Asher woke to a normal amount of blanket coverage for the first time in a few days. He reached over an felt Orion’s forehead; it seemed a lot better than the day before. Asher cuddled up to him and nearly fell back asleep when he heard the phone ring.

He glanced over at his phone and jolted up when he saw his mother was the one calling. He barely got a solid grip on his phone as he raced to answer.

“Hello? Mom?” He said, shifting his hands to a more normal position.

“Good morning, Ash.” She said cheerily.

“Good morning… What’s up?” Asher replied hoping she managed to figure out something about the situation.

“After looking into it, it seems there were several contracts with cognivores during the war. There’s no doubt that its contract related.” She said.

“Do you know anything else?” Asher asked.

“That’s long before my time but a family friend of ours owns a bakery somewhere near you. It’s across the street from the post office in your city.” She explained.

“Oh, I know where that is.” He replied, it was the bakery he’d seen dozens of times on his endless walks with Orion.

“I think they might be able to give you more information. Contracts come with a protection clause, but you really ought to be careful.” She replied.

“Thanks mom I… I love you.” Asher ended the call and started to get dressed.

Finally having a lead on what could be, even a hint of an answer, made him feel almost optimistic.

Asher thought for a moment, but why would demons be living here in Sapphire Syndicate territory. Were they related to the contract? If not what could have possibly drawn them to the area?

"Well, I won't know until I meet them." He whispered to himself in the mirror. As he brushed through his hair he couldn't help but find his reflection almost seemed too bright, like his blonde hair was a few too many shades brighter than it used to be.

“Hey Orion…” Asher pat Orion’s head.

“Hm?” After a few moments Orion’s blue eyes flickered open.

“Are you feeling better today, Orion?” Asher asked.

“Yeah.” He mumbled as he sat up.

Asher gently combed Orion's hair in an attempt to sort out the intense bed head he accumulated from resting all week. There were only a few full brown patches of hair left on his head, leaving mostly blue hair with pinches of brown strands.

Despite Orion’s usual reservations about letting people cook for him, he didn’t typically have an issue eating at nearby restaurants. Asher never bothered to ask why that was. In all honesty, it didn’t seem like a question he wanted to know the answer to.

The fact that he managed to get Orion to eat the soup he made for the past few days felt like a miracle in itself. Perhaps his adamancy on ‘not talking to soup’ was enough to trick him into eating without thinking about it.

Asher couldn't help but wonder who or what soup was supposed to mean. Whether it was one of Orion's parts or perhaps an actual person, just another thing Asher would likely never know the answer to.

“I was planning to go out and grab breakfast, did you want to come with me?” Asher invited.

“I can use some fresh air.” Orion said as he stretched his arms out.

“There's a place I’ve been meaning to visit, actually.” Asher said.

“Oh?” Orion replied curiously.

The bakery wasn’t all too busy at the time they arrived. It was a quaint little shop, with a very tacky demon theme that seemed to only exist to hide the fact the bakery was run by actual demons. The display case contained a variety of fresh pastries and desserts.

“This is a nice bakery; how come I never noticed it before?” Orion asked.

Asher sighed deeply, considering the sheer number of times they passed it, surely it should have registered even a little by now.

“What?” Orion raised an eyebrow.

Asher couldn't help but wonder if Orion was just incapable of remembering this place in the same way he struggled to remember that his name isn't John. Some things didn’t want to stick for Orion.

The owner of the bakery was a demon, a large portly fellow with curly orange hair, grey eyes and noticeable horns. He had a friendly air to him as he greeted them. Asher could tell this demon was trustworthy from his aura alone.

“Welcome, it’s always nice to see another demon in the area. I’m Timothy Baker and this is my granddaughter, Diana.” He motioned to a small girl who looked just like Timothy peeking around the counter at Orion and Asher.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Asher and well… everyone seems to know Orion.” Asher responded.

“So, what'll it be?” He asked heartily.

“I’ll just have some coffee and a croissant. Orion?” Asher looked over to Orion who seemed to have his eyes on a chocolate cake. “…Really Orion?”

“It's the most important meal of the day.” Orion mumbled.

“That's why you should have something a bit more nutritious, no?” Asher teased.

“And just how many nutrients did you plan to get from coffee and a croissant?” Orion quipped.

