Brannal nodded, and then his eyes widened slightly as he realized. “You didn’t.”
Perian shook his head. “I mean, my father played with me a lot, so I can’t complain. But it was just the two of us, and he wasn’t a child. I think the experience must have been different for other children, you know?”
Brannal pressed a kiss to his hair. “I’m sorry I made you sit out.”
Perian hadn’t even been thinking that, but he appreciated the sentiment.
“It’s totally fine. I’m not a Mage Warrior, and you’re doing Mage Warrior training.”
“You can participate tomorrow,” Brannal told him, and there was a murmur of agreement from everyone, like they all wanted to make sure he felt included now that they’d realized he’d sometimes been left out.
Perian sighed happily. “I love you all. You’re wonderful.”
They laughed, but they were smiling warmly in the waning light, and Perian thought that it really couldn’t get much better than this.
The sun set completely and darkness crept over them, except for the cheerily crackling flames.
“What do you normally do around a fire?” he wanted to know. “When you’re traveling doing all your Mage Warrior things?”
They snorted collectively.
“Doing our Mage Warrior things?” Molun repeated.
Perian was grinning now, too, realizing that had been a silly way to put it.
“Yeah, your Mage Warrior things.Importantthings; sorry, I should have clarified.”
“We don’t actually have that many fires out in the wilderness,” Brannal admitted.
Perian made a booing sound.
“We usually stay in inns,” Molun added.
“You’re destroying all my illusions,” Perian screeched, like he was outraged.
They were all laughing.
“We do have to stay out of doors sometimes,” Delana admitted.
“You’re my favorite,” Perian told her.
Brannal slung an arm around him and tugged himclose.
“My second favorite,” he amended. “For reasons.”
“Uh huh,” she said, still sounding amused. “Depending on where we need to go for a demon hunt, it’s not always close to anywhere we can stay. In those cases, we sleep outside, and we’re probably on watch half the night, with the other half sleeping to be ready for their own shift and what’s coming next.”
“Oh,” Perian said, frowning a little. “That’s actually really practical and not at all the answer I was looking for.”
“Did you think we shared sexy stories?” Molun asked hopefully.
Delana threw something at him from across the fire.
Perian laughed. “I didn’t actually think you collectively sat around the fire and told sexy stories, no. It didn’t seem like the sort of thing Brannal would approve of.”
Brannal raised an eyebrow, which Perian could only see because of the firelight dancing across his face, making the shadow of the brow leap up.
“You don’t think I like sexy stories?”
