No Such Thing as Good and Evil

Shade stood in front of Faylen completely perplexed. He stared at her chest, at where the sensation of all her echos was radiating from. He’s seen many curses in his lifetime, but none quite like this. He’s not even sure it was a curse, just a hunch. It could be an illness, or maybe a genetic defect. He’s been ‘retired’ for a long, long time and he began to wonder, maybe a new curse had been created that he's unaware of. He remembered though that Faylen said various people had taken her to many curse breakers, and nobody could find anything. “Faylen, you said you’ve never been able to use any echos, right?”

The smile that had been on her face quickly disappeared, and she began to look rather gloomy, with her voice matching. “Yes, I was born without any echos.”

While still staring at the large amount of echos he could sense inside of her, he continued prying, looking for answers. “Did anybody ever happen to tell you who your parents were?”

“No, all I was told was my parents got rid of me for being the spawn of the devil.” She replied sullenly.

He scratched his head completely dumbfounded. She had an overwhelming amount of echos, he sensed them right there. She had to be the daughter of someone strong, someone important. Yet, wouldn’t somebody like that have access to the top curse breakers around, or at least be able to tell how strong she was? Why would they just get rid of her? He looked down at the bag he had packed for his drinking escapade, then back up at her. He had secretly known with the physical state she was in right now, if he just sent her on her way, she would probably die, or fall back into slavery, which was exactly what he told her would not happen. He also can’t deny his curiosity for what's wrong with her. He sighed. “Alright Faylen, I’ve decided to keep you for at least a little while longer.”

“Really, thank you, thank you!” She cried smiling again and giving him a hug.

He immediately pushed her away once more. “I’m still going away for a while.” He said, then pointed at her, “but I’ve decided you’re going to accompany me on my trip. Now go back inside, pack some clothes and anything else you think you may need. I doubt you’ve been on many trips before with your whole being an orphan and slave, but I’m sure you can figure it out. I think I have an extra leather bag in the closet in my room, feel free to use that.” he then sheepishly looked at her in the sexy maid outfit. “And get changed as well while you’re at it.”

“Yes master.” She replied giddily, walking past him and back into the house.

“And stop calling me master!” he yelled through the front door. He could hear her rustling around inside the house for quite a while. Cabinets opening and closing, doors opening and closing. He wondered what was taking her so long, it’s not like she has that many things, he thought. He stood at the front door awkwardly waiting for her to come back. After about 15 minutes, she returned. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” He groaned putting his hands to his face.

“How do I look? Ready for a trip?” She winked, standing there wearing a black and white sexy bunny outfit while making a sexy pose, pushing her hips and chest out to make them look bigger.

“No, not that outfit either, go change again.” he sighed, while thinking to himself about how he never thought he would convince a girl to dress less provocatively.

“What, but you love this outfit?” she said confused, letting go of the pose.

“Yes, I do but it’s not for, well uh, public consumption.” He replied.

“Public consumption? What does that mean? Oh, I understand! You don’t want anybody else to see me in this outfit, you want me to be all your own don’t you!” She winked again, giving him a dirty smile.

“Yes, yes that’s exactly it!” he said ardently, now seeing a way to convince her to dress normally. “I am a selfish, selfish man, no-one else shall lay eyes on you in those outfits. Now go put on something normal looking.” He said and pointed adamantly back into the house.

She turned around and started walking towards the door, but stopped before going in, and turned back around. “Master, which one of my outfits is ‘normal’.” She asked with a quizzical look.

He thought to himself. He ran through his mind trying to remember all the clothes he had bought her while drunk. Were they all just erotic lingerie? He thought and thought and finally remembered. “The dress.” He said rather loudly. “The blue dress, I bought you that blue dress, go put that on.” He had bought her a blue costume dress that vaguely resembled what a character from a book he always had the hots for would wear.

“Oh, ok. You haven’t wanted me to wear that in a while, I thought you didn’t like it.” She replied, turning and walking back inside. She returned a few minutes later, wearing the short, sleeveless, sky-blue dress. The long brown boots he bought her for her shopping trips and the leather bag around her back. “I packed some of the other outfits in here in case we’re ever alone.” She said with a wink.

