The Path of Four Magi

Travel Companion

Judal set you down after a little while of flying.

"We should be fine in here," Judal assured.

You were seated on the carpet in a room of a fancy hotel in Balbadd. Judal was looking out the window to make sure that the men after you were nowhere nearby. When he finished looking, he strolled over to you, and sat crosslegged across from you. He rested his head between his hands, as if he was waiting for you to say something.

"Um," You stuttered, "is it fine that we are in this place?"

Judal just looked at you not showing any sign of responding.

"I just don't want to get in trouble if we aren't supposed to be here," You continued.

No response.

"Please answer me, I can't afford to be caught."

Still no response.

"Will you just answer me?" You practically screamed.

"Calm down," Judal complained, "I don't think you should be yelling." He scratched his head. "It's perfectly fine that we are in here, this is my room after all, but don't you think you shouldn't yell at me since I was the one who saved you."

"I'm sorry. I should have been more polite and thanked you for saving me, before yelling at you," you sighed.

"Exactly," Judal insisted as he bit out of an apple, "the hero should always get some sort of thank you from the damsel he saved."

You chucked a pillow at him and it hit him right in the face.

"Ow."

"Don't give yourself too much credit. You were the one who got me stuck in that situation in the first place," you commented.

"Me?" Judal mumbled.

"Yeah, you. Sure I was the one to ran into you, but you wouldn't let me go, even as you noticed the people starting to surround us. Luckily, you made up for it by getting me out of the situation you put me in.

"Sorry," Judal sighed, not sounding the least bit sincere, "can we just continue our earlier conversation now? I believe it left off at 'Got somewhere to be?' So, I think we should start off there."

"Oh, well actually," you mumbled, "I have no destination, I'm just going somewhere those men are not."

"So, you were only hurrying to get away from those men?" Judal asked, still eating his apple.

"Yeah," you replied.

"So now that you are away from them, what will you do?" Judal demanded.

"I need to put even more distance between us, so I plan on traveling some more. I don't know where to, just somewhere other than here," you responded.

"Okay. It's settled then." Judal got up and started packing up the few things he had with him.

"What are you doing? What's settled?" You asked.

"I'm going to travel with you." Judal replied while hanging the bag on his shoulder. "I was going to leave soon anyways, so I might as well leave with you."

"No, you should leave when you want to, not just because I am leaving!" You argued.

"I want to go now. This place is so boring. Besides, shouldn't the hero travel with his damsel in distress to protect her?"

Your cheeks turned a slight pink at the last comment.

"I'm pretty strong, I don't need someone to protect me." You tried flexing your muscles. Note the word tried.

"No offense, but you aren't very strong," he shrugged.

"How can I not take that offensively?" You joked.

He smiled at you, making your cheeks turn slightly pink again. You didn't want him to see that, so you turned away smiling to yourself because his smile was very contagious.

"Come on, let's go out the window in case those guys are in the lobby, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," you responded as you walked over to the window with him. "Can you just be a little more careful how you hold me this time, I felt like I was going to fall half the time before, so it would be nice if..." You rambled, but before you could finish, you screeched as Judal picked you up, and flew out the window.

His arms weren't wrapped around your waist like they had been before. Now, he held you bridal style as you both flew high above Balbadd.

"Thanks for not holding me like before, but I'm not sure this is the best way to carry me. I think it might be a little inappropriate. What if someone sees? What would they think? That would be terrible. So terrible." You kept rambling.

"I think you should just stop complaining and appreciate the fact that I'm not letting you dangle by one leg. Although, that can be arranged if you would prefer," Judal suggested.

"No!" You screamed. Your grip on him tightened and you shoved you face to his chest. "Please don't do that, Judal!"
Judal smirked, "Why would I do that? You'd probably just complain even more."

You lossened your grip and realized how close you were to him. A little to close. You could clearly see the outlines of his abs and blushed once again.

"You jerk!" You yelled frantically truing to disguise your pink cheeks and the fact that you had been so close to him. "You just want to tease me!"

"Oh, just be quiet," Judal complained, "I was only joking. But don't worry, because now I know better than to joke with you. It just causes you to talk even more. How about you just relax and look at the great view. We will be landing soon, so appreciate this while you can."

"Okay," you whispered.

Your gaze turned to the bustling city of Balbadd and the beautiful sea that lay beyond its ports. It was relaxing. You almost forgot about how frantic you had been shortly before.

The salty sea breeze blew on your face. It was cool and strong enough to make you feel like you could be blown out of Judal's arms. Even so, you felt safe in the warm and strong arms of Judal. Just thinking of him that way made you blush, but you didn't concentrate on that. You concentrated on the beautiful scene laid before you.

___________ ___________ ___________

Hiya! This is Kenzie-chan here! I hope you have enjoyed this so far! I am so excited to keep writing this! I will keep the story between you and Judal going for a few chapters more and then move on to the next magi.

If you have any suggestions or requests for the story, please share them. I will gladly accept your help. Just know that all of it might not be used, I do have most of the story planned out so far.

NEXT TIME:

You felt glad that you could once again walk, yet sad that Judal's comforting arms let go of you.

Most of the time you had spent wondering what you would do when you got to the next town or city, which would take a while, but from time to time you couldn't help but let your mind wander to the man walking next to you.

(Y/N), aka you, and Judal have started their journey on land and become quite close. Learn more about this budding friendship next time in, Solid Ground.