[$] The King and his Pawn

[VampuricWerewolf]

Niom frowned at the girl's word, "do you mean that you felt it should be cloudy, but it wasn't?" little things, even things such as this, could be something bigger if you only looked. right now he had a feeling that he needed to look deeper into whatever it was she felt. "do you have any idea why you felt it should be shady today?" he asked as he took the bread and placed it near the oven to warm  

[Your Missing Period]

"I dunno. I just felt like something should be making us cloudy." and continued to make the salad. "Like, it should be but it's not. Sort of like how when you wake up and you feel like something happened like that before? but this time it's different so it makes it weirder." and looked at the head of lettuce before up at the mage. "How much do you want?"  

[VampuricWerewolf]

Niom tried to think of what could possibly have caused Nymph's feeling, but it could be as simple as Liki not wanting it to be cloud that day. "go ahead and use it all, we'll eat it tomorrow if we don't eat all of it tonight." he got out carrots, cucumbers and radishes from the fridge and started to peel and chop them for the salad, adding a tomato next. "anything else we need in here?"  

[Your Missing Period]

"Hooray! Green things everywhere!" And ripped at it happily. "I'd like to be able to use magic like you and Master, Niom. You know why?" and finished ripping apart the head of lettuce, hands wet with lettuce blood. "Because I would use magic to fix what's wrong with Master. He has a lot of animals. he had more but a lot of servants who fed them grew attached so a lot of his creations left with them." she explained, taking what he'd chopped and adding it to the bowl, mixing it with her hands.

Griffon trotted back, looking curiously at an unattended head of lettuce and quickly ate it, looking at other abandoned vegetables and sidling over towards Niom, hovering behind him in a vulture like fashion.  

[VampuricWerewolf]

Niom looked at Nymphet with surprise, not having thought of that. Liki was lonely? how strange, did a man like that even feel loneliness? that was something new to think about, actually he had a lot to think about. about his some day becoming free from Liki, about Liki as a person. he wasn't really just a cruel, cold hearted man. there was something else, something softer, but Leo just hadn't seen all of it yet.  

[Your Missing Period]

"All done!" she exclaimed just as Griffon took Niom's train of thought to his advantage and ate a few more vegetables.

"those aren't for you!" the girl said. "We'll give you more food later! Stop eating ours when we don't give it to you!"

It gave a happy squawk and trotted around the large kitchen before resting himself by the fireplace, now happily fed anyway.

"You're a piggy. There's a big in you somewhere." and huffed before looking up at Niom. "I can't practice tomorrow, by the way. I noticed a lot of the bedrooms were getting dusty and with so little people to clean we need to do as much of it as possible. so I'll be busy tomorrow. But you can help." she said with a smile. "I bet you know cleaning spells!"  

[VampuricWerewolf]

Niom shook his head a little, coming out of his train of thought. "sorry, hun, of course i'll help you. and maybe i can try teaching you a couple basic spells, like cleaning ones. everyone has a bit of magic in them, it's worth a shot." he rubbed her head and checked their dinner, "it's ready. i'll tell liki." he held out his hand and concentrated, creating a tiny ball of energy that darted off to tell Liki that dinner was done. it was a little trick he'd learned for just this sort of thing, getting a message to someone quickly. he started to get out the plates and set the table while they waited. "you might want to send Griffon out, you know Liki doesn't like him inside."  

[Your Missing Period]

The little Kaspian smiled. "Would you really? You'd teach me magic?!" she smiled happily at the thought, Niom patting her head before going back to check on the food. "Oh! That's magic too, right?" she pointed out before looking at the sleeping griffon. "Fine. C'mone Griffon." and moved to climb on his back, stroking his head. "We need to get you out."

The hulking beast stood, lazily walking out with the girl on his back, disappearing down the hall.

A few minutes after Liki walked in. "Roast." he stated simply.  

[VampuricWerewolf]

"Nope, Niom. were you so in depth with your studies that you forgot my name?" he was putting their dinner on a serving platter and taking it to the table where he'd set places for the three of them. if he was going to cook, they were going to sit down and eat. he'd already gotten the salad and various kinds of drinks out. "how big of a piece do you want?" he asked as he lifted the knife and meat fork. he'd cut and serve while they waited for Nymphet to return.  

[Your Missing Period]

"Like I'd ever forget a name that rolls so lovingly off the tongue.' he purred, walking towards the decorated table. Hm, he could entertain Niom and eat at a table for now. "I haven't eaten since possibly breakfast. Eating makes me lose concentration when I work." he explained, taking a salad leaf to look at it. "I'll take a large piece. Was Griffon in here?" he asked, spotting shreds of meat on one side of the room.  

[VampuricWerewolf]

"Do i really need to answer?" Niom retorted, if he neither denied or admitted it, then he couldn't be blamed. he cut Liki's piece and then one for himself, he'd cut Nymphet's when she got there so it was fresh. "you at lunch, by the way. i made it for you and watched you eat, your body won't last if you don't pay attention to feeding it at least." why was he telling Liki this? the sooner he died, the better off Niom would be! but his conscious wouldn't allow him to let Liki die of neglect. so long as he could he knew he'd do something about keeping the man alive, it was just his nature. "i wonder where Nymphet is, she was just here." he glanced to the door and half shrugged, "i'm sure you will find the roast isn't dry in the least."  

[Your Missing Period]

"Oh. Did I eat lunch? Funny how the less important things just don't stick. And I'm not going to eat if it's not important. The more time I have for my spell the more time I have to complete it. There are few wizards as powerful as us in this world. Ever since the trinity left they took most of the magic with them. They were the heart of this world, take that the rest starts dying." he murmured, quickly beginning to eat. "Taking her pet dog to the stalls."

Nymphet walked back in. "Oh, you started eating without me. can I have a big slice too?" and clambered onto her seat excitedly.  

[VampuricWerewolf]

Niom looked down, "Legends say after the fall of Kasp, they feared an uprising while others say they did not wish to become another Kasp and so they left the world. i-with how greedy and cruel humanity can be, i think it might be for the best only a few have magic...and that magic is beginning to fade. we no longer rely solely on magic for everything, now. men have to actually think of ways to achieve what they want, not just sit back and have it appear. the time of magic is over, now is the time of the mind." Nymphet came in and he smiled, "of course you can." he cut her off a large slice and loaded her plate with veggies and gravy like he had liki's and handed over the food. "eat up. there's plenty if you want more."  

[Your Missing Period]

"Time of the mind?" the girl asked as her plate. "What's that mean?"

"It means that we need to think how to get what we want."

The girl looked at the master of the home curiously before looking back at Niom. "But you two are magic, right? Can't you use that?"  

[VampuricWerewolf]

Niom nodded, "yes, we can use it, but we are probably two of the most powerful beings left in the world. there might be a dragon or two left, and a couple demons to be sure. but those with human blood, we probably are the strongest." it was just a fact, it wasn't him being conceded. "magic has it's uses, but don't you think that it's better to figure things out for yourself?"