Forte, Dylas, and I all looked at each other in consternation at the soldier’s escape, but before we could say anything, Avani cried out in anguish and ran towards the castle. We all followed as she burst into the castle’s great hall, but we held back in the doorway, shocked by Venti’s weakened appearance. “Venti!” Avani cried as she ran up to the dragon. “Venti, are you okay?”

To our relief, Venti slowly raised her head, looking at Avani with eyes that dully swirled blue and green. “Do I look okay to you?” she replied tiredly. “If so, you’d better get your eyes checked. What happened? I heard a commotion.”

Avani flew to her, throwing her arms around the dragon’s neck as she simultaneously laughed and cried. “Whoa, hey now!” Venti protested, though I could see that she was pleased by the display of affection. “Don’t fuss so, silly child. Tell me what happened.” Avani released her and gave her a brief summary of the night’s events.

Venti settled back down on her perch with a weary sigh. “So… the Sechsons are getting more aggressive. I’m sorry I couldn’t help. I feel oddly feeble tonight.”

“But Venti, don’t you see? They’ve stolen the rune spheres! That’s why you’re feeling weaker!” Avani exclaimed, looking distressed. “I don’t know what they plan to do with them, but I feel like trouble is brewing—something big.” She chewed her lip and scowled, lost in thought. “Well, whatever their plans are, I’m not going to just let them get away with this,” she exclaimed fiercely. “I will get those rune spheres back for you, Venti. I swear it!”

“Now wait just a moment!” Venti exclaimed, alarmed. “What if something happens to you? You don’t know what you might be up against.”

“It doesn’t matter, does it?” Avani replied, gently caressing the dragon’s neck as she rested her forehead against it. “We all need you, and you need the spheres. So they must be recovered at any cost. And I’m the best suited for the job—you know I am. Just hang in there, Venti. It will take time to complete my preparations. If I just go running off half-cocked, there’s no way I will win.”

“I’ll ‘hang in there’, you foolish girl, if you promise you will return safely to me this time,” the dragon replied wearily.

“I swear I will. Now please rest and conserve your energy so you can get better. I mean, who else can I tease and argue with like I do with you? So take it easy, okay?” Avani said, leaning her cheek against Venti’s head.

Venti’s eyes softened as she replied, “Of course. Who else but me is going to put you in your place as you so often need? And who else but you will brighten my days with your cheeky speeches? Now, leave me. I need to sleep….” And with that, she lowered her head and appeared to slip into slumber.

Avani slowly stepped back, so as to avoid disturbing her, then as she turned, she saw us there and blushed with the realization that their conversation had been overheard. She placed a finger on her lips and motioned us to follow her to her rooms. After closing the heavy door quietly behind her, Forte said she would have to inform Arthur of the night’s events and prepare a report for the capitol. Avani gave her a hard look and suggested that as soon as she’d spoken to Arthur, she stop in at the clinic and have Jones see to her. “The report can wait a little longer—it can’t go out until tomorrow at the earliest anyway. So please, Forte, take care of yourself. We need you.” Forte’s impassive expression didn’t change, but her eyes were smiling as she nodded agreement and took her leave.

Avani turned to face Dylas and me. “Well, you two. Things have taken an interesting turn. I need to talk to Doug, but first things first. Are you okay? That was quite a fight. You both did well.” After reassuring herself that we were not seriously injured, she told us to get out of our armor and tend to our equipment while she fixed something for us to eat.

I had not yet seen her eat any substantial amount of food, and so I had been skeptical of her claims of eating “mountains” of food, chalking it up to the usual feminine exaggeration of portion sizes. So when she brought tray after tray of food, piling food on the low table before the fireplace, I assumed she thought Dylas and I would somehow eat that much food.

Then she began to eat.

I quickly realized she had, if anything, understated her appetite. She devoured most of the food herself, even going back to fetch more trays of food. There were such large quantities that Dylas and I had plenty to eat as well, but she easily ate twice as much as the two of us together consumed. Dylas noticed me staring at her in fascination and laughed. “Never seen her really hungry before, I take it?” he said with a grin. “Yeah, it’s pretty scary the first time.” Avani stopped eating long enough to aim a kick at his leg that he easily avoided. “You should have seen her put it away after she rescued you—I could hardly cook food fast enough. Seriously, I don’t know where she puts it. She has not a spare ounce of fat on her anywhere—I can vouch for that!”

He lowered his voice, looking at her with a fondly teasing look as he said in a stage whisper to me, “I think she has a gate in her belly and all that food is really going to feed the monsters of the Forest.” Glaring at him, Avani threw a roll at him. He caught it deftly out of the air and ate it, tearing off pieces of it to swipe up the swirls of assorted sauces left on his plate. “Now you just watch. She’ll stuff herself silly and be hardly able to move afterwards. Then she’ll lie down and sleep for, oh, about 20 minutes—maybe as much as 30 since she’s fatigued, too. Just a short nap. Then she’ll wake up completely recharged and raring to go.”

