What Were You Expecting?

Maybe starting with the gryphon's bane today was a bad decision.  Even after all this time, Zephyr never knew if it was wiser to drink the gryphon's bane first or to save it for last.  No matter when he drank it, the drink always made him feel sick for a short while, and sometimes he couldn't keep down his scant rations after drinking it.  So today (tonight?) he had made the executive decision to drink the gryphon's bane before touching anything else.  Now the dethroned King found himself curled up in his corner, cursing under his breath as his stomach twisted and stubbornly tried not to digest the gryphon's bane.  Gods above when would this be over?  How much longer would Seriyaru need Geofek?  Zephyr must be becoming less and less useful.  He just wanted this all to stop.  He would gladly welcome death with open arms if it meant he didn't have to live in Ulri'nocht and drink gryphon's bane every (every other?) day (night?).

"Hey your Majesty," a sing-song, familiar and yet unfamiliar, voice sang from the bars.

Zephyr hissed and picked his face out of the wall to glare over his shoulder.  Leaning against the bars was a woman—a fox feral, with dark emerald eyes and a wide grin on her face.  There was something painfully familiar about her.  He knew her; he knew those emerald eyes and the choppy short black hair.  He even know that suggestive way she leaned against the bars on her forearms, allowing her black jacket the fall open and expose her chest.  

"You look terrible," she swished a fluffy tail behind her.

There was no reason to dignify her comment with a response.  He was already uncomfortable enough; he didn't need this woman telling him how far he had fallen.  The dethroned King faced the wall again and tried to control the pain in his stomach.

"Oh don't do that.  It's no fun when you do that," she complained.

Gods above what did this bitch want?  Was it really that much fun to insult, poke and prod a chained creature?  He was broken enough at this point, why keep hitting him?  He looked back at her.  The fox feral's grin was gone and she was glaring at him.  Something sparked in the back of his mind.  He knew that glare and the way wrinkled her nose.  She was too clean right now.  The last time he had seen her she was covered in blood.

"Demonfox," he whispered.

A sly smile danced across her face.  "You remember me.  I'm honored."

"Liar," he growled from his corner.

Oh Zephyr remembered Demonfox all right.  She was one of the people who "escorted" Iridesia home after he sent her away.  Demonfox had come with that shigen and the damned vampire.  He should have guessed that these people were allied with Seriyaru.  It was too much to hope that there were some good people in this world.  Then again, he already knew that Demonfox was hardly a good woman.  She was a bounty hunter of renown, known best for killing her bounties even when they were wanted live.

If Demonfox was here did that mean that Zephyr was in more trouble?  Was Iridesia in danger?  The fox feral was known for killing, was she as good at torture as Rilan was?  What if she was like the other green-eyed woman?

Demonfox was still leaning against the bars with that smug, triumphant expression on her face.  Zephyr hated seeing someone so happy that he was locked up, but there was nothing he could really do about it.  He would have to endure her abuses until she got bored of him or until Harrot came in to collect the tray and cup.  There was a splash of crimson across the front of her black jacket.

"You've got red on you," Zephyr grumbled, hugging his aching stomach.

The fox feral's eyes lit up as her sly expression morphed into an annoyed scowl.

"Oh what?"

Much to Zephyr's dismay, Demonfox pulled off her jacket to inspect it.  The only thing the woman was wearing underneath was a strip of cloth that held up her ample assets.  The old man groaned and tried to focus on the corner.  He was in no mood to ogle killer fox ferals.

"You don't think this will stain do you?  I still need this damn thing!  I thought I was careful with that damn bear.  Shit!  Did I leave a trail?"  Demonfox was mostly talking to herself at this point.

Zephyr shut his eyes as the pain in his stomach finally started to dull.  His stomach was tired of fighting and was, begrudgingly, allowing the gryphon's bane through his system.  In the background Demonfox had stopped talking to herself and pulled her jacket back over her torso.  The familiar sound of jingling keys caught his ears.

"C'mon," she said, slipping the key into the lock.

