Elf Defence (Adventures in Aguillon #2) - Lisa Henry Page 0,24
able to mould them into cogs in the capitalist machine so easily. But it did mean they were close enough to the town that he could always turn back and leave Calarian to find the duke on his own.
He thought about it briefly, but decided against it. Calarian would probably go and do something stupid, like put himself in danger or worse, fall for the duke, if Benji wasn’t there to watch out for him. The last time he’d left Calarian unattended, he’d ended up as part of a rescue party that was responsible for putting a king back on the throne—worse, two kings!—because left to his own devices Calarian was far too good and decent to ever make a proper anarchist. Benji wasn’t even sure if he’d ever set fire to anything in his life. It was a good thing he was pretty.
Benji sighed again, and cheered himself up by walking several paces behind Calarian so he could fully appreciate the long stretch of bare leg on display. Calarian really did have lovely calves. He’d let Calarian do the tracking while he stayed back and enjoyed the view, Benji decided, and he’d just take the credit when they found Lars and his cow. Calarian wouldn’t mind. He hardly ever minded when Benji pulled bullshit moves. Maybe that was why Benji liked him so much.
Not that he like-liked Calarian, Benji reminded himself. It was just because elves understood other elves generally, and Calarian seemed to understand Benji specifically, in a way that other elves didn’t. They made a good team, and this thing he and Calarian had was convenient, that was all. And if it did turn out Calarian wanted to play hide the bratwurst with Lars, Benji wouldn’t even care.
His stomach did that weird twisting thing again at the thought of Lars and Calarian together, and he scowled. Ginger was meant to be good for digestion—with the amount Benji had eaten, he should have the happiest belly in Tournel! But Benji must have gotten a defective batch or something. His twisty stomach couldn’t possibly have anything to do with Calarian liking the stupid human and his stupid perfect smile and his handsome face and his muscles on muscles and his ridiculous overall hotness that made Benji want to sit on his lap, preferably naked, and–
Wait, what? But also, no, it was definitely nothing to do with that at all.
And now Benji was just confused, because he wasn’t sure if Lars was his rival or his fantasy come to life. He’d figure it out later, he decided, and sidled close enough to Calarian to snap his suspenders again. The indignant yelp he got in return was enough to cheer him up and distract him from his muddled feelings.
Benji groaned as the meadow they were crossing inclined upward slightly. He was climbing mountains, now! The path grew steeper, and grit and little rocks slid under the soles of his boots at every step. Benji’s calves hurt, and he stopped for a breather and turned back to see how far they’d travelled.
At least they were out of sight of the picnickers now.
Tournel looked so pretty in the distance, with its stone walls and its little wooden roofs. Benji saw dots of colour moving through the streets as people went about their daily business. He thought he could see the bakery from here, and his stomach rumbled. He patted it sadly, and hoped that Calarian had packed something to eat in his knapsack. He had a feeling that pickings were slim for two lowland elves up here in the mountains though, and made a face at the thought of surviving on dandelion soup.
“Calarian?” he called. “Hey, Calarian? Can you drink milk directly from any random, wandering cow?”
Calarian stopped and turned. His mahogany hair rippled in the breeze. “What?”
“I’m just saying, if we have to forage, can we forage directly from dairy cows, or is that weird?”
“That’s weird,” Calarian said, his nose wrinkling.
“Why does having a container make it not weird?” Benji asked. “Like, what’s the difference? If you put it into a container, that’s okay, but if you drank it directly from the cow, it’s super uncomfortable for everyone involved?”
“I think it’s mainly uncomfortable for the cow to have some random stranger sucking on them,” Calarian said.
“Why though?” Benji asked. “I’m good at covering my teeth.”
Calarian looked pained. “And now it’s super uncomfortable for me.”
“I’m just asking!”
“I have cups, Benji!” Calarian exclaimed. “I packed cups. So it’s not going to be an issue.”