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"Hha, hha, kya, hha..."
Those were the sounds that woke Malty up. She groaned and rubbed her eyes, curiosity overcoming the pain and fatigue for the moment.
The sight that greeted her made her think it was another fever dream. Rifana was marching back and forth along the bars of the cell in Malty's boots, pausing from time to time to stretch her upper body which she accomplished by various combinations of raising her arms, turning at the waist and even rotating her neck. Each stretch caused the weasel girl to emit those strange sounds and pant a little, but she still continued on.
"Hha, hha..."
After about a minute spent transfixed by this weird little dance, the princess finally shook her head and tried to get her bearings. She found herself lying in their usual sleeping place on suspiciously fresh looking straw and under a larger and much cleaner blanket. Her back, sides and buttocks were burning, but not in a completely agonizing way, as if they already had some time to heal.
"Rifana!"
"Oh, you're awake. Your highness."
The girl stopped her dance and looked at Malty. Rifana's expression was almost perfectly neutral, which looked far from her usual moping or resigned face. Something felt wrong.
"Why are you wearing my boots?" asked the princess, then wanted to slap herself. Really, was that the most important question right now? Rifana's reaction appeared somewhere between bewilderment and amusement.
"My feet were cold. Your highness."
"Those are my boots. Mine." Somehow Malty couldn't stop herself from digging deeper.
"I know. I just never saw you wear them. Your highness."
"So what? They are still mine! And why are you being like that?"
"Like what? Your highness."
"Ugh, never mind." Malty gave up for the moment. Whatever stick got up Rifana's arse, she had no desire to deal with it. "What were you doing just now anyway?"
"Just exercise. To get some of my strength back and stretch my skin."
"What do you need to stretch your skin for? That sounds stupid."
The weasel girl's expression stayed neutral, but the princess still got the feeling that she was the one being stupid.
"For my wounds. They started to heal, but if I spend all my time just lying around, I wouldn't be able to move normally later, or bend down or anything. My body needs to get, um, used to the new skin. I think."
"How do you know about this? Are you a healer's apprentice? Why didn't you say so?"
Rifana shook her head. "I'm not. I'm a little too young to be an apprentice, though I thought of going into healing. Our healer was getting old... Anyways, my dad got mauled pretty bad by a monster a couple of years ago. He had to exercise for weeks afterwards."
"Fine. I didn't ask for your life story," replied the princess, annoyed. "Now give me some water and tell me what happened!"
Rifana obediently picked the cup and offered it to Malty. Thankfully, the princess had enough strength to raise herself a little and drink on her own. Which was kind of suspicious. Thankfully, the girl didn't ignore her second order.
"They left soon after you fainted, Your highness. They put you down on the floor, and took your leathers away..."
"Wait, the vest? They took it?"
"Yeah. Now that I think about it, it's strange. Why did they take it? It got pretty tattered..."
"How do you know? You were supposed to stay silent and keep your eyes closed!"
Rifana glanced at Malty with a raised eyebrow, as if to ask: really? Then Malty remembered her own desperate words and gulped. Right, she tried to offer Rifana to be whipped in her place. It would've been nice if it worked, but now that she had the full picture, there was never any chance. Apparently, Rabier and the backstabbers from the Church wanted to convince her father that Malty was abducted by Siltvelt scum. Which was the reason they made a captured demi soldier beat her and took the bloodstained vest as proof.
"So anyway, they didn't touch me, they just left. Then later the nice guard brought you a healing potion, some water and rags and even a new blanket. So I gave you the potion and cleaned you up as well as I could."
"Just like that? And wait, the nice guard? Who's that?"
"Um, the morning one? Right? He doesn't seem very bad. He never taunted me or anything. He's kinda gruff, but I think he's a good man."
"Really? A good man? You must still be delirious. Never mind. So you gave me a healing potion? All of it?" That seemed suspicious to Malty. Rifana was still sick herself, so why would she waste a valuable potion on an enemy?
She got another subtle 'are you stupid' look from the insolent child.
"Of course I did. You were bleeding a lot. You could've died."
"Wouldn't it be better for you if I died?"
"How do you figure that? Your highness." Rifana appeared genuinely bewildered now.
Malty opened and closed her mouth a few times but couldn't come up with a proper answer. Why did she even raise this topic while still being weak and at the girl's mercy?
Of course, the princess' plan had been to wait for her father's men to come rescue her, capture Rabier, kill or capture the guards and get rid of everyone else who witnessed Malty's humiliation. The latter group consisted of Rifana and Keel, as apparently all the other Rabier's demi slaves were already dead or sold somewhere.
