Chapter 18: To Doran

“There it is, just on the horizon.” Lavian pointed out with her left hand. Sairek squinted his eyes against the darkness of dawn, hoping it would help him see better, but it did not.

They’ve only been walking for about twenty minutes, only making small talk during their small trek. The sky by now had made way to daylight as all the stars had twinkled out and it was now a deep dark blue on this side, though the sky was bright with yellows and pinks and even a faint green behind them.

“That forest looks really thick…” Nayleen murmured as they kept walking. "Are we seriously going to go through that?"

“...Am I the only one who can’t see it or something?” Sairek frowned, still trying to spot this so-called forest that was ahead of them.

“It’s probably because you’re so short.” Nayleen chided at him.

“H-Hey–!” Sairek protested.

“Then again, I think Cyial can probably see it too, can’t you Cyial.” Nayleen pressed.

“Come on, that’s not fair. He can see better than us, especially in the dark!” Sairek argued.

Cyial and Lavian exchanged glances with each other, watching Sairek and Nayleen bicker as they continued to walk and the two of them continued to do so until they reached the forest’s edge, where yes, Sairek could indeed see it now.

When they got to the edge, the sun had risen over the horizon and was casting everything in a warm morning glow, as well as giving everything long and stretched shadows. Sairek noted that the forest wasn’t actually wide at all, as enclosed around them were very tall and valley-like walls, that stretched onward like they were in a gigantic wide ravine. It was like the forest over many, many years had been scooped up and squished to be long and narrow with how densely packed the forest looked.

“Is it really hard to get lost in a narrow forest that has natural walls on either side of it?” Sairek asked out loud as he examined the brush ahead of them.

“Well, we won’t be able to see much ahead of us once we get inside I bet. Getting lost in this thing and having to bushwhack our way through could take days in this kind of brush if we lose our way or get turned around.” Nayleen explained. “I doubt we’ll be able to camp in this, either.”

“What about just following along the walls? The cave has to be somewhere along it.” Sairek asked.

“Well… no. It’s a man-made structure.” Lavian explained. “I guess the best way to explain it is a little building with a hole in the ground inside of it.”

“Oh joy. So it’s actually like looking for a needle in a haystack if you don’t know where it is?” Sairek frowned.

“That is indeed an apt way to put it.” Lavian agreed. “It’s not used very often because of… well, this.” She gestured with a sweep of her arm. “The path may have been a bit overgrown by now. Back in times of war long ago however, it was no doubt useful, useful for small groups of civilians to move through and enemy armies could in no way make good use of it, but now it’s just annoying. Still, because it was initially made for defense and a way for civilians to retreat in times of a crisis tunnel is loosely maintained. Enough to reliably keep it from collapsing at least.”

“Ceareste still being stuck in the old times, huh…” Sairek huffed. “I have my work cut out for me in a few years…” Still, such news was something Sairek was relieved to hear. Last thing he wanted was the tunnel itself to be more dangerous than the long way around out in the wilderness if it could cave in on them.

They walked in, with Lavian leading the way and Sairek watched as she pulled out her sword occasionally slicing off branches or vines that were in the way that would have been minor nuisances to them, but did partially obstruct their path. The going was slow, but Lavian’s sword would hopefully keep it easy for the most part. Sairek noticed there was a lot of moss on a good chunk of the vegetation. He wondered why the forest was so thick here. Things like this weren't completely isolated though, maybe not with a forest, but sometimes it could be snowy in one area that wasn’t before, then be normal again perhaps next season, or even several years later. Ethereal could change the climate abruptly in many strange ways if a certain imbalance lingered for a time.

“Oh yes, I almost forgot.... Nayleen, you are not a citizen of Ceareste, are you?” Lavian asked abruptly.

Nayleen turned to look at her. “Nope. I'm from Kior.”

“Wait, you’re not?” Cyial asked, glancing over at her.

“How did you get in?” Lavian asked calmly, not even looking to her as she swatted another poor vine out of the way with her sword.

“Exploited the council.” Nayleen said plainly.

“W-Wow. You say that like it’s not a big deal...” Sairek muttered dryly.

“Well, I don’t think it is. It’s not like I was ever gonna do anything.” Nayleen shrugged.

“Technically, you assisted in my escape…” Sairek began.

“You were literally in the middle of running away anyway. I was just the anvil of which you struck the hammer upon to craft your escape route!” Nayleen chimed.

“The… The what?” Sairek blinked owlishly.

Lavian looked behind her at Cyial again. The demon looked back at her and just shrugged. “Ahem… anyway…” She cut into their debate. “Nayleen, what is your surname?”

“Lachiel. Why?”

“How do you spell it?”

Nayleen proceeded to tell her. Lavian stopped for a second, leaning her sword against the trunk of a tree and began to scribble something down out of a card she pulled out of her pocket.

“Sheesh. You even bring the paperwork with you? Well, I suppose you are deadly with it, though...” Sairek said jokingly with a smirk.

Lavian sent him a credulous look of ‘you owe me still’ which caused Sairek to shrink back a little and wipe the smirk off of his face. When she finished writing, she twirled her pen in her fingers in finality and handed the card out to Nayleen.

“Um… What is this?” Nayleen asked, taking the card into her fingers and examining it.

“It’s basically a temporary passport. With this, you’re not a trespasser anymore and you won’t have to sneak around. For the sake of simplicity, I’ve stated you as a temporary resident of Lamen. I’m bending the rules a bit here, although I am going to assume I have permission to do so...” she looked directly at Sairek briefly, “...so please don’t abuse it.”

“Oh awesome! Thanks Lavian!” Nayleen grinned, taking the card and carefully pocketing it. “This is definitely going to come in handy.”

“Also just for the sake of convenience, I’ll make you one too, Cyial.” Lavian said, pulling out yet another card that she began writing on. “I shouldn’t have to, but unfortunately demons get the short end of the stick. I’d hate for you to have another Balgira incident…”

“O-Oh… Thank you, Lavian.” Cyial stammered a bit nervously.

When she finished, she twirled the pen again and ‘sheathed’ it back into her pocket, which made Sairek snicker quietly to himself as she handed the card to Cyial, who took it graciously.

"And finally, for you..." Lavian said turning to Sairek and simply handed one he had prepared beforehand.

"...Do I really need one?" Sairek asked. "I've got the royal jewel. That should be proof enough, won't it?"

"Probably, but it's still better to have one anyway." Lavian insisted. "You haven't exactly been very public. Many people may not recognize you. This is just more proof of identification, will save you being asked a lot of questions at the very least. It'll be more beneficial if you leave Ceareste."

"Fair enough; thank you Lavian." Sairek concluded, reaching out to take it. He examined it for a moment, before stowing it away inside an inner shirt pocket to keep it safe.

Their casual small talk continued as Lavian slowly made work of the forest with her sword on occasion, the going was still slow and morning sunrise eventually burned its way to noon. Sairek was glad that the forest canopy was so thick that they were at least constantly in the shade from the summer heat, though it had drizzled with rain last night, the humidity was starting to do him in. However, Lavian finally stopped as they entered a small clearing along the faded path they had been following for a little while now. “This is it,” she announced.

Sairek looked past her and saw a small stone structure, almost like an outhouse in size that just stood alone in the forest clearing. It wasn’t much to look at. The stonework was the same white from Lamen, though now it was fairly stained with green from moss and built in large, white brickwork. “So um, what can we expect when we get inside…?” Sairek asked.

“...A very, very long tunnel.” Lavian answered him simply.

Sairek frowned at that. “C-Could you be a bit more specific?”

“I hope you have a light. It’s just a long, straight tunnel, from here, underneath the mountain to the other side.” Lavian said. "That's it. There's no twists or turns. It's a long, straight shot."

“Oh man…” Sairek sighed.

“You’re the one who wanted to go this way.” Nayleen chastised him.

“Doesn’t mean I’m looking forward to it...” Sairek countered. “I guess on the bright side, it should be cooler down there than up here.” He then turned towards Lavian before bowing. “Thank you for guiding us all the way here. Thanks for everything in general, really.”

“Of course. I’m glad to be of service.” She saluted him, before she returned back to a neutral pose and her expression became softer. “Please, stay safe, you three.”

“Oh don’t worry, I don’t think neither Cyial and I plan to keep Sairek out of our sights anymore.” Nayleen reassured her.

She smiled at Nayleen. “I am relieved to hear that. Please take care.”

The three of them waved to Lavian as they entered what Sairek gracefully called “The… shack, thing,” and closed the stone door behind themselves, where it was pitch black. Sairek used ‘balinzer’ to light up their way and indeed, it was a tunnel, though one leading straight down with a wooden ladder.

“I’ll go first.” Cyial offered, putting his book away into his robe, then blinked his glowing eyes down into the pit. “I can see in the dark anyway.”

Cyial took his place at the ladder and began to climb down, while Nayleen and Sairek glanced at each other. “You can go next. I’ll still need your light to see.” Nayleen suggested.

“Okay.” Sairek agreed, moving to take his place next, awkwardly shifting the weight of his staff, trying a few different ways to hold it before just settling on placing it on the ground until he got his hold down the ladder, then slowly, carefully climbing down it while he held it in one hand and climbed down with the other.

Nayleen followed after him, the light strong enough from Sairek’s staff to illuminate the way down. “You keep your head looking down. If you look up, I’m going to kick you in the head.”

“Huh…?” Sairek began, turning to look up in reaction, then stopped himself in realization.

“Because I’m a girl!”

Sairek sighed, and looked down at Cyial below him. “How long is this?”

“Quite a bit… it’ll take a few minutes to reach the bottom at this pace.” He answered. "I'm surprised at how deep it is."

“Come on, this isn’t that bad.” Nayleen chided in him.

“Ah yes; because climbing a long ladder in a long dark tunnel while you threaten to kick my head in if I just happen to look up is good. What a thrill.” Sairek replied dryly.

“Do you hate tight spaces or something?” Nayleen asked.

“No. I hate dark tight spaces.” Sairek replied. “Though I suppose being locked in that closet for a while probably hasn’t done me any favors...”

About three minutes later, they one-by-one reached the bottom and looked ahead to see that Lavian had put it about as adequate as she could; a long, tunnel made of loose stone brickwork, with metal support beams dotted along the way that went on and on, until disappearing into the darkness. The cave was wide enough for the three of them to maybe squeeze side by side…

“Well, better get walking.” Sairek sighed, taking the first step forward. The other two aptly followed him.

“Maybe we should stop for lunch. I’m getting hungry.” Nayleen said.

“Why not eat and walk at the same time?” Sairek asked.

