Rattani is a type of stuffed pasta that made of the rattani pasta sheets exported by the School of the Desert Moon. Made from alchemically saturated and magically grown wheat, it is known to be both delicious when paired with the right sauce, and also helps improve absorption rates of magical energy, for anyone who utilises a form of energy.
Staple Foods of the Powers – Kiera Warren
Erin came back from the gym to find Sammath lying on the couch and Ashe in the bathroom. After practicing her weapon forms to warm up and then moving on to physical training, which mainly consisted of weighted calisthenics, she was sweaty and in desperate need of a shower, stray strands of hair sticking to her face, “Someone’s been doing some exercise. Finally decided to train without me, huh?” Sammath called out from the couch.
“Don’t think that I’ve forgotten about you pushing me into that match, Sammath. I’m not so tired that I can’t take you downstairs and make you train until you drop.”
“Shutting up, now.”
Erin made her way to her room, and stood by the door, waiting for Ashe to come out of the bathroom. When the boy, hair wet and sticking out all over the place, emerged from the bathroom, Erin immediately made a beeline for the door. Unfortunately, while the Blue Sail Inn was expensive and in the capital of the Trillden County, it still wasn’t affluent enough to have private bathrooms for every guest.
Clothes stuck to her body uncomfortably, so it was with great relief, after closing the door and locking it, on top of trapping it and blocking it with a small chair that was in the bathroom, that Erin stripped her sticky clothes off of her skin. Turning the hot knob on the shower opened a small slot further down the pipe, letting in hot water from the boiler-pipe system. Erin waited for the backlog of lukewarm water to clear before the hot water cascaded out and she stepped under the pounding water with a sigh of relief. Most people, even other Arikarans or body cultivators at the first stage, would have felt the water was scalding and opened the cold-water pipe alongside the hot-water pipe but Erin had no issues with temperature. Instead, as the water pounded down on her neck and shoulders, she sighed and relaxed. Soon enough, she picked up the bar of soap and began to lather her hands, scrubbing her body thoroughly under the heat of the water.
When she was certain she was completely clean, Erin turned off the shower and began to draw a bath. As the water ran, rushing from the spout, she sat back in the chair and just listened to the water; something about that sound just seemed so calming, and she quickly found herself slipping into a meditative state.
All too soon, though, Erin opened her eyes and turned off the water to the bath. Gingerly, a habit born from her time before the heat hadn’t bothered her, Erin dipped her foot into the water before sliding the rest of her body in when the heat wasn’t too much. Slipping deeper into the bath, Erin lay her head back against the side of the bath and sunk into the water, leaving only her nose and mouth exposed so she could breathe. Underneath the water, all of the small sounds of the world seemed to slip away, with even the noise of her breathing disappearing, and Erin felt herself drifting in a state of peaceful bliss.
As she relaxed her muscles, the hot water soothing them after her workout, Erin ruminated on how much more effective advancing her power would be if she could absorb sunlight or moonlight while bathing. Unfortunately, that wasn’t appropriate, even within the privacy of her own home, so she was relegated to meditating underneath the open sky.
After at least half an hour, once the water was beginning to turn from tepid to room temperature, Erin slipped out of the lukewarm water with only a few drips of water making sound as they splashed into the tub. Feeling thoroughly relaxed after the events of the past few weeks, and especially Sammath’s inane stunt earlier in the day, Erin looked down at the backs of her hands, marvelling at the resilience of her Baron Stage body. Even after spending so long in the water, her skin had remained flawless and showed no signs of wrinkling, something that people in the pre-stages could only dream of. Erin flipped her hands over, looking at the callouses on her hands. Much as her fingers were long and slender, like many noblewomen who’d never even dream of breaking a sweat in labour, from behind, Erin’s palms were hardened and rough, a sign that she’d worked and trained nearly every day of her life, especially because almost all Arikarans at the Baron Stage would have that physical imperfection removed, including many farmers. Only the hands of those who’d struggled and laboured for years and years would keep such physical traits when they’d reached the same stage as Erin, something surprising in someone as young as she was.
