- “It’s where I’m going that matters,” he added more casually, changing the subject.
“And where’s that?” She asked, going with it, as she was simply driven by curiosity.
“My mother’s,” he answered, picking up the rabbit skin in front of him once more. “She lives south of the mountain.” he paused and looked up at Avilon. “Which way would that be?”
She looked at him quizzically and gestured to her left before slowly wandering back over and sitting in the chair near him. “You’re not fit to travel any time soon,” she pointed out.
“Then come with me,” he said casually without looking up, knowing she was right and trying his best to mask his current reliance on her.
Her eyes widened for a moment then she began to laugh. “Oh you’re a funny one. I can’t leave.”
“Why not?” he asked innocently.
“Well… Because!” she stammered with a frown. He looked at her slowly and raised an eyebrow. She furrowed her own in a glare. “This is my home!”
He laughed. “A shack in the middle of the forest all alone with your herb jars? Live a little,” he urged.
“I live plenty!” She argued. “And I have more than herb jars!”
He shrugged. “Fine, don’t come. But don’t try to stop me when I leave tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?!” She shouted, leaning forward in her chair. “You can’t-”
“Ah!” He interrupted. “What did I just say?”
She made an annoyed growl sound in her throat. “I just saved your life and now you’re going to walk out and get yourself killed!”
“Yup,” he said cheerily with a pause. He then turned and smirked at her. “Unless you come with me.”
She opened her mouth to shout then stopped and composed herself, leaning back in her chair once more. Her voice became infinitely more calm and matter-of-fact when she spoke next. “I just met you.”
“And?” He countered.
“What if you’re some kind of psycho killer?”
“You’d be dead already.”
“Hey, I don’t know what kind of weird fetishes you homicidal types have,” she said with a wiggle of her fingers.
He laughed. “I owe you my life.”
“Obligation could mean nothing to you,” she said, unamused.
“Then wouldn’t I be better off dead?” he asked innocently.
“Yes!” she said, exasperated.
“Then don’t come.”
“Oh no, I spent too much time and resources on you to throw it all away,” she roared. “You’re not going anywhere without me.”
He simply looked at her and gave her a smug smile. She paused dumbly for a moment then glared at him when she realized what he had done.
“It’s settled then!” He shouted joyously. “We’ll leave tomorrow!”
“I should have let you die,” she hissed.
“Agreed,” he said with a smile. “It must be fate!” He said teasingly.
“If my fate has anything to do with you, kill me now!” she groaned.
“I will not!” He stated. “Because unlike you, I don’t wish death upon those who don’t deserve it.”
She threw herself over the arm of the chair and hung limply. “I might cry,” she murmured to herself.
“I won’t judge,” he assured her before holding up the skin of the rabbit for inspection. “Do you think it actually liked carrots?” he mused with a glance at Avilon. She muttered something he could not understand and he chuckled softly to himself before going to work on cleaning it once more.
