just on my way to go buy it before the shops closed. Fortunately you two were here so I could tell you.” She smiled gently.
“Well, that complicates things… Guess we’re going to the Holding Center instead.” Fuyiki grumbled, then looked at Elle. “Erm… thank you, Elle.”
She didn’t comment to him. Instead, she gave a hard look at Cyial, staring into his glowing red eyes for a few seconds too long before she turned around and began walking off after giving a brief and silent curtsy to the other two, leaving the three of them a bit dumbfounded. Cyial tilted his head slightly in curiosity and blinked once as they watched her continue on and soon walk into a store.
“...Riiiight. Let’s go, boys.” Fuyiki said after another moment of silence between the three of them. He began leading the way once more.
They walked in silence for a long moment. The obvious question hanging in the air. It was finally Sairek who broke it. “So… uh, you two don’t seem to like each other much. There… a reason why?”
“She’s my daughter.” Fuyiki answered.
“Oh…” Sairek let out. He didn’t press the issue any further, despite the curiosity gnawing at him.
They walked a few more blocks until they began approaching a building moderately larger than all the rest. Mostly made out of white stone much like a lot of the structures in the town, though with a blue marble spherical top; any other details were lost due to the darkness and the street lights not quite reaching that high. Fuyiki lead them in, opening the door for them.
The atmosphere inside was immediately not welcoming. Sairek took a cursory glance around, seeing many people who looked like guards everywhere. Lots of people dressed in uniform and almost all of their attention was on them. It was fairly quiet inside with almost nobody speaking and those that did spoke in hushed tones.
Fuyiki lead them inward towards a man sitting at a desk, writing at papers. He was dressed in uniform too, though the chainmail the others had, was not worn. “Can I help you three?” he asked.
Fuyiki opened his mouth to speak, but Sairek stepped forward and spoke first. “We’re looking for a girl around my age, a little older. Blonde hair in a long ponytail, brown eyes, probably was yelling the entire time as she was dragged in here...”
“Ah, her... Yeah, she came in about an hour or two ago. Was caught assaulting someone around the stalls.” The man answered.
“She just… attacked someone?” Sairek asked in disbelief. “Why would she do that?”
The man shrugged. “I just do the booking, son.”
“Could we be allowed to go see her?” Cyial asked.
“Nope. Not without a written statement from the captain or something, or someone with high authority present at least.” The man replied.
“I’m Prince Sairek Ceareste, Son of the deceased Queen, Melina Ceareste.” Sairek stated with authority.
The man just blinked at him, then sighed. “Kid, go home. Your friend will be released either until her parents come. Or depending on how long the arrest lasts for. Which can be up to a month’s time.”
“Oi, don’t ignore me!” Sairek seethed. “Don’t you know your own leaders–?”
“Uh, Sairek…” Cyial nudged him just above a whisper.
Sairek turned to look at him, as Cyial pointed at him. Sairek looked down at himself, realizing he was not wearing his noble clothes at all. “Oh… right.” Sairek grumbled, then looked at Fuyiki. “Hey, go back to the house and get me my proper clothes.”
“...Huh?” Fuyiki let out in confusion.
“Oi, just do it. Obviously nobody can know I’m Prince Sairek if I’m not even wearing my clothes or no evidence of who I am!” He protested. “We’ll be waiting here.”
“But—Oh, fine…” Fuyiki conceded, leaving the desk and the building. The man on the other hand just looked at Sairek, rolled his eyes, let out a long sigh then went back to his paperwork.
“We’ll be back.” Sairek grumbled, gesturing for Cyial to follow him. Cyial blinked, but followed him out.
Once they were outside, Sairek began scowling. “Oi… why does nobody even recognize me? Ugh.”
“Well, it’s not like you’ve been exactly public… you only stayed at the castle. It’s only natural that many people don’t recognize you. They probably recognize your mother’s jewel more than you.” Cyial reasoned with him.
“Maybe by the time this little journey of ours is over that’ll change.” Sairek sniffed. He continued to grumble and complain until Fuyiki returned, carrying Sairek’s normal outfit with him. Sairek looked around for a second after they greeted each other again. “Uh… where am I going to change?”
