The first sensation Kire registered was the humid air, then the feel of fine white sand under her boots. She paused for a moment, taking in the unfamiliar sight. “You’ve really taken to the seaside, haven’t you?” she noted with a smirk when he announced they were in Pokos. Not that she could blame him. Besides the heat, this beach was so different from Cordon, Uvano, or even the beaches back in Amria. There were places that fit the description, but she had yet to sail to them, herself. As she observed the trees, trying to identify the few of the jungle plants that looked familiar, she followed Ruli towards the town. Kire tugged repeatedly at the neckline of her shirt, fanning herself with it. “I might have slightly overdressed for this,” she said, chuckling. A few minutes of walking and her cheeks were already flushed.

The town itself had such a different character from the others. She liked it, though, especially how colorful everything was, and she could see how this place had been a candidate for the refugees. She stood outside the green building for a moment, admiring the windows before following Ruli inside. Upon going through the door, the smells from the spices and seafood greeted her, and she felt her stomach growling. She snuck a peek at the other tables, hoping to get a preview of what dishes to expect before sitting down at the table Ruli led her to.

As the thin woman approached, Kire spared the quickest of glances at the machete hanging from her hip before smiling at her, listening as Ruli ordered for them both. To Ruli’s whisper, Kire grinned. “I won’t be surprised if it is. I can see it.” She could easily picture Narda, Maika, and the rest enjoying their stay here. “What’re the specials—oh, you know what, I’ll wait for it.” She rested her left elbow on the table, her chin on her hand. “I can understand why you considered this place. Though it’s much warmer than any place I’ve ever been to before. But I suppose you’re much used to the heat than I.”

She looked at him, smirking a bit. “This might be the first time someone’s asked me to dinner like this,” she said after a pause.

Easing back in his chair, his back still tender, Ruli rest one arm on the table, the other on his lap. "I don't know what it is, but I've eaten here a few times, and I've never been disappointed." He explained, his eyes wandering the tavern. It was unkempt, the tables worn and one or two repaired from breaks. Ruli guessed brawls were behind it. Despite the current patrons being nothing more than tired looking fisherman or drunks, he was sure this place saw its fair share of bloody fighting. The walls were covered in worn wooden planks that could have easily been torn off an old boat, sparsely decorated now with old ship wheels, old paintings, and fishing netes.
The people here had sun-darkened skin and thick black hair, their eyes almond shaped and almost always brown. It made Ruli feel oddly at home, considering most of Ziad's people bore much the same colouring, though the constant traffic through the town had given them a bit of diversity.

"I figured as much." Ruli admitted when she said no ones ever asked her to dinner before. Then he realized how that sounded. "I mean ... you know what I mean. That y-you're busy and this isn't ... with court...." He cut himself off and rubbed his face, leaning on the table. "I'm not good at this." He admitted, peering at her through his fingers before the woman returned. Ruli retreated off the table as she sat their drinks down; two thick round glass cups with an amber liquid inside. Ruli thanked her and lifted his to drink. It was thicker than most drinks, the flavour of coconut, milk, and a very sweet liquor coating his tongue.

Kire absentmindedly flexed the fingers of her scarred hand as she looked around. "At the very least, seems like a place that'd keep you entertained," she commented. "I bet it has many a tale to tell."

Kire narrowed her eyes at him at his remark, then tried not too laugh when he stammered, finding it too oddly adorable to take too much offense. "I knew what you meant. And I rather like that you're not good at this. That makes two of us." She waited while the woman set their drinks down, then took a sip. "Oh. Gods. That's good," she muttered, taking a few more before looking back at him.

"Give yourself some credit. Starting with this drink, you're off to a good start. I've a terrible sweet tooth." She grinned, raising her glass at him. "To us being two awkward idiots." She took one more sip then set it down, not wanting to finish it all off before dinner arrived. Already she could feel that warm buzz setting in.

He lowered his drink, raising his eyebrow again. "So." He began, thinking. "The cake thing, in your strange visions. That probably works out well for you, if you've got a sweet tooth." He spun his glass on the table, feeling the low vibrations on the worn wood. "The place with the blue door I've mentioned before. It was where I lived in Ziad. You wandered past it when you were exploring." He'd meant to ask Envy his thoughts on these visions, but since Kire admitted Envy had spoken to her, he'd been cautious about mentioning anything strictly related to Kire.

