Chapter 57: Departure

 

“Ugh…” Sairek groaned, shifting slowly in his bed. His body felt a little stiff while he propped himself up onto his elbows within the office bed, stretching. He opened his eyes and looked around to see Cyial was lying next to him, already up and awake as he could see from the demon’s garnet eyes watching him. He offered a groggy smile, but moaned in minor discomfort. “Gah… I kind of miss that waterbed… It was actually quite nice to lay on.” Sairek mumbled, followed by a yawn.

“If this feels bad for you now, sleeping on the ground is going to be worse.” Cyial pointed out.

“Well, at least it won’t have this racket of the gears and engines.” Sairek complained, wiping at his eyes. “I didn’t even come close to sleeping for a whole eight hours, did I?”

“It’s only been about three.” Cyial nodded. “Still, you slept on the train.”

“I’m gonna feel exhausted again by mid-day.” Sairek frowned.

“That won’t be a problem. Once the camp and everything is set up for us. I’m actually concerned that we’ll be bored more than anything else.” Cyial frowned. “Passing some of the time by sleeping may be a good thing.”

“I’m sure we can find enough to do to occupy our time while we wait for the others to come back. We’ll be next to the ocean, after all. Sand, water…” Sairek moved to sit more upright, letting the blanket he was underneath to cascade down his chest and pool at his stomach. He leaned forward somewhat on the bed and peered out of a small round window. “Weather looks pleasant, too. How far are we now, anyway?”

“We’re still some ways from the border. I actually just switched with Varhi only a couple hours ago. He still hasn’t slept yet. I guess I overdid it with that medicine for him…” Cyial answered as he also sat upright with Sairek, scratching behind his right ear. “He says his head is feeling okay now, though, so maybe it helped a little.”

Sairek looked away from the window and down at his lap as he thought about Varhi. A frown forming on his face. He let loose an exasperated sigh and shook his head.

“We’ll fix it… one day.” Cyial reassured him, reaching out to Sairek’s hand and interlacing it in his own with a reaffirming squeeze. Sairek glanced over and returned the gesture by squeezing back.

“Honestly, that’s not what worries me…” Sairek began, glancing out back towards the window again. “It’s Varhi himself. He… keeps doing everything alone. I’m worried that once everything is settled, he’ll just… go on his own again, and try to bite more than he can chew.”
Sairek looked away from the window again at Cyial, still wearing the frown. “If that happens and it’s more than he can chew, then we won’t be nearby to help by chance again. Just like Karvadean.”

“I don’t know if he’d do that or not, but…” Cyial paused, then restarted. “I think… he doesn’t value his life as much as he should, yes. Despite how determined he is, and how stubborn he is, Varhi still puts himself in danger alone, but he’s been doing it less, a little bit. I think most of that is because of Nayleen.”

Sairek snorted. “Are you suggesting that he sees more value in his life because Nayleen keeps hitting on him?” He asked in a jovial tone.

Cyial reached over with his free hand and pressed his finger on Sairek’s forehead. “No, you smart ass.” He chided, though he knew Sairek was mostly joking, especially because of how he dramatically recoiled back and he broke out into a brief amused grin. “She’s been doing much more than that. She’s just been outright there for him, like I am with you, and you with me.”
Cyial’s face went back to being more serious. “I… know all too well what that feeling is like. I felt like that everyday until I met and went with you. That feeling of ‘why do I even exist?’. An existential dread. I didn’t try to think about it too hard though. There are things I wanted to do before then, and still now. Varhi however… He’s still trying to find it. At the least he has something to cling on to now, even if it’s unfortunately revenge at this rate, I suppose it’s at least still something that he won’t carelessly throw his life away with until he sees things through...”

“I see. We need to give him something else. Preferably something positive. Hmmm…” Sairek hummed in thought, then shook his head. “It seems I still have a lot of thinking to do later.” He began, pulling the covers aside and crawling out of the bed. Cyial released his hand as the Prince stood up and stretched with yet another yawn. “...But right now, I have a lot of dressing to do. And then peeing to do. And then eating breakfast… and then camping.”

Cyial gave him an amused look. “Sounds like you have the entire day already planned out. That said, Varhi predicts it’ll be another five or six hours to find a spot for us, assuming there is a good one.”

“I can work with that.” Sairek grunted as he let out one last big stretch, then exhaled as he dropped his arms back to his side. He moved to pick up his clothes so he could begin to put them on. “Can you do me a small favor later?” He asked as he began to pull his clothes back on.

“A favor?”

“After we set up camp… Can you give me another massage? I wanna try something.”

“...Try something? During the massage?”

“I read a bit more of Fuyiki’s book last night. It said meditation works best when both the mind and body are relaxed… I can clear my mind now, but the physical relaxing part I’m clearly having difficulty with because of everything that’s going on. It’s like, even if I clear my head, my body is still tense because of the stress. That also makes it hard for me to rest properly, so… I want to try working on that next.”

“Hm, I see. Sure thing, then. You know I don’t mind.” Cyial smiled gently. “I suppose even if you fumble, the massage should help your blood flow, at least a little bit, and hopefully ease some stress regardless.”

Sairek finished dressing, then leaned over, giving Cyial a gentle kiss on the forehead. “Thanks. You’re the best, Cyial.”
The small demon blushed and murmured something about Sairek being welcome. “I’ll join you on the deck in a little bit, after I finish my bathroom business.” Sairek said, stepping out of the room to do said business.

* * *

Sairek allowed the wind to whip through his hair and billow his cape behind himself as he stared at the quickly passing lands that was the north side of the continent. His eyes occasionally glanced at parts of the landscape, scrutinizing them to see if any of them would be a good suitable spot. Most of it was just rocky outcrops though, with occasional trees as the land had started to become less desert and more green once again, meaning they were getting closer to Ceareste's border.

He heard Nayleen chatting mostly, with Varhi occasionally responding as he steered the ship, and Cyial once in a while giving a comment or two, but over the noise of the ship as it sailed at full speed, he couldn’t really hear the words. He was content to just lean over the railing and watch the landscape pass on by anyway, keeping a look-out for a suitable location for them to be dropped off at.
The fact that he could just stand here, relaxing, moving this fast without even having to do much effort was still new to him. Technology did amazing things. It was such a shame that Kior, which led technologies that could improve peoples’ lives in such wonderful ways, would soon be ruled by a tyrannic wench who only was using such technologies for her own personal motives and power. Sairek let loose a sigh.

As they continued to pass by landscapes, Sairek’s eyes glanced back and his head which rested on the railing perked up, his gaze following a particular piece. “Stop! Stop!!” He yelled over the volume of the ship, turning around so they could hear them better. “Stop, please!”

The three of them gathered at the steering wheel peered over at Sairek waving his arms in a gesture in case they couldn’t hear him. Varhi reached over to the levers and slowed the acceleration of the ship to a stop, though it still drifted in the water. The volume of the gears became much quieter. Nayleen and Cyial moved up to him. “What? Did you find a place?” Nayleen asked. Sairek had turned back around to peer over the railing.

“No, but I found something else. Can you see that? What’s going on over there?” Sairek pointed out with his right hand.

Cyial and Nayleen both leaned over the railing, squinting. “I see movement.” Nayleen said.

“Me too, but I can’t tell what. It’s a lot of movement, though.” Cyial agreed.

“That’s what scopes are for.” Varhi interrupted them as he walked over and held a small telescope out. “Anyone want to volunteer climbing the mast and taking a look? Climbing up there with these boots of mine is rough.”

"Couldn't you just jump most of the way up?" Nayleen questioned him.

"If the ship wasn't drifting. Jumping up that high on a moving ship can go wrong easily, plus the wind..."

“I’ll do it. I need to get over this fear of heights anyway…” Sairek volunteered, taking the lens from Varhi.

