When they exited the city she walked in front, sword swinging, trying to act confident and focus on the surroundings- she remembered the chickens from her trip to the city and she was not eager to encounter them again.

Only of course then he picked up his pace and cut in front of her.

She could have ignored it but he threw a look over his shoulder as he did it and she knew it was deliberate.

So she walked faster and cut in front of him again, walked briskly without giving him the satisfaction of looking back...

He stepped up so close behind her their feet tangled, and she tripped and fell.

He snickered, as she pulled herself up, wiping the dirt off her face.

She glared at him and imagined every way she could eviscerate him, every way she could...

But she didn't. She wiped herself off, straightened herself out, and gave him her very best smile. Because two could play at this stupid little game of his.

"Lead the way, Lars," she said, as peremptorily as she can manage.

"With pleasure, Peta," he snarled. But he was clearly deflated, and she struggled to keep herself from smiling victoriously.

Except of course then they reached the bridge and he planted himself squarely in front of her, blocking the way.

"What, Lars?"

"Nothing," he said, smugly.

She tried to push past him to no avail.

"We have to get moving."

"What's the hurry?" He said.

"You can't be serious. The empress gave us a mission to save the world!"

"Oh please. No slave could manage something like that."

"...Just move, Lars."

He shrugged. "All you need to do, is give up and go back..."

She shoved him, hard, and he fell back, so that she was free to stomp over the bridge, taking extra pleasure in making it sway violently so that he had to cling to the sides as he came after her.

He retaliated by sprinkling dirt in her hair, until she whirled around and kicked him in the shin, so that he hopped around in agony-

and then the rabid chicken attacked.

---

"Back off, Peta, I can handle this," He said, staff at ready.

And really it was tempting to let him, just to see that stupid, smug look replaced by a more fitting expression- blind terror would look really good on him, she thought. But then he'd just have another chance to blame it all on her, wouldn't he?

"Not a chance," she said, and they attacked together, shoving each other to the side, more busy glaring at each other than focusing on the chicken, which is how it managed to slash her right across the belly.

"Ugh," she moaned, and doubled over.

The chicken turned on Lars, sharp perilous beak raised to strike, and he managed to dodge, just barely, so that it grazed his hand and drew blood before a whirl of magic made the creature crumple over and die.

Rhen was still moaning.

Lars rummaged around in the chicken's bloody pile of guts, found some wild berries, and threw it at her.

"Savior of the world indeed," he said contemptuously, and walked right into another chicken.

---

He regained consciousness gasping and flailing.

Rhen had taken rather too much pleasure out of holding his nose shut, so she could force his mouth open and ram a Cassea leaf down his throat.

He gagged and spit and she stood by, watching smugly.

"You little-" he began.

"I could have just left you there," she said.

He glared at her, unable to respond.

---

And when it was her turn to pass out in the middle of battle, he seriously considered leaving her there.

Only then what would be the point?

It wasn't like he was going on this stupid mission for fun, after all. No, he was here to make sure the little rat was properly miserable.

You couldn't be miserable when you were unconscious.

(I need to go to bed. Next part will coem some other time. G'night.)

(please help catching spelling/grammar/tense errors. i wrote this in present tense then switched it, and i'm also not awake right now.)

Much as I want to help you spell-check and spot grammar errors, my grammar is not exactly great either Plus, it's 1:30 AM over here so I'm probably a bit woozy myself...

Rhen and Lars when they're not friends yet. So much fun to read and write

YAY! jerk-y Lars! Gotta love him! <3

YEAH! rxl! cant wait for the next part!

I like them this way, all feisty.

I like them when they're snarky and dislike each other almost as much if not more than when they're snarky and like each other.

Yeah, same. That's why I like r/l.

this
~waits for an update

Okay, now that you're back... where's the updaaaate~?

this story is at the bottom of my list of priorities for this site (secret look at list: Uncertainty Principle, and Little Joys) so it may take a while.

if you want to bribe me to complete it, you can write me a fic explaining why Lars knows Rhen's dress size.

In fact.

Heck.

Can I start a contest like that?

Totally! In SH XD

BAH.

meanie.

Can't wait for the next update

Hey Blurb, if you're talking about the dress Rhen bought to go to Lord Gavin's ball, Lars didn't actually KNOW Rhen's dress size. He just said that the dress would look good on her - as in it SUITS her, not FITS her

Actually, his exact words are "I saw a gown that would fit you perfectly"

I have the screen cap.

Tsk. I was under the impression that that meant it suited her, not fit as in it fits the size. Bleh. Epic fail.

D_A doesn't seem to care for any interaction that does not involve daevas.

He might have meant fit like suit but he said fit. He can't deny it.

Well, AV1 has quite a lot of typos and awkward wordings. Like how the old guy in the Thais castle is not a "chancellor" but a "consort", even though a consort usually refers to the monarch's spouse, in which case it would have been whoever Rhen marries (I still will not admit that it's Dameon).

Quote:

...is it?

shoot, now I can't remember.