Chapter 3

New Duties

When I walked into Kayif's tent, I lay down on a bed. The cushion relieved a portion of my stress, surrounding me with a relaxation that I thought only the puffiest of clouds could provide, and I felt so comfortable I almost fell asleep instantly. However, before I was swept off into slumber, I noticed something off.

"Uh, Kayif?" I whispered.

"Yes, Luna?" He replied, coming in through the tent's entrance.

"There's only one bed."

"It's okay I don't move around much when I sleep."

"Wh… B-but…. I—"

"Its okay Luna," Kayif chuckled, "You can sleep with your back to me."

"But…" I thought about moving to the ground, but the bed had already driven the tenseness from every part of my body, which made the idea of muscling up the strength to move to the cold floor seem impossible. I sighed and turned to face the wall of the tent, shifting as far to the end of the bed as I could.

Kayif lay down next to me, our backs just barely skimming each other. My heartbeat quickened and I felt my face flush crimson. Luckily, Kayif couldn't see. His breathing was steady, as if the circumstances didn't faze him at all, and my mind couldn't help but come up with ideas about Kayif's experience with being in the same bed as a woman.

Is it going to be like this every night? I thought to myself wearily. Although the thoughts in my head swirled uncontrollably, the fatigue from a long day won out, tiredness pulling at my eyelids, and soon I was asleep.

My eyes slowly fluttered open, the blurry atmosphere beginning to focus. Instantly, my mind was racing. Where am I? I thought frantically at first, but then I remembered my situation. I was in Camp Jade, where I had been brought after being rescued in the forest by a cross man named Zephys. Remembering that I had shared my sleeping space last night, I rolled over on the bed and noticed that I was alone in the tent. Where's Kayif? I sat up, while attempting to comb my hair with my fingers at the same time. Oh god, I thought worriedly, he must have seen me looking like this! I groaned, and then tied my hair back into a ponytail with a band from my wrist, adjusting my sun pendant at the center of my chest as the final preparation before stepping off the bed and walking over to the entrance of the tent to push back the door flap.

When I looked around, I realized the sun was almost at its zenith. Is it noon already? I thought, slightly embarrassed I had slept so late. I stepped outside the tent and walked to the center of the camp, taking a seat on a log placed next to the fire pit as a bench. No one was around, so I didn't know what to do with myself. I need to make myself useful! They're showing me so much hospitality and they barely know me! I would be dead without them… I scolded myself silently, not noticing the figure approaching me.

"Luna?" I heard a voice say from the behind me. I turned and saw Kayif walking towards me, smiling. "I see you've finally woken up."

"I-I'm sorry I slept so late!" I knew my cheeks were red.

"Don't worry," Kayif shrugged, "you had a tough day yesterday."

"Well," I tried to force a smile, "now I've rested, is there anything I can do to help out around here? I want to make myself useful…" I touched the belt around my waist and realized I had a small pouch filled with coins attached to it. "Please, take this!" I tried to hand it to Kayif, but he held up his hand and shook his head.

"You don't need to repay us." He chuckled with an inviting smile. "Save that for a time you need it. Just worry about getting rest." He turned to walk away.

"Please!" I called after him. "I want to help. You've shown me so much kindness… I think I should return the favor. I'll go into the woods and collect herbs and berries for food."

Kayif paused, contemplating the idea, and then said, "Very well," and added sternly afterwards, "but you cannot go unprotected into the woods again. I have to work on some battle tactics against Draehkim," as he said this, Zephys walked back into camp from behind the shrubs, "so I'll send Zephys with you."

I nodded, relieved that I could be of help to these men. I watched as Kayif walked over to Zephys and spoke with him. Quickly, I turned and looked away to make sure I wasn't caught staring.

I heard footsteps approaching and Zephys briskly walked past me with a scowl, saying, "Let's get this over with."

Sighing, I stood up to follow him, but I had to jog to keep up with his fast pace that stated clearly how irritated he was to be ordered to watch over me. As we walked in silence, I scanned the woods for bushes with berries or plants I recognized as herbs. The last thing I wanted was for us to come back to Camp Jade empty-handed, especially if Zephys is the one who had to take time out of his daily routine to go berry hunting. Finally, my eyes caught sight of something I remembered.

"Blueberries!" I squealed, joyous that I remembered what they looked like. "Look, Zephys!"

He just grunted in response, keeping his arms crossed tightly over his chest, and blew a huff of breath up towards his bangs.

I began to pick them off of the bush, plopping one in my mouth, "I've always loved these!"

Almost before I finished talking, Zephys snapped coldly. "I thought you didn't remember anything."

"W-well," I stammered, not sure of how to respond, "I guess you never forget your favorite food!" I attempted a smile, but Zephys just looked away.

"Right," he mumbled, "you forget what nation you're in and where you're from… but you remember your favorite food."

