Sleepy Appreciation

The next time Kies opened his eyes, he saw that the food was almost done. Flames flickered around the dark cave walls, illuminating them and also creating dancing shadows. Sirks was leaning against the wall near the entrance of the cave and peering outside at the rain. Wompa was still sitting next to the campfire taking care of Iris. Since everyone was still awake, it meant that Kies had only been out for a couple of minutes. Probably half an hour at most.

Kies gets up from the floor and goes over to the sticks of meat over the campfire. He had no idea how the fire was started without Iris but they might've done it the old fashion way which was to create enough friction for a spark. The bottom side was done and so he turned it over to the side that is still a little raw. "What? You don't like well-done meat?" Sirks asks him after seeing him turn the meat over.

"Hm? What's that?" Kies didn't know much about cooking so he didn't know what "well-done" means.

"It just means that the meat has been cooked for a long time. All of us here likes it that way."

"Oh..." So that was what he meant. Kies reached down and was about to turn the meat back around again when Sirks suddenly stopped him.

"No no no, it's fine. This tastes good as well. It really doesn't matter that much in the end. Food is food after all. And the faster it finishes cooking, the faster we can eat. You're not the only one who is hungry." Plus, it was Kies who hunted these rabbits so it was only fair that he had some say in how it was cooked.

But despite Sirks telling him that he didn't have to, Kies turned it back around anyway. "I already ate," Kies lied to them.

"You did? When?"

"When you guys were still outside. I found a couple of berries and fruits and ate them."

"Berries and fruits? You need some meat in your diet. You don't have to do this for us."

"No really, I'm full. I told you, I used to going days at a time without food. This is normal for me."

Sirks didn't like it but he didn't say anymore. "If that's how you really feel then I guess."

After that brief conversation, the cave was silent again. The horses were asleep in the corner on a bundle of grass while the rain outside continued to pour down on them. It didn't look like it will let up anytime soon.

Out of boredom, Kies decided to try to find the soldiers with his wind magic. He ordered the winds to spread out and search the direction where they came from and surely enough, he found the soldiers hiding underneath a big tree sleeping out the storm. They were nowhere close to them which was a good sign. Kies called the winds back and opened his eyes again.

Wompa and Iris were still in the same position but Sirks had moved to the campfire and was turning the meat to the other side now. It was subtle, but Kies could've sworn that he heard someone's stomach growl. He looked at Sirks. He had a straight face and it didn't look like it came from him. Kies turned to Wompa who was the only other one awake, expecting it to be her but saw that it wasn't her either.

Kies heard the growl again and this time it was louder. All three of them turned in the direction of the noise and saw that it was Iris. She had her mouth opened with drool coming down her chin.

"Incredible..." Sirks commented. "She's asleep and yet she can smell the food." He chuckled a little and went over to the girl. "Sleepyhead, wake up." Sirks grabbed her cheeks with his hand and pressed them together a couple of times until it woke up.

"H-huh? Wha-" Iris shot up from Wompa's lap and slammed her head into SIrks.

"Ow!"

"F*ck!"

Both of them shouted out in pain at the same time.

"What are you..." *Yawn* "What are you doing?"

"Waking you up. Food's almost done. You were drooling all over the place."

"Hm? Was I?" Iris put her hand on her chin and felt some dried saliva. "Oh!" Her face turned flush red as her stomach growled loudly as well. "Oh..."

Iris smelled the air and followed the aroma to the food cooking on the stick. "Is that meat?"

"Yes, you can thank... Um, what's your name? I don't think we ever got it." Sirks turned to Kies, remembering that he never told them his name even though Kies knew all three of their names.

"Yeah, don't you think we're at least close enough now for you to tell us your name?" Iris agreed. Her hunger had temporarily been sated by her curiosity of what Kies' name is.

"Sorry, but I can't tell you."

"What? Why not?"

"I don't want to be recognized."

"Really? Are you that famous or infamous of a person?" Iris asked him.

"No. It's just that some fairly dangerous 'people' know me." And when he said people, he meant demons. He didn't want the demons to track him down and try to recruit his help again, not especially when his goal is to stop all the fighting. And also, he was deemed dead by Silverfield. If there were any survivors in Otane that knew his name (which there probably are), he didn't want them to ask questions.

"Dangerous people huh?"

"Yes."

"Like who?"

"People."

"..."

Iris flared at Kies, not happy with his "super-specific" answer to her question.

Kies didn't want to talk about this stuff anymore and pointed at the meat. "Instead of asking me these useless things, shouldn't you be eating?" The food was done and it was going to be brunt if no one picked it up.

"Oh right!"

Sirks went over to the fire and took the meat off the fire. He handed them out one each to Iris, himself, and Wompa. He looked at the last stick and looked at Kies. "Are you sure you don't want this? I feel bad eating this without giving you one even though you are the one who caught it."

"It's fine. Give it to the hungriest person here," Kies tells him. "Or split it." Either one worked. While the two of them were talking, Iris eyed Kies suspiciously. He knew his identity but still found it interesting how he didn't need to eat for two days.

"Alright..." Sirks was a little hesitant but he split the meat amongst the three of them and they all dug in.

"This tastes... bland," Iris noted after taking a bite.

"What were you expecting? We don't have seasoning. It's not like we are not in the castle," Sirks reminded her. "Shut and eat it. Or if you don't want it, give it to me." She really had the galls to complain about food when they didn't have anything else. If she didn't like it, Sirks was more than happy to eat her portion as well.

