The shaking of my shoulder abruptly forces me awake, I look around, I'm still in the wagon, and Edwards concerned eyes looks down on me, his grip on my shoulder still remaining. I blink and rub at my eyes, stupid fucking memories, stupid dreams, stupid me too. That poor wolf girl.. Why didn't I care? Why was I so cruel? I just, I can't understand it, not in the slightest. It's already done, at least I know something that'll bite me in the ass later potentially.
"We're here, we'll get you some help, alright Zeke?" He speaks slowly but firmly to me, the worry in his voice is clear enough. I try to speak, but my throat's parched and my words turn into ravaging coughing. Instead, I look up to him and nod, I grunt and lift myself up with my useful leg, wrapping my arm over his shoulder, I guess Edward took the time to put on my cloak before he woke me up too, how kind of him. Trying to get out of the wagon was an arduous effort, eventually I get myself down. I grit my teeth and hiss as my foot hits the ground, the arrow's still lodged in there real good, maybe I should've taken it out.
"So, where's Gerome and Vector?" I croak out from my dried throat, looking down towards the oncoming city. A river stream separates the city and the forest, running straight into the ocean, the water twinkling in the morning light. One side of the stream is covered with shrubbery, and the other with town houses and fencing, an arched wooden bridge connects the two.
"Not sure, said they needed they needed to take care of some business, I'm more worried about getting you to a cleric of some kind myself." He replies with a deadpan and almost bitter voice, I roll my eyes, and I'd love to poke him for being a worry wart, I don't want him to drop me. I continue to look over the town some more, squinting at the far tower in the distance, it looks so.. out of place in this town, a stone tower, with a singular large, blue shiny blue gem sits on top of it, floating as blue wisps and streams circle around the tower, all leading up to the blue stone on top of it.
"..Edward, is that a Templar Tower? What's it used for?" I croak out once more with a digit pointed towards the large stone structure as we close in on the town, the closer we get to the tower, the more a feeling of dread and worry creeps up my back and spine. He looks towards where I'm pointing, an eyebrow raising.
"That? Yeah, that's a Templar Tower,they construct them to help with spell casting, I'm surprised you actually know what it is. Hey, maybe we could ask the Templars to heal you up? They're amazing with magic, it'll be done quickly." His suggestion makes my blood run cold, biting down on my lip as subtly as I possibly can, I try to hide it with a hand covering my face, coughing into it.
"I.. don't think that's a good idea Edward, just get me to any other cleric or healer in this place and I'll get off your back." He seems puzzled, but he turns away to look forward, likely to focus on carrying my mostly limp body as we enter the town. The streets are clear and bare of most people, though early risers still wander, lugging crates full of something. Given that this is a port town, maybe its full of transported goods, or fish. My stomach rumbles and I wince, clutching at it with my able hand, I really want fish now, maybe I should have ate my fill before I went to sleep
"Please, don't die before of hunger before I get you somewhere." He ribs at me, his lips curling upwards slightly. I roll my eyes and flick at his cheek with a hand.
"Hardy har har, you're hysterical, if I die from hunger then frankly I deserved it." I rebut to the man, scoffing and smiling along. The moods been lightened at least, if nothing else.
"Hey Edward, do you know your way around here?" I ask him as we continue to walk, well, as he continues to walk, I try to limp along as best I can, thankfully my throat seems wettened enough to not feel like I'm trying to swallow sand paper. His refusal to answer, as well as his pursed lips, is an answer within itself.
"I don't particularly want to ask anyone, I'll find one soon enough without help."
"I don't wan- Edward I don't want an arrow in my leg and a hole in my hand, can we move past the pride of not wanting to ask for directions so I can have working limbs, please?" It takes some arguing and back and forth, but I finally manage to convince the proud man to ask any passing humans for directions to the nearest healer. Thankfully, either the people here are welcoming of non humans or we were lucky enough to find one that doesn't care so much about it, and we're sent on our way towards a non Templar healer. Turns out, Edward was heading in the exact opposite direction of them, go figure. The walk to them is one of silence, but a comfortable one. This situation definitely could be a little more comfortable, wincing when a strong breeze decides to move the arrow shaft is painful and irksome.
