Elrith stared at the chunk of meat floating in his bowl. The light from the fire caused it to create flickering shadows along the bowl’s sides. Under Palan’s insistence, the group hadn’t entered anymore cities to restock their food supplies. Thankfully, the guardians had horses; otherwise, Elrith would’ve been forced to eat the flesh of angels. The group had been traveling through the second sector for over a week and bypassed two cities. “What’s wrong?” Sally asked and nudged Elrith, bringing him back to the present. The last vestiges of sunlight were disappearing as the sky was replaced by a dark-blue hue.

Elrith blinked at Sally’s touch and shook his head. “Nothing,” he said. “I was just thinking our meals need a bit more variety. I think we really should stop by a city soon. I feel naked without my armor.”

Sally turned her head to look at Palan who was meditating on Elrith’s spider. Elrith had insisted on keeping the spider formed even when they weren’t riding it. “Perhaps we could enter one without him?” she asked. “Raea could wait with Palan outside while we go inside to buy supplies.”

Elrith’s brow furrowed. “I don’t want to lose sight of Raea, and Raea won’t leave Palan, but Palan won’t enter cities,” he said. “And you two”—he gestured towards Cleo with his eyes—“can’t enter the city unaccompanied.” He sighed. “And don’t forget about the bounty that was placed on our heads.”

“Word shouldn’t travel that quickly, should it?” Sally asked and tilted her head. “Didn’t Palan only kill two people?”

“Murder is one of the worst crimes you can commit,” Elrith said and furrowed his brow. The cultural differences between him and Sally bothered him more than they should. “It rarely happens, but when it does, everyone knows. Food feeds the stomach; gossip feeds the soul.”

“Odd,” Sally said as she ruffled her wings and proceeded to eat her own meal, clumsily maneuvering her talons to hold utensils. She wasn’t sure why, but it made her uncomfortable when Elrith watched her eat by stuffing her face into the bowl—like she was being judged. That’s why she started to practice with utensils.

A smile bloomed on Elrith’s face when he saw Sally drop a piece of meat from her fork. She pouted as she looked at the fallen morsel. Elrith stabbed it with his fork and brought it to her pink lips. “Here,” he said. “Life must be difficult without fingers.”

Sally’s face turned red as she ate the food off of Elrith’s fork. “A little,” she mumbled and looked down.

“When things get tough, you can rely on us,” Elrith said as he took Sally’s bowl and picked up another piece of meat with his fork. Sally’s blush deepened, but she allowed him to feed her. She couldn’t remember the last time her mother had vomited food into her mouth. Elrith’s actions strangely reminded her of those times and the safe feelings that accompanied them.

Cleo made a retching sound. “Doesn’t watching them just make you feel sick?” she asked Raea as the two stared at Elrith feeding Sally. Cleo stuck her tongue out of her mouth and dropped her spoon into her bowl. “I can’t eat like this.” Her tail thumped against the log she and Raea were sitting on.

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“I never thought Elrith would fall in love, much less with a harpy,” Raea said as she eyed Cleo’s bowl. Her own bowl was already empty.

“I did not fall in love!” Elrith said as his face turned a deeper shade of red. He looked at Sally. Her brow was knit, and she was biting her lower lip. Elrith exhaled. “That’s not what I meant,” he said as his chest throbbed. “I mean … never mind. Forget I said anything.” His head drooped.

“It’s not cute when a thirty-year-old man gets flustered,” Cleo said and wrinkled her nose. “Not cute at all. You’re a man. Claim her as your own. Jeez.” Cleo clicked her tongue as she stood up and sat in front of the fire. She reached into her space, pulled out an eyeball, impaled it on a stick, and began to roast it over the flames. The fire sizzled as drops of liquid fell from the stick.

Raea cleared her throat as she tore her gaze away from the orange lizardman. “I think you’re right and we should bring Palan to a city. He needs to adapt or we’ll never get through the first sector,” she said as she stood up and walked over to her demon. She climbed up the spider and tugged on Palan’s arm. “Shouldn’t you give it another shot? It’s almost like you’re scared of cities.”

Palan snorted as his meditation was interrupted. “There’s no way I’m afraid of cities,” he said. “This has nothing to do with being afraid. It’s just tedious, unnecessary, and inefficient.”

“Why don’t we start with a smaller-sized city then?” Elrith asked. “We can gradually increase your tolerance. The cities closer to the west will most likely have less people due to the war. I’m also curious about the war’s status.”

“I want to eat pastries,” Sally said. Although she only had time to eat one muffin in the last city because Palan destroyed the stall with Raea’s body, she couldn’t forget the taste and wanted more.

“I want new people to steal from,” Cleo said as she chewed on her roasted snack. She pulled out Elrith’s badge. “It’s so boring stealing from you guys. You never notice anything.” Elrith’s face darkened as he snatched the badge out of Cleo’s hand.

“I bet your sister would leave to hear stories about your adventures in Div’Nya,” Raea whispered in Palan’s ear. Her warm breath tickled him, sending a shiver down his spine to his toes. “Wouldn’t describing a city make a better story than sneaking through suburbs and parks?”

Palan leaned to the side, moving his head away from Raea’s face. He frowned and stared at her. “Fine,” he said. “A small city then.”

“Alright,” Elrith said as he stacked his empty bowl on top of Sally’s. “It’s decided then. We’ll go to a city to resupply, armor up, learn about current events, eat pastries, and … steal from people.” He sighed. “Can we not kill anybody or get into fights this time? I honestly don’t think that’s too much to ask for.”

“You don’t think about breathing,” Palan said. “It just happens. The same applies for killing.”

Elrith shook his head as he created five miniature caves for the group members to sleep in. If Palan couldn’t adapt, then he could always dig a tunnel all the way through the first sector. With that comforting thought in mind, he received a blanket from Cleo and crawled into a cave. Sally bit her lower lip before taking a blanket and flying over to an unoccupied cave. She kicked it until it collapsed before entering Elrith’s cave instead, covering the entrance with her blanket. The three onlookers stared at each other as Sally’s voice shushed the surprised angel.

“Wow, she’s bold,” Cleo said as loudly as she could without yelling, stretching out each word. “I wonder what could possibly be going on in there. Don’t worry. No one’s going to peek at all. Nope, we won’t.”

Raea glanced at her demon and bit her lower lip before entering her own cave, but Palan sat outside and meditated. Cleo narrowed her eyes at him. “Blockhead,” she said as she walked past him and plopped herself on top of Raea’s wings, covering herself and Raea with a blanket.