While the hills of rolling grass passed below, Arius focused upon one small word that she had used. “You asked me to take you ‘home’. Are you sure that you want to continue considering your home at that apartment with Tavras?”

It was a fair question, one that Val was not entirely sure of herself. “For now, I guess so. I liked the way that things used to be with him when I was on his Paradise.”

Val pouted her lips, because she did not know what more she could say about Tavras to Arius. He had already garnered the sentiment of her pathetic crush, but that did not mean that she should go rubbing it into his face.

“You know how I feel about Tavras already, so I will save my breath. I really do not want you around him at all." His words hung there in the air as an order. At the same time, his intonation indicated that he had more to say, but it seemed that he himself did not have the words.

Val understood very well why Arius would not want to have his soulmate around Tavras at all. At the same time, she had been alone with Tavras on his Paradise for months. While they might have reached some rocky shores recently, he was still Val's most trusted mentor.

"I know that we are supposed to be soulmates and all," she began, "but frankly, it feels weird for you to come into my life and start dictating who I spend time with."

"I... agree," Arius admitted. "If it were anyone else, it would not bother me. Actually, it would," he corrected himself almost instantly. "It's not okay for you to be living with any man, least of all Tavras."

Dang it, was the predominant thought in Val's head. Was she going to have her first fight in a relationship before she was even in a relationship? While Arius's objection to her living situation was perfectly reasonable, it was also not too outrageous for her to expect not be controlled.

"If you were my soulmate," she said, "you would not try to control me."

That statement made Arius scowl with anger. "If you were my soulmate, you wouldn't expect me to tolerate you living with a man."

While they both exchanged their hostile glares, Arius tightened his grip on her arm. Though she was flying through the sky with him, Val refused to back down.

"It is extremely tempting to drop you right now."

“I don’t take too kindly to threats, either.”

“It was not a threat,” Arius said, smiling wickedly. “It was a joke.” The reddened hue of his eyes told her otherwise, so Val tried to do something to diffuse the tension.

“No, this is a joke!” she declared. “If you drop me, then you would end up with a flat soulmate. I don’t think that you would want that. You would prefer a curvy soulmate, right?”

Arius narrowed his eyes at her, but his smile softened. While he did not validate her with a laugh, he relented a smidgen on his stance. “We can discuss this more later.”

Val wanted to object, but she huffed and settled for the stalemate for now. “Sure. Just let me speak to Tavras first. By the looks of the sky, we probably won’t have anything to argue about anyway.” Her head tilted back to observe the rolling storm clouds overhead, so close that she could reach up and practically close her fist around one of them.

Val was not trying to touch any clouds however. She had a dog to hold. While Foofy was limp in her arms from Keep the Peace, she squeezed onto him tighter.

“While I talk to Tavras, you can make yourself scarce if you want to, not that he goes blaming you for kidnapping me,” Val said. When she imagined how Tavras would react to Arius bringing her home, she shuddered.

“Let me give you my number once we’re on the ground, since you know, I actually adopted modern technologies,” Arius said. “Text me when you’re ready to go regardless if you’re able to reason with Tavras.”

“Okay.” She feared that they would be destined for the latter thing as the most probable outcome.

The wilderness became tamer as they approached New Gate. The grasses shortened up to the walls constructed by Suvier, and then they soared over buildings and streets like when they had left last night. More detail could be made out during broad daylight, and Val watched the town pass beneath her.

“There is one more thing that you should know before I drop you off,” Arius said. For the most part, he had looked to the sky ahead of them and the town below for the duration of their flight. Right now instead, he tilted his head to observe her closely. “You can tell Tavras that we spent the night together, but don’t say that we are soulmates.”

“What?” Val laughed, not knowing how else to respond.

If she said that, it would give Tavras the completely wrong idea. Val had slept with Arius in the literal way not the euphemistic way. The manner in which he could joke about something lewd while looking her in the eyes made an uncomfortable heat swell to her cheeks. Again, Val hugged Foofy close to her chest.

Hidden by that joke, Arius had also said something disconcerting.

