Chapter 8 A soft spot for Furry creatures
After a long night of chaos, Faun woke early morning to find himself sleeping on the cold hard floor with just his pillow and blanket. He slowly sat up to stretch his body when he could hear every bone in his body cracking, he felt so stiff all over so he turned to climb on his bed and lay back down with his eyes closed.
Not realizing that someone was bunking with him when he quickly opened his eyes and turned to see who was sleeping next to him, it caught him by surprise to see that it was Cicero but he was not shocked since he woken up before with Cicero next to him. Faun did not want to wake the jester this time so he decided to get out of bed and get ready for work, a thought of a nice bath crossed his mind (since Ondolemar caught him a few times before, taking a shower under the waterfall in public and forbid him to do that.) so he made up his mind and left to the hot springs with clean clothes on hand.
On his way to the hot springs, he thought about the bad habits he picked up while staying in Skyrim. For one, he noticed how recently he has been flicking his hair when he talked with people which gave the wrong signal.
Second was the way he spoke, his cruel, cold voice replaced with relaxed charming voice which he found helpful when he questioned people. When it came to women, he had trouble trying to keep them from flirting or commenting the way he dressed.
Third was the one he felt embarrassed about, hanging out with his two friends and horse playing when it was their day off but he had not regrets to look back on now that he thought about it.
Faun left the city to go for a walk, away from Cicero and Ondolemar's fighting on who was the better friend. "Living this life is better than getting a daily beating from my teachers or superiors, they hated having a lively thalmor and I cannot believe I was almost as bitter as them." Faun thought to himself as he continued walking, not realizing how far he was going when he paused for a moment to look over at the khajiit camp.
The high elf could not get his head around it but there was something about the way khajiits that truly caught his interest, maybe it was the way they speak or how they manage to survive the cold. Faun's cheeks flustered when he saw the merchant khajiit's left ear flick when the snow touched it, the way the tail swayed.
"What am I attracted to? Why do I fluster and become speechless when I am near a khajiit… male or female" Faun thought to himself as he decided to go see what the merchant was selling but the more he got closer, the more he became flustered. The merchant glanced at the high elf walking up at him, so he greeted with a smile which made faun completely speechless and what made things worse was that faun's flustered cheeks could be seen.
"Come, come don't be shy. Have a look at my wares" the khajiit merchant spoke kindly when he noticed the high elf was pointing at something so he looked to both his sides and looked back at the high elf. "Excuse me, but May I ask what interests you?" his voice sounded a bit nervous but calm as he flicked his ear in curiosity, faun dropped a few gold pieces in the merchant's hand without a word which made the khajiit uncomfortable now when he was caught by surprise to see the high elf reach over with both hands and touched his ears.
The other kahjiits stood watching carefully in curiosity to see such a rare moment, the merchant flicked his tail side to side as he kept calm while Faun was touching his ears.
"Are you done, I do not like it when others touch my ears." The merchant hissed calmly
"I am trying to figure out why I am attracted to you" – Faun
"Well I… wait... what? You are attracted to me?" – Merchant
"What! No that is not what I meant" Faun moved back, away from the khajiit merchant, embarrassed for not completing his last sentence. "I know I am a khajiit merchant… but I am a little too old for you to be with." The merchant teased the stuttering elf as the other khajiits laughed; making the elf fell small among him. "Do not worry, I know of why you are obsessed with my furry ears as well as my tail." The merchant stood up and walked over to stand in front of the high elf, "You long for a pet but yet you seem to avoid the urge, find yourself a good pet and you will be happy" the merchant smiled up at the high elf.
(To Be Continued)
Meanwhile back at the keep, Cicero was busy setting a trap for that 'friend-thief' high elf and he was not going to make this an easy for his rival, Ondolemar on the other hand was doing the same thing but to make it embarrassing for the jester. The high elf put a few ingredients in a sweetroll to make the little man sleep, "This is payback for embarrassing me in front of my guards" he thought to himself in anger from the memory.