We stand in front of a small shop, a small blank sign hanging from the wall next to the door is the only sign that this place isn't just a regular house, shrubbery of berries surround the area near the front door, glazed windows deeply enough so that I can't see inside.
"..Are you sure you don't want to go to the Templars? They're nice people, as long as you're not a keidran, and I'd imagine they'd know what you are." Edward subtly pleads to me, his eyes darting away from the house to the Templar Tower.
"If they try to hack off my leg with a rusty sword, that's when you can drag me there, no other case, and I'm being generous with that." Edward sighs lightly and brings us into the strange building, the doors unlocked and opens easily. Torn and scribbled pages clutter the floor of the house, book cases and desks lines the wall, ink pots and broken quills splattered across the desks too. Edward and I share a look, his eyebrow raised.
"Juuuust a moment!" A voice calls out from the depths of the room, followed the echos of loud banging and crashing, metal on metal, the thudding of wood and various equipment being dropped.
"Edward, hold me, I don't feel safe." I say flatly as I look over to him. He rolls his eyes, a small smile on his face.
"Next time this happens, you can drag yourself." He responds to me just as flatly. Finally, the mysterious figure behind the voice appears from behind a bookcase. The figure itself is a lithe and small young lady, her skin is a pale white, almost albino really, her grin is wide, pearly white and friendly too. A flat hat rests atop of her head, though her deep brown hair still curls out of the bottom of it, failing to contain it. She's wearing a brown robe, with the front of it stained with dark blots of what I assume to be ink, hazel eyes looking over the two of us.
"Hiya! Sorry for that, always a bit busy with research and more experimental things, what's the issue?" She speaks with a hyper and chipper tone, that grin still on her face as she looks between Edward and I. She seems at least mildly eccentric, though the glint in her eye worries me.
"Well, I uh, have a hole in my hand, and an arrow in my leg, and neither of us knows healing magic, so do you think you can help me out miss? I don't think my friend here enjoys lugging me around too much." I reply politely to the girl, woman, cleric. I don't know what to call her, cleric will have to do. She looks over my leg, her hand to her chin, then back to my face.
"Looks like it's an amputation job, but don't worry, I'm good at that!" I blanch and recoil slightly, I feel the blood drain out of my face, Edwards grip on me tightens and I can feel him step backwards, out of the corner of my eye I can see his brows furrow. The cleric stands there for a few seconds, unflinching and with that grin on her face before she bursts out in laughter.
"Oh relax, it's just a joke. You'll be fine fuzzy boy, just c'mere so I can heal you up, won't take too long, hopefully!" She calls out to us as she disappears from sight, her hand appearing from behind a bookcase and gesturing to follow. Edward seems hesitant, but I motion my head forward, and he finally kicks himself into motion, mumbling to himself as we follow the lady. As we turn around the corner, there's a surprisingly clean area, with seats and a table in the middle fo the makeshift room. I assume this is where she treats patients, the cleric standing behind the table, the grin on her face is unwavering, it's actually kind of staring to unnerve me at this point, little weirdo.
"Up the operating table with ya!" She taps at the table, before turning around and rummaging through the bags behind her, whistling all the while. With the help of Edward, I manage to hobble myself onto the table, laying down flat on it. Even through my cloak I can feel the steely chill of the table, I can't imagine it'd feel good on thinner clothes, or bare skin. Fur in my case, anyways, still wouldn't be pleasant.
"Hey, uh, what's your name if I may ask, miss cleric?" I ask the lady, her whistling still continuing as she hovers over my body, grasping at my holey hand, examining it between her own, I can see a cluster of blue stones within one of her hands, though I barely feel it as it rubs against my glove. It doesn't hurt as she looks over it, thankfully, though I still don't want to move it myself.
"Ya can call me Lucy, fuzzball! Normally patients don't care to wonder bout my name, odd to see a basitin as talkative as you." She replies happily, a hand reaching down to pinch at my cheek. I raise an eyebrow as she does so, I'm talkative? I get that I chat a lot, but still.
"Talkative? I thought I was just being polite." She hums and skates around my body, her face wincing as she looks over the jutting arrow.
"Eh, any time I meet one of you things they're all no-nonsense bores, they're awful to talk to. You speakin at all is a welcome change. That arrow's really in there deep too, ya probably should've yanked it out when ya could, it'd save the trouble." She finishes her sentence with an upbeat whistle, and I tilt my head, well, as best as I can when on a table.
