The knock at the door roused Felix from his meditations. He rose from the cross-legged position on the floor that he had been in for the past few hours and crossed the room to the door. It was Saturos. "Get ready," he said. "We're leaving in a few minutes."
Felix sighed. This was quite typical of the blue-haired Proxian. Blunt, cold, and horrible at time management. One would think he was a Mercury Adept. Felix walked back across the room, belted his sword back on, hefted his pack, and walked to the parlor of the inn. Menardi sat there, with Jenna plowing through what was apparently her fifth sandwich, judging from the napkins spread round her. Felix smiled. It was during rare moments like these that he could almost forget about what was going on. Unfortunately, they never lasted long. Casting his eyes about, he noticed Saturos was not in the room. He raised an eyebrow at Menardi by way of inquiry, and she shrugged. "He walked outside right before you came in," she said.
"Hmm," said Felix, recognizing the signs of Saturos's foul mood. He strode through the door and set about locating his wayward travel companion.
It wasn't really that hard. All he had to do was follow the trail of cooked pigeons. Shooting a spire of earth into the air, he leaned against a tree and waited. Two seconds later, an answering bolt of flame shot into the air, blasting the stone apart. Felix tracked the trail of smoke to a nearby palm tree. Saturos knelt underneath it, his pack stuffed with various cooked once-airborne fowl.
Felix tossed him a pigeon. "Missed some."
Without looking, Saturos sent a bolt of flame at a pigeon flying overhead, then snatched both out of the air and stuffed them in the pack. Another pack lay nearby, scorched tail feathers sticking out of the side pockets. Felix hefted this one, wincing as a claw poked him in the neck.
"Think we have enough?" he asked, half joking. Whenever they went through a town, they left its birds extinct for years. Saturos grunted in reply. He had this weird taste for cooked birds, especially pigeons. Thankfully, they kept for months at a time, so the birds had saved them a lot whenever their provisions ran low.
Zzzzap! "SQUAWK!" Whooshthump.
As usual, Jenna was hungry ten seconds after they left the village.
"FEEELI-MMPH!" Her cry for food was interrupted by the abrupt shoving of a plucked and cooked pigeon into her mouth. Felix smiled. Saturos had exceptionally good aim.
Zzzzap! "SQUAWK!" Whooshthump. A new pigeon replaced the one that had disappeared into Jenna's gullet. Saturos shifted his pack to catch the falling fowl, then continued walking on.
"We're going to make camp over that ridge. Dinner will be stewed seagull with pigeon bacon," he said.
Mars Adepts were excellent cooks.
Later that night, Felix laid back on his sleeping mat, a full stomach settling somewhat heavily. Jenna was snoring like a drunken sailor a few feet over. He sighed, and then rolled over.
Whooshthump. A cooked pigeon landed straight in front of Felix's face. He shot bolt upright, sword in hand. Suddenly, he noticed that Jenna wasn't snoring anymore; instead, she seemed to be giggling. "Saturos isn't the only one with good aim, big bro!" she said.
Felix grunted, scowled even though she couldn't see him, sheathed his sword, and laid back down and went to sleep.
Or tried to.
Whooshthump.
"OW!"