Three days pass, and Emanuel still hasn’t said anything to me. Besides the occasional “I'm going to train” or “thank you for the food.” Outside of that, he hasn’t said anything. This isn’t how it should be. I saved his life. I risked my existence to save him. From a situation he put us in. Why is it that he is mad at me after everything I did?

  Why is it that after everything he did, I'm mad at him?

  For dinner, I prepared fish. I don’t think he appreciates my effort to de-scale and debone the fish to make perfect fillets, with some rice we scrambled together and red beans and potatoes in some tomato sauce. We are eating in silence, but I am determined to break it.

  “So… how are you feeling? Is recovery going well?” I ask. No response. “Do the ships have food on them or the docks? I don’t need it as much as you, but we should be prepared.”

  Emanuel spits a fish bone out of his mouth.

  “We can always eat Fiend.” Emanuel and Fiend’s eyes shoot up at me.

  “What? We are not eating Fiend!” He shouts at me.

  “I mean, he can taste good,” I respond as my hand covers my plate, slowly digesting the food. “He might taste good. I never had undead rodents.”

  “We can’t eat Fiend. He is our friend. “ He says clutching Fiend.

  “Then what should we do for your food supplies?” I ask, letting him take the lead.

  "Each dock has trucks coming in with food supplies. They use these small cars to transfer the food around each port. Normally, they come straight off another Solar Sail, so it's the freshest it can be. We can go in when it's a supply day and take one of the cars with one of the ships.”

  “That means security would be heightened. More eyes mean more problems. I can grab the truck, and you wait by the ship to get it prepped for takeoff. That might have to be the best plan.” I stand up as I'mm talking and grab seconds. I need as much food as possible to regain my size.

  “Why were you mad at me” Emanuel’s words shook. They came out impatient as if they had been stuck in his throat for ages, and he finally coughed them out. He didn’t look me in the eye when he said them. What is in them that he is afraid to see?

  “I’ve been asking myself that very thing.” I start to say. “The first thought I had seeing you in there was, ‘I did it again. I lead Emanuel in danger.’ I brought you to Crimson. I am the reason we are in the woods.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “What do you mean?” Emanuel interrupts. “Crimson came for me. All because I attacked Crane in town. Because I couldn’t finish him off. Because all I can do is hide. Even when I fight, Fiend ended up…”

  Emanuel stops himself before he can finish that thought. “It's my fault people get hurt. I guess I can see why you would be mad at me.” He stops again, placing his plate of food down. He holds his hands, shifting his thumb back and forth, from one to the other. His eyes stay locked on the grass.

  “I get it.” Emanuel starts to say. “ I get it if you want to leave. All I do is cause pain and make you mad. Really, it's okay. Thank you for caring about me. I-”

  Before he can finish that sentence, I hug him tight. “Shut up,” I say to him. He is still shaking. “You are annoying at times.”

  “Then leave.” He whimpers out.

  “You cause a lot of trouble and always copy what I do.”

  “Then leave me.”

  “You're also funny and one of the smartest people I know.”

  “What? Why are you saying that?”

  “It's my job to protect you. I won’t ever abandon my little brother.”

  Emanuel pulls away from me. Not in anger but in disbelief. “Your little…brother.”

  “I made a promise to you that I intend to keep. I have heard a lot of people's dreams, and I watched their lives end before they could reach them. Sometimes, they morph into someone not deserving of their own goals. I don’t want that for you. The greatest joy in my life will be sitting next to you and eating a piece of cake you make me in your bakery. “

  I look at him at his eye level when I say the next line. “A god should not make judgments in anger as it clouds all other judgment. How I spoke to you is wrong. I’m sorry.”

  “Emanuel collects himself before speaking. “I’m sorry I put our lives at risk. I need to be a better brother to you.”

  “You can call me Brother God Cid if you like,” I respond glowingly.

  “I will never in my life. You're not even a god.” He spits back at me.

  “I am a god!”

  "You almost got killed by a Grul. What god lets that happen?”

  “Did you see how big it was?” I shout back. The first critter groaned in despair as the silent nights were gone, and Emanuel and I talked the whole night.

  Three weeks passed then. I went back to the spot where we fought the Grul. He has been recovering quickly. As an apology for stepping into his domain, I offered him a big piece of meat, which a butcher had unknowingly donated.

  We stared at each other. In his eye was a spark. I felt the same energy from before, but this time, it connected with me internally—as if the spark in the Grul existed in me, or at least a variation. He allowed me to enter his clearing to present the food. I don’t know what drawn me here, but I know that after everything, this was necessary.

  That pool of thick purple is special, but I can’t put my finger on it. The purple is as thick as blood, yet this Grul baths it joyfully. I let this thought drift away as if everything went well and we wouldn’t be on this rock for long.

  We packed up our bags and reviewed our plan once again. Our life in the forest is over, and in two nights, a grocery shipment will hit the docks, marking our great escape from this rock. I don’t know where we three will end up once we get a Solar Sail, but I know what we need to do to get one. It is time to enact the New Plan A.