Inside the dark tunnel, a tall elf walked forward with a careful stride as she brought light to its dark depths with a single move of her hands. The elf's prudence came from having to take her steps slowly as a thin layer of greyish mist covered the floor near where she had left her wounded and hungry mistress. The fog danced around her legs in a slow and graceful fashion, swirling with her every step. The mist reminded the undead with a blue flower in her hair of the day her old life ended inside Kia’s golden cage in which a much thicker yet similar mist lingered around her feet.
About a hundred meters in front of her she could see a faint purple glow which was enough for Iris’s eyes to see in the darkness. She could feel her steps getting longer and faster as her body and mind couldn’t both wait to reunite with Kia.
Arriving at the small alcove Iris saw Kia laying on her side with an expression of boredom painted on her alabaster face while she fiddled with the plain ring given to her by a certain obsessed bloodsucker. The girl's eyes lazily shifted onto the elf which caused her glowing eyes to glow even brighter as they seemed to give the elf a tired smile before she raised her eyebrows in confusion upon noticing the large pile of dirty-looking silk. Iris slowly approached the girl, making space for the silk she had gathered before greeting the girl with a small wave of her hand, not wanting to touch the girl in fear of hurting her. The girl puckered for some reason before frowning at the elf who had her back turned away.
“What’s this for?” The undead mage asked causing the elf to turn around.
“For cooking.” The girl tilted her head to the side as her eyes focused on the silk next to Iris. “I meant for lighting a fire… You didn’t think I will start feeding you this silk, did you?” The risen explained as she noticed the girl’s object of focus.
“…no.” A guilty meow came from the snow-white kitten whose gleaming eyes shifted away from the silk.
“Lovely.” Iris added which caused the girl to pout angrily as she was too tired to defend herself against the nearby predator. "Can you pull out a pot and the grain, it's in a mostly empty sack with a hole in its side."
"I don't remember you giving me this." Kia said as beside her a metal pot appeared from nowhere and banged on the hard floor alongside a sack of wheat which rattled causing a plum of dust to be flung into the air.
"But I do," The elf replied before examining the pot on which she spotted a dent. Be careful Kia with these, this is the only pot we have."
"That's mine inventory," The girl defensively grumbled to herself as she casted a suspicious look at the elf who knew much more about the contents of her vast inventory than the mage herself. In truth, the taller undead had just a good memory of things she had given to Kia, treating them as if these items were her own. It was a good skill to have, seeing how the grumpy kitten had forgotten what they had looted from the humans right after arriving in the forest of red and white trees. "Sorry." The girl suddenly apologised to the elf.
"It's fine, as long as you will avoid doing this again in the future."
"What are you going to do now?"
"Dinner," Iris smirked as she saw the laying girl roll her eyes upon hearing the obvious response. "I will first have to test something before I can begin cooking."
Iris tore off two small sheets of silk before shuffling away from their little camp all while Kia's half-open eyes keenly observed the risen's every move. She pulled out the black plate from a satchel on her belt before striking it over a clump of fine silk strands.
"Will the silk not just burn too quickly for you to use it?" Kia's inquisitive voice came from behind Iris.
"If this was normal silk, yes but from what I saw, the bigger the spider the more fire resistant their silk is. I worry a little bit about Ogre-Spider's silk being immune to fire but that is why I'm doing this." Depending on how old that half-eaten spider was her fear was completely justified as the older the race was the more powerful it usually was.
An orange spark danced in the air before gently falling into the soft blanket laid beneath it. The thin white strands darkened as they curled upwards quickly enveloping the dying ember in their embrace. The silk looked only slightly singed by the quick-lived spark but before Iris could strike the plate again, a small flame was born slowly feasting on the silk around it. Iris watched as on the silk strands a wax-like liquid began to pool into a tear shape drop of clear wax.
The risen dexterously scooped up the miniature pyre and carefully put it on top of the slightly larger pile of silk made from thicker strands. After observing the fire to see if she needed to do something Iris put a bit more silk on top of the flame, careful not to choke it.
"I will go fetch some water, I will be back in a moment, Kia." The undead elf excused herself as she straightened her back to leave her wounded mistress alone again. She wasn't particularly happy about cooking with cave water but she will do her best to boil it clean.
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"But I have water." The necromancer furrowed her eyebrows at the elf.
"I didn't know that," The girl's brows dipped even further as she stared at Iris as if she shattered some idea about her. "Why would you have water in your inventory?"
"Because water is a good solvent." The petite mage simply shrugged as if her answer was as normal as yesterday's sunset.
Kia's palm disappeared for a moment before she pulled out an antique pitcher made from black metal with a gilded rim and handle. Iris lunged forward, catching the priceless pitcher of ordinary water as Kia's arm couldn't handle its weight.
"Are you hurt?" The undead with bright purple eyes put the pitcher down before studying the heavily breathing mage with concern over the girl's health.
"I can't wait for my mana links to be healed. Grumble, grumble."
Iris silently made triple sure Kia hadn't broken her right arm, letting the porcelain girl grumble to herself passing the perfect opportunity to tease the girl some more. Leaving Kia's side, Iris poured the pristinely clear water into the pot. As the water slowly came to a boil the tall elf looked into the sack of wheat. Fortunately for her, the grain was already threshed leaving her with only two things to do. She tied the cloth sack as tightly as she could before leaving it on the ground.