A trick.  Zephyr had fallen prey to this scheme when he was first brought into Ulri'nocht.  Different people would come into the cell and pretend that they were releasing him.  Harrot would take bets on how long it took Zephyr to actually creep out of his cell.  Once he was out in the open, the bear would take the opportunity to attack Zephyr and beat him into submission.  How dare he try to escape?  Zephyr would not fall for this rouse after so long.  He didn't move.

"What, you don't want to get out?"

There was no reason to talk to Demonfox.  She had been allied with Seriyaru all along, hadn't she?  That was why she and her motley crew had brought Iridesia back to Geofek.  Iridesia was collateral, and her return to Geofek had been all part of Seriyaru's grand plan.

"Hey, Kingy, get up!"  Demonfox was getting agitated now.

More insults and shouting wouldn't convince Zephyr to move.  If Zephyr did what Demonfox asked he would be attacked and if he didn't do what she asked he would be attacked anyways, so there was no point in doing anything.  With that thought in mind, the old man curled up in his defensive corner.  The door to his cell opened and Demonfox motioned to the space beside her.

"Get up and come on," demanded the fox feral.

No, Zephyr wasn't going to do anything she said.  Seriyaru had just copied Zephyr a day (or maybe two days) ago.  Zephyr only ever left his cell when Seriyaru needed to copy his body.  This was a cruel prank.  Did she think that he was stupid?  Demonfox was glaring at him, her hands searching for something hidden under her jacket.  Zephyr took in a ragged breath and shut his eyes.  He knew that she was a skilled killer.  He had seen the bounty hunter's work first hand when she left a pile of dead guards at his doorstep.  The dethroned King also knew she had weapons on her, since when she pulled off her jacket he got a glance at a pair of sai daggers she had tucked into her belt.  The woman wouldn't stab him, right?  Punches and kicks maybe, but anything that made a lasting mark like a cut or stab would show up on Seriyaru's copy…

"Gods above I'm not being paid enough for this melodramatic bullshit," sighed the fox feral.

"Tch.  How much does Seriyaru pay you to torture me, I wonder?"  He murmured.

"Seriyaru's not paying me."

Zephyr glared at the fox feral.  "Fine, then how much is Harrot paying you to do this?  Or is this another damned betting game?"

"No, whoever Harrot is, he's not paying me either."

"Then who is?"

Demonfox's expression turned wicked and she leaned against the bars like earlier.  He didn't like that expression on her face or the way her dark emerald eyes scanned him and regarded him as a non-threat.

"How about we make a deal, one that you'll actually honor, your Majesty."

"I kept my end of the bargain last time," he croaked.

"Yeah, when we changed the request!"  She argued.  "You get one deal, either you take it or you don't and I drag your unconscious, unwilling ass out of here.  For the life of me I don't see why this has to be so difficult!"

Zephyr didn't really seem to have a choice at the moment.  Demonfox was going to win this bet and get her money's worth no matter what.  The old man didn't really want to agree with her, but he nodded anyways.

"I ask you to perform an action, if you do it you can ask me a question and I'll answer.  For every action you get a question and an answer.  But you have to do exactly as I say, alright?"

Though he didn't like the sound of this, Zephyr had no desire to get beaten by the fox.  So he nodded his head.

"Good.  Now get up and walk out of the cell," she held open the door.

Zephyr got unto his feet, shaking a bit since his stomach still hurt.  He didn't like being a pawn to Demonfox, so he decided to take her rules literally.  He stood but didn't move.

"You asked for two actions, I should get a question in between them," he said quietly.

"You're not in the position to ask for more, old man," hissed the fox feral.

Stubborn until the very end, Zephyr stayed in his corner, standing but not budging until he got a question.  Demonfox sighed dramatically and rubbed her temples.

"You realize we don't have forever, right?"

"You may not, but I have forever," Zephyr murmured.  Forever to sit here and slowly decompose…  Besides, this is only going to end with me getting beaten.  Prolonging it is beneficial to me.

"Fine!  Ask your damn question, then get your ass out of the fucking cell you're so damn fond of!"

