The pale ancient quickly sat down back on her throne careful not to stir it awake. The throne was neither made out of luxurious silks so soft and delicate that it was impossible to fight the temptation and too stand up again nor was the throne made out of metals dug from the deepest and darkest recesses of Niuran, so infused with mana that it gave off a soft heavenly light which protected the person sitting in it from any damage, no her throne was much better than that. Its warm embrace filled the old undead with a feeling she never experienced before yet always craved for it alongside a different kind of fuzzy feeling she had discovered. 

 

  Her creation's frown deepened on its peaceful face as it silently demanded more of her touch while it's warm arms squeezed the ancient back into the comfortable cell. The girl's two differently coloured eyes watched her jailor's slumbering face searching for any signs of her waking up while the cart they were in jumped suddenly. Taking a chance to indulge herself the little pale girl pulled out from her inventory the long stripes of dried flesh generously seasoned with white salt given to her by the female human wearing a white mask with blue tear shape splotches scattered randomly on its surface.

 

  The mage's white teeth tore into the deliciousness while her free hand traveled to Iris's chin. The surrounding twilight was illuminated by a flash of golden light as the undead casted a spell on the elf to check the risen status. The girl already knew that everything was as it should be with the risen but she couldn't stop herself from worrying and going over and over Iris's status. Reassuring herself that the juvenile undead's mana points and hit points were as they should be the ghost-like girl snuggled further into Iris's lap while enjoying the human's humble tribute.  In almost no time the salty tribute was gone and the undead girl looked at her empty greasy hands with an expression entirely lifted from her creation, she was tempted by further deliciousness given to her by the annoying lady but the girl stopped herself from eating them, she would not dare to break the promise she gave to Iris. That would make her companion sad and make her a bad girl. The thoughtful mage's finger lightly tapped her cheek as she pondered, she heard Iris call her a naughty girl when she was making her feel good but the necromancer felt that those words spoken in the simplistic and child like language of the living meant different things depending on the situation.

 

  Kia grimaced as she remembered the many languages the living used and how strange they were. The girl couldn't wrap her head around why did the living waste so much energy to make so many words which means the same thing as another word but slightly differently. Why sometimes being punished by her companion whose ears twitch in her sleep when she gently brushed them meant feeling good while other times Iris would cruelly stop her from eating more deliciousness? 

 

 

---

 

 

  Iris opened her eyes and saw Kia's unconscious body latched onto her tightly. The first thing the elf thought about was to stroke the necromancer's silk-like hair, running the long strands of black velvet between her fingers before orienting herself in the darkness. 

From the almost perfectly straight rays of light entering inside from above the elf guessed she had slept until the early afternoon. As the risen was remembering yesterday's events the petite kitten in her arms shifted and her glittering eyes opened.

 

"Did you sleep well?"

 

"Yes." The necromancer's swift answer caused the risen's brow to rise significantly as the little parasitic kitten's eyes watched her face with an unusual amount of clarity.

 

"Are you hungry?" Iris tested the impossibly cute being sitting in her arms. The girl passed the elf's test with passing colours as a familiar spark, flared inside the two large eyes. 

 

"Mmmm!?" As a reward, the risen gave the girl an unexpected kiss causing her dual colour eyes to widen with surprise as her lips were sealed.

 

"Salty?" The out-of-breath undead watched with horror as her jailor's violet eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Did you see the humans while I was asleep?"

 

"Y-yes..." 

 

"Did they offered you food?" The shy girl nodded sheepishly in response causing the elf to tighten her grip on the apologetic undead. The risen cuddled with the cold necromancer as at the back of her mind she processed what the girl told her. Iris trusted the humans enough for them to not do anything stupid after they saw her defeat an ogre boss singlehandedly but they were humans at the end of the day. While she pondered she felt a deep empty hole grow inside her stomach as she realized that she had not detected when her precious companion had interacted the humans.

 

"Do you want to get a breath of fresh air?" Iris finally said after getting her fill of seeing Kia act like a cat.

 

"Sure." The undead mage replied as her eyes flared up in the darkness.

 

  When Iris stepped outside she was greeted by the great blue expanse of heaven sprawling above her. Her appearance was almost instantly noted by a pair of scouts acting as the caravan's rearguard. With surprising speed one of the riders passed the wooden cart she was standing on, drawing the elf's gaze toward the front. The roughly twenty wagons packed full of cargo slowly forged their own path through the grassland surrounding them from all sides. What piqued the elf's interest was that almost all of the wagons lack a single driver with an exception of a young human wearing a brown mask. 

 

  An archaic chorus of nervous clack ruptured from the large two-legged chickens as soon as Kia's skin is to welcomed by the warm sunlight hitting her pale skin. The boy stood up in a panic and began to hurriedly jump from wagon to wagon causing the caravan to stop.

Iris turned toward the girl whose immaculate skin on her forehead wrinkled into a dissatisfied expression. 

 

  Iris pulled the girl's hood up, shrouding her face from any curious gazes before carefully balancing her way on the wagon's edge to its front to sit in the empty driver seat and bask in the barely noticeable sunlight. Kia followed the taller undead like a small chickling following her mother to the front of the humble wooden wheeled construct. Iris couldn't stop herself from smiling as she watched the frown on Kia's face morph into a small pout before shifting back into a frown as the girl stared at something behind the elf.

 

  The defeated-looking mage sank like a rock in water beside Iris and stared at the ash feather terror bird pulling the wooden wagon they were sitting on. That venerable animal seemed to not mind their presence unlike its peers as it slowly and patiently waited for the rest of the caravan to go forth again. The petite girl snapped her fingers causing a pale flame to appear causing the surrounding animals to panic once more with the exception of the large bird in front of them. 

 

Kia heavily leaned onto the elf before turning around and latching onto the risen while hiding her face in the taller undead's chest. "I don't understand anymore." The girl muffled.

 

"How far did a powerful mage fall to cower from an old animal." Iris teased the necromancer as began to stoke her back.

 

"Meanie." 

 

  The elf felt slightly bad for all the humans who were calming down their animals panicking because of the porcelain-skinned undead beside her. She wasn't left with her thoughts alone for too long as she spotted the boy with a brown mask standing at the back of the cart in front of her staring at her from behind his mask. As soon as she looked up at the human his eyes shift away from her and onto the strangely calm animal.

 

"I hope I am not interrupting something?" The human leader's voice suddenly came from her left. The elf turned her head and saw Ruu riding beside them on his ember mount while looking at the small green ball sitting on Iris's lap.

 

"Good morning Mister and no, you are not interrupting anything." The risen answered while giving the human a small nod.

 

"There is no need for you to call me Mister. Call me Ruu," The human said. "I am just checking if you are alright." The man's eyes and body betrayed his dissatisfaction with something. He motioned the standing boy to follow him to the front. The two stopped about mid-way in the caravan before the boy leaned over the edge to listen.

 

 Ruu looked like he finished talking, it was quite hard for the elf to discern what the two spoke about since their mouths were completely covered but their body langue was far more complex giving her hints about the human attitudes in their conversation. The boy looked uncomfortable from whatever he heard but seemed to listen keenly as his elder spoke unnerved about something.

Iris looked down at the perfectly quite necromancer in her hands after Ruu had ridden toward the front of the column leaving the boy alone. She gently grabbed the hem of the green mantle covering the girl and saw that the necromancer had her eyes closed as muffled purrs reached the risen's keen ears.

 

"You didn't sleep, did you?" The elf confronted the napping kitten, receiving a purr as conformation. "Maybe that is for the better." The risen thought aloud as she cherished the image of the sleeping kitten she might have missed when she herself was sleeping.