“Let me see that.” he said grabbing the bag from her back. He took all the outfits out, all of them being sexy lingerie, and threw them back through the front door. “Those are all old outfits, I’m going to buy you new ones on our adventure, ok?”

“Ok!” she replied excitedly. “Where exactly are we going, drinking? Town hopping you said, correct?”

“Actually, I have to make a stop before that, visit an old friend.”

“An old friend?” She asked concerned.

“Yes, I need to ask them something, nothing you need to worry about.” He replied, not wanting to tell her where they were going. Faylen, not wanting to anger him, didn’t pry. “Let’s stop in the town right around the corner first to pick up a few things we may need.”

“Oh, I love that town. Everyone is so nice! Every time I go there everyone always looks at me and smiles, especially the men!”

He stood there silent and straight faced for a moment. “Yeah….im sure they do.” He said thinking about all the different outfits she had probably worn to that town while picking things up for him. “Actually, change of plans, that town is out of the way from where we're going anyway. We're going to stop at a different town. A bigger town, closer to our final destination.” He said, then spread his wings and reached out his hand. “Grab on, I’ll fly us there.”

She paused and looked at the hand reaching out to her. She remembered how she first came here, wrapped in his tail flopping in the wind. She grabbed his hand and as she dud, he pulled her in close, hugging her body to his and launched himself into the air. He floated high in the air for a second, gathered his bearings, then took off like a rocket, flying as fast as he could towards the town the town of Ysyl.

He landed a few hundred yards outside the gates to the town, in a patch of woods where nobody would see them and transformed back into his human form. All the clothes he was wearing became droopy on him, as they were sized for a dragon. He stripped down, threw his clothes into his bag and took out some human sized clothes. A Blue tunic, and a pair of grey jeans. He threw them on, then put his long black robe over the top of both. He then looked over to Faylen. “Don’t tell anybody what I am, understand.”

“Yes master.” She responded excitedly.

He wasn't sure what she was so excited about, but it didn't really matter, he thought. As long as she didn't reveal to anyone what he is. If people found out what he was, it would send the whole town into a panic. A lucifer dragon in a rather small town like this could burn the entire town down in the blink of an eye. He then looked over to Faylen and removed the collar around her neck. She looked nervously up at him. “I’m not getting rid of you, don’t worry. I just don’t want anybody seeing you wearing this, ok?”

“Ok.” She replied nervously.

It’s like I’m taking care of an overly attached pet. He thought to himself.

They left the woods and started heading towards the town. They walked through the wooden arched gates at the entrance, “Welcome to Ysyl” they said in large stone lettering. He began to look around nervously at all the people, merchants and children that litter the main road. With her not wearing the collar, other people may notice her echos. Why did the dress have to be such a vibrant blue, it draws so much attention. He thought to himself. But as they walked down the main stone road, luckily, nobody seemed to pay them much mind. His nerves began to fade away and he started to look at the old wooden buildings that rise up next to the road and felt a sense of nostalgia. He hadn’t been to this town in a long, long time. Not since he got kicked out of, and banned, from every drinking establishment.

He looked left and right, trying to find a clothes shop. They passed a butcher cutting meat, a bakery with fresh bread on the counter, a blacksmith sharpening a sword on a grinder, all the usual shops. But no clothes shop. As they passed all these places, he began to get hungry. He looked over to Faylen. “Hungry?” He asked, hoping she would say yes.

“No, I’m fine.” she said, looking around the town with awe in her eyes.

He though, being hungry wanted to stop and eat. “Do you have a favorite food?” He asked, trying to hide his wanting to eat as him doing something nice for her.

“No.” she replied flatly.

“Oh, come on, everyone has a favorite.”

“Slaves don’t get to choose what they eat.” She said looking at him coldly with a dead voice.

“No. I guess not.” he replied awkwardly, realizing he brought up some bad memories. But he decided to continue. “You weren’t always a slave though, right? You were an orphan at one point. Do you remember being given anything to eat you really liked?”

Her eyes widened, clearly having remembered something. “Ice cream.” She said with a slight smile.

“Ice cream? That’s not really a food, it’s more of a snack.”

“Sorry.” She replied . “I’ll think of something else.”