Zephyr was feeling a bit dizzy from standing.  He really wasn't in the condition to move anymore.  His body felt as if it were falling apart and his mind was moving so slowly…  The old man took in a deep breath, trying to combat the fiery pain in his head and picked a question.

"Who hired you?"

"Iridesia.  Now, out of the cell!"

He hesitated for a few seconds.  Iridesia didn't know he was locked up, she was still in the castle thinking that Seriyaru was him, there was no way she would have contacted Demonfox for anything.  This was another lie, another layer to add to the fictitious story for the bet.  Zephyr was getting so tired of these pranks where Iridesia found someone to save him and he would be free.

"…Of course she did…" he sighed and crept out of his cell.

"Gods that only took you forever," she grabbed him by the wrist and jerked him into her side.  "Now you follow me out of here."

She was digging her claws into his wrist; he had no choice but to follow her lest he loose his right hand.   The fox feral was grumbling under her breath, perhaps she was hoping Zephyr was out of inquiries.  Too bad, he had a few more in mind.  Demonfox didn't tell him that he had to be quiet.  As she started to drag him out of his small room in the very back of Ulri'nocht, Zephyr found another suitable question for this game, but as soon as they left the secluded room his cell was kept in he blurted out a very different question.

"Is that Harrot?"  He gasped, looking to the corner beside the door.

Slumped next to the wall in a puddle of his own blood was Harrot.  There was a clean stab right through the bear feral's neck; he would have died in seconds.  Zephyr tried to move closer to Harrot to see if this was another trick, but Demonfox pulled him into her.

"No, that's a corpse.  Don't worry about it," she smiled sweetly.

"You killed him?"

"That's an extra question, I'll answer it after the next action you perform."

This wasn't a game!  Harrot was dead and a bounty hunter was dragging him around!  Zephyr needed answers and he would get them!  He tried to get a hold of Demonfox but there was shouting and stomping coming from the other side of the hall.  Demonfox cursed and grabbed Zephyr's shoulders and ran into the nearest room with him.  It was a small space, maybe a closet, and he was stuck pressed flat against the wall with Demonfox leaning into him.  He didn't like the feeling of her body pressed against his.  It was wrong.

"This is all your fault!"  She whispered harshly.

"You killed Harrot!"

"Of course I did!  How else was I going to get one of these nifty jackets and the key to your cell?"

"The key I understand, but why the damn jacket?"

"Shutup!"

Demonfox slammed a paw over his mouth and pricked her claws against his cheeks to dissuade Zephyr from speaking.  Murmurs of voices came from outside the closet Demonfox and Zephyr had sealed themselves in.  Seriyaru's men would find them soon, and Zephyr was going to be in a world of pain for trying to escape.  Rilan was probably going to torture him again, with those tiny sharp needles stabbed into his spine sending pain all over his body.  Gods above he didn't want to be tortured again!

Zephyr was suddenly very aware of the fact that with her free hand Demonfox was trying to get her jacket off.  The old man panicked, pulled his face out of her grip, grabbed her jacket and pulled it closed.

"For the love of the gods woman!  Keep your damn clothes on!"

"Don't get your hopes up," Demonfox hit his hands away, "I'm just getting something."

"Getting what?!"

Demonfox rolled her emerald eyes and a second later she produced a rather nice dagger from under her jacket.  She held the weapon out to Zephyr.

"…Where were you keeping that?"

"Do you really want me answer to that?"  She smiled wryly.

"…I…don't…know…"

She pressed the dagger into his hand.  It had been a while since anyone handed Zephyr a weapon, and months since he had used one.  He hesitated, the weapon feeling almost alien in his palm.  Demonfox wasn't pleased by his reaction and forced his fingers to close over the hilt.

"You're Zephyr Faulkes, right?"

What sort of half-thought out question was that?  Zephyr glared down at Demonfox, who was still pressed too close to him for his liking.  

"Of course."

"The War Prince who grew up to be the Battlefield King?"  She continued.

Nicknames his people had given him, since Zephyr was born in a time of war and fought in the two wars that broke out during his reign.  He rather liked the nicknames, even if he never publically admitted it.  Zephyr had long learned that the common folk like making up nicknames, and so he happily let them.

