Asran enjoyed the warm embrace for as long as it lasted. When done he stepped back, and lead them to the table. Then looked at Ayrie with a loving expression. He couldn't help but to fall in love with her. Distance made his heart only grow fonder. Before he'd gone on his mission he'd spent months getting to know Ayrie better as a friend. Now, there was no mistaking the feelings of love he held towards her. He took a seat after setting the table with plates, bowls silverware, and wine glasses. He grabbed one of the containers of chinese food, and served himself. Then passed the container over to Ayrie, and he started eating.

Ayrie watched him move, gracefully setting the table for the two of them. As he made his plate she opened and poured two glasses of wine, setting one in front of him. When he was done she set the bottle down and took the container from him, putting some on her plate and taking a bit of sweet and sour chicken, and some rice from the other containers. She sat down and took a sip of wine and a few bites of food to get her stomach to quiet down before she spoke.

"So, Symphony says that I am almost trained enough that he can say I'm no longer a 'student'." She said, "He says there are only a few things we need to work through, one of those being my attacking. I'm not ruthless enough for him, I suppose."

This was an understatement. She wasn't ruthless enough for anyone, including Nadia. She flat out refused to attack anything that didn't look like it would actually kill her or someone else. Nadia had had to send away multiple opponents after hour long stand offs where she would simply sit and talk with them while they were restrained. There had been more than one interesting conversation, and more than a few she had reprimanded for their poor behavior, but she had only aggressively attacked two herself and that was because Nadia had gotten distracted and allowed them to get too close to her.

"That's good to hear, maybe next time I have a mission. You can come with me," Asran said. Then shoved some rice into his mouth, and hummed in pleasure as the taste. Then went onto the noodle soup, and just kept eating. He hadn't realized just how hungry he was until he started eating. Sure he'd eaten people while on mission, but this was a different type of hunger. He soon tipped the bowl back, and gulped the soup down. Then set it down, and let out a belch into his fist. "Ugh, damn that is good. I really needed that, feeds the soul."

Ayrie laughed, "Apparently! I can't imagine eating military rations really satisfied your appetite for good food. Especially having been spoiled living here. I don't know what it is but the food here is just so good!"

She took a bite of her own food, following it with a large sip of wine.

“That’s because my powers have saturated this land. People who have visited my lands call me a god of harvest,” Asran said. Then shrugged as he ate the food tasted amazing it even brought a tear to his eye. As rations although better than others was still pretty terrible.

"Mmm. Well I can see why." Was all Ayrie said. She was busy watching him while she finished her glass of wine. One plate of food was quite enough for her, though if her stomach were bigger she would likely have eaten more. Now that she was full she had time to appreciate him while he was preoccupied with eating, though she was careful not to stare too intensely.

Asran easily ate the food that Ayrie was unable to finish. He gobbled it all up greedily, feeling like he deserved the meal after a job well done. He then enjoyed some fine wine, and leaned back letting his meal digest.
“This is rather enjoyable being here with you. Though life might get hectic soon. As I’m sure the church is more than a little pissed at me for taking their slave labor away. Hell, you’d think they were the demons instead of me. Which is really saying something,” he said with a chuckle.

"I like being here with you." She said with a smile, then, "I spoke with Gerrick and Darrin, they were able to hold the leaders off before you took the mines, but now they will be coming for you. It won't be long before they send people after you, after the city. They aren't my biggest fan either, but Gerrick says they are still hoping to turn me back."

She looked down at her hands, then back up at him, "They won't be able to, and anyone they send will be in for a rude awakening when they realize I'm not susceptible to their lies anymore."

“That’s good to hear, but there are certain Magic’s that could prove to be an issue. While I was freeing the children they mentioned a mage that had the ability to control others. That they’d planned on bringing him in to make the children work even harder. But, he’d gone overseas for an important mission,” Asran said with a a sigh looking mildly concerned. “If those rumors are true than I’m worried they’d be able to use you against me, against your will.”

"Well, he'll have to catch me off guard first, and if he were able to get me he'd have to fight me for every second that he's in my head." Ayrie wasn't in the mood to continue this line of conversation though, so she shook her head, looking at him with a smile. "I'd rather talk about things that are less depressing. It's the first time I've seen you in months. Let's have some fun together."

“Months? I’ve only been gone for a month and a half. I spent most of the time before leaving hanging out with you,” Asran said in confusion. Then blushed as he realized why it felt like months to her, and kinda rubbed the back of his head. “I kept track of everyday while I was gone. It did feel like it dragged on forever too,” he said.

Ayrie finished her glass of wine and set it on the table. "It felt like ages. Symphony was tired of me checking the calendar to see how many days you'd been gone."

She bit her lip, unsure what else to say other than what she was carefully avoiding. She desperately wanted to tell him she was in love with him, but she wanted to keep things casual until he made the next move. It was like playing cat and mouse. The cat didn't want to move until the mouse was exactly in the right position.

Asran smiled as he looked away not really sure what to say. He wanted to say he loved her, but at the same time was apprehensive about it. Was he truly ready for such a meaningful relationship again? He wasn’t sure, and that was what was stopping him from admitting he loved her.
“I counted the days too,” he said softly.

She smiled, the admission that he thought about her, missed her, and wanted to be back was better than she had hoped for. Though she wanted more she was content to wait for him to be ready. Astoria had done a number on him, and having only recently gotten closure she could understand his reluctance to go further than friendship.

"Well. What shall we do?" She asked. "I'm up for anything."

“Hmm, well we could spar. I want to see for myself just how strong you’ve become. Don’t worry you can’t really hurt me now that the curse has been broken,” Asran said with a shrug, and a smirk. “If anything it’d be like a toddler smacking at me. Annoying, but tolerable.”

Then crossed his arms to look at Ayrie expecting her to step up to his challenge. If she couldn’t at least do this, than maybe she really wasn’t the one for him. After all his mate had to be strong of will, and body.