"I'm ready to get some hot food for once," General Forge said. "It's not cheap, but it'll fill our bellies and ready us for work tomorrow."
"Tomorrow too?" Sollar asked. There was slight disappointment in her voice. "Even in the morning?"
"Yes, in the morning, milady," the Demonfolk General replied. "We need to finish the rail line by early afternoon, and we're a little behind."
Sollar frowned.
"Don't worry," General Forge continued. "It'll be done soon, just you wait. And, while we're at it, you're definitely hungry for something warm to eat, right? It's getting chilly, after all."
The Demonfolk girl nodded. She shielded her face from a gust of cool air. "Yes, it's a little cold."
The two stepped over the dirt path. The sky had darkened above, making it difficult to see. General Forge had borrowed a candleholder and a lit candle from the worksite, but early on in the trek the wind had blown out the small flame.
He didn't feel like exhausting any of his magic to relight it, so the two continued toward the lights of the town.
The tavern they were headed for was lively. It was where a lot of the townsfolk and nearby residents converged on when they wanted to socialize over drinks and warm food.
It seemed that a fair amount of Demonfolk were filing in, too. General Forge took note of this, figuring that the two could get some stew and warm bread.
"Sollar," he said. "Have you ever eaten at a tavern before?"
The Demonfolk girl didn't reply to him immediately. After a few seconds, he glanced back to see that Sollar was a few paces behind him, standing still.
"Forr-ar," she said. "I think there's something I forgot."
General Forge's eyebrows furrowed. "Forgot? What could've you forgotten?"
"At the worksite," the Demonfolk girl replied. She clasped her hands together and gave a nervous look down.
"I think I forgot... uhh..."
She had a feeling, a nagging sensation in the back of her head. Meanwhile, General Forge was little more than confused at her antics.
"What is it you forgot?" he asked.
"...I don't know," she admitted. " What do you think I'm missing?"
General Forge blinked.
"How should I know? I don't catalog everything you carry," he replied.
The General glanced over the girl again.
"Then again," he continued. "You seem to be missing your shovel..."
"Shov-ar!" Sollar cried out. "I forgot it!"
General Forge grunted. Figures.
"Where'd you leave it?" he asked.
"On the work place, next to the gravel. I put it there when I didn't need to use it," the Demonfolk girl replied.
"Well, we can get it on our way back," the Demonfolk General replied.
"No! I need it now! What if someone else takes it?" Sollar asked.
"Lady Sollar, nobody's going to walk on a worksite at night and begin stealing tools."
"But what if they do?"
"Milady..."
Sollar stomped a foot. "What if you had left your special tool behind? Your... spear-thing!"
"Halberd," General Forge corrected. "And... well, I'd be worried about someone taking it, true... But not another Demonfolk. Our own kind understands the value we hold in our unique weapons."
"But I can't just leave Shov-ar there!"
The Demonfolk General gave an exasperated sigh. "Fine, you can go grab it. But can you get it on your own? The whole trail back there is dark."
Sollar nodded. "Yes! Let me run there!"
"Are you really going to run all the way there?"
"Yes! I can!"
General Forge pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew he wasn't going to stop this girl from doing what she wanted to do. And she still had energy, despite the busy day they had before.
"Fine," he conceded. "But be quick. I'll get us a table in the tavern, okay?"
"Okay!" Sollar exclaimed.
Not even a second had passed before she pivoted on a single foot and sprinted off, kicking up a small cloud of dirt and dust as she did so. The Demonfolk General waved the cloud away from him, shaking his head.
"That girl..." he said. "Honestly, what am I going to do about milady?"
He stared at her distant form, before pushing the door into the tavern.
Meanwhile, Sollar was sprinting full speed over the dirt trail. It didn't take her all that long to reach where the mounds of gravel were being kept for the rail engine line.
There was a problem, though. She looked left. Then right. Then straight head, over the gravel pile.
"Oh, where did I put it? I forgot!"
The Demonfolk girl glanced over the numerous piles of gravel, before her eyes gravitated toward one that had been partially dug up. Her eyes glimmered the moment she spotted her shovel, its spade stuck right into the gravel pile.
