Page 57

“Just a fact. I don’t mind feeling human, especially when my grasp on it appears to be fading.”

“You didn’t answer my first question.”

Lindiwe looked down at the peelings in her lap. “I’m well. Tired, if anything.”

“You do look as though you have been living largely. How go the humans you attempted to save?” The reason for his likely lengthy sleep.

The corner of her lips twitched, as if she were close to offering a smile. “They’re good. Londinium is still standing, and I have helped many other towns and cities since then. How was your sleep?”

Weldir stood a little taller, surprised she would ask, as she’d never done so before. He was pleased she was interested in his wellbeing.

“It was the same as it always has been. Uneventful.”

Grasping a new orange orb, she drifted the side of her thumb back and forth over its thick skin. “You know... I’ve always wanted to ask, but do you ever dream?”

He cocked his head, once more surprised at her intrigue regarding him. “Dreams? No, I have no use for such things. But I do remember the past, as it was, without alteration or fantastical perception.”

Lindiwe’s brows drew together. “What does that even mean?”

Weldir offered a small chuckle in return. “I have seen humans’ dreams, and they are strange. They dream of things that are not possible for them, or things that have not happened and never will happen.”

“I dream,” she quickly interjected. “Like you, I remember, but then the memories run away from me and become something else. I think it’s human to dream – maybe that’s why you don’t.”

“Perhaps,” he answered, hoping she heard the shrug in his tone. “How long have I been asleep?”

She was slow to answer, and she rested her chin on her right shoulder as if coyly. “Almost fourteen years, since I started helping Londinium.”

“I see. So little time has passed, then.”

Her lips twitched before she rolled her eyes with a lengthy sigh. “Really? That is actually a long time, Weldir. I expected you to be furious with me.”

“I see no point in being angry with you. I have collected many souls from Demons, our offspring have brought me several that lack any toxin, and I can see you are content from aiding the humans. I’ve never had a better waking.”

“I’m glad you’re pleased.”

Lindiwe peeled the orange and cracked open its pieces to take one.

“Why do you eat when you have no need to?” Weldir asked, curious about this and finally desiring the answer.

“Eating reminds me that I’m human. It tastes refreshing and I miss doing it.” Then she used her long thumbnails to split apart the membrane to reveal the pulpy insides. “I’m also collecting the seeds.”

His gaze slipped to the off-white seed she’d revealed. “Why are you doing that?”

“I never know when I’ll need them, or when a town could use a new source of food.

Oranges, in particular, stave off illnesses from malnutrition such as scurvy.

” She let out a sigh and turned her face up to the sun.

“I’ve actually collected quite a store of seeds, and the Anzúli have taught me how to preserve them forever.

There’s the means to grow lemons, apples, cherries, and oranges, to name a few. ”

“I was surprised when the Anzúli took you in with such welcome.”

Her lips pursed and her eyelashes lowered when she narrowed her gaze. “I still haven’t forgiven you for not informing me of their arrival on Earth.”

Another chuckle slipped from him. “As you said earlier, such time has passed. You hold onto your grudges fervently, little human.”

“I can’t help it. It’s how I’ve always been.”

“I see no issue with this. I enjoy your peculiarities.”

They were harmless to him, and they had forever for him to knead out her disquiet with him... Although, that did come from a place of hope that he was actually able to.

Weldir was grossly aware she was discontented with him, and she was not very forthcoming as to how he was able to mend that. It was difficult to repair something that had never existed in the first place. Trust was something apparently to be earned, and he knew she trusted him distantly.

“Says the most peculiar being I’ve ever met,” she commented quietly.

Their conversation lulled, and Weldir took that as the chance to continue his original task. He finally pressed the untainted soul his offspring had procured for him into the cavity of his mouth, and swallowed.

He received a small burst of strength, finding true replenishment without punishment. His mist thickened and collected tighter against him in relief.

He then reached out for a new soul while keeping a careful eye out for any more that weren’t sickened, so he could gain mana without any cost. He kept the viewing disc up, peeking at her occasionally while he worked in their shared and comfortable silence.

After some time, when the sun reached its highest peak and shielded her under the shade of the orange tree, she finally broke the tranquil quiet.