Erin clenched her fists and nodded, she was… proud of everything that she’d done and accomplished in her short life, now that she’d stopped to reflect on it. Erin still wished that she’d had a childhood, rather than ever increasing quantities of training, but… now that she had a chance to step back and actually feel her emotions, rather than pushing them to the side as she worked on improving, Erin was at least satisfied that she’d done the best with the cards she’d been dealt. An image of a small building burning down, and the smell of burnt meat wafted past Erin’s nose, and she corrected herself, I’m proud of what I’ve done, but I haven’t always done the best with my cards.
To be honest, though, the First Stage was only the beginning. Erin looked into the mirror on the wall of the bathroom, meeting her own blue-eyed gaze resolutely, I’ll be the strongest that I can, do the best that I can, and help those I can along the way. I… Erin’s mind flashed past all of her mistakes in the past few weeks; being discovered by Sammath, allowing him to coerce her into helping him, fleeing from the camp in the wrong direction, wrongly instructing Ashe in how to advance, some issues in her sparring with Lu, letting Sammath and Ashe go out on their own in an unfamiliar city, forgetting they might cause trouble without knowledge of Arikar’s political climate, growing attached to the two boys, and more.
I’m not perfect. I know that now, more than ever, and I know that the real world will break even the best-laid plans. But now, more than ever, I know that perfection is the standard that I need to hold myself to. When I’m not perfect, when I’m not strong enough, people can get hurt, and I can’t allow that to happen. Father was right; perfection is the only standard worth maintaining because, when you fall short, no matter how little you fall short by, it isn’t just those involved that get hurt. Anything around them can get hurt, too.
Erin looked away from the mirror, closing her eyes and focussing on the rushing heat from the Dawnblaze side of her Bloodline. Pulling on the fire from the sun, Erin could feel the water on her skin and in her hair evaporating from the heat of the flames. When she opened her eyes again, Erin got dressed in simple, dark clothes quickly and glanced one more time at the mirror, nodding determinedly to herself. With a deep breath, Erin pushed the door open and walked through to the lounge.
Sammath looked over the back of the couch, at Erin, before going back to whatever he was doing. Erin looked around, seeing that Ashe was in his room, and focussed on her ears, trying to see if she could hear anything from the room. Whatever sound suppression enchantments there were blocked any sounds, however.
“I’m going out. Watch the room.” Erin didn’t wait for Sammath to respond as she opened up the wooden doors to the room’s balcony. Erin immediately closed them behind her and set up six traps; two on the handle and one on each of the door handles; before leaping up onto the railing of the balcony and swinging herself up over the lip of the red-tiled roof. Immediately, Erin crouched down on the eaves of the roof and waited for anyone who might have caught a flash of movement in their peripheral vision to lose attention. Once she was sure that no-one would be watching, Erin scaled the roof like a spider and clambered down the other side of the roof’s ridge. On that side of the roof, Erin was met with the sight of the open-air courtyard that the Blue Sail Inn had for visitors to spar and the stables where any mounts or beasts would stay for the duration of their owner’s time at the inn.
Beyond the courtyard was another row of buildings, and Erin took advantage of the blocked sightlines to the street. Sitting down and assuming a cross-legged position, Erin immediately began to draw in the last day’s last rays of sunlight. Shining down the length of the roof, Arikar’s sun was beginning to lose its heat as summer turned to the beginning of autumn. Despite that, the potency of the fire that Erin’s Bloodline converted sunlight into didn’t wane and the heat suffused her body, relaxing her even after the shower and bath.
It was only when the sun disappeared over the lip of the horizon and twilight began to fill the air that Erin’s absorption of the sunlight began to slow down, her Bloodline a little below full capacity of sunlight. While the moon continued to rise, Erin took some time to just meditate quietly and calm her mind. When the waxing gibbous moon rose high enough into the sky for Erin to begin absorbing its light, she immediately switched from meditation to absorbing the light. Nearly the direct opposite to sunlight, the cold moonlight rushed through Erin’s veins as she topped herself off. More refreshing than unpleasant, the cold helped keep Erin’s mind sharp as she used her Bloodline’s power. When she was full of moonlight, Erin continued to absorb the light of the moon but used it, instead, to refine the power of her Bloodline. Erin was close to advancing to the Viscount Stage, and as she continuously cycled her Bloodline’s power, she looked kept a close mental eye watching her Bloodline. In Erin’s mind, her Bloodline manifested itself as a glowing, looping ribbon of white energy that looped and swirled around itself to form an intricate cycle.
