But you still have gold

“I’m not going to kill you, you idiot.” She eventually spoke up. A sharp tone in her voice. “Quit the pathetic act, we have to at least be here together until the storm stops.” Idiot wasn't the insult he had expected. To be frank, he had expected a lot worse, maybe even a waterfall of swearwords before she would kick him in the head end end his suffering. The suffering of them being together that was. Kaz surpressed a sigh. ''I expected your insult to be better, to be honest.'' He replied calmly, though the tension in his body didn't relax and his hand still wavered above his cane, not trusting her at any moment they were in this cave. The fact that she now suddenly sat next to him, didn't make it better. Kaz tried to even his breath, hoping she wouldn't notice how tired and hurt he sounded, convinced she didn't need to know. For a moment he wondered where Kruge was, since hadn't seen the creature since their great escape. It would probably be alright, Kruge always knew where to find him, so Kaz worries weren't too great.

He was just enjoying the silence between them, with his eyes closed and listening to the storm outside, almost drifting off, when Aella decided to open her mouth again. Kaz rolled with his eyes and moved his legs a bit, immediately regretting his decision. It hurt. A lot. He grumbled, trying to cover up that he was in pain, and decided to reply to her, knowing full well this silence would get awkward after some time anyway. ''Yeah, sorry about that.'' As if he was the sole reason it felt like Rhoynar was after their asses. ''With all the piracy happening, I guess they are a bit weary.'' Even though it didn't matter in the dark, Kaz shrugged, pulling out the flask again to take a gulp, stare at it, or as well as he could, for a few seconds and then hand it to Aella, an invitation for her to drink as well. ''It's posioned.'' He said jokingly, his hand resting on his cane again. For some reason, it made him feel safer. Maybe it was this thunderstorm getting on his nerves,
but it could very much be just Aella. She just did that to him, even before all their problems.

He didn´t want to admit he was tired. But the fact that he just took another drink made it hard to see past that. He couldn't blame himself though, sitting in a cave with Aella was already tireing enough, even without alcohol or injuries. Meanwhile, the thunder outside continued, not showing any signs of toning down or stopping entirely. How long was this going to take? Sure, Kaz was thankful to have something above his head since his hair had started to curl after their trip in the rain, and he hated curled hair, but this wasn't comfortable at all.
''Now you got me disappointed again. I thought your sole purpose was to hurt my feelings.'' He didn't mean to be this satly, but the alcohol gave him a loose tongue and the exhaustion didn't really help.

Aella seemed to hestiate when he handed her the flask, but eventually took it. Kaz could see when the realisation hit her what was inside of it and couldn't help but chuckle. ''Strong enough to get you through this storm.'' He said, taking back the flask and hiding it in his coat, just right next to the small sacks of gold. His hand rested on them for a short moment, it gave him comfort. Kaz leaned with his head against the wall again, placing his hands on his stomach, trying to comfort himself and ignore the pain. ''Why go to Rhoynar?'' He asked after another silence fell which was trademarked with the rain and thunder roaring outside. Rhoynar was his place, he felt home there, no matter the history that had happened, he would always go back. No one could alienate him from the country, he would fight for it. Until it was his.

To be honest, he wasn't sure how long he would keep awake and how long it would take for this storm to pass. He just wanted to leave this place. Sure, it was a great hideout to stash your gold, but that was that. Being stuck here with someone he had a history with, both pleasant and unpleasant, didn't do this place much good. No, everything inside Kaz screamed he wanted to leave. But another part said that if he walked out now, he would waste an oppertunity. The problem was, Kaz could not g et any grip on what kind of oppertunity that was supposed to be. Did he get the chance to slit her throat and end things once and for all, or was this more of a make up - break up situation.

Eventually, Aella came with the answer. After her ramble of liking this place, to which Kaz only emitted a soft ''hm-hm.'', her words started to fall out like a waterfall, drowning him in the process. He leaned with his head against the wall, his eyes closed, just listening to whatever she had to say. He agreed with the most parts, but didn't even gave one reaction, not even opening his eyes. You could almost think he had fallen asleep somewhere. Luckily for Aella, Kaz hadn't. Yet. When she was finally done talking, he kept silent for a solid minute, processing her words, divind them into important and unimportant piles and eventualy just hrowing them away all together. Kaz nodded, almost thoughtfully, looking like he was about to start his own apology. He turned his head towards her, eyes finally opening and staring at her, dull and bored.

''Sure.''

Her words didn't mean anything. They fell right down against his armor that was crumbling down where he sat. But he managed to keep it up for so long and he wasn't thinking about taking it down anytime soon. But the more time he spend with her, the harder it got. Kaz didn't want to soften, he worked so hard to get this image, to make it his own. She couldn't just waltz in and take everything he had fought for. Not again. He had fallen for it once, he couldn't do it again.

The fact that she had decided it would best to drink the rest of the time away gave a good summary of this situation. Kaz emitted a sigh, rolling his eyes. ''As long as you don't get drunk and I have to carry you out of this bloody cave.'' He muttered under his breath, but loud enough for her to hear. ''Like that one time I had to carry you after you said you could steal anything, even from that bruiser at the bar and ended up at my place for a week because you couldn't walk anymore.'' He said bitterly, though with a scense of sarcasm. ''I had to lend you my cane. of all things.'' A smirk on his face said he enjoyed this little banter. Though, his head said it may had been better not to start this, knowing full well he wouldn't get out unscathed.

Somehow, she got him on his nerves. She always seemed to have that influence on him. So, Kaz bit his lip and ignored the fact that he was clenching his hand into a fist. Why did she have to drink everything, he sure could use some right now, how bad that might be. Instead, Kaz slowly exhaled, closed his eyes and quickly counted to ten, promising himself that Aella would not get him angry this time. Besides, he wasn't really in the mood to summon and then banish a demon anyway.