“What would you do if you were eating a sandwich and suddenly something attacked you?” Nayleen questioned him.

“Drop the sandwich and defend myself?”

“That’s a waste of a perfectly good sandwich!” She scolded. “Think of how the sandwich would feel, just being dropped on the floor, wasted, because you couldn’t pause for a couple of minutes to just eat it!”

Sairek looked back and raised an eyebrow at her in concern.

“...She’s not wrong.” Cyial chided in abruptly.

“Oh, Sweet Lands, not you too...” Sairek sighed. “Fine, I suppose at the very least it will give our legs a bit of a break. It’s kind of cramped in here, though… would have preferred to take a break on the surface instead.”



After they ate, with Cyial declining to eat anything, they resumed walking again with Cyial leading the way, and Sairek behind him with Nayleen at the back as they walked single file down further and further into the tunnel.
Sairek had thought the tunnel would be nothing but straight, but there was actually a gentle downward slope at some point, it went down like this a little bit, but eventually flattened out again. It was nice and cool down here, but the air was mighty stale and dusty.

After a couple of hours, the scenery was still the same, and Sairek groaned. “Lavian was right. This is boring...” He complained.

“After everything that’s happened to you in the past few days, I would have thought nothing happening would have been a welcome change of pace.” Nayleen observed.

“Something positive would be more preferred than being bored to death. Just how long is this?”

“If I remember correctly, it should begin to widen up a little bit soon.” Cyial said. “There should be an old set of minecart tracks, too.”

“What were they used for?” Nayleen questioned.

“I believe they probably had the intent to make the tunnel bigger and wider, then changed their way partway through or something I guess, and then just never bothered to get rid of them.” Cyial shrugged. “Oh look, there they are now.”

It actually took several more paces before they came into view for Nayleen and Sairek, only showing how much better Cyial’s vision compared to theirs actually was in the dark.

“Too bad there’s no cart for us to ride in.” Nayleen pouted.

“Even if there was, someone would need to push it anyway.” Sairek said.

“Just jump in and push us with your wind magic, then.”

“That would take an even greater effort to do!”


Eventually, Cyial’s prediction came true and the tunnel began to expand to be wider, allowing them to walk together side-by-side more comfortably. Sairek sighed in relief. “Phew… that must mean we’re getting close to the end now, right? We must have been walking for three or four hours in here by now!”

“Uhhh… this is only the halfway point.” Cyial informed him quietly.

“What!?”

At this rate, he didn’t know how long he could keep Balinzer burning for. He wasn’t burning the light to be strong, but hours at this point was starting to give him a massive headache and fatigue. Could he handle another four more hours...? “Uugghhh…” He groaned in reluctant acceptance.



Another three or four hours after that, Sairek was practically dragging his feet as they finally emerged from the other side of the tunnel. Fresh air never felt so good to him. His head was pounding but relieved that he could finally relinquish the spell, his legs burned terribly from the non-stop walk. When they got out, he immediately sat himself on the ground with relief, then flopped on his back. Cyial and Nayleen both followed similar sentiments of relief by collapsing on the ground in the soft grass to give their legs a much needed rest.

“Y'know, I was joking at first, but even if that saved us a week's worth of travel, that was awful…” Nayleen grumbled.

Sairek could only grunt in agreement, closing his eyes and raising an arm to drape it over his eyes to block out the late afternoon sun. “G-Gimme a few moments… my head hurts something fierce… Lands, I’m never holding a spell that long again…”

“Maybe we should have just rented horses or something.” Nayleen frowned.

“That wouldn’t help much. The terrain in the south is too mountainous to make much use of them. That said…” Cyial began, looking down ahead of them. “This is one of the very, very few meadows down in the south, surrounded by mountains and valleys though as you see. Doran is still a couple hours away, but we’re almost there. It should be at the base of… that mountain over there.”

Sairek took a moment to let his eyes see again, rolling his head in the direction of where Cyial was pointing towards. “Oh man…” he groaned. “That’s still so far away.”

“And then after that is yet another tunnel we're going to go through? Sheesh.” Nayleen muttered. “Living down south in Ceareste is inconvenient. I guess it was chosen to help against attackers way back when, though. Not many armies would want to march in through all of this crap, for sure.”

“Doran is the mining town and is what supplies Lamen the most of its stone, so really the village is nothing more than a temporary stop-gap. I’m pretty sure it’s been abandoned for a little while, though.” Sairek mused, returning to roll his head back and shield his eyes with his arm from the sun again.

“Abandoned? We’re going to rest in an abandoned village?” Nayleen questioned.

“Drought.” Sairek answered her plainly.

Cyial nodded. “It’s been months since it rained there and there’s no water supply nearby. You just experienced how obnoxious the shortest path here was, too, so…”

“Marid tried with relief supplies first, but it was just deemed too complicated. Not like Lamen needs the stone now anyway.” Sairek finished in reply. “No rain means no water for the well.”

“But it just rained last night. Not a lot… and then the storm before—” Nayleen frowned.

“Yeah, but it just isn't raining there specifically. I guess the weave is messed up right now or something.” Sairek answered, peeking at her from under his arm. “It can happen from time to time, especially in Ceareste with us casting magic all the time, but it usually doesn't last such a long time. It’s unfortunate.”



They took fifteen minutes to rest before they decided that they best get going so they arrived at Doran before it got too dark. Sairek’s head was still pounding, and he wasn’t very talkative or paying much attention other than forcing himself to move one foot in front of the other behind Nayleen and Cyial. The headache pounding into his state of mind was going to last hours, and he intermittently found himself clutching the front of his head with his left hand most of the time in a vain attempt to try and ease the throbbing. Occasionally, he saw Nayleen looking at him with a concerned expression, then whisper to Cyial. He knew he wasn’t in any danger or anything and Cyial probably reassured her as such. It just didn't feel great. He wasn't going to be casting anymore spells for a little while.

His legs were beginning to feel fatigued again, as were the other two’s legs he could tell, the speed of their travel was beginning to decrease, but at least the walk through a meadow was far more enjoyable than one in the tunnel, even if it was a bit hot. Another hour and a half as the sunlight began to burn its way to sunset, they finally reached the base of the mountain and saw rudimentary stone walls ahead of them with gate doors ahead, though they were left unlocked and nobody was there to greet them. Sairek pushed the large doors more open as they approached and stepped through them before pushing them back shut again. It didn’t stop anybody from coming in, but at least it would keep most of the wild animals or even monsters that could harm from getting in if there were any lurking about outside.

“Wow, when I heard abandoned, I wasn’t expecting much, but uhhh…” Nayleen trailed off.

Sairek concurred. Doran looked like a little settlement made primary of tents and very basic stone and wood structures that had just been built into a dirty and dusty hole. It was a lot of rocks and dirt. The place was so small, that from the gates and the decreasing daylight, Sairek could already see the tunnel they needed to access straight ahead. There were only about eight actual buildings in total, with the well in the middle and a dozen or so larger tents scattered about, some of them from the Cearestian military. There was a little area for farming that was barren and empty, crops that had been set to harvest there were long dried up and wilted from a half-grown state.

“It’s kind of creepy.” Sairek frowned as they approached the center of the town towards the well.

Nayleen jogged up to the well, and grabbed a rock as she looked down at the bottom, then she dropped the rock. She gave them a shushing gesture with her finger and they all leaned into the pit, listening.

A few seconds later, there was just a ‘clunk’ as the rock hit the bottom. No splash.

“Yikes.” Nayleen commented. “That’s a deep well, too. I wonder where everybody went?”

“Probably either to Lamen or Shimira. Either way, this isn’t necessarily a place for people to permanently live, just to live while they work until their term is up, then they rotate out with someone else and that person takes their position.” Sairek explained.

“Not sure how I feel about spending the night here, but I guess I’ve slept in worse places before.” Nayleen frowned.

“At least we’ll have roofs over our heads.” Sairek frowned as well. “I wouldn’t be surprised if all of the furniture and stuff has been vacated though, if not already taken by scavengers.”

“Let’s go check, then.” Nayleen said, jogging up to the first building, He and Cyial followed after her more casually, where she raised her fist and knocked once, before the door slowly leaned forwards, and fell to the floor with a clatter, Nayleen’s fist still raised, poised to have been ready to knock on the door again.

“...I think this one is abandoned.” Sairek supplied unhelpfully.

Nayleen cast him a look of ‘I noticed’ and peeked inside through the doorway. “It’s kinda dark in here… don’t think I see anything though. Wow, this place kinda looks like it’s in shambles. I wouldn’t feel safe with this roof over my head.” She pulled herself back out and looked at the other two. “Let’s split up and search around. I’ll handle the buildings over here and you guys handle the others on the opposite side.”

“Okay.” Sairek blinked, looking at Cyial. The two of them trekked off to the other side of town, passing by the well again as they did so. Sairek didn’t bother knocking like Nayleen had, just pushing a door open. It creaked and groaned loudly in protest of having to move, but at least it didn’t fall off of its hinges immediately. He held the door for Cyial and gestured him to step inside to take a look before stepping in himself. He could feel the house wasn’t built very well. It had a slight incline, which caused the door to creak back shut behind him as he stepped in.

“Well now I can’t see a thing.” Sairek grumbled. “I don’t think I have it in me to use balinzer again for light, either. My head is pounding hard still.”

Sairek could see Cyial’s garnet eyes glowing in the dark, moving around as he examined the surroundings, then stepped over towards a wall, pulling dusty curtains to the side from two windows so Sairek wasn’t at least in total darkness. Cyial waved his hand and coughed from the dust. “Not much to see… just dirty and a lot of dust—wah?!”

Cyial ducked and something black swooped at Cyial before heading towards Sairek at an alarming speed. He yelped as well and ducked too, yanking the door back open, both for light, and to escape out of the building as he heard the small black mass screeching loudly at him, before flying above him and out the door, where he got a good glimpse of the creature.

“Goodness… It’s just a bat…” Sairek sighed. “How the heck did it get in here? There must be a breach in the structure somewhere.”

“That’s no good. We’ll probably be bombarded by mosquitos in here if that's the case.” Cyial frowned. “Let’s look at another I guess. After that, this building gives me goosebumps anyway…”

They walked back outside, and Sairek took another glance at their surroundings again with a deep frown. “Is… peasant life seriously this bad?” He murmured aloud.

“Well, it’s a bit different here I think. The buildings here are for the workers to rest in rather than live here permanently like you said.” Cyial said. "The homes don't have the usual things and funding a proper home would have. They're not built to be comfortable or pretty, they're built to be functional and cheap."

