The sun falls lower in the sky and by this time we had been traveling for a couple hours with only idle chatter or awkward silence. He does not open up very easily for a good conversation to form. I internally groaned. We stopped to set up camp and I started the fire while smiling as my fox curled up next to me. I ran my fingers over Nexxis’ oddly soft fur, a small shock in my heart every time my hand ran down to her tail. It wasn’t unpleasant, just reminded me our bond runs deep. Out of the corner of my eye I notice Malachi reach his arms up toward the sky, stretching. I couldn’t help the slight stop in my heart before I tried to focus on the flames as he knelt down by his shoulder bag, unfolding his bedroll by the fire. The flames created a beautiful array of dancing colors across his armor, I tried not to stare for too long as the art show tugged at my attention. “What a day it’s been” he sighed before reaching for his bag again, breaking me out of my near trance, to grab out some of his dried rations of animal hide that he quickly sank his fangs into.

I cringed and stood up, grabbing my bow before looking at him, “Don’t you want something better than that?” I asked in a tone of disgust, tilting my head as I waited for an answer.

He swallowed, clearly not caring about the quality of his meal, cringe.. “I’m alright with this, thanks anyways.” He said before taking another bite as his eyes watched the fire and glowing charcoal. He was quick to answer, he still doesn’t trust me. I suppose I can’t really blame him, I wouldn’t trust me either.

I sighed and disappeared into the woods, it didn’t take long to find and kill a rabbit, returning to camp only a moment later with the catch. I rolled my eyes at him, “You haven’t had a good meal in your life.” I said before sitting down and preparing the meat. I knew exactly what seasonings from my pouch to add and just the right angle and amount of time to cook it to make this simple rodent an amazing five star meal. I offered him a bite and awaited his response, trying not to smirk with confidence.

He glanced over the cooked rabbit meat, sniffed at it, and then finally took a bite. His eyes widened in shock and my inner self laughed confidently with hands on hips, eyes closed, and head tilted back as I knew he would enjoy it. “This is really good..” He said in shock.

“Yes, I know. I’m a master of food.” I said with a dark grin. “You sure you don’t want some now?” I asked him with an eyebrow raised.

Malachi seemed hesitant, but I could tell he couldn’t ignore the flavors dancing over his taste buds, “I would hate to bother you, but it does taste very good…” He said reluctantly.

I handed him the rest while laughing, “Take it, I can always get more.” I said, rolling my eyes. I loved cooking for more than just myself. He studied the food before taking another bite. I watched him out of the corner of my eye as a warm smile appeared on his face and he almost immediately devoured it as if he had never had a proper meal before in his life. Which quite frankly, he probably hasn’t. “Looks like I’ll be cooking from now on.” I laughed to myself with a smile on my face.

Malachi whipped his face before turning to me, “Thank you very much for the meal. I never thought rabbit could taste so good.” Goddess, this proper shit was going to start getting on my nerves soon.

“Anything tastes good if you know what you’re doing.” I shrugged as he lowered himself onto his bedroll and used his shoulder bag as a pillow. He was still wearing his armor as he gazed up at the millions of twinkling stars. I glared off to the side and mumbled, “Uncle.” Slightly annoyed before turning and gazing with him.

Malachi tilted his head toward me, looking across the dying red and orange flames, “Uncle?” He slightly snicker, “Was your uncle a bad cook?”

I jumped slightly, I didn’t think he heard me. “You tell me.. you know him..” I mumbled before taking a pause to think.

Smooth. Zagasihr said while rolling his eyes at me. I glared back at him.

I spoke up to address Malachi, “Something like that, I would never let him cook during the short time I lived with him.”

The paladin yawned, clearly not hearing my first statement. Good. “Well cooking is a challenging skill that only so many have. I don’t have it, but I know what I eat won’t kill me.”

I laughed, “Well, I’ll see you in the morning then?” I asked, looking him over.

His eyes were closed by this time and he waved a hand at me, “Yeah, sure. I’ll be here.” He opens one eye at his battle-axe before finally settling in, “As long as you don’t stab me in the back…” It wasn’t too long before he was out cold. He looked like he had been traveling quite a long time with clearly very little sleep. I rolled my eyes. My smile dropped and I curled my legs to my chest before drifting to meditation while thoughts of what to do next slowly drifted through my subconscious to nothingness.

Four hours later I come out of my trance and look over to Malachi. I scooch closer so that I’m sitting right next to him. Akrakir will kill you.. Zagasihr said, clearly not trying to hide his delighted smirk.

I rolled my eyes, How bad could it be? I asked in disbelief and strange curiosity. He was sleeping with one arm resting over his eyes and a light snore passing through his soft looking lips. I shook my head, focus. Zagasihr’s laughter raged through my head as a throbbing background noise, almost drowning out noises from the outside world. I finally smiled after a long debate and placed a hand on Malachi’s tail.

Almost on instinct, his tail wrapped around my wrist, he lifted himself up and gave me a glare with death written all over it using the bags under his eyes as reference. He raised a finger at me, “Rule number one, Don’t-Touch-My-Tail. Got it?”

I wasn’t surprised by his reaction but I did pout in disappointment as my heart raced from the contact. Knock that shit off! I hissed at myself. But I also felt almost annoyed. “But it’s right there…” I whined like a child.

He released me, pointed two fingers at his eyes then back at me. He couldn’t argue due to the lack of sleep and simply fell back down and passed out. I huffed. Why did he do this to me? He’s just an assignment. Maybe he did something to me.

He’s a tiefling. A half-demon. You know who his dad is. Zagasihr said.

Yea, but his dad isn’t as bad as someone I know.’ I rolled my eyes. Besides, Malachi doesn’t seem to be the oath breaking type. I shrugged.

You should call him Akrakir, we don’t have the entire story. He could be trying to hide his identity. You know how many crimes he has on his record?

Yea, but I know that my uncle wouldn’t have entrusted him with Zelaphor or given him his last name if he wasn’t a good person. Besides, I named him Malachi inadvertently. I think.. I’ll have to ask Uncle about it at some point. I started to get sidetracked.

Focus!

I hissed in annoyance. Knock it off. This is my mind and I can let it wander where I damn well please! I said before flashing an image of what I hoped Malachi looked like without his armor on just to piss the demon prince off. He growled back, fire glowing in his eyes. I rolled mine and went quiet.

So what do you want to do Lia? Nexxis perked up trying to relieve the tension

I’m simply going to follow him for now and see if I would rather keep my promise or make a fuck ton of money. I shrugged and I could feel that Zagasihr and Nexxis had two very different opinions on which I should choose.