“No its fine. If Ice cream is your favorite, it’s your favorite.” He said disappointed as ice cream is not what he was hoping to eat. They continued down the main road and got to the main intersection, the four corners Ysyl. The busiest part of town, where every building is made white stone instead of wood and the roads are brick instead of basic gravel. The poor man’s idea of luxury. He looked to the right and saw nothing of note. He then looked across the street to his left and saw a large shop, with big writing on the front, “Clothes” …and right next to it, another large brick building, on its sign “Ice Cream”. He looked at the sky with a dead paned face and stared at the gods he didn't believe in. “Really now?” he said, then shrugged and pointed at the store. “Come on, we're going to that clothes store across the way…. the one appropriately named clothes apparently.” As they walked over, he peeked behind himself at Faylen, who was quietly eyeing up the ice cream parlor. He smiled. Guess we’ll have to go there as well; he thought to himself.

They walked into the clothes store, which was even bigger on the inside then it looked on the outside. Racks and racks of clothes of all different colors and styles for as far as you can see. Men’s on the right, women’s on the left and children’s in the middle. “Alright Faylen, go over there and pick out some clothes and come back.” he said pointing to the women’s racks.

“Ok!” She replied excitedly and scurried off out of view behind the racks of clothes.

He figured while here, he may as well look for himself. He walked over to the men’s section and began scrolling through racks of clothes, shirts, pants, underwear, not seeing anything he really cared for. He’s not into fashion, but more practicality. All the clothes sold here seemed to be vibrant colors, and fashionable, clearly meant for people who attend social events, go to parties, go on dates and have friends, not people like him.

“Can I help you find anything.” A cheery voice came from behind him. Startled, he turned around fast. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” The clerk said, a small male elf, with lens less glasses, curly brown hair and wearing a black and white tuxedo.

I’m really off my game, how didn’t I notice him? he thought. “No, it’s ok, I wasn’t paying attention. I’m not sure what I’m looking for.” He paused for a second to think about what he would want in an outfit. “Something practical, maybe stretchy? Elastic? Something good in a fight and won’t break from stretching let’s say, many sizes over.” He said thinking of what a perfect outfit would be. He needed something for if he had to transform back into a dragon in a pinch, not wanting to break shirt after shirt.

“Well do I have the outfit for you!” The elf said ecstatically. “Just follow me!” He walked fast over to a rack of clothes a few feet from Shade. “These are brand new, military grade shirts, socks, and pants. They are made of ultra resistant material that can stop most knives, and many weak spells, not only that, but they are ultra stretchy. They are made with a mixture of regular cotton as well as magic yarn enchanted with an elasticity spell, causing them to be impossible to break!”

Elasticity spell? He thought to himself. Never heard of such a thing. Sounds like a scam, though I guess new things seem to have been created I don’t know about. He looked at the sign above the clothes. WARRIOR, it read in large black lettering. “The names a bit on the nose, no?” he said peering over to the clerk.

“Yes, yes, the name may be bad. But I assure you the clothes are of the highest quality, here just try one on.”

He looked down at one of the shirts. It looked like a normal green tunic. He picked it up and pulled on the sleeves, it stretched, but didn't break. He decided to put more effort into it, stretching it as far as his arms could pull in either direction. Once again, it didn't break, just like the salesman said. Interested now, he removed his cloak and the tunic he had on under it in the middle of the aisle. He then put the green tunic on and found it’s quite comfortable. The salesman though looked at him a bit sheepishly “What?” Shade asked.

“Sir, we do offer changing rooms here.” He replied, not making eye contact.

Shade stood there a little embarrassed. “Sorry, when I change back out of it, I'll make sure to use the changing rooms.” There was one last test he wanted to test though. The salesman said it can stop most knives. He took out one of his daggers from their sheathe.

“What are you doing?” the clerk asked nervously. Shade then lifted his dagger into the air with both hands then plunged it into the shirt. The dagger went right through the shirt, into his chest. He looked down at the dagger in his chest with blood now pouring out and spilling on the ground and realized that the shirt was probably designed with normal strength in mind, not dragons. The clerk stood there in shock and awe for a second before he snapped back to reality. “Oh my god! Sir, are you okay! I’m not sure what happened, I’ve never seen anyone be able to do that before. That shirt must have been defective! Here you can have it on the house. We apologize for the inconvenience. Here I’ll also give you a discount on anything else you wish to buy.” He said racing to the front counter where he grabbed a towel and some bandages from a first aid kit attached to the wall.