“Oh? How brave of you.” Varhi smirked.

Sairek ignored his teasing comment and jogged over to the ladder of the mast, beginning to climb it with some haste, breathing with a bit of exertion by the time he reached the top. He pulled out the lens and with a bit of fiddling around, figured out how to adjust the zoom. Squeezing his left eye shut, he peered through his right. He balanced himself by placing his left hand on the railing as the wind billowed and flapped his cape around behind him, the fabric almost whipping over his right shoulder.

The sight confused him. It was a large flock of animals, various types, all walking like they were marching; going southwest. Some birds were in the air, but deer, occasional bears and smaller rodents and such were all slowly migrating in that direction.

Sairek’s stomach twisted in a knot. Rather than yell his information, he began climbing down first and returned back to them, his expression grim.

“Well?” Varhi pressed him.

“It’s… a lot of animals. All marching southwest. Various kinds. Birds, deer, bears, squirrels…” Sairek frowned. “It’s becoming autumn soon, but it’s too early for them to do that. And never all together like that in a pack. Even predators are marching with prey. And they’re all marching towards the wasteland, too.” Sairek answered.

“That’s… odd.” Cyial frowned.

Nayleen wore a thoughtful expression. “I wonder if a natural disaster is about to happen. Or perhaps one is about to happen.”

“Like an earthquake?” Sairek asked.

“Yeah, or tornado or some kind of oncoming storm...” She glanced up at the sky. “I don’t see any signs of a storm brewing, though. I don’t smell anything off in the air, either, so it’s probably not that one.”

“What about undersea volcanoes?” Cyial offered.

“There are some in the area, but I don’t know if that would cause them all to do that.” Varhi frowned. “Or if any of them are even active.”

“Only other thing I could think of is that something may be wrong with the weave and that is causing them to get out of here.” Sairek said. “Animals are sensitive to that, too.”

“Karvadean is not too terribly far from here. The animals there fled as well. It could be the ones down in this continent on the north are only receiving the bad vibes from there now.” Cyial theorized.

“That could also be it.” Varhi agreed. “It could be that Ceareste’s soldiers are also doing something over there, which is causing some kind of… ripple effect, which would also affect the weave like Sairek suggested, that would make the animals uncomfortable, too. It’s been long enough. Ceareste has to know of the situation by now, right?”

“Yeah, it’s been… two or three weeks.” Sairek frowned. “Damn… Even my Father himself could be on his way over there now, depending on what he knows… He’d do something like that. He already does for our villages.” There was a hint of fear in Sairek’s voice as he came to that realization. “I hope he’s okay…”

“Probably doing a damn lot better than we have, given his resources.” Varhi reminded him.

“Will Cyial and I be at risk camping here?” Sairek asked the other boy.

“You should both be fine. To the animals, it’s kind of like an ominous wind, you know?” Nayleen answered for Varhi. “They can be sensitive to that kind of stuff.”

“But it’s going to make hunting for food difficult if all of them are relocating away.” Varhi frowned.

“All the more reason for you two to buy food in Thalnar, I suppose.” Cyial shrugged.

“I guess so.” Varhi agreed, holding out his hand towards Sairek. The Prince glanced at the telescope in his hand and passed it back. Varhi put it back into his satchel and began walking back to the steering wheel, setting the ship back to move forward again. “I’ll cruise at half speed and move a little closer to land. Hollar again if you see something suitable.”

Sairek nodded, though he wasn’t sure Varhi could see him in his peripheral vision where he stood. He turned back around, this time joined with Cyial and Nayleen both to his right as he watched the landscape begin to pass by yet again, albeit, slower now. The other two didn’t strike conversation. Just like him, they were content with watching the terrain pass them by.

It was short-lived, though. Fifteen minutes later, all three of them perked up as a flat beach head came into view. Small, surrounded by rocky outcroppings, it would provide a lot of cover. “Hold up Varhi!” Nayleen yelled out.

Once again, Varhi slowed the ship down and it began to drift, de-accelerating back down. He once again walked over to the railing, joining them at Sairek’s left, observing the beach, he nodded after a short moment. “Yeah, that could do. Getting stuff for a fire might be a little bit of a problem though. You’d have to climb those cliffs every time. Still, sheltered on all sides except for the ocean. I doubt many people would see you over there and even fewer would have a reason to cross this way on a boat except for the odd fishing vessel.”

“I believe we will manage. I can use magic to make the cliff a bit easier to climb, I think. It’ll take a while, but I’ll just think of it as magic exercise.” Sairek reasoned. “It’s not very high anyway. That’s… a couple dozen feet or so? Maybe less, depending on where I place the equivalent of stairs...”

“Yeah, it’s going to be easier than our desperate camp in Masirean. You’re not shot this time and out of food, for one.” Varhi agreed. “It’s somewhat close to the border. I was starting to wonder if we’d even find a spot at the rate we're going. We might find another one further out but this’ll do, and you will be safer this far out than if kept going closer. I’m going to maneuver the ship to disembark; give me a few minutes.” Varhi requested, walking back to the steering wheel yet again. The ship was still drifting, albeit slowly. Varhi used that momentum to steer the ship and move in closer and closer to the beach after, then once the drifting momentum was adjusted, he turned again, slowly aligning the ship up. When he was aligned enough he turned the ship so that one side was completely facing the beach, and then he pulled down the anchor. The water wasn’t very deep at all here, but Varhi retracted the anchor some until there was very little slack to help keep the ship relatively still.

“Alright, the ship is parked. Now here comes the annoying part: getting across. It’s a good thing we kept that lifeboat around. It’s going to help us yet again.” Varhi said.

“Oh yeah, I forgot we still had that.” Nayleen nodded.

“Yep, and it’s the only lifeboat we have left. You saw what happened to the other ones.” Varhi grumbled. “...Anyway, I’ll go set it up. I don’t think I actually properly prepared the thing yet. That’s my bad. It won’t take long though. Sairek, get your things and get everything you can into that jewel.”

“Roger.” Sairek acknowledged and made his way towards the office room to collect all the items; and his staff.

When he returned, Varhi and Nayleen were hauling the life boat on the deck itself, onto some contraption that had emerged from the edges of the deck that looked almost like a giant spit roast, except they were hooking the lifeboat onto it. They were grunting and heaving with effort. Cyial stood on standby, hand hovering near the lever.

“Okay… Now Cyial…” Varhi grunted.

Cyial pulled the lever down, and slowly the arms holding the lifeboat began to retract. Varhi and Nayleen pulled back. The arms carried the lifeboat itself to “hook” it onto the side of the ship. A similar position to where it had been before when they originally had to abandon the ship the first time. Sairek walked over to observe it. “It’ll be just like before, without us having to rush.” Varhi reminded him.

“That doesn’t exactly bring back good memories…” Sairek grumbled, glancing over to where he remembered collapsing onto the deck of the ship where he’d been shot.

Cyial walked over to peer over the railing, then looked back. “Doesn’t someone need to stay behind to lower it down, though?” The demon asked.

“I don’t have to, but that would be me basically dropping the lifeboat down into the water and then jumping in after you guys.” Varhi answered. “There’s the rope ladder to get back up, but I don’t feel like getting wet. Or sinking like a rock, for that matter if I miss the jump.” He then looked left and right to Sairek and Cyial. “Unless you guys don’t mind me stripping down.” He smirked.

“Hard pass.” Sairek said dryly without hesitation.

Nayleen frowned at him. “Aw, come on—”

“No.”

Nayleen puffed her cheeks up in a pout.

“I’m joking anyway." Varhi grinned, then glanced towards Nayleen. “...Besides, there will be plenty of time when we get rid of these two anyway,” he teased.

