Welkin wasn't far behind Isa, and his clattering weapons announced his approach long before he was in earshot. He caught up with the boy and took a moment to catch his breath.

"Well."

"You're a moron." He didn't even look at Welkin, but continued walking wih the same hurried pace.

Welkin kept pace. "Why?"

"Because!" grunted Isa, his arms flailing in the air and then sinking to his sides. "Why are you even following me? Just go back and finish your food and leave me the fuck alone."

"Because is not a reason on its own," Welkin intoned. He made sure to avoid Isa's flailing arms. "And I'm following you because I finished my food. I'm following you because I'm your friend."

"Save it. Let's just go." But, instead, he stopped right in front of Welkin. "But if you mention my uncle again, I might just have to punch you." Then he walked on.

Welkin rolled his eyes. "Funny, considering you mentioned him to the guards that one time so you'd be able to see me."

"Yeah, and I puked a little in my mouth as I did it, too."

Welkin smirked. "Awww, how sweet. I guess I should take that as a sign of how much you like me that you'd toss the name around."

Isa sulked, gathering his shoulders and sneering to himself.

Welkin sighed. "Okay, I'm sorry. I won't mention him again. But it doesn't change the fact your cousin is here."

"She's fine. My granfather's happily and gleefully taking care of her. She'll be fine."

Isa could act like he cared, but he really didn't.

Welkin shrugged. "All right. As long as she doesn't go wandering around at night alone." He shook his head at the memory of how stupid she'd been.

"Well... if you go looking for trouble... trouble usually's pretty good about finding you," he said, matter-of-factly, scratching the back of his head.

"Like that?" Welkin said, giving Isa's bad arm a small poke.

Isa winced.

"Thanks. Needed that. Really. Nothing like a stab of pain to remind you when you're being a moron. Definitely learned my lesson now."

"Good for you." Welkin tried folding his arms behind his back, but his bow and arrows hindered him and he just walked with them at his side. "Where are we going? Am I escorting you home?"

"You're not going with me all the way, are you? Am I supposed to hug you goodnight, too?"

"A kiss would be fantastic."

"I'll squeeze your arse while I'm at it," Isa consented, strictly. The tiniest smile spread across his lips.

"Ah!" Welkin grinned triumphantly. "Mission accomplished. I knew I could get you to smile."

"Bugger off. My cheek twitched in horror. If we keep on doing this, I might just puke."

"Well, that would make me smile."

"Am I detecting a sadistic tinge here?"

Welkin hummed thoughtfully. "Well, perhaps only where you're concerned. And only because it's funny."

He didn't reply. There was this panicky need of saying something so the conversation wouldn't stray again to his supposed cousin or his useless uncle, but Isa didn't really know what to say. He was already tired and dreading the next day when Tobalt would be waking him up before the crack of dawn to catch up on the work he'd shirked that day.

Welkin wasn't sure what to talk about either, so he strayed to a common interest. "Any luck with the girls lately?"

Isa rolled his eyes. "It's the farthest thing from my mind right now. You?"

"Well, I think about it a lot," Welkin said with a shrug. Then he frowned and cleared his throat. "Actually...I ran into a girl in the woods not long ago."

Suddenly, his grumpy disposition was washed away. "Oh? Was she fit?"

Welkin raised a brow. "Fit? Like...healthy? She looked to be."

Isa sighed. "You know... Nice... personality."

He shrugged. "Yeah. We didn't talk for long, but she was polite enough."

The blacksmith's apprentice slapped a hard hand on his face. "Not really what I meant, but sure." He grinned nonetheless. "What was she doing in the woods anyway?"

Welkin sighed. "Hunting. With her entourage. I got maybe five minutes alone with her before her....guards showed up."

"That's ni--wait, what?" And he stopped. And stared. And laughed. "Oh, great. You really had me going there. Thanks." Isa rolled his eyes and carried on, shaking his head.

Welkin frowned. "I'm not kidding. You know who she was?" He lowered his voice. "She was the princess."

Isa laughed again. "Yeah, sure she was. And I had a date with the Queen."

"She was! She had a pet falcon and everything! Svafa." He still didn't quite say the name correctly. "Why would I lie about that?"

"Svafa? Sounds like made-up language to me." He rolled his eyes again. "You're trying to convince me you met a member of the royal family in the woods and she bothered to talk to you and tell you what her falcon was called. What did you do? Impress her with your ever-masculine charms?" Despite himself, Isa snorted at that. In his defence, it was a pretty impossibly funny story.