Liar, Liar, the Mage's Desire Vol. 1 (A New Oumeno)

A Dangan Fairy Tale: Himipunzel (5)

      "Tenkodil would never hide anything from me!" Himipunzel finally said after a few hours of silence. Night had fallen, and Kichi had set up camp while Himipunzel had been quiet, mulling over what Kichi had said earlier about Tenkodil keeping secrets from her. "Why would you think such a thing?"

   "Because," Kichi replied, setting up a bed of leaves for him and another for Himipunzel. "You told me earlier that your sister said that the reason you two left your house was because of some ogres."

   "Yes," Himipunzel said, sitting down on her bed of leaves. "What about it?"

    "Ogres haven't been around this area for at least 30 years," Kichi explained. "The king forced them out of this entire chunk of land, including the Four seasons Forest. An ogre hasn't been seen around the kingdom or any of these other parts ever since. So, I'm pretty sure your sister was lying to you."

   "But...why would she lie to me?" Himipunzel asked. "I'm her sister!" Kichi shrugged.

   "I dunno," he replied. "But when we find her, you should ask her. Honestly, I wanna find out myself."

   "It's none of your business!" Himipunzel huffed. Then, she set her new duckling friend down next to her and grumpily laid her head down. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. "Hey...why are YOU out here by yourself?" she asked Kichi. "Aren't you supposed to be back at the kingdom trying to amuse the king?"

   "Welp...like you told me, that's none of your business," Kichi smirked at her. Himipunzel rolled her eyes and turned away from him. She pulled the duckling closer to her to keep him warm.

   "I know what to name our duck friend," she muttered to Kichi. 

    "Oh?" Kichi asked with an eyebrow raised.

    "Yeah," Himipunzel replied, facing Kichi once again. "I wanna call him Sir Quacks-A-Lot!" Kichi sighed and placed both of his hands on his face.

   "Oh, God," he groaned. 

   "What? You don't think that's good?" Himipunzel asked. Kichi shrugged.

   "Whatevs. It's your duck. You can name it whatever you like," Kichi replied. 

   "Him," Himipunzel corrected. "Sir Quacks-A-Lot is a boy."

   "Fine, you can name HIM whatever you want," Kichi said. "Now, let's go to sleep. We have no idea where your sister is, and we should get as much sleep as we can so we can find her."

   "Nyeh...okay," Himipunzel said and turned back around. "Do you know what, Sir Quacks-A-Lot? Today is my birthday!" she whispered to the duckling. Sir Quacks-A-Lot quacked with interest. "Usually, my sister Tenkodil bakes me a cake for my birthday, but since she's lost, I couldn't have one. But when we find her, I think I want to bake her a cake instead, just so she knows that I care about her and want her to be safe."