Foro stood with one hand shading his eyes looking at the front door of a building which had all of its windows covered and boarded up. He was pretty sure it used to be some kind of store based on the layout and design. The paint had peeled away from the walls to the point there were only decaying patches of it here and there along the outside walls.

“Are you sure there’s one still in there?” he looked down to Ketai, who stood barely a hand's breadth to his left.

She responded with an enthusiastic grin and a nod of confirmation.

“Tribunus,” one of the survivors, as Foro referred to the men that survived the ambush that wiped out the Phoenix Legion, got his attention, “there’s only one door. Should we still attempt to capture this one too?”

“No, I’m not running through a choke point into that mist or whatever it is, and I’m not sending any of you into that situation either,” Foro scowled at the building. He expressed his frustration at having been unable to capture one of the remaining shadowmen. “Have everyone fly up above the building where we can see each other, then we’ll just blast it all into oblivion.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Ketai, you should head back,” Foro told her before turning his attention back to the building.

He felt her touch his arm before she sped off. He was amazed at how much her physical abilities had increased since her interaction with Zag.

Foro looked around to make sure the area was clear of civilians, the city had experienced a significant drop in population with the coup and the sight of Zaganursarrum in the sky. He sneered thinking about how the current ‘ruling council’ was just making things worse.

His wings spread as he shifted into a half-blood state and flew up to semi-hover in the air above the buildings.

Three other members of his squad were already in the air waiting on his signal. Foro looked around one last time before he flashed the signal.

The building exploded outward.

They had barely raised their hands when the blast knocked them back into the alleys and buildings. Foro smashed into the eave of a roof, bounced off and landed gracelessly on his face in the dirt street.

His vision faded in and out as he tried to think of what he should be doing.

He felt something tug on his clothes. He tried to swing his head around to see who it was and was rewarded with the world spinning around in a way it shouldn't, which promptly made him throw up and groan in pain from the headache.

Foro felt himself being hoisted up, which did not improve how he felt, and after his vision cleared up a bit he found himself looking into Ketai’s eyes. She had hoisted him up on her shoulder, dealing with that unrealistic situation was too much for him to figure out with his swimming vision and a throbbing headache.

Foro was rather tall in his human form, tall enough he could even look Zag’s human form in the eyes with barely any tilt to his head. Ketai was shorter than him. Enough so that his feet dangled halfway between her knees and ankles even bent at the waist over her shoulder as he was.

Foro decided to shelve that concept for later, thinking hurt way too much for him as it was.

He stared at her face, her golden draconic eyes glanced from side to side as she walked quickly towards the smell of one of Foro’s squad. He thought her eyes contrasted greatly with her dark hair.

Foro wanted to reach out and touch her hair, but he couldn't quite figure out how he was supposed to do that.

“You have pretty eyes,” he blurted out and immediately wondered where that came from.

She stopped, he swayed from the sudden halt which caused the world to swim again. She looked at him in shock from the comment only to see his eyes roll back into his head as he passed out.

**

Foro woke up completely recovered, he figured someone must have healed him after he passed out.

As he remembered passing out he remembered the words he had blurted out and a blush started to intrude on his austere exterior. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it off, but he could feel the embarrassment hiding beneath the skin of his face.

Foro looked around the room and found some clean clothes. He put them on and frowned at his appearance in the mirror until his stomach interrupted him.

When he opened the door and turned down the hallway he almost ran into Ketai who was hurrying down the hallway towards his room. He grabbed her shoulders to keep them from colliding.

She looked up at him, startled, then she started patting him down and looking him over with a worried expression.

“I’m all right,” he reassured her.

Foro gave her shoulder a pat as he let go, and they wound up staring at each other in a moment of awkward silence.

“You have very pretty eyes,” Foro told her as he stared into her dark gray pupils.

She turned scarlet and lightly hit him in the chest before looking away.

“This side of you is adorable after how aggressive you’ve been, but we can leave that for later,” Foro gave her shoulder a light squeeze. “Was anybody else hurt?”

She shook her head no.

“It’s about time for dinner, right? Is it ready?”

She nodded again.

“Good, I need to eat and figure out what to do next.”

Ketai smiled up at him and gestured for him to go towards the kitchen.

“Thank you for being there for me,” he kissed her lightly on the forehead.

Ketai grabbed his shirt and pulled him down whilst she stood on her toes. She kissed him square on the lips, a brief but proper kiss that startled Foro. He looked at her with wide eyes when she let go.

She gave off a short giggle, the first sound he had heard from her that wasn’t growling at Zag. His eyes opened even wider as she scampered off around him.

It took him a moment to come to his senses and proceed to the dining area.

He walked into the dining area and through a quick count of heads was able to determine that all but two members of his squad were present. He gave a sigh of relief since his standing policy was to have two members on watch at all times in case what currently passes as a government sent someone after them.

“Who healed me?” Foro asked the room as he sat down.

“Me sir.” One of the squad members answered while another rushed over to get Foro a bowl of the stew they were having for supper.

“Thank you,” Foro told both of them.

“Are you fully recovered, sir?” asked the one who healed him.

“Yes,” Foro replied. “Also, we aren’t going to play around if we find any more of these guys. Just kill them and be done with it from now on.”

“Does that mean we’re going to be getting involved with that council?” one of the soldiers asked.

“All I’m supposed to do is deal with the shadow men and make sure the city doesn't burn down,” Foro replied between bites. “If they don’t interfere with me, I’ll stay out of their games.”

“What are we supposed to do if they start actively going after us?”

“It depends, I’ve trained some of them and been comrades in arms with others. They aren’t all slime balls scrambling for the throne,” Foro sighed. “At least I hope they aren’t.”

Before Foro’s words had faded in the others’ ears, another member of the squad rushed in. His eyes widened a bit as he saw Foro amongst those who stared at his rushed interruption. Their training told them that there was something wrong even before words were exchanged.

“There’s a group of what paces for the Palace Guard coming in with some sort of official. I wasn’t able to notice them until it was too late. They’ll be here any second!” The soldier reported then gave Foro a snappy salute. “Sir!”

“Well, I guess I’m getting involved whether I want to or not,” Foro sighed. “I hate politics.”