"Save the trouble? What do you me-" A flare of pain from my leg forces my teeth to grit itself, a lenghty grunt of pain hissing through my teeth, though the pain is quickly soothed into a soft feeling afterwards, Lucy appearing above my slightly blurred vision with a bloody arrow in her hand, still smiling wide.
"Save that trouble! Can't exactly heal ya with an arrow in ya, can I? You'll be fit as a jiffy in a bit, now lemme do up your hand." Her cheery disposition is.. very strange, with the bloody arrow in her hand, but she flicks it away somewhere behind my head, moving to the other side of me once more.
"Christ, you couldn't have given me some warning, could you?" I mutter to her as she dances past my head, though I do shake my once afflicted leg, the pain at simply moving its been replaced with a numb feeling, though I can definitely move it around. It's a plus.
"Nah, it's funnier this way for me." She holds my hand in hers, a faint blue glow encompassing our hands. I'm going to choose to ignore how absolutely unnerving that is to hear from a healer. After a while, it finally stops, and I gently pull it away from her and gaze over it, the hand knitted itself together, can't say the same for the glove though, it makes sense but it's a shame, it's a damned nice glove. I sit up and move the fingers of my hand, it's almost mesmerising to watch the way it curls, I couldn't move this to save my life just a moment ago, bloody magic.
"Well, I suppose thanks are in order, Miss Lucy," I speak aloud, hopping from the metal table, moving my leg around. It's still numb, but it doesn't feel like it's on fire, that's a great sign. I look towards Edward and give him a smile, dancing around on the recently healed leg. "See, all better now! Now you don't gotta carry me around everywhere."
"And thank the Gods for that, you're heavy as hell Fuzz." He speaks with a snarky sarcastic tone, but his heart isn't really in on it, unfocused eyes looking up to me I tilt my head, what's up with him? Is he okay? Lucy zips in front of my, her hands behind her back and looks up into my eyes, her unwavering grin is really putting me on edge now. I hold up my hands and move myself backwards.
"Er, yes Miss Lucy?" I ask her, I feel sweat bead on my forehead as she moves herself closer. Dear god get away from me woman!
"I don't work for free fuzzball, pay up." She demands, jabbing me in the chest with a finger, though there's no real force behind it. I blink, and then I feel the light bulb light up in my head.
"Oh! Right, I forgot money was a thing, uuhhh.." I trail off as I grasp at my back, and at nothing. I blink, I uh, don't have my bag with me, the bag with the money. I smile sheepishly and turn towards Lucy, scratching the back of my neck.
"I uh, don't exactly have anything to pay you with at the moment, can I do something for you instead? I'll pay up later, just something to stave it off for a while." I ask the lady, her eyes squinting as she moves her face closer to mine. I can hear Edward snicker from behind her as I continue to move myself further back and away from her. Finally, she pulls back, crossing her arms.
"If you're offering yourself, then you aren't doing a great job at it." She replies flatly, the snickering turning into full-blown laughter. I feel my face heat up and flush, groaning and pinching the bridge of my nose.
"I- no, that's not what I meant at all. Just, lemme do something for you and I'll pay you back later, please?" A whine escapes my throat in an almost begging tone to the smaller lady, taking a seat on the table behind myself. She hums and taps at her chin, a faux thinking look on her face.
"Weeeelll, you didn't exactly use much of my mana crystal charges, and you were pretty fun, so I guess I could let you slide, so long as you play delivery boy for me." She finally replies cheerfully, it feels strange to call my pain fun, but if it gets me out of here and away from her then I'll take it. I give her a bright grin and a thumbs up.
"Of course! What do you need carried and where do you need it to go?" She hums to herself as she borderline bounces away from me, disappearing once more passed the book shelves. I shoot Edward a dirty glare, who responds with a smile and a shrug. What an ass. Lucy returns after a short while, lugging around a brown case in her hands, she softly but hastily plops the case on the table with a solid thud.
"Phew, thing's damned heavy. So, wannabe hunky fuzzboy, I got a friend whose a lovely painter, and all of this is 'supplies' for him, long blonde hair fella, you should be able to spot him near the docks 'round this time, think ya can handle it?" She has her hands on her hips, a determined line replaces her normal grin, thin and pale. It's an odd change, but I prefer it over the creepy grin. I shrug and grab at the case with a hand, it's definitely loaded with stuff in it, but I can seem to handle it just fine.
