A huge yawn cracked Ryan's jaw. This late at night, nobody else was around in the corridors except him and Avia.
No, they were all tucked nice and snug in bed. Ryan really ought to join them – now more than ever, he needed all the sleep he could get – but after hours of tossing and turning he'd given it up for a lost cause. The insistent gnawing in his stomach didn't help things.
So he figured he might as well grab himself a bite to eat. Now he was making his way to the galley, Avia tagging along as always and a helpful globe-fish bobbing above his head.
That jerk Cay might rule the galley like his personal kingdom, but at least he never locked it. Ryan opened the door with ease and slipped inside, checking the crowded shelves for anything worth eating.
Avia squeezed in after him. Even in her glamour, her head almost brushed the ceiling. Which made Ryan wonder how the hell the taller crew members, like Amaro and Kress, managed to fit inside. Then again, he'd never glimpsed either of them anywhere near Cay's kingdom.
Anyway, thinking about random shit wouldn't fill his stomach. He brushed aside another dangling string of garlic bulbs, sweeping his eyes across the pots, jars, and casks. Surely one of them must be hiding those crispy pork-rind-like things. What manner of monster they came from, Ryan didn't know and kind of didn't want to. All he needed to know was that they were pure concentrated deliciousness.
"Ryan," Avia said. "Should you really be doing this?"
"Aw, stuff it," Ryan said, opening a lid to a jar that turned out to be full of stinky pickled vegetables. He quickly slammed it shut. "I'm already here, aren't I?"
"Still...if you had eaten your vegetables with dinner, you would not be hungry now."
Ryan screwed up his face. "You kidding? There's no way I'd put that crap in my mouth."
One thing he'd learned about Avia's personality, now that she'd started talking more often, was that she liked to nag. A lot. Almost like she was his mom, except Ryan's mom had never nagged him about anything before. She was usually too busy for that.
It should've annoyed Ryan more than it did. Well, it did, but he also...kind of liked it?
'What am I thinking?' Damn, he must be hungrier than he thought.
But Lady Luck must be smiling on him, because he hit the jackpot with the next jar he opened. Grinning triumphantly, he wrapped the precious cargo in his arms and tromped toward the door to the mess hall.
Avia drifted after him. "Forgive me, Ryan."
Another annoying thing about her; she could be pretty slow, all things considered. Still hung up over shit Ryan had already put behind him.
"Yeah, yeah, it's all good."
He had to extract one hand to open the door, forcing him to cradle the jar very, very carefully. But just as he grabbed the knob, Avia's voice came from behind.
"Ryan."
"Huh?" Only some last-minute squeezing saved him from dropping the jar. "Can't you see I'm busy here?"
"I have been thinking lately. About my...past."
"Your past?" A chill shot down Ryan's spine. He whirled around, facing Avia.
Of course, her expression was blank as ever. "Yes. Before I met you. I...do not remember much. But it is slowly coming back to me. I was...." She gazed up at the ceiling, then back at him. "In a Fortress."
"A Fortress?" Once again, it was a minor miracle Ryan didn't drop the jar.
Well, he supposed it made sense, since Avia was a homunculus. Either she'd have to come from a Fortress or before the Rending. Still, he'd never given much thought to her origins. Why did it matter when she was with him now?
"Yes." Avia nodded, looking more confident. "Like I said, I do not remember much. And the memories I do have are not...very clear. But...there is one thing. A little boy."
"Huh?" Ryan squinted. What was she getting at?
"I was...to take care of him. That was...my duty. Yes. I remember this. I suppose when he grew up, I was no longer of use to his family. They must have discarded me."
She said it matter-of-factly as ever, but Ryan's blood boiled. What the hell, why would anyone want to discard Avia? Homunculi didn't grow on trees – okay, maybe they did in Fortresses, but still. She was Avia.
"That little boy...." Avia paused. Something strange was glimmering in her eyes, something that made Ryan's chest tight. "He was very much like you. Now I wonder...if that is the reason why I chose you."
"Say what?" Ryan drew himself to his full height, lifting his chin indignantly. "Are you comparing me to some bratty little kid? Hello, I'm the Crowley heir!"
