He usually liked late night walks in the desert of Sumeru, but tonight’s walk was tense as he was dragging back a scholar who was breaking the Akademiya’s rules. They were not supposed to take their research out to certain forbidden territories. They had no business in the Dune of Elusion or the Mausoleum of King Deshret.

Cyno was not shocked they broke the rules. Annoyed, yes, but shocked? No. He had become quite used to dragging them back to Sumeru City when they took their research too far. He could not tell if it was idiocy or arrogance with them.

It had happened so often that he gotten to know the foolish scholar.

They were no walking down Abdju Road, towards Aaru Village where he would pick up some food before finally taking them all the way to the Akademiya. He assumed they would have been kicked out of the Akademiya at this point, but then again, they got away with much worse. Their research had been too important to the Sages, so the idiot would get away with these things with nothing more than a slap on the back of the wrist.

Today they seemed more irritated with Cyno for interrupting their research, rather than meek and scared. This had happened so often that they seemed to get over their initial intimidation of Cyno.

Strange, and practically unspoken of. His piercing vermillion eyes would strike fear into scholars.

The General Mahamatra pulled his hood down over his mid-length gray hair when the desert wind brushed it back. His eyes darted to the scholar, and he shifted the spear in his hand, “Do you want dessert?” he asked. Oh, dear. He resorted to jokes, “You can find it wherever you turn here,” he said. His expression remained stoic as the unfunny joke left his lips.

“Get it? Because we’re in a desert, and dessert is spelled and sounds similar?” he added, explaining the joke with a deadpanned expression. When did he become so comfortable with the trouble-making scholar? Cyno only shared his jokes with his friends.