"No, I'm good." Iris didn't say another word and wolfed down the entire stick of meat. After she is finished, she licks the juice off her fingers and throws the stick outside the cave. She then turns and heads towards the entrance and sticks her hand out to wash it before cupping them together to catch some water to drink.

The other two insisted a few seconds after her and did the same thing. After they were all done, they went back inside the cave where it was warm and went to their grass mattresses.

"Did you build these as well?" Iris asks Kies while standing on top of hers which was slightly bigger than the other two's.

"Yes, I did."

"And also, was that rabbit meat?"

"Yes."

"Interesting..."

"How so?" Kies looked at Iris, unsure of what she was talking about.

"The only rabbits in this area are yellow bouncers, and those rabbits are extremely hard to catch. You can't hit them with arrows or even magic. You need to lure them into traps. One, I would maybe accept, but how did you catch four of them?" Iris curiously asked Kies.

"Wait, that's right..." Sirks had been so distracted by hunger that he didn't even question how Kies got all that food and also the sticks and straw for the fire and beds in such a short amount of time. "How did you do all of that so fast? I went out of the cave before you and I couldn't even gather a handful of dried grass and sticks..."

Kies sighed. Iris knew that he wasn't human. So why was she giving him such a headache by asking a question like this? "I found the four of them all stuck in a hole under a stump. It looked like they got scared of the thunder and hid there." It was an obvious lie but Sirks and Wompa brought it.

"Oh, you lucky bast*rd. If only I had half your luck," Sirks said in response to Kies' "lucky" find.

But Iris knew the truth. She knew that Kies didn't actually find them underneath a tree stump like that. She was giving Kies a mischievous smile, as if she was saying, "I'll find out your secrets eventually."

What an annoying girl. Kies gave Iris a cold stare and she turned away playfully and sat down on the grass. She yawned and tucked herself under a thin layer of grass to use as a blanket and sandwiched herself between the two layers of grass.

"Wow, it's pretty comfortable," she said out loud. "She turned her head over to Kies and smiled. "Thank you." It wasn't an obligatory thank you or a half-hearted one. It was a genuine thank you from the bottom of her heart for taking care of them when he could've chosen the easier route which was to take the necklace when she collapsed and leave. Iris knew that Kies had the chance to but didn't. He passed the test and earned her trust. She wasn't going to do anything else to test him.

Well, at least not anything to test his trustworthiness. That was already confirmed. But she was going to mess with him until she unveils his secrets. Just who in the world was he and why did he have so many magic items? There were a lot of questions that she wanted to ask him but she knew that he wouldn't answer them. She really wanted to know his identity and knew that she had to find out some other way.

After everyone gets into their straw beds, Sirks notices that Kies didn't make one for himself. "Uh, where is yours? Did you make one for yourself? Cause I don't see it anywhere."

"Oh, I usually just sleep standing up," Kies tells him.

"What?"

As bizarre as that sounded, Kies was telling the truth. When he did sleep (which was rarely) he preferred sleeping while standing up or leaning against something. This way, if something happened, he was ready to act almost instantly. If he slept lying down like everyone else then he would have to get up before he was ready to go. It was a couple of seconds difference but those couple of seconds meant the difference between life and death. So far, Kies has actually never had an emergency when he was sleeping, but you never know.

"You really are a weird one..." Sirks observes.

"Yes, I am."

"Well then, I'm going to sleep." Sirks didn't want to question Kies' habits anymore, whether it be eating or sleeping, it was out of his level of comprehension.

Wompa also didn't say a thing and went to sleep. The only person who was still awake and turning about was Iris.

"What are you doing?" Kies quietly asks her, minding the fact the other two were asleep.

"I can ask you the same"

"I don't need sleep. You already know I'm not human."

"Or elf, dwarf, or anything else I mentioned earlier," Iris added, recounting the other things that he wasn't.

"Yes. I'm something that doesn't need food or sleep," he tells her. "Now go to sleep."

"Then what will you be doing?"

"Keeping an eye out for enemies."

Iris doesn't say anything for a minute. Kies thought that she went to sleep like he told her to and turned to check only to see that she was still awake. "..."

"Say, can you fall asleep?"

"Somewhat."

Iris' eyes lit up when she heard that answer. Kies, learning from her sister, instinctively turned to head out of the cave, but remembered that it was raining and he couldn't unless he wanted to get soaked. And that's when he hears something very unexpected.

"Then why don't you sleep with me?"

"What?" Kies looked at Iris again to see if she was kidding or if she was actually out of her mind. He saw that she was serious. "..."

"I mean, the soldiers can't move in this weather. They're probably also sleeping. We're safe so you don't need to keep watch."

"..." It was true and Kies can confirm this as he saw it himself, or rather he felt it with the winds. The soldiers were stuck and couldn't move under these conditions. It was too dark and cold to run out into the rain in search of them.

"And why can't I just sleep like this?" Kies pointed out to her. Why did he have to sleep with her? In the first place, what kind of question was that? She is a princess so she should know about things such as this. Sleeping together with the opposite gender at this age is a no. But since this was her that they were talking about, Iris very obviously had ulterior motives for suggesting something as dumb as this.

"But isn't a bed more comfortable?"

"..."

"There's enough space for the both of us, you know. What? Are you embarrassed to share a bed with a girl? You aren't human so this shouldn't mean anything to you."

"What in the world is wrong with you?"

"A lot of things actually," Iris yawns. "But anyway, I'm going back to sleep. If you want, I'll leave some space for you." Iris shifts to the edge of the grass bed, leaving more than enough space for him, and turns her body around until her back is facing him and goes to sleep.

"..."

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