"Of course," Avia said, but Ryan couldn't miss the amused tinge to her voice. And for all his annoyance, her words wouldn't stop echoing in his mind. 'I chose you.'
It was the first time he'd heard her say it aloud. He already knew it, of course he did, but it didn't hurt to get the confirmation.
~*~
All things considered, Ryan was in a decent mood when he stepped into the mess hall. And he was sure it'd get even better once he settled down with some monster rinds for company.
What he didn't expect was to breathe in the salty scent of the sea. A familiar scent, and he found its source quickly enough, sitting on their lonesome at one of the empty tables. That weird gull bird was perched in front of Fia, and they were holding some shredded jerky to its beak.
Well. This was awkward. Ryan sure hadn't expected someone else to be here.
And he couldn't just skedaddle, because Fia had already noticed him. They turned his way, blinking huge dark eyes.
It was kind of weird, Ryan thought idly, how much depth those eyes had for being solid black. Almost like he was staring into the ocean at night.
Then Fia blinked, and the illusion was ruined, and Ryan felt like a massive idiot. "Uh, hey," he managed. "Couldn't sleep too?"
"I know...." Fia rubbed beneath their eyes, and for the first time Ryan noticed how dark the skin was beneath them, like it was bruised. "I know Prince Darian told me to, but I just...I can't."
Yeah, Ryan figured if a bunch of evil demons had taken over his home, he wouldn't be able to rest at night either. Clearing his throat, he headed over to Fia's table. Avia followed, of course.
"Er, uh, hey." Damn, he was so bad at this kind of shit, but he felt like he had to say something. "It's okay. We've beaten those Infernal Legion guys before. They won't be a problem at all."
Fia blinked at him. To Ryan's alarm, their eyes seemed dangerously wet.
Shit, shit shit! He'd already fucked up. Quick, find a way to fix things –
"Uh, this bird," burst out of his mouth. "Is it yours?"
"Huh?" As Fia pursed their lips into a frown, Ryan wished he could curl up under the floor and die. 'Real smooth, dumbass!'
Dammit, most of the time he knew exactly what to say. Whether it was picking up girls, hanging out with friends, trash talking rival wizards. Why was it so hard now? Wasn't like he had no experience comforting a friend when they were down in the dumps. He'd helped his pals through plenty of breakup dramas.
Though if he thought about it, their way of dealing with it was getting shitfaced and slagging off the girl in question. But hey, why couldn't he adapt that to this situation? Hurl some cheap potshots at the Infernal Legion.
Just as the brilliant idea hit him, the frown turned into a shy little smile. Fia stroked the bird's head, making it raise its crest of feathers.
"This guy's not mine. His name's Halkis, he belongs to Chief Lahu. I thought he might be hungry 'cause of his long journey, but he doesn't seem to like this much." Sighing, Fia stared at the jerky strips in their hand.
"Oh, huh." A light bulb went off in Ryan's head. "Maybe he'll like these? You'd hafta be crazy to say no to them."
With that, he set the jar on the table, popped off the lip, and yanked out a handful of beautifully crispy, perfectly crackly monster rinds. These he held out to the bird, who regarded him with baleful golden eyes.
Ryan grinned back. Hey, he had a good hand with animals. The family dog Sophie liked him the most.
But as Halkis stared, and stared, Ryan's confidence in his skills plummeted to the core of the earth. What the hell was he doing, trying to feed monster rinds to a skeptical bird? His friends would have a field day if they saw him like this.
Just when he considered tossing the rinds into his own mouth, Halkis lunged forward. Something hard clacked against Ryan's palm, and the next thing he knew, the rinds were nowhere in sight. Halkis tossed his head back, throat convulsing.
"Oh!" Fia clapped their hands. "He does like them! Thank you, Ryan!"
"Eh, I didn't do much." A weird heat flooded Ryan's face, making him feel giddy enough to run around the mess hall singing. Of course, he'd never do anything so stupid.
Still, at least he'd gotten Fia to smile. And somehow that didn't feel like a small accomplishment at all.