“...A place to live in barely habitable conditions only to just have to do more dangerous physical labor at minimum wage?” Sairek asked, his frown becoming even deeper. “The things we take for granted…”

“Well, mining doesn’t require an education, but from what I hear, all of this,” Cyial gestured around them “...is still better than what most people actually get. This may be better for them, to get a chance to save up money or to pursue an education, rather than just living homeless on the streets. I hear in Kior, they don’t even get places to live in for free or an opportunity to get a job... and with how over saturated the population is over there, it's a really, really big problem. Your father is actually more generous than most, all things considered. These people can still earn money and work. In Kior, stuff like this is automated by machines, replacing the people. I guess there's no risk of casualties if a tunnel collapses if it's automated though.”

Sairek took a moment to think of that, then shook his head. “If it were me, I would try to have houses for everyone regardless… but I know it’s not at all as simple as that. I had to handle some of the paperwork for the relief supplies here myself, but I always thought it was because the location was just annoying to get to, not because the living conditions were so… undesirable.”

“Not much that can be done with a drought, though. Either way, the stone in the mines will still be there whenever the drought stops.” Cyial replied.

“Yeah, I guess. I also suppose the soldiers here would have relocated to Shimira while the workers would probably be relocated to Lamen for the time being. Shimira is a place that always needs soldiers to rotate out since it’s such a crossroad point. A lot of people are going in and out of there all the time.”

“And hopefully by tomorrow we’ll be just another group doing the same.” Cyial nodded. “Let’s search the rest of this place.”



Every time Sairek rapped his staff on a door just in case, there was never any answer, and investigating inside of each building led into similar places like the first one they visited, albeit no bats. There were a couple of tents as well that were completely empty and dusty, but they could work, but Sairek would rather that they just used his own in that case.

However, there were two buildings that were in a bit better condition than the rest of the others had been. Dusty, but in far less state of collapse or disrepair, and they were also right next to each other. After examining the design of them, Sairek guessed that they were used to house the guards and the inventory. They were the two biggest of the buildings here, after all. For the one for the guards, there were even beds inside of them still.

“Eurgh…” Sairek groaned as he examined them. “Straw beds…? Who would want to sleep on these? And they’re dusty now, too…”

“Well, this is the cheapest of the cheap.” Nayleen reminded him, having reunited with Cyial and Sairek again. “The idea of these beds is that you lay on top of the blanket instead of underneath it.”

“...But that would leave you incredibly cold.” Sairek noted.

“Yup. But better than sleeping on the ground.”

Sairek blinked at her response. “Yup? That’s dumb! Surely we could supply better beds than this! And a few extra blankets as well! Ridiculous...” He grumbled. “I’ll just sleep in my sleeping bag on top of the bed itself.”

“We’re keeping watch?” Nayleen asked.

Sairek looked at Nayleen and Cyial with a frown. “Well, it’s probably safer here, but I don’t know about being completely safe… so yeah, I guess so, unless the both of you are really confident it would be alright.”

“I guess abandoned towns do give a bit of a spooky and uneasy feeling, especially at night.” Nayleen concurred, rubbing her left pinky finger into her left ear gently. “Who gets the first watch, then?”

“Um… I don’t need to sleep.” Cyial said a little quietly. “I can keep watch all night.”

“Oh right… I keep forgetting you don’t need as much sleep as us.” Nayleen replied.

“Are you sure though?” Sairek asked him.

“Yes, I’ll be fine. It’s no more exhausting for me than if you were up for a couple of hours during noon, or something like that.” Cyial explained.

Sairek frowned. “I know, but—”

“Sairek, stop. He’s a big boy who can make his own decisions. He’s older than you after all.” Nayleen chastised him in a teasing tone.

Sairek blushed slightly at that, but thankfully it was too dark for Nayleen to see.

“We’ve been walking non-stop from sunrise ‘til sunset anyway. You guys will need a full night’s rest for tomorrow to recover enough for an encore performance.” Cyial said. “My body has physical limits too of course, but I don’t need sleep to recover like that. Sitting down and letting my legs rest is enough. Besides… I got this to entertain me all night.” Cyial said, gesturing to his book in his arms.

“No wonder you and Sairek both get along so well. Both of ya are a bunch of bookworms.” Nayleen snorted in amusement.

“...Well, I suppose you won’t struggle to read in the darkness. What is that anyway? You carry it around with you everywhere.” Sairek asked.

“It’s… a magic tome, I guess you could say. Father Abbot gave it to me a couple years after originally adopting me. As for what it does, the pages change texture based on what I’m looking for and what information is inside of it from previous owners.” Cyial explained.

“...So you can literally think up anything you want and the pages will just transform into that material?” Nayleen questioned.

“Well… I guess very simply, that's a way to put it, yes.” Cyial replied.

“Cool! Oh, by the way, who wants grub before we sleep?” Nayleen asked, raising a hand into the air.

“...Food again?” Sairek sighed. “Fine… I’ll give you something to eat. Help yourself, I’m not hungry right now. Besides I want to take a little peek into the mines before it gets too dark so I know what to expect for tomorrow. Erm… do you want to sleep in a bag as well, by the way?” He asked, pinching the jewel in his left hand.

“Nah. I’m used to sleeping in beds like this.” Nayleen shrugged.

“I guess I’ll join you at the mines then. Just a quick look, right?” Cyial asked.

“Yeah, no more than five minutes tops.” Sairek answered, conjuring forth a sleeping bag in front of him and some food for Nayleen to feast upon on top of it.

“Yipee! Time to chow!” Nayleen cheered.

“...Not on the sleeping bag, please. I’d rather not sleep with a bunch of crumbs over it.” Sairek grumbled.



“Why check it out now instead of tomorrow?” Cyial asked as they both made their way towards the end of the town and up a set of stairs towards the large gap in the cliff walls.

“Just curious now, that’s all.” Sairek replied.

The moon was out and full right now and there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, which illuminated the area quite a bit, but Sairek forced himself with great effort to use Balinzer again so he could see around himself better anyway. His head was beginning to protest again and it was protesting rather quickly, but the amount of time they spent loitering around gave him enough of a break to be able to push a little bit of effort back into the spell. They made their way towards the entrance of the mines, where Sairek could see minecart tracks present at the mouth and leading inside.

“I don’t see anything special.” Cyial said, looking in himself with his glowing garnet eyes.

Sairek stepped in a bit himself, the mouth of the cave narrowing considerably quickly, but still wider than the tunnel they had gone down. Cyial followed him in. Sairek glanced back behind them to see the mouth of the cave was still visible when they reached a wall in front of them. Already there were two branching paths, one going to their left and one to their right. Sairek could see something etched on both the wooden support beams up above each entrance and he forced more power into the spell with a grunt of discomfort and raised his staff up like a torch so he could read, squinting his eyes. The support on the right simply read “MINES” while the other one read out “SHIMIRA”.

“Well, that’s quite helpful.” Sairek supplied through a bit of a tensed voice and grimace on his face from the headache.

“Indeed. That makes it pretty straight forward. Hopefully it continues to be that straight forward until the end of the tunnel.” Cyial agreed.

“Shimira is north west of here and that’s roughly where this way leads, so yeah.” Sairek nodded. “Well, that answers my question. Let’s head back out and tell Nayleen the good news.”

Sairek turned back around and Cyial followed him back out where Sairek exhaled, releasing the spell again. They went back down the ramp of stairs and were silent for a moment, until Cyial broke it with a question. “Sairek… did you want me to sleep with you again tonight?”

Sairek nearly tripped on a step. “E-Err…” He let out. “Y-Yes…? But it’s… um…"
Cyial was patient and watched him expectantly as they walked. Sairek cleared his throat quietly. “This place is pretty creepy and… I never did like sleeping alone in the first place… Sleeping with you felt… better.” Sairek admitted.

Cyial smiled gently. “Thank you for the compliment, Sairek… that kind of actually means a lot to me. However, if I sleep with you too much, Nayleen might get suspicious, you know.”

“...Suspicious? Is it wrong or something?” Sairek asked.

“No, no, I did mean anything like that. I mean about you being scared. She might notice.”

“I’m not scared! I’m just… uncomfortable here!” Sairek huffed, then looked down at the ground as they walked. “...Though I don’t need her to have even more leverage to tease me with, I suppose.” He grumbled.

Cyial chuckled good-naturedly. “Well, it wouldn’t be fair to have her stay up all night when I still have a couple of nights in me anyway. We should be at Shimira tomorrow, so it shouldn't be a problem. We should be able to sleep at an inn there with our own rooms. I'll be fully recharged by then to stay up a couple more nights.”

Sairek snorted. “She already did that to me you know, the morning we met you. She just stayed up until the early hours of the morning. I only had to do watch for two, maybe three hours.”

“I get the impression that she tries to act stronger than she actually is so we don’t have to worry about her.” Cyial frowned.

“I don’t know. She’s very dependable at times. She single-handedly helped me escape from the castle the first time.” Sairek said, frowning. “...Kind of embarrassing on the castle’s part, actually. Though I guess I did escape with her willingly, so…”

He paused their conversation there as they walked back towards the building and stepped inside. Sairek really struggled to see inside, but he didn’t need to. The gentle sound of snoring lead them towards Nayleen who was already fast asleep on a bed, undisturbed by the noises they were making.

“She fell asleep so quickly? We were only gone for five minutes…” Sairek mumbled just above his breath.

“See? I told you, she must have been tired. Again, we were walking from sunrise to sunset.” Cyial replied in an equally hushed tone.

Sairek wandered over to his bed and… sleeping bag, and pulled the bag off the bed for a moment to dust off the straw bed as best as he could before putting his bag back on top of it again.

Cyial looked around the building a little and seeing only the one exit, began moving his way back towards the door. “I guess I’ll take my watch now. Just remember I’ll be right outside Sairek. Don’t feel too ‘uncomfortable’, alright?”

“Oi…” Sairek let out in a warning tone, but was cracking a smile.

Cyial returned the smile. “Good night, Sairek.”

“Good night, Cyial.”

Chapter 17: Awakenings

“C-Cyial... !”

Sairek’s voice came out as little more than a whimper. He felt the small incubus pushing his head back down against the bed, a hand gripping his dark brown hair before yanking his head back painfully, exposing the skin of his neck and rolling him over to pin him onto his back. He looked down the length of his bare torso pleadingly before he felt the demon begin to nip at his skin with his teeth in small nibbles. Sairek, despite his dismay, couldn’t help but sigh. There wasn't any pain just... a weird tingling bliss, just like Natalie had done to him.

“N-No…! St-Stop it…! Cyial…!” Sairek pleaded through a groan, trying to push the smaller boy away off of him, but was met with heavy resistance.

