"Well, well, well, what we got here. The storm is coming, what a pickup line, casanova."
He smiled while waving at Elizebeth's silhouette changed abruptly. He turned around in the direction of the voice. Among the colorful trees, he saw two small bodies perched on the branch. The same tree vibrant crazily and the leaves fluttered madly.
He had only said farewell to the beautiful girl not a few seconds ago and his world already was being disrupted far too often for his liking. He knew these two ultimate beings would come at his neck every single day just to share their thoughts about her. Which is fine, expected, part of the life under the nosy rulers. What he's annoyed at was their eyes' insistence that they should be closed to form any connection between them.
Logan frowned and entered the river and swam over them in the opposite direction. "What do you want to say to me?"
He could hear the two birds celebrating and he just rolled his eyes. Just what he did to deserve such punishment? To put up with the nosy rulers would disrupt his peace entirely. They were the rulers for a reason and some of it was nasty. The forest respected them as much as other beings.
In the world, these two ruled each of their respective areas. They were not many, but they were the strongest even alone. And now, these supposed lone beings were moving in two. Deepened the respect from everything around.
"You met her, our human." The sparrow chirped loudly in a high-pitch.
Logan put the flowers on the rock and leaned back against the same rock, giving his back to them. He wanted to say all the variations of the words 'no' he knew, in all the languages he could recall, but the crow beat him to it.
"It's a law to share the good news with your rulers when he is caught."
"Fine," he sighed, resigned. "What do you want to know?"
"Great, great." The sparrow chirped again.
Logan picked one of the flowers and occasionally bit the flower and tore it off. He wanted to recover peacefully and tend to his injury. He's not sure who he's more annoyed at either the loud sparrow or the crow that exhibited powerful energy even though in the middle of disguise. "I don't deserve this," he said to himself but was only met with a loud chirp from the sparrow.
The crow threw a few things right behind his back. Each bounced, hitting his back before it landed precisely at the side of the flower. Logan scrunched his nose, it smelled like heaven.
"Is this my favorite human bread? Pizza?" He turned around, brightening considerably, as he saw the paper bags in front of him. It's hot, still too.
"I didn't know which shop you enjoyed the bread the most, so I bought one at each place." The crow answered in a proud voice. The intention of the bribery was clear, however.
"I like pizza bread, thank you. Whatever kind," He said, reaching forward and grabbing one of the bags.
"Ah!" The crow stopped him.
Logan blinked and glanced up at the crow, questioning but his hand still on top of the very bag.
"Deal?"
"Oh," he blinked again. His fingers lax on the stone while he munched the remaining flower before gulping it down his throat forcefully. It was a trap. The crow got him so bad.
"Give and take. There's nothing free in this world, my dearest Logan." The sparrow flew from the branch. "You want this, you have to promise us." It stated as it landed right in front of the bread. The voice was evil to Logan's ears.
"You evil creature…" He roared.
"Give some respect to your rulers." The sparrow winked.
"Act accordingly if you want my respect, Lord Phoenix." Logan scoffed. Folded his arms.
"Child, it's an easy task. Be her close friend until she is ready to meet us. Easy." The crow flew towards him too.
Huh, what a troublesome duo; he sighed. Took another flower and threw everything inside his mouth without tore it first as before. These two duos irked him so much to care about the food. He's eyeing the paper bags from time to time too.
The sparrow jumped closer, closing the distance. Peering at him in its knowing smile.
They sat in silence for moments, Logan staring into a void, mouth munched the flower still. The crow took notes of his long silence yet didn't say anything to give him the respect he deserved and the sparrow a.k.a the phoenix chirping in a bird language at the crow's side.
Logan grabbed the same bag once again after thinking.
"You took the bag." Called the phoenix in an amused voice.
Logan's lips quirked into a half-smile and he turned around to face the two rulers, shrugging. "Ultimate supplies of pizza bread."
"One bread a day."
"Two." He made a deal.