Erin knew that if she dipped her mental feelers into the stream, she’d feel both the cold of the moon and the light of the sun simultaneously, and the closest thing she could liken the feeling to was eating something minty and something spicy at the same time, but the sensation was imprinted on your skin, and it wasn’t unpleasant. Erin scoured the stream of energy mentally and, each time she saw a small imperfection in the smooth, glowing, white stream of her Bloodline, she concentrated the cold light of the moon and used it to freeze the tiny imperfection. Frozen, the spot, streak, or some other imperfection would shatter off as the stream continued to move.
Erin’s Bloodline would regenerate and come back stronger, and more flawless, after losing each imperfection. In some ways, it was like building muscle, as you exercised it, you made tiny, tiny tears in your muscle that would heal back stronger; that was an analogy that Erin had heard her father use and she found it most apt. After scouring her Bloodline for some time, spotting continuously fewer flaws and feeling herself teetering on the edge of the Viscount Stage, Erin unfurled her legs from beneath herself and skittered easily across the roof, dropping down onto the balcony.
After disarming the traps and slipping inside, Erin once again found Sammath lying down on the couch. “You know, going across the roof isn’t exactly going out.”
Erin ignored him, “Have you moved at all, today?”
Sammath shrugged, “Barely. The couch is quite comfortable.”
“Well, get up. It’s time for dinner, and unless you want to miss it, you’re going to have to move.”
Sammath faked a look of hurt, placing his splayed hand on his chest, “You’re not going to sneak any food out in that spatial storage of yours?”
Erin glanced at Sammath, unsurprised that he’d figured out she had a spatial storage. She had made the massive Core disappear from the deck of the boat, after all. “No.”
“Oh, you wound me, sweet Erin, with your tragic words. I’m in the midst of suffering dreadfully and you cannot even muster the slightest piece of compassion for me, your most beloved of teammates. For shame, princess. For shame.”
“Woe is you.” Erin replied, rolling her eyes, “But if you don’t get up, you’ll be wounded with more than just words.”
Sammath grinned and rolled off the couch, falling to the floor with a thump, “I’m alright. Just give me a minute to stretch.”
Erin shook her head as she moved across the lounge to Ashe’s room. Knocking lightly on the door, Ashe’s red-rimmed eyes peeked out from behind the door as he cracked it open, “We’re going down to dinner, want to come?” Ashe probably thought that Erin wouldn’t be able to see him, but it was a relatively trivial task with the lighting from the lounge and her enhanced vision.
“I’m going to stay here. I’m not really hungry.”
“Alright. Get some rest, then. Tomorrow is probably going to be a long day.” Ashe’s door shut lightly, and Erin turned back around to find Sammath, stretching like a cat, on the floor.
Erin folded her arms and leant against the wall behind her as Sammath groaned in relief, “Ooohhh, that’s good.” Placing his hands underneath him, Sammath pushed himself up, off the floor, and flashed a quick grin at Erin, “I’m good to go now.”
Instead of speaking, Erin led the way down to the dining room of the Inn, and Sammath followed her. Once they reached the entrance to the room, which had a number of guests dining at their own tables. Muted conversation was broken up by the clinking of silverware on plates and small thumps as guests put their glasses of wine back on the table. Sammath leant into Erin, “Wow, this is sombre. It feels like someone died in here. Are you sure we aren’t staying in a funeral house?” Erin shot a quick glare at the Volkarian, who raised his hands and backed off slightly, “Alright, then. We aren’t in a funeral house.”
Shortly after, one of the waitstaff came to fetch Sammath and Erin and guided them to an unobtrusive table against the windowed wall at the front of the building. Dressed in high-quality, but simple clothes dyed in black and white, the waiter placed two menus, small books written in Arikaran and Shinian that described the meals, in front of Erin and Sammath before bowing lightly, making no comment on the difference between their attire and the ostentatious gestures of wealth that the other diners were wearing.