“Well yeah, but it's breakfast food.” Asher insisted, “At least get a donut they have the cake-donuts.”

“The only difference between the cake and the cake-donut is its shape.” Orion smiled deviously, “So if I eat an entire cake with a hole in the middle it's breakfast by default.”

“It does not work that way, Orion.” Asher laughed, “Do you really think you can eat a whole cake by yourself?”

“Well, it wouldn't be a whole cake without the middle.” Orion smirked.

“You barely ate anything yesterday, so I don’t think that's a good idea.” Asher said, “As dedicated you are to fulfilling my arbitrary standards of breakfast food, I would prefer it if you didn't make yourself ill.”

“So, you agree that it's arbitrary?” Orion continued, “I’ll have the cake.”

“A slice.” Asher interrupted.

“A slice.” Orion repeated.

“That’ll be right out, go on and take a seat.” Timothy said as he began to get the coffee ready.

“I actually had some questions for you… My mother said you guys would know more about the war?” Asher asked.

“You’ll have to speak to the missus on that.” He smiled, “but she'll be around in about an hour or so if you can wait.”

“That sounds good, thank you.” Asher made his way to where Orion sat down. A small table adorned with a vase full of red flowers that matched the accents on the walls. 

Not wanting to think about it anymore, Asher's eyes trailed back to the kitchen. Diana was desperately trying to help out despite not being tall enough to reach the counter.

“Be careful Diana.” Timothy warned as he handed her the tray with the food.

“I got it.” She said. She brought out the food with a very focused demeaner and carefully set it on the table.

“Thank you.” Asher said, but Diana ignored him in favor of glaring at Orion.

“You don’t scare me.” Diana said proudly.

“What?” Orion replied.

“Do you think you're tough? You seem like a total wimp to me.” She stared at him in a very unimpressed manner. A rather entertaining expression coming from a girl who was probably no older than five.

“Diana.” Timothy warned, “Stop picking fights with the customers.”

“I’m not!” She called back to him. She then whispered to Orion. “Can you really turn into a dragon?”

“A dragon?” Orion pretended to pause and think about it carefully before answering with a light smile, “Perhaps.”

Diana seemed thrilled by this answer and ran back to the kitchen. Asher struggled to hold back his laughter. He had never once thought about having children before but at this moment he couldn't help but think it would be nice to raise a child.

“Of all the rumors about me…” Orion trailed off with some light laughter.

“Well, can you? You are a shape shifter, aren't you?” Asher teased.

“I can’t really take the form of things I haven't been, even changing my hair color is hard.” Orion explained. “I have to stay focused, or it reverts back. Which is a pain, given the weird state it's been in for the past few years.”

“Well, I think it looks good on you.” Asher said admiring the blue hair that fell neatly across Orion’s forehead, “Especially with your hair properly styled, you look very handsome.”

Orion seemed to blush a little but shoveled a bite of cake into his mouth instead of responding.

‘It seems we have the Orion-Orion today.’ Asher thought before he spoke again in a teasing tone. “You're really handsome you know.”

“Oh hush.” He looked away flustered and shoveled another bite of chocolate cake into his mouth.

While they waited a number of demon customers came and went. Asher hadn't seen any of them before, either they were new to the area, or they lived somewhere on the edge of it. Which again brought Asher to the question, what was drawing them to this area?

“So why did you want to come here anyway?” Orion suddenly asked him. “I mean, you obviously didn’t come here for the food.”

“The owners are friends of my mom. There are some things I wanted to ask them about. Demon stuff, you know.” Asher explained. Orion had been a lot more relaxed lately on talking about certain topics, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious.

“That makes sense.” Orion said clearing off the remaining frosting on his plate.

The quiet relaxing atmosphere was soon interrupted by some yelling from outside. A group of people were shouting at someone. It looked like it could escalate at any moment.

“Aren't those Lucidians?” Asher asked.

From the expression on his face, it was clear that Orion was Katz now.

“They shouldn't be here. That’s not a good sign.” Katz said standing up.

“What do you mean?” Asher asked, the look on Katz face made him even concerned.

“For them to have made it this far in our territory, that means they're probably not the only ones trespassing right now. You stay here. I’m going to go see what's happening.” Katz said racing for the door.

“Wait, Orion!” Asher followed after him.