“Oh, brother. Please spare this talk until after you guys leave us.” Sairek shook his head and rolled his eyes. “I’m getting out of here.” He announced, passing his staff over to Cyial and then climbing himself over the railing but keeping a firm grip on it with both of his hands as he readied and positioned himself. After a deep breath, he released himself from the railing and dropped down into the lifeboat. He landed with a grunt and a very heavy thud, but steadied himself from falling over. The drop was only about a foot or so, and now that he was in the boat, he could help guide the other two down.

Cyial was next, holding Sairek’s staff firmly in his tail as he climbed over. He reached down to pass the item back to Sairek, who settled it in the boat, before reaching up and holding Cyial by the waist to guide him down into the boat safely. Then it was Nayleen’s turn, who rather than allowing herself to be hoisted into the boat, simply plopped herself in with ease. They each turned back to Varhi who watched them for a moment before speaking. “Once Nayleen helps you set up the camp, she’ll guide the lifeboat back so we can collect it again. Then we’ll both be on our way.”

“Shouldn’t we have an emergency plan in case things go bad?” Sairek asked. “I know you don’t anticipate trouble, but trouble always seems to find us. I’m surprised we got out of Kior without incident, given the circumstances.”

“If we somehow don’t find you after a week, then either walk back over the border, or walk to the Neutral Council yourself, depending on the severity of it.” Varhi replied. “The maps say there’s a road directly south. You’ll come across it eventually if you head that way. You can go east to reach the border by just following it. If you go west, it should lead you to the Neutral Council, in a round-about way. It’ll probably take five days of walking. I think it’s the exact same road you all were on before Jimmy happened upon you, it’s just that it’s on this side of the border now.”

“I see...” Sairek replied, a little uneasy, but he supposed it was something.

“If for some reason we can’t find you, we’ll be waiting at the Neutral Council. All of us need to be there for the meeting to really mean much, after all.” He murmured. “Either way, it should most likely be fine. We’re close to Ceareste, so there’s very few threats about, and I’m confident what threats there are, even you two can handle on your own. It isn’t like Masirean where oversized mutated bats are flying around like they own the place. The biggest threat around here is probably groups of humans and I see little reason anyone would be around here other than to keep out of sight like you two will be doing.”

“That’s my one genuine concern.” Sairek admitted with a frown.

“Well if you think about it, if someone wanted to hide, they wouldn’t be wandering around looking for more trouble.” Nayleen pointed out.

“I suppose that’s true enough,” Sairek agreed, “but still, it seems like a decent number of folks we’ve met haven’t had the best of intentions.”

“Alright, I’m lowering the boat down now. I’ll still be up here if you need anything. Good luck, you two.” Varhi bid them, stepping away from the railing. “Oh, and you may want to sit down.” He called back, a distance away from them. “This can get jerky.”

Sairek heeded the older boy’s advice, sitting down inside the boat and holding onto his staff. About twenty seconds later, the boat jerked downwards abruptly, causing the three of them to toss around inside the boat, but then it gradually began to descend down in a smooth motion, like a slow elevator further and further towards the water, until they made contact with the surface of the ocean gently. The arms holding the boat in place retracted, and soon they were drifting.

Nayleen picked up the oars and began to paddle their way towards the beach. The journey only took a little more than three minutes before they were beached and were able to step out onto the soft sand. Sairek looked around for a suitable spot to dump the items. He headed a little inwards onto the beach, knelt down onto his knees and began clearing a section with his hand, smoothing over sand in a general area before he stood back up, holding the jewel in his left index finger and thumb, and released their cache of items and supplies. He then rummaged through the packs they got in Kior, as did Nayleen and Cyial, finding the Kiorian deployable tents, though they only needed one, Nayleen needed one as well for herself and Varhi, as well as a couple other basic supplies like spare sleeping bags and a bit of the fresh water. She left everything else with Sairek though.

“What should we do if we run out of fresh water?” Sairek asked.

“There’s a small pond not too far from here, according to the map. Again, you’ll have to climb over the rocks to get to it, but I think it’s just a couple of miles that way.” Nayleen pointed to the southeast.”

“Gotcha.” Sairek nodded, pulling out the deployable tent, and then he began clearing and smoothing another section of sand, with Cyial’s help. Nayleen began her journey up the short cliff while Sairek was setting up the tent. When the area was clear enough, he placed the box down, hit the deploy button, then he and Cyial stood back to watch as the box opened up, and the tent began setting itself up all by itself. Sairek still couldn’t get over how something like this could be made. “It sure beats having to spend half-an-hour doing it yourself…” He muttered.

“Indeed.” Cyial agreed, looking the tent over. “This one must be some kind of military base variant. It’s much bigger than the one Varhi had too. We can both stand up and walk around a bit in that thing comfortably with a bit of furniture in it if we wanted to. It even has little window flaps…” He chuckled.

“The box did look a lot bigger, I noticed.” Sairek acknowledged. “I wonder if it already comes with furniture inside. It is like a magic container in a way, after all.”

“Guess we’ll see in a few minutes.” Cyial said, pointing up the cliff and tapping Sairek to get his attention as Nayleen returned, holding a bundle of sticks in her hand, which she poured down the cliff onto the sand. “Be right back with some rocks to use.” She said, disappearing once again.

Sairek and Cyial collected the sticks, snapping the larger ones into smaller portions and began constructing a fire pit together. Sairek could have used magic to deform the earth, but opted to use his hands anyway. It wasn’t like there was that much effort into digging a dip into the earth with Cyial’s help anyway. By the time they finished, Nayleen returned again, dumping round rocks they could use and climbing her way down. Now with three of them, the fire pit was built with a ring of rocks quickly, with sticks placed in the center, ready to be lit whenever they needed the fire.

“I think that should be pretty much everything.” Nayleen mused, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand as she stood upright. “You got the tent, the fire, the supplies are distributed… Only thing that really needs to be done is setting the sleeping bags inside the tent but I’m sure you two don’t need me for that. Also, because that is of Kiorian design, if some random passerby sees it, they might not question it as much, too.”

“How much did this thing cost anyways?” Sairek questioned, hooking his thumb at the tent with his left hand.

“six-hundred-something, but it was on sale.” Nayleen said, glancing over at it. “Two for one for thirty percent off~”

“So, over twelve-hundred seru for both… Man, my wallet is really lighter since Laure gave me more money now that I think back.” Sairek frowned.

“I think you’ll like what’s inside.” Nayleen stuck her tongue out. “You guys will be very comfortable for the next few days. It will make Masirean feel like paradise.”

Sairek glanced at Cyial, who was looking at him in turn. “I guess it does have furniture after all.” Cyial surmised.

“Yep.” Nayleen answered. “It’s not much though. Just simple things. Chairs, table, and you’ll need your sleeping bag to sleep. There was one for three-thousand seru but that seemed like overkill.”

“Three thous—” Sairek’s voice squeaked. He cleared his throat. “The heck!? Even I know that is too much for just a tent! Is it a portable house or something instead—?”

Nayleen rested a fist under her chin. “Well, it had two floors to it now that I think about it. About four times larger than this one, too.”

“...Forget it.” Sairek grumbled. “Kior really does go all out on everything… Speaking of which, before I forget, here.” Sairek said, handing her the wallet of seru. “I really should just let you have it at this point.” He frowned.

“Thanks.” Nayleen smirked, accepting the wallet again. “Anywho, I guess this is where we’ll part ways for now, huh?” Nayleen asked, lowering her hand back down.

“I… suppose so.” Sairek frowned. “We really haven’t been split up like this for not even an entire day since the whole journey, have we? You’ve literally been with me since the very beginning, Nayleen, through both thick and thin.”

