Chaiel nodded. "That's obvious. It's in the eyes."
The corner of Kieran's mouth quirked up. "Thelyan didn't think it was obvious."
"He needed you to be Ka'an, I suppose. It justified him. You do realize, don't you, that you haven't destroyed him? You've only bought a few years of peace."
Kieran chuckled, spoke around a mouthful of food. "Years. Hell, I can't think past sleep, just now. I just might be able to wrap my brain around the concept of tomorrow."
"Besides," Ash put in, "he won't know who he is, will he? If he's reborn at all; I gathered that they aren't, always."
"You can count on that, if you like," said Chaiel. "I won't."
Ash gave half a shrug. "Anything can happen in a few years. Hell, anything can happen in a few months."
"Yep." Kieran grinned. "But I never saw a kid grow wings before, what's up with her? And not to be ungrateful for the food and all, but how the hell did you -- what was your name again?"
Chaiel rolled his eyes. "Oh, for the love of mercy. Why can't you people manage to remember my name?"
Kieran dismissed this with a wave of his spoon. "How'd you get ahead of us, and with all this junk? Ash can't have told you to meet us here, he didn't know about this place." He turned to Ash, frowning. "Did you?"
"No."
"Well, I call that suspicious."
Ash leaned to scoop more stew out of the pot, and to hide his smile. "Kieran's tired, and it's making him a little snarky. But I'm pretty curious about that myself."
"I know spells you don't. Spells I don't intend to teach," Chaiel added quickly as Ash opened his mouth to ask.
"I'd teach you how to use math for magic," Ash said in a hurt tone.
"That's up to you. I won't strike a bargain. All this --" again he gestured to the piled baggage --
"is my way of repaying you for freeing me. No doubt we'll meet again someday, and perhaps that debt can't be repaid, and perhaps you'll have a favor to ask of me then. But I can't make extravagant gestures of gratitude today. I have Medur to think of. I have..." Chaiel's eyes went distant, a little bit frightened. "I have the future to think of. That will take some getting used to."
Kieran grumbled, "You're saying you don't trust us with this stuff you know."
"Not at the moment, no."
After a long moment, Kieran shook his head and went back to eating, not interested in arguing.
Ash finished his second bowl of stewed whatever, and offered the bowl and spoon to Chaiel.
That one gestured refusal and stood up, reaching for the child's hand. Little Medur came to him instantly. Ash could sense the trust in her malformed mind; she'd imprinted like a baby bird.
"Good luck to you both," Chaiel said.
"Wait." Ash stood as well. "Before you go... I'm not sure how to explain this so it won't sound condescending or stupid. But I just want you to know, I don't think we should owe each other anything. If there's anything you need, or even if you just feel like talking to someone who has half a clue what your world is like... you see?"
A smile spread slowly across Chaiel's face. "Medur was more eloquent, but I see her in you nonetheless. As you wish; we part as friends, with no debt between us." He offered his hand, and Ash clasped it.
Then, draping a frail arm around the child's frailer neck, he turned away and began walking, and the two of them grew distant much more quickly than the ground they covered allowed. Within moments, they were wavering in haze, and then gone. He hadn't spoken a spell, or made any gestures, and Ash had felt no spill of power. Kieran made an appreciative sound.
"Not bad. Your buddy there is quite a mage."
"He's been around a while." Ash reached for Kieran's hand. "Oh Kai. I'm so tired. Are we done now?"
"Yeah. We're done."
They helped each other to the blankets that little Medur had spread for them in the shade of an intact corner of roof. Too weary even to undress, they flung themselves down, curled together, and closed their eyes.
Several minutes later, Ash admitted with a sigh what they were both thinking: "I'm too tired to sleep."
"So just lie here. We can lie around all day."
"For how many days? How long until something else comes along to mess with us? I can't believe we're safe now. I can't believe the world will just let me spend my life with you. Things that good don't happen. Do they?"
Kieran whispered a laugh. "So that's where my cynicism went."
"I'm not being cynical. I don't think I am. I'm just trying to reassure myself. Where are you going to live, Kai? Because that's where I'm going to live too, if you'll let me. Burn River? What about those gangsters? And there are still warrants out for us, even if Churchrock's wrecked, and --"
Kieran silenced him with a kiss. Drew back to catch his eyes, brushed away a curl of his hair, smiling. "You worry too much about stuff that doesn't matter. Between us, we have just about all the magic there is. There's nobody in the world who can beat us now, except maybe that Chaiel kid, and he seems decent enough. And don't start with that 'if you'll let me' crap. You want me to promise? You want a ring? I'm not giving you up. Not for anything. I'll swear on anything you want."
"I thought you didn't like to make promises."
"I changed my mind."
Sighing happily, Ash settled into his favorite place on Kieran's shoulder. "Even with this new magic, though, we can be hurt if we're not paying attention. Wherever we go, things will get dangerous. We can't be on our guard every moment."
Kieran was quiet for a while, toying with Ash's hair, turning something over in his mind.
Something that filled him with hope, but which he thought Ash might not like. Ash didn't mean to eavesdrop on his feelings, but when they lay together like this the bond was too strong for anything to stay hidden.
"Whatever you're going to ask for," Ash said, "the answer is yes."
"Well, I was just thinking -- how would you like to stay here?"
"Here?"
"Yeah."
"If you want to. Yes. But... there's nothing here."
There was a smile in Kieran's voice when he answered. "There will be."
-- END --
Novel By: Jesse Hajicek
http://chartreuse.studiowhippingboy.com/index.shtml
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Jesse Hajicek, The God Eaters
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