"You wouldn't be speaking of Eric, would you Lucy?" Edward pipes up at long last, it feels as if he's been oddly silent throughout this whole thing, other than laughing at me anyways. Lucy's creepy grin returns as she clicks her fingers, looking towards Edward as he does so. Less time she spends looking at me the better, I swear I feel a chill creep up my spine.
"Yup yup! That's the one, you two meet him or something?" She tilts her head as she questions us.
"We ran into his brother when we were travelling here, though I haven't seen him in a while." Edward shoots me a small look as he mentions Roderick, an eyebrow raised.
"Hey, I think I handled that situation just fine." I reply to him dismissively, shrugging as I smirk.
"Zeke, you flirted with him."
"And? It worked didn't it?"
"Doesn't make it any less weird." We're both silent for a few moments before sharing a small chuckle, it's nice to have the little back and forth between each other. Edward himself seems a little less strained too, a small smile on his lips.
"Ahem, I believe ya two gotta get going, hm? I dunno if Eric's gonna be staying around for long, now shoo!" She swiftly but gently tugs at my free arm, I let her drag myself out of the house, the clanking of Edwards boots following us. As we reach the door, she shoves myself out of it, followed by Edward, giving the both of us a small wave before slamming the door shut.
"..Well, at least I didn't lose my leg?" I half state, half ask aloud as I look towards Edward, who shrugs in reply.
"We're not going into there again, Zeke." He says in a deadpan tone as he turns around, walking down and away from the house.
"Hey come on, she wasn't that bad! Creepy and I feel like she enjoyed my pain a bit too much, but not that bad." I shout as I chase after him, coming to a slow walk beside him. He rolls his eyes, but doesn't say much afterwards. We walk in a comfortable silence down the street and towards the docks, but something scratches at the back of my mind. I feel like I've forgotten something, it's hope it's not too important.
..
The scent from the sea is rather pleasant to smell as we approach closer to the docks, cold and briny, as well as a great deal of saltiness behind it too, the breeze flowing through the streets is as chilly as I'd expect it to be, but it's a sweet type of chill rather than a bitter one. I hum aloud as I look over the heads of those meandering around, Lucy did say he was blonde right? Did she mean dirty blonde like Edward, or bleached blonde? Or a super bright blonde? Does bleach exist in this world? I see a blonde head full of hair walking around though, facing away from us, so I push my way towards them, he's wearing a dirty brown shirt, with equally dirty brown pants, and a rope as a belt. I don't think this is Eric, not at all, but I give the man a tap on his shoulder. He jolts in surprise as he turns around, a scruffy beard and squinting eyes is what catches my eyes.
"Hey, you aren't Eric by any chance, Sir?" I ask him politely, my nose crinkling as the overpowering stench of fish and other marine life wafts past my nose. His wrinkled face sneers as he looks up and down.
"The fuck're you meant to be? Get outta here." He spits his words harshly, a scowl forming on his face as he rushes himself off, pushing others out of the way. I feel my ears drop to my neck, and I mumble to myself. I guess that's not Eric, prick. A small cough from behind me peaks my ears up, twisting and facing another human man. The man has long and bright blonde hair flowing past his shoulders, calm green eyes covered by glasses and a pointed face, its clean of any muck or grime, soft and pointed, with an extremely calm expression. He's wearing a flowing grey cloak over his chest, along with slightly deeper grey pants reaching down to his shoes. Next to the man, however, stands Edward, with a smug little grin on his face. Oh right, Edward does kind of know Eric, whoops.
"So, uh, I assume that you're Eric then, Sir?" I ask the new man, coughing to myself lightly as I straighten myself. He gives a polite smile as he offers out his hand towards myself.
"You would be correct, good sir. May I inquire to as what you need of myself? Edward here spotted me out and informed me that you were searching for me." He speaks so properly and formally, it's not like anyone else I've heard, even the Emerald Lady spoke more casually, it's more akin to Levi's way of speech. I reach out to his hand with my own, grabbing and shaking it firmly but not overly tightly.
"A gift from Lucy, painting supplies I assume." I respond to the man, holding up the brown case to his eye level. He seems thoughtful for a moment, his hand cupping his chin as he hums.