Fuyiki slammed his palm against his face. “Just do it in an alleyway or something. Geez. It’s dark enough and nobody else is out.”
“But that’s still in the middle of the public—” Sairek began.
“I’ll help you. Come on.” Cyial sighed, pulling him along by the arm towards the nearest alley.
“But—”
“Shhh.” Cyial silenced his protesting. “This was your idea, don’t you forget.”
When inside the alleyway, Sairek looked back and forth from both sides of the alley, sighed, and began to undress, starting with his shirt and then his boots and pants, trying to move as quickly as possible to avoid the window of opportunity for anyone who may come this way to see him. Cyial helped him gets his other shirt on after Sairek hastily fastened his pants on, and then the tabard, cape and mantle quickly followed, then the boots and gloves. Finally, with his staff in hand, Sairek quickly looked down at himself. It hadn’t even been an entire day, but he already felt like he had missed his normal uniform.
“There, like a proper Prince.” Cyial teased once they were finished.
“And not a moment too soon…” Sairek sighed in relief, watching as Cyial bent down to pick up the uniform he just took off. “Right, now let’s deal with this.”
Stepping back out of the alley, cape fluttering behind him along with Cyial at his side, Sairek stepped up towards the building again, entering it first, with Fuyiki and Cyial entering behind him. They stood at the door, watching as Sairek stepped up to the desk with the man again. “Right, I’m back. As you can see, I’m Sairek Ceareste. Now let us in.” He demanded, as he pointed towards the jewel near his neck.
The man at the desk looked up from his paperwork to examine Sairek for a moment, then sat back down. “Dunno what kind of heroric outfit that is kid, but putting on a cape isn’t going to get you in.”
“Gh–?” Sairek stumbled as if he’d been slapped in the back of the head hard, then quickly righted himself, leaning over the desk as much as he could. “How in the Flaming Lands am I supposed to prove that I am an authority figure to get in when you don’t even know who the leaders of the kingdom even are–?!” He demanded.
“Look, if you are the Prince, I still need evidence—”
“I’m standing right here!” Sairek flailed. "With the damn royal jewel–!" He hissed in a whisper.
The man rolled his eyes, ignoring Sairek’s interruption. “—of you being so, through some written document of identification or something, or a written statement from the captain.”
“Grrr…” Sairek growled. “Who is your captain, then?”
“That would be Lavian Angevon—”
“Lavian! She’s all the way back in Lamen!” Sairek interrupted in protest.
“Wait.” Cyial interrupted, stepping up from the doorway to stand beside Sairek. “She wrote us passports for entering Kior. Would that be proof enough for identification, at least? They even have our names on them; including Sairek’s.”
The man shrugged. “I can’t say until I’ve seen them.”
Sairek immediately dug into his inner shirt pocket, looking for his passport that Lavian written for him specifically. “Uhhh…” He let out, looking into his other pocket. “I had it—Fuyiki! What did you do with the piece of paper in my pocket?”
“I figured you’d need that…” Fuyiki sighed. “I’m very glad I grabbed it.” Fuyiki said, reaching into his own pocket and pulling it out and handing it to Sairek.
“You had that the entire time–!?” Sairek demanded.
"How was I supposed to know that's what that was?" Fuyiki glared at Sairek.
"For crying out loud..." Sairek grumbled, stepping over and snatching the paper from the older man, before walking back and showing it to the man at the desk as he unfolding it for him. “Will this suffice?”
The man leaned over, scanning the paper carefully. “That’s definitely her handwriting and signature. She has a very unique style of writing. It’s almost as if she’s trying to stab the pen into the paper as she writes...”
“...Yeah. That sounds about right.” Sairek drawled. Apparently her displeasure of paperwork went beyond more than throwing a ledger in frustration and nearly hitting him in the face with it.
“Okay then, Sai-rek Cear-este.” The man emphasized each syllable in an almost sarcastic tone. “Please give me one moment while I call someone to escort you.”
Sairek's left eye twitched. "I could fire you right now. I won't—but I could." He warned.
