"Beside, it wasn't that hard of a riddle and every word of it was true." Kei couldn’t keep the small smile off his lips. The boy was different, a little strange, but nothing overbearing. There were many gods that enjoyed speaking in riddle so it was not something he was unaccustomed with, but he had found humans did not have a knack for those sorts of things. Riddling was generally left to the gods to make the hero’s quest harder or an oracle not wishing to reveal a future to an ungrateful patron. “You are quite the strange human Niall.”
~~
When they did finally reach the campsite Niall had been talking about Keisuke took only a moment to lean up against a tree as the other boy spent to find a seat. He wasn’t quite used to staying on earth for such an extended amount of time, and he was surprised that his muscles actually felt sore from all the walking he had done. They hadn’t spoken much after the whole riddle thing, but Keisuke found that he didn’t mind it all that much. He had found that even if there was silence, walking with someone next to you was still more enjoyable than walking by yourself.
The moment Niall hit the ground though Eos was squirming out of the crook of her elbow and other to the other boy. It appeared as if the phoenix had developed a certain affinity for the both them. He watched as she scrambled up to the boy’s shoulder, and the silver haired boy reacted carefully at first, until his fingers found the soft downy of feathers and Kei watched as the boy traced the baby phoenix’s feathers down through her tail. He wondered why Niall wanted the phoenix, if it was as simple as wanting to fix his blind eyes Kei didn’t see a reason to want to with hold that information. He kicked at the lose dirt at his feet in frustration, even sitting amongst the gods for so long he had always been shit with riddles.
“Why don't you build up the fire place and let's see if Eos will do the honor of lighting it for us. Oh, and you have a blanket right? It is going to be chilly tonight.” Kei had no problem with getting a fire started for them. Sure he never actually started a fire before, but with Eos with them he was sure even he would be capable of that. He pushed himself off the tree and walked until he was positive he was sitting in the boy’s blind spot. “I’ve got a fire under control, and I’ll survive the night.”
He saluted and disappeared into the tree line to get the supplies needed to start a fire. Kei had little knowledge of human survival skills, but he did know that fires needed dry material in order to burn. He wondered for a moment, as he stalked deeper into the forest, if he’d be able to keep up this human charade with Niall. Keisuke already knew he was suspicious acting for a human, not to mention all of his social interaction with humans was being chased for a revenge or bounty, and killing them. He stopped walking for a moment, realizing that the forest was lush with healthy growth and damp with humidity. He paused in front of a bush, he could do dead, he had the magic touch so to speak.
But, he didn’t. Kei took enough life unnecessarily, it was against everything he stood for to take any life he didn’t need too, even that of the young shrub standing in front of him. He stalked off and spent the next twenty minutes forging for dead leaves and fallen branches before returning back to the campsite.
“I have returned.” He proclaimed to the pair he had left, the dark haired man walked over to what looked like it had been a fire pit and dumped the armful of sticks and leaves into it. He sat down next to it and started pushing the mess together until it looked like all the materials were contained within the circle of rocks and looked towards Niall and Eos. “Hey Eos, care to help me out darling?”
He watched the little bird’s head pop up as it scurried across the clearing towards him. He stuck a gloved hand out and let the little bird crawl up into it, he felt himself smile as he turned towards the fire pit. “Think you can handle it?” He asked softly. Eos chirped at him and jumped out of his hand and straight into the pile of dry materials he had managed to find. It took only a moment for a small burst of flames to erupt from the center, he watched for a moment as the material started to crackle and pop from the heat and then Eos appeared from under it all. She hopped over to him, smalls flecks of black ash on her head, but otherwise perfectly unharmed.
“You’re amazing Eos!” He cooed excitedly, and he watched as she seemed to beam up at him.