The elf extended her long arm toward a large rock, to Kia's silent surprise she began to roll the rock on top of the wheat, rocking it back and forward. The elf didn't need to make flour, she only needed to crack the hard outer shell of the seeds to let water in so in barely any time at all she was done. The undead cook poured the contents of the sack into the pot before handing it to the girl behind her. In the same move, Iris asked the curious girl for a spoon and a bowl, she would use the bowl later but now the elf began to fish out all the nasty stuff not meant for eating which conveniently floated to the surface.
"Finished?" The ever-hungry undead asked, her sweeter than usual voice wormed its way to Iris's heart like nothing else.
"About one-six of a bell. Are you really that hungry?" Iris threw a bit more silk into the fire before walking toward the girl and sitting beside her.
The pale raven looked unhappy about Iris's response not having a time reference to her words before she eagerly bobbed her head up and down with renewed interest as a quiet growl echoed from under her dress.
"Should have known better." The elf commented as she watched the eager devourer move her head.
The two stayed still for a while silently enjoying each other company. Both of them watched the steaming pot over the fire, listining to the odd hiss the waxy silk made as it burned. In the edge of her vision, Iris noticed that the yawning kitten could barely keep herself awake as she fought off the exhaustion while staring at the pot with a sort of keenness only a predator could manage.
"Kia," The elf tapped her finger in front of the girl's face to get her attention. "Can you say something?"
"Why?"
"So you don't dose off on me right before dinner."
"But I'm not sl*Yawn*py."
"Is that soo?" Iris allowed herself to smile a little as she brushed her finger on Kia's small fangs as she yawned again. In response, the girl snapped her teeth before giving the warm elf an even warmer smile showing off her pearl-white fangs which appeared a little larger than before. A strange hunger twinkled in Kia's gorgeous gem-like eyes before she winced as the wounds on her body decided to remind them of their existence.
"Tell me a joke, Kia." The concern elf whispered sweetly in the kitten's ear, trying to distract her from the pain.
"A joke?"
"Yes, you know something funny or say something you find interesting. Speak to me about anything really. Maybe something I don't know."
The girl looked extremely focused on the words leaving Iris's mouth driving away any signs of exhaustion from her perfectly sculpted face. Kia's seriousness left the elf with little hope of hearing something she could understand but she wouldn't dare to interrupt the girl in her thoughts.
"Oh," Two gems suddenly met with the risen, full of pride. "Did you know that an average-sized body contains enough bones to assemble an averaged size skeleton?"
"Hhmm!" Iris could barely manage to hold her chuckle as the girl delivered the densest sentence the preciously innocent girl had ever said to her with an incredibly serious expression acting as the honey on top which brought everything together. "Nothing better than a necromancer rising my spirit."
"Huh?"
"Never mind... I think our food is ready."
"Our?" Kia said as the elf quickly stud up from her.
Inside the pot from which all of the water disappeared either being boiled off or being absorbed by the firm yet spongy porridge-like meal. Iris swiftly spooned the light-golden sponge into the bowl, compressing it with the spoon to fit it all.
"Kia," Iris shuffled close to the laying girl who looked to be beside herself from the excitement. "I don't think it's as good as you are imagining it to be." She warned as she scooped some of the sponge into the spoon.
"Huh?" The petite undead's eyes opened wide with confusion as the elf wasn't handing her the bowl filled with deliciousness while the spoon got closer and closer.
"Say, ahhhh." The elf with a strange smile said to the girl.
"Nyyyyaaaa! This is so embarrassing!" Kia's pale cheeks quickly turned pink as she mustered all her ancient strength to fight off the bold undead looming over her.
"Don't you want to eat?" An innocent question reached the feral kitten refusing the tall elf's offer.
"Not like this, it's humiliating, Iris! I can't."
"Oh, well then," A mischievous smile on Iris's face caused the necromancer to start worrying about the bowl she was offered.
"Hrrrmph!" The petite undead struggled to lift the filled bowl of steamy deliciousness but found her strength insufficient to lift the bowl. Even risking her health and using all of her body's remaining strength without worrying about its integrity which she so struggled to maintain she knew the bowl was too much for her to lift.
"Mmm?" The evil elf pulled the defenceless girl from her thoughts. The elf's finger played on the bowl's brim before effortlessly pulling the bowl closer to herself. "It smells so delicious."
"Mmmmm! Fine, but know I get my revenge for this." The feral cat finally gave in to the elven power of persuasion.
"I'm glad to hear this," Iris completely ignore the girl's threat. "Now say, ahhhhh."
"..." The feral cat felt humiliated but the smell of the freshly made deliciousness was too much, she hid her face in her palms before surrendering to the elf. "Ahhh."
Kia's flush remained on her cheeks as she eagerly ate the mostly tasteless wheat porridge. Iris felt her heart sing songs of joy as the doll-like girl radiated pure joy while remaining in her clutches.
Whatever Kia saw as a valid punishment for this crime against her, Iris saw it as more than acceptable as every moment now felt like a lifetime of utter pleasure and joy. But a small little pin was pricking her non-existent heart.
"Kia? Can you give me a couple of the cookies Umbria gave you?" The guilty hoplite asked.
"Why? You are not going to eat them?" The no-longer struggling kitten expressed her fear.
"I want to make this a dessert for you too."
"Where is your dessert?" The kitten spread open her fingers in a hopeless search just as three cookies appeared on the blanket between the two.
"You are such a hopeless little kitten." Iris said as she crushed the cookies in the bowl before serving them to the girl.
The two were making each other feel blessed with immeasurable heavenly bliss, although in two different yet similar ways with only one of them knowing it.