"Kou?"
There was a heavy feeling on Kou's shoulder. It was like carrying a medium-sized boulder. It wasn't the heaviest he carried; as a matter of fact, he could lift this all day even if he's asleep.
"Kou? Kou!" the king's paladin snapped out from his light submersion of slumber when his left cheek was firmly pulled by King Kairon's fingers. Kairon was staring at him with relief and amusement. He always had that gentle look on his face. Donned on him was an apron smeared with yesterday's tomato juice. He was wearing a commoner's clothes: a long black tunic which ends mid-thigh and loose-fitting trousers. The only thing royally made for him that he managed to carry along with him was his ankle boots with a blue gemstone in the middle, but even those were slightly tattered.
"Did you doze off while working again? I told you not to work too hard, didn't I?"
Kou adjusted the bundle of oak logs he cut down for the firewood. "My king, Kou isn't working too hard. Kou is just taking a power nap so Kou could work more."
Kairon couldn't help but chuckle in the midst of his sigh. "That equates to what I was saying of 'working too hard', Kou. Now, put those logs down for a bit and nap. I'll chop them."
Kou stepped back, moving the logs away from his reach as if he didn't want to share his toys. The real reason he didn't want Kairon to take them was because he didn't want his king to strain himself. Chopping logs was a very unkingly task to do.
"Kou will do it after Kou naps."
Kairon swayed his head. "That won't do. We'll share the household tasks, didn't I tell you that?"
It had been three years since Kairon's monarchy ended. No one knew he was alive. After El' Azar collapsed, Kou and him lived in a remote cabin. If they resided far away from humans, they'd also be distancing themselves from engaging with viels and vessels.
Of course living with a king and a knight with no one to rely on when it came to house tasks was downright chaotic and horrendous. The cabin was in a topsy-curvy situation for the first few months. Neither of them knew how to clean, cook, wash clothes, or build anything. Kairon merely had the knowledge to keep the economy stable and plan strategies for war but never had he held a frying pan. Frying an egg proved to be more complex than silencing the sizzling egg heads of nobles in the senate hall. With Kairon's angry look, the nobles and other officials would zip their mouths shut, but with that egg, no matter how much he would say: "Stop, this is an order!" the oil would splatter on him like lava.
Kou's beastly growls didn't subdue the egg's terror either. His "Stop in the name of the king" led to a burnt breakfast that left a bitter taste on every bite. Kou didn't show any disgusted expression. He was a knight. Sometimes he'd get to eat and sometimes he would go on days without having a meal. Napping was a good way of eliminating hunger. Kairon on the other hand, couldn't help but grimace from his own cooking. His respect for the royal chefs, maids, and other helpers grew immensely.
"I'll do better next time, Kou."
The knight looked up, seeing the determined look on Kairon's face. "I'll cook the best fried egg for you next time."
Kou smiled and then gobbled up the rest of his meal. "King Kairon cooks like a chef! Kou approves!"
Kairon laughed, ruffling his hair. "Liar."
El' Azar was left untouched by the new monarch. No person was valiant enough to venture inside. No one sent a search party to see if Kairon was still alive. If they did, Kou would be able to sense their smell. They immediately assumed he had fallen along with the capital and moved on to the next ruler.
Kou and Kairon would visit the ruined capital everyday, reminiscing about the good and the bad. Later on, during their stroll, the knight saw the loose threads on Kairon's sleeve, forewarning that it would soon tear. He stopped on his tracks, feeling guilty. Kairon shouldn't be in this situation. He was born a royal. He had saved this country. It was only fair for him to come back to the throne and rule again.
Kairon noticed his blank stare. His smile mellowed down. "What's wrong, Kou?"
"Kou will go to the new capital and tell them that you are alive. Your Maje–"
"I am no longer a king, Kou." Kairon extended his roughened hand from all the sword training. "My reign is already over."
Kairon had everything back when he still sat on the throne. He had the wealth, the power, the trust of his people and the favor of the Gods. But after the viels rebelled and the capital was overrun by vessels and Kou's past comrades, he couldn't help but compare what Kairon had and what he didn't anymore.
"Do you think I am unhappy with you?"
The knight was taken aback by his question. Kairon continued talking. "I could be mistaken for a pauper but I didn't lose anything precious to me, Kou. I lost my title and my fortune. I'm probably eulogized already, but at the end of all the madness that has gone by, I still have you. I'm still with you. That's all that matters."
