Explanations and Consequences

Dorrak went on to explain that I fell unconscious for a few days and that they literally put me INSIDE of a bonfire because I was shivering constantly, which makes sense knowing what I went through in my nightmare.

It would seem that my scream at the end caused me to scream in reality as well, and that the abrupt ending to that dream was because I was basically punted into a tree.

That… sounded like it would hurt, a lot, kinda glad I wasn't awake when it happened, though, I doubt it could be worse than what I experienced in that nightmare.

Anyways, after that I learned that Cythistia's brother, Kyristhus, came and healed me from my bleeding eyes, before I fell unconscious again.

Then they spoke about them travelling over to this dirt road to make getting back to their capital easier, where they encountered some pompous prick, whom I apparently ate.

They also explained about how the battle went, and I was angry. Not because of the battle but because Dorrak didn't do anything besides take me away from it, he didn't even help with his magic.

He just stood there, standing next to me, when I know he could have easily resolved that conflict with one punch, but no, he HAD to protect me.

I knew he could have done more than what he did, but he didn't do it because 'they might have gone after me' which is a stupid reason. Why would they do that, and how would they even do that?

So yeah, I'm angry at Dorrak for that and now Cythistia is the one explaining the rest, such as where we were going, which was Athenela.

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A few hours passed and the group decided to stop and have a break. Two stag's names Jack and Aaron went off to hunt some gain for the rest to eat, though mainly for me as my stomach had been growling for about an hour now.

They soon came back with several rabbit-kin and two boar-kin. They gave me two of the rabbits and a boar to satiate my hunger, which I gladly accepted.

They cooked the rest over a fire and chowed down on their improvised meals. After we were done, we went back on our journey to the capital, I wanted to move there on my own but Cythistia insisted that I ride her. I couldn't persuade her otherwise and to be honest, I didn't really feel like traversing this road on tail myself so I gave in very quickly.

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We didn't talk much during this part of our travels. That is until Kyristhus asked a question.

"So, what's going to happen regarding Viscount Daren?"

That was the man I ate I believe.

Cythistia replied with, "We'll talk about this with the council when we get back, but until then let's not dwell upon it."

I created some flames of mana and shaped them into the phrase, 'What will the outcome of me eating that guy be?'

I'll be honest, I was scared, not scared of retaliation, but how they might retaliate. I didn't want to put a burden on these people who had been nothing but kind to me so far. I say nice, when really, they just treat me like some passing stranger, like I'll be gone soon.

It would seem that news of Cythistia's current condition isn't known to them as of yet. I'm sure if they knew they would actually treat me nicely, though it might just end up being a farce on their end because she's a noble woman, and I would be treated nicely because I'm the parent of her new child.

Regardless, they still seem to treat me with some level of respect because I have Cythistia's favour. I don't mind though, so long as they don't treat me like some heathenous thing that needs to be killed.

Eventually dusk came and we stopped to set up camp for the night. They'd brought extra tents just in case but Cythistia once more insisted that I be with her, inside her tent. I'm sure that won't be taken weirdly at all later.

The two rangers, as I learned that's what they're called, that hunted our gains for lunch went out to hunt for dinner. They brought back a little less this, managing to hunt several rabbit-kin again and a giant bear-kin woman, not sure how they did that as that thing looks strong but I wouldn't know, as I've never fought any type of bear before.

I was fed two of the rabbits whole and was offered to join in with the bear stew that they would make, and I happily took them up on that offer.

I sat next to Cythistia, not because she forced me to but because I wanted to. I waited for their chef to fill up my bowl and was enamoured with the scent of the food when entered my bowl.

"Hmm? Ah! Are you okay?!" I heard Cythistia ask me worriedly. I looked at her with a confused face and she said that I was crying.

I brought a hand up to my face, not realising that I was shedding tears. Why was I crying? I... I don't feel like thinking about it.

Ignoring that I took the wooden spoon and scooped up some of the stew. I blew on it to cool it down before eating it as it looked hot, and probably was. The smell coming off of it was heartwarming, and not just because it was the first proper warm meal I'd had in years.

I opened my mouth, put the spoon in and closed my mouth, dragging the spoon out and letting the stew fall onto my tongue. My eyes went wide as the succulent juice of the stew washed over my tongue, the greasy flavour of the meat along with the added spices overwhelmed my taste buds, which hadn't eaten anything so flavourful in so long.

I cried at how good it tasted, and I know I cried because tears were flowing out so much that I couldn't ignore them.

"A-Are you crying again?" I heard Cythistia ask but I just kept on digging into the stew, hopefully showing that I was crying from how delicious it was. She seemed to get the message and chuckled saying, "Fufu~ You seem to be enjoying your meal so I'll leave you to it."

She then moved on with her own stew as I experienced the wonders of what cooking could do to food.

The meat just tore apart as I bit into it, releasing the salt and spices that it absorbed from the liquids when inside the pot. I don't know where they got the potatoes but they were soft and mushy, but not to the extent where they'd melt when touched by anything.

I then asked for seconds, thirds and more, which garnered the attention of everyone else.

One of the men even commented saying, "Wow! Serpentine really do have a crazy appetite!" Which spurred the rest of them to burst out laughing, making me blush in embarrassment.

I still didn't stop eating though, and basically drained the pot of everything in it, which slightly shocked them all but the chefs were happy that it didn't go to waste and was all eaten, they even came and thanked me for it, saying it made cleaning up a lot easier and that they were happy that I liked the food they made. Apparently, they hadn't seen anyone eat their food with such vigour before. I blushed shyly and looked away in embarrassment again.

It was soon time to go to sleep and Cythistia dragged me to her tent and lay down on her equine body and I partially coiled my tail around her and hugged her tight. She hugged me back and we sat there for a while before the both of us fell asleep.