"Yes…that is what the people call me," he said carefully.

"So what's your problem?  You know war, you know conflict, and so you should know how to use a damn dagger.  Now we have to fight our way out of here because you had to be a stupid old git and didn't listen to me and didn't move fast when I told you to earlier!"

"You expect me to fight through hordes of Seriyaru's men with a dagger?"

"What were you expecting?!  That I could hide a long sword in my bodice?"

"Well there would be enough room for a long sword!"

That, apparently, earned him a slap to the face.

"Perverted old man!"  She accused.

"YOU TOOK OF YOUR DAMN SHIRT!"

He didn't notice that Demonfox was grinning wildly at him.

"Have I irked you, my dear ex-King?"  She purred in a disgustingly sweet voice, like a mother to belligerent child.

He hated the term ex-King!  He didn't like hearing that his birthright had been stolen from him.  He hated that Demonfox looked so happy to say the word, and he hated that she had him stuck in a damn closet with her.  He especially hated the feeling of her body against his!  Why did she have to be right on top of him?!

"YES YOU HAVE, CONGRATULATIONS!"

"Great, lets go murder some bastards."

Something like a surprised yelp escaped Zephyr as Demonfox kicked the door open behind her and threw him out into the hall.  Four of Seriyaru's men were there, waiting for him.  Instinct took over the dethroned King, and he flew at the first man he saw, grabbing them by the collar and plunging the dagger into their gut.  He threw the corpse down next to him and turned for the next person, but found the remaining three were already dead, piled in an unorganized heap by Demonfox's toes.

"You're slow," she chided.

"I've been in prison and starved for months!"

"Everyone always has an excuse."

"Why you—"

"C'mon!"

Demonfox grabbed Zephyr's armed wrist and started running, dragging him behind her.  They were heading up and out of Ulri'nocht, but it would take a while to get out of the prison.  And to top it all off the prison was crawling with Seriyaru's men.

"How do you intend for us to get out of here alive?  I have a dagger and you have sai and then there's maybe a hundred of Seriyaru's finest running around in here."

"They're hardly his finest.  I've seen his finest, and they're a lot harder to kill than these sacrificial lambs."

"Fine!  The question still stands!"

"We don't go out the conventional way, dear idiot King."

"I swear, insult me one more time and I'm going to—"

"This way!"  She nearly sang.

The insane fox feral grabbed a door pulled it open and threw Zephyr inside.  He prayed that this room was bigger than the claustrophobic closet she had pinned him in last time.  The dethroned King really didn't like how painfully physical Demonfox was.  Thankfully, Zephyr found himself in a larger room than before, with a few empty cells lining the walls.  Ulri'nocht was built in separate sections, with winding halls that followed the natural rock of the mountains the prison was built inside.  Small areas like these were separated from the main prison, and only a few cells were contained in this small unit.  The area reminded him of the tiny space he had been locked in with his one cell.

"It's about damn time!"  Hissed a harsh voice behind Zephyr.

Zephyr wheeled around and found himself staring into a pair of thin gold eyes, nestled in the sharp face of a woman with very long black hair.  She grinned at Zephyr, which sent shivers down his spine, so he tried to back away but found himself touching something incredibly warm—almost hot.  When he turned to look over his shoulder he found a lanky woman the same height as him, with violet eyes and wiry orange hair, grinning sickly at him.  He didn't like this lady either, so he stepped to the side and brushed up against Demonfox, who was standing next to a female tiger feral, dressed like a wilder, with red eyes.  Uncomfortable did not even begin to describe how the old King was feeling at the moment.  He was boxed in, surrounded by less-than-honorable looking women, all of them armed, and none of them he knew.

"He was slow," Demonfox explained.

"Should have enticed him with food," the tiger feral purred.

"He had food and wasn't eating!"

"Probably 'cause it tasted like crap.  I think Gijin's idea would have worked," smirked the woman with gold eyes.

"He's so pretty," gasped the warm woman with violet eyes.

