Chapter 384: Missed This.

Chapter 384: Chapter 384: Missed This.

It’s everything Khobi’s been yearning for.

​Okay , so Drogger only lets him go one full round with Loac before he ruins their fun and sends him –along with anyone he’d caught or even suspected of enabling him –running, but he could’ve stopped him before he got in the ring so the fact that he didn’t has to count for something.

As a result he and Loac spend the rest of the day running.

Apparently minor-to-major treason is a bad reason for bunking off training, and while Gurdet seems content that Khobi’s done his penance Drogger sees things a little differently.

​Shocker.

​It’s fine, though. Khobi’s legs are long overdue for a good stretch and he’s charged on adrenaline today.

​He got to fight Loac again.

He’ll get to fight him tomorrow. And most incredible of all, Khojin Frost is alive , and those eight little words he has nestled away in his pocket have left his limbs and his heart feeling hysterically light.

It’s one thing to have believed he was still out there, and another to know for sure, and for the first time in a long time the weight of the unknown isn’t hanging over him; waiting to be torn away at any moment.

I’ll find you .

​Khobi wonders where in the world he is. If he’s still the same as he was, even after all the years that have passed. Who he’s had to fight and how far he’s had to run, and how despite all his efforts, Gurdet still managed to find him.

Khojin Frost has been famously elusive all these years, and he must be far and the wilderness more deep and wide than he can even imagine if it’s taken this long for word to have come back to Crade.

​All this time he’s dreamed that the day would come that he’d see them again; that they might someday walk together along that winding forest path back home.

Now, it doesn’t seem quite so impossible.

​Even the deepest, most energetic of joys is no match for Drogger though, and by the time the sun is starting to set and they’re being summoned to the mess hall by the smell of something delicious brewing, even Khobi has reached his limit.

​He is fucking shattered .

​In hindsight, he may have gotten a little carried away; it’s hard not to, when it comes to Loac. And now he’s suffering for it.

Probably tomorrow, too. And almost certainly the day after as well.

​Everything hurts .

​And maybe it’s just the company, or the overexertion, or the fact that Khobi’s free to eat back at the mess hall amongst the soldiers like he’s been wanting to, but dinner that night tastes the best it ever has.

It’s not like Khobi’s been poorly fed over the last few weeks –on the contrary he’s had food pretty much whenever he wanted it –but today his appetite is raging with an absolute vengeance and from the way his stomach carries on that night at dinner you’d think he hadn’t eaten in months.

​The only shame is that he can’t wolf it down as fast as he wants to on account of his arms being so exhausted that it hurts just bringing his spoon to his mouth.

It’s too embarrassing to admit but he’s severely glad everything’s already been broken down into manageable pieces –having to cut his own meat probably would’ve killed him.

​And if Loac could fucking stop trying to steal his food, that’d be great. His own plate’s still fucking full , dammit.

​If Khobi wasn’t in such a good mood, he’d be wearing his dinner.

​" –You’re saying you seriously have no idea why Gurdet let you out?" Gandy presses incredulously, as Khobi bats Loac’s hand away from his plate for about the twelfth time this meal.

He doesn’t even need to look to feel it coming anymore.

​"... Would you eat your own fucking food ?" he grumbles crossly, summoning what remains of his strength to yank his bowl out of Loac’s reach.

He’s fucking hungry after their fight and the somewhat criminal amount of laps he’d had to run, and Loac’s going to get a mouthful of fist in a minute if he doesn’t stop trying to take his food.

No amount of Rogard pleading on his behalf had convinced Drogger to lower his sentence (if anything, it probably had the opposite effect), and he’s gonna need every ounce of strength he can muster if he wants to complete it in this lifetime.

​"No idea," he affirms with his mouth full, in answer to Gandy’s question as Loac sulkily goes back to his own dinner. "...He said something about how I’ve probably learned my lesson ."

​" Have you ?" Jaga deadpans, since his tone really didn’t give that impression.

​"What do you think?" Khobi retorts, and then glances over his shoulder just in case there are servants listening.

He’s pretty sure they won’t go telling on him but it doesn’t hurt to play it safe, "I mean... sure ." From the way the soldiers snicker, it’s not particularly convincing.

​" –And you had nothing to do with it?"

Gandy inquires of Loac, eyebrows raised at him from across the table.

​"Why would I have anything to do with it?" Loac scoffs flatly, and doesn’t seem to enjoy the sceptical way the soldiers all exchange glances amongst themselves.

​"Oh, I dunno ," he snorts back sarcastically, "Maybe coz Gurdet’s your uncle , and you’ve been moping ever since –" He doesn’t get the chance to say since when exactly, because that’s when he gets booted under the table.

​Hard.

​" Ow! " he heaves, and from the emphatic way he glares at Loac, he’s the likely culprit.

​"Moping, huh?" Khobi remarks with a small smirk, and finds himself inordinately pleased by the way Loac sinks down into his shoulders.

He can’t resist pushing just a little further.

"Did you miss me that much?"

​" – Tsk , don’t flatter yourself," Loac grumbles back, but from the way he obstinately refuses to look directly at him, Khobi gets the feeling that he’s right on the money.

​(Khobi missed him, too. Not that he’s gonna admit it either.)

​