[0858] Promises and Oaths

"You look really troubled. Is there something dangerous up on the mountain?" After Ashe returned, Lux watched her with some confusion. "The fuel you mentioned... is it these lumps of coal?"

"Oh, in the Demacian language, this is called coal?" Ashe deliberately avoided Lux's question and changed the subject, a little stiffly. "Strange pronunciation. We usually call it burning ice—Dark Burning Ice."

Ashe's unusual behavior made Lux narrow her eyes, but she didn't press further.

Everyone had their secrets. Ashe was her companion now, and this wasn't the time to pry into a companion's secrets.

Besides, honestly, after observing Ashe closely, Lux felt like she'd seen this sort of mood before!

Whenever Karya thought about the past but didn't want to talk about it, he seemed to look just like this. Combined with Ashe's mention that she had traveled this route before and that her homeland wasn't far from here, perhaps she was remembering her childhood?

If so, Lux decided not to disturb Ashe while she was lost in her memories. She took Ashe's deerskin pouch, stacked a few stones into a makeshift stove, and, after lighting the coal, began cutting meat for dinner.

Lux wasn't much of a cook. The meat she had to work with was the Enyuk hind leg they had hunted just yesterday.

Since Ashe hadn't brought back much coal, there wasn't enough to indulge in cooking over a bed of hot coals. Lux simply cut off an extra layer of fat and wrapped it around the Enyuk meat.

By the time Ashe came back to herself, Lux was already holding out the roast. Ashe took it, thanked her, and lowered her head to eat. She and Lux were like two merciless eating machines, tearing into the unappetizing-looking, grease-dripping meat in great mouthfuls.

Well, wrapping the