"When you, oh." Ruli leaned back suddenly as the woman returned with their dinner. It was a set of four fried mollusks, each the size of their palm, and nestled in a bed of rice, fried vegetables, and small shrimp. With another thanks, Ruli leaned over his to cut into one of the mollusks. "When you get your throne back, what next?" Ruli asked. "Would you still have reasons to visit us?"

"Huh. It does, doesn't it?" Kire said, thinking about it, wondering what kinds of cakes he could do. I sound like Etta, she thought, amused. When he explained the house, she looked down at her right hand resting on the table, at the Ring on her finger. "I see. Very strange." How could these visions show her scenes that were definitely false but contained truths about Ruli? Was this still a reaction to his Touch, or something else?

Their food arrived, and Kire cooed at the sight of their plates. "We don't get these this big," she said, impressed, pointing at the shellfish with her fork. She cut into her food, thinking over his question. "I want to visit even when I don't have any pressing business," she said after having a bite of mollusk. "So far, I know I've been terrible at that, but I would like to visit just to see how everyone's doing. Being around you all, it feels like being around my own friends back home. It's nice to be around people who didn't know me primarily as Empress of Amria." She smiled at that. "Besides, don't want Envy thinking I only come around to take his foster sons away on dangerous adventures, after all." She smirked briefly at that, then remembered Gavin, sighing. "I don't know how wise it would be to bring him."

Ruli, too, wondered what the coincidence of the visions she had meant. That she knew things, like that he could bake, and knew the house, even without knowing its significance. A side effect of some power she had? He wasn't sure. Though he had heard of people having a sort or fortune telling gifts.

"These were a big reason Ysaryn voted for this place, but when we later found Úvano, she decided it was good enough. Though she hasn't found any in equivalent size." Ruli shrugged, digging into his own, popping a shrimp in his mouth as well. "Do you know that Envy's allowed it?" Ruli asked. "Not sure if it was mentioned to you. There are conditions, one of which is taken care of already. But Envy's given his okay." Ruli's eyes wandered over Kire and her expression. "Its still Gavin's choice." He offered, same as he told Envy.

"Conditions? No, I haven't been told yet," Kire said. "What kind of conditions?" Once Ruli explained it, she nodded. "Makes sense. I would have asked for something similar." She tasted the shrimp and vegetables next while Ruli pointed out that it was the lad's decision to make.

"I suppose. Yeah." Kire huffed. "He hasn't been given a lot of those. Hopefully we both don't come to regret it. But I guess that's the risk of making choices. If he changes his mind, I can take him back home, " she added, shrugging a shoulder as she continued with her meal. "And you?" She said after a while, "are you really alright with getting involved in someone else's war? You have a good, quiet life in Úvano without some Empress coming along to interrupt it. As much as she greatly appreciates the help, of course," she said, smirking at the last sentence.

"He didn't get that when he was involved the first time. I think being allowed the freedom of choice here will do more good. And It might be good for him to see first hand the horrors that war and blood magic can do. We put him in front of those exploding dolls, he may never touch the topic again."
Ruli wondered if this was really appropriate dinner talk as he bit into a mollusk.

As Kire asked about him, he looked up again, taking a drink as he thought it over. "Oddly enough, if this was something Risa was dragging us into, I'd be digging my heels in. But I don't mind. Not that I had much of a choice, literally being portal-dropped into the middle of a Gemini battlefield, mind you." Ruli smirked back at her. "Then Elva was beside herself over Ed and you weren't in any condition to be helpful, so again, no choice but to go back. Really, I think my hands are tied, at this point."

Kire pouted at him when he mentioned being dragged into the portal, but smirked afterward. “Risa seems the kind of person with whom you wouldn’t ever want to agree even when she’s doing you a favor,” she commented, remembering her first encounter with the haughty princess. “Not that I was much better when I was younger. I was much more obnoxious back then than I am now—I think? Young Empress, chip on her shoulder, newly-crowned, newly-orphaned. Toxic combination.”

She thought over his answer, though, particularly about not having much of a choice except to see the war through. “Alright. But know that your hands aren’t completely tied. Just let me know if you think you want out, and I’ll take you and Gavin back home. I think even if you didn’t stay for the whole campaign, once you teach Daryll how the wards work, it’s manageable. After the war council, we could—” She looked up suddenly, wrinkling her nose. “Look at me go on about work while at dinner. See? I’m not very good at this, either.” She clicked her tongue, then had a bit more of the sweet drink.