In front of Erin and Sammath, the round table was covered in an off-white tablecloth. Sparkling silverware was wrapped in a small, folded cloth to their respective rights, along with a pair of wineglasses and some normal glasses. A small plate sat directly in front of both Erin and Sammath, and the chairs that they sat in had light cushioning for their backs and behinds.
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“Please feel free to peruse the menu.” The waiter began, “As part of the room cost, with each meal, we offer a complimentary glass of wine. I’ll be back shortly to take your order, Lord and Lady.” Before either Sammath or Erin could object to the title, the waiter strode off and Sammath grimaced.
For the first time since she’d met him, Erin thought that Sammath was truly uncomfortable. Sammath had been taken as a slave, forced to work in appalling conditions, made to live and bathe in close proximity with dozens of others, hiked through the forest for days with nothing more than his clothes and companions, been vomited on by Ashe, and been caught up in the effects of a battle between Duke Stagers, yet Erin had never seen him so uncomfortable and out of place. It was such a stark contrast that Erin almost couldn’t suppress her grin of amusement as Sammath wriggled and fiddled around while waiting for the waiter to come back. Erin, by contrast, sat nearly still with her hands folded over each other, on her lap. Erin had already browsed the menu and knew what she wanted, having experienced many such dinners. Sammath had taken longer to choose, his unfamiliarity with high class food making it difficult for him to read the Shinian in the menu, and he was definitely unable to read the Arikaran. In the end, Erin had had to help Sammath with the menu, reading the different meals off the menu.
Seeing that they were done selecting their food, the waiter returned and gathered their menus underneath his arm, “What would you like to have tonight?”
Erin glanced over to Sammath but, seeing that he had no idea what to do, took up the slack, “Ill be having the Cored bull steaks and he’ll be having the creamy rattani.”
“No entrees, then?”
“No.”
“Certainly, ma’am. And would you like any drinks tonight?”
Erin glanced at Sammath, who shook his head, “No, thank you. We’ll just have some water.”
The waiter nodded and swept off to the kitchen. When he was certain that the man was out of earshot, Sammath spoke up, his voice low, “How do you live like this?”
“What do you mean?”
Sammath gestured around at the room, “Like… this. It’s just so… ostentatious. This display of wealth is all so unnecessary. Do people truly need so much to be happy? Having people at your beck and call to serve you just seems so arrogant. It feels like you’re trying to proclaim yourselves as… better. Or are nobles truly so inept that they require others to do simple jobs for them?”
“There are many people who’ve grown up with wealth like this, or even greater, that have grown so accustomed to their creature comforts that they couldn’t bear to part with them. If you’re asking me, personally, though, no. I don’t need all of this. All of the things around us are comfortable benefits, but I could easily live without them. As for the other thing… yes and no. You’re referring to the wrong group of people. Many of the nobles; the barons, counts, dukes, and others, are at least competent enough that they could perform many of these menial tasks themselves. Noble heirs are almost always the most capable children of the current nobles. There are some exceptions who aren’t able to care for themselves well enough to function without others, but for the most part they’re at least functional enough to be able to look after themselves. The issue isn’t capability, though, but time. Most nobles spend so much time tending to their duties that there simply isn’t enough time in the day for them to do anything else, especially if they want to try and maintain their mental health.
“My father doesn’t even oversee land or hold court, though he does have other duties that take the place of those, but still takes care of paperwork twelve hours a day, every day. Four are spent training, ensuring that he’s in the best shape he could be in if there’s any threat to the kingdom, four are spent on miscellaneous tasks that he needs to take care of, whether that’s helping train some specialist soldiers, working on a special project for the queen, or the occasional break for his mental health, and four are spent sleeping. If he wasn’t a King Stage, he would have been burnt out years ago. The nobility, on the other hand, the family of the nobles, are a different matter. I’d say roughly three in ten would be able to take care of themselves if all of their servants decided to quit.”
“Okay, well… the point about the nobles not having enough time is fair enough, even if the position of nobles is still something that I don’t understand. I mean, like, what do they even do? Let alone for twelve hours a day.”
“I’m not going to get into that, right now. We don’t have enough time and I really can’t be bothered.”
“Then what about the nobility who aren’t capable enough to care for themselves? Shouldn’t they just stop having resources used on them that could be used to help far more people than just them.”