“Oh, don’t get sappy, Sairek. It’s just for a few days! Only two if Varhi and I hurry!” She grinned. “You aren’t getting rid of Varhi and I just yet.” She teased, sticking her tongue out at him.

Sairek grinned back. “Good, but still…” Sairek moved towards her and wrapped his arms around her in a firm hug. She returned the gesture without any hesitation. “Make sure Varhi stays out of trouble for me, alright? Cyial and I are still very worried about his mental state. He needs you more than ever right now.”

“You sure you wanna say that to me? I probably am trouble for him.” She giggled.

“You do some good. Just make sure he returns with his damn clothes on.” Sairek replied in a dry tone.

“I make no promises.”

“Ugh,” Sairek groaned, pulling away from her, but smiling in amusement. He stepped away, allowing Cyial a turn to do the same gesture, hugging Nayleen.

“You know, you’re so much shorter than me. It feels like I’m hugging a little brother.” Nayleen teased him.

“I’ve changed my mind about all of this. I want out.” Cyial grumbled dryly, then tried to pull himself back, but Nayleen held him firm against her. “H-Hey! Stop! Sairek, help!”

Both Nayleen and Sairek laughed at Cyial’s failure to be released until Nayleen did actually let him go. She ruffled his hair gently, causing him to pout as he tried to shield himself from her assault, but failed. “Alright, I’m off. Stay safe you two.”

“See you soon, Nayleen.” Sairek waved sadly.

“Good luck, stay safe as well.” Cyial said, fixing his hair with both of his hands.

She nudged the lifeboat into the water, and climbed into it. She seated herself, gave them a wave, and began paddling back to the boat. Sairek and Cyial watched her paddle back to the arms at the side of the boat that had released them into the water in the first place. “Okay, grab me up, Varhi!” She yelled up. The arms reattached onto the boat and slowly began to pull it up, raising the boat and Nayleen inside slowly. She kept glancing back towards them as they watched.

Varhi reappeared, and they seemed to talk a little bit before Varhi reached down to help pull her back over the railing over the boat and onto the deck once more. They gave Sairek and Cyial a final wave of farewell, and Sairek and Cyial returned the gesture. Varhi disappeared back over the railing, but Nayleen stood watching them, even as the sounds of the engine started up, the anchor was withdrawn back into the boat, and it began to slowly accelerate away from them.

“See you two later~!!” Nayleen called out over the sound of the ship.

Sairek raised his right hand with his staff as a signal that he heard her, watching as the ship pulled out from where they had docked, and slowly began to disappear behind rocky outcrops, the sounds of it fading away in the distance, until eventually their visuals with each other was cut off by the small cliffs surrounding the area. Sairek let out a sigh. “And then it was just us…” He exhaled. "Oof... I didn't expect to feel this down seeing them go, Cyial..."

“Only for now.” Cyial reminded him, rubbing his back gently.

“I guess I have to get used to this feeling. It’s going to be more than a couple of days once I’m back in Ceareste.” Sairek frowned. “And more than just Varhi and Nayleen.”

“Do you feel alright?”

“I’m okay. It’s… just sad, but not really, you know?”

“It’s bittersweet?”

“Yeah, exactly that.”

“We’ll be okay.” Cyial reassured him. “Rather, we need to decide what we’re going to do to occupy the empty time while we wait for their return. I suppose for now, let’s check inside the tent to see what we're working and set up a nice sleeping spot inside. It won’t be a Kiorian waterbed, but we have enough blankets and quilts that it should be more than comfortable enough for us... It certainly looks more than big enough for the two of us.”

“Alright.” Sairek agreed, walking with Cyial. “Let’s bring the bags of stuff inside first and check what we’re working with inside the tent, then we can haul the rest of the stuff after inside.”

Sairek and Cyial each carried a bag on their back, and then hauled a third bag in together, leaving the fourth outside for now. They pushed through the flap opening and paused, examining the inside. The tent was about twenty-five feet in a square diameter, and about six feet tall at the lowest point for the ceiling, as the roof was cone in shape. A metal pole affixed in the middle, helped stabilize it for balance. The floor was covered in polyester, but it didn’t feel like they were pressing down on the sand underneath. It felt like there were thin layers of padding underneath them, almost like if they were walking on carpet, leaving it still feeling firm to walk on, but would help with laying down with a softer press of weight.

In a corner was a small table, a chair, and in another, a small, but comfortable-looking arm chair, probably specifically to lay down and read. Surrounding the metal pole, was a round circular table, with space in the middle for the pole itself to go through unimpeded. In another corner, with two nylon flaps covering it, was a small basin of sorts, for bathing in, with a hook hanging from the roof of the tent as well that one could affix a towel for drying to.

“Considering I was just expecting a basic tent like before, this isn’t bad at all.” Sairek commented. “Having things to sit on and tables to put things onto will help our comfort.”

He and Cyial pulled the blankets and quilts out, and laid them down in the free corner, opposite of the basin. They made a sort of “double bed” having two pillows and laying the blankets out on top of one another in layers, and then the thickest, most warm blanket on top that they could use to cover up with if they wished to or just lay on top of it for extra padding. Sairek and Cyial tested it, and it felt comfortable and cozy enough to lay in at night, though they’d have to realign it every day as too much movement caused it to shift around a bit.

Getting up from their make-shift bed, they wandered over to the basin to examine it.

“How do you even drain this thing? Wouldn’t water get everywhere?” Sairek pondered out loud. There was a long extendable pipe in the middle which Cyial picked up, looking over curiously.

“I have no idea what this is for, either.” Cyial frowned.

“Oh wait, look at this.” Sairek pointed out, noticing a metal circular knob at the end of the basin that faced the wall. It had a lip to grip onto to turn. He pulled his right glove off for proper grip as he turned it to the left, and pulled outwards, causing it to slide out. He dipped his head into the basin and peered out, seeing the outside. “It’s like a drain, just… more on the side of the tub instead of the bottom.

Cyial looked at the pipe, and noticed it was nearly the same side of the drain. “Wait, hold on. Stay there.” He said, stepping outside the tent, he wandered around until he noticed a small metal piece sticking out of the tent. He bent down and looked through it, and saw Sairek looking down at him back. “Hello~” The demon giggled. He heard Sairek laugh from within the tent as well. “This pipe must be used to help the water travel further away from the tent, so it doesn’t soak it. Let me see.” The demon suggested, struggling a bit to get the pipe to attach, but he eventually worked it out and screwed it into place. “Yup, there. And I can retract it out, and… There we go! I think we’re going to have to dig a small ditch for this thing so any water we pour inside of it doesn’t soak into the rest of the camp or back onto the tent. We can probably just let it flow away.”

“That might not even be necessary.” Sairek said. If I use waert and make it hot, it would evaporate after a few hours anyways. Not as good as regular water, but probably better than ocean salt water. The only problem is that making water hot is hard and exhausting. If I’m going to be practicing my magic while I’m here, I’m not sure I’d be able to do it well. This thing is definitely only large enough for one of us at a time, too.”

“We’ll figure it out later. Either way, it’s a nice option to have.” Cyial said, stepping back into the tent to rejoin Sairek. “I wouldn’t want to be cleaning up in the ocean water the entire time anyway. This way you don’t have to spray both of us down all the time, and we have the option for a hot soak.”

“It’s a good thing we’re still growing. An adult would have a nightmare bathing in this.” Sairek laughed. Testingly, he took off his boots and moved to sit down into it. He then leaned back a little, stretching his legs as much as he could, but it wasn’t large enough for him to lay flat out completely. He shifted himself to remain more upright, but it still wasn’t large enough to fit him completely comfortably, though, even like this. The basin was a little short of three feet in length. “Man, this is a bit rough. It’ll work, though.”