Kou grabbed the extended hand of Kairon, walking to his side. "But if the day comes when you realize that I have nothing else to offer in exchange for your loyalty, who am I to stop you, Kou?"
"You are the one who named Kou, the one who dressed me, fed me, and rebuilt parts of Kou that they destroyed. King or not Kou will stay. King or not Kou will be with you always."
Kairon interlaced his fingers with Kou's, gripping him with a protective strength.
"Let's find that cookbook in the royal library. I want to learn how to cook stew."
Kou followed his steps. "Won't you let Kou cook this time?"
"Have you forgotten how you burnt the deer from the outside and left the inside raw with the heart still beating?"
............
"How is he?" Basil queried, his arms were crossed, not minding the shivering leaf behind Karma.
Boota shut the door. He raked his dark blue talons with sharp silver fingernails through his white-feathered head. His wings and pale skin were ethereal-like as if he was a fallen angel or a creature of the snow. He was the caladrius of the royal family, healing King Kairon of his chronic disease. He led the assassination of Kairon's mother since he had the closest access to her. He was almost the same height as Karma, never growing. He appeared to be stuck in his puberty.
"He'll live." Boota scanned the room with his slanted and sharp eyes that had an obvious and bizarre split of colors in each iris: blue and yellow. "Why do you want him to live, anyway? We tried to kill him two and a half centuries ago."
"That's two and a half centuries ago, Boota. Let's move past that," Soleil scolded.
Boota scoffed. The kettle released a high-pitch scream as steam came out of the hole. Jinx fainted for a few seconds before returning to his duty to express his fear of the viels in this small treehouse. Basil couldn't possibly fit but he was tall enough to reach the door.
"Tea anyone? I can't promise I won't poison you all for ruining my nap."
Karma was restraining himself from lashing out on the bird. If he was the one who could help Kou, he wouldn't risk it or else Boota might as well kill the knight if he was to be shown any signs of ungratefulness.
Boota handed out fancy white teacups he had stolen from the castle during their rebellion, pouring hot tea in each of them. He stole a lot from the castle aside from the tea set. There were boxes of gold, jewelry, and trinkets around them.
Basil sniffed the drink, wincing from the herbal and healthy scent. "What's in this?"
"The bubonic plague," the healer drawled. "It's green tea. Try to slurp something that's not human fluids, would you?"
Boota took a sip of the tea, peering at the room with one of his observant and mocking eyes.
"Can you explain why you burned General Kou and rushed him to me? Did you suddenly doubt your decisions but realized you can't scrape off the burnt surface from the toast anymore?"
Soleil curled her fingers on her thighs. She was condemning herself about what happened to him. "I had a pact with a human. We had to tame him for him to serve the prince."
Boota frowned, setting his cup down on the table. "I should kill him off then, shouldn't I? I'd do him that favor."
Boota was about to stand to end it all for Kou, but Basil hissed like the snake he was. "Don't move a single feather. Do what you're told and we'll get Kou off your back once he can wash his own arse again."
"And what? Beat him to death so that he can be forced to be a knight for another? He'd rather choose death, I'm sure you noticed that."
"He just needs to understand that Kairon isn't the only reason for him to live! I wanted to show him there's more to life than–"
"Great way of showing, Soleil, you melted his eyeballs! I'm sure he saw everything with his eye sockets!" Basil snarled.
"Just—" Karma blurted out, cutting the tense atmosphere and hidden grudges they had for each other. "Just help him…please."
Jinx stopped shaking. He never heard Karma beg before. It was unusual. It may be the end of the world soon. He crawled out from his shadow and bent on his all fours.
"Help Kou for us, please. I know humans and viels don't have a good history, but you fought alongside each other before, haven't you?"
Boota scoffed, looking away. "I'm not doing this for you."
Gaku, Boota's devoted servant, yelled from afar. He was sent to rebuild the seal around their area after Soleil and Basil joined forces to shatter it. The ground shook, causing them to be slightly tipped off from their balance.
Basil turned around, narrowing his eyes as soon as he sensed an ominous presence. No…there was more than one.
"Can you feel that?"
Soleil stood, followed by Boota. "The devil that Salem is searching for found us."
Basil smiled widely. It was a smile formed from unsureness, hopelessness, and bewilderment. In short, it was a smile that meant: "We're definitely screwed."
"Well, there's more than one of them, that's for sure."