I couldn't think of a response, so I knelt silently, picking more blueberries. As my hands started to fill up, Zephys threw a cloth bag in front of me. Once I dumped the blueberries into the bag, I stood up and began walking again. I could hear Zephys's footsteps next to me, but, at this point, I was too intimidated to look at him, worried that he might bark at me again.

The silence that settled between us was only broken by the slight crunch of leaves and twigs underneath our feet. It seemed as if the birds noticed the tension between Zephys and myself, since not even they could build up the courage to manage just a tweet. My line of sight met the ground, searching for something to step on just to lay waste to the deafening silence plaguing us, like a thick pinecone or a crisp leaf.

Finally, words found my mouth, and, at last, I established a way to end the quiet. "Thanks for coming with me."

"I was ordered to." Zephys replied almost robotically, not even looking my way.

"Well, thanks anyway." I looked at him and smiled, and I saw him stiffen slightly; however, he still didn't turn to acknowledge me. I let out a long sigh and tried to think of something else I could say to him. There was still so much I didn't understand and so many questions I wanted to ask Zephys about what was going on, but he didn't seem inclined to help me fill in any blanks.

We walked for another hour, stopping occasionally when I saw herbs or berries to pick. Somehow Zephys managed to remain silent next to me the entire time, only making some sort of annoyed sound, whether it was an unnecessarily long sigh or an over-exaggerated groan. By the end, I realized I was enjoying the silences over the not-so-subtle complaints. When we finally returned to camp, Areck, Heroth and Kayif were sitting around the fire pit together, talking.

"Luna!" Areck called, smiling, "You're back!" He waved for me to come over. As I came closer, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me down to sit next to him. "How was food-gathering with grumpy?"

"Shut up, Areck." Zephys snapped.

"Make me, you little—" Areck glared at Zephys, but I interrupted him, finding a little relief in the fact that it wasn't only me that Zephys was crabby towards.

"It was fun." It wasn't a complete lie. Being able to provide some use for the people who offered me a place to stay made me happy, so I did enjoy gathering various foods. "I could make you all dinner tonight with the things I gathered."

"That's great!" Areck threw his hands into the air joyfully.

"I could use something besides burnt deer for once…" Heroth muttered under his breath.

"Shut up, Heroth," Areck punched his friend jokingly on the arm, "like you could do any better."

"Maybe I could if you'd let me." Heroth retorted.

"Now, now, boys," Kayif sounded stern, but he was almost laughing at their banter. Then, he looked at me. "Heroth and Areck caught some game today. You can use that in your meal if you'd like." When I nodded, Kayif's eyes darted between the three other men. "I would like to talk to all of you about an upcoming mission I have been planning." With that, they all stood up and walked to Kayif's tent.

Now alone, I started to prepare the meal, praying that my hands would remember how to cook. As I set the fire, my hands worked swiftly, skinning the meat, adding various spices to it. The ingredients weren't perfect, but it was all I had to work with. I didn't have many tools at my disposal either… except for a couple sticks and a knife that was near the fire pit.

I wasn't sure how much time had past, but when I was almost finished, I heard a voice say, "Wow, Luna! Smells delicious!"

When I turned around, the four men were walking towards me. I smiled and said, "It's almost done!"

"Ugh, but I'm so hungry!" Areck frowned and held a hand to his stomach.

"Just be patient!" I giggled, flicking him on the wrist gently with one of the sticks when he tried to reach for the food in front of me.

After staring at the slight red mark on his wrist from the stick, Areck flashed me a confident smile and added. "It better be good."

The rest of them sat down and watched me as I finished my cooking. After I cut out the first piece, I turned around and all of them had laid a cloth on their lap as a plate, looking at me expectantly.

"Wow," I said teasingly, "you guys really are hungry." I quickly cut pieces for all of them and handed it to them. Then, I went around and placed assorted berries in their laps as well. "Eat up!" As I watched them take their first bites, I got nervous. What if it tasted awful? I thought worriedly, holding my breath as I watched Areck swallow his first bite.

"This is amazing!" He cried out.

"Luna, I'm very impressed." Kayif said, nodding his head to me.

"You're very talented." Heroth added.

Zephys remained silent, taking small bites.

"St-stop it guys!" I smiled and I felt my cheeks flush, "You're praise is embarrassing me." I resisted the urge to let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Well, you deserve it!" Areck flashed me a grin and Kayif and Heroth nodded in agreement.

As I sat watching them eat, Kayif finally said, "Why don't you have something to eat, Luna?"

"Oh, no," I said, "I can wait until you all finish."

"Luna," Kayif smiled warmly at me, "you've done enough today."

"Yeah!" Areck chimed in. "Just eat something!"

I nodded and cut myself a small piece. As I ate, the others continued a conversation. I felt content sitting here with these men, grateful that I had found some place to belong for now.

Once nightfall came, it was time to sleep again and all of them headed off to their respective tents.

You can expect another update later today. You all deserve a little action at this point... not just cooking and berry picking...