Flying back to the small plaza with the brazier gave Val and Arius another opportunity to speak freely. Plus, they got to share a subtle touch with each other once again. As always, Val held Foofy under one arm, his saliva splattering through the breeze.

“Val, what exactly were you thinking of back there?”

“It was nothing important!” she said at once.

“Am I not important?” Arius feigned a pout in his voice, glancing to Val with a downcast look before smiling back out to the sky. “Based on your intentions, I would guess that you were thinking of me, generally speaking.”

“I’m sorry.” At once, Val took to a dramatic apology fueled by her shame. “I’m sorry! Is that okay? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable like that secretary—”

“Don’t mention her,” Arius snapped. “That is the only way that you can make me uncomfortable.”

“Oh, oops.” Val stared at the rooftops passing beneath them.

“You, on the other hand, are perfect.”

Many attributes could be used to describe Val, though ‘perfect’ was an exaggeration that flattered her. It was a smart way for Arius to resume the conversation that he wanted—something along the lines of teasing her.

“T-Thank you. When you read my intentions and feel what I want… it isn’t weird for you?”

“No,” he said simply. “You’re my soulmate. I appreciate that you aren't going to try and fight that fate every step of the way.”

Val clung tighter to Foofy and Arius. Hopefully he would feel glad for his pure intentions with her, not anything creepy like Tavras had theorized. No wonder Arius used Read Intentions all the time on literally everyone. It seemed like an incredibly useful ability that Val only wished that she had right about now.

When Arius’s attention returned to flying, he analyzed the streets below. “We passed the plaza already. That was my bad. I was distracted.”

Their additive forward momentum ceased, though their velocity made them drift along in the sky. Eventually their direction took them the other way, accelerating at the same rate that they had slowed down.

Val’s stomach wanted to flip-flop, but she had more fun than anything else.

Foofy seemed less accepting of their abrupt change in direction. His head hung low and swayed slightly from side to side.

“Our Foofy friend isn’t going to throw up, is he?” Arius asked out of alarm.

“Um, he might. Take it easier on the turns next time.”

Through their travels so far, Foofy had accompanied Val through ship and automobile, but now rough flying seemed like too much for him.

“We’re going to the ground right now,” Arius said, immediately changing their direction again. “I don’t want to accidently kill anyone with dog barf from above.”

Such a serious matter sent Val into giggles, thinking of Foofy’s barf becoming a projectile weapon from the sky. Gravity would make his vomit splat hard enough to exert lethal force if someone happened to have bad enough luck.

On the ground, they walked the rest of the way to the plaza. The braziers lit up by Arius’s hand which he soon stuck out to her.

Before taking his hand, Val stuck a finger close to his nose. “You cannot hog-tie Foofy again.”

Grinning at her waggling finger, he took after her lead by pointing downward to Foofy. “In that case, he had best behave—yes, you.” Arius booped Foofy on the nose.

The tip of his pink tongue darted out to lap at his finger, but Arius had already drawn away.

Together, Val and Arius passed through the fire to New Gate. Leaving her there, he jumped back into the flames to retrieve Foofy. When he came back, that ornery dog grunted and squirmed in his arms.

“Good dog!” Arius said and released Foofy to the ground.

The Dobie hobbled away with a backwards glare at Arius.

“He really does not like to travel through fire,” Val said with a laugh, “not as much as flying, anyway.”

“No, he doesn’t. I hope this doesn’t make him hate me.” His tone sounded a little sad, as if what Foofy thought of Arius really and truly mattered to him.

Side by side, Val and Arius spoke of Foofy and watched him sniff about the original plaza. They turned the braziers off once more and walked away.

“Well, we have two last orders of business,” Arius said.

Glancing around sheepishly, Val could not remember one more thing that they had to do, much less two. “Could you remind me?”

“You need to cut all ties with Tavras—” Arius began before she cut him off.

That again. Of course, Arius could not leave their earlier fight resolved.

“I said that I want to keep living with him,” Val snapped.

“I told you that you are not associating with the Sea Itself, especially not living with him.”

Out of frustration, Val bit into her lip. The two of them had found another thing that they had in common: stubbornness. Val would refuse to have anything other than her way, and it looked like Arius intended to exert the same persistence onto her.

It was Val’s life. Frankly, she would not feel so safe around Arius if he isolated her from Tavras, though that argument did not seem to hold much weight with his status as her soulmate.

Biting into her lip, she tried to think of an angle that would appeal to him. If she said anything inappropriate within the confines of the town, she trusted that he would stop her.

The humming walls grew softer and louder, always lurking around them as they walked down the streets.

“Since I am Herrick’s daughter, he is going to come after me from what I have gathered. Tavras has a reputation for taking in lost children, so it would only make sense for me to stay with him. You want me to have a safe place to live, right?”

Slow, carefully placed words constructed Arius’s response. “I do think that Tavras is the lesser of two evils when compared to Herrick, at least for you.” He fell silent after that.

“So…?” Val prodded.

“I know how to deal with Herrick already. He isn’t a threat.” Arius hardly validated her with a glance.

“What about these trials that you are setting up? I heard that it’s useful to have a powerful god backing you. If I need to avoid associating with Herrick closely or with you openly,” she hissed between clenched teeth, “then I should stay close to Tavras for now.”

By his reaction, that seemed to be the correct thing to say as Arius mulled it over in quiet consideration. The clench of his jaw belied an amount of anger, not even needing to see the color of his eyes based on the tense vibe surrounding him.

“You know what? Let’s go to a better place to talk.”

Looking around to the buildings, all comprised with one or two of Suvier’s walls, Val tried to imagine how Arius endured his father’s ability to eavesdrop on him at all times. If she knew anything about immortal parents, her own mother had been overbearing and would use an ability like that in a heartbeat, without rest.

Either Arius just wanted some reasonable privacy, or he wanted to conceal some terrible behavior.

Her tight smile flitted to him, worried how the continuation of this talk would go.

His hand grabbed her arm roughly and squeezed too tightly for them to fly once more.