Sairek waited as Fuyiki moved beside him. Indeed nearly a minute later, another guard, male, came in. “Can you escort these three to visit the new prisoner please? The kid with the cape is the Prince, apparently, so treat him with respect.” The man at the desk informed the new arrival.
“Gotcha.” The new man said. “Please come with me you three.”
The three of them followed behind the other man as he approached a cell door, pulled out a key and then opened it. He gestured them in and when they entered, he again locked the door behind them. The room was dim, made out of nothing but concrete, and as Sairek looked as he saw cell room upon cell room along a long, wide hallway. Each cell faced each other, leaving little privacy, however, as they passed cell by cell…
“Why are all of them empty?” Sairek asked.
“I’m happy to say, we don’t get too many criminals to process. Most of the people are good here. Trouble makers we do come across are mostly just detained here. Anyone else that does anything more serious is processed here and then transferred to a more proper jail.” The man said.
“Why are we going to the very back, then?” Sairek asked.
“Well… er… you see, she was being very loud and wouldn’t stop shouting when she was at the front, so—”
“Say no more. I understand. Completely.” Sairek interrupted with a sigh.
When they reached the end, they looked into a cell and saw Nayleen pacing back and forth in her tiny little cell room. She immediately lit up when she glanced over and saw them. “Aha! I knew you’d find me!”
Sairek glanced over towards the other guard. “Could you uh, give us a few moments alone?”
“Hmm, that’ll be fine, I guess. You better not be scheming, though.” He cautioned Sairek.
“Not at all.”
“You got five minutes.” He continued, before beginning to walk back the way they came in.
“Sorry, but you too.” Sairek said to Fuyiki.
“Huh? Why—actually, I don’t really care to know why. At least we know she’s safe.” Fuyiki stumbled over himself. “I’ll head back to the house, get some dinner started.” He announced. “Gimme those clothes, too. I may as well wash them while you’re not wearing them. Going to have to move those stupid enchantments again...”
Cyial reached out to hand the bundle of clothes to Fuyiki, who took them into his arms, and began to wordlessly walk out. Sairek watched until Fuyiki was at the other end of the hall to look back at Nayleen, who was looking back at him in a bit of a confused manner.
“Why all the secrecy?” She asked.
“Because you told me before you had a thieving habit and I’d rather not give anyone any possible excuses to keep you here any longer than necessary.” Sairek retorted impatiently before becoming pleading. “Please tell me this is somehow a misunderstanding, Nayleen...”
Nayleen rubbed the back of her head. “Well… it’s not that simple...” She paused. Sairek blinked at her, waiting for her to continue. “I uh, kinda punched this guy in the face. Really hard.”
Sairek blinked and sighed, pressing his left hand on top of his head. “Okay... Why did you ‘punch this guy in the face really hard’, then?”
“There was another demon just… minding her own business. I overheard him saying nasty things about her, and occasionally shouting rude comments to her, and I got really mad… and I walked up towards him and just… punched him. It’s kind of a blur to me.” She explained in an almost absent manner.
“Oh man…” Sairek groaned, hanging his head to look down at the floor. Cyial looked away uncomfortably.
“So uh, yeah. He kind of deserved it, but the law probably doesn’t see it that way, doesn’t it.” Nayleen asked rhetorically, already full well knowing the answer.
“They could keep you here up to a whole month, Nayleen…!” Sairek hissed. “And I don’t think I can do anything to get you out! Not without it looking really bad for me…”
“Don’t worry about it. Just explain my case and whatever else you can say to work it out so they know I just don’t go around randomly punching people in the face. I’ll just serve my time.”
“You’d seriously sit here for a month just because some guy spat some lousy heteric?!” Sairek demanded in disbelief.
Nayleen crossed her arms and looked at Sairek with an intense sternness that took him aback. “A month here is a damn lot shorter than how long his nose is going to be crooked for. Every time that guy will look in the mirror from today on, he’ll be reminded of the piece of shit he is.” She scoffed with no sympathy.” I’ll doubt I’ll be stuck here for an entire month, though. I give it around a week.”
