The trip through the jungle along the trailed blazed by Fenn could hardly be called 'uneventful', even if nothing happened.  Until now, the closest Souta had been to a jungle had been flying over southeast Asia on the way to Kuala Lumpur with his family.  That city's immense tropical beauty hinted at the sheer bounty of life one might expect to find in a rainforest, but it did not in any way prepare him for the wilderness.  Around him lay a myriad garden of interesting things to look at, from plants and animals nearby to breathtaking views of mountains or valleys in the distance.  In terms of altitude, he judged that his party was about mid-level.

Having an eye for the scenery did not mean he failed to notice Lily slowing her pace.  He glanced at her as she neared him, noticing her manner to be rather laidback given the whole end-of-the-world thing that their shared mission might impact.  No fool, he suspected that her attitude had something to do with the remarkable happenings of yesterday.  If he had thought of something appropriate or smart to say about that event, he would have done so already; he still didn't know what to make of it.  Only an idiot could have said he didn't feel attracted to her, but in the hours since that mind-numbing occurrence, he'd had quite a lot of time to consider the downsides of mindlessly following his desire.  

Lily was who-knows-how old, her experience and knowledge spanning centuries if not millenniums.  Given her looks and obvious charms, she could have had any lovers she possibly wanted, and certainly mothered children.  Souta couldn't determine why it might be a bad thing, but he felt a subtle wrongness about the preference he held for women who hadn't been with anyone else.  Plus, anyone with a smidgen of sense about how the world worked knew that single mothers posed problems.  Souta didn't even know if she was single; in addition to not being known for their restraint, demons weren't known for their fidelity.  On that note there was, layered on top of everything else like a pile of melting icing eking down through the whole cake, the fact that she was a demon.  Demons weren't all bad, Souta knew.  Virtually everyone with knowledge of the three realms knew the tale of Sparda.  One demon even served in Gilgamesh—Gloom, Bleeder of Jubilee.  A quiet, skulking assassin-type, he seldom antagonized anyone, and despite heavy suspicion from his fellows he never gave any sign of ulterior motives.  Lily could very well be another 'renegade of hell'.  Then again, demons of her caliber were cunning as well as powerful.  Souta didn't trust her, and relationships were founded on trust.  He doubted he would have trusted her even if she were an angel.

Souta weighed all that in a few moments, thinking about the tradeoff.  He had everything to lose, and what to gain?  Lily was hot, and respected him for not breaking down beneath the pressure of his new 'job'.  He didn't want to be here, to be facing these problems.  A cubicle at Regalia did not seem so bad now.  After a short time, Lily spoke to him, and he shrugged.  [color=teal]”I'm doing,”[/color] was his concise initial reply.  [color=teal]”Another combat mission, no doubt meant to build character.  I wonder if the Council is having me come along to try and get materials for new weapons and armor?  Panoptos must have told them how much I sucked yesterday.”[/color]  She asked if he was nervous, and he gave a wry smile.  [color=teal]”Yeah.  But either I make it somehow, or I die and I'm free of this mess.  Win-win.”[/color]  He rubbed a bead of sweat from his brow.  [i]Too grim.  Dial it down.[/i]