“Probably. But they won’t. People take care of their family, simply because they’re family. If the tradeioff of having somewhat competent leaders who have the resources to train themselves is letting them spend money on their family, then the queen will make that trade nearly every time.”
Erin could see that Sammath wanted to respond but kept silent, clearly not wanting to stir Erin up. In the conversational lull, a pair of people sat down on the table next to them. Both of them looked like they were middle-aged, and wearing frilled clothing. The puffy, sky blue dress of the woman was complimented by the baggier, darker blue clothing that the man wore. With his mid-length brown hair greased back, the man’s moustache was trimmed neatly and his brown eyes took in the world like he was above it all; that nothing was worth his attention. Erin could feel that he was at the Baron Stage, his Bloodline not very well-controlled.
The woman, however, had blonde hair and blue eyes. Styled atop her head, her blonde hair seemed almost like a work of art and was piled on top of her skull. Roughly resembling an upside-down vase, the woman’s hair seemed precariously held together by a pair of long pins that pierced through the body of the blonde pile. Erin was surprised that the woman’s neck wasn’t collapsing under the weight.
“Oooohhh, honey. There’s another young couple on the table beside us.” The woman’s shrill voice was the opposite of subtle and Erin nearly grimaced at the enthusiasm the woman displayed.
“Sweetie,” As soon as he spoke, Erin could practically feel the weariness in the man’s tone, “we’ve talked about this. Let’s just leave them to eat their dinner, alright?”
Sammath looked over to Erin, “What did they say?” He asked in Volkarian. Erin summarised the short conversation, and he nodded, “It’s quite alright,” Sammath responded to the couple in Shinian, “We don’t mind, do we, Erin?” Erin did, in fact, very much mind but, after Sammath, she couldn’t say much, “I’m just glad to finally meet someone personable in this town.” Sammath stuck his hand across the gap between the two tables, leaning over a little to reach properly, “I’m Sammath.”
“Oh, Sammath? What an exotic name. I’m Esmerelda.” The woman trilled.
“Charmed to meet you, Esmerelda.” Esmerelda giggled and covered her mouth with her dainty hand. Erin decided to take the conversation as an opportunity to train her ability to maintain an interested façade when presented with an extremely tiring topic. “So, what brings you two here, Esmerelda?”
“Please, just call me Elda.”
“But you’re so young. Why should I call you elder?” Esmerelda blushed and giggled again and Sammath grinned, exposing his pearly white teeth. Erin suddenly felt it was harder not to gag when presented with this conversation than when she was surrounded by the stench of the sewer system in the capital of Arikar.
“Oh, stop it, you.” Esmerelda moved her hand from pointing at the ceiling to face her palm down, in the gesture that Erin recognised meant Sammath should keep going, “Vallor and I are on holiday and decided to come to this quaint little port town. Some of our friends have just been raving about the pastries here, and we just had to check them out for ourselves. Didn’t we, Vallor?”
“Indeed.” Vallor drawled as he perused the menu, completely zoned out of the conversation.
“Oh, I know what you mean. I went into a little bakery on my way here, and the pastries smelt heavenly. I was so tempted to try them for myself, but alas, it wasn’t in the cards for me. I had to give it to our companion.”
“Ooohhh. There’s more than one, is there? You’re a lucky man, Sammath. I’m too jealous a woman to share my hubby, here.”
Erin had to work hard on not blushing at the implication, and Sammath simply smiled easily, “Ahhh, much as anyone would be lucky to date Erin, here, I’m afraid we’ve had a misconception. I’m actually not with anyone romantically right now. It was a young friend of mine. He’s just barely into his adolescence. He hadn’t eaten in quite some time, and I could practically hear his stomach rumbling.”
“You’re not with anyone, right now? Not even this lovely, young lady right here? Oh, I’m disappointed, now. You’d make such a cute couple if you two were courting or betrothed.” Esmerelda seemed to fixate on entirely the wrong part of the conversation, “If you two aren’t courting, then. Where’s your chaperone?”
Sammath gave her a half grin, “Unfortunately, we don’t have a chaperone. We’ve travelled quite a long way, and Erin’s cousin was with us for a while, but he had to return to his duties.”