“The important questions then. What kind of cakes can you bake?” she asked, grinning. “Precy teased me that Etta and I are alike. Near-bottomless appetite, and a fiend for sugar. The impulsiveness she seemed to have gotten, but hopefully she doesn’t take after me too much. Either way, I should warn you that she’d probably badger you about that next time she sees you. It has been a while since we’ve all had a celebratory dessert of some sort.”

With a chuckle, he shrugged. "I see why theres a rule at your house against business at the table. Especially with the younger ones around." Ruli mused, stabbing a few vegetables before shoving them into his mouth to chew. Kire asked about the kinds of cakes, and mentioned Etta and her inevitable desire desire for something sweet when he returned. Ruli paused for a moment to wonder what he would try to make.

"There are a lot of cakes out there, I suppose." He admitted. "A favourite is this tower cake made of vanilla and cinnamon, with a vanilla icing. Personally, I like cinnamon bread. I'm not big on sweets, actually, in fact I rarely touch them, but for some reason I've always liked cinnamon." He tilted his head, holding her gaze. "I wonder if thats why you smell cinnamon when you sense my magic."

“Tower cake,” Kire repeated, already imagining it. “I’d love to try that sometime. You’ll have to remind me to save some for the little ones, though.” She chuckled a bit at that. For some reason Kire wasn’t too surprised when he confessed to not liking sugary things, though when he said he liked cinnamon, she grinned. “It does make sense, yes. The signature seems to depend on some aspect of the magic-wielder’s personality. Like with Envy with the scent of tobacco and desert flowers. After I left Gavin with you and Envy the first time, when I came back after three months his signature had changed a bit. Much more distinct from the other Gemini, like he was coming into his own as a person.”

She then blushed, suddenly remembering something. “You know, I couldn’t touch, much less eat anything with cinnamon for a couple of months after I last left without getting a vivid recollection of when we—you know. Which meant I couldn’t drink any of that spiced wine again without blushing furiously.” She grinned, ears red at her confession, before bent her head and went back to her meal, chuckling a little incredulously at herself for saying that out loud. “They thought I was trying to cut out alcohol. Anyway.” She cleared her throat. “If you’re open to it, after the war, and things have settled down, we could have cake. And I’ll show you around. You’ve only ever seen the North, and two battlefields. Ed’s already got an invitation to Ysaryn too, so I’ll be coming back and forth for that, I imagine. And Narda won’t forgive me if she doesn’t get to talk to Envy again.”

It made sense, indeed, Ruli realized. Envy's scent definitely clicked, but he wondered what Gavin or anyone else would smell like. Ysaryn's, he recalled Kire mentioning. What about each of her cousins? Or was it only people with active magic? That made more sense to him, considering she never mentioned Zeke, who had no magic, or her family.

As she blushed, Ruli tore himself out of his thoughts in question, before she answered. "Is there cinnamon in that?" He asked, suddenly realizing that was why he had enjoyed it so much. Then he chuckled. "I really did make an impression, didn't I?" He grinned at her. "I can't say I'd object to seeing more of your world. Preferable someplace warmer, but I don't exactly mind hiding inside with warm wine." That sounded too much like an invitation. It was his turn to clear his throat. "I wouldn't mind baking for you or your cousins. When we go back, I'll make something for them to gorge themselves on while we're off with the business of kick ass."

Kire grinned through her blush. “You really did, yes,” she answered, holding his gaze before she looked back down at her dinner again, though at his comment about where to go next, particularly about holing up in the North with warm wine, she went crimson once more. He cleared his throat though, so she had probably just misinterpreted what he had meant. “Right. Yes.” She smiled at his offer to bake for the cousins. “They would go ballistic. And hopefully help tide them over till we come back. They’d been cross with me for some time because I couldn’t see them, and honestly I was a mess after the usurpation. I didn’t know how to comfort them when they needed it most. So, lately, we’d made sure to eat together again as a family as much as possible for dinner, for a start. And the ‘no war talk’ rule, too. They’d been through so much already.”

She went into idle talk in between eating her meal, asking about what else he had eaten here, and what other places they had considered besides this one. “Could we walk at the beach for a bit after?” she asked as she finished her food, before moving on to the last few sips of her drink, making a note to ask him to have dinner with her again here sometime. She almost said the next one should be on her, though she didn’t want to be overly presumptuous and make him feel pressured to do this again. Then again, he didn’t object to seeing more of Amria with her, but she wasn’t sure how much to press her luck.

