The fall of a deity

On the road again

The longer they traveled together, the more apparent it became that Ajax's I-work-alone shtick was a load of utter crap. Leukos sat stiffly at the wagon's front, holding the reins of a beautiful caramel-brown shire horse with flowing dusty white feathers. Behind him was a waterproof blanket coat for the horse, a freshly-killed deer carcass and two tapped barrels of drinking water gifted to them by the elves for their journey. Ajax strode tensely alongside the wagon on all fours, looking back on Leukos as often as possible and nearly tripping himself multiple times in the process. The fierce intensity was completely gone from his eyes.

 Back when they first met, Leukos's first impression of him was like a dangerous predator lurking in the shadows, watching every movement with the fascination of a hunter waiting to strike. His eyes were two deep, glaring pools of liquid fire that made his gaze scorching, with pinprick pupils sharp like daggers that could slice directly through the soul.  Now, he reminded Leukos more of a cow. He was big and powerful, but not necessarily dangerous. He had the same sort of eyes now, still with reptilian slits but big and round and full of concern. The deep glare of amber had faded to a glow, softening with a small smile each time they made eye contact and glittering with good humour at the sight of his companion. Leukos took a small notice of the crinkles that appeared in the corners of his eyes, betraying that his smile was perhaps a more common sight than he had originally thought. He concluded that the way he acted upon their first meeting was nothing but a facade, an attempt to make an impression. If he hadn't become so good at reading body language over the years, he might not have noticed.. But then again, he wasn't doing a good job of keeping the ruse.

Despite the rather obvious affectionate gesture causing a revision of the initial read on him, he was still an intimidating beast. His stride was similar to that of a lion, stepping with one foot slightly angled in front of the other, his head held somewhat low so his jaws were in line with his shoulders. His stormy grey scales glistened in the sun so they looked almost silver, tense muscles rippling beneath them with each step (despite a somewhat obvious beerbelly). He looked all around them with a neutral but serious expression, surveying the landscape with dangerous calm.  Leukos supposed it was hard for a creature like a dragonborne not to look impressive, but he had to admire the way his companion held himself even after such troubling events. 
Ajax looked back once again, catching the stare. For a moment his eyes darkened with concern.
"You alright?" He said with a lot more care and tenderness than expected. Leukos sighed, deciding the going had been too serious for too long.

"Shut." He responded simply. Relief shone through the fog of Ajax's gaze, and he chuckled lightly.

"Remember when I said respect your elders?" He teased. Leukos couldn't help but smile ever so slightly now the conversation was returning.

"Oh please, even though you look like a tired old man, you're probably not much older than me."

"Guess."

"What?"

"I want you to take a serious guess how old I am."

"Uh... 92."

"Ha-ha. 39."

"Ha! Old."

"I'm not even middle aged yet. And let me guess, you're 12? You look like the tail end of an emo phase."

"You know my age, you old fart."

"If you told me, I-" His sentence was interrupted by a stumble he barely noticed before regaining his balance "-I forgot."

"Well, memory loss does come with old age. I'm 19."

"You're just a baaaaaaaaabyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

Leukos hated how concerned Ajax looked despite the tension easing out of the atmosphere with each lighthearted insult. What made it worse was that the worry seemed to intensify at the mention of his age, as if he was just some kid throwing a tantrum over a scraped knee. If he hadn't overreacted to the stupid little cut in his palm, then they'd both be fine and focusing on the task at hand.. No pun intended. For a good while they wandered on in comfortable but somewhat awkward banter, the dull thud of the horse's hooves on the dry earth intermingling with their conversation. Eventually, it fizzled out and they lapsed into silence again, at least more reassured than before.