"Hm, would you two consider joining me for a drink? Partially just to carry the 'gift' from her, she does go overboard with its contents after all." He politely offers, his hands wrapping around his back. I look to Edward, who shrugs, it's not a 'no', so I give Eric a small nod.
"Sure, it'll be no issue! You don't mind yourself, right Edward? You don't need to tag along, I'll be fine by myself." I quickly ask my friend, I wouldn't want to drag him, he deserves a break.
"Mn, I might go off myself, try to find Gerome and Vector to see what they're doing." He finally responds, giving us both a nod. "I'll catch up with you later though, Eric. Don't get into trouble Fuzz."
I give him a wave as he wanders off, though his eyes still trail over mine, hesitating before fully dedicating to walking away. I cant help but feel confused, looking over him myself. Why does he seem so concerned? A small cough brings me back to attention though, looking back and giving Eric a thumbs up.
"Right, sorry bout that! Ready when you are Eric." He nods with a polite smile on his face, slightly adjusting his glasses as he turns towards the town.
"Very well, follow on. It'll be a short walk." I try to tune out the muttering of the moving crowd around us as we move past them and deeper into the town, away from the scent of the sea. Despite the strangeness of it, it was somewhat comforting, almost feeling like a homely smell. I don't recall being near the sea much, despite my fuzzy memories, maybe it's just from the Basitin Island, whatever its called, being far out at sea.
"So, you know of Gerome, Zeke?" Eric pipes up, an almost probing tone in his voice. His polite smile seems a little more forced than before, it's such a small and minute detail, why do I notice it?
"Yeah, he's a friend of mine. I've been a temporary guardsman for him and his friend, along with Edward. It's been going mostly smoothly, just a few hiccups along the way. Are you and Gerome friends?" I both answer his question and ask my own with a level tone, keeping on where we're going, up a dirt hill and even further away from the sea. I wonder what'd it'd be like to be out at sea itself, would it be fun? Are pirates a thing here too?
"I wouldn't say that, we.. have our differences with how we see things, especially with my line of work, and the trading company of mine doesn't quite match up with his products." He doesn't go into too much detail beyond that, and his levelled voice and neutral face doesn't show much. I squint lightly, but I can't gauge anything else from it, is he trying to hide something?
"I've seen Gerome peddle around a lot of merchandise, what type of products do you trade around then?" I try to pry further as we continue our marching upwards a hill, I assume one of the houses on top of it would be his then.
"Ah, I suppose you haven't guessed it then. I'm a slave trader, well, more a collector than anything, but I sell and barter slaves." He responds to it so nonchalantly, so casually, it takes me by surprise. I furrow my brow, a hand clenching at the case ever so tightly, there's no Edward to stop you here Zeke, reel it in you.
"..I see." I finally respond to him curtly after a few moments of silence. I focus ahead on the suddenly very interesting dirt hill and putting one foot in front of the other, I've at least managed to subdue my rising heart beat, just keep breathing Zeke.
"You can likely see why Gerome and I don't get along, no? His interest in keidran doesn't quite line up with my own, and he takes it to heart. We've finally arrived however, are you still quite alright for a drink Zeke?" He asks once more, in a sightly softer tone as we stop at the front of a multi-story wooden brown house, lined with stone around the base of it, I assume it's for stability. Breathe in Zeke, breathe out.
"I can't see why not, where do you want this thing anyways?" He smiles and opens the door for us both, and I step inside, the main room is mostly barren, though empty bookshelves do lay around the walls of the room, a chandelier hangs from the ceiling, providing light to the room while stone columns rise to the roof itself. I hear Eric close the door behind us, stepping past myself and up the stairs.
"Just upstairs, follow me." He speaks again as he continues to walk up the stairs. I follow after him, the walls are mostly bare, though patterns line themselves on the bottom of each wall, not exactly a fleur-de-lis, but definitely close. We take a right and head straight into the first door, wooden stilts holding up painting canvases with tables against a wall, red curtains hanging over the windows.
I feel my face head up as I cough into a hand awkwardly as I look into the paintings, those are keidrans. Keidrans posing lewdly, and they're drawn pretty well, with an acute sense to detail too. I'd be impressed if I wasn't to bloody flustered looking at the things, why the hell does he draw keidran, especially like that? He finally turns around with a bright but lecherous grin on his face.
