They made their way toward where all the others were by following the elevated sounds of arguing. The most prominent voices that could be heard, Thea recognized as Zag’s sister and Liangfeng. Some other voice would intrude into the confrontation now and then but would be quickly subdued.

As they got closer both her and Zag’s irritation became clear as their blood pressure rose which caused a vein on each of their persons to grow prominent. Thea cut her eyes to Zag to see him scowling deeply, his eyes were even taking on their draconic characteristics.

She took a deep breath and sighed as they made the last turn into the cavern and the confrontation came into sight.

Liangfeng and Anunnakisarratum were in the midst of a very animated argument about how to prepare the food. The object of their argument lay in the cavern, the corpse of some beast the size of a large bull. Thea had no idea what it was, and it seemed to be missing its head. At least she thought it was missing its head, it was hard to tell.

Sitting atop the beast was Shar, who kept trying to interject into the argument that they should just eat it already since it would go bad if they left it set too long. Liangfeng and Anunnakisarratum would brush it off arguing various ways it should be prepared in a way fit for human bodies since it was too small to feed them all in their pure-blood states.

Bron, Aisling and Chouyan sat off to the side and watched the conflict proceed not being in a situation to take control of things.

“What are you two doing!” Thea yelled without even thinking. She had felt as if all the pressure she had been under had ballooned out and popped, the pointlessness of the argument just became her last straw.

Anunnakisarratum stared at her in open-mouthed shock. Liangfeng had the intelligence to at least look ashamed of herself however her jaw was still set in its stubbornness.

Shar looked over at her like someone who saw some hope of getting to eat a meal after all.

“Do either of you even know how to prepare the dishes you’re yelling about?” Thea scolded right over the look of anger that started to grow on Anunnakisarratum’s face after the shock wore off.

“But..” Liangfeng started to respond.

“That was a yes or no question!”

Bron snuck his way over to hand Zag his clothes, trying to keep his movements from drawing attention to himself.

“No…” Liangfeng answered. Anunnakisarratum just refused to look at her.

“I didn't think so,” Thea looked over the rest of the party. “Does anyone feel comfortable enough in their skills to cook... whatever that is?”

Aisling and Chouyan tentatively volunteered.

“I would need someone to light the fire and we would need to make a few things first,” Aisling elaborated.

“I know what you’ll need so I’ll help with that part,” Bron volunteered.

“Good,” Thea looked back over at Shar. “Lady Sharmelammusarratum we will need a table and dishes to eat at if it is to be in human form.”

“Oh, Anunnakisarratum you help me with that, I do not have anything of that sort and Zaganursarrum is useless at shaping things,” Shar drug her daughter off to some other point in the caverns.

Thea turned to where Zag had been to find that he disappeared. She started to panic when she found he was missing but aside from her eyes widening a bit she kept it hidden. At least she thought she had.

“He looked as if an idea had struck him and went back the way you just came from,” Liangfeng explained as she walked over to her.

Thea sighed but soon shrugged off her irritation.

“Let’s go see if we can help with the preparation, I’m sure I have better control over my fire than Brontannistine does his.”

Liangfeng smiled and nodded before following along beside her with a carefree jovial skip in her step.

**

Zag returned just as they were all setting the table and dividing up the roasted meat amongst the plates. He was carrying a very large stone jar that the members with more astute hearing could make out the sounds of a liquid sloshing inside and those with a more astute sense of smell could make out the reek of alcohol.

“What is that?” Sharmelammusarratum asked him. Her tone was as sharp as the suspicious glare she directed his way.

“I figured we’d need something to drink,” Zag looked at her with an innocent smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

“You stole my fruits didn't you?”

“Well…” Zag mumbled something about it wasn't technically him.

Anu had walked over while her mother and brother bickered about technicalities and filled the cup she was holding by dipping it the stone jar.

“You made that one didn't you?” Zag asked her about the cup attempting to escape from the conversation with their mother.

“Yup, pretty nice right?”

“I wonder why I can tell the difference? Anyway, cut that with some water it’s pretty brutal.”

“Stop ignoring me Zaganursarrum,” Shar fumed at her son. “Which one of those pathetic excuses for divine beings helped you with such frivolity?”

“Well, I mean, uh, here mother you should have a drink, it’s much better than the original fruit,” he walked over to her offering the jar.

“That isn't the point, you did it without asking, how many are left?”

“Uh...half?” he gave her a sheepish look as her face shifted from anger to despair before it settled on resignation.