“I thought we were just gonna be here for a few days and be along our merry way…” Sairek groaned.
Nayleen shrugged dismissively. “More time for you to practice with Fuyiki, is it not? Try to look at all of the good in this. You get to train and learn for a bit longer, the city is a little bit safer for Cyial and I got to punch an asshole in the face. Finally.” Nayleen said. “As far as I see it, it’s a win for everybody! ...Except for the guy I punched in the face, obviously.”
“...Obviously.” Sairek repeated with heavy sarcasm and let out a long exhale. “Your logic is… something else.” He drawled, though with an amused smirk.
“Is it? Maybe you just like to over complicate simple things.” Nayleen teased. “Anyways, they confiscated my stuff. The money, my daggers, bow, tent kit—all of that. Even Lavian’s passport! If you could collect them and keep them safe until my time is up here, I’d be grateful. You can probably use the passport as evidence that I’m clearly traveling with you by showing how similar it is to both your own and Cyial’s.”
“Sure, I guess…” Sairek sighed.
“Chin up, you can always visit me if you start to miss me.” She continued to tease.
“Geez...”
As Sairek and Cyial walked back in the night, Cyial let out a deep sigh.
“What’s wrong?” Sairek asked.
“Can’t help but feel like she’s in there because of me somehow…” Cyial mumbled. “I’m uh, grateful in a way, but it was a bit… over the top.”
“I, uh…” Sairek began. He was about to say he thought she was probably gonna do that whether she knew of Cyial or not but that seemed a bit… insensitive to say at the same time. “I thought I knew her pretty well at this point, but she’s more complicated than I thought…” Sairek admitted instead. “For all I knew, she was thinking three steps ahead. I think she’s obviously not book smart, but now I think she’s a lot more cunning than she seems to let on.”
“Or she just didn’t think about it at all and just found it to be pretty simple.” Cyial suggested.
“Err, I guess that could work, too…” Sairek mumbled as they stepped up to the house. “Maybe she’s right and I do over complicate things.”
“Here, I got it for you.” Cyial volunteered as he stepped up to the door to knock on it for him, as Sairek was carrying Nayleen’s daggers and the bow she bought in his hands. The kit was a bit too large though with the other items, so that had gone into the jewel for now.
Fuyiki answered the door quickly, probably having been waiting in anticipation for their return. He allowed them to enter without a word and closed the door for Sairek when they were in.
“She uhm… she punched a guy in the face. ‘Hard.’ So, she’s gonna be in there for a few days at least.” Sairek muttered.
“Well, it’s a good thing I never got on her bad side apparently, then.” Fuyiki blinked.
“Yeah, that sums up about what happened.” Sairek agreed. “She thinks she’ll only be in there for a week. As you heard them say though, it could be a month. I… gave my best word for her as I could. Up to them to take said word or not. At least I got her stuff back. I even got her inn key, which we should probably return, now that I think about it.”
“If you have her inn key you may as well use it. The Inn’s beds are a lot more comfortable than mine. Probably.” Fuyiki said. “It’s already paid for, right?”
“For a few nights at least...” Cyial said. “It looks like I’ll be probably extending my room at least, though…”
“I hope the rooms aren’t expensive.” Sairek pondered aloud. “This money is a lot but it's not going to last forever if we're just stuck here for a month.”
“Depends on the demand—I guess that’s kind of obvious, sorry.” Cyial apologized. “They weren’t expensive when we rented them but a few more people came in, so the prices are going up a little bit.”
“Oh well.” Sairek sighed. “All we can do now is wait and busy ourselves.”
“Well, it gives me more time to teach you how to take care of yourselves. I can give a few in depth lessons instead of glancing over them.” Fuyiki said.
“Yeah, Nayleen said something along those lines too.” Sairek nodded.
“At least she seemed content with staying there.” Cyial piped in.
“I guess? I just hope this doesn’t become a habit with her. I’m definitely not letting her go out alone again. Maybe next time I can try to talk some sense into her before she breaks someone’s nose.” Sairek groaned, walking over to the kitchen table and finally placing Nayleen’s things down to sort out a bit later. Then he sniffed. “...Is something burning?”
