Chapter Ten: Smell
"What's that?" Felix asked. He saw some sort of building in the distance. He was not quite sure what it was, so he asked, obviously. He hated his inner monologue sometimes; it was just so incredibly unhelpful and obnoxious.
"What's what?" Elke asked him in return. She was just playing around but it made Felix sigh. They were barely a couple of hours into their journey for the day and she was already starting these games. Her games were pretty funny when he was more sleep-deprived, but right now they were just racing on his soul. This was the first day that Felix confidently say that he did not remember how long they were walking. All he confidently say was that they were about three days out from Stillwater.
"I really do hate you sometimes." Felix sighed.
"Relax, you know you love me." She said in a teasing fashion but it only earned her a giant eye roll.
"That's a building." Felix could gather that much but Linde said it anyways. Her tone was quite reserved. It did not seem as though she was completely there, rather she was completely lost in thought. This was a common occurrence. Felix thought about it on occasion but he did not know where her mind was.
A couple of moments later Second finally answered his question. "Looks like a farm."
"A farm?" Felix repeated. He wondered just how Second knew what it was. It was just on the horizon, blocking the last lingering rays of sunlight. They just started walking a couple of hours ago, when the temperature started to drop down from warm to pretty cold. Linde stated that it was harder to find someone when it was dark.
"Yes, a building in the middle of nowhere with what seems to be a network of fences. That is the only idea that makes sense to me." Second gave a little bit more of an explanation.
"That would make sense. These are ripe lands." Elke stated.
"What should we do?" Second turned to look back at Linde who blinked at him. "It would take too long to go around it."
"Agreed." Elke stated after a couple of moments of silence. Felix felt incredibly awkward in those couple of moments. "Me and Felix will investigate it. I will give you the signal when it is safe." Elke said. "Unless anyone has any objections." Felix knew who that was directed at. Linde shook her head no. "Alright, come on." Elke grabbed the pack off of Felix's back and handed it to Second before taking him by the hand and heading towards the farmhouse.
"Why do I have to go with you?" Felix sighed. It always seemed as though he was the person who just needed to do everything. It kind of sucked to be put on every single task that anyone thought up. Just once, Felix would like to sit down and do nothing.
"Did you want me to go alone?"
Felix paused for a moment before he relented. "Alright." He sighed. She was right. Linde would not be separate from his highness the prince, which only left Felix. It was only logical that he would go with Elke.
"Tired then?" Elke looked back at him as she made her way forward.
"You finally noticed?" Felix responded, a little snarky.
"Finally got tired of putting up with it." Elke responded to him with loads more snark than Felix began with. He could not keep up with her.
"Damn, harsh."
"Tough luck." Elke laughed. "Only if we had a couple more days of rest at that inn." Elke let out an exasperated sigh.
"I've already apologized for that." And she was the only person he apologized to. Linde did not seem to want to bring it up and Second said his piece to him back in the town. Elke just relentlessly brought it up to tease him. It worked. Really well. Too well. Felix was quite tired of it at this point.
