The Vigilant Yaksha

Chapter 35

Vena awoke the next morning to the smell of herbs and.... eggs?

Confused, the girl sat up in bed quickly, eyesight still blurry from the deep sleep she had been in as her eyes struggled to focus on the blur of green and white that was now stood at the edge of her bed.

Taking in her disheveled appearance, Xiao accidentally let out a faint snort through his nose as the girl rubbed at her eyes, trying to rub away the sleep as he held a cup and plate out toward her.

"W-what's this?" Blue eyes peered up at him sheepishly, cautiously taking the two items from his hands and resting the plate of scrambled eggs onto her lap.

"Mortals still need to eat, don't they?" The curve of his lip clearly indicated that he was poking fun at the girl, his eyes now glued on the top of her head, more precisely, her bed head.

With a cup in one hand, her free one quickly flew up to rest ontop of her head, hurriedly trying to brush her fingers through her hair without spilling her tea once she'd realized what he was giggling at.

"I'm not entirely mortal!" She squeaked out as a blush adorned her cheeks.

"You're far more mortal than me." He gave the girl a playful roll of his eyes as he turned to rest his back against the wall nearby, unsure if he should allow her to eat alone or if he might accidentally send her into a panic if he leaves again.

He knew it would take time for her to trust him again and he was fine with that.

"Wait, does Aether know where I am?"

Xiao had never seen the color drain from a person's face so fast in his life.

"He's probably worried sick-"

"It's okay. He knows you're with me." Xiao spoke out cooly, trying his best to quickly ease the girl's concerns.

"How does he know for sure though? He just saw me with you last-"

"I may have told him to bring you to see me after that battle with Osial." Without thinking, the man had already blurted out another technical secret between him and Aether, quickly causing the man to curse himself internally as he realized it.

"Wait- what?" Vena squinted over at the Adeptus who's eyes were now closed in frustration at himself, his arms crossed across his chest as always.

Xiao was beginning to realize that avoiding humans and general conversations for such a long period of time had made him horrible at keeping secrets, even if they were harmless ones.

The man exhaled deeply before reopening his eyes, watching out of the edge of his view as the girl quietly took bites of the eggs and a sip of tea while she waited patiently for his response.

"While you were staring out at the water on the docks after the battle, I waved Aether over to follow me as I left. I'd asked him to convince you to take a walk before going to sleep and had him bring you to me at the edge of the city."

Vena couldn't help but smile at the lengths Xiao had actually gone for her.

"I'm gonna kick Aether's ass." The girl spoke out casually as she took another spoonful of eggs into her mouth.

Once again, not the response he'd expected from her at all, but unknown to him, she was trying to find a way to keep from making him feel all shy about it.

"How'd you learn to cook eggs by the way? I thought all you ate was Almond Tofu?" Vena had quickly changed the subject without even meaning to, genuine curiosity distracting her.

They were seasoned well too. At least far better than she'd expected of someone who only ever ate one dish.

"I've been around the cook at the Wangshu Inn a lot and he made eggs pretty frequently. It's the only thing I figured I could make that I wouldn't ruin."