"I found it!" she exclaimed. Sollar bounded over and pulled it out, scattering gravel onto the ground. She pulled up the spade to face-level, to examine it as though looking for any scratches.
"All fine!" she exclaimed. The Demonfolk girl held the shovel over her shoulder, and bound back to the tavern as quickly as she had run there.
The wind rushed past her as she saw the lights of the town near, and she skidded on her feet the moment she got back, to see General Forge closing the door behind him out of the tavern.
He had an expression on his face that Sollar couldn't find a word to describe, but at that moment she was more worried about dinner.
"Forr-ar!" she exclaimed. "You didn't eat without me, right?"
It took a moment for him to snap out of his stupor. "What? No. That was... you're fast, that wasn't even five minutes."
Sollar glanced over at the door of the tavern.
"Then, did you get a place to eat inside yet?" she asked. The Demonfolk girl cocked her head.
"Sollar," General Forge said. He gave a nervous laugh and patted her on the back. "What do you think about skipping supper and... getting dessert early?"
"Early dessert?" she asked, as though not believing him.
"Yeah, early dessert! I don't really feel like eating stew anyway..."
The General glanced over at the tavern as he spoke.
"Early dessert!" Sollar exclaimed. "Yes, yes, yes!"
She had already gotten her sugar rush, without even eating the sweets in question.
"Thank you!" the Demonfolk girl exclaimed. She almost jumped on the General, giving him a hearty hug.
"Easy, Sollar," General Forge replied. He gently pushed her off him. "I just don't feel like eating supper today, but it'd be a shame to miss dessert. Right?"
The Demonfolk General then peered down the road, to where the bakery was. He could see that the inside of the building was lit up by lantern light. And, based on the smell of something sweet coming from there, the baker was probably finishing something up.
"Let's go, Sollar," he said. "Want to get dessert at the bakery?"
"Yes!"
The two stepped over to the bakery. General Forge pushed open the door to allow the two of them, and the surprised baker within glanced at the two newcomers.
"Hello, Forge," Miss Whitewood said. "I don't usually see you out there at this hour."
General Forge nodded. "Yeah, I usually get supper or retire by this hour. It's just that—"
"Forr-ar is saying we can get dessert early!" Sollar exclaimed.
General Forge peered at the girl, but didn't say anything else.
"Oh? Dessert already? It seems rather early for it, Forge," Miss Whitewood said.
The Demonfolk General gave a nervous chuckle, as he scratched the back of his head.
"Well... Just not in the mood for supper," he said. "And Sollar here agrees, so we decided to stop by. What's the special today?"
"Oh, I've just finished the recipe, too."
Miss Whitewood pulled from the wood-fired oven a tin tray covered in pastries.
"It's an apple tart pastry, lightly dusted with sugar. Do you fancy this?"
Sollar's eyes glimmered as she glanced over the individual servings of apple pastry. Steam wafted off the baked golden brown apples atop the fluffy sweet bread.
"I've never actually had apples before," General Forge said, glancing over the pastries. "What is it like?"
"That's... you've never had an apple before, really?" Miss Whitewood asked. "I'm surprised!"
"I don't really look for variety in my food, I have to admit," he replied.
The baker held a hand up to her mouth. "Oh my, you're missing out! I'm not sure how to describe it, though... I've never had to explain how an apple tastes."
"Oh! I do!" Sollar piped up. "Luth-ar always brings me fruit, and this one time he gave me an apple!"
The Demonfolk girl held out her hands as though she were holding an apple right before her. "It was red and shiny, and the inside was yellow and sweet. And a little sour. But more sweet than sour!"
General Forge raised an eyebrow. "Sweet, slightly sour? So like most other fruit."
"Baked apples are a little different," Miss Whitewood explained. "Baking them makes them softer and sweeter.
General Forge had his index finger under his chin.
"Well, it won't hurt to try," he said. "Two for each of us, please."
"Two?" Sollar exclaimed. "That is so much!"
"You can finish that, right?"
The Demonfolk girl smiled, then nodded ferociously. "Yes, yes!"
Miss Whitewood smiled. She used wooden tongs to grab four of the pastries off the tray, individually wrapping each in wax paper. "I see you're going all in! You won't regret the taste, I guarantee you that. Three small tin coins, please."
