Half of My Heart

A Goddess who cooks.

Chu and Ying took the telepath away who well aware of who he had just helped, and they left Yunlan asleep on the chair beside Wei's bed as they quietly closed the door.

The noise from the kitchen was unmistakable. Ava was loudly searching through cupboards and assessing the damage done to her kitchen while she was 'away' and Guo Ying knew that he was in trouble. He considered waiting until the next day before he would go near the area but Ava heard the three of them coming out of the med room and called on them to come in.

"Guo Ying, did you ever think of replacing some of the items that were used up or were they just off the menu from now on? And where did all the soup disappear to? Meals will be limited until I can restock the cupboards. I'm making some hot drinks, come and tell me what's been happening in my absence," she said as she stared at the telepath. Ying had removed his black robe and was in normal clothes which were less intimidating to their temporary visitor, and he explained all about him until Ava stopped him talking to ask the telepath a direct question.

"So, tell me your name, because the way I see it, you have avoided telling anyone since they've met you, and why would you do that unless you had something to hide."

The nervous young man opened his mouth to answer just as Track entered the kitchen and Ava moved her attention towards him. He froze to the spot gazing at her, this vision of loveliness who also knew how to cook. Track hadn't met Ava because she'd become ill when Black Robe was injured and hadn't left her room, now there was another stranger trespassing in her kitchen.

"Explain, who is this?" She asked Ying who wished that the floor would open up and swallow him, or he would have some reason to teleport out of the kitchen.

"Ava, this is Track ... Track this is Ava, our chef. Track saved Lord Shen's life and helped bring him back from the mountains where he was shot by poachers and he's been living with the guards ever since but he wants to go home as soon as Lord Shen is fit enough to take him." Ying explained and took a deep breath in before he sat in silence.

"What do you do for a living,Track?" Ava asked sharply.

However, nothing she would have said to him would have changed his opinion of her. She lived in the gods' house and she was a goddess. Track never mixed with people, he preferred animals and Ava was the first personal contact he'd had with a woman, since his mother had died when he was a boy.

"I'm a tracker, I look after animals and I have my own house in the forest with plenty of space around. I could extend it if I had to, if someone else was to stay for a spell, My Lady."

Ava was very quick to understand what Tracker was trying to explain to her, and she knew that she might need to bend the truth a little at some point but not while she had witnesses, and she turned to carry on with her work.

Track walked forward slowly towards the table to sit down as he gazed at Ava, but eventually noticed the telepath and felt his instincts rise for self preservation. But when he looked around the room at the others, he decided that he would defend them as well. He had no idea why this feeling should happen now in this beautiful room, usually it was in the forest with a hidden threat to life or from an animal that would kill to survive, and his hand felt for his concealed knife which he always carried. His concentration was broken when Ava spoke again,

"You were about to tell us your name young man," and Ava was beginning to feel the same way about this telepath as the tracker. There was something about him that made her feel uneasy.

"When did you arrive here, was it recently?" She asked him but Ying answered instead.

"Yes Ava, I already said that he came here to help Lord Shen, just today, this afternoon."