“Shit–!” Fuyiki panicked, rushing towards the stove, causing Sairek to let out a groan of dismay.
“I miss Nayleen already. At least she can cook…” Sairek drawled.
“I couldn’t wash that burnt taste out of my mouth…” Sairek complained as he and Cyial walked towards the inn. “I wish I could pass up human meals now and then like you can.”
“It’s not nearly as useful as it sounds. Eating good food when you’re hungry can be pleasurable, you know.” Cyial reminded him. “For me, I feel like I’m starving all the time…”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to remind you of that…” Sairek winced in shamed apology.
“It’s okay, I know you didn’t mean to.” Cyial said, shaking his head dismissively. “So many times though, I wish I could just have a ‘nibble’ or a ‘sip’ as it were… but I also know that as soon as I would start, I may not be able to stop until I was fully satisfied. It’s… a bit scary, to be honest.”
“If you don’t mind me asking how does… erm… doing something like that, even work to sustain you? Aside from the hunger itself, you seem to be fine…?” Sairek asked.
“I think it’s the ethereal holding me up, but it creates a terrible unbalance between the ethereal side that I absorb just by being here and my Underworld origin. I guess you could think of it like only drinking liquids.”
“Like only being able to drink, but never being able to actually eat?” Sairek asked.
“Yes, exactly. But instead of it causing havoc on my body, it causes havoc on my peace of mind instead.” Cyial nodded before looking slightly off towards the road on the sidewalk they were walking on. “That’s why I very much hope that the rumor is real. A sort of medication that gives a demon the ‘nutrition’ they need can’t be that far out of the realm of possibility, right?”
“Well there’s plenty of medicines that help humans, so…” Sairek trailed off as they approached the inn door and stepped inside of it, marking the end of their short conversation.
The Inn was fairly similar to that of Shamira, with it basically being a tavern on the main floor but with rooms for people to stay in. It wasn’t even close to as tall as the one in Shamira though, spanning only three floors, at least Sairek guessed from the height of the building from outside and the windows.
And at this hour, it seemed that the patrons were quite rowdy, partying and drinking the night away, but it was not nearly as rambunctious as Shamira either, which was packed past capacity probably multiple times. It was a healthy amount of business. Cyial lead Sairek towards the counter which was stationed by a brunette woman, starting to get on with her years. The two of them waited off to the side, away as much as they could be from the other patrons and waited patiently for her to finish serving them before she sidled up towards the two boys.
“Oi, another laddie? What can I do for you?” She asked.
“Do you remember the young girl he was with?” Sairek asked, pointing at Cyial. “Long blonde in a ponytail, a little taller and older than me?”
“Aye?”
Sairek dug into his pocket and pulled out Nayleen’s room key. “She uh, ended up in a confrontation with someone else and will be staying a few nights in the Holding Center, so I figured I’d return this to you since she probably won’t need it anymore.”
“Oh.” Was all she let out, though she gladly took the key from Sairek’s hands.
“If it’s possible though, would it be okay to add the nights that key had to my friend here instead?” Sairek requested. “Obviously he’ll be staying a few nights more than he thought, but there will only be one room now, so I just figured… y’know.”
“Well…” She hesitated for a moment. “Normally I wouldn’t allow that, but you did bring the key back to me which saves us a lot of hassle for hunting it down, so I’ll make an exception this time” She said before looking at Cyial. “That means including tonight, you have four days to your room left. Also of course, you can have more than one person sleeping in the room if you want.” She said, giving a glance to Sairek.
“Th...Thank you, ma’am...” Cyial replied a bit sheepishly.
Sairek noticing his discomfort smiled at the woman. “Thank you Miss. C’mon, I wanna see your room!” He said, grabbing Cyial by the hand and dragging him along to get him out of the situation quickly.
“H-Hey, slow down a little, you don’t even know where it is!” Cyial pleaded.
“Then tell me!”