“It’s probably because you’ve been growing.” Cyial teased him, helping Sairek step back out. “You do seem a few inches taller than when we first met in that cave, you know. It’s been nearly two months.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve been measured last. I have probably gained at least a couple inches since I left the castle.” Sairek agreed.

“How do you measure?” Cyial asked.

“Well... I don’t. It’s other people who measure me. Usually a tailor, to get my clothes adjusted and changed for my size.” Sairek frowned. “It’s embarrassing, having to be forced to strip down to just my underwear, and have this older lady I barely know probe practically every section of my body while a few other people watch some times. Laure usually gets a few different slightly larger sizes from my measurements, so that I don’t have to do it as often as I’ve been growing up. It usually happens every two to three months or so, but more recently, it was as frequent as once a month.”

“That’s probably because she’s expecting you to hit your growth spurt if you haven’t hit it already.” Cyial reasoned. He moved to stand directly in front of Sairek, grabbing his waist for a moment to steady him, then Cyial moved to stare directly ahead at Sairek, then smirked. “When we first met, my eyes when I looked like this would be directly at your chin, or just underneath it. Now I’m looking at the bottom seam of your neck. So you have grown.”

“Uh… How do you know for sure?” Sairek frowned.

“Remember back at the inn, our first night together, when you were giving me that encouraging lecture? It’s weird but that was just kind of one of the details I noticed about you back then. I still think about what you said from time to time to remind me, so uh… the memory is kind of vivid in my head still. It’s weird, I know.” Cyial answered shyly.

“Huh? But I wasn’t wearing my boots back then. I swore I was dressed in my pajamas.” Sairek refuted.

“You’re not wearing boots now, either.” Cyial reminded him with a quick glance downward. “As a matter of fact, neither was I, and I am now, and you’re still taller to me now then you were then, even with my having a very slight height advantage.”

“...Oh.” Sairek looked down at his bare feet. “Hmm… I guess you’re right, then.”

“Your voice is a little deeper than back then, too. Still cute, though.” Cyial teased. Sairek however frowned. “Relax, you will still be you, Sairek. Puberty can be scary, I understand, but it’ll be alright. Besides, you already have come to terms with some of the worst of it.”

Sairek’s face flushed slightly in embarrassment. “I, I understand, but still… It feels like I’m losing a part of myself, like who I am. I didn't really get much of a chance to be a child like everyone else, you know? It won't be the same...”

“You aren’t the same as when you left the castle. Neither am I, for that matter. You already aren’t the same probably months before that. Is it really any different if it is your body as well?” Cyial questioned him.

“Uhh… Well I guess that’s true…” Sairek mumbled in reluctant agreement.

“Besides, it isn’t all bad. I bet as you keep growing up, you’ll just look more and more handsome~” Cyial teased with a smug smirk.

“Oi…” Sairek grumbled, but his protests were silenced as Cyial leaned in for a kiss on his lips. “Mmph…” Sairek huffed before Cyial pulled away. “...Was this your plan the entire time? Seduce me once Varhi and Nayleen were out of the picture?” He questioned with narrowed eyes. "You even did it directly on the lips this time."

“You don’t want to see what I’m like when I’m actually flirting with you. My hunger has come up with more than a hundred ways to try and entice you and I’ve had to resist each and every one of them.” Cyial answered with a wry smirk.

Sairek raised a curious eyebrow, then looked around briefly. “Um… Well, nobody else is here to listen in. Tell me about one of them?”

Now it was Cyial’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Morbidly curious, are you? You may regret it in a moment. Are you sure?”

Sairek swallowed, but nodded. Cyial stood on his tiptoes and whispered into Sairek’s ear. The Prince’s face flushed deeply, his eyes widening and his mouth half-agape. “You… That’s a thing people can do?” He asked.

Cyial shrugged. “You tell me. It doesn’t break physics, does it?”

“Well, no… but… Wow.” He paused, hesitating, then pointed at Cyial. “...Do you just know all of these things, or does the hunger just… y’know… knows how to do all of these things?” He asked.

“It’s a mix of both. I guess it’s kind of like an instinct? You know, like how even an animal that was never a mother, just has the maternal instinct within her? It’s the closest example I can think of. They just… know how. So it’s kind of like that. I just… know how to do these things, though the specifics kind of escaped me at times.”

“...How’d you learn of that?” Sairek pressed.

“Um… Father Abbot.” Cyial answered more quietly. It was his turn to look more embarrassed now. “I’ve felt this way about males for a while… I think I might’ve been looking a bit too obvious, especially three years ago, because I kept ogling at the other acolyte boys whenever I’d have a chance to do so…” Cyial answered quietly. “He pulled me aside and talked to me about it. Back then I had um… less shame? Honestly, I was more curious and ignorant than anything, but given my nature, no one else saw it that way. Over time that did start to change though…” Cyial let out an embarrassed laugh. “Before those urges started to fully manifest though, I was so confused about the embarrassed look on his face at the time. There’s a lot he refused to answer, but as I got older and understood better, I was able to put two-and-two together on those things on my own. It’s thanks to him though that I didn’t just act out on my urges immediately, why I was able to keep them back for so long.”

“Well, he’s done better than my Father…” Sairek grumbled in a dry tone.

“So I’ve noticed. Back in Thalnar, it was, in a way, like talking to a younger version of myself about three years ago, with me playing the part as Father Abbot. Most of what I said to you was basically what he said to me.” Cyial replied.

“It’s probably like that for most people, basically repeating what they were told from generation to generation. Or friend, in this case.” Sairek smiled a little.

“Well, I’ll answer any questions you have about the topic, if you’re still unsure about something.” Cyial offered.

“Thanks. I’ll ask later though, probably tonight. Every time I ask, I uh… start getting a bit excited? Is that weird?”

Cyial shrugged. “If imagining yourself doing or receiving those kinds of things excites you, then that’s a normal reaction, Sairek.” He explained. “Do you know what the word ‘fetish’ means?”

Sairek paused, his expression transforming into one of understanding as he thought and pieced what Cyial was saying together. “Oh, okay… I think I understand what you’re getting at. I wanted to ask you about… more things in general, really.”

Cyial observed him for a moment. “I don’t mind of course, are you sure, though?” He asked cautiously. “Remember, it’s what my hunger wants.”

Sairek frowned. “Well I’m sure I'm not going to be asking Laure about this stuff; we already know how she feels about you and I, and my Father is basically out of the picture, sooo...”

“Ah, right…”

“This is the only time left we’ll have to be genuinely alone for who knows how long, Cyial. If I don’t ask now, it’s just going to be pestering me the entire time. Just like before you showed me… that.” Sairek continued, fidgeting a bit in embarrassment. “I… want to understand who I am better. I’m not against feeling this way, and I think my general consensus about it is accepting it, but I know liking the same gender isn’t ‘normal’, let alone a human having these feelings for a demon. So… I just want to understand better. I know you won’t give me false answers or tell me just what I want to hear, even if you are my partner.”

“I see… Then yes, we can do that whenever you’re ready.” Cyial agreed, then deciding to tease Sairek again to lighten the mood, he leaned forward, lowering his voice and adopting a teasing tone. “Maybe I can do that while massaging you again~?”

“Noooo no no no…!” Sairek shook his head with an exasperated chuckle. “The idea of the massage is to help my mind and body focus in sync, not make them both blow up at the same time! I wouldn’t be able to handle that!” He giggled.

Cyial laughed as well at Sairek’s joke. “You’re really funny when you get a chance to be yourself. Don’t let the castle try to take your personality away from you, Sairek.”

“I don’t plan to. My Father can try, but now that I’ve gotten a chance to be my own person and decide my own aspirations, there’s no way I’m letting him take something like that from me again. Not without a serious fight, anyway!”