"One." The crow denied him.
"How about three, Lord Dragon?"
The crow sighed, his chest moving slowly. "You call me Lord, you disrespect me, still."
"Respect is earned, My Lord."
"Smartass." The crow spat. "Two bread. No more discussion."
"Deal." He took the hot bread from the hot paper bag and bit it. The tenderness of the bread spreading inside his mouth almost immediately. The tomato paste flavor running around inside his mouth, the sausage was so soft, melting. This was the finest bread he ever ate.
"Enjoy our offering to your fullest, my man. We have a long day ahead of us. I want to know every detail about her. Our dragon lord wanted to know even her favorite food." The phoenix nudged the crow naughtily.
"You want to know about her? Your energy is surrounding her?" He prompted, taking another bite of the delicious bread. Taking his time in savoring the delicious food and appreciating every single munching down to his throat.
The crow shrugged and watched him taking another bite very slowly like he was eating in a commercial video. "We blessed her, didn't have a chance to talk to her yet."
He frowned. "You stalk her?"
"Stalk? What a bad choice of word. What we did was to assure her wellness." The crow looked effectively peeved.
Logan raised a brow. "I'm sorry?"
"We are not exactly in the right state to introduce ourselves to her. Her family hated the magical creatures so much." Defended Phoenix for both of them.
"They are?"
Phoenix narrowed their eyes, "yes, they considered us a nuisance."
Logan stopped munching, furrowed his brow, trying to remember any disdain stare from the lady and her people but drawing a blank. "I don't remember receiving any sarcastic remarks from her people."
Phoenix rolled their eyes. "I can see that. It's the lady's doing. They pledge their loyalty to her." Told the phoenix at last.
Logan stared at Phoenix, his lips curling into a scowl. "You stalked her again."
The dragon raised a brow and stared at him with his silent growl.
"My Lords are guiding her wellness." He changed the narratives quickly to protect himself from the anger of the silent dragon in front of him.
The dragon closed his mouth and tilted his beak up, staring at Logan in terse silence.
Logan cowered, uncomfortable under his intense gaze. "My Lords are protecting the fragile lady."
The dragon raised both brows skeptically.
"I'm sorry, My Lords." He swallowed and looked away. Lowered his gaze to respect both beings in front of him.
The sparrow hummed and tried to soothe the heavy atmosphere. "Don't fight, don't fight. We are in this together for the beautiful lady."
"Meredith. That's what she told me her name was." Spoke Logan tried to appease the dragon from getting angry at him.
"Meredith?" Both spoke at the same time.
"Yes," Logan nodded his head clumsily. Bit the empty paper bag contemplated taking another bag.
"Weird." Phoenix tilted their head in uncertainty.
"She is Meredith, alright. We listen to her." The dragon said periodically.
Logan looked up at the phoenix and the dragon respectively, peering at them, his eyes searching for something. The dragon cleared his throat and looked away, the phoenix just chirping again without knowing the real entity of the meaning of the chirping anyway.
"Are we having a problem here?" The dragon threatened Logan with his dark demeanor. His real demeanor. The demeanor is regarded as the highest in the whole world.
"No." Slowly as if coming to a realization. He turned away while sneaking his hand to take another bag of bread. He hummed lowly when he reached one and brought it closer to him.
The phoenix groaned inwardly. The heavy atmosphere came again. It nudged the dragon. "Let's go. We have things to do."
"You have been bribed. Do your job prettily, yeah." The dragon still held his gaze steady on Logan.
"I will." He obeyed without a second thought.
The dragon opened his black wings, still in his crow form. "She's not fragile and she is my bride." The dragon flew away after that without taking another glance at him.
Logan was stupified by the sudden confession. The dragon just dropped the bomb and left without offering any explanation at all. He alternatively asked for an explanation from his other lord.
"It is what it is." Phoenix which inside the sparrow body flew too after bidding goodbye to Logan in their sneaky laugh.