While Kelima went a short distance off into the woods for some privacy as she tried to clean herself up, Terry took the opportunity to dig the core out of the ape thing. He was running about fifty-fifty on which ones he could absorb and which ones he couldn’t. That turned out to be one of the cores he could absorb. Checking a twinge of annoyance, he posed a mental question to other-Terry.
Do you have any idea why I can absorb some of those cores and not others?
I assume it has something to do with affinities, answered other-Terry in a bored voice.
Assume? You mean you don’t actually know.
Yeah, I assume, said other-Terry. Look. I’m not a cultivator MRI machine. I don’t have comprehensive knowledge about your core or cultivation. You don’t know what your affinities are, which means that I don’t know for sure what your affinities are. I can tell you all kinds of things that you can do with metal qi, wood qi, or earth qi, but it won’t matter if you can’t actually use them.
Then how did you know I could pull off that ice trick with the dire wolves? Terry demanded.
You absorbed some cores that had at least partial ice affinity. It wasn’t exactly a quantum leap to the idea you could do something with ice.
Terry was less than thrilled by that particular answer, but he supposed it was a bit late to be bitching about choices that had come and gone. Especially choices that ended with favorable results. He also had more pressing problems to deal with. Namely, one irritating noble brat who had done him the small favor of going out of sight for a little while. He decided to capitalize on that opportunity. He did stop long enough to finish the job of decapitating the ape monster and dropping its head into head sack. He glanced around to make sure that Kelima wasn’t just hiding out and watching him like some kind of creepy stalker. Then, he set off down the road at a fast jog. He hadn’t invited her on this trip, so she could fend for herself as far as he was concerned. He just wished that there were roads that branched off of the one he was on. As things stood, there were only two directions to go, and she knew which way he’d been heading.
With that thought in mind, he picked up the pace even more. If he could get a head start on her, then it ought to be simple enough to duck into the woods somewhere there wasn’t anything too big or violently aggressive hanging around. The break to deal with the dead monster had also been more than enough to let his body recover from the earlier round of sprinting. He kicked things up a gear so that he was running. It wasn’t the same kind of speed he’d been using earlier, but he thought it was more sustainable. He almost tripped when Dusk crawled out of his pack to climb up onto his shoulder. She sank her claws into his shirt and closed her eyes, seeming to enjoy the sensation of the wind on her face.
He kept looking over his other shoulder, expecting to see the noble girl chasing after him again. The road, however, remained mercifully free of women who had a bone to pick with him about… Come to think of it, he had no idea what she had wanted from him. He hadn’t bothered to ask because he genuinely didn’t care. He was certain it was going to be something he wanted no part of, so it was a mystery he was content to leave unsolved forever if at all possible. When it was getting to be late afternoon, he extended his senses to see if there was something hostile in the area. Not finding anything that rang any alarm bells with the other knowledge, he left the road being as careful as he could not to leave any visible evidence of his passage.
He pushed deeper into the trees than he normally would, hoping it was far enough to obscure the fire he’d have to start later. It was getting chilly at night and, even if he suspected he wasn’t susceptible to hypothermia anymore, he didn’t like being cold. He also didn’t particularly enjoy room-temperature food. This was one instance where he did sort of regret not bringing Ekori along. She was a way better cook than he was, even if she had given him some tips that improved his camp meals substantially. Still, a mediocre soup was miles better than plain jerky on a cool night.
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He put up his tent, cleared a spot for a small fire, and set about gathering up some dry wood. That was always harder than he thought it should be in a forest. He was literally surrounded by trees. By his reckoning, there should be dry wood all over the damn place. He’d learned the hard way that wood was as likely to decay as dry on the forest floor. That always meant he needed to put in extra effort just to get a modest pile of burnable tree parts. He had started early, though, so he was ready by the time it actually started getting dark. Something else he’d learned the hard way was that he needed to wait until some of the wood burned down to hot coals before he started cooking. The heat was just too uneven otherwise.
By the time he had a pot of vegetables with a bit of dried meat and some spices bubbling over the fire, he’d mostly put the thought of Kelima out of mind. He was amusing himself by encouraging Dusk to chase after a piece of grass he kept shaking near her. He made sure to let her catch it occasionally. If he didn’t, she’d get bored and refuse to play anymore. Since he wasn’t trying to win at their little game, it was a small price to pay. Plus, the kitten got so excited whenever she caught the grass. She’d chew on it, or grab it with her front paws and try to rake it with her hind claws. He didn’t know if it would be true when she was bigger, but he found watching her little paws attack the grass adorable.
He supposed it was his own fault. He’d been keeping his senses out for predators, but it seemed those new senses were tuned primarily to monsters. Not people. He almost fell over in shock when Kelima burst into the clearing. Her eyes were wild with anger, and she lifted a hand to point an accusing finger at him.
“You!” she shouted.
Terry was sure that he was reacting to the wrong thing, but he couldn’t help himself.
He burst into laughter, pointed back, and said, “What in the world are you wearing?”
The noble girl was decked out in a dress that might have been appropriate at some noble banquet. It was frilly, ornate, and looked entirely absurd in a forest campsite. She looked like she’d gotten separated from some kind of fancy coach and stumbled out into the woods. Terry wouldn’t have been surprised if a dragon showed up to eat her. She glared at him.
“I wouldn’t have to wear this if someone hadn’t gotten blood all over my other clothes and then abandoned me.”
“Sounds like a tough break,” said Terry in mock sympathy. “Well, I’d say it was nice to see you again, but it wasn’t. So, goodbye.”
“Oh, you think it’s going to be that easy? Think again,” said Kelima as she sat down next to the fire and peered curiously into the pot. “So, what are we having for dinner?”
Terry gave her a narrow-eyed look and said, “I’m having soup. You’re having whatever you make for yourself at your own campsite.”
“I don’t have one because I wasted a bunch of time trying to get ape monster blood out of my clothes. Since you’re the one who put that blood on my clothes, the least you can do is share dinner.”
Terry was preparing to pick the irritating woman up by the back of the neck and bodily throw her out of his camp when, in an act of utter and supreme betrayal, Dusk went over and climbed into the woman’s lap. Kelima immediately melted into something gooey and cooed over the kitten.
“Oh, isn’t she darling?” asked the girl of no one in particular as she stroked the kitten’s fur.
Dusk, ignoring Terry in that absolute way that only cats can achieve, started to purr loudly. Accepting that he wasn’t going to do anything to the noble brat while she was holding his cat hostage, he grudgingly answered her question.
“We’re having soup.”
“What kind?” she asked in a too-sweet voice.
Glaring at Kelima like he was hoping that he could actually shoot daggers at her with his eyes, he said one word.
“Hot.”
She smirked at him, and Terry felt a trope close around him like a bear trap around the leg of some unwary hiker. God damn it, groused Terry in his head. He thought he’d gotten away clean from her and that damned reluctant hero trope. Now, unless he was reading the tea leaves very wrong, he had a sidekick he didn’t want.
“Just fucking dandy,” muttered Terry as he scooped the soup that might or might not have been ready into two bowls.
“What was that?” asked Kelima, still wearing that smirk.
“Nothing,” said Terry as he manfully resisted the urge to throw the bowl at her. “Eat your soup.”