Against Zephyr's wishes the woman with violet eyes ran her fingers through his hair.  He jerked out of her reach and hit her hand away.

"Don't touch me!"  He hissed, panic and distress leaking off his words.

"I like him!"  Violet eyes giggled, slinking closer to Zephyr.

She was so thin Zephyr thought she should snap as she moved, but she didn't.  Violet eyes moved like a ragdoll, dragging her feet as she moved, and yet her movements seemed as fluid as a serpent's.  There was so much wrong with her he didn't know where to begin—so he didn't.  He kept backing away from her, starting to believe he would have been far safer in his cell as a prisoner.

"Mere, don't," hissed gold eyes.

"Jus' a lil' burn?"  She whimpered.

Smoke was rising off Mere's hands.  A pit formed in Zephyr's stomach as he realized she was a fire elementalist, and not the sanest of fire elementalists from the looks of it.  Of course she wasn't sane!  Why send anyone with half a mind to rescue Zephyr?  Was this punishment for something?  Hadn't he paid for his sins at this point?

"Why would my daughter send a trope of insane women to save me?!"  Zephyr shouted at Demonfox.

"You never send the sane ones in for a rescue mission," grinned the fox feral.

"The sane ones try heroics and playin' fair, your Majesty," gold eyes explained.  "We needed a plan that would actually work.  And if you want anything done right, you send in the crazies."

"And who are you?"  He snapped.

Gold eyes bowed deeply.  "Captain Cecelia Fyre, at your service!"

"What, the PIRATE?!"

Captain Fyre gasped and clasped her slender hands over her heart.  "I'm so honored!"

At this point Zephyr was sure he was loosing his mind.  His daughter had hired a bounty hunter and pirate to save him, and they brought with them a barking mad fire elementalist and some Sebelzan wilder tiger feral who didn't look much better than Demonfox.  What did he do to deserve this?!

"Lying bitch!  You've stolen from my ports hundreds of times!"  Zephyr screamed.

"Don't be mean ta tha cap'n!"  Mere warned.

"We don't have time for this," Gijin reminded them.

"I demand to know what is going on here!"

"Crystal, you didn't tell him you were rescuing him?"  The Captain hissed at Demonfox.

"I did!  He was just being an idiot and didn't listen!"

"You walked in acting like one of Seriyaru's, what was I supposed to think?!"

"Did it occur to you that I was pretending to blend in, idiot King?"  Crystal snapped.

"I warn you—"

"WE CAN'T WASTE ANYMORE TIME!"  Gijin roared.  "Grab the old man and we're going!"

"Don't touch—!"

But Zephyr didn't have a choice anymore.  The Captain grabbed him by the collar and pulled him towards one of the cells.  His heart jumped about in his ribs, a little voice shouting at him that they had been lying all along.  Crystal's dagger was still in his hand.  In a fit of terror at the idea of being locked up all over again, Zephyr tried to slash the pirate's wrist.  As he raised his weapon Mere's hot hand grabbed his wrist and sent a surge of heat over his skin.  Zephyr shrieked and dropped his knife.  Mere stuck her face next to his; she smelled like ash and burnt meat.

"Ah said don't hurt tha cap'n," she hissed like the crackling of fire.  "Ah only ain't killin' ya 'cause Jess ahn cap'n said not to.  They never said ah can't hurt ya, though," her violet eyes sparked with malicious intent, "Savvy?"

Just to make sure Zephyr got the point, Mere sent another surge of heat over his skin, singing some of the hairs on his hand.  Zephyr whimpered and nodded.

"I-I understand.  Let me go," he sounded so pathetic and weak…

Mere suddenly smiled and kissed his cheek.  "Good boy!"

Zephyr was certain that the smell of ash would never come off his cheek.  Mere shoved Zephyr forward.  The old man stumbled for a few steps but slunk into the cell with the women.  Crystal shut the bars behind her and locked them.

"Try and hold onto this, your Majesty," Crystal smiled and handed him the dagger.

"You're not afraid I'll kill you?"  He murmured, taking the weapon anyways.