“But why? You like it so much… see?” Cyial let out in a voice that was like a purr, his nibbling and nipping of Sairek’s skin continued down from his neck down to his chest, causing Sairek to pant in sudden heat. It truly was just like with those three demons... he felt his body suddenly burning with what he could only describe as 'excitement', though he lacked the vocabulary to describe it any better in his confusion.

He felt Cyial grasp him over his pants, causing him to grunt in both pleasure and discomfort and his body to bucked, then writhe slowly as the feelings inside of him burn even greater. Sairek gulped, managing to force himself to roll onto his front, as if retreating from Cyial’s torment, squeezing the quilt under him in tight fists, but that still did little to stop the constant rubbing the other demon was doing to him. “Let GO of me...! Stop… STOP…!”

* * *

“FWAHH—!?” Sairek gasped coming awake in a start, pushing his upper half off the bed with his arms and elbows. Reality came rushing back to him, he breathed heavily, his body coated in a moderate film of sweat. It took him a few seconds for his brain to wrap around that it was a nightmare... Only a nightmare... A miserably cruel one, but it hadn't been real. Cyial would never do that to him...
Yet... perhaps there was some uncomfortable truth to it. The feeling, that pressure in his loins was back again, and for a brief moment he wondered if he was indeed under attack by another incubus, or Cyial himself, but as he looked around the room briefly, he saw that was not the case. Cyial right now was not even in the room with him at the moment and he was alone. In a way, that was a relief, because it disproved that Cyial had anything to do with it right now. At some point, the chair Cyial had propped up against the door had been moved back. He was completely alone, no attack...

...But then, why the heck was he back in this state right now…?

He rolled over onto his back and lowered both hands down and pulled down the hem of his pants and underwear outwards and down slightly to examine himself. He was terribly swollen again, just like the night previous. Cautiously, he dared himself to move a hand down to gently grasp it, and ended up hissing from being more sensitive than he expected himself to be.

What in the Flaming Lands was happening with his body right now...? He didn't want to feel like this anymore... Why was it back when he was safe?

It felt like he needed to use the bathroom, but it was a bit more pleasurable than that and it was taking his breath away, like he was exerted or something… Perhaps he should ask Cyial what was going on? But that was too embarrassing. With a groan of frustration, he slid his pants and underwear back over himself. The gentle pressure from the cloth of his underwear and pants was almost too much and he hissed again. It was almost like those demons were violating him again…! That pinch in his loins was starting to come back. “Grrr…! What is going on…!? I don't want to feel like this...!” He whined to himself.

Desperate to try and stop these feelings he rolled back over onto his stomach, then groaned. The added friction made the feelings worse. That lingering ‘pinch’ he felt suddenly expanded and threatened to burst forth. Instinctively, he clutched at the pillow, hugging it and clenched his stomach in an attempt to try and stop it. He buried his face into the pillow in an attempt to muffle himself, but there was no stopping it, he could only prolong the inevitable as his body abruptly shuddered and he grunted with a sudden unexpected exertion. Embarrassingly, he was subconsciously aware that he could feel a warm wetness beginning to soak inside his undergarments.

“Unghh… Wh...What’s happening… t-to me…!?” Sairek groaned to himself.

He arched his back slightly, clenching his teeth. It didn’t hurt, in fact, it was almost euphoric if not for his fear of the potential looming consequences of what was happening to him; and in Cyial's bed, no less.

When the shuddering and... spilling finally stopped, he was left breathing hard into the fabric of the pillow, he pulled himself away from it, another layer of sweat on his body only added to the previous layer that he had when he awakened in the first place. Slowly, he rolled himself onto his back once again carefully as if he had just seriously broken something, heaving for breath as he morbidly examined the results of what just happened.

His penis was normal again for the most part, but he was confused at what the wet substance soaking his underwear was. It definitely wasn't urine. “O-Ohh…. Oh Sweet Lands… Shit! No! Dammit!!” He cursed aloud to himself in horror.


Thank goodness he had spare undergarments in the jewel… it would be hard to explain this...  Even he didn’t have an explanation, other than it was perhaps a residual result of what the demons had attempted to do last night...?

Feeling dirty and far too much shame, Sairek sighed, and shimmied himself off the bed. His skin on his lower stomach was a bit soiled as well, but he supposed the monastery probably had somewhere to wash up on the premise, but...

Sairek pulled his clothes off, standing naked and tiptoed his way to the bag which held his spare clothes, beginning to rummage through them…
Then he heard a gentle rap on the door, causing him to freeze and stiffen.

Oh no...

“Sairek…? Are you okay?” He heard Cyial ask softly through the door. “I heard you making a lot of noises and—”

“I—I was just having a bad nightmare!” Sairek called out nervously and perhaps too quickly. He began rummaging for a clean pair of underwear and pants with urgent haste, hopping on one foot, trying to get a fresh pair on. Then he heard Cyial beginning to open the door before he was finished. “W-Wait! Please wait...! I’m getting changed!”

“AH! I-I'm sorry.” Cyial said awkwardly, closing the door again hastily with a click. Sairek sighed in relief, and took a bit more of his time. When he was 'safe' he stuffed the dirtied undergarments and pants into the bottom of the bag, to ‘hide’ the evidence of what happened. “O-Okay.” Sairek signaled to Cyial.

Cyial opened the door again and quietly stepped inside and blinked at Sairek.

“W-What?” Sairek asked.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You look flushed and are… sweating everywhere...” Cyial frowned with concern. "You looked frightened too... Was it that bad?"

“I-It… I guess I just haven’t gotten over what happened over last night yet… I...Is there anywhere I can clean up…? P...Please...” Sairek asked, hugging his bare upper half in embarrassment and shame.

“Th...There is, but they’re public showers...” Cyial answered.

“P...Public… I… o-ohh… nnhhh...” Sairek frowned, looking down. “I, I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that... right now... n-not yet…”

Cyial’s eyes became a little softer hearing that. “Um, well... They will probably be empty at this time anyway?" He tried to reassure Sairek. "You’ve been sleeping for a while. It’s already lunch time, actually. Usually when I shower I go either very early in the morning before the others wake up, or right now, because… well, my tail bothers people...” Cyial smiled sadly.

“Oh… it's noon? I guess last night really did tire me out… I was wondering why you were out of bed…” Sairek murmured.

“Even if someone did come in, I’ll be taking you to the acolyte showers. They’re for people around our age.” Cyial reassured him. "There aren't many of us anyway even if it was shower time. You should be fine, Sairek." 

Sairek slowly nodded. “O-Okay… I mean, I know deep down nothing bad should happen to me, given the protection currently around the monestary, but…”

“I know Sairek. It was scary for you. I understand.”

If only Cyial knew the other half of it...
“Okay… well, I’m still not walking the halls only half dressed like this.” Sairek said, reaching down to grab the rest of his clothing and began to slip them on.

“Do you want to get something to eat first?” Cyial asked him. “Even after lunch, nobody should show up.”

“I don’t know… ...N, No. I don’t really feel hungry right now… and the last time I cleaned was when I was at the castle last, so... a while ago. I’d rather do that first. Maybe I’ll feel better after I rinse what happened off of myself...” Sairek said, though truthfully, it was because he was still concerned about whatever it was that happened when he woke up. He was cleverly blocking any evidence still on his skin with his hands and arms from Cyial until he got his shirt on. He didn't bother putting everything else on right now. He would be disrobing himself again in a few moments anyway.

Cyial seemed to accept his answer. “Okay. It’s just down the hall to your right, after passing through all of the living quarters. It’s a little bit of a walk away since my room is on the opposite end of the hall, but just keep following the main hall to the end, then make the turn.”

Sairek nodded. “Thanks… and don’t worry, I still remember the directions to the kitchen when you told Nayleen.” He said with a weak smile.

Cyial opened the door for him and gestured him through, which he followed, then he began walking in the direction Cyial gave him. When he got there, he saw that they were public showers indeed, but Sairek was beyond relieved to see that each one had a divider for at least a little bit of privacy. It wouldn't prevent anyone from seeing him from walking in, but at least he would have a little bit of privacy if they did decide to come and shower with him. Sairek picked the most obscure corner he could find and hastily undressed as he stepped inside. Curiously, he pressed his fingers against his pelvis, picking up the wet substance that he had emitted earlier, but it had dried into a crustier state by now. He swallowed down a sob that wanted to bubble out from him. He felt so wrong... Like he had just been violated all over again. He tried to distract himself as he observed the shower in front of him instead.

He remembered back in the castle in boring meetings he was forced to attend, that Ceareste didn’t have normal plumbing systems in Ceareste, though more developed places like Lamen did. Elsewhere, plumbing was usually replicated via more magical means, usually with some kind of device powered through magic and connected to a bunch of the buildings which would be the source of the 'plumbing' system in those villages and towns. Of course, that meant the water produced from those systems weren’t drinkable. They were strictly used for cleaning, but he supposed the difference between having to boil water and sit in a container and share it with multiple people compared to just having a machine spray the water on you at the turn of a knob, was a pretty massive convenience.

Of course, being Lamen, it didn’t need a substitute. The plumbing here was purely mechanical by technology only. The bonus of that was that it came with the advantage of easily being able to adjust the temperature of the water, and didn’t take any magical energy to do so either, of course.

Despite being the capital, Marid, and thus the castle, did not have any natural plumbing. Sairek was used to bathing, rather than showering, and of course it was usually Laure that assisted him with that until earlier this year, where he reassured her that he was old enough to do it himself now. After all, he wanted to grow independent… though maybe he was getting embarrassed about his own body by now, too.
A shower, though he knew they existed, was completely foreign to him, but he had a vague idea of how they worked. The contraption of two knobs looked simple enough. One was blue, one was red… so instinctively, he turned the red one over first and got a nasty surprise when instead of hot water cascading over him, he was greeted with icy cold raining down upon his body instead, which caused him to release a shallow gasp and yelp. He backed himself out of the spray for a moment. At first he was about to curse the moron who designed this thing, but seconds later, he saw steam rising from the spray and he poked his finger in and yanked it back as it felt too hot for his liking now. It was scalding!

“Wait... dammit… I forgot… there’s probably some sort of delay… it’s not like the magical taps at all, is it?” He murmured with a soured huff. He tinkered with the two taps, trying to find a level of temperature that was suitable for him. After putting his hand under the spray for the eighth time, he timidly stepped inside the cascading water and let out a long sigh of relief as warm water cascaded over his head, shoulders and ran down his body. Not too hot, not too cold and it was washing away all the grime, the dirt, the caked sweat, and… the nightmares of yesterday and apparently today. He planted his hands against the wall in front of him, closing his eyes and just let the water run over his body, letting his mind wander, sorting through thoughts in his head to reflect on things, like that terrible nightmare he had. He did believe that people dreamed things for specific reasons, and though he trusted Cyial, he wondered if he was feeling some actual doubts deep inside of himself without even realizing it.