"Voila! These are my paintings, as you can see, they require a fair amount of paint, hence why that case's so heavy. Just place it on one of the tables, you can look but don't touch." I swallow the lump in my throat and move towards the table, trying my best to do anything but look at the damned paintings. Dear god, is that why he sells keidran around, for his own perverse intentions? I feel myself pale as i place the case on the table, what type of man did I run in to? What else has he done to his slaves? A bitterness creeps into my heart and mind as I turn myself to face the man again, I swear, if he's touched any of them, especially the children...
I'll tear him a part, piece by piece.
"So Eric, you mentioned a drink?" I try to keep my voice low and level, crossing my arms and look over to the man, leaning myself on the table behind me.
"Ah, I thought I forgot something in my haste, hold on for just a moment." He speaks briefly before poking his head out the door, calling out to someone before returning, a small smile on his face.
"Kathrin will be escorting you to the tavern part of the household, you'll be able to pick whatever drink you'd like there, alcoholic or otherwise. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some setting up to do." He moves his hands in a way to gesture myself to move away from the room, and I readily leave the room myself, whatever depraved things he wants to do in that room is, and hopefully never, applies to me. A shiver goes down my spine as the door shuts behind me, does his perverted want extend to any female non-human? Would he try to paint myself if I was a chick? I'm not gonna forget that mental image any time soon.
I hear the soft pattering of footsteps as my ears flick, and I turn to check whoever it may be. The heat in my cheeks returns with full force as I look over the newcomer.
Her sleek brown hair's done up in a bun with a light blue headband, cat ears pointing out of the top of her head, her face is soft with gorgeous turquoise blue eyes, and her equally soft smile is warm and welcoming. Black spots dotted all over her short grey and white fur. She's... rather shapely too, also naked. Why is she naked? Why doesn't she have clothes? Her chest is huge and her hips are to die for, why doesn't she have clothes on?
"Good morning, sir. My name is Kathrin, a servant of Master Eric. I'll be sure to provide you with whatever needs you may have." Her voice gentle but with a lingering confidence hidden under itself, running over my ears like silk, it's almost overly sweet sounding, continue to smile sweetly. Sweat beads on my forehead as I use every nerve in my skull to look into her eyes instead of anywhere else, why doesn't she have pants, or a shirt, or anything. What the fuck Eric, you perverted bastard.
"I, yeah, thank you Miss Kathrin. I just uh, want some drinks is all, it's been a long morning." I say awkwardly though a clenched jaw. Just keep looking at her face Zeke. I follow her down the stairs, fuzzy tail swishing left and right along with her hips. She has a really fuzzy tail, that's honestly just adorable. Shes bloody gorgeous, but I feel my blood chill and numb, what has Eric done to her? I bite back whatever may come from my mouth as I sit myself on a chair, a resting my arms on a wooden table. I look over my holey glove, I really should get this fixed some time.
"So, is there anything specific you need? You seem rather tense, too, I could always help you relax with a massage~" Her voice turns low and husky towards the end, half lidded eyes and a smirk forces me to bite down, screaming internally. Please don't flirt with me you cute fuck.
"I'll have to decline sadly, as for drinks, just some alcohol I guess?" I shrug and attempt to act a tad more casually around her. She looks saddened at the rejection, but she smiles lightly and nods, turning and skipping off to god knows where. Don't look at her hips Zeke. I let out a sigh I didn't realise I was holding in and slouch in the chair, groaning lightly as I rub at my face. Jesus Christ, I'm in the same house as a perverted slaver with a slave that'd drop jaws, she doesn't seem scornful of this place, or of Eric, but who's to say that she doesn't have a mind control spell on her? That is possible here. God, a mind control spell, what monster thought of that? The ability to subdue a beings mind to just, tell them what to do, wouldn't that kill them inside, remove their individuality? Do they remember if they're mind controlled if they're set free? A chill goes down my spine again, such an abhorrent practise, and it's normal here? Disgusting.
Kathrin returns soon after I finish my less than pleasant thoughts, a silver tray with a singular clear mug filled with a brown bubbling liquid swashing around inside. I smile to her and grasp at the handle, bringing it to my lips and gulp down. It's warm, and it tastes strange because of it, but it's not an awful taste.
