Frontier Chef: My Cooking Skills Are Broken-Chapter 39: Two Lies and a Truth

Neve stood up from the table and adjusted the pendant at her throat.

"I was told that Harken was faring okay." Neve paused. "You’re right. About the water, about the drought. I didn’t know how bad this settlement was. But I’m here now, and as a Slayer I can’t fuck around."

"So is that a no to ’catch up’?" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

She straightened the same bland clothes she wore from yesterday and walked to the doorway.

Even the Emerald Avian wasn’t subject to nicer clothing.

"Walk with me, brute," Neve said, eyes forward. "Tell me just how you kissed this woman."

The girl watched her leave the room and step into the light. Her eyes were wide and hands under her butt.

"Is she mad at you?" the girl asked.

"Hell if I know. She’s always mad at me."

"That’s not a no, then. I’d be mad too if my boyfriend kissed a woman."

Ezra stood up and the little girl was already darting out the door, tongue out and an ugly laugh trailing as she sped to catch up to Neve.

’Damn brat.’

They followed Neve through the corridor, though really it was Ezra following the two of them because the little gremlin was actually quick on her feet. Neve was leaning down so she could hear whatever the little girl was whispering in her ear as they walked on.

Probably something to do with war crimes and shit-fused meals.

The corridor was cooler than the briefing room and Ezra’s hands noticed the difference, the heat thinning out of them the further they got from the hearth’s range. He flexed his fingers a few times without thinking about it.

Ahead, the two girls had stopped at the turn towards the commons.

"You’re so slow," the girl teased.

Neve was looking him up and down, teeth on her bottom lip. He couldn’t tell if it was something positive or if Neve had already decided to flay him based on whatever the hell the girl told her.

"I’m going to show the girl the kelphins," Neve said. "As her legal guardian, you should come with."

Neve waited for Ezra to catch up. Every step he took, he was thinking of a way out. Every step he took to think, he failed miserably.

’I’ve seen that look before. Back at the Ossalaka rocks, when she called my name and had me sleep in her lap.

I’m dead.’

Was it really death if it was on top of a woman’s thighs, though?

The girl was tugging at Neve’s waist. "Show me the fishes, you said you would."

"What is a kelphin?" Ezra said. "That sounds like a drug."

Neve gestured past the commons, toward the south gate.

"It’s what we’re going to travel by, and the girl wanted to see for herself. Said all you do is keep her locked in the kitchen."

Neve stepped closer so only Ezra could hear. "She knows where they are. The beast-keeper there is an asshole and won’t let her near it."

The little girl was already gone.

"Come, brute." She took his arm and pulled. "Catch up, remember?"

Ezra let her, unlike the guards or Harkenians or anyone else the past few days. The alternative was being dragged by the feet.

They jogged out the commons and the Harkenians looked up from their activities to see the bird girl pulling the brute by the hand and kept their mouths shut. Somewhere between the corridor and the commons, Neve had pulled the bone club from her hair and let it fall loose against the wind.

They passed guard patrols standing at attention, spears up, boots together. "Emerald Avian," one said, fist to chestplate. His companion followed.

Neve gave a small nod and kept pulling Ezra against the sand.

"What’s the hurry, lady? You’re pulling me like I’m gonna run off. I’m not..." She turned around, her face matted with sweat. "I’m not a little kid."

"This should be far enough," Neve said, and let go of his arm. He tumbled into the sand and kissed it with his tongue.

"I fucking knew you’d try something like that."

They were far enough that the only guards were the ones on the walls. The little girl was waving at them near the entrance, standing by stone fences and an old man who stood close enough that he had to hide whatever he was throwing into the pen from her fingers.

Neve waited for Ezra to get up. He was taking his sweet time dusting sand off his ass.

"How did you meet that girl?"

Ezra spit out more sand before answering, "Which girl? I mean, there’s been a lot."

’That sounds worse than I imagined.’

"You idiot, the little one. The one that has all those bruises and fucked up hair."

The little girl was shouting something at them, waving and jumping like she’d been plugged into a wall socket. Courtesy of Renewal Salt still lingering in her body, probably.

Neve stepped into his view and crossed her arms.

"So?"

Ezra put his palms up. "I met her when I got jailed. Which was your fault, by the way. You told them I touched you."

"That wasn’t me."

"Well, you said I touched the registrar."

"That wasn’t me, either."

"You made up the shit about Harkenian customs."

"Okay, that was me. I mistook Harken for another settlement."

’So Leyla was right after all.’

"You did it on purpose then?!" Ezra pointed a finger at her chest and she was already holding him in a chokehold by the time he blinked. "Ow, that tickles."

"You reek of that healer, Ezra. Did you really kiss that woman?" She squeezed harder, and Ezra grabbed her leg and pulled underneath her. She fell over and a sound came out of her that neither of them expected.

Neve rolled to her back but Ezra was quicker than she’d expected and planted his hands over her wrists. He was closer than he meant to, and she looked away, revealing her bare neck pulsing as quick as an Ossalaka drum.

"Is it true then?" Neve said, breathing harder by the second. "How were her lips, brute? Did you suck on her tongue too?"

Ezra towered over her nimble body. The pendant on her necklace caught the sunlight and her breaths came out heavy and Ezra kept her wrists pinned because her green eyes had found his and locked.

The guards didn’t dare look at the scene folding beneath them. Instead they kept their eyes on the desert outskirts.

The little girl was banging against the stone fence now, screaming gibberish at the fins in the pen.

"The girl," Neve said, breath shaky. "She reeks of death. Do you even know her name?"

[ Side-quest reminder: Befriend the little girl ]