Esmerelda giggled, covering her mouth with her hand once again, “No chaperone? How scandalous. It’s like something out of a forbidden romance novel.”
Erin spoke up for the first time, wanting to steer the flighty woman’s attention onto something else, “It would be, if Sammath didn’t have any interest in me.”
Esmerelda scrunched her brows, “What’s that meant to-” Her mouth formed a comically large o-shape, and Sammath winked at her, “Oh, how positively exciting.” Esmerelda turned to her husband, “Isn’t exciting, honey?”
“Hmmm. Yes.” Vallor was so obviously not listening that Erin didn’t know how inattentive Esmerelda had to be in order to not notice.
Esmerelda leant forward onto her elbows, “So, if you’re not with this pretty, young thing. Is there anyone special in your life at the moment?”
Sammath shook his head, grinning wryly, “Unfortunately not. Love isn’t in the cards for me, right now.”
Esmerelda pouted, “Awww. Don’t worry, you’ll find someone, dear.”
Finally, just before Erin thought she was about to scream, the food came. Sidling up to their table with a tray full of food, the waiter slid between the two tables, breaking up the conversation, “Your food, Lord and Lady.” Smoothly taking the lid off the tray, he slid Sammath’s plate of rattani in front of him and then Erin’s steak. “Will that be all tonight?”
“Just our water, please.”
“Ahhh, of course. My apologies. I’ll get that for you, right now.” Sammath and Erin began to dig into their food and the waiter quickly brought over two glasses of cold water, placing them down in front of the dining pair.
“Thank you.” Erin’s tone was sincere and, although he seemed slightly confused by the emotion he said that Erin was welcome. Dinner was, as Erin had expected, delicious. While it wasn’t up to the standards of the Dawnblaze family chefs, it was a far cry from Sammath’s campfire cooking and, while Erin did appreciate what Sammath had done with his resources and circumstances, a Volkarian teenager cooking on an open campfire without any herbs or spices was nothing compared to a professional Arikaran chef with a full kitchen and ingredients galore.
Both Sammath and Erin made periodic hums of appreciation as they devoured their food, barely refraining from digging into the meat with their hands in their hunger. As soon as they finished, both Erin and Sammath decided to return to the room. With a farewell to Esmerelda and Vallor, Erin and Sammath climbed back up the stairs to their rooms. Immediately, Sammath excused himself and headed off to bed, while Erin stayed out in the lounge; there was still work to do that night.
Erin headed out to the balcony, leaning on the railing and taking in the city. Both mundane and magical lights everywhere flickered out, slowly, one-by-one, as people went to bed. When the city was finally dark and quiet, Erin heard a door open in the room, and slow, plodding footsteps as someone came out to the balcony. “Hello, Dawnblaze.”
“Hello, Cababasi.”
The demon let out a chuckle that Erin assumed would have been more intimidating, had it not come from the body of a small, pre-teen boy, and was rather high-pitched, “You figured it out, then.”
Erin, still not looking at the demon, nodded, “I did. There aren’t many known Demon Kings with names that could be shortened to Cab. Let alone Demon Kings that would allow an infant to retain control of their own body.”
Cab leant on the railing beside Erin, seeming oddly… small. It felt like a terrifying Demon King who killed people and then devoured their lives shouldn’t fit in a body the size of Ashe’s. “I’m guessing Emir had you study up on all of your known Demon Kings.”
“Of course. Father had me study all of the threats at the Duke Stage and above, so I know all of your brethren.”
“Ohoho,” Cab chuckled, “Emyr considers me a threat? How flattering. I’m blushing.”
Erin snorted, “Sammath isn’t a very good look on you. Especially not in Ashe’s body.”
“Criticism noted.” Both the demon and Erin fell silent for a few minutes, “He cried himself to sleep tonight, you know?”
“I didn’t know that, no, but I had guessed it. His eyes were quite red when I asked if he wanted to come and get dinner.”
Cab nodded, “After he had let much of his anger out, he just wasn’t able to hold it together or keep himself from thinking about it any longer. Everything just came out. It was…” Cab sighed, “I don’t intend this to sound cruel, at least this time, but it was… pitiable. Ashe cares too easily. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it needs to be managed. I shudder to think about what it will be like when he becomes interested in people. Oh, it’ll be horrifying indeed.”