But he and Cyial had slept together three times now, and nothing had come of it. If anything, Cyial was remorseful every single time, rather than trying to take advantage of Sairek, and the other boy could have taken complete advantage of him twice now easily if he was truly planning to do something awful, but he hadn’t.

...Still, as much as he trusted Cyial, he doubted telling him of the dream he had would be something Cyial would appreciate hearing. That might make him upset, and because of that, he couldn’t explain what had happened to himself this morning. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Cyial, it was that he didn’t want to make him even more upset. He couldn’t explain why he dreamed those things up, other than the other three demons had done something to him, which he supposed was still a possibility. Some lingering effects he may not know about. Black magic could take a while to be purge out of his system if it was potent enough...

Pushing his weight back away from the wall, he finally began to more properly clean and rinse himself, concentrating on his head and hair, and scrubbing down his body completely. When he was done, he turned the water off. He hadn’t brought a towel to dry himself and he had forgotten his staff, so he stood there awkwardly for a moment. He tried to conjure wuaie, but all that left him was a small breeze that did little to properly dry him. Frowning at his continued ineptness at magic, he reached down to his clothes, touching the jewel for a small amount of energy to help him out this time, where the air whipped around him, he made it a bit warmer too, just so he wouldn’t chill himself. When he was dry, he put his clothes back on once more.

He supposed he felt a little better now than he had before he got cleaned, but there was still a tiny dark pit he could feel in his emotions, weighing him down. The world just seemed… a little bit more dull than it had last night. He hoped he would get over it eventually. He may have not been hurt physically by the demons, but he knew emotionally, he was still reeling. He just hoped it wouldn’t scar… he couldn’t allow last night’s events to chain him down.

WIth a heavy sigh, he stepped out of the shower room, working his way towards the kitchen.

* * *

“Oh, Sai~”

He only just stepped into the kitchen for a few seconds before he heard himself being called and instinctively he looked around over the crowd of other people who were taking a lunch break until he spotted Nayleen behind a wooden counter, waving at him and… wearing an apron?
He raised an eyebrow at her as their eyes met and he walked over to investigate. “What are you doing?” Sairek asked, when he arrived.

“Cooking, of course!”

“...? You can... cook.” Sairek replied, his voice dry.

Nayleen blinked back at him in response, her cheeks puffing out in annoyance. “Of course I can! I told you I made that soup, didn’t I? And what do you think I’ve been able to live off of when I’ve been traveling by myself? Raw rabbit and deer?”

“Y-Yeah, but isn’t that just like, over a campfire and stuff? I didn’t know you could, y’know… cook, cook—w-why are you looking at me like that…?” Sairek asked nervously, noticing Nayleen’s not-very-impressed glare.

“Well, for your information, yes, I can ‘cook cook’. And you obviously do not know how to strike up a good conversation with a young lady.”

“Uh, apparently not...” Sairek replied awkwardly. “The lesson on how to speak properly to a lady was a couple of weeks from now, but we kind of left, so I guess I'm skipping out on that. ...I'm sorry if I offended you, Nayleen,” he apologized earnestly.

She blinked at him again. “Oh relax, I’m only joking. I’m not that fragile. If I got offended, I’d just kick your ass instead.”

“O-Oh.” Sairek winced. The scary part was that she probably wasn’t bluffing. “I’ll... keep that in mind… for my continued survival.”

She snorted. “I’ll admit though, it probably doesn’t suit my personality very well. Cooking is pretty fragile in of itself sometimes, but I like it because it brings people together. Just look at everyone, all smiles and enjoying the food.” Nayleen gestured with a sweep of her hand.

Sairek looked around, glancing at all the acolytes, even seniors going about, conversing, eating… “Wait, you made food for everyone here–? All by yourself?” Sairek asked in astonishment.

“Yup! The Abbot’s been hospitable to us after all. The least I can do to repay the favor is help cook, right?”

“Hmm… Now I just, kind of feel bad?”

“You stood up for Cyial. I think that means more than you realize.” Nayleen said.

“...Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

“By the way, I talked to the Abbot about where we should go to get to Yggdrasil.” Nayleen said, turning around at the counter for a moment and retrieving a plate of bacon, eggs, slices of sausages as well as lightly toasted honey bread and even a glass of milk for him. Sairek felt his mouth beginning to drool. He slurped it back up before it oozed out of his mouth.

“Y-Yeah…?” Sairek stammered, staring at the plate of food instead of her. His appetite had been gone because of what happened when he woke up but seeing it in front of him was quickly revitalizing it.
Nayleen looked at him, then placed the plate and glass of food and drink on the counter and slid them towards him. Sairek managed to resist somewhat from squealing in delight. A sound may have gotten through, he wasn’t sure. He immediately began digging in.

“Well, glad my cooking is enough to satisfy you, Prince.” Nayleen smirked, watching him stuff his face.

“Mmph…” Sairek replied in retort. It was up to her to figure out what the heck that meant.

She chuckled at him. “Anyway as I was saying, apparently there’s two ways we can go from here. We can take the shortest path, which would be through the forest to the west of Lamen and get to a place called Doran within a day, or we can get there by taking the north exit and taking about a week to go all the way around, walk by the Grana Valis mountains, skipping Doran entirely and getting to Shimira.”

“...Well, how much time does going to Doran save?” Sairek managed to ask through a break of having food in his mouth.

“We’d get there within a day, and then probably Shimira the next day but we’d be traveling almost entirely underground through the lower mountains to get there.” Nayleen explained.

“Well, going underground could mean more spots to find ethereal.” Sairek pondered.

“Well, these are man-made tunnels, so probably not, but I guess you never know. They’re not used too much anymore, so I doubt we’d pass by anybody… oh, by the way, I’ve got to ask you…”

“Yes?”

“Is Cyial coming with us?”

Sairek frowned, setting his fork down on his half-consumed plate. “I haven’t asked him… I don’t want to push or force him. That would be cruel. I... um... I want him to come with, though? He’s already saved my hide multiple times. Kind of embarrassing to think about, actually…”

Nayleen rolled her eyes at him. “Well, I suppose you’re right. He might be too attached here—”

“That is not how he puts it. He’s attached to the Abbot, but not the city or even the monastery. Most people dislike him here, even though all he’s trying to do is help people. It’s not fair to him...” Sairek frowned.

“Hmm… well, if he does come with us, he should know the cave route, at least out of Lamen. The acolytes use it some times to go on their little errands to gather more ethereal, usually the senior members, but Cyial is smart, he probably knows the way.”

“Are you suggesting we ‘rent’ him or something and use that as an excuse to bring him with us?” Sairek asked.

“Well, it’s an option. I'm sure he wouldn't mind staying with us for a little bit longer, even if it was only temporary.”

“Oi…” Sairek sighed, shaking his head, but smiling gently. “Well, at least I’m not the only one who likes him apparently. If you want him to come along too, it makes the decision to at least ask simple, right?”

“Well I can assure you that a demon who only needs to sleep once every few days will be great for having night watch duty as well.” Nayleen pointed out. "And he won't even eat much of our food. I'm sure he'd be useful to have along other than just another buddy to hang with, but you two seem to get along particularly well." She pointed out.

“Well, regardless… assuming nothing else happens today, we’re leaving tomorrow, right?” Sairek asked.

“That’s up to you, but considering things keep happening to you here that's not good, I think the sooner we leave, the better, for your sake.” Nayleen frowned.

“R-Right… apparently this place is bad luck for me.” Sairek grumbled, resuming the consumption of the food on his plate.

“Oh yeah! I was learning gardening lessons from Cyial!”

“...You were what? You must be using some slang term…”

Nayleen rolled her eyes. “You got me. Herbalism… He said I should check out a book in the library. I should go study that later today. I mean, sure ethereal is good for making most of your boo-boos go away, but it’s certainly not a fix-all, especially when it comes to sickness or… apparently snake venom.” She scoffed.

“You don’t need to remind me…” Sairek shivered a little.

“I’ll probably know most of what’s in the book, but who knows. It’s Cyial’s personal recommendation, so it must be good!” She beamed.

Sairek smiled gently as well, cleaning off the last bits of food from his plate and washing it down with what remained in his cup. “Phew… that hit the spot… that was real good Nayleen. Thank you for serving me.”

“Of course~ Also, just wait until you see me cook over an actual campfire.” She said, leaning in with a whisper. “Because you were right; I cook better over a fire than an oven.”

“Eheh… I’ll look forward to that, I guess.” Sairek said, pushing himself up from the chair. “I guess now I should go visit Lavian to take care of... them.”

“Do you need me to escort you? I understand if you don’t wanna go alone.” Nayleen offered.

“I... appreciate the offer, but it’s fine… there’s a bunch of guards patrolled outside. I’ll just have one or three of them walk me there and back, or something.”

“Oh, right, I forgot about that.”

“I’ll catch up with you later, okay?” Sairek said in farewell.

“Have fun~”

Ugh… fun with more paperwork and basically ending the lives of multiple individuals who had severely wronged him…

Super.

* * *

Sairek stepped outside of the monastery and was immediately greeted by two knights who saluted him before he had even stepped completely past the doors. Sairek winced at that. “...Can’t we at least be a bit more casual about this? I’m not like my father, you know.”

The two men looked at him, still staying in their saluted positions, unmoving.

Sairek rolled his eyes. “...Okay, fine... I’m… going to meet with Lavian now… Can you two at least try not to draw unwanted attention to me by acting like that? Maybe… follow behind me from a reasonable distance, or something…? Please?”

They were wordless, but they exaggerated their saluting postures even more. Sairek sighed and sagged his shoulders. Oh boy…

He… walked. He did so a bit quickly away from them and they soon followed after him, he glanced back behind them, they were a bit closer still than he’d like them to be, but he wasn’t about to argue and make a scene. They were only trying to make sure he stayed safe after last night. Lavian had told him that she had chosen only the most devoted knights to guard him after all but... this wasn’t what he had in mind...

He remembered the way to the headquarters from a couple days ago still and he went straight there. When he looked back behind him again, he nearly jumped as now there weren’t two knights tailing him, but six of them.

Aaaaand people were staring. Hard.

Sairek cringed and grimaced. Shame and embarrassment was the flavor of today, it seems....

