63. Quiet Fire
{Uriel}
Uriel awoke to the smell of incense. Though his eyelids felt heavy, he still attempted to lift them.
"Naya?" His throat was dry and it hurt to swallow.
"What do you know? The horned fool is awake."
Uriel could recognize that bitter snark anywhere.
"Ritsu?" He whispered. Once again, the djinni attempted to open his eyes. To his relief, the space around him was softly lit. He suddenly noticed the level of comfort supplied by the pallet of cushions and blankets on which he rested.
The monkey demon was not too far from him, peeling pistachios and then feasting on the soft cores. Uriel grunted as he anchored himself onto his elbows.
"Where is Naya?"
Ritsu dismissively spat a shell in his direction. "Resting. Leave her be."
Uriel sank back into the cushions. "Demon, do not test me."
Ritsu chuckled darkly. "As if you have the power to incinerate me like you're always promising. You've used up all your fire, djinni. You may have weakened that ifrit enough to get us to safety, but in the process, you killed your own camel and knocked yourself into a three day coma."
Uriel drew a sharp breath. "What?"
The amusement in Ritsu's voice only grew darker. "That's right. My mistress had to find a way to calm her own beast, drag your useless body somewhere safe, and perform the magic needed to get you inside of the hookah. Then she had to lay down wards."
Uriel couldn't stop his teeth from grinding against each other. Never had he felt so guilty in his life.
What have I done?
Ritsu continued. "Never mind that my mistress doesn't know a lick about casting protective charms. She just did what she thought made sense to her. Poor thing. She was already weak before we left the oasis, but by the time she was done taking care of you," the demon inside of Ritsu came through in his unforgiving glare, "her fire was nothing more than a smolder."
"Ritsu . . ." Uriel searched for some kind of apology, but pride was a hard thing to ignore.
The monkey added, "I had to make her go to sleep. Otherwise, she would have spent the past three days watching over you. But I decided to take on that task. To make sure that you didn't do anything equally foolish in your sleep."
Uriel wanted to snap back at the monkey. But Ritsu was right. Ever since they arrived in the desert, Uriel's decisions had been brash and reckless.
There was a crunching sound coming from Ritsu's direction. Uriel saw him smashing the pistachios against the uncovered floor.
His back was turned to Uriel now. "I don't know what she sees in you."
Uriel turned his gaze back up to the ceiling. Dimly hoping that his next words would make Ritsu back off, he said, "I was able to get that Lord Zahim to tell me the name of the nearest djinn city."
Ritsu grunted. "It better have been worth it."
A muffled sound came from the wall of heavy curtains. Uriel felt his limbs lock up when Naya's voice reached him.
"Ritsu? Who are you talking to?"
Before Uriel could respond, Ritsu coughed loudly and called back, "No one, Mistress! I'm just humming an old tune to pass the time. Go back to sleep."
There was the sound of weight shifting about, and then silence followed. Ritsu went back to glaring at Uriel. "Keep quiet. She's in no state to be getting all excited over you. Let her rest."
Uriel matched the monkey glare for glare, but he didn't protest. He could tell that his body still had a lot of recovering to do itself. So, for once, he listened to the demon and rolled over to face the dark wall of curtains and drift into another deep sleep.
The next time Uriel gained consciousness, Naya was in the same room. As soon as she saw him open his eyes, she dropped what she was doing and knelt by his side.
She placed the back of her hand against his brow. "How are you feeling?"
Uriel could sit up without getting sick this time. He took Naya's hand. "Please understand how sorry I am for everything. I didn't mean to take that much power from you. I didn't mean to be so reckless."
Naya shook her head and wrapped her arms around Uriel to quiet him.
"I don't care about any of that stuff." She pulled back enough for Uriel to see the tears starting in her eyes. "All that matters is that we're both safe. Besides, I knew you'd be okay when your extra arms and horns disappeared."
Uriel hadn't even checked to see if his suit of fire had returned to him his human disguise. He chuckled as Naya squeezed him tighter.
"I didn't mind macho Uri with the horns and six arms, but I miss being able to wrap my arms around this Uri."
The both of them laughed some more. Uriel wasn't sure which one of them was the first to initiate it, but before he knew it, they were deep in a kiss, and then shortly after that, gently rolling onto the heavily carpeted floor.
Uriel let himself be consumed in this reunion only for a moment.
Because that was all it took before his fire awakened.