Cyial beamed. “Good.” He gave Sairek a gentle hug. He felt Sairek loosely wrap his arms around him as well. They didn’t pull away from each other, even as Cyial continued. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to pretend to appease other people anymore.”

“I won’t. I’ll refuse if they try to manipulate me in that way. No more lies. No more pretending and no more putting on a farce. I never liked it anyway. I prefer to be openly transparent to the people.” Sairek agreed. “I don’t know if it will be better, but I know I’ll be happier and more at peace, at least.”

“Acknowledging problems is the first step to solving them. Pretending they’re not there solves nothing.” Cyial reminded him. “I know it’s going to be a giant uphill battle at first, but I’m confident over time, if you keep being open and transparent, the majority will put trust in you again. It definitely won’t be easy, but you’re… you. There’s a quality about you that’s sincere, you know.”

“Are you sure that’s not just your bias talking?” Sairek asked, amused.

“Varhi discriminates against mages and royalty and you got him to trust you in record time. That should count for something.” Cyial reminded him, looking up at his face with a smirk.

“I think that’s because I went beyond the line of duty to try and help him.” Sairek frowned.

“So? It won’t be the same thing, but that’s how you feel. Right? You do genuinely care about the country, even if it’s a responsibility you don’t want to have, right? I am sure that over time, even if it may be a long time, you’ll prove to the people what you are about. They’ll understand you over time. You won’t be able to make everyone happy, but there will always be other people like Balgira. It's just how it goes some times.”

“Thank you, Cyial. You’re always doing your best to cheer me up and reassure me.” Sairek murmured.

Cyial stood up on the tips of his toes to place a kiss on Sairek’s forehead. Sairek blushed again faintly. Cyial pulled away from the hug as he took a quick cursory glance around the tent, then returned his gaze to Sairek. “Let’s put the rest of the stuff away and then go swimming.”

“Huh?”

“We got a big ocean to swim in. It’ll be fun. Besides, going against the waves can build up your stamina. We still got to keep you in shape physically too, you know. You can’t just do magic all day. After we’re done swimming, we can relax by bathing in the sun and we can do that massage you want. It’ll feel nice and relaxing, I promise.”

“Alright, I’m just a little nervous. I still don’t know how to swim well. Having waves to contend with might be too much for me.” Sairek frowned.

“I’ll be with you the entire time, Sairek.” Cyial reassured him, already pulling his robe up and over his head, though he stopped once he got the robe off and his gloves and robe off, standing in just his undergarments. “Oh right, do we even have towels?” He wondered aloud, rummaging through the bags to seek one out, his tail flicking behind him in small movements.

“I have other things still in the jewel that was on the ship. Our older stuff, there’s probably some in there. I don’t want to do it here though, tossing all the items around like that may damage the tent.” Sairek said with a frown. “The tent’s sizeable for a tent but there’s still not a lot of room here.”

“Oh, okay.” Cyial said, but kept rummaging. “Ah, here,” he announced, pulling out two pairs of shorts. One a fair blue, the other black and a bit smaller.

“...When did she?” Sairek asked, blinking.

Cyial broke into a grin. “Remember the day we swam at the pool the first time? I asked Nayleen to buy us a pair for us. Varhi too, just for completion's sake. I wanted us to all have one.” Cyial began to explain. “I figured you’d like it better than having to swim in your underwear. More comfortable and better for your form... and less transparent when you get wet.”

“...That’s probably where she got that bathing suit for herself from…” Sairek mumbled with a shake of his head. “Will they fit us, though? It’s not like she measured us or anything.” He asked, taking a hold of them to examine them. “Oh, I see.” He said, noticing the strings on the front that could be used to tighten the waistband. A bit excited, he began to strip himself down, removing everything in front of Cyial until he slid the shorts up and fastened them on. He pulled the strings at the front a little to tighten them securely. The fabric dangled down just above his knees. He moved around testingly. “Wow. These actually feel great!” He grinned.

Cyial soon followed suit with continuing to strip before putting on his pair, though when they were most of the way up, he winced. “Ah…” he let out, glancing behind himself. “This wasn’t made with my tail in mind, were they?” He frowned. "Typical for Kior, I guess."

He turned around and Sairek looked. The shorts went just a little bit too high to be on securely. Cyial could wear them lower, but swimming in the water would make them loose enough to fall off. “Can you help me poke a hole through? I guess my butt will show off a tiny bit, but it’s not like anyone else but you will see it.”

Sairek bent down to assist Cyial, holding the back of his shorts taut. Cyial grimaced, worming the spade end of his tail through, trying to be delicate with it to just pierce through an opening, rather than completely tear the fabric out. After a couple of minutes, Sairek had to resist the temptation to jump back as the metallic spade pierced through with minimal damage to the shorts and jerked in his direction. “Gah…” Cyial huffed, annoyed, but sliding the rest of his tail through slowly.

“Do you have to go through that often?” Sairek frowned.

“Thankfully, no. You know I don’t really wear much underneath the robe itself. It would be too hot anyway, even for me.” Cyial answered.

“What about your undergarments themselves?” Sairek asked.

“There’s a hole in the back, but it’s made out of a more elastic fabric that can bend and stretch better, and when you do that, the hole is more visible. It allows enough space to slip my tail through. Then the material retracts back down and the hole for my tail is there, but isn’t really visible. Not that I go around streaking in just my underwear anyway, unlike Varhi, if I can help it. So there's even less reason for people to see it” Cyial explained, writhing his tail behind him. “These shorts aren’t elastic like that though, so it’s going to be noticeable. Definitely not something I’d use in public, but I know none of you guys would care.”

“Well, it’s more visible with the black shorts on your paler skin, but it’s fine.” Sairek said. “I probably won’t see it when we’re in the water, anyway.”

“I don’t mind you looking at my butt.” Cyial giggled.

“Hah. Very funny.” Sairek replied dryly, giving the demon a playful pinch back there, which caused Cyial to yip and shield his rear with his hands. “C’mon, you. Let’s lug that stuff inside and then go get soaked.”

* * *

“Sooo~ Now what?” Nayleen questioned Varhi over the sound of the boat. She was still leaning over the railing where she had last seen Sairek and Cyial, though now she finally pushed herself away from it to walk over to Varhi.

“Well, I suppose for now it’s just steering the ship for the next few hours.” Varhi said, then frowned. “Or, at least I hope, anyway. We’re actually running really low on fuel—”
Varhi was interrupted with a red flashing on the lever and a small “beep beep” sound. “...Well, shit,” he cursed.

“What’s that mean?” Nayleen asked.

“Right on cue, it is the fuel warning.” Varhi replied dryly. “About thirty minutes of fuel left at this speed. We’re not going to make it to Thalnar before it runs out. We’ll at least make it into Ceareste territory, though.” Varhi paused for a moment, thinking. “On the bright side, Ceareste is the thickest when it comes to Ethereal, given its magical nature. It won’t take as long to wait for this thing to refuel, I hope. A few hours to make it the rest of the journey.”

“Aw, man.” Nayleen pouted. “I don’t think the wind is working with us, either. When we were parked, it was going west, not east.”

“Nothing we can do but wait to refuel, then.” Varhi sighed. “Oh well, I don’t think it changes much. We’ll arrive in Thalnar later, but it would have been great for us to leave immediately. It’s mostly just less time to buy supplies.”

“That would mostly be just food, and I could use a few more arrows. Lost some of them in Masirean.” Nayleen said. “It’ll even be from the same stall I bought the bow from, if they’re still around! Funny that.”

“Thalnar is where I docked into Ceareste when I was going to deliver the letter, and also where I left. So this will be my third visit by now.” Varhi mused.

“We must have been just a few days behind you then. The three of us basically went straight north for the most part.” Nayleen informed him. “We took the shortcut, though.”

“...Shortcut?” Varhi asked.