“Weldir? Are you still there?”

“I never left.”

She nibbled on her lower lip. “Thank you for letting me help Londinium, and consequently many other cities and towns.”

“You’re welcome, Lindiwe. I don’t wish for the humans to perish, same as you.

” He also had no issue aiding her in her endeavours, and he hoped she leaned on him more in the future.

“Where are you now, if not near Londinium?” he asked, unable to tell when much of Earth’s environment appeared similar.

She could be all the way in Austrális, for all he knew.

“Near Orange. It’s a town in Francia.”

“Is that far from where we last spoke?” Weldir asked.

Her shoulders turned inwards, and she looked around nervously while chewing her bottom lip. “A little? It’s actually across the water and on a different land not too far.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to leave there...” But he wasn’t stunned that she’d flown so far, considering her wings. “I don’t have any offspring on that continent yet.”

Which was something they should change soon. Eyropea was large and encompassing many countries like Francia and Polen, much like the Middle Eastern lands.

As if sensing where his mind had gone to, she tucked her seed-filled handkerchief into her bag, and asked, “Is it possible for you to fix my cloak? My flight is unsteady with so many missing feathers.”

Weldir looked away from a tainted soul to the disc and found her awkward gaze roaming everywhere – as if she wanted to avoid him. She didn’t know from which direction he was watching her, and the playful side of him was tempted to follow her eyes’ motions to always be before her.

He didn’t, as that was a waste of his time and efforts.

“Of course, Lindiwe. All you need to do is bring me more feathers. We can then bring another servant to life in the very place you currently rest your feet and wings.”

Her nose crinkled before a deep groan croaked from her.

Weldir almost laughed at her reaction but wisely kept himself quiet. One day I would like to truly tease her. But he didn’t think she would be receptive to such attention welcomingly just yet. Or maybe never, depending on if she ever came to see him as anything but a god that asked much from her.

November 3 rd , 1732

Lindi’s toes curled when she felt Weldir’s tendril leave her pussy, and she tried, and failed, to stop herself from grimacing. She squirmed like usual as she snapped her legs closed, doing everything in her might to avoid looking at him.

With her cheeks and ears so hot she feared her head would combust, she croaked, “Do we have to do it this way every time?”

Turning physical, she reached for her trousers and donned them quickly, ignoring how the seams on the inner thighs were so thin from chafing that they were threatening to unravel. She’d lost many pants from split seams and frayed material from her strong thighs rubbing.

As she continued dressing, her eyes followed the retreating dark tendril, and she cringed at her own wetness on it before it dispersed in a puff of mist.

“How else should we do it?” Weldir asked plainly, as if what she insinuated wasn’t obvious.

It doesn’t seem like he cares for desire. He’d never attempted it with her.

In the beginning, Lindi had actually been relieved about that. She hadn’t wanted to be close to someone she felt no affection for, and who obviously didn’t truly care for her in return.

But, as their many years together passed, her body was dying on the inside.

It craved touch, to the point that even a subtle feeling of someone’s knuckles brushing against the back of her hand felt naughty.

She wanted someone, anyone, to hold her in an embrace, to be teased with light caresses or even hard kisses.

She couldn’t believe he was making her spell this out to him!

“You know,” she grumbled, her face somehow growing hotter as she rubbed her upper arm awkwardly. “Sex? Your tendril feels weird, like a worm.”

So often the Anzúli said she came across as candid and assertive, yet her gaze fell to his partially visible face with shyness. It allowed her to see the way his brows furrowed, as if what she asked was absurd.

“A worm?” A new tendril appeared, just so he could wiggle the tip of it... much like one of those little creatures.

Lindi shuddered at the mental image, especially as it’d been inside her not even moments before.

“I thought doing it this way would be best, which is why I have never attempted another way,” Weldir stated. His black eyes, completely lacking the white sclera, peered into her very being. They were shiny in comparison to the matte appearance of his chalky, misty body.

Lindi tilted her head. “Why do you think that?”

Like usual, Weldir barely moved, his expression light and fleeting, as if it was forced. He always floated in his emptiness, his body lean and long, stretched and motionless other than his coalescing form.

It made reading him difficult. Like now, when additional body movements may have helped her decipher how he felt.