"You treat all the nobles like this; or just me?" Keira took the blade from him as he wiped his brow with his wrist.

"I treat everyone who's capable like this."

"Perhaps you will make a good king after all."

Her casual comment caused him to briefly arch his brow. "Well the little guy usually is happier knowing someone who can do something understands him."

She only laughed at his comment. "I meant that the nobles are well in need of someone who's not afraid to yell at them and put them in their place."

Aiden just shrugged as he chuckled. "Never was a fan of them bitching and moaning when I had to take them somewhere. They'd always gripe about doing work." He smirked as she rolled her eyes.

"Are you sure it was a good idea to give me the knife?" Keira tapped the blade against his chest.

"Well we are out in the middle of the woods, so I'd love to see you survive without me." He winked at her as he grabbed the pot. "I'll be back shortly." Aiden didn't give her a chance to gripe at him, hurrying off into the woods.

She rubbed the bridge of her nose lightly, thinking over what he'd said earlier; you're either useful or dead weight. He defiantly made it a point not to carry around dead weight. Taking a deep breath she knelt next to the boars' carcass. It wasn't so much the fact it was dead meat so much as she'd never had to deal with something so… trivial.

It was an added bonus she wouldn't have to deal with the awful smell of the organs, or the sounds of Aiden peeling off the boars' skin like a wet piece of clothing. That was one of the worst parts of it, the fact she could still smell the brain matter worked into the hide didn't help none either.

After the first time the blade slid into the muscle, it got easier. The initial stress of the situation ebbed out of her body, along with the release of the air from her lungs. Slowly she began the task set upon her by Aiden.

It was needless to say not her favorite thing in the world to do. The slick fatty tissue was not the ideal sensation to have under her fingers. After having swallowed her gage reflex to the point of having gotten over the need to gage all together, the work began to go by faster.

He hadn't told her how or rather where to cut specifically. So she started with the hind leg opposite her right hand and started to cut with the muscle lines; much as a carpenter cuts with the woods grain. At first she'd cut one piece, dip it into the salt and then place the meat on the rocks to be cooked down. After getting rather tired with the constant effort she started cutting more before lining the top of the rocks with meat.

"Looks like even a princess can use her head outside of bossing nobles around." Keira turned her head at the sound of Aiden's voice. She nearly vomited at the sight of him eating the raw boars' heart.

"That's disgusting!" He winced at her rather boisterous yell. She'd turned back around as she'd said it to avoid looking at him eating the heart. "Were you raised by wolves or something?" Keira questioned finding cutting up and cooking the meat considerably more bearable now.

"Where I'm from eating the heart of your kill is a time honored tradition." As he finished off the heart he made his way towards his fiancée.

"Hopefully your people never fought in wars." Keira mumbled to herself.

"As far as being raised by wolves," he chuckled lightly as he picked up the liver from the bottom half of the skin. He'd noted that Keira had set the extra cuts on the skin as well. "It was dragons actually."

Keira eyed him unsure if he actually meant what said or not. He'd said it with such good natured tone that it was hard to tell if he was making her the fool or not. Though he had aforementioned that his people ate animal hearts she didn't really know who his people were. The man was a complete mystery beyond what little she knew from his stay at the castle. Were-in his knowledge of her was more than most in the court knew.

She watched him pull a blade from his belt and cut off the right shoulder of the boar. As much as she wanted to ask him she was too flabbergasted to even form a coherent sentence in her head let alone voice one. Here he was saying he was raised by dragons like it was a simple matter, and continued going about cooking dinner. The man was truly astonishing, if not simplistically simple minded.

Though he left her to her task, he was anything but subtle. Aiden made it quite apparent that she was living in his world now and things were a lot different than in her world. Everything was practical and simple; if you didn't need it you didn't have it. Even her dress was vastly different from what she use to wear; though she didn't really complain about the lack of a half or full corset.

Aiden had; in her eyes, the uncanny talent to speak volumes without saying anything. Even after his time in prison he still hadn't lost the ability to tackle the wilderness head on. He knew exactly what they'd need and asked the captain for just that.

Rather than a whole tent he went the simple way to save weight and space. Some rope, hide, and whatever tree he found suitable. To him a 'real' tent was an unneeded hassle that wasn't worth the effort. Too many moving parts for something that needed to do one thing. Protect the occupants from the weather.

Aiden had completely forgone any meat to make room for things that would be harder to find, such as dried fruits and vegetables. After seeing that he was still quite the capable hunter; Keira clearly understood why. Almost none of his skills had diminished even though he hadn't used them in just over a year.

She figured many of the smaller tasks such as pitching a tent or starting a fire were things that once you knew how to do it you never really forgot. It begged a question she couldn't help but ask, "Aiden."

"Yeah," He'd pulled the pot of boiling water off the fire. Aiden poured some of the water into another pot to use for cooking dinner while he used the rest of the water to clean with.

"Why is it that after a year in my father's dungeons you're aptitude out here hasn't diminished?" She frowned as he sat on his knees behind her. It wasn't so much the fact that he was next to her that up set her so much as the fact that it seemed a little too planed out even for him. "If you tell me you didn't plan on dying from the start so help me I'll kill you where you stand."

"First off I'm sitting not standing, secondly no I fully intended on dying when they slapped those iron cuffs on me." He watched over her shoulder, hands on his hips. She'd done a damn decent job considering he hadn't given her more instruction than cut the animal up salt it and cook it. The cuts where nice and thick and since it was going to be traveling food it didn't much matter what the cuts were exactly. She'd made out the major muscle groups and cut accordingly, something he was more than a little impressed by.

"So?" Keira started off hopping he'd take the hint. She was overly aware of his passion behind her, and forced herself to continue to work so as not to draw her own attention to him.

"So," With a grunt he rolled onto his side, holding himself up by his forearms. "It's like riding a horse. You don't really forget how to do something after you've been doing it for the past twenty some odd years. As far as keeping my senses sharp; well not a lot to do in a prison so I trained up my hearing and whatever else I could to pass the time." He paused for a moment tapping chin lightly. "You should really look into your rat problem, the way they go at it you probably have more than a few families running around the cast-le." Aiden choked out the last bit as she sat on his stomach. She put all her weight on him as she literal dropped on his belly. It wasn't that she was heavy so much as he wasn't expecting it.

"I'd worry less about the rats and worry more about yourself." Keira tapped the point of the knife against Aiden's nose. She wasn't worried about personal boundaries at this point. They weren't in public and she was eventually supposed to marry him, though she was still debating the merits of that arrangement.

"I suppose I deserve this don't I?" The hand he had been using to tap his chin now lay across her lap as he flopped down on his back.

"You don't know the half of it." Keira snorted at him as she worked on finishing cutting up the boar.

"So what happens when dinners ready?"

"Depends."

"On?"

"How serious where you about the dragons?"

Hey guys sorry for the delay, but i'm going to school full time now plus working over 40 hours a week, and doing military so i'm a busy person. That being said hope you enjoyed chapter 20. Going to go back though and edit 1-20 for continuity since i know some things have changed and what not. Sorry to say 21 is going to be a little bit because of that and everything else.

-Brigadier-Wolf-