“U-Upstairs… on the top floor…”
Sairek half dragged Cyial up the stairs until they were mostly out of sight, where he let him go. Cyial sighed, rubbing his arm a little bit. “Thanks for that. I guess I was being too obvious.”
Sairek shrugged. “Less obvious and more that I just knew you were uncomfortable already.”
“I don’t want to keep coming here alone, though.” Cyial mumbled as he walked, leading Sairek to his room.
“Fuyiki said we may as well use the nights, right? I figured he meant sleeping in two different rooms but I wouldn’t mind sleeping in yours like the lady suggested.” Sairek offered. “...Even though I get the impression Fuyiki wouldn't approve... but I'm tired of people telling me who I can sleep with.”
“Based on his reaction of him finding out that I’m an Incubus, probably not. He’s not wrong to think that, in all honesty.”
“Eh?” Sairek let out in surprise.
Cyial didn’t answer at first, not wanting to have this conversation out in the middle of the hallway where others may potentially hear. He pulled out his key and unlocked his door before opening it and letting Sairek inside first. Sairek heard Cyial close and lock the door behind him as he did a quick cursory glance of the room, which was simple, but servable. A bit small, but it had a large single bed, which for both of their size would work to sleep together in, albeit barely. It had a single desk with a chair as well. There was a small little cutaway room which Sairek assumed was the bathroom. In a way, it actually reminded Sairek of Cyial’s room in the monastery. The room was hardwood though, not tiled like Cyial's room. Sairek turned back around to face Cyial who stepped towards the foot of the bed and sat on it. The bed itself was in the back corner of the room.
“If I did lose myself and began feeding on you... well, like I said before, I’m not sure I would be able to stop until I was satisfied. Knowing I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I did such a thing to you though is ironically an excellent deterrent to stopping me thinking about doing it, though.” Cyial explained.
“It… wouldn’t be dangerous or anything, would it…?” Sairek asked.
“Think whatever those other three were trying to do to you, except actually succeeding in their ultimate goal.” Cyial explained to him simply.
Sairek tried to stop himself, but he could not stop the visible shiver that went through him.
“Exactly.” Cyial sighed. “Not that I would… ‘damage’ you like they did. After all, with not even feeding at all, I don’t even have any black magic within me. It’s natural to try and make the other submit in some manner though, if not by seduction, than forcefully. So in the case of me having no black magic, then by any physical restraints would do too. And failing having any available to use, then it would probably use the tail. It's”
“That explains why they chained me up as they did, I guess…” Sairek grumbled. “I guess whatever black magic they tried to give me to submit didn’t fully work either because of that.” They were both silent for a moment, so Sairek decided to continue. “Doesn’t my presence make it irresistibly tempting, though?”
“You’d think so, but…” Cyial began, looking down at his feet that dangled off of the bed, hugging his book still to his chest, the grip tightening. “I… I would be lying to say it’s not tempting from time to time, but it mostly just gives me hope.” He said, pausing and turning his gaze to look up towards Sairek. “After all, it’s me who wants the friendship. The beast is the one that wants to feed off of you. Those other three who were originally born in the Underworld, they didn’t have their ethereal half to support them; to keep them in check. In that regard, I have an advantage for self control. I’m still young, too... I know however that the older I get and the longer I don’t satisfy its needs, the harder it is going to be to hold it off. It… gets worse as you mature and the longer you continue to not feed it. Eventually it begins to even talk to you. That's... begun happening a little bit recently.”
“Being at the castle, we’ve had more food than I even cared about, but I cannot imagine the feeling of being hungry, yet being unable to eat…” Sairek muttered.
“It’s worse than that. It’s being hungry, but unable to eat, while there’s food all around you...” Cyial corrected him. “It’s… overwhelming at times, but everything else makes it tolerable. We’re getting close to Kior. Probably a week’s worth of full traveling away. I know we’re probably going to Yggdrasil first and I can’t exactly predict how long it would take to get to the city, but hopefully around a month’s time...?”