<Undress her before the monkey returns. Perhaps we could have as much fun as we did at the oasis.>
Uriel pulled away and sat up. "Naya, we need to talk."
Not looking the least bit offended, Naya propped herself on her elbows.
"Is this about the power that I accidentally handed off to you when we had sex?"
Uriel's face burned in embarrassment. Damn me for going wild and losing consciousness! Who knows what else Ritsu told her?
The djinni chose his next words carefully. "I'm not sure how much Ritsu has revealed to you, but I'm sorry. We can't . . . do that anymore. Not until we've taken care of our business here in the desert. My fire is too thirsty for power."
Naya looked off to the left and sighed. "And my fire is too desperate to just hand over whatever power we may have."
Uriel drew a quizzical eyebrow.
Naya sat up herself and faced him. "She talks to me now. I call her Aqua."
Naya has been communicating with her own fire? For how long?
"And did she tell you why?"
"She's a marid, Uri. A young one, but yeah."
Uriel shook his head. This is what he was afraid of. He said, "No wonder our fires bonded as easily as they did. Even though mine was subdued by our contract and yours was barely born, they gravitated towards each other simply because yours possesses marid essence. And yes, you are correct. Marida have a natural desire to help djinn in need. If your fire is not kept in check –"
Naya held up a hand. "Trust me, I know. Aqua and I have been having a lot of long discussions about this while you were asleep. I think I've got a handle on our limits, and I agree. No sex."
Unsure how to fill the silence that followed, the two of them broke eye contact, feigning interest in the tassels on a cushion or in the design of a rug.
"By the way," Naya whispered.
Uriel looked up.
"I . . . I don't remember what happened that day."
Uriel cleared his throat. "What do you mean?"
Naya drew her knees up to her chest. "I mean, I remember that we did it, but the details are really fuzzy. We were naked and there was . . . water. And that's about it."
Uriel brought his palm to his brow and dragged it down the length of his face as he sighed.
"Naya, come here."
After she had crawled over to him and he comfortably secured her in the hollow between his folded legs, he fondly swept her mass of tight curls behind her shoulders and kissed her gently in the spot where her neck met her spine.
"I need you to promise me something."
Naya gave a wry smile. "I don't like the sound of this."
Uriel balanced his chin on her shoulder and leaned his forehead against her jaw.
In a whisper, he pleaded, "If anything happens to me out here, go with Ritsu and listen to whatever he tells you to do."
Uriel noticed how Naya's body grew tense at this command.
Her voice was low, threatening. "You don't get to decide these things."
Guiltily, Uriel confessed, "It's already decided. Ritsu and I talked it over with Zayn before we left for Oman. I was resistant to the idea, but I'm starting to realize that I could very well lose control while we're out here."
The warmth of Naya's body dissipated as she rose. Turning her back to him, she said, "I can't talk about this right now. You're okay. We're okay. Can we just focus on finding a marid?"
Uriel exhaled and decided to not push this any further. He got up and brushed past Naya, but not without touching his lips to the spot behind her ear.
"I'm going to talk with Ritsu. I have a lead on our marid."
When Uriel materialized outside of the hookah pipe, Ritsu was already there, sitting meditatively on his haunches.
Before Uriel could relay the information that he had pulled from Lord Zahim, Ritsu said, "You may think otherwise, but know this, djinni. Even though I long to be back in my original form, and I don't believe you deserve my mistress, I don't wish any harm to come to you."
Uriel regarded the demon warily.
Ritsu looked up at him. "She loves you. Her flame will die without you. Even at my full strength, if you were gone, nothing I could do would keep her from burning herself from the inside out. Such is the nature of the bond you two share."
The shinigami and the djinni maintained eye contact for several moments. Underneath the layers of rivalry and unapologetic jealousy, each acknowledged the mutual understanding in the other's eyes.
Finally, Uriel said, "I got Lord Zahim to tell me the name of the closest djinn city. Now we just need a map of some kind to get there."
Without breaking eye contact, Ritsu pointed to a distant dune. "There is a hinn that has been following us for the past two days. He claims that he is a gatekeeper of sorts. Want to ask him where we can find a map?"
Uriel turned his head in the direction Ritsu was pointing. After adjusting his perception to the sunlight on the sand, he could indeed see a rough outline of something bipedal looming in the distance.
Uriel took a deep breath. Now that his fire was dormant, perhaps he would have more luck negotiating with this particular djinni compared to the ifrits and the jann he encountered at the oasis.