"No.  First of all, you can't.  Secondly, if you tried Mere would turn you into a bonfire—which I'm sure you don't want."

No, he did not want that at all.  Utterly defeated and at the mercy of these…"ladies", he nodded his head and decided it was probably best to just let them lead.  Crystal nodded to Gijin, and the tiger feral slammed her palm against the back wall of the cell.  The rock wall shattered at her touch and fell back into the earth, opening up the entrance to a small tunnel.

"You had an earth elementalist tunnel into the prison?  How long did that take?"  Zephyr wondered.

"Almost a week.  Before we started our excavation we stopped in Highryn for supplies.  It's hilarious how Seriyaru doesn't notice old enemies running around under his nose," Crystal explained.

"Less gawking, more moving," Gijin ordered, darting into the tunnel.

Zephyr and the rest of the ladies followed in her shadow.  Mere lit her fingertips on fire to create some light, but Zephyr found himself shying away from the fire.  It wasn't just because he was afraid of Mere, he was very terrified of the unstable woman, but he didn't like the light.  It hurt his eyes to be too close to it.  He wasn't quite sure why.  Every handful of minutes Gijin would stop and slam her foot into the ground.  A wall of earth would shoot up and block off the tunnel behind them.  Seriyaru's men would have a hard time following them if they didn't have an earth elementalist on hand.  Then again, Seriyaru had so many followers it wouldn't be hard to find an earth elementalist in his ranks…

So they simply kept moving.  Zephyr wasn't used to walking so much, and he was getting winded from just a few minutes of movement.  He didn't like feeling this weak, and he didn't like how he kept falling so far behind the group that Crystal and the others would have to stop and wait for him.  Every time he caught up he found their expressions hard to read.

"It's going to take forever to get out of here at this pace," hissed Captain Fyre.

"Well unless you want to carry the old man this is the pace we go at," snapped Crystal.

Zephyr couldn't tell if the fox feral was aggravated with him or if she was defending him.  She was probably just aggravated with him.  None of these women cared about him beyond the fact that he was making them money.

"You said it took days to get in here," Zephyr wheezed.

"Only because I had to make the tunnel," Gijin explained, slamming her foot down and creating a wall right behind Zephyr.  "We should be out in less than a day if I made this right."

"That makes no sense," the old King's head was pounding.

"Yes it does," she growled, "I couldn't make the tunnel all in one swift movement.  That would have created too much noise and shake the mountain, the guards would have felt and heard us coming.  I did it in pieces, so no one would notice."

"Yeah well it might take a damn week to get out if his majesty won't hurry up!"  Snapped the Captain.

Zephyr groaned and tried to quicken his pace, but his legs were hurting.  On top of that, he didn't have any shoes.  The dethroned King was tripping over sharp and uneven rocks all over the ground.  He knew his feet were cut and raw at this point and it pained him to keep walking.  The Captain and Mere all had nice leather boots and were unaffected by the less-than-perfect ground.  The feral girls had padded feet that were made to endure uneven surfaces.  Zephyr was not so lucky.

"I'm moving as fast as I can," Zephyr panted.

"Tch, no wonder Seriyaru caught you," she growled.

The old King was too tired to argue with her.  He had to keep moving, even if his limbs hurt.  He ran his fingers over the pendant around his neck.  Still there, still warm, still holding all his memories for him.  He could keep moving.

No he couldn't.  After what he was sure was a handful of hours Zephyr lost all his energy.  He was dizzy and couldn't really see straight, so he had been walking with one hand dragging against the wall to keep him straight.  With all of his energy gone he fell against the rough wall beside him and collapsed to the earthen floor.  At first the ladies didn't notice he fell, he had been falling far behind them again.  But after a few seconds Crystal spun around, saw him slumped against the cave wall a number of feet away, and darted over to him.  His legs were hissing angry curses at him because how dare he try to walk for so long when he hadn't walked them like this in months?  His usual headache was banging away at his skull and his feet were whimpering out little cries of pain because of all the sharp rocks and dirt embedded in their soles.