''You're delusional.'' He scoffed, picking up one of the many stones that were littered on the cave ground and letting it roll in his hand. Maybe if he smashed the stone in her head she wouldn't bring up stuff like this again. Maybe, but then again, that was cruel. And Kaz wasn't really out to hurt her, not now, all could change in a couple of minutes. With a sigh he put the stone down and let go of her words. The fact that he couldn't really remember what she was talking about, was enough for him to feel embarassed and he was happy the cave was too dark for her to see his cheeks turn red.

When he wanted to sit up straighter he could feel a flash of pain going through his body. His clutched his side and cursed, while he slowly moved to another position. ''You really had to smack me into a tree, didn't you.'' He grumbled, almost sounding angry while he let his head rest against the cave wall. Outside the thunder grew louder, as if the storm was returning just for the sake of them being locked up with each other a little longer. ''I have a hideout that might be much more comfortable not far from here.'' He started after a silence fell between them. Gods, why was he doing this? ''I'm no expert on storms but it doesn't sound like it will be over soon.''

he let a hand pass through his hair, still feeling damp from the rain. He didn't feel for going back out there but he knew that the longer he would be in this cave, the faster he would go insane. Apparently he wasn't the only one. Though he noticed that while he still did not enjoy her company, he no longer really wanted to smack her head in with a rock. The urge was still there, but.. less. Maybe it was for the best that she drank everything in his flask. There was enough at home, he could easily refill it. Home. A strange word, unknown to him. The place he had confiscated, could he call that a home? He lived there if he wasn't on the road, that qualified right? It confused him.

While Aella quickly got to her feet, Kaz had to take much, much longer. By the time she almost had found the entrance, ha was on his knees, using his cane as support to finally get up. ''I'm no wuss.'' he softly mumbled to himself, as if he had to tell himself that to get motivated to actually do stuff. Kaz groaned, feeling his back ache from the position he had been sitting in before stumbling towards the exit of the cave.
The rain and fresh air were welcome for a short while, but soon Kaz found himself soaked again. He tilted his head towards the sky, letting the rain drip on his face, before looking forward again and started to walk. While he felt stiff, after a while it got easier and he moved a lot faster, yet not at a normal pace, he could never manage that.

After about ten minutes of not speaking or replying to whatever Aella had to say, the woods cleared and made place for a big open space. On that open space was a house, or well, villa you could say. The large mansion seemed to be out of place with all this lusious green, but to him it was the most normal thing in the world. Without slowing down he moved towards the door. With a simple move of his hands he picked the lock and opened the door. The inside was even nicer than the outside. Kaz couldn't help but smile. He was proud of this achievement. The mansion was in his posession for about a month now and still nobody had showed up. Though it felt abandoned, it felt somewhat like home. Or however that was supposed to feel like.

''Enjoy your stay,'' He said, eyeing her to see her reaction while he limped to an open space, the living room, and sat down on the couch, putting his bad leg on the table in front of it to rest. He donned his coat and sighed of relief, glad to be away from that rocky ground of the cave. A familiar sound of wings flapping told him Kruge had found refuge in the house, knowing that Kaz would show up eventually. The crow landed on the side of the couch, crowing softly while he softly stroked its feathers. Noticing how Aella wasn't very talkative, he shifted his eyes from Kruge to her. ''Never seen a mansion before?'' He asked with a sarcastic undertone, ignoring the fact they had been nice to each other in the cave. Or well, the banter had been nicer than before. ''If you want, theres more liquor in the kitchen.'' She had seemed so eager to drink earlier, why not now? He might even join her.

This couch was so much better than the rocky ground he sat on moments ago. The last thing he wanted was a sore ass. He let his head rest on the back of the couch, allowing himself to close his eyes for just a moment, letting his muscles relax and his thoughts wander. He still thought he was stupid for doing this, for giving Aella the chance to escape and helping her. Wasn't he sure he wanted her to rot in hell, or had it been a cell, after their last encounter? After she had smashed him into a tree? Which he later on thought was maybe a bit deserved. But then again, it had been uncalled for. And rude.
If it wasn't for Kruge nibbleing on his ear, Kaz would most certainly have fallen asleep. The young thief opened his eyes, frowned to get used to the light of the room again and then sat up more straight when the sound of thunder fell. Oh yes, the storm was still a thing. His wet hair was still that, sometimes droplets falling down on his neck, chilling him. It would be best to warm up, but this goddamn couch was so soft.

Aella sat on the opposite of him and for a moment he watched her silently. Had it been worth it? Was he trusting her? He wasn't sure. What he also wasn't sure about was where this goddamn egg suddenly came from. Had it been on the table all the time? ''Whatever. You know I don't drink that frequently anyway.'' he mumbled, still looking at the weird egg. The black scales made it look a little menacing. ''Did you place that?'' Was his question, knowing full well she probably hadn't. Unless this thing was of immense value, Aella probably hadn't even looked at it yet. Without really caring Kaz bumped his foot against it.
What he didn't know was that the egg would actually open. And what he also didn't know was that the next thing he would be doing was trying to keep his breakfast in. How c ould he have known this egg was full of gas. Who even kept a thing like that in his home? Stumbling towards the door, trying to get some fresh air he couldn't help but curse himself. Everywhere Aella went, trouble followed, that was for sure. He didn't even care if she made it out of the room, maybe the gas would kill her. Great, one thing less to take care of. Crawling onto the floor, desperately trying to keep everything inside, Kaz couldn't help but faintly smile. He wasn't sure why, but it probably had to do with the fact that he wasn't the only one about to throw up.