“Why should I not tell Tavras about our destiny as soulmates?”

Arius looked at her with glazed over eyes. To him, the answer would seem obvious. “He’s an asshole—more so to me than you, but you have been starting to see that recently too. Tavras will cause unnecessary problems if he knows about us, just for the sake of getting in the way.”

Val did not think so low of Tavras but did not think that highly of him either. At present, he seemed more like a wildcard to her. They were on shaky ground which she did not know how to tread. For the time being, she nodded to put Arius at ease.

They landed outside the apartment that she had with Tavras. The first thing that Val did was swap numbers with Arius in relative silence. It felt weird giving her phone to a god and watching him tap away on it—such a mundane thing that mortals often did.

When Arius passed back her phone, Val just stared at his name on the screen. “Is it really okay for me to have your number?”

“Of course,” Arius said. “I want you to be able to contact me. You’re my soulmate.” He patted her head awkwardly for a moment before drawing his hand away with care. “Maybe I shouldn’t do that regardless,” he murmured to himself.

Val giggled from how cringey it was to have her head patted. It felt weirdly diminutive, and in fact, patting the head was a gesture that she often did to a certain dog.

“I think that Foofy would like your head pats more than me.” For effect, she tapped her hand between Foofy’s ears.

His eyes closed during the pats in a look of enjoyment.

Arius gave Foofy some goodbye pets too.

The good boy received their undivided attention for a minute or two. He basked in all of the pettings.

While Val lingered around, hesitant to go in, Arius lingered by her side. “Are you sure that you do not want to deal with Tavras together?”

“I’m sure. I don’t want to make you interact with him any more than necessary.”

“All right. I trust that you will not be overly friendly with Tavras anymore. No fishy business?”

“Ha,” she said forcibly, unable to validate the pun with a genuine laugh. Instead, Val felt incredibly awkward that Arius felt the need to explicitly tell her something like that.

Tavras had been far too mean for her to like him anymore. Last night had been the final straw that ended her desperate and fraying crush. As a bonus, Arius treated her too kindly for her to overlook him. Obviously, she should like the god who was actually being nice and showing interest in her, even if she had just met him. These were rational thoughts, and although feelings might not always be rational, Val would be prepared to check herself.

Arius looked over his shoulder to go, but the expression on his face already looked downcast.

To do something to cheer him up for their brief farewell, Val stepped nearer and held open her arms. “Um, do you want a hug?” She stood there, almost physically pained by the ineloquence of her offer.

In acceptance, Arius drew her in close.

Being near to him, her heart was racing away. Val needed to roll with this. “You have nothing to worry about,” she said with her cheek pressed against his chest. “Already, you’ve done the most with me that I have ever done.” Hopefully he would like the thought of that, not feel weird that Val was young and inexperienced.

Arius replied simply, “There is no way that you’ve never hugged a guy before.”

“No, but you did lick my hand.”

“That’s right,” Arius said. “Did I have your first indirect kiss?”

She pulled enough away from him to see the slight, silly grin on his face. As weird as that had been last night, Val liked it better as a memory. “I’m sure that I have had many indirect kisses before.”

“None were as good as mine,” Arius said. While they were obviously kidding around, Val noticed a hint of pride in his voice. His smile became slyer, and he leaned forward to ask, “Did I steal the chastity of your hand?”

Val hid her face in one hand, because that would lead in perfectly to something that she could not resist saying. “Arius, I believe that my hand’s chastity is something else entirely.” So long as they both understood that they were just fooling around, he seemed to enjoy inappropriate jokes.

Indeed, he laughed rather harder than usual. “Gods, you’re terrible. Keep it up.”

Val grinned, forcibly trying to pull the corners of her lips down some. While her mind told her not to be this friendly with a mere acquaintice, it felt natural to goof off with Arius. The way that they clicked, maybe they really could be soulmates.

“You’ll have to keep setting up the jokes for me,” Val said.

“Bet. Text me.” With that, Arius finally turned to go.

Assuming that Tavras was still at the apartment, Val would now have to face the same anger that was brewing in the sky.