“There’s one in Lamen, an old war tunnel that cuts straight through the mountains towards Doran.”

“Oh. I went the other way towards the Grana Mountains. It’s probably why you guys almost caught up. It took me several days to get around them.” Varhi explained. He fell quiet again for a few seconds. “Hm… May I ask you something?”

“What’s up?”

“Sairek has explained to me how you two met. The first time on the beach and stuff, and then how you helped him escape the castle for the first time… Why did you do all of that?” Varhi asked.

“I was bored.” Nayleen answered.

Varhi blinked in surprise. "Bored—?"

"Mhm."

“...There has to be more to it than just that, Nayleen.” Varhi pressed, glancing his gaze into her direction to look at her, but still trying to keep the ocean ahead of them in view so he could steer.

“No really. I was bored. Bored of my life.” Nayleen murmured, toying her fingers in her short locks of hair. “Look, I love my parents. They’re actually awesome people, but the same thing year after year? It was boring. I was looking for some excitement in my life, something different.
“So after a couple months or so of sightseeing and wandering around, I was just in Marid, yeah? Bypassed the gates during the night. Decided to go to the beach area to find a place to lay down for the night, and that’s when I saw this lone boy just a little bit younger than me sulking on the beach and talking out loud to himself about how he wants to do what I was basically doing.” Nayleen laughed.
“This boy just sounded so… passionate about it, and yet, so defeated at the same time. He was genuinely hurting. So I walked up to him, introduced myself and told him some simple facts Nayleen style... and I guess he took what I said quite literally.”

Nayleen rubbed the back of her head in a sheepish grin. “Honestly I was just trying to make him feel better, but the next morning as I was sneaking up the walls to get a look at the castle, I saw him actually pounding on a metal door of the courtyard to get out, and the place was abuzz from him trying to escape. No subtleness about it at all. So... I offered him a hand to go sightseeing with me. That’s all. I didn’t have much else to do, but at the same time, I felt a little responsible... This boy, after taking what I said to heart a bit too directly, did not know how to take care of himself at all, but I’ve managed to teach him little by little at a time...”

Nayleen pulled her fingers away from her hair and brushed them behind her ear as she turned directly towards Varhi. “Sairek is really easy to like. He’s fun to tease, but doesn’t hold it against you. He’s good at reading people, so he knows it’s just a joke and takes it in stride... even when you genuinely upset him, he doesn't hold it against you and apologizes for his outburst. Honestly he’s not what I expected at all. He just wants to be a kid while he’s still one. Can’t fault someone for just wanting to live out their childhood while they still can when the adults keep trying to take that away from him.”
“I was just expecting him to be a mutual companion for a while, but within the first few days, I knew it was going to be more than that, especially when I saw him defend and try to protect Cyial after only a day of knowing the little guy. Besides…” Nayleen paused, smirking. “It’s almost never a boring with him around, but at the end of the day, it’s not like I need a reason to help someone anyway, right?”

“Isn’t that the truth.” Varhi rolled his eyes. “I can’t say the same for me, though.” He sighed. “It’s only interesting around me sometimes. Do you know how long I had to park my ass in Marid to wait for a response to the letter? Nearly drained my entire wallet dry. I paid more at the pub than I got paid for the job, and that’s not even including the other travel expenses!”

“Pssh. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

Varhi snorted in amusement with a slow shake of his head. “I still don’t know what you see about me that’s apparently so great.”

“Hey, when this thing runs out of fuel and you’re not busy making sure we don’t crash, how about you teach me how to do more than steer and shut it off?” Nayleen asked.

“Yeah, sure. That’s a good idea.” Varhi agreed. “We’ll need something to pass the time so you don’t get bored and run off, after all.” He teased her.

“Oh, there’s lots of ways I can come up with that we can have fun together that works well for one of both of us.” Nayleen smirked devilishly. “Ever notice how Sairek tends to receive most of my teasing on the calmer days?”

“Oh no… And yet Sairek was the one who was concerned that you were going to convince me to remove my pants instead.”

“Nah. It’s Cyial we should be concerned about with removing Sairek’s pants. I’m a good girl.” She smiled sweetly.

“A half-truth? Impressive.”

“Heeeeyyy!”

* * *

Sairek let fourth quite the loud groan bubble from within his chest, feeling Cyial’s fingers rubbing against his shoulders. He heard Cyial snicker above him. He was embarrassed, but he just couldn’t help it.

“I thought this was supposed to be training.” Cyial asked him in an accusatory tone.

“I’m trying, honest…” Sairek mumbled, pressing his face into the folds of his arms. “It feels too relieving though, I can’t concentrate on anything else…”

“I’m not surprised. You are genuinely extremely tensed up Sairek. You should have had something like this done for you weeks ago.” Cyial said.

“I was hoping to get a chance in Kior… It was going okay at first…” Sairek grumbled. “You were right though, I really needed this. I’m starting to feel a bit better.”

“Well, the only distraction here is me for the next two or three days.” Cyial replied, then wandered past Sairek’s waist back down to his legs, specifically Sairek’s left calf. “Is this feeling better?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t hurt anymore. It’s still twitching, though.” Sairek murmured, then let out an embarrassing sound between pleasure and relief as Cyial began to roll and gently knead his fingers into it. “Sorry we didn’t swim for very long…”

“It’s okay. We should have probably done this before trying to swim. I forgot how tense your muscles were last time.”

“I would have sunk like a rock if you weren’t there…” Sairek swallowed.

“It’s nothing to worry about. That’s why I was with you the entire time. Even if you did sink, we were right next to shore anyways. You could have probably gotten out by yourself still. It just would have been more scary.”

“Mmm…” Sairek hummed both in thought, but also in reaction to the massage. “H-How many times have you done this anyway…?”

“Not enough. Only a few times to get the basics down.” Cyial said. “Most of them for muscle relief like this. You can imagine most people don’t like demons touching them in general, though.” Cyial explained with a frown.

“Missing out…” Sairek murmured, causing Cyial’s frown to upturn into a smile as he let out a chuckle. “I’m feeling pretty sleepy, Cyial…” Sairek continued in his dreamy tone.

“You have been up for a long time now, and you didn’t get much sleep at night. Your sleeping schedule is off.” Cyial reminded him.

“Yeah… It’s only early afternoon… I should try to stay up, but…”

“It’s normal to feel drowsy during a massage like this. It makes you feel all relaxed and comfortable. You can always take another short nap. I can keep trying to relieve your muscles like this while you sleep. We can always do the meditation later. It’s no good if your mind can’t focus due to fatigue anyway.”

“Yeah, but…”

“Hush. Proper rest is healthy for your body, too.” Cyial refused.

“Tell that to Fuyiki…!” Sairek bubbled out a chuckle. “I’d sleep like a rock every night…”

“And you’ll sleep like a rock here, too. At least for an hour or so. I have to move you out of the sun at some point or you’ll end up getting burnt.”

“Mm’kay…” Sairek surrendered, laying his head back down and closing his eyes. He continued to hum in content while Cyial continued to loosen the knots in his muscles.

He wished he couldn’t be so tense and stressed, but it was hard when he knew what still lay ahead of them, but at least for now, he let most of those thoughts slip away and concentrated on the relaxing sensations Cyial was providing him, at least until he slipped into a gentle doze.



When he opened his eyes again, he was lying on his front. He squinted them and rolled his head away to the right, away from the direction that the sun was in with a quiet moan. He felt a little too hot, and he opened his eyes in slow blinks. He was still groggy and worn out, though he felt a little less tired than before.

He felt sensations on his left arm, and he rolled his head back, squinting his eyes as Cyial was rubbing and kneading below his elbow, and occasionally his palm. “You’re still going…?” He asked, his voice deepened and groggy from just waking up.

