With an awkward cough, Leskai was able to get Oahwi's attention back to the table, the orc just sighed a little before smiling and placing the finished Earth Boar's meat on the table. Leskai got up and was ready to leave, after all, the king probably just wanted him to put on the table! After all, why would someone want to eat or drink near a slave? That's illogical, even more, when he is the slave! His company is not enjoyable and he should just not be around to not make anyone puke by the sight of his existence. However, as soon as he got up from the table and was steps away from it, he heard the confused voice of the Orc King calling out to him: "Leskai? Where are you going? Won't you eat with me?"
He turned his head towards Oahwi and tilted it to the side, does he not know about noble etiquette? Does he not know that slaves should never be near nobles who are eating to not contaminate their food with their horrible scents or the air they breathed. "Ahem... Ergh... You don't know?" Leskai asked in barely a whisper, carefully choosing his words to not anger the Orc King because he doesn't want to die now, and Orcs can easily kill humans! Oahwi raised an eyebrow and asked, curious to know: "What should I know? Can you tell me, please?" Leskai looked at the ground when he caught himself looking at the Orc King's face, he should never look, or else his eyes will be teared out of his sockets again! "A dirty slave should never be near a noble, I do not want to contaminate you with my stench, with my disgusting self."
He repeated the words he was taught to say since a very young age, all the nobles would at least not punish him whenever he was not near them, with his eyes closed he walked to leave the kitchen, using his magic to make him able to see without his eyes. He should not be near him, he is royalty, and if he gets contaminated with his disgusting slave stench? He will hate him for sure when that happens, he probably just felt grateful that he was able to resurrect him and bring him back from the dead until now that he discovered that he is a slave... Now he probably hates that he touched him, as he should because slaves should never touch normal people, slaves should touch only other slaves, that way there was no risk of contaminating them with their disgusting slave stench.
As soon as he placed a foot out of the kitchen, he felt something gently grabbing his wrist, well, it was bigger than his wrist and was easily overlapping his hand and holding him there. "I cooked that especially for you, won't you at least take a bite?" Oahwi said, his voice sounded hurt, did he do something wrong? He slowly turned his head towards the Orc King and saw a single tear sliding down his face sorrowfully. What he didn't know is when he said those things, all the chefs who heard it felt hurt, not because of his words but because of the tone he used to say them, like he believed what he said... It reminded them of those little children that would repeat whatever the teacher would say, named and places in Orc History, numbers, words, just to memorize them and know them as their truth.
He looked so fragile as he repeated those words with empty eyes and a silent scream for freedom that everyone who heard it could tell that he wanted to be free, not from the chains of slavery, but from the chains he put on himself...
"Huh?" Leskai made a confused noise, should he accept? He shouldn't eat that, is not for him. "I don't think I should, your majesty..." That word, he hated it, he hated being called his majesty and even more now that he was being called by the man he loved... Did he love him? Isn't that too early t- No, fuck it, he loves Leskai and he will take his heart out of his chest and give it to him if necessary to show how much he loves him. "Sit with me, please?" Oahwi locked his red eyes in Leskai's golden eyes, showing the true emotions he always tried to hide from others on his face, longing, wishing, wanting, he needed Leskai to just give him a chance to heal him of all the damage he received his whole life... Or maybe try.
"I-" Leskai was ready to reject him when he noticed Asclepios floating beside Oahwi with a smile on his face, Leskai telepathically communicated with his Spirit Companion, asking him for his opinion: "Asclepios, should I-" He didn't even get to finish his question, Asclepios was already answering with all his strength: "Yes, definitely. Go to have dinner with this hunky beast! Make me proud and fucking get his heart." Leskai was confused about what Asclepios meant with that but decided to trust the spirit that kept him alive for so long, he would never do anything to hurt him no matter what. "I... Okay." When Oahwi heard Leskai's answer, he grinned like an Orc cub who just got the best slice of Earth Boar, his shining tusks very much visible, giving his grin a more cute feeling.
"Take a seat, take a seat." Perhaps he was a little too excited, his feet moved with the grave of a warrior as he happily pulled a chair over, the other chefs in the kitchen decided to just observe the lovely couple as they navigated the dangerous sea of love in a tiny, wooden shaft that could break at any time.
Leskai awkwardly sat down on the chair that was offered to him as he nervously scratched his left leg, it helped him calm down so he always did that. The Orc King smiled at him, his teeth were big and sharp, it looked unnaturally white, almost like he used marble to make his teeth! But marble is fragile against repetitive use, so it wouldn't be great teeth material... He awkwardly stared at Oahwi as he began to serve him, which made his skin itch and made him hear the sound of chains clashing against his flesh as he didn't do his job, he quickly snapped out of his thoughts and got up and began to try and serve Oahwi instead of him being served.
He needed to be useful, or else he would end up like his mother, slowly bleeding out and dying in a cold, stone cell.