She lightly brought her fist down on his head before grabbing a handful of the small braids in his hair. Zag looked concerned for the first time as the feeling of being trapped sunk in.

“These make a wonderful handle,” her eyes took on a sadistic glint.

“Thank you and you are welcome!” Liangfeng said between barely contained laughter.

“Do not think I will forget this Zaganursarrum,” Shar said. “Let us proceed with the meal, however.”

Zag sighed as she let go of his hair but her follow-up pat on his cheek made his nerves almost short out as he sensed how much retribution he will face later on for disturbing his mother’s favorite snacks.

The meal proceeded with little incident and with much discussion of plans for the future, although it took some time for Chouyan’s nervousness at being surrounded by dragons to dissipate.

Things wound down, and the conversation splintered into groups which Zag surveyed with his eyes over his cup of the wonderful alcohol he had shanghaied the resident and guest deities into helping him make.

Chouyan was trying to escape Anu’s persistent and almost sadistic teasing by scooting closer to Aisling who was half listening to Bron drone on about something she had probably heard several hundred times before. Bron seemed blissfully unaware of his aunt and her teasing of the qilin and he was in slightly more than a tipsy state.

Anu, herself was slurring some of the words she was using to pester Chouyan and was also continuing to drink.

Liangfeng kept glancing over at Chouyan’s plight while discussing in-depth her plans with Thea. The phoenix would sometimes agree and sometimes argue a point, but it seemed both ladies had not partaken of the alcohol so much to affect their cognitive abilities.

Zag gently patted his mother’s shoulders as she was laying her head on the table nearly passed out from drinking too much. Now and then he would hear some lamentation over the fruits and he would shiver as it inevitably progressed to some descriptive horror she wanted to do in revenge.

The sun sank in the sky and Shar recovered enough for her and Anu to make everyone some raised stone platforms for them to lie out their sleeping equipment on as beds in separate caverns.

While they went about doing that Thea and Liangfeng came up to him. He had a guess as to what they would ask but what he didn't expect was for Liangfeng to grab his arm and snuggle suggestively against him while they asked it.

“Zaganursarrum how much involvement are you going to take with actions that do not directly involve the humans who possess the black mist?” Thea asked with a look of pure irritation and what Zag could only see as jealousy over Liangfeng’s actions.

He was also struck by the knowing glint in Liangfeng’s eyes as she looked at Thea while snuggling up to his arm. This was not a game he was entirely sure how to deal with.

“I cannot give you a general answer to that, I simply won't do something I find morally objectionable. I at least trust you not to push me into doing anything like I did in the war so we’ll just have to go case by case, I do not intend on getting too far away from you, however.”

“Thank you.” Thea smiled up at him but her eyes still held firm her irritation for what Liangfeng was doing. “I feel much better hearing that.”

Liangfeng squeezed his arm tighter when his eyes followed Thea as she left.

“And what is it you want little girl?” Zag asked her playfully.

She tittered out a giggle and said, “Perhaps I am still on the small side but I am a fully developed woman, you know?”

“Little woman sounds weird off the tongue…” Zag put on a faux thoughtful expression.

“If you call me short, I will bite you.” Liangfeng showed her teeth.

“I can bite harder than you.” Zag poked her nose causing her face to scrunch up cutely.

“She likes you, that phoenix girl does, although she is not sure how to act on it.”

“I didn't miss the purpose of your little performance, although the information surprised me a little. What I am more interested in is is how you will act.”

“Are you trying to say I like you?” She looked up into his eyes with the most innocent expression she could muster.

“Well, the signals my poor molested arm are sending seem to show something of the sort.”

“Well, perhaps I should move on to other things if your arm is not up to the task.”

Chouyan watched them both walk off towards the side cavern Zag was using for a bedroom and she almost jumped out of her skin as Anu came up and poked her in the ribs from behind.

“That yelp was adorable I could almost eat you up if your mistress wasn’t giving me more pressing concerns,” Anu told her in a sultry voice. Chouyan could still smell the alcohol on her breath.

“I will not let you hurt my mistress,” Chouyan warned her in a nervous whisper.

“I would never break my brother’s things, do not worry over that, but I won't necessarily let him keep them to himself.”

Chouyan could hear her humming a wordless tune between bouts of tittered laughter as she followed the recently departed pair. She could only wordlessly follow and hope the dragons didn't do her mistress any... unwanted damage.