"Thank you, Miss Kathrin." I give her my thanks as I place the drink down.
"It's quite alright, do you require anything else, Zeke?" She questions, head tilting to the side, much like a cat, god she's adorable.
"Hm, I actually do need something from you. Do you care to sit and chat? I just want to ask a few questions is all, if you don't mind." I ask the lady, taking another sip at the grog. She seems surprised, as well as a bit confused.
"I suppose so, but what do you want to ask of me?" She takes a seat opposite of me, her back straight and to attention, looking straight at me with those inquisitive eyes of hers. I blink and shake my head, stop getting distracted Zeke.
"I just wanted to ask of yourself, as well as your relationship and history with Eric, I'm a tad bit curious myself." I swallow my pride as I bring up the 'relationship' part of the question, trying to dull the rising anger inside of myself, bloody slave collector. Kathrin hums and taps at her cheek in thought.
"Master Eric is special to me, my previous Master was his brother, Roderick, though Eric bought me from him years ago. Master Eric has treated me with kindness and freedom for as long as I've known him, and I'm very grateful for all of it." She answers after a while, she finishes herself with a happy sigh and a small but genuine smile. I can't help but feel as if there's more than what she's letting on when she says that, that dainty little smile of hers and the tinge of admiration behind her words... Is she happy as a slave to Eric? I don't think that a mind controlled slave would be able to express such emotions when talking about their Master, unless forced to do so. I hum to myself and take another swig of the mug, finally finishing it off. A happy slave, huh? Never thought I'd see that.
"I see, so do you truly have no qualms about being, well, owned by him?" I ask her again, taking special care to pay attention to her reaction. A small confused noise comes from her as she tilts her head, her nose wrinkling and the area between her eyebrows creasing ever so slightly.
"Master Eric has never treated me any less than he would himself, or to any other slaves hes had." She retorts with a soft but determined voice, huffing lightly as her fingers tap at the table, though her face returns to a more neutral expression. I'm a little surprised by the reaction to the question.
"Alright, I didn't mean to insult either of you, I'm just surprised. I've seen some other slaves, I've seen their glassy eye stares, their lack of life behind those eyes..." I trail off and clutch at my head as a spike of pain runs through it, maybe I shouldn't be remembering those keidran, the dread and regret in the pit of my stomach isn't a kind feeling. Looking back up to Kathrin, she seems slightly unnerved and uncomfortable, but her face is a resolute one.
"Eric is a kind and generous man, the best human I've ever met, and he'll never do that to any of us." Her voice is as adamant as her face, a steely and determined tone. I blink and look over her face, there's a softness behind her eyes. I jab a finger at her as I lean on my other hand, smirking.
"You have romantic feelings for Eric, don't you Kathrin?" I both pry and tease at the lady, her seemingly unwavering face immediately shattering into a flushed and panicked one, spewing out noises and words both human and keidran alike. I snicker, and then lose myself in the laughter, tears lining the bottom of my eyes. My laughter finally dies down as I wipe the tears, her burning face almost reigniting the bubbling laugh in my throat.
"Hey hey, I swear that I won't spill the beans to him, it does explain your positive words for the man, but I do believe you. He seems incredibly perverse, but with a kind enough heart to treat you like a human. Er, human enough anyways." I snicker as she still flushes red, but her reaction does die down after a while longer, though she does still seem a little bit awkward. I hum to myself one again, running the tip of a finger against the rim of my cup.
"Hey Kathrin, is there a library of sorts in here? There's some things I need to check, if you're not busy of course." I ask her a final time, and she seems a tad surprised, but she nods.
"Of course! Eric taught me how to read with them, I'll show you." She quickly jumps up and gathers my empty mug and plate, scampering off with them and returning soon enough. I follow after the lady, trying and failing to keep my eyes off of her swishing tail. It's so god damn fluffy, I hope that the books here are in English too, it'd be rather awkward if it wasn't.
Authors note: I've finally finished up my bio, and with it, there's some updated character information as well as other things. This chapter came out pretty quickly compared to others, partially because I finished some of it before I finished chapter 15, I was confused on where to place events, but Id like to think that this came out well. Leave a review or send a PM if you have any questions thoughts or ideas though, take care.