Koel wasn’t at all bothered by @edrei’s continuing assertions that he was a useless lump. Truth be told, he wasn’t great at love, or romance, or sex, or anything related to it. Back when he’d been following the scripts—or what he thought the customs were—he’d known what he was supposed to do, how to act. Now, however, he was a bit lost. Normally he’d be able to figure out how to navigate these waters; however, their situation right now was anything but normal. Still, he’d do his best. ”I was getting ready to give you a workout, obviously.” He winked, as if his statement wasn’t explicit enough.
Predictably she enjoyed his subtle word play. He grinned: he was glad she’d caught it, and happier still to know that he could still make someone smile. People (himself included, obviously), were far to gloomy in these parts. While he wasn’t so naive to believe that spreading a bit of joy around would improve their lots, it couldn’t hurt.
When she defended her actions that night—when it came to food at least—he had to chuckle and shake his head. That was just a downright lie, no matter how she tried to spin it. Still, he’d respond in kind if this was the game she wanted to play. ”So you gave me spoiled grains and water? Some dinner, that. Excellent hosting all around. You forgot to feed me and then jumped me. I should be filing a formal complaint.” As she brushed off his statement about dessert, he gave her his best smolder. It was rusty, but there was fire in it. ”Is that so? I think we will.” If they didn’t get interrupted and he had his way, they certainly would know.
As Edy jerked away from him, he couldn’t stop the plaintive whine that escaped his throat. Even that brief contact had scrambled his thoughts, left him incapable of doing anything but try and reach for more, try to pull her back in for another kiss. It had been quite something: while that might’ve just been the dearth of kissing and sex in his life talking, he didn’t think so.
However, something had spooked her, even if the way her hands roamed belied that she wasn’t that worried; growling incoherently, he shook his head. No, he hadn’t heard anything, but he’d been pretty effectively distracted from the task at hand. Still, even if all he wanted to do was kiss her again, some rational part of him had resisted melting in the heat of his passion and was now urgently nudging him to at least check this out. Groaning, he let go of her. If there was a threat, they needed to be mobile. Simultaneously, he started to send out a mental call—he didn’t understand this weird new ability of his to call birds to him, but he wasn’t looking a gift horse in the mouth—for assistance.
Three specks appeared from the woods. They were starlings: tiny and pretty useless in a fight, but Koel wanted them for another reason. If there was danger lurking, a few extra sets of eyes might help them spot it. He couldn’t take to the skies himself—he didn’t like the idea of leaving Edy alone—so he’d make scouts out of the birds if he could. One settled on each shoulder and the third on his head (which no doubt looked ridiculous) as he gave them instructions. They trilled uncertainly before taking off, each in a different direction. Seemed his vague orders to ‘seek out danger and give out a cry when they found it’ weren’t compelling or clear enough, but they were on the move. Maybe it would give them a bit of warning.
Turning to Edy—though still keeping his senses alert—he realized he didn’t ask what she thought she’d heard. Dropping his voice to a whisper, he internally cursed his lack of preparation. ”What did you hear?” At the first sign of danger, he was getting them out of here; after the monster at the spire, he wasn’t taking any chances.
koel ambray
Taking the path of most resistance
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