General Forge fished around in his pockets, and soon handed to the baker three of the small, dull gray coins. Miss Whitewood handed them the stack of wrapped pastries at the same time.
"Do enjoy!" she said.
The two stepped outside. Sollar was almost ready to grab one of the wrapped pastries, until General Forge stopped her.
"Give me a moment, I'll unwrap one," he said. "We'll walk back as we eat, so we can save time."
He gave a glance at the tavern, before quickly returning to the pastry that he was about to hand Sollar.
"Here," he said. "You want this one?"
"Sure!" the Demonfolk girl exclaimed.
She basically tore through the wrapper the moment she got her hands on it, and immediately took a large bite out of the warm sweetmeat. She loudly chewed for a few moments, before gulping the bite down.
Sollar grinned at General Forge. There were some dribbles of the pastry filling on her face.
"Mmm, it's good!"
The moment Sollar finished talking, she took another immediate bite, savoring the sweet pastry.
General Forge shook his head. "Chew slowly, Lady Sollar. It's not good to eat so fast."
Sollar paused, then looked up at him. "Take a bite!" she said, between bites. "You'll like it!"
The Demonfolk General glanced over at his own pastry, still in its wrapper. Then he took a bite and chewed it. Slowly.
He liked it.
"Warm. And chewy, but the good kind," General Forge said. "Also rather sweet."
The General took another bite, and continued to savor the explosions of flavor as the two walked back toward the camp. It started off sweet, then when the apples were split open by his teeth there was a tart flavor that intermingled with the warm, buttery bread of the pastry.
It wasn't long before he tossed the last bit of it in his mouth. By then, Sollar had already gotten started on her second one, and she was halfway through with it when he reached for his second pastry.
General Forge stared at the second unwrapped pastry. As good as it was, he didn't feel like eating another.
"I think this is... too sweet for me," the Demonfolk General admitted. "Sollar, do you want my other one?"
The Demonfolk girl was almost done with her second when she turned to look at him, as he mentioned her name.
"Another one?" she exclaimed. "Really?!"
"Uh, yeah. I can't finish it—"
Before he could finish his sentence, Sollar had swiped the pastry and was looking at it with her glittering eyes.
But she hesitated.
"Uh, Forr-ar. Are you sure?" she asked, glancing back at him.
"It's fine, I'm just not all that..."
Sollar placed both hands on the pastry and ripped it in half. She held out one half at him.
"Eat," she demanded.
General Forge frowned, but he couldn't really deny her when what she said would technically constitute an order. So, he took the pastry and took a bite out of it.
Meanwhile, the Demonfolk girl was already chewing on her half. Then, suddenly, she paused.
"Uh. Forr-ar?"
General Forge glanced at Sollar. The girl raised her head to look at him. He could see her smiling in the dim moonlight. It wasn't one of her more oblivious grins, but a genuine smile.
"Thank you," she said.
General Forge blinked a handful of times, then shook himself out of his stupor. "Uh, you're welcome..."
She then snapped back to consuming the rest of her pastry. That was when the General remembered that he had something he needed to tell her, too.
"We'll be going back, getting some rest," General Forge said. "You ready to sleep?"
"A little," Sollar admitted. "But I can stay awake!"
"No, no need to do that. You need sleep in order to function."
The Demonfolk General thought himself a slight hypocrite for those words. He didn't really sleep all that much, especially during the key battles of the War. Especially since General Seis would nag him about staying healthy for battle.
"But I don't feel tired!" she replied.
General Forge rubbed his shoulder. "Then run around, I guess."
Sollar took those instructions to heart, and immediately ran off in the direction of the camp. As he watched her essentially sprint away, the Demonfolk General had some musings himself.
"She's not a bad kid... nor is she a kid anymore, really," he muttered, as the energetic girl bounded ahead. "Just ignorant... and stupid. Probably too much heart in her."
He saw that Sollar was starting to get dangerously far, so General Forge shouted, "Hey! Sollar, wait up! Don't get too far from me!"
She stopped, and look back at him. Her head was tilted, as though she were confused why he asked.
"We've just had a full shift today," the General said to himself. "Where does she get all that energy?"