"Zephyr what's wrong?"  Crystal grabbed his shoulders and tried to haul him up.  "We can't afford to stop we won't be safe in this tunnel forever!"

The old man couldn't get his legs under him.  He jerked himself out of Crystal's grasp and leaned against the wall.

"I can't keep going," he panted, "my legs hurt too much."

"It's just a few more hours!"

"If you're so worried then just go," he snapped, getting comfortable on the ground.

"We can't leave you behind you idiot!"

"Then we rest," Gijin said plainly as she sat down next to Zephyr.

"But the others are waiting at the exit!"  Fyre motioned down the tunnel.

"If they get worried they'll come in for us," Gijin shrugged.  "We can't drag the King.  We'll lose pieces of him along the way."

"They're not safe out there either!"  Fyre accented.

"They have a dragon, a vampire, a giant puma, and my fellow Serevaste hunter.  Trust me, they are safe."

That didn't seem to reassure Fyre, which made no sense to Zephyr because a team of that caliber could withstand an entire army.  After a few minutes of mumbling under her breath Fyre and Crystal finally gave in and decided that they would rest here for a "few hours".  Zephyr wasn't sure how long it would take to get his legs moving again, but he was sure the "few hours" the captain and bounty hunter promised would not be enough.

"Now that we're stopped," Mere announced, bouncing over to Zephyr, "here ya go!"  She sang in her terrible scratchy voice.

The fire elementalist held out a small brown paper bag, tied shut with a little white string. Zephyr stared at the bag, unsure as to what it was and if he even wanted to know what was inside the innocent looking package.

"No thank you…" he croaked.

Mere swayed in place like a confused child.  She held the bag closer to Zephyr and whimpered.

"But tha princess ahn Jess said ah had ta give it ta ya.  Tha princess insisted," she whined like a five year old.

Not much in the mood to argue with a mentally unstable, childish, fire elementalist, Zephyr took the small package from the woman and let it sit in his lap.  Mere twisted her long burnt hands together.

"Aren't ya gonna open it?"  She smiled anxiously.

Another sigh, and Zephyr looked down at the paper bag.  It looked safe enough.  There weren't many dangerous things one could fit in a bag like this that would last days underground.  He tugged on the little white string and the package fell open to reveal its contents.

"…Are…are these cookies?"  Zephyr's voice cracked.

Suddenly Mere grinned wildly and she nodded her head a thousand times.  She lit one hand and the index finger of the other on fire.

"Happy birthday!!!"

Zephyr stared at her.

"What?"

"Happy…happy birthday?"  She squeaked.

Mere was obviously uncomfortable so she looked to the other women, who were all trying to smile and be gentle.

"Its…its yer birthday right?  Tha princess said it would be…  Ah mean, we've been in here for days so it mighta been yesterday or tomorrer but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!  _{Can ah have one of tha cookies}?"

At this point, the wheels in Zephyr's mind had come to a screeching halt.  He was tired, in pain, in a tunnel, was a prisoner, saved by a bounty hunter, pirate, fire elementalist, and wilder, and apparently it was his birthday.  How was anyone supposed to react to this?  He was just supposed to be fine because he was given a package of cookies?  Not that he didn't like cookies, he liked cookies quite a lot.  And it wasn't that these cookies looked bad—they looked rather tasty to be quite honest.  And he wasn't sad that it was his birthday, fifty-one was a good age.  Zephyr just…couldn't react.  He felt like a confused child, staring wide-eyed at his escorts, waiting for them to magically make the world make sense.

Mere was becoming more uncomfortable by the second.  She doused the flames dancing on her fingers and looked over to the Captain for guidance.  Captain Fyre simply shrugged.

"I don't think he's gonna share, Mere."

Zephyr looked back at the cookies.  There were eight of them in the package.  He hadn't eaten anything today, but they did just save him…  He held out a cookie to Mere.  She squealed with joy, snatched it from his fingers, ran over to the other side of the tunnel and devoured it.  The old King looked over to the other ladies.

"Did you want one?"  He sounded so winded.

"No thanks.  They're all yours," Crystal smiled gently.

The cookies didn't make Zephyr feel much better.