“Well, would you prefer that he cares too much, or would you prefer he doesn’t care at all?”
“I suppose I prefer that he cares. That, at least, makes him predictable. If he didn’t care, I don’t know what he’d be like. Especially with his power.”
“Exactly. He’ll probably be feeling somewhat empty tomorrow, sure, but it’s better for him to process those emotions and feel empty for a while than feel nothing at all.”
Cab frowned, scrunching Ashe’s eyebrows, “Why are you the wise one, right now? I’m a Demon King who’s millennia older than you, and yet it feels like I’ve come to you for advice.”
“Wisdom isn’t really about age. It’s about having experience. Experience gives you perspective, and perspective lets you look at things and be wise.”
“And there you go again.” Erin gave Cab a half-smile, deciding to change the topic.
“So, why did you leave the celestial plane?”
“What do you mean? Ashe’s parents tried to summon a demon, and here I am.”
Erin gave Cab a look to let him know that she wasn’t fooled, “Don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes, demon. You may be able to fool Ashe with half-truths, but I’m not so naïve as he is. Both of us know that summoning a Demon King or Queen would require far more complex Enchanting that whatever Ashe’s parents would have been capable of.”
Cab smiled, the corners of his lips pulling into a mischievous smirk, “It was worth a try, at least.” Erin’s flat look made him sigh, “Fine. I was getting bored in the celestial plane. There’s a lot to do, sure, but the issue is that there’s nothing done fast. Everything is mired in layers of plots and schemes and moves at a pace that all the water in a glacier could be replaced before something progresses. The only things that remotely interest me are the fights, and those are few and far between. So, when I felt someone trying to someone one of the demons underneath me, well, I knocked him out of the way and took his place.”
“So… you possessed an infant because you were bored?”
“Well, when you put it like that, it makes me sound evil. I’m more a force of nature than evil, though, so I prefer to think of it as saving Ashe from the horrible fate of being possessed by an idiotic, slavering lesser demon.”
“You know, Cab. For a soul-devouring demon, you aren’t so bad.”
Cab frowned as he sighed, “Why does everyone think we eat souls? We don’t eat souls. As someone so well-educated, Dawnblaze, you should already-” Cab stopped, “You do already know, don’t you?”
Erin made her smile as sickeningly sweet as she could, “Know what?”
Cab grinned, “Sly girl. I knew I liked you for a reason beyond your ability to fight well. You’d make a great demon, you know.”
“That’s exactly what every girl wants to hear, Cab. With you and Sammath as examples, Ashe will have no shortage of girls chasing after his heart.” Cab began to laugh, then. Initially, it started as a chuckle, before turning into hearty laughter, and then finally evolving into full-on, belly-shaking, wheeze-inducing guffawing. It took a few minutes before Cab managed to speak again as, each time it seemed like he’d stop laughing, he immediately started back.
Eventually, Cab managed to wipe the tears from Ashe’s eyes, “Oh, wow. I don’t think I’ve laughed like that before. Ever. Just the idea of Sammath and-” Cab paused, composing himself as a massive grin spread across Ashe’s face, “and me being Ashe’s only advice when it comes to a relationship with a woman.” Cab shook his head, “A gay man and a demon king, who’s never been in a relationship and who only ever had to ask how many demons he was having sex with that day, giving advice about women.”
Erin cracked a smile at that, “When you put it like that, it is pretty funny. But you didn’t answer my question.”
Cab’s smile visibly began to wane, “I was hoping you wouldn’t catch that.” Erin cocked an eyebrow at him and he sighed, “Demons eat lives and Angels eat experiences, but we eat the same thing. That’s all I can tell you.”
Erin frowned at that, when did lives and experiences mean the same thing? Before she could ask anything further, Cab turned around, Erin catching a glimpse of his red eyes with black streaks, and headed back indoors. Erin stood on the balcony, pondering what the answer to Cab’s riddle could be, for a few minutes was it in games? Did the two things mean something different in the celestial tongue, something that just happened to translate poorly?
Erin took a step back from the balcony railing; she still had a lot more work to do, that night, so she couldn’t spend nearly as much time as she wanted to try and figure it out.