“No, no need to be sorry, it’s my own fault. I very clearly stabbed myself.” He replied embarrassed, annoyed with himself. Fucking moron, why’d you do that?

He took off the shirt that now had a hole in it as well as blood stains and let the clerk patch his stab wound up. “Sorry about not using the changing rooms again.” He joked trying to lighten the mood.

Just as the clerk finished patching him up, a sexy voice sounded from behind him. “How do I look?”

He turned around. “Oh, good lord.” He groaned, putting his hand to his face once more. Standing there was Faylen, in what must be one of the skimpiest outfits the store sells. All black string lingerie is the only way he could describe it, with absurdly small strings of black material barely covering her nipples and a piece of material the size of a small leaf covering the bottom with tiny strands of string holding top and bottom together.

“Oh, you’re here with a lady friend as well huh? That outfit she has on is a favorite this year. It reminds people of devils and succubae, which is one of the biggest kinks going around.” the clerk said looking at Faylen up and down, clearly admiring how the outfit looked on her.

“Oh, is it now.” Shade replied also looking at Faylen. He’s surprised she didn’t react when the man mentioned succubae as she had said she was trained in sex by one. Maybe she didn’t hear him.

“Well, how do I look?” She asked again, arching her back and pushing her hips out.

“Gorgeous!” The clerk said.

“Yea, yea you look lovely and all. That’s not what I had in mind when we came here though.” Shade said, though looking at her, he did have to admit to himself how good she looked.

“I thought you said we were coming here to get me new outfits?” She said confused, releasing the pose.

“Yea, practical outfits, not like that.” He turned to the clerk. “Do you have any of these WARRIOR outfits for women?”

The clerk smiled. “Why yes we do, I must warn you, they are rather pricey, though like I said I can offer you a discount for your troubles.”

Shade, having no sense of money, looked at the price tag and nodded. “Yes, I can see that they are rather expensive" He said with fake confidence. "I appreciate the discount.” He then turned to Faylen. “Follow this man and pick out some of the clothes from the racks he shows you. Make sure to get a couple of each.”

“Yes sir” she said excited again, then immediately wandered off, without the clerk.

Shade shook his head and sighed.

“Not to worry, I will find her and help her with her shopping!” the clerk said gleefully. As he turned to walk away, Shade grabbed his arm. “Sir?” he asked peering back to Shade.

“We are also going to buy that outfit she's currently wearing.” he said embarrassed.

The clerk smiled. “I understand sir.” and walked off to find Faylen amongst the racks and racks of clothes.

Getting with her while she's a slave might be scummy, but if we can break whatever curse she has, and she mentally recovers and acts more like a typical person, then sleeping with her would be ok, right? He debated with himself while imagining her in that outfit.

While they were gone, he spent a few minutes picking out his clothes from the WARRIOR rack. While they might not be able to stop attacks from dragons, if they could at the very least not stretch when he transformed, it’s worth it. He decided to buy one of each color, a blue tunic, a black tunic, a white tunic, and a green tunic. He then grabbed a bunch of basic grey, brown and black pants as well as some of the socks. He went to the male changing room and put on a pair of each, the green tunic without the hole, and a pair of grey pants. He held the rest of the clothes in his hands, realizing he probably should have picked up one of the baskets that were at the front of the store, then walked over to the front counter placing his clothes on top. He stood there waiting for Faylen to return, and after about 10 minutes, she did along with the clerk.

As she approached, he looked at all the clothes she was holding, as well as the clerk, and realized just how many clothes they were about to buy. “There's no way all of this is going to fit in our bags.” He said looking at his leather bag.

“No worries.” The clerk said placing the clothes he was holding on the counter. “I also picked you two out something else. I noticed the old-fashioned leather bags you have been using. We offer magic bags here, with close to unlimited storage. They are also kind of pricey, but well worth it.” He said with a devilish smile of a salesman.

Shade looked at the bags confused; he had never heard of such a thing. “Magic bags?” He asked. “Unlimited storage? How does that work?”

“Simple.” The clerk responded. “You put your item in the bag, and it gets sent to a personal sort of dimension, creating an unlimited amount of space to store things.”