She didn't particularly want to kill Rifana (well, unless the girl continued to annoy her), but she wasn't about to let her run free after everything she saw and heard. As future queen, it was even Malty responsibility to ensure that people continued to give her proper respect and reverence. No matter what her personal feelings were, Rifana had to be silenced.
All that went through Malty's mind in a matter of seconds, but she still had no idea what answer to give to her cellmate. Though Rifana soon took away the decision by being too smart for her own good.
"You mean, you were going to kill me? If the king's men came to save you? But why? What did I do to you?" The weasel girl crawled away from the princess and sat near the bars, watching her warily as if expecting a fatal strike at any moment. Malty had to fix this and fast.
"No, no, of course not. I just mean, you wouldn't have to share the cell with me anymore, right? Wouldn't it be better?"
"What are you even saying, Your highness? I was nearly dead when you came and nursed me back to life. I can even sleep through the whole night again without waking up shivering from the cold! You gave me water and fed me for two days. Of course I don't want you dead! But you... you want me gone?"
Malty took her head in her hands, not being able to keep her cool in her present condition. This whole situation was simply insane. What was she supposed to do? Deny everything of course.
"I don't know what crazy ideas you got in your head, but I was never planning to kill you. Just think about it, if I wanted you dead, I wouldn't have gone to all that trouble, right? So, stop with your nonsense and let's just forget about it."
"Alright. Sure, Your highness. I don't know what came over me." The girl's gaze stayed wary and she didn't move from her place as far away from the princess, as the cell allowed.
Shit. Malty needed to find some way to fix it. How was she supposed to sleep now after she convinced Rifana that she wanted her dead. Which she didn't. Not really. It was all so stupid.
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By the next day nothing had been resolved. Malty even made sure to treat the weasel girl as kindly as she could, but if anything, it only made things worse. Somehow, they still managed to spend the night under the same blanket (for what else was there to do), but neither of them got much sleep. Rifana was as quiet as before, while still recovering, but now it felt like some kind of a door got shut in Malty's face which she never noticed being open before.
The girl responded politely to any request (although there wasn't much she could do for the princess in this cramped cell), but didn't initiate conversation or offer any more of her life stories. Even her replies to Keel were shorter than usual and the boy soon stopped trying to talk to her.
The princess didn't even know why Rifana's behavior bothered her in any way. What did she care about some peasant who at this point was clearly not a danger to her. Malty just had to wait a few more days for her rescuers to come and then she could make a decision about the girl and her little friend. If Rifana insisted on being difficult, well, that was her problem.
Only, well, a few more days came and went and nobody appeared in the dungeon except for the usual guards. It seemed like Rabier really departed somewhere far away at least, probably to the capital. Malty hoped her father wouldn't fall for such a simple trick, but then again, his hatred of demi-humans was well known, and Siltvelt seemed like a likely culprit in her abduction.
To chase away the boredom, the princess spent a lot of time thinking. The topics varied, from memories of her family (yes, even her mother featured once or twice as fairy-tale villains were known to do) to future plans (she had to level up and become strong as soon as she could, because relying on others was for fools) and even to state policies.
Say, demi-humans, what was so special about them? Yes, Siltvelt scum were the enemy, but what about the peasants from their own country? Rifana was born in Melromarc, and so were probably her parents. The girl certainly didn't warrant the hatred bordering on fear that Malty's father or that bastard Rabier showed. Rifana's ears were on top of her head and covered in fur. She had a tail, kinda long and also hairy. Other than that, she looked like an ordinary girl. In fact, the tail conveniently served as another blanket, wrapping securely about their legs in the night. The ears were soft and sometimes Malty woke up with her cheek resting on them, which felt nice. They also allowed Rifana to hear the coming guards a few seconds earlier which was useful.
If Rifana was a servant in the royal palace, she'd probably do a better job of it than most of their current, human ones. More broadly, various demi-humans and even beastmen of Melromarc could likely serve well as soldiers, or scouts for the army. Of course, there was a risk of enemy spies getting in, but it wasn't like humans couldn't betray the country just as easily. Money was money, no matter which race a person was.
It seemed like the long imprisonment and the lack of proper communication were playing tricks with Malty's mind. She really needed to do something to stay sane for the next couple of days. Or would it be a week. A month? Just how long was the rescue going to take?
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A/N: Change doesn't come fast. I wish I could make them get along right away, but then that wouldn't have been earned. Let's wait and see what happens next.
