CHAPTER 289: 289: FIRELIGHT AND SOFT THINGS

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"I never imagined wanting to be seen like that. Until I met him. Until he marked me. I want to be strong, but I also want to be... soft. I want someone to protect me not because I am weak, but because I matter. But I do not know if there is space in his heart for someone like me."

Silence followed. Not awkward silence. Not cold. The kind that lingered because two people had opened something they were not supposed to. Something quiet and too real to laugh away.

Then, without a word, Azhara reached over and gently placed her hand on Lirien’s. "You know, for someone who acts like a metal cube, you really know how to twist the heart."

Lirien gave a shaky smile. "Sorry."

"Do not be. That was poetic. If you ever stop forging weapons, I will hire you to write romantic drama scrolls. You can call it ’The Sad Smith’s Seduction methods.’"

Lirien chuckled once, caught off guard.

Azhara leaned closer, her expression softening. "You do not have to flash skin or act crazy to win sir Kai’s heart. Just show him who you really are. The girl who faces fire every day and still wakes up to pleasure her man. That is rarer than anything."

Lirien nodded slightly. Behind them, Naaro snorted at her place and shouted, "You cannot milk a swordfish!"

Both girls jumped. Lirien slapped a hand over her mouth. Azhara burst out laughing.

They turned to look at Kai. "Let us keep the volume down. Our ant lord is still dreaming," Azhara said with a grin.

He was still sprawled across the Alka’s back, completely passed out, snoring faintly. Somehow, he still managed to look noble even with a crushed leaf stuck to his cheek and one foot dangling off Alka’s side like he had passed out during a school fight.

"I will think about it," Lirien whispered.

"You better," Azhara replied. "Because if you do not, I absolutely will. And I do not wait in line. We will throw you on Sir Kai’s bed when we can’t handle his big thick anaconda."

"You are shameless."

"Professionally."

They shared a smile.

The clouds below drifted slowly by, forming a dreamy sea of white. The wind carried them forward, over forests and hills, toward the mountain where Luna and Miryam waited.

And Kai slept through it all. Unaware that while he fought beasts and monsters in his dreams, the real battle was quietly playing out just behind him.

Alka’s wings beat steadily against the highland winds. Her shadow drifted over river valleys and jagged ridgelines. She was silent for the most part, save for the occasional feathered ruffle or grumbling chirp when Azhara shifted too much weight near her tail feathers.

The sun climbed higher, casting gold across the sky and streaking their path with warmth. It was a calm day. Unnaturally calm. The kind of silence that makes even the craziest girls start to reflect. And that was saying something, considering Azhara was there.

Kai had finally stirred by midday. He sat up slowly, rubbed his face with one hand, and blinked at the empty horizon like he had been asleep for years.

"I smell something burnt," he said groggily.

"That’s probably Naaro’s brain," Azhara replied from behind him.

"It’s not me," Naaro muttered. "I’m fine. Just... overcooked by the sun."

Kai laughed while his joints cracked as he stretched, spine popping in a rhythm that made Vel wince and Naaro lust.

"Are you dying for his body again?" Vel asked.

"No," Naaro said. "Just feeling a tingle in my lower lips aggressively."

He looked around. The flock was awake, lively, and chaotic as usual. Sha was grooming her hair with a tiny clawed comb she had stolen from Vel. Naaro was making whispery lustful thoughts to the wind, claiming vel had disrespected her feelings. Azhara was braiding Vel’s hair while Vel pretended to hate it. And Lirien... Lirien sat quietly, eyes fixed ahead, arms wrapped around her knees.

Kai watched her for a moment longer than necessary.

Noticing this, Azhara coughed loudly. With too much emotion.

Lirien pretended not to notice.

Alka dipped suddenly, catching a rising wind current and swooping down toward a wide clearing on a cliffside plateau.

"We are landing," she said to Kai. "Because if I do not eat something, I will fall."

He gave her neck a gentle pat. "Thanks, girl. You are the best flaming eagle chicken I know."

"I will land now." Alka said to Kai.

The moment they landed, everyone spilled off her back like a herd of sleep deprived birds.

Vel fell face first into a bush and pretended she had meant to do it. Sha, flopped down on a rock and declared it her new throne.

Azhara, of course, headed directly to Kai. "I made you something," she said sweetly.

He stared down at what she was holding.

"It is a burnt mushroom."

"No, it is a roasted emotional metaphor," Azhara replied.

"It smells like despair."

"That’s how you know it’s working."

Kai took the mushroom. He took a bite. He immediately regretted everything.

"Why does it taste like chest?"

"Because it is," said Lirien quietly, appearing beside them with a small satchel. "She put the mushrooms in between her chest and rubbed it to leave her chest smell on it."

Kai coughed and spit it out. "You..."

"I brought real food," she added, handing him a simple dish of seasoned beast meat and dried herbs.

He accepted it with a grateful nod. "You are the only normal Subordinate."

Lirien flushed a little but said nothing.

Azhara crossed her arms and glared. "I still think mine had more character. You should at least eat my food."

"Your food and cooking is the most bizarre way." Kai replied.

"It’s my love sir kai."

As the group began setting up a temporary camp, Akayoroi approached Kai. She moved with regal grace, her upper body cloaked in crimson silk, her lower ant half gleaming under the sun.