“Ok, but how do I get the item back out?” Shade queried.

“Simple again, the bag connects to you, almost like a curse, but please don’t think about it like that. You think about what item you want to get out and the item pops out, like magic!” The clerk said excitedly.

“Ok, but…. what if I can’t remember all the items in there, is the item just gone forever?” He thought about all the various things he will likely buy while drunk that he will forget about the next day, like slaves for example.

“Simple once more, you see like I said, the bag connects to you, almost like a curse. If you want, you can connect your mind to the inside of the bag and see sort of pictures, a menu you may say of every item in your bag.”

Shade paused while he thought about this. This would be a life changing invention if true, he can’t even wrap his head around how it actually worked or how anyone even figured out how to create it. How much has changed since he began his drinking escapades a decade ago. Can the world really be that different, what other inventions was he unaware of?

“So, do you wish to purchase them?” The clerk said noticing how interested he was.

“How much?” Shade asked.

“For the bags?”

“For everything, including the bags.”

The clerk smiled and eyes up all the items. “With your…. inconvenience in mind, what about say. 40 coins?”

While in places like these, you could haggle a bit, but Shade had no real sense for what things were actually worth, and with how much money he had, he didn't really care. “Sure, sounds like a fair deal to me.” He took 40 coins out of his pouch and placed them on the counter.

The clerk smiled, then put all of Shades new clothes in his new bag and all of Faylens new clothes in hers then placed the two bags on the counter. He then leaned in close to Shade and whispered in his ear. “I found a few other outfits I think would look wonderful on her, I put them in her bag, free of charge.”

Shade smiled at him, then grabbed his magic bag off the counter. He took all of the stuff out of his current bag, opened up the magic bag and looked inside of it. The inside was pitch black, like an endless void. He then put all of his things into the new bag and watched them disappear. He then looked at the old bag curiously, then folded it up and tried putting it in the magic bag. It worked. Still confused, but accepting that the bag actually worked, he puts his bag over his shoulder and handed the other to Faylen. He smiled and reached out his hand, shaking the hand of the clerk. “You have been of great help, if we are ever in need of clothes again, I’ll make sure to stop here first.”

“That’s what I love to hear!” The clerk said, then zoomed out from behind the counter to another customer who just walked in the door. “Can I help you find anything Ma’am!”

Always onto the next sale with these people. As they walked out of the shop, he tested out what the clerk said. The bag looked like a typical brown leather bag, though on the front of the bag was a small blue crystal, similar to the one on slave collars. He tried connecting to it like he would a collar. The stone glowed, and he could feel some sort of connection. What did he say, you can see all the items in your head? He closed his eyes and focused on the connection he felt with the bag, as he did, all of the sudden a bunch of images flashed before him. All the items he had just purchased and all the old items he just put in. He focuses on one, the green tunic he got for free from stabbing himself, reached his hand into the abyss of the inside of the bag and felt his hand touch something. He grabbed onto it and pulled it out of the bag. He opened his eyes and in his right hand, the green tunic. What in the world? He thought to himself.

He then turned and looked at Faylen, who was watching what Shade just did confused. “How did you do that?”

Shade, about to explain it to her, stopped. You need to be able to use echos to connect to something, echos she seemingly can’t use. But if he tells her this, she would probably become sad again. “I’ll tell you later, we have some other stops to make first, why don’t you just continue using the old bag for now.” He said and puts the shirt back into the bag.

She nodded in acceptance and threw both her bags over her shoulders, then looked at him for directions as to where they were going next. He looked at her magic bag and shook his head. All the items in that bag, including the laced lingerie, won’t be able to be accessed by Faylen until they get to their ultimate destination, luckily it’s right around the corner from this town.

Stood in front of the clothes shop still, he turned and pointed at two female wolves eating ice-cream at a picnic table right outside the ice-cream shop next door. “I saw you looking over there earlier.” He said turning and looking at Faylen.

“I’m sorry, when you asked me earlier about food, it made me think of ice cream, then when I saw it, I must have got carried away. I apologize.” She said nervously, thinking she had made him mad.