“I honestly didn’t even think about stopping by Yggdrasil and Nayleen’s place first. I actually forgot all about that.” Sairek mused in thought. “I guess we may as well stop by the city if we’re in Kior already before heading back though. I’m kind of curious what it looks like, anyways. I know Kior technically is leaps and bounds ahead of any other country. It’s got to be a completely different culture to the rest of the land.”
“I’ve heard the Underworld is really what’s so technologically advanced, but with so many more demons there, they’ve probably imparted that knowledge to Kior like Fuyiki said.”
“Almost anything we can do with magic, they’ve done with science.” Sairek agreed. “Whether it be common appliances like lighting, refrigeration, plumbing… they’ve probably got a lot of crazy inventions over there. Kior has been the innovators for all of those things. Before that, we were using fire lamps, ice and… just going out into the wilderness and bathing in basons, if magic wasn’t present, anyway. They’ve been the innovators for all of that.”
“The city is apparently so large it can take a couple of days to walk from one side to the other. They have ways to get around the city faster, though. A lot of the buildings are so tall, too. It’s basically an entire country in one single place, and if all of the towns and communities were smooshed together into one single point.” Cyial explained.
“Seems like a waste for the rest of the land. Why have a country the size of the rest of the kingdoms if you’re not going to use it? I get most of it is desert and wasteland, but surely something can be done. The pollution isn’t going to help it, either.” Sairek muttered. He reached for his mantle and cape and began to take it off, starting the process to undress for bed.
“That’s also why getting to the city can be dangerous without help, due to how unguarded and unpatrolled the rest of the country is. It’s basically no-man’s-land.” Cyial agreed, watching Sairek as he began to pull his shirt off. An amused smirk creeping upon his face as he struggled a bit to get it off.
“We’ll manage—somehow.” Sairek said with his head buried within the shirt, muffling him a little. “A city that big has to have ways to get to and from it. It would need lots of supplies."
Cyial said no more, simply watching Sairek continue to get ready for bed, though he moved himself to the side of the bed towards the table to put his book on top of it and peeked himself towards the window that was aligned with the table to stare outside, though all he could mostly see was street lights and most of the view was blocked by equally high or taller buildings that were pretty close to the inn itself.
“Do you want the inside or outside of the bed?” Sairek asked, bringing Cyial back to attention as he turned around, with Sairek now only dressed in his undies.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Cyial frowned.
“Huh?” Sairek let out.
“Shouldn’t you be doing sit-ups and push-ups before bed?” Cyial questioned.
“Wh–?! That wasn’t part of the deal! I’m supposed to do that in the mornings!” Sairek scoffed.
Cyial chuckled with a smirk. “When we leave here, that won’t be the case. Is it so terrible to get into the healthy habit of starting that process now?”
“Healthy habit…” Sairek repeated in a mocking tone.
“Getting tuckered out before bed isn’t so bad. Helps you fall asleep pretty easy.” Cyial reasoned.
“But I can’t shower or clean off or anything.” Sairek complained. “Surely you don’t want me stinking up the bed.”
“You can always bathe in the morning after breakfast. Besides, I’m sure you’re much more clean than Nayleen and I are right now. There’s nowhere to clean here.” Cyial reasoned.
“We can fix that tomorrow if you’d like.”
Cyial shook his head at the offer. “I… don’t feel comfortable cleaning in someone’s house like that. I’m sure nothing will happen, but…”
“We can do it in the forest then. And failing that, I’ll just blast you with water magic.” Sairek said with finality.
Cyial winced at that, but with a smile. “Gee, thanks.” He said.
“Is there anybody sleeping in the neighbouring rooms?” Sairek asked.
Cyial blinked at the sudden question. “I don’t know? If they are, they might still be downstairs anyways.”
“How about instead of boring old sit ups and push ups, you help me build up strength and endurance with wrestling around again?” Sairek asked with a coy smirk.
Cyial blinked, but looked around left and right at the room. “Sairek, I don’t think there’s enough room for—gah!”
Cyial yelped as he was suddenly tackled onto the bed by the Prince in contrast to how he started the roughhousing in the forest earlier. He began to try and fight the Prince off, all protests he had dying out as he and Sairek both began to giggle with a playful gleeness once again.
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