“Sometimes it takes a while.” Cyial said. “Actually your left arm and hand weren’t too bad. Your right hand was a lot worse. That’s probably from holding your staff in your right hand often. You don’t stretch your fingers often, do you?”

“A little, but not as often as I probably should…” Sairek admitted. “The week we stayed in Kior, I didn’t have to hold it as often though so it probably got a break.”

“Hmm…” Cyial hummed, slowly placing Sairek’s arm back to his side. “Well, it’s good timing for you. I just finished. Do you feel better?”

“A bit, yeah. Really thirsty, though. It’s hot out here…”

“Let’s go back inside. The tent is in the shade and everything. Here.”

Cyial placed a hand behind the square of Sairek’s shoulders to help hoist him upright. Sairek pushed and withdrew his legs toward himself to stand up unsteadily. He felt a little woozy… He was still pretty tired. It was obvious his body wanted more sleep, but it wasn’t even the evening yet. Cyial noticed his unsteadiness, and helped guide him back to the tent after brushing sand off of his body.

Suggesting a snack might help, Cyial fetched Sairek some food as he sat down in one of the tent’s chairs at the circular table in the middle, and then lay face down against it, spreading his arms outward. The material was like hard plastic, though a little sturdier. The surface felt cool against the bare chest.

“What’re you doing?” Cyial giggled, watching him.

“Feels nice…” Sairek murmured, though chuckled a little himself. He pushed himself back upright as Cyial handed him some water from a skin, and he swallowed a good portion of it before he pulled his lips away for air.

Sairek watched as Cyial set a chunk of a bread loaf on the table, with a kitchen knife, and slowly, carefully cut it into a few slices, lacking the expertise and swiftness compared to Nayleen when she did such things. Sairek took another hearty swig from the flask before he panted, wiping his forehead with his left hand. “It really is hot… It must be because we’re still somewhat close to the desert.”

“Yeah, even I am feeling it a little.” Cyial agreed, cutting four slices of the bread in as evenly-sized slices as he could. He grabbed the rest of the loaf to put it away, wrapping it in plastic wrapper to try and preserve it for as long as he could. He came back with jar of jam which they could use to put on the bread slices, setting the jar on the table and opening it, Cyial dipped the knife in the jar to grab a small scoop of jam, and began lathering it across slices of the bread.

Sairek watched him in silence, but then huffed, laying what he could of his front back down onto the table in an attempt to stay cool. “Urgh… Isn’t it supposed to be autumn soon? I would have figured it’d start cooling down by now. Maybe it’s just different in Kior?”

“We are pretty far from Marid. And being close to the desert doesn’t help. I don’t think the seasons change much here.”

“That so? Damn…”

Cyial slid Sairek his sandwich and the Prince grabbed it, immediately digging in. He didn’t realize how hungry he was until he took the first bite, and began really eating the sandwich. He ate so quickly, he felt himself starting to choke as the bread wasn’t going down fast enough, and he forced himself to pause and take a few breaths before he began digging into the sandwich again. Cyial watched him, blinking, having only taken two bites of his before Sairek was already done. “Uh… Did you want more? I would have tried making an early supper if you’re that hungry.”

“No, that’s okay. That jam with honey bread is actually pretty good. It’s raspberry jam, isn’t it?” Sairek asked.

“I think so… Do you want mine? I don’t really need to eat right now anyway.”

“No, it’s okay, really. That’ll hold me until supper… Though I’m not quite sure what we’re supposed to make.” Sairek frowned. “Neither of us know how to cook…”

“It can’t be that hard. We’ve watched Nayleen a few times. We have a campfire and a pot to boil things in. That’s all the essentials we should need, isn’t it?” Sairek nodded in confirmation. “Good. How about we just go simple with a stew? It’s hard to go wrong with it. That’s what she said, right?” Cyial suggested.

“I think she meant that the taste can’t go wrong…” Sairek scratched his right cheek with a frown.

“You think so?”

“Well, now you’re starting to make me doubt it!” Sairek chuckled.

“Aahhh… We should have paid more attention to her…” Cyial mumbled.

“We can… uh, figure it out together. First, what kind of meat did she even give us?” Sairek asked.

“Beef… and venison. …I think.” Cyial answered.

“Okay, either for a stew is good.” Sairek nodded. Nayleen had made both a couple of times before, and he remembered enjoying it. “What about vegetables? She usually puts in carrots, potato slices and… uh…”

“We also have corn, tomatoes and lettuce.” Cyial finished for him.

“...Well, she definitely doesn’t put lettuce in a stew. She uses that for salads and sandwiches sometimes, though. Or as a side dish on some other plates.” Sairek said with more confidence.

“Okay… She sometimes used mushrooms in her stew but she uh… hasn’t since Karvadean.” Cyial said, standing up from the table to rummage through the food bag.

“That is… Understandable.” Sairek said, watching him.

“There’s some basil in here and peas. The peas are already beginning to dry out though.” Cyial informed as he continued to rummage. “I think she meant to use them last night, but we had to leave Kior.”

“She puts both in her stews. There’s always green in it. And we may as well before the peas go bad.” Sairek said with even more confidence. “I think we can do this Cyial! We just need to cut the meat properly.”

“We need to get water to boil with. We need to wash some of the food items, too, though I think we can do the washing using your magic to save on potable water.” Cyial mused, grabbing portions of meat to carry towards Sairek and then set it down in front of him. He took the kitchen knife he used earlier and stepped outside, wiping the blade off with a clean cloth he wet with a bit of water before returning back to Sairek to set the knife down in front of him.
“Nayleen taught you how to cut a little more than me, so you can do that. I’ll carry the pot and climb up to get the water to boil from that pond. Just please, please, please be careful and don’t cut yourself. We’re not in a hurry, so take your time.”

“I’ll be very careful.” Sairek reassured him. “First thing she taught me was how to cut safely, though there's no way I can do it as quickly as she can.”

“Okay.” Cyial smiled, and stepped back to the bags to grab the pot he’d need, then slipped on his robe, though he didn’t bother removing the swimwear. Rather than holding it in his hands, he wrapped his tail around the pot and carried it that way. “I don’t know how long of a walk it’ll be. Hopefully no more than thirty minutes both ways.” He mused as he slipped his boots back on.

“You better be careful as well.” Sairek cautioned him. “If you don’t come back within the hour, I’m going to start panicking, and then all of your massage work would have been for naught.”

Cyial snickered, stepping closer to Sairek. “I wouldn’t want that.” He crooned, then gave Sairek a gentle kiss on the forehead. “Be back soon.” He whispered, stepping out of the tent.

Despite his words, Sairek still got up to follow him, peeking out of the tent, watching as Cyial approached the small cliff, and began climbing up the rocks with his hands and feet as the pot was still secured within the grip of his tail. It didn’t seem to be distracting him much. Once Cyial climbed the dozen feet up, he turned back around to Sairek, and gave him a small departing wave before pulling the pot lid back into his hands and walking off behind the cliffs.

Sairek shuddered despite the hot and humid air. It felt odd being completely alone now in the wilderness. He realized he hadn’t been truly alone like this in… possibly never? He’d been alone in his room a couple of times, sure, but nobody actually around him alone? Someone that wasn’t more than a minute or two walk away? It felt… odd. A little scary.

“Come on Sairek… You need to learn to be independent some day… It's just for half an hour.” He muttered to himself, slipping back into the tent as he seated himself in front of the meat, staring at it. “...And if I am ever going to do that, I need to learn how to do this, too. Just remember what Nayleen taught you… Then do it. Simple!” He spoke out loud to himself, trying to build up his own confidence. He grabbed onto the meat just like Nayleen taught him, held the knife as she had instructed him to do, and slowly began to chop, being extra careful about his fingers.