Later, just like what she did at Úvano, she pulled off her boots and walked along the water. It was still warm despite the approach of twilight, but the water was nice and cool, the sand soft under her bare feet. “That was a really nice meal. Good choice,” she said, grinning as she wiggled her toes in the sand. Now and then she would fiddle with a shell with her big toe, watching it roll around in the water when the waves came in. She was thoughtful, pondering something as she looked back out at the setting sun. “Do you want to see what a dragon looks like?” she asked. “I mean—you showed me those bits of memory from your childhood, and I’ve been unintentionally getting weird visions into your life. Consider it a trade?”

"Envy was always careful to keep the more violent topics away from the kids he raised." He offered as a shared common. "Only breached it if the asked first. Although, everyone had to learn basic combat for self defense." He admitted. He fell into the pattern of small talk, the conversations about food, the places he'd visited -one of which, to his distaste, was in the north where there was no sign of snow but the ground constantly cold and wet. It became easier to relax during this, being unafraid of interrogation or prying.
Or it was the alcohol.

When Kire asked about walking on the beach, Ruli naturally agreed, always willing to visit a beach and look over the ocean now that he'd been introduced to them. When they were finished and he'd paid the leering woman who served them, they wandered out again, across the street and into the thick for the brief time before they came across to the soft sand. Already barefoot, Ruli watched her remove her shoes and wiggle her toes with amusement. "Thank you. I've no skill yet with seafood. Not to Ysaryn's standards, anyway, but even she likes their cook, so I figured they're good." He admitted.

When she offered to show him a dragon, Ruli froze, for a moment wondering what sort of Amrian slang that was and what it really meant. When she clarified, he still looked uneasy. "Erm, you're not going to show me you getting bitten, are you?" He asked cautiously. "I really don't want to feel that. Nor more you relive it."
When she once again clarified, he nodded, then, rolling his shoulders. "Alright." He agreed, raising his hand to offer to her in silence. When her hand fit into his, he closed his eyes, worming his way into her memory.

"Gods definitely not,” Kire said, wrinkling her nose at his question. “I am the last person who wants to relive that feeling again. Just—stop short of when my fight with it begins.” She took his hand, feeling the warmth of his skin, and closed her eyes.

When she opened her eyes again, she was wearing armor on a clear day in the middle of a ring of hills. It had been cold, despite the sun shining full on her and her armor, and she remembered the feeling of using the portal for the first time to traverse worlds. Not a good sensation to have, especially right before expecting a fight. In one hand she carried a long lance, in the other a shield. Her newly-forged sword hung from her belt, an expensive magical artifact Daryll had made for her at great cost.

The Seers had sent her to another world for her first great quest. A test, she knew. A Paladin was more than just a guardian for her own empire, and the Seers wanted to see just how much she was willing to do for people who weren't her own. This world wasn’t too different from Amria at first, until she saw that it had seven moons, which she could still faintly see on the horizon. From the old stories about dragons back home, she figured that a lance was the proper weapon to deal with giant serpents.

Then one of the hills stirred.

The Bakunawa, the people of this world called it, but unmistakably a dragon. Eater of moons, enemy of the sun. It was both everything she thought it would be, and none of these. As sunlight shone upon its large scales, it glimmered like a fire opal, many colors dancing like refracted rainbows on its serpentine body. Its head looked like a cross between an iguana and a viper, and its large eyes were black, with red irises that resembled a bonfire in the dark. She hadn’t realized she had been gawking at it for such a long time, because the dragon didn’t pay her any attention at all. Either it didn’t see her, or didn’t think much of her. She didn’t blame it. She looked insignificant next to it as, one by one, the hills shuddered to life until all the "hills" revealed themselves to be segments of its whole body. She remembered thinking she just might die by the end of this, because this was an impossible task. It could swallow her whole, and it was beautiful.

I can’t, she thought, eyes wide at the sight. How could one fight a dragon? It was practically a god on earth. She shared blood with it, if this was the same kind of dragon that used to rule Amria. Her heartbeat thudded loud in her mind, her body filled with a feeling she couldn't pinpoint. Fear, yes. But also, the closest she had probably gotten to something like belief.

Kire opened her eyes again, though her gaze looked as if she was still far away. That awe and fear, the excitement in her body, still remained, though was quickly fading. Alongside this, too, another flash of false memory: Ruli sitting across her in a bath. Why that? Kire rubbed her face, shaking the strange scene from her mind. It seemed so mundane and unrelated to what she had shown Ruli that it was almost funny.

“I’m probably the only Amrian alive today who’s seen a dragon,” she said wistfully, distracting herself from the vision.