“Dylas! Will you stop that please? You’re making me sound like a barbarian! And after I went to the trouble to bring you your favorite foods, this is the thanks I get?” she scolded, menacing him with a skewer of grilled squid.

“Oh, and who is going to be cleaning up that huge mess I know you left in the kitchen while you sleep it off?” he replied teasingly as he batted her skewer aside with a raw carrot.

She threw her hands up in mock defeat before eating up her squid and turning her attention to a platter of fruit and cheese. “Leon, I’m so sorry you have to sit here trying to enjoy your food while listening to this oaf cataloguing my glaring flaws. Please don’t let that stop you from eating as much as you want, though—are you getting enough? There’s more—I generally keep my kitchen well stocked.”

I laughed, enjoying their banter—perhaps even envying it a little. “Yes, I’m getting plenty. Thanks for all the grilled seafood—you must love to fish.”

She laughed, rolling her eyes in mock dismay, saying, “Well, I kind of have to—if I didn’t fish, I’d never see Mr. Bait-for-brains outside of training! I swear he loves fishing more than anything.”

“Hey!” Dylas protested. “That’s not true!”

“Oh?” she replied with a gleam in her eyes. “Then tell me, which do you love more—me, or fishing?” Dylas, taken off guard, sputtered and stumbled incoherently. Avani smiled a saccharine smile at him and said, “Too late—time’s up.”

She finished the last bite of salad on her plate and stood up. “Well, I have to give him some credit—he’s at least right about the need for a short nap after I eat like this. So if you both will excuse me. No, no—please stay. No need to leave on my account. Eat what you like, and help yourself in the kitchen,” she added as I started to rise, uncertain if I should leave. “And I can wash my own dishes just as soon as I’ve rested. So no need to exert yourself on my account,” she said to Dylas, a mixture of vexation and affection in her eyes.

She stepped over to her wardrobe, vanishing behind a decorative screen for a moment before emerging wearing a light chemise as she headed for her bed. Dylas and I finished eating, discussing the events of the day in low voices, then he went to wash up the mess, despite her protest. I gave him a hand, surprised at how quickly and efficiently he moved until I remembered that he worked in Porcoline’s restaurant. Given that man’s appetite on top of how busy the restaurant was, I felt certain that this mess was nothing in comparison. Dylas was technically a server, but I’d seen him cooking and cleaning as well, apparently willing to lend himself to whatever task lay at hand.

Afterwards, he helped himself to some more milk, heating it up until it was scalded and steaming, and offered some to me. I politely declined, saying I’d never cared for dairy goods. He then offered me some tea instead, which I accepted. He also poured some juice into a glass, saying that he figured Avani would be waking soon and that she’d appreciate a refreshing drink. We stepped out into her main room and found her still sound asleep, curled up in her bed, looking surprisingly childlike as she slept.

Dylas set the juice and his milk on the low table before the stone fireplace in the sitting area where we’d dined earlier. He motioned me towards the chair I’d taken before, and quietly stepped over to check on Avani. He tenderly brushed some hair from where it had fallen over her closed eyes, gazing down at her with adoring eyes. As gentle as the gesture seemed, it was enough to waken her, and her eyelids fluttered open as she smiled up at him.

She stretched, then reached her arms up to Dylas and pulled him down to her for a kiss. He pulled hastily free from her embrace, turning red and sputtering in embarrassment, and she sat up, sleepy confusion on her face. “What’s wrong, Dylas? Why are you acting so shy all of a sudden?” Then she saw me sitting there and turned a little pink herself. “Oh! I’m sorry, Leon. I didn’t realize you were right there.”

“So it would seem,” I said, smiling in amusement as I sipped my tea.

She flushed a little pinker, then shrugged, saying to Dylas with a laugh, “Well, at least I only tried to kiss you. It could have been a lot worse!”

“Idiot! Don’t say things like that around other people!” Dylas hissed at her, his face scarlet.

She laughed again and stood up, reaching for the ceiling in a tremendous stretch. “Ahh! I feel so much better now!” And indeed, she looked completely recovered, all evidence of hunger and fatigue erased. She drained the glass of juice that Dylas brought to her, then darted over to her wardrobe and emerged a minute later fully dressed.

“Now let me clean up the kitchen and we’ll get over to see Doug,” she said, heading towards the kitchen.

“We, uhh, already washed up for you while you slept. So let’s just get over to the clinic and see what he has to say for himself,” Dylas said, looking a little sheepish at her surprised expression. She grinned at him and pulled him over to her for another kiss, despite his embarrassed protests, and we headed out.