Picking up his pace even more now, Sairek made his way to the headquarters. When he went inside, he saw the same knight from before sitting at the same bench as he saw the first time he came in, spear in his lap.

“Good day, she’s been expecting you, Prince.” The man greeted him.

“I see. Thank you, Edgar.” Sairek nodded. He blinked when Sairek used his name and smiled. Sairek smiled back. “Um… by any chance, Balgira and those three demons aren’t here, right?”

“No. We do have holding cells here, but those four have already been transported to the jail in Lamen. Normally we’d hold them here for a little while, but… well, it was obvious what they did being caught red-handed and all. Of course, your word carries heavy weight, too.” Edgar said. “...Although I’m pretty sure the Lady did it so she could skip unnecessary paperwork. Don't tell her I said that, though.”

“A-Ah. I see… Thanks, then.” Sairek nervously laughed in amusement.

He continued his way up the stairs to see her. He was surprised however when Edgar got up and escorted him all the way there. “I’m glad to see you are still up and about though. Are you okay?”

“I’m… not perfect. I am still very confused, but I’ll get better. I don’t want to let what happened weigh me down.” Sairek answered uneasily.

The walk was brief. Edgar knocked on Lavian’s door, where Sairek consciously stood as far off to the side as he could. He didn’t want to risk the off-chance that another missile of text could be launched directly at his face again…

“Come in,” Lavian said from the closed door and Edgar opened it for Sairek, who peeked in.

“My Lady, the Prince has arrived.” Edgar announced.

“Thanks, Edgar. Come on in, Sairek. Please have a seat.” Lavian said, trying to organize her messy desk.

Sairek stepped in and took the free seat at the opposite end of the desk. He could barely see over the table with the large amount of papers and documents strewn about in piles. He felt like he was in some kind of interrogation or something. He settled his staff along his lap, grasping it tightly nervously as he glanced around the room. The chair wasn't made for his size at all, it was too big. His feet didn't even touch the ground, making him feel smaller and more insignificant than he was.

“Thank you for coming. How are you feeling?” Lavian asked, still sorting out and organizing her deskspace as she spoke.

“Um… okay enough, I suppose.” He said, rubbing his left arm anxiously.

“And are you sure you are comfortable enough to do this?” Lavian asked. "It doesn't have to be done immediately, you know."

“Well... no, I'm not. It makes me uncomfortable remembering it, but... it has to be done, right? Besides, I was planning to leave the city by tomorrow morning, so...” Sairek trailed off, his voice barely more than a mumble.

“Oh? Which way are you going?” Lavian inquired.

“Well, we haven’t decided yet, but probably to Doran. It is faster, and probably safer from... distractions.”

“I see… well, we don’t need to go into the specific intricate details. I just need your version of events to fill out the paperwork.” Lavian explained, tapping a paper in front of her with a pen. "We'll start with the three demons first."

“Oh… uhm…” Sairek mumbled as he shifted in his seat. “Well…”

He began explaining the events from waking up that morning, to where he went to pray at the gravesite, until Pararis had shown up, explaining he had given him ‘his own medicine’ and how he had snuck into the monastery, wearing a senior robe to disguise himself. Sairek kept the explanations of the man touching him inappropriately to be just brief details, before explaining how he was knocked out but most likely carried in a sac outside of the monastery after that. Then how he had woken up, bound in chains, until he had been dragged out by them.

“Then… after that… they…” Sairek had continued, but trailed off, averting his eyes away.

“Did they… get far?” Lavian asked simply.

“No… but they tried... You know the rest, don't you?...” Sairek asked, his voice shaky.

“Okay, we’ll leave it at that, then. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay…” Sairek sighed.

“Okay, then next will be about Balgira…” Lavian began, pausing as she pushed the paper she was writing on aside and pulled out a new document paper. “I kind of already know what happened thanks to Cyial and Nayleen, so I won't recount them too much, I already filled that bit in. I guess the only real question I need to ask you is… do you think what he did was treason?”

“...Well… he’s within his rights to challenge me to a duel… the law doesn’t specifically say he can’t, despite my age.” Sairek answered. “But well, he did poison his weapon… the poison he used could be lethal, but—”

“Prince? With all due respect, I just need a yes or a no...” Lavian interrupted him gently. “Do you believe he tried to kill you?”

“I... I-I’m thinking…!!” Sairek replied back sharply through gritted teeth. “Look, deciding the fate of someone’s future is…” he hesitated, then shook his head hard, closing his eyes tightly. He shrank himself down further in the chair, grabbing a fistful of his hair in both hands as he covered his head within his hands. “Lands…! What a terrible power I have…! I— I can’t do this...! I don't want to do this...!!” Sairek hiccuped. "Even if it was me who was wronged, that just makes me even more responsible if I were to—!"

“Please Sairek, you need to relax,” Lavian told him gently, accidentally using his name without even realizing it. Regardless, she leaned over the desk to reach a hand out onto his shoulder to calm him down. “Listen... You are not deciding their future or ending their lives. You have to realize that they are the ones who made their choices with their own free will. They are the ones who broke the law and tried to harm you, and it is the law that punishes them accordingly for doing so, not you. The law is what serves justice based on what they have done and the circumstances behind those actions. Prince, all you are doing is telling me what was done by them to wrong you, so the appropriate justice can be served as the law dictates. Nothing more. They are the ones who made those choices knowing the consequences. All you need to do is be honest with what happened and how it has made you feel.”
She withdrew from him slowly. Sairek lowered his hands back to his lap clutching at his staff in his lap tightly and nodded slowly, looking downcast. He closed his eyes and inhaled a couple of deep breaths in an attempt to compose himself and to find his voice again. It took him more than a couple of attempts before he found it.
“...Y...Yes… I believe... Balgira... tried to kill me…” He finally managed to answer hoarsely. "The look he gave me during the duel... the way he was attacking... the threats he shouted... There is no mistaking what his intentions were..." he mumbled softly.

“Okay...” Lavian said quietly, returning to writing in her paper for a few seconds more. “That’s all, Sairek. We’re done.” She stated, pushing the paper to the side. “I’m sorry to have burdened you like this.”

Sairek swallowed and shook his head but spoke in a meek voice like he was the one who was in trouble. “Please don’t report any of this to my father… I don’t want to be dragged back to the castle… He'd actually do it, too... If he found out about this—”

“...Forgive me, but you do realize you are asking me a lot here.” Lavian cut in. “You’re effectively asking me to rebel against my boss, the King of this country and your legal guardian, all in one.”

Sairek winced hard at that. “I know... I know I have no right to—”

“...But I’ll consider it if you can promise me that when you do get back to the castle you fix… this.” She said, standing up and gesturing at all the paperwork on the desk.

“...Huh?” Sairek blinked, studying her appraisingly. "...You just want less paperwork... that's all?"

“That’s all?” She mimicked curtly. “I hate this! It makes me want to—”

“N-No! Lavian! Put the paperwork back down!” Sairek yelped frantically, standing up and reaching over the desk to stop her. “Okay, deal! I’ll fix it when I return back to the castle! I promise! Just don’t throw anything anymore!”

* * *

As Sairek predicted when he returned to the monastery, it was still being guarded… even though it was evening by now. The sky hadn’t set yet but it was once more casting that yellow-orange glow over the city, though looming clouds threatened perhaps a shower of rain in an hour or two.

He pushed himself through the monastery doors, rolling his eyes at the salutes he got from the knights guarding it and worked his way straight towards Cyial’s room, but… the demon wasn’t there, nor was his book, which meant he was probably gone for a while and may not return for a while as well. Shrugging, he decided to check out the library instead to see if Nayleen was still there. After asking an acolyte for directions and thanking them for their assistance, he worked his way there.

Indeed, she was there, lounging lazily, slumped in a chair to where her head barely poked above the table and holding the book somewhat upwards as she read.

Sairek approached her quietly. “That… doesn’t look good for your back.” He whispered.

“Meh.” She shrugged, keeping her voice hushed as well. “How’d it all go?”

“Boring stuff, mostly. Just telling Lavian my side of events.” Sairek said, deciding not to tell her how he had basically broke down in front of Lavian, even if it was for only a minute. “And you?”

“I didn’t know so many poisonous plants could actually be so useful. Unfortunately, none of them are really good in the field on quick notice… so I’m still going to avoid most of them.” Nayleen frowned. "If I had the tools though..."

“Sorry, not to sound uncaring, but have you seen Cyial around? He’s not in his room.” Sairek asked.

“You’ve been hanging around him a lot.” She noted with a side glance from her book.

“...Aha, it’s not jealousy I detect, but sarcasm.” Sairek smirked.

“Shoot…! You caught me! So you are learning.” Nayleen grinned back. “But sorry, no. I don’t know where he is right now. Maybe he’s working at his bench thingy… or talking to the Abbot. He did say to me that he would sort the whole ethereal thing out so we could get some as we originally planned.”

“Oh, I almost forgot about that after everything that’s happened…” Sairek said, pulling up a chair to sit beside her. She righted her posture to be 'normal' seeing this. “Hey, I got a question… what’s Kior like?”

“A dump.” Nayleen scrunched her face at her own answer. “...Okay, that doesn’t quite explain what it is…” She closed the book and tilted her head in thought. “It’s almost a wasteland, except around the Ceareste border. Then there’s a biiiig city where pretty much everyone lives in the country and no one else, except 'weird' people like my family. The city is so massive, with so much pollution, that almost all of the ethereal in the area is pretty low. The air quality for people there is pretty bad, so bad in some parts of the city that people who are visiting can get sick because they’re not used to it. Banished demons of course prefer to live there because of the lack of ethereal, though.”

“Why hasn’t your family moved, then?” Sairek asked.

“I dunno. I guess it’s because even though living in Kior sucks, it is our home. It isn’t that bad near the borders. Being somewhat close to Yggdrasil out in the middle of nowhere is a neat perk, too. I haven’t been to the city itself though. I just know it’s way different than anywhere else and way too big for my liking. Lamen is busy, right? But now think one-hundred Lamens in size and population density, with a completely different architecture. That's Kior's city for you.”

“My… My mind cannot comprehend that. Sorry.” Sairek replied.

“Meh, I tried. Honestly, it's hard for me to comprehend too.”

Sairek snorted gently. “Okay, thanks for humoring me. I’m going to try to find Cyial now.”

“You should maybe go to bed soon. You look pretty worn out already.” Nayleen suggested, watching him stand up.

“Well, I don’t want to wake up too early…”

Nayleen shrugged. “Wouldn’t bother me. I like mornings.”

“...So I’ve noticed. I did want to see more of the city, though…” Sairek frowned. "On the other hand... I kind of just want to leave, too."