“There's no need to apologize.” He replies, then paused for a second. “Do you want some?” her eyes opened wide, and a sparkle seemed to emerge from them. She nodded her head in excitement, and he walked the two of them over to the front counter of the shop, which faced out into the street.

“What can I get you folks?” The cashier asked, a dwarf wearing cliche white apron and chef’s hat, standing on a stool so he can reach the countertop.

He looked over at Faylen. “Well, what do you want?”

“I’m not sure.” She said nervously. “I’ve never ordered anything from anywhere before.”

“Ok…” He thought about how depressing that was. “Do you remember what kind you had before that made you like it so much?”

“No.” She replied frustrated.

“Well,” he said. “Just look at the menu.” He pointed to the board above the dwarf with all the items listed on it. She glanced at the menu, but continued to look frustrated. “Is there a problem?” he asked.

“I’m sorry…I can’t read.” She said frustrated.

“Can’t read?” he said surprised. She shook her head side to side slowly. He thought about why the slavers wouldn’t have trained her how to read and write, surely that would be something almost mandatory for any slave to know. Or any person in general really. I guess they figured out pretty fast that with her whole “Evil” thing she may not bring in any real money and was not worth the time or effort. Though they apparently thought training her in sex was worth it? He thought.

He turned away from her and looked at the menu himself. He read through the items, cone, caramel, chocolate, bowl and he knew what all the words meant on their own. The problem is, he didn't particularly like ice cream and had no idea what to order. He turned around and looked at the two girl wolves at the picnic table behind them. They seem to be enjoying whatever they’re eating. He thought. He looked at the dwarf and asked, “What did those two order?”

“They both got basic vanilla sundaes with chocolate drizzle and chocolate sprinkles on top.” The dwarf replied.

Not knowing exactly what any of that meant, he nodded. “Sure, that sounds great. We’ll take 2 of those.”

“That will be 4 coins.” The dwarf said, then jumped off the stool and went to the back of the shop to start making them.

Shade took 4 coins out of his pouch, placed them on the counter and waited for the man to return with their ice cream. While they waited, he once again pondered how none of the prices seem to make sense. I just bought all sorts of clothes and 2 magic bags for 40 coins, these 2 ice creams cost 4 coins. Does that mean 20 ice creams equals all the clothes we just bought?

The dwarf returned and placed two large wooden bowls with ice cream in them on the counter. He took the 4 coins and put them in the drawer in front of him. “Thank you very much for your patronage. I would kindly ask when you are finished, you return the bowls to the counter.”

"Will do.” Shade nodded, grabbing the 2 bowls, and 2 spoons from a cup on the counter. He turned and walked over to a wooden picnic table adjacent to the ones with the wolves. He sat down, and gestured for Faylen to do the same. She did and he slid one of the bowls in front of her. In the bowl, as advertised, was vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate drizzled on top and on top of that chocolate sprinkles. He stared at it befuddled, wondering why people like it so much. Then he looked over at Faylen. Her eyes were sparkling from just looking at it. “Well, are you going to eat it?” He asked.

“Can I?” she replied giddily, looking up at him.

“Well, I didn’t buy it for you to look at.” He joked.

She grabbed the spoon off the table and paused for a second before digging in. She then ate spoonful after spoonful, devouring the bowl in a few minutes. Shade on the other hand, ate a few spoonful’s and remembered why he never eats ice cream, he doesn’t like it. He looked back over at Faylen who had gotten ice cream all over her face and now had white stains all over her dress. Well, I guess it wouldn’t be the first time that dress had white stains all over it. He joked to himself.

He usually kept some sort of rag in his bag but didn't remember if he saw it when he packed the bag at his house, or transferred all the items over in the store. He wanted to give it to her to clean up but didn't remember what it looked like, and it would now would be in the magic bag. He put his bag on the table and stuck his hand in. He closed his eyes, and the menu popped up, but there were so many items in the bag it would take a while to go item by item. “Cloth…. rag?” he said, but as images flash in front him, none are what he's looking for.

“What are you doing?” Faylen asks, looking at him confused.

He realized he was talking out loud. He looked at the bag embarrassed, then closed his eyes again, thinking in his head of the items this time. Towel? Handkerchief? Just then an image of a red and blue striped handkerchief flashes before his eyes, and he locked onto it. His hand then felt it in the bag and he pulled it out. He opened his eyes and threw it over at Faylen. “Here clean yourself up.” he said gesturing to her face and dress.

