Going further

In the morning you had a short, but decisive conversation about boundaries and not touching someone elses body parts without their permission, whether they were aware of it or not. Doris understood, or at least pretended to. Layla on the other hand didn't even consider your words and kept ignoring the subject whenever you tried to bring it up. You gave up on trying to talk to her about it.

You moved on then to second matter, which fairy brought up - she wanted to become a part of your group. She made a point of satisfying her needs first - which was feeding off your groups pleasure. She said that you positively reeked of it since last night and she would follow you anyway since there is no other source of it around. You didn't know how big of an area this "around" was. Doris also added that she can be useful in avoiding enemies by casting illusion spells - which would probably not work on you, but you didn't say that - and minor afflictions like spell, blindness and similar things. She added that in order to cast anything bigger she would need to directly feed of your pleasure, like last night. Layla wanted to kick her out right after that, but you couldn't deny usefulness of someone like that when going into demon territory.

You cleaned up your camp right after breakfast and moved. For first two hours Kelara gave you a ride, but then your butt, back and legs were screaming at you to leave them in peace, so you had to continue afterwards on foot. You didn't mind, even though you were technically the slowest member of your group. Even fairy could outpace you when she was flying, but she didn't use her wings much, preferring to just sit on your shoulders and watching Layla. You suspected she was still a little afraid of the spider.

As for the girl that kept saying you were claimed by her - she seemed to not mind the events of last night anymore, but you knew she was clearly plotting something, constantly looking at Doris while smiling menacingly. In the afternoon Kelara took Layla on the side, away from your ears and spoke to her. After that conversation Layla went back to just harassing you and completely ignored fairy. Doris didn't mind.

In the late afternoon, when there was still enough sunlight to cast long shadows from the trees by the rugged road, you decided to stop for the day. Fairy prepared an illusion and a few wards to hide your campsite and alert you at night of anything approaching. That meant noone had to keep watch anymore. Layla went hunting again, since she consumed her supplies earlier in the day.

"Do you mind if I ask what are you doing?" Kelara asked when checking her equipment.

"Hm? Oh. Just... counting." You answered. You had a pen and a piece of paper marked with numbers.

She walked forward and looked at your calculations.

"So you use there... marks as numbers?"

"Yes. In the part of the world where I'm from we use Arabic numerals." You showed her what you were working on. "This is four, which is a rough number of miles per hour we are crossing with me on foot."

"And this one?"

"Nine, that's the amount of hours we travelled like that. And here is two - those are hours I rode on you. You were trotting so the other could keep up without tiring themselves too much, which is like eight miles per hour. Let's deduct some for few stops we had. All of this means we roughly traveled about fifty miles today."

She looked at you with puzzled expression.

"Is that a lot?"

"Yes and no. Our pace is good, we don't take too many breaks and the road so far is less dangerous than expected. I mean, no offense to the primal wolves, but so far the most dangerous encounter on the road was Layla." You smiled at her and she laughed.

You pulled out a map and pointed at it.

"Look, if I'm counting correctly, we should be somewhere around here." You showed her an area in the western part of the Allied Kingdoms, very close to the border. "With our current pace we should be reaching Realm of the Demon Lord sometime next week."

Kelara nodded her head, following everything you said.

"While in there, we would need to turn here to avoid this mountain range, get in here to the bridge over Yvve river, and even then, if the road is direct and nothing happens on the roud, we would get out here, in the Abandoned Empire, which is my target."

"Okay..."

"Aghrasad is here, which is another four hundred miles west after crossing the border. So, by my calculation, the earliest we will get there, will be in seven months." You let that hang in that air, sink in for a while. "I'm telling all that to you, because you are the only one that is going to understand it, and you have a home, a unit, to come back to. Are you sure you want to continue coming with us?" You asked her full of concern. You didn't want to pull her away from her life for so long.

"The others..." She started, but you stopped her.

"Layla will follow me wherever I go. I know that type of woman, and she just won't let go. Hell, I think I'm going crazy, because I feel like I'm getting attached to her. Not sure about Doris though, but from what I heard, she doesn't have anything better to do."

Kelara looked to the east, her eyes slowly getting wet. You could only guess what was going on in her head. Finally, she grabbed her glaive and stood tall.

"I am a fourth daughter of general Kaliana. In our culture only the best and the brightest get to have a male assigned to them. I am not as skilled in combat, or proficient in tactics like my mother. I'm not as good in geography or mathematics as you. I failed at my hour of trial. But I will not abandon you, David Trent. I shall aid you in your quest and get you safely to your destination. I have one request, though."

"Shoot."

"When your quest is done, will you consider keeping me at your side? As a friend, of course."

The question was not that unexpected, but it still made you feel a bit uneasy.

"Yes. May I ask why? Why would you want to stay with me?"

"I know that I am a failure, and no, please, don't say otherwise, you will only embarass me." She stopped you before you could even open your mouth. "I will not get a male, so I am looking for the next best thing, companionship. In my squad I did not make any lasting friendships. Will you do me the honor, David, and allow me to call you a friend?"

She asked, pulling out her hand.

You took it, squeezed and shook, her soft skin warm and pleasant to touch.

"Of course, friend." You answered, but something in your mind clicked in the other way, a tiny thought that wanted this woman to be something more than that. As you looked in her eyes you thought you were fall...

"Human!" Doris said appearing from behind, landing on your shoulder and pulling you out of your thoughts. You let go of Kelara's hand. "You feel surprisingly nice, what's going on?"

Kelara blushed and you shrugged your shoulders, proceeding to prepare something to eat.