"Cicero slept very well with Ondolemar, he never been more kind to dear Cicero." The jester giggled cheerfully as he talked with the two thalmor guards, making them look at each other with questioning thoughts. Standing not far from them in the shadows was Ondolemar with an embarrassing flustered face, shaking in pure rage yet afraid to face his guards now.
"Might I ask on what you are talking about?" one elven guard would ask, doubting the jester.
"Oh my, now that would be telling now would it?" Cicero gave the guards a cheeky smile as he chuckled and skipped off the other way in glee, leaving the guards in disgust to the thought of their superior holding 'A MadMan' in his arms. It sent chills down their spines as they walked off to their room in whispers, which made Ondolemar's face pale to hear such false tales and paralyzed on the spot.
"Do you think that is why he was kept yelling last night?" the female elven guard would ask in a whisper
"Indeed, I am having a hard time imagining our superior with a…man." The male elven guard would whisper his answer
"I never would have thought, our great leader is attracted to males…" – female guard
"If he is attracted to males, does that mean all that time he was attracted to me when he complemented my armor" – male guard
"I believe so" – female guard
"Well, I am keeping my distance, I do not want to wake up being violated by Ondolemar" the male elven guard would whisper, getting annoying chills up his spine as the two walked on in silence.
"That pathetic jester will pay for it" Ondolemar muttered to himself as he walked off from the kitchen with a sweetroll in hand, his guards avoided eye contact with him and his male guard slightly hide behind the female guard as they followed him.
The moment was near for Ondolemar to have his revenge on the jester, a sinister smile was on his face with each step he took. This was going to be glorious for the elf as he came closer and closer to the humming jester, watching him dig through Faun's traveling bag and what was going to make this more interesting was the dark thought of boxing Cicero and sending him off and away from Faun.
Suddenly, Ondolemar had a better thought on what to do to the jester and what would surprise Faun. "I know, I will figure out where this jester is truly from and when I do. I will finally taste revenge, fitting for a proud thalmor like me." Ondolemar thought to himself as he gave the sweetroll to Cicero and leaves without a word, he quickly stormed off to do his 'investigation' and enjoy watching the jester's pride crumble.
Suddenly Faun returned with a big bag on his back, it surprised Ondolemar and spooked Cicero when the door swung open. Faun quickly made his way up the stairs, grabbing Ondolemar by the arm and dragged him off into the room where Cicero was in.
"Check it out guys, I found myself a pet!" Faun was excited to show his new pet to his friends, not realizing that the two were having a rival battle. The short high elf as he dropped the bag and let's go of the other high elf when he opened the bag wide, Cicero peeked in the bag and before he knew it.
A khajiit came jumping out in a raging panic, panting fast and quickly looking for a way out when he was quickly hugged tight from behind and his head nuzzled. "Can I keep him, Ondolemar. He is cute that I just had to get one for myself. Oh and look here?" Faun let the khajiit go with one arm, still holding onto him when the high elf pointed at the black leather collar around the khajiit's neck. "It has a bell to go with it" he was excited but the other high elf was not pleased to see Faun acting like a child.
"No, I do not want his fur getting on my stuff and bed. Take him back where you found him, NOW!" Ondolemar demanded, folding his arms across his chest as he watched the poor khajiit struggle to break free from the other high elf's hold. "Cicero disagrees with this bossy elf, keep the khajiit" Cicero spoke with confidence when he stood up proudly and walked over to his friend with a smile, Faun noticed the two rivalry between the two and how much longer they planned on going to fighting.
"Well… Nah, I will take him back to his home before I end up being assassinated by the dark brotherhood or something." Faun said with a calm voice as he left the room with the khajiit, Cicero on the other hand twitched to the dark brotherhood name which gave Ondolemar a starting point of where to start.
"This will be interesting; Cicero twitched to the name of the assassin guild which means he is either a target or something else…" Ondolemar thought to himself when he turned to his desk, and walked over to grab a few books before he ran off to work in secret.
Writer's Note: I am happy to see more people enjoying my story, I plan on making my very first romance story after this and I do hope you all will enjoy the upcoming excitement.