She grabbed the handkerchief and looks down at her dress. She hadn’t realized how much of a mess she had been making and was lost in her love of ice cream. She used the handkerchief to wipe off the stains on her dress, then used it to wipe off her face as well. Her face, though clean now, was red with embarrassment. “Thank you.” She said softly, going to give the handkerchief back.

He though motioned for her to keep it. He then pushed his bowl of ice cream across the table and in front of her. “You can eat mine as well,. Try to eat this one slowly though, and maybe make less of a mess, otherwise we may need to go back to the clothes store and buy a new handkerchief.” He said using his thumb to point back at the store next door.

She looked at the bowl of ice cream in front of her confused. “You don’t want it?” She asked.

“No, I don’t really like ice cream.”

“Then, why did we come here?”

“Because you said it was your favorite food, I thought you would want some.”

She looked at him with shock. “You came here for me?”

“Yea? Anyway, I do want to stop for some real food before we continue on.” he said, glancing around to see if he can find any restaurants or even just stalls to pick up something quickly. He remembered passing lots of places on the way into town, but that would be the opposite direction of where they need to go.

While he was scanning the streets, she continued looking at him for a few seconds. She looked down at the barely touched ice cream and back up at him. Nobody had ever done anything nice for her in a long time, not since slavers picked her up years ago. She smiled and picked her spoon back up, and slowly finished the bowl, savoring every bite this time. She wiped her hands off with the handkerchief and put it in her bag, planning on cleaning it and giving it back to him later.

Shade finally noticed a shop a little way down the road, with a sign indicating it sold bread. Not the best meal but eating some bread should fill him up. “Take the two bowls back to the counter.” He said to her. She nodded and grabbed the two bowls, walked over to the counter, placed them on top, bowed to the dwarf and walked back over to him. He then pointed to the shop he wanted to go to down the road, and they began walking.

When they got to the shop, he quickly looked at the bread behind the glass display case. English, brioche, white, rye, they had all sorts of bread, but he was looking for one in particular. “Are you looking for anything specific?” the clerk attending the stall asked with perfect timing, this one a young blonde fairy, a lot like Faylen, also wearing a chef’s hat and a white apron.

“Yes, actually, do you guys sell ciabatta bread, it’s my favorite.” He said looking through the glass, but not seeing it.

“Yes, we do. I actually have a loaf coming out of the over right now. How many slices would you like?” She asked turning and pointing to the brick oven behind the counter in the back of the shop.

“Ill take the whole loaf.” He responded excited.

“Oh, ok.” The clerk said surprised. He watched with glee as she walked over to the brick oven, grabbed her bread peel, stuck it in the oven, then pulled it back out, with a steaming loaf of ciabatta bread on it. She then walked over to the counter, grabbed a brown paper bag, and put the loaf of bread in it. She then handed it to him and said. “5 coins please and thank you.”

He took out 5 coins, this time not worrying about how random all the prices were, he handed them to her, grabbed the bag and smiled. “Thank you so much, I haven’t had ciabatta bread in so long.”

The clerk smiled back. “Well, I hope you like it.”

He took the bag of bread and put it in his storage bag. They walked away from the stall and towards the exit of the town opposite from where they entered.

“I thought you were hungry?” Faylen asked as they walked.

“I am but, I don’t really like food when it's scorching hot. I know, ironic right, fire breathing lucifer dragon doesn’t like hot things, but I don’t like what I don’t like.” He shrugged.

“So, you don’t like hot foods, or ice cream? Are you a picky eater?” She asked.

“I guess you could say that. You cooked for me for quite a while. My memory is still a bit fuzzy, but from what I can recall we ate pretty much the same things every day. I mean, I would eat most foods, but when you have the option to eat whatever you want, wouldn’t you just eat what you like the most all the time?” he said wondering aloud if most people eat a wide variety of things, even if they aren’t their favorites.

“I’m not sure, I’ve never had that option.” She replied coldly.

Shade, feeling like he walked into a verbal trap, didn't say anything back. Instead, they walked out the town, through the wooden arched exit opposite where they entered and back on the dirt path toward the destination of their journey.