Iris opened her eyes once more, still tucked under the torotsu with Arylos who was lying on the floor asleep. She rubbed her eyes and stretched out her legs under the heated table, bumping into Arylos’s legs as well. She leaned back against the sofa and looked towards the Titan sleeping on the floor on the other side of the torotsu. She felt a little happiness that Arylos was now finally sleeping like a normal person rather than faking it like he had been. She kept looking at him, admiring how much he’s settling into life living with humans.

“Do I have something on my face?” Arylos asked, fully awake.

Iris groaned with yet another reminder that he’s not normal. “Yeah, it’s called your face,” she replied in irritation.

“That’s weak, even for you,” Arylos commented with a deep sigh, not moving from his comfortable spot. “Someone’s approaching the door and I don’t want to get up. Can you see who it is?”

“You know they’re there, you can do it,” Iris sighed and shifted herself to a more comfortable position under the warm blankets.

The two audibly groaned once someone started knocking on the door.

“We need a sign that says ‘go away’,” Iris mumbled.

“That’s me because I’m a big guard dog,” Arylos commented with a light chuckle.

“Yeah, well you’re a horrible guard dog,” Iris snapped back.

Arylos groaned and clenched his hand as the air hummed. He snapped his fingers and the front door clicked open and someone entered the foyer.

“Just how long do you two plan to stay cooped up in here?” a familiar woman’s voice called out while closing the front door.

“Get yourself a torotsu and see if you ever leave it,” Iris replied to the woman.

“Give it a try, Bellona,” Arylos followed up while lifting one of the blankets of the torotsu.

“Stop!” Iris complained and pushed the blanket back down. “You’re letting all of the cold air in!”

Bellona came over into view and wore the face of disappointment of the two lazing about. “You guys can’t be serious,” she complained and gave the table a gentle kick. “This is what you do with your time?”

“Try it, see what happens,” Arylos mocked, still unmoving from his spot on the floor. “This thing is engineering black magic. I refuse to go to Templarius unless they adopt these.”

Bellona rubbed her eyes with a heavy sigh. “You’re telling me that you won’t go anywhere because of a table with a blanket and hot coals?”

“That is exactly what we’re saying,” Iris answered, turning over to lay on the floor while cocooned in the heated blankets.

“And you are disturbing us from turning into couch potatoes,” Arylos commented while resting his arms behind his head like pillows. “Why are you even here?”

“I thought I was welcome to my friends’ house,” Bellona answered, as if wounded by Arylos’s tone. “We haven’t seen you guys for around a month so I wanted to see if you were doing alright.”

“As you can see, we’re doing just fine,” Arylos sighed.

“Arylos, why do we not have the fireplace burning?” Iris asked from her cocoon. “Could you start it for me?”

“It needs wood,” Arylos replied and he opened his eyes to glance to Bellona. “Bellona, could you be so kind as to fetch some of the logs from the foyer? Three should be plenty.”

“I don’t think so,” Bellona responded with a laugh. “If I let you light that fire, you’ll never leave.”

“Would you rather we freeze to death?” Iris asked with Arylos nodding in agreement.

Bellona sighed, losing her patience with the two. “Arylos, you can move stuff with your mind. Can’t you just move the logs over here?”

Arylos closed his eyes with a groan. “Too much effort right now and you’re not doing anything.”

“Neither are you, you lazy fuck!” Bellona shouted as her last nerve snapped.

“I am taking a vacation,” Arylos’s voice carried the feeling of being overly relaxed, as if he didn’t even notice Bellona’s outburst.

“But for a month?” Bellona asked in confusion.

Iris turned to face Bellona but kept her lower face hidden under the blanket. “Both of us just want a peaceful life and we got way more than we bargained for this past year.”

Bellona sighed, finally giving up, and went over to collect three thick logs from the foyer and brought them over to the duo’s fireplace. Once the logs were placed inside, Arylos reached over and rested his hand on the logs and his hand began to burn with subtle red flames that began to burn the logs.

“You’re more than welcome to stay so you can get out of the cold,” Arylos told Bellona, waiting for the logs to fully ignite.

Bellona shook her head. “I’m good. I’ll just leave you two alone so you can grow fat in peace.”

Bellona then made her way to the door and opened it. “Let me know if you guys need anything,” she told the duo before she left.

“We will!” Iris responded in a cheery voice before Bellona made her way out into the cold winter day.

After a couple minutes, the logs in the fireplace began to burn on their own and Arylos pulled his hand back and pulled the chain curtain in front of the flames to keep them contained. He then returned to his rest before hearing a rustling sound to his right. He glanced over and saw Iris under the blankets with a pillow from the sofa under her head, just staring at Arylos from under the blankets with everything below her nose covered by the blanket.

Arylos chuckled to himself and closed his eyes. He heard the same rustling sound again, this time closer. He opened his eyes and Iris was still under the blankets, staring at him, only this time she was closer. Arylos closed his eyes again and the rustling grew louder. He opened them again, and Iris was right next to him, staring at him from under the blanket as usual.

“What?” he asked her, feeling like she’s a small child wanting attention.

“It’s warmer over here,” she answered in a quiet voice.

Arylos chuckled to himself, amused by Iris’s aversion to the cold.

“I’m also hungry,” Iris continued.

Arylos’s chuckle turned into a sigh. He pulled himself from the warm confines of the torotsu and the fireplace and headed for the kitchen to get the spoiled girl some food. A couple of moments later, he came back with a bowl of mikans and set it on the table of the torotsu and tossed one onto the blanket next to Iris, who took the mikan under the blanket.

“Will that satisfy your gluttony?” Arylos asked while crawling back under the blanket.

“For now, yes,” Iris responded, munching on the mikan under the blanket.

Arylos settled back in and glanced at the stack of papers Garris gave him; the report of the Khymr inn attack. He pondered it for a while, wondering if several veteran Khymr could really have been slain by a couple of mortals. There was no report of any mortal casualties so unless they gathered their dead afterwards, the attackers suffered no deaths.

Or maybe it was Khymr on Khymr aggression? It’s forbidden in the order, but would it really be unheard of? Maybe this was why Garris wanted Arylos to be aware of this? But the order has their own methods for handling this and they didn’t need him. Too many variables, too many things to consider. A part of Arylos wanted to go to the site of the attack so he could see with his own eyes.

Arylos’s train of thought was interrupted by a mikan peel being thrown at his face. He looked up and saw Iris glaring at him from under the blanket.

“What?” he asked genuinely.

“You’re doing it again,” Iris responded, disappointment heavy in her tone. “You’re supposed to be off today.”

Arylos sighed with a warm smile and picked up another mikan and threw it to Iris, who caught it and took it under the blankets like the last one.

“I’m just thinking, that’s all,” Arylos explained, setting aside a mikan for himself.

“Yeah, you’re thinking about going there, aren’t you?” Iris asked, still disappointed.

Arylos chuckled, knowing he can’t hide anything from her. “I was, but it’s a couple of weeks away even if Keratos were to give me a ride. It’s not worth it in that case, so I’ll leave it to Garris to handle.”

“Do you actually mean that?” Iris asked, not buying Arylos’s assurances.

Arylos sighed and took the stack of papers and opened the chain curtain of the fireplace and threw the papers in and closed the chain curtain behind them, letting them burn in the flames. The two watched the papers curl and burn, the gesture telling Iris just what she wanted Arylos to say.