Broken Chains

It had only been a month since Puck retrieved Zephyrian, yet he felt like much more time had passed.

The reason for that was neither that the time had been extraordinarily grueling, nor that many things out of routine had happened. It rather felt that way because Puck tried to enjoy every moment of his new life.

After Puck had returned with Zephyrian, he had collapsed into bed nearly immediately, seemingly unable to answer any questions from Scarlet. Only another day later, when he had eaten more in a short time than could possibly be healthy, Puck told Scarlet about all that had happened. For a moment, Puck had thought about whether he should hide some important details, but he had decided immediately against it.

When Puck described his visions of Zephyrian, Scarlet had gotten really invested in the story, and Puck had inwardly rejoiced at her interest. On that day, they hadn’t only talked about Puck's accomplishments, but Scarlet had also inaugurated Puck into the program for his next weeks and months.

When Scarlet woke Puck in his normal sleeping place in a side room of her house, it was still very early, as usual. Very overslept, Puck couldn’t help but inwardly grumble at Scarlet's habit of getting up so soon and waking her student up with her.

One time, Puck had asked her if she could let him sleep a little longer, and to this day, the grueling hours of torturous training after that gave him shivers when he thought about it. Scarlet was many things, but no gentle teacher.

Starting with his normal morning tasks, Puck first washed the wooden plates for their food and his and Scarlet's daily clothes in an ice-cold glacier river nearby. After that, Puck jumped into the water himself, truly waking up while cleaning himself. When he had still worked on the farms in the village, Puck had nearly never washed himself. Scarlet, though, had seemed adamant, and in the end, Puck hadn’t been willing to risk her anger again.

The one-time Scarlet had caught him when he went to the river a few hundred feet farther where she washed herself had had even worse consequences than the time Puck asked if he could get up later. Even then, though, to this day, Puck was unsure if it hadn’t been worth it…

After getting himself clothed again, Puck went back to the hut to meet up with Scarlet for breakfast.

Breakfast was something new for Puck. He never had more food than he could eat at any moment, and so he always ate when he got something new. Scarlet, though, seemed to face no such problems.

More importantly, the food Scarlet set up for all the meals was something entirely different compared to the faded and nutrient-empty mushrooms and grasses Puck had mostly eaten before. Every day, there was meat.

Meat!

Before, Puck had nearly never eaten meat, as the lizards the Gremlins held were rare and only the warriors who needed to defend the tribe could be allowed to eat them.

Together with the meat, there were all kinds of plants and mushrooms Puck had never seen before that gave the food ever-new flavors. More importantly than the flavors, though, were the nutrients. In one single month, a respectable but still not too long time in a Gremlin life, Puck had gained a few pounds weight. And by their daily routine, these pounds were not fat but wiry muscles.

The breakfast with Scarlet was something Puck enjoyed every time, even though Scarlet seemed especially inclined to give Puck a hard day if he asked too many questions in the morning.

While stuffing himself with the raw meat and eating the flowery moss with fervor, Puck eyed his opposite inconspicuously. Was she in a good mood today? Could he ask something important or better something mundane?

Deciding that she seemed only mildly annoyed today, Puck asked something he thought would be a question she shouldn’t have too many reservations answering.

“Can you tell me about your last excursion to hunt the great glacier river snakes?”

Being a little anxious about Scarlet’s reaction, Puck was relieved when she simply harrumphed and gave him a judging stare.

Sitting up straight and already wanting to clean his mouth with his lower arm like he always would have in the past, Puck was stopped by a mental nudge from Zephyrian. Immediately realizing his mistake in trying to clean himself so savagely, Puck inwardly thanked Zephyrian and instead took a piece of fur out of his pouch to clean himself.

In the past month, Puck and Zephyrian had lived through many hard tasks together, neither getting cut any slack by Scarlet. Even though Zephyrian was ancient, it seemed like his mind wasn’t what it once was, and he didn’t make the right decision every time. As such, both of them had been the target of Scarlet's wrath more than once, and as Puck found out, there was nothing that brought two beings closer together than united suffering.

More than once, Zephyrian had scoffed at Puck's antics regarding Scarlet and told him it was futile, but even then, he had stopped Puck from doing something stupid many times already.

Trying to clean his mouth as gracefully as possible, Puck inwardly sighed as he saw Scarlet suppress a laugh upon his actions. But then again, after stopping with the cleaning, Puck thought Scarlet looked a little more relaxed, and to his luck, she even agreed to give him a little elaboration on his question.

It wasn’t much, and Puck still did not know much about hunting great glacier river snakes even after the breakfast, but that was no problem.

After finishing their breakfast, Puck brought the plates and remaining food away as usual, while Scarlet packed some last things into their two big bags.

Noticing how Scarlet swung her bag up on her back as usual, Puck eyed his own suspiciously. More than once, he had tried the same, and every time, he had only embarrassed himself.

At the start, Puck had suspected that Scarlet simply gave him the far heavier bag, but after trying to lift her bag up in her absence, he got taught better. He didn’t know how she could possibly be that strong

More than once, he had tried to convince Zephyrian to share his power with him again, even though Scarlet had forbidden it, but on that front, Zephyrian stayed unmoving.

Sighing at his fate, Puck gave it his all too slowly heave his bag on his back. Then he stumbled after Scarlet as she impatiently started to walk ahead. A hard day awaited, and Puck cursed his own fate. But even while doing that, a happy mood dominated his every action. His instructor was strict, but in truth, Puck wouldn’t have it any other way. Present and future both looked great, and Puck was expectant of both.