Ruli had no words. He had never seen anything so brilliant before. So large and magnificent. It moved with the sort of grace elves would envy. The glow of its eye was brighter than the way Ysaryn's and Envy's glowed. It's like seeing a God. Ruli's own heart echoed Kire's as he stared in awe through her memory.

When the memory faded, Ruli withdrew his magic, gazing down at Kire. "Holy Gods." He breathed, trying to recall the dragon's form in his mind, now. "After that, this war must barely scare you." He breathed, his hand still holding hers. "Are you descended from them? I mean, that one?"

Kire grinned. “You give me too much credit. I still get plenty scared of many things, and war is one of them. But—yeah. Facing a dragon and living to tell the tale does wonders for your nerves, turns out. And I mostly worry about others.” She let her hand linger in his grip for a few moments before gently tugging it free. “As for this war, well, my anger at the Gemini wins out over whatever fear I may have, if only a little bit.” She shrugged. “Alternatively, maybe I’m just too thick-headed to be scared shitless at things I should be backing away from,” she added, smirking.

She stepped back a bit to find a spot to sit on, facing the sunset. The colors reminded her of the memory she had just shared with him, and she smiled softly at the thought before pondering his question. “Maybe. There are stories, art, songs about dragons in Amria, but none of them quite measured up to the one I saw. Either nothing that humans make could ever really capture something so godlike, or this is a different kind of dragon.” Kire frowned. “The Seers aren’t exactly the most straightforward people I’ve met. If they even are people. The most they’d told me after I woke up after days of unconsciousness is that I was successful in my battle, and the dragon had gone back to hibernating. I should hope so, I portalled into its mouth and stabbed around in there before it tried to eat me.” She wrinkled her nose at the memory.

She looked down at the Ring in her scarred hand. “You know how in legends and fairy-tales, there’s barely any explanation for how the hero gets his powers? It’s just some deity saying, ‘here lad, magic sword, go forth upon thine holy quest’. Or the hero was off on some other errand when he stumbles upon some mysterious forest and presto! Magic animal grants you wishes. When I got older, I’ve always wondered about that. And then I go and meet some Seer who practically gives me the ‘here, magic Ring, take it’ speech. I mean, the discussion was longer than that, but when I look back on that moment, there weren’t a lot of real answers there.”

Kire shook her head, sighing. “Sorry. Rambling.” She grinned, running a hand through her hair.

Ruli stuffed his suddenly empty hand into his pocket, somehow feeling strange for having held hers for so long before he noticed. When Kire sat, he sat himself down with some two feet between them, his eyes on the lazily approaching water before slithering away again. She spoke about the stories where some entity sent the hero on a path, and he had little information on the genre. Most tales in this world began with someone just getting tired of being under anothers thumb and raising hell against them. Few deities involved. But he didn't say that, figuring it wouldn't help her current revelation.

"Rambling is fine." Ruli reassured her. He couldn't get over the dragon, his mind still circling back to the fiery eye and its deadly looking head. "So, you didn't actually kill it? The dragon?" He glanced sideways at her. "Doesn't that mean it could wake again?"

“Nope. Didn’t kill it. Couldn’t.” Kire toyed with a pebble before tossing it into the water. “All the hacking and piercing and slashing I did? Barely hurt it. Or if I did hurt it, it wasn’t enough to really maim it. Meanwhile, it kept flicking me off like I was a gnat. I had to tear off my chestplate at some point because the armor had caved in and was making it hard for me to breathe. Hence the whole ridiculous plan to go stabbing around in its mouth.” She hugged her knees. “The dragon will sleep for a thousand years. I’ll be long dead by then, so presumably it’s going to be the next Paladin’s problem. Good luck to the poor fucker,” she said, chuckling. “Anyway, by the time I had realized I had no prayer of actually killing it, I lost desire to do so. You’ve seen it. Even if I could kill it, it was a dragon. I don’t know if I’d bear actually maiming it.”

"Truthfully, I'm glad you didn't." He admitted. "Even if it was doing harm to the villages or people of its world, whatever, its still a dragon. As you said. And beautiful. Not that I'm saying dangerous things should get a pass if they're pretty to look at, considering my ... recent events. But I feel like killing it would have been a crime on its own."

Ruli sighed, watching the water devour the pebble she'd thrown. He was quiet for a long time, thinking. "Is there a real point to this?" He asked cautiously. "Us, I mean. You're an empress. You'll have to marry some dick noble one day. So are we just... fun while you can?"