“There’s not much to see. Trust me, I got more than enough to look at trying to find out where you vanished off to.” Nayleen replied.

“That’s a shame. Oh well, I suppose Lamen was built mostly just for Ceareste’s operations, after all. I guess I’ll go eat, then maybe sleep if I can't find Cyial. He'll show up to his room sooner or later.”

“Okay, see ya, and good night.”

Sairek waved goodbye and left the library, heading his way back to Cyial’s room. He had meant to go retrieve his staff and probably just eat some food from the royal jewel rather than go to the kitchen to help himself, but when he arrived, he saw that Cyial had returned back to his room sitting at his desk. Not only that, but there was a plate of steaming hot food, which he grabbed and turned around in his stool to face Sairek and held it out for him.

“Good evening,” the smaller boy greeted him. “This is for you.”

Sairek closed the door behind himself as he entered and took the food graciously. “Thanks… I was just getting hungry again,” he beamed.

Cyial smiled gently at him, watching him chow down eagerly as the Prince sat on the bed. He let Sairek take a few moments to get some bites of mashed potatoes, steamed corn and cooked fish into him before he continued. “While you were gone, I've had a long talk today with Father Abbot…” Cyial began.

“Mmph…?” Sairek hummed out with his mouth full, glancing up to look at the young incubus.

“Well, first things first… you guys are leaving tomorrow… so I handled the shipment of ethereal you guys wanted to take. It's free of charge, of course.”

Sairek swallowed his food down. “Thanks Cyial…”

“And… um… I also asked if I could go with you guys…” Cyial mumbled, fidgeting where he sat.

“Yes!” Sairek cheered, pushing the plate off of his lap onto the bed and practically bounced off of it to wrap his arms around Cyial in a hug, causing the demon to squeal out in surprise.

“H-Hey…! I, I didn’t even give you his response yet–! B-But I-I’m surprised at your reaction…!” Cyial chuckled.

“O-Oh… Oops…” Sairek paused, pulling away from Cyial a little with a frown and biting his bottom lip nervously. “W-What did he say?”

“W-Well… he said that I’m old enough to make my own choices now, so—”

“Yes!” Sairek cheered again, hugging Cyial once more with just as much vigor as the first time, causing the demon to let out a surprised laugh. “Nayleen is going to be so happy to hear this too!”

“S-Sairek…!” Cyial chuckled softly, blushing warmly at how genuine the Prince’s reaction was. “I wish you told me you wanted me to come if it excited you so much… I would have asked sooner instead of fretting about it in my mind so much!”

“I didn’t want to feel like I was pushing you or taking advantage of you. I wanted you to come to a decision on your own...” Sairek explained.

“W-Well, I’m glad I asked, then!” He replied. Sairek beamed a smile at him, that made him smile back. It helped reassure Cyial that he was indeed making the right choice, even if he had some concerns with his nature as an incubus… this was what he wanted.

* * *

Sairek was relieved to find that no strange feelings or nightmares ailed him this time in his sleep as he regained consciousness. Maybe it was because of his happy mood at knowing Cyial was coming with them. He was excited last night about this morning, so it had made it hard for him to get to sleep. He did manage to drift off eventually, but it was nearly pitch black when he woke up, probably still very early in the morning. He tilted his head to see Cyial was still cuddled up in the bed next to him, eyes closed, preventing the glowing red of his irises from poking through. He noticed the last couple of times Cyial had slept with him, he had been very… clingy. This time though, it seemed that the other boy was rather content this time, sleeping on his own side of the bed.

Not that Sairek minded either way.

He lay back down, trying to drift back to sleep, but the pinching of his bladder was too uncomfortable. “Gotta pee…” he grunted to himself quietly, sitting up after a while and gently, slowly to not disturb Cyial, he slid himself out of bed, then stretched. Quietly, he reached to the top of his dresser and grabbed his staff, muttering “Balinzer”, pouring only a small amount of energy into the staff to just give off the faintest of glows like a candle, then he leaned the staff against the wall as he stripped himself out of his pajamas and got his regular clothes on. When he was done, he slowly stepped out of the room, taking his staff with him. He doubted he’d be going back to bed, so he may as well get dressed now.

Sairek walked down the hallway to where the showers were, which was also where the toilets were too. He made his way there through the dim illumination of his staff guiding his way and small lamps along the walls. When he got there, he relieved his bladder, before glancing back at the showers.

Apprehension struck him for a moment. What if someone else came? But he reasoned to himself that it was very early in the morning, and this may be the last time he would get to have a proper way to clean himself for possibly days. Cyial did say nobody would probably come at this time too, so he made his way in there and stripped himself back down again, folding his clothes into a pile away from the shower. This time when he operated the device, he was wise enough to step away from the spray and allow it to heat up first before he stepped himself underneath it. The sound of the running water though felt jarringly loud compared to how quiet the rest of the building was, which was almost dead silent. He leaned his staff a little distance away, so he could still see faintly in the otherwise pitch dark room. He sighed as he felt the warm water relax his body and muscles, making him feel lazy and content, especially because he was still half asleep. He wished he could just lay back down bathed in this comfortable warmth. He'd fall back asleep in seconds—


“Good morning, Sairek.”


Sairek shamelessly yelped at the top of his lungs, his concentration broken, his staff went dark and thus, so did the rest of the room. On top of that, the floor of the cubical being wet made it more slippery than normal, so when he jerked and jumped, his feet slipped from underneath himself and he went flopping and twisting down to the floor, landing painfully on his rear with his legs spread, facing the subject of his fright and, immediately recognizing the glowing red eyes in the dark, he gasped in embarrassment, then quickly closed his legs and covered himself desperately with both hands as he realized Cyial could see quite well in the dark, unlike he could.

“C-Cyial–!” Sairek squeaked, his face flushing deeply in embarrassment. There’s no way the demon had not just gotten quite the full view of everything he owned...

He heard Cyial let out a muffled chuckle and snort, failing miserably to stifle a laugh. “S-Sairek…” He snorted.

“It’s… It’s n-not funny…!” Sairek whined, looking away in embarrassment. He struggled to stand up without the use of his hands as they were currently... occupied in covering himself up, but the floor was a bit too slippery for him to get much leverage to do that with just his feet and legs alone, and he only ended up sliding back further into the cubicle instead into a corner, blushing madly in embarrassment. “D-Don’t you have any manners…?!” he scolded in a meek voice.

“Sairek, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Cyial chortled, “but I don’t know what you mean, this is a public shower.”

Sairek flinched at that. “R-Right… b-but still—”

“You’re being oddly timid for someone who changed in front of me, you know.”

“I was still wearing my underwear!” Sairek protested.

“Does underwear make that much of a difference?” Cyial asked. Sairek saw him tilting his head by the alignment of his eyes which blinked once.

“Y...Yes, it does!”

“Really? Why’s that?”

“B-Because… M-My... Pe... Pen… I-It’s a private organ!” Sairek spluttered.

“...Even in a public shower?”

“I don’t like the ‘public’ part associated with this room…!” Sairek whined.

“Didn’t your maid used to clean you all the time, though?” Cyial questioned.

“She, She did… until I told her to stop because it was embarrassing…” Sairek grumbled.

“But why is it embarrassing? It’s just a regular part like any other. It’s only embarrassing because of the stigma people have given you that you should be embarrassed to have it out in the open and revealed, but there’s certain places where it’s okay Sairek. Like for instance... a public shower.” Cyial explained. “Of course, you shouldn't go around flaunting it in front of other people, but well… I’m sure you understand… By the way, the light switch is just over here.” Cyial said, walking over to a wall, and then Sairek had to squint as he was blinded momentarily. When he could bare to look again through the now illuminated room, he glanced at Cyial, where his face flushed even more.

Cyial had discarded his clothes as well, and was just as nude as he was as he walked back. Sairek could only watch in bewilderment, examining the other boy’s body and comparing it to his own. He hadn’t seen another person naked before, let alone another boy around his age to compare to. Let alone a demon! Their features were close similar aside from the obvious tail Cyial had. He knew not all demons were extremely humanoid like Cyial; some looked closer to animals than humans, or even something... else. Cyial however, aside from his tail and the inner biology in him, was quite deceptively human in appearance, so Sairek couldn't help but compare...

Though maybe something else was going on that was subtle. For a small young acolyte who apparently spent most of his time making medicine, Cyial looked adequately lithe. Not quite as much as Sairek himself was, possibly given his smaller size and being a little younger, but someone could have mistook Cyial for the sporty and active type, rather than the introvert that he was.

As Sairek’s examination of the demon’s body continued, he was reminded of the dream he had, remembering those feelings from before, what Cyial had been doing to him in that dream... and then he became aware that he felt himself becoming larger underneath the covering of his hands as he tried to hide his shame. Sweet Lands…! His body was starting to do odd things—again…! In comparison to himself ‘down there’, Cyial looked smaller when he was normal, but—

“...You know, for someone who was complaining about being seen and having no manners, you’re sure doing a lot of staring.” Cyial sniffed.

If Sairek’s face could turn as red as a tomato, it would have. “I—I wasn’t… trying to—”

“Yes?” Cyial pressed him, albeit patiently.

Sairek groaned. “F-Fine! Yes I was looking…! I just… never seen… I-I didn’t mean to…!” He lowered his head in shame, curling on himself and hiding himself more as sat on the floor in a tight little ball.

“Sairek, relax...! All these things you’re doing, thinking and feeling right now... they are perfectly natural, but of all things, you shouldn’t be ashamed about your body. It doesn’t bother me, and it probably wouldn't bother most other people, either.” The demon reassured him, stepping into Sairek’s cubicle and kneeling down in front of the Prince and putting his hands on his shoulders. He was getting wet from the spray above that was still descending down, causing his hair to start to darken a little as it became wet. “You should have self confidence in yourself. I know what happened to you is probably making you anxious about yourself… but you should not be ashamed of it. Your body is fine. All of it. There’s nothing bad about just being you… nor being born the way you are. Isn’t that what you’ve been telling me? And there’s nothing wrong about being curious about someone else either. People are still animals, even demons… we’re just born that way, to naturally be curious, and in the case of another naked person, get a little interested than normal. My kind, especially...” Cyial added that last bit softly, looking away slightly.

“I’m… I’m... I can't help but feel ashamed… and embarrassed…” Sairek mumbled, looking away slightly. He didn’t add ‘confused’ into the mix as to why he felt himself growing a few inches in just a handful of seconds. Yes that has happened before lots of time lately, usually when he really needed to go relieve his bladder in the morning, but this felt a bit... different. Especially because he had just emptied bladder not even five minutes ago.

