Fool's Gold | God Tamer x Tiso

Chapter 12 - In Which They Set Out for the Hot Springs

"I have to say, it's nice to be around you while you're smiling."

Tiso and Quirrel go to the hot springs. Tiso finds the trip to be incredibly boring.

-

The next day, as Tiso and Quirrel set out for the hot springs, Tiso was ecstatic to finally be walking away from the cave. He had long since been ready to say goodbye to Kingdom's Edge. If he ever had to so much as look at white ash again, it'd be too soon.

"I'm happy to see you in such high spirits," Quirrel commented as Tiso was practically skipping ahead of him. "I had begun to wonder if you could smile at all."

"Of course I can smile!" Tiso exclaimed, only partially offended. "But there was nothing to smile about within that prison of a cave."

"I suppose that's fair," Quirrel shrugged, amused.

As they walked and climbed, Tiso found himself always having to slow down for Quirrel to catch up. As Quirrel would constantly call for Tiso to come back or to wait up. At first, Tiso thought nothing of it, but as this repeated he began to grow annoyed. Quirrel should be just as eager as he to be rid of this wasteland, and yet, he's taking his steps so delicately and watching his surroundings so carefully, Tiso had to restrain himself from taking hold of Quirrel's hand and dragging him behind. He would've loved nothing more than to just ditch him, but he didn't know the way to the hot springs in the city, so he was forced to match his pace.

There was a long stretch of time before Quirrel stopped walking all together and called for Tiso to do the same. "Be careful, friend," Quirrel warned, "there are some infected bugs just over there."

Sure enough, a small swarm of primal aspids patrolled over a spot ahead in the path. Tiso beamed, eagerly taking out his weapon. Finally, after weeks upon weeks of boring misery he'd get his first taste of action. He went to jump into battle, but was stopped abruptly by a firm grip on his hood.

"What the-? Let go of me!" Tiso flailed, which caused his body to ache, but the grip did not loosen.

"I can't have you running head first into danger," Quirrel said. When Tiso had finished kicking and screaming like a child, he let him go. "We'll take another detour, I'm sure there was a path just over this way."

"Another detour?" Tiso echoed. "Don't tell me you've been leading me the long way to the hot springs this whole time."

"I've been leading you on the path with as little danger as possible," Quirrel explained. "You'd be surprised how deadly these lands are."

"Perhaps they're deadly for someone like you, but a warrior with my skills wouldn't so much as break a sweat down here. Here, I shall prove that your concern is misplaced, just watch." Again, Tiso attempted to jump into the swarm of primal aspids, and again, Quirrel stopped him from doing so.

"No, you're not healed yet!" Quirrel said it firmly. "We're going another way. You can do all the fighting you want after you've healed but as of right now, you're following me. That was our agreement."

Tiso considered putting up a fight for a moment, but ultimately decided against it. Would the effort really be worth it just to fight such small, insignificant bugs? Reluctantly, he stopped struggling and followed Quirrel just as he asked, sheathing his weapon with annoyance.

Hours pass and they're still in Kingdom's Edge. It would've been a quick journey had they just made the climb straight up, but no, Quirrel wanted to be 'safe.' So here Tiso was, far past midday, bored out of his mind.

"Would you like to take a break for lunch?" Quirrel asked. "I do feel as if we've gone a while without a meal."

"No," Tiso said at once. He just wants to be out of here. They have to be close now, though it's hard to tell for sure since the path Quirrel has taken them on looks no different now from when they first began.