Road to Ruisea

❆ ❆ XXIII. KUMARI ❆ ❆

Kumari's very glad the shield worked, even if Chiro didn't look so good after...

She has only two friends — two, count em, two! Sure, she has Uzuri now too, but she's probably not going to see her for like, a while. So she has two, and with the way Chiro got so winded after performing that spell, it's beginning to look a lot less like two, and a lot more like just one and a half.

"I'm dead," he says, wheezing as he's laid down on his bed by Jae and Kumari.

"Only half," Kumari whines. "But soon a whole!"

"I'll be okay," he says, for the umpteenth time in the past five minutes, surely. "It's not your job to worry about me, Princess."

"It's my duty to worry about my friends!"

Jae snickers like a child and Kumari glares at him.

"I'll be okay," he insists, gently patting the hand she hadn't realized was gripping his shirt so tightly. "I just need," he yawns. "A nap."

"We'll leave you to it," Jae says, and gently tugs Kumari away.

Kumari whines again... But this time it isn't from worry.

It just turned out that holding hands was nice.

"Hold my hand," she says to Jae, immediately after he lets go.

Jae splutters, "What!"

"Just do it, Jae!"

He does so again, intertwining his fingers with Kumari's, and Kumari hums in satisfaction.

"Chiro's fingers are softer than yours," she remarks. "But this'll do."

"Thanks?" He wrinkles his nose, "I guess."

But Kumari's thinking he doesn't really mind, since he hasn't tried to pull away yet.

Jae thinks, asking slowly. "You haven't ever held anybody's hand, have you?"

"No," she shakes her head. "But I think I like it."

"Yeah, you would."

"What's that supposed to mean!"

He squeezes her hand and she giggles from how foreign it feels, "Nothing. Stop being silly."

"I have a few days to be silly now, Jae! It's a while until Axeria. Hey hey, you excited about going home?"

"I guess I'm not dreading it. But I don't really remember anything about Axeria — I was just a baby when my dad and I left for Cevalon."

"Oh," Kumari tips her head. "I didn't know that."

"It's okay, it's not like I'd told you. But yeah, you and I have both been in Cevalon for our entire life."

"Huh. But not Chiro."

"No, not Chiro. Do you know how long he's...?"

"He's been performing for me since my grandma passed away, so that's probably two or three years ago by now. He probably came around then."

"Why don't you just ask him?" Chiro's voice calls from his room.

They turn back into it to see Chiro's not at all asleep.

"Chiro! You were supposed to be—"

"Napping. Magic has me tired, but I'm still wide awake... Can't sleep."

"Oh nooo," Kumari flies out of Jae's grip (she'd almost forgotten he was holding his hand, and he too seemed surprised when she let go) and grabs Chiro's hands instead.

"Kumari quit being clingy," Jae scolds, but from the way he's rubbing his hands together, Kumari wonders if they're cold now.

"I can't help it," she says. "Chiro's hands are really soft and warm."

Chiro laughs, "Clingy Kumari... Gonna have to let go soon, so I can sleep. If I can."

"Why can't you sleep?" Jae asks. "It's already dark, and you said you were tired."

"I am tired. The spell really wrecked me, but I'm nervous. I keep expecting to wake up to pirates, and that keeps me awake."

"But you put a spell around the train to protect it."

"I know I did, Jae, but I'm worried it didn't work..."

"I'm sure it did," Kumari squeezes his hands like Jae did hers earlier. "Uzuri was there to help you, and she's had a lot of practice with that spell!"

Chiro sighs, "You're right... I'll try and sleep again."

"Gecəniz xeyirə qalsın. Chiro," Kumari gives one last squeeze and exits, and as Jae says "Annyeonghi jumuseyo," he starts climbing up to his own bunk to sleep as well.

"Wait, Jae," Kumari tugs his vest, and he turns back around to look at her.

"Yeah, princess?"

"Don't sleep yet," Kumari says. "Come keep me company."

Jae steps out of his and Chiro's cabin, shutting the door behind him, so that their conversation won't keep him from sleeping any more than he's already been kept from it.

"I don't understand," he raises an eyebrow.

"It's just," she gestures around, "You and Chiro get to sleep together. And I'm alone..."

"Don't make this weird Kumari. I can't sleep with you. Besides, you have Goldy."

She laughs, "That's true. No, I don't want you to sleep with me, ew. But I stay awake. And I need to talk to someone about things."

"Oh," he scratches the back of his neck. "Can't even say we have a big day ahead. We'll be on the train all day tomorrow..."

"And it's not like we performed a physically draining spell like Chiro did! We don't need to sleep..."

Jae smirks, "Yeah, okay. We can go get a snack too while we're at it."

"If only Chiro were awake!"

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Jae asks, as they pace back and forth the train halls. They can feel its engine slowly rumbling back to life, preparing to leave Huven's port.

"I got a little further in my book!" She chirps.

"Of course that's what you'd wanna talk about," Jae snickers.

Kumari frowns, worried. "I can... Not talk about that, if you'd like."

A flash of concern comes across Jae's face, "Oh no. Please tell me."

She smiles again, "Well! After they saved Aouda—"

"Aouda?"

"Some lady who they were trying to burn to death."

"Yyyyikes."

"Yeahhhh. But she's okay now! They went to look for her family a few kingdoms away, so she can be taken care of."

"That's better."

"It would be! Except they get there and find out her family's moved away. And the person who's been chasing them has another chance to arrest them—"

"Wait. Who? Arrest them?"

"There's some detective from back home who thinks they're criminals. So he chased them all the way across the world to get them."

"Ohhh. Gee, I sure hope nobody's chasing us!"

Kumari giggles, "I'm sure nobody would bother! Huven's pretty far from Cevalon. Unless somebody made it onto the train in time. Because I don't think a ship could catch up with us, especially since we'll soon be on our way to Axeria."

"I sure hope you're right."

"I guess I hope so too."

Kumari can't help but remember that little black steamboat — a steamboat could surely catch up with the train, right?

But she pushes the thought out of her mind.

She just said it herself: no ship could catch up with them.