“Again, there’s no reason to be embarrassed. For any reason. I won’t judge your body and I won’t make fun of your body, either.” Cyial reassured him. "I can understand for strangers, of course, but I promise you can trust me!"

Sairek swallowed and nodded, biting his bottom lip as he mustered up courage within himself. Cyial helped pull him back up onto his feet. After a few seconds, Sairek took a deep breath, and slowly pulled his hands away from between his legs, nervously squeezing his eyes shut. He wrapped his arms around himself instead.

“Oh, I’m flattered.” Cyial replied as he observed downwards.

“C-Cyial–!” Sairek whined, attempting to cover himself again, though at this point, it had grown too big to cover up completely with just his hands, so it was nearly pointless. “I, I don’t know why…! It just… It just happened now! I don't understand...!”

“Shhh, I know. It’s fine and normal Sairek. It happens all the time to people... Especially around our age.”

“Not to me…!”

“Well, it is to you now, obviously, if it hasn't happened before, it's happening now.” Cyial replied with a frown. “You said you haven’t seen people naked before. What you're experiencing is a natural male response to seeing other people naked. It’s completely normal Sairek. It doesn’t mean something is wrong with you. Actually, it means you’re healthy, if anything else. It’s a good thing. It means it's functioning properly.”

“A..." Sairek stalled briefly as if he had something in his throat. "A...Are you serious—?” He stammered.

“Yes.” Cyial blinked owlishly. "It's... a bit embarrassing for me to have a similar discussion with Father Abbot too, especially given what I am, but... It happens. I've seen it all the time with the other acolytes by now as well..." Cyial shrugged.

“B-But… this goes against everything I was raised up to believe…!” Sairek hissed, looking away, his face still crimson.

Cyial frowned. “Is... Is that how it is in the castle? Are people that embarrassed about their bodies?” He asked genuinely.

“I… I guess…? Apparently at least I am...”

“Hmm… That’s a shame. They clearly don’t know what they’re missing.” Cyial smirked teasingly.

Sairek spluttered, but nothing intelligible came out. He may as well have had a frog stuck in his throat.

“Well, it’s true. I know some of my peers would be a little bit envious of you.” Cyial said. “But seriously, it means you’re healthy, Sairek. It's not something to be ashamed of. Far from it. I get it's embarrassing, but it doesn't make you weird. It makes you normal.”

Sairek was beginning to realize that Cyial wasn’t trying to embarrass him but was genuinely trying to encourage him and reassure him. Realizing that put him a little bit more at ease, and he released himself slowly again, despite his… ‘state’. “S-So… I’m bigger than most… even when they get 'big'?” Sairek asked. “...And that’s a good thing...?”

“Yes.”

“O...Okay…”

“See? You’re starting to feel a bit better about it now, right?” Cyial asked.

“Uhhhh… I don’t know about that just yet… This is so very new and embarrassing for me...” Sairek mumbled. “S-So… how ‘natural’ is it for people to be naked with each other, then…?”

“Um... Well... that depends on the situation and context. In a place like here, it’s perfectly fine, even for strangers. Just keep your hands to yourself.” Cyial answered. “Some people don’t bother with clothes when sleeping, either, especially in summer like this and well, if people need to bathe together in a basin, that’s fine too. Oh, and some people do it privately when swimming, or something…”

Sairek blushed. Bathing together? They might have to do that at some point on their journey. “B-But wait a minute… What about Nayleen? Surely we can’t bathe with her!”

“Well, it’s usually proper etiquette for guys and girls to do whatever business separately, yeah.” Cyial agreed. “That’s why the genders get different bathrooms, or shower rooms, or just rooms to sleep in when possible. But you guys have camped and slept together and it’s no problem, right? Make do with what you can.” Cyial then tilted his head. “Forgive my brashness but… have you ever thought of a girl naked?”

“W-What! Sweet Lands! NO–!”

“Sairek, keep your voice down…” Cyial cautioned him. “Unless you want someone to come investigate…”

Sairek kept his mouth shut, though he had gone back to covering himself and making himself as small as possible in the cubicle.

"So thinking about a girl doesn't excite you?" Cyial pressed.

"W-What—? W-Why would it??" Sairek hissed in confusion. "Geez, Nayleen practically asked the same thing when I first met her...!"

“Well… I guess you’re younger, so I suppose maybe you’re not quite there just yet—”

“Y-Younger–?” Sairek repeated. “Then just how old are you?”

Cyial hesitated. “I… don’t know. I know I’m at least twelve… but probably thirteen? We’re talking human years, of course…” Cyial mumbled.

Sairek blinked. Cyial was older than he was? And possibly by over a year? He always thought that the other boy was younger, about just ten or so! Especially because of how small and… well, how meek he had been, at least when they first met...

As if reading his mind, Cyial nodded. “Yes, as you can probably tell, I grow at a slower rate than you do, though as far as time is concerned, we start ‘maturing into adults’ at about the same time, even though I look younger… The hunger I have now wasn’t a problem until a little bit over a year ago.”

Sairek gulped. Cyial really was older than him… and with him being an incubus, he was probably given a very in depth description of how everything works, both male and female. “W-Well in any case… I haven’t… thought of that stuff…” he mumbled.

“I see… well, whenever you do, just remember that it doesn’t make you weird, or doesn’t make you ‘sick’... it makes you human. And a boy.” Cyial reminded him. “It’s okay to be attracted to someone, Sairek. It’s okay to have those thoughts. You’ll probably even dream about them at times. They are nothing to be ashamed about, even if they can be confusing. They’re perfectly normal.”

Dreaming about them…? But he hadn’t dreamed about a girl, he had dreamed of Cyial… maybe that was still part of that succubi’s influence on him? But if so, wouldn’t that make him dream about Natalie or something? Or… Well, he supposed dreams didn’t have to make sense...
He hoped so, because this made very little sense to him right now.

Cyial frowned, seeing the look of bewildered confusion still etched on Sairek’s face. “Come on, what’s on your mind?”

“I… N-Nevermind…” Sairek whispered, shaking his head, letting drops of water flick a little from his head.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine… this is just a lot to take in right now…” Sairek said sheepishly, moving his arms to wrap around his torso. “I thought I knew all there was but this kind of stuff, but obviously I know next to nothing…”

“Well, you don’t need to know about all that now. Give it time. Just never be ashamed about your body, or afraid to explore and experiment with it.” Cyial reassured him. “It’s all part of growing up Sairek.”

“How do you even know all of this?” Sairek muttered.

“Like I said, Father Abbot taught me, and I was even younger than you right now… it was just as embarrassing for me back then as it is to you now. Perhaps even more embarrassing because of my… nature.” Cyial said, before looking down and smiled gently. “See? It goes back down just as randomly as it goes back up.”

Sairek looked down at himself and noticed he was no longer swollen down there. At least not as much. He still blushed, though. “Y-Yeah, I guess so…”

“Now come on, let’s shower properly, then get dressed. We got a long day ahead of us!” Cyial smiled.

“Heh. R-Right…”

* * *

They both walked out of the showers into the hall, redressed and dried, thanks to Sairek’s magic. It was still dark and Sairek still had to use his staff as a light to see. They quietly walked through the halls back to Cyial’s room, where they saw Nayleen waiting in front of the door, munching on a biscuit.

“What…? Why are you here so early?” Sairek asked her.

“I told you, I like mornings.” She answered him. “So where did you two go?” She asked, then crunched on her breakfast.

“Cleaning up together.” Sairek answered.

“And here I thought you were prudish.” Nayleen commented, crunching on the biscuit again, while Sairek’s face flushed.

“...He um… he still is.” Cyial answered her. “It was not my intention to embarrass him but… we got through it together.”

“Oh, well thanks for helping him out.”

“Yeah, great, thanks. Cyial is coming with us, by the way…” Sairek grumbled dryly.

“YES!!”

“Shhh–!” Sairek and Cyial shushed her together.

“Sorry… but yes...! Now, when are we leaving?”

“Woah, hold on...! We haven’t even had breakfast yet…!” Sairek protested.

Nayleen dug into her pockets, pulling out two biscuits, one for the both of them each.

“...Where did you get these?” Sairek asked dryly.

“Kitchen.” Nayleen answered, followed by another crunch from her biting into her own biscuit.

Sairek and Cyial looked at each other. Cyial shrugged, then took one. Sairek rolled his eyes, and took the other, biting into it.

“Sooo, when do we leave?” Nayleen asked again.

“We can go any time.” Cyial answered.

“Don’t you want to say goodbye to the Abbot? And what about the ethereal?”

“I already did that, and the ethereal is in…” Cyial replied, before patting his robes. “Your jewel is not the only thing that can hold a good amount of items, you know, Sairek.” He smirked. “Though… probably not nearly as much. We can transfer them over if you want.”

“Alright, let’s get packing then!” Nayleen agreed, followed by yet another satisfying crunch of pastry.

* * *

As they walked outside the monastery, two knights looked at Sairek and saluted him. “Good morning, sir!” They greeted him in unison.

“Um… good morning.” Sairek greeted them. “We’re… leaving the city now. So you don’t have to stand watch here anymore.”

“Which way are you going sir?” One of them asked.

“West.”

“Then we shall accompany you there!”

“But I—” Sairek began, then sighed. "As you wish...?" He heard Nayleen snicker.

Being escorted to the west side of the city, Sairek took a glance upwards, studying the dimming stars as the sky made way towards dawn. In a few more minutes, the sun would be breaking out from over the horizon of the ocean, casting everything in a warm morning glow, but for now, it was still dark.

As they approached the city’s gates, he saw more guards were stationed there, quite a bit more than just Balgira when they had entered from the southern gate. It seemed like Lavian had stepped up security significantly, probably in light of recent events. Aside from that, the Knightmaster herself was standing there at the gate, awaiting them.

“I did not expect you to come and see us off.” Sairek admitted in greeting when they approached.

“Well, I’ve decided to do more than that." Lavian smirked. "The forest can be a little confusing, and it’s not been used for some time. It would be unkind for me to let you three wander through the forest unattended, so I’ll guide you towards the tunnels.”

“Woo~ More girl power!” Nayleen cheered enthusiastically, earning a smile from Lavian.

“I would be pleased if you accompanied us even if it’s only for a little bit.” Cyial responded.

“I second that notion. Thank you, Lavian.” Sairek agreed.

Lavian saluted him in response with her fist over her chest, her armor clinking slightly with the movement. "It won't be for very long or far, but I am happy to assist. And it'll give me an excuse to skip desk work for today."

“Then…” Sairek started, turning back to face the gates and the forest ahead of them. “Let’s get going, towards Doran.”