â€œWell I figure my companion might be hungry; perhaps a bakery is a fine idea.â€ Kenneth responded, sitting back in his chair and shooting Mathis a snide smirk â€œIâ€™m feeling a bitâ€¦ peckish myself, actually.â€<br/><br/>Mathis's smile faltered for a split second, and he turned to look out the window to hide his disappointment. His face was as welcoming as ever when he looked back, but he was clearly not amused.<br/><br/>"I wasn't quite expecting to eat<span style="font-style: italic">bread</span>, but after such a long journey, I suppose anything will do."<br/><br/>He straightened his cuffs and adjusted himself in his seat after a light bump in the road before continuing â€œThat is a most marvelous walking staff, traveler.â€ He observed. â€œMathis here is quite the craftsman; in fact, this carriage is his doing. Where did you find such a thing? It might be a place Iâ€™d venture a trip to someday.â€<br/><br/>For the briefest moment, Kenneth felt the strongest urge to add â€˜so that I might incinerate everyone thereâ€™ to the end of his sentence, but he still had enough composure to refrain from doing so. He leaned over and pulled away one of the curtains to look outside. They were in the city proper, now, and without checking they wouldnâ€™t have known otherwise. Jacob was an excellent driver, and his usual levelheadedness is what had save him from immolation on countless occasions. He always seemed to know just when Kenneth was going to enter a new cycle. Mathis was only so lucky most of the time.<br/><br/>Kenneth was about half-way through this cycle, he supposed. Each one was variable, and though he maintained a sense of identity and consistent memories, he was usually simply another person. He maintained plenty of his posturing and poise, all of which was taught, but his tolerance for the phoenixâ€™s hunger for fire wasnâ€™t always as firm as heâ€™d like. Still, experience had been a good teacher, and he could read his new self with some confidence at this point.<br/><br/>Assuming, of course, he didnâ€™t enter one of his more â€˜memorableâ€™ life-cycles, what with the non-human mutations, and that one time (before heâ€™d met Mathis) that heâ€™d reigned as queen of his lands until getting shot with an arrow during a skirmish with a neighboring kingdom.<br/><br/>â€œWell, weâ€™d have to worry about the safety of our carriage if Jacob wasnâ€™t about; a crackshot with a crossbow, he is.â€ Kenneth muttered, a firm scowl on his face as he observed the truth in the travelerâ€™s assessment: there were certainly plenty of impoverished humans.<br/><br/>Humans were something beneath him, now. He didnâ€™t always feel that way, but this Kenneth Hughes did.<br/><br/>Even if he seemed distracted by his surroundings, Kenneth made sure to keep at least part of his focus on the traveler with them. â€œYou seem tense, traveler. Have you taken ill? We might find a doctor along the way, with luck.â€<br/><br/>Jacob took his opportunity to speak and interjected politely â€œMasters Kenneth and Mathis, the royal grounds are ahead, sires. Do not forget your cane, Master Kenneth; the urban elite tend to be concerned with fashion even more than the fiefdoms out in the provinces.â€ He offered.<br/><br/>â€œThank you, Jacob. If youâ€™d feel more secure, you might drop us off and keep moving about the area. Try to ride by around sunset; otherwise we will seek you out in the local streets if we finish early and on amicable terms. If not, well, you are experienced in how I react to adversarial politics.â€ Kenneth ordered, though with some deference. He may have been many times Jacobâ€™s senior, but the older human had qualities that Kenneth valued.<br/><br/>"Make sure nobody touches the diamonds as well. If I find any of them missing, you'll be hunting the thief down yourself, Jacob. We didn't bring them to share."