"Les-" Oahwi was going to say that he didn't need help when Leskai was already cutting the meat of the Earth Boar with ease and grace that made him stunned for a second, not only he was stunned but also the other chefs around the were as well! Now, you may think it is nothing hard to cut meat, but although Earth Boar meat is the most delicious meal you can taste, it is also very hard to cut, meaning you need to have great wrist strength to cut it with a knife, also the knife needs to be sharp too, like, very sharp. So you see this small human (half-elf) who simply cuts it with an unimaginable ease something that even some Orcs have a hard time cutting!
Leskai didn't even notice it to be hard to cut, he had to sometimes cut open stones with a blunt knife, literally.
It was something the son of his first owner would make him do, and if he wasn't able to cut a stone in several pieces and eat it in 10 minutes he would be whipped and locked away to be used as a lab rat for the rest of the day, he hated being the lab rat... But now he is immune to poison, so that's a plus right? He didn't know that he unconsciously would apply mana to the knife to enchant the cutting properties of the knife, it was barely something someone would notice unless they knew what he was doing, which was what Oahwi saw him doing. He was impressed! His love was not only a great healer, swordsman and could also cook!? What else was he asking for? This man was perfect for him.
A warrior, a healer, and a chef. Everything he ever wanted.
"Thanks." Oahwi decided to not ask why he decided to help but instead smiled at him, what he didn't know was that his small smile and "thanks" greatly confused Leskai, who started to have an internal panic, pondering why he thanked him for what he did and smiled, which slowly turned into a gay panic as he noticed how dashingly adorable Oahwi looked with a smile on his face. Why did he think about that? No, he doesn't deserve to think of that, love is something that he, a slave, an inferior being, doesn't deserve. He broke eye contact and slowly sat down at the table, looking at the cutlery that he neatly placed on the table before realizing... He didn't know how to use it.
He was only taught how to place them on a table, ever since a young age he was taught that slaves deserve to eat like dogs, so he had to use his mouth or even hands to grab food and eat it... But he doesn't want to do that here, there are a lot of Orcs watching them already, he doesn't want to humiliate the Orc King any further, he already is being humiliated by the fact that he has a slave sitting near him... What an odd noble this Orc King is.
He doesn't say anything when Leskai uncomfortably scratches his leg even though it is very much audible, and he probably can smell the scent of blood now too huh? He scratched his leg, cutting his skin and muscle, sinking his nails in his flesh as the pain kept him from fainting when he was nervous. When Leskai noticed Oahwi sniffing the air, he realized he had just ruined the perfect meal because Oahwi simply got up from his seat- Suddenly, flashbacks.
Leskai saw the nobleman getting up from his chair, walking up to him, and holding his chin up. "Now, you are simply a dirty slave, you should not even be breathing the same air as me-" The words were cut by the heavy hit he received, his arms were broken and bounded to his legs as they got broken as well, his body was hanged upside down by chains as he was hit by numerous whips from both father and son, who seemed to be enjoying his torture, they were even chanting his name in a mocking tone: "Leskai! Leskai! Leskai!" He could feel his arms and legs broken, he could feel the chains tightly holding his waist, he could feel the whips hitting his flesh but a sudden cold touch brought him back to his senses. "Leskai?" The Orc King was in front of him, holding his wrist, he looked at his hand and saw it was full of blood... His blood.
He looked at his leg to realize that he had just pulled the skin out of his leg, and he was bleeding a lot. "Oh, I didn't even realize." He whispered as his right hand glowed in white light, he placed the hand on his bleeding leg and the bleeding stopped, the flesh and muscle closed and his leg looked to be as good as new. If the blood wasn't there to prove it, he would have thought he just hallucinated with that again! "Ah, forgive me, your majesty..." Realizing that he just bleed on the floor, he quickly pulled his hand free from the Orc King's hold and kneeled on the floor, using his not bloody hand to clean the floor, saying: "I'm sorry that i had to filth up your floor with my blood, I will clean it up for you..." His words sounded empty as if he was not saying this for the first time, his movements were flawless, and even though his hand was trembling, he kept cleaning it.
One of the Orc chefs that were there frowned, he was married to a young man that acted the same way as Leskai did because he also was a slave, seeing the panic and pain in his king's eyes, he decided to help him. "King..." He called out, getting his attention, he threw a white clean cloth and gestured to the blood on the small trembling frame of the human that was cleaning the floor, making him realize what he meant. Taking the cloth, Oahwi began to also clean Leskai's body, making the Half-Elf look at him confused.
"Why...?" He asked with visible confusion on his face.
"Well, you see." Oahwi smiled gently at him even though it hurts seeing the person you love hurting themselves. "We Orcs cherish warriors and strength. We believe in an afterlife where every single warrior can finally rest, where the spirit of death will welcome us and present us with a great feast, where we will tell our greatest battles... Be it physical, spiritual, or even emotional. Well, can I help you with your fight?" Leskai didn't understand what he wanted, but slowly he would learn what he meant with that.
It took a long time, but Leskai Trihepery was always.
Always accepted.
Always loved.
Always happy.
Always allowed to cry.
Always allowed to eat whatever he wanted
Always allowed to drink whatever he wanted.
Always allowed to look at his lover, King of Orcs, Oahwi.