After exiting the gate, I noticed the dogs are still following us. I guess they are ours now. But where is their master? In the Fey, perhaps?
That's fine, I suppose. I idly wonder what they were up to while we were doing the quest. I give them more bites of meat as Plight follows me. I turn away from the bridge that crosses the river and travel Northward along the river. After a few minutes of walking, I find a spot that slopes gently and set down my pack.
Taking off my boots, I look for a good spot to sit where I can have my feet in the water. Spotting a large rock, I wade into the water and sit on it. A wrapped bit of smoked meat in my hands. Using my dagger I cut a piece off ate it, and took another piece off to fling for the dogs. One 'blinked', it's form of teleporting, to catch it.
"Want any?" I asked Plight, throwing some more for the dogs.
"No, thank you." Plight replied.
I nodded at him, having expected it. "What would you say, if I said the man whom I adore and call my father, is my master, my owner... that I am his property?"
"That you have never once described him as such..?" Plight replied.
"He is, technically. He'd torture someone to death for suggesting it, though." I told him.
He laughed.
"My birth father is a man named Derek Cross. He was married to my mother, Adelaide Cross. Derek is a man of poor choices. He is a failure as a man, father and in business. I'd say he may have been a fair husband, because Adelaide lives because of his choices." I explain.
"When I was four is when his bad business practices caught him. He owed James Hearthry 684 gold. Adelaide was dying of some illness that the Capital had no cure for. So, the type of business man he is, James offered Derek a deal. Take your wife and leave this city, leave your child, never return, and your debt is clear. The other alternative would have probably been Derek's death. You don't just not pay James back when you borrow money from him."
I toss more meat to the dogs, "So Derek left me at the designated 'drop off' location and fled South. All the way across the desert to Ymir's town. Where he managed to get Adelaide cured. But he also lied to her. He told her their child, myself, had died. As soon as she had the ability to walk, Adelaide took herself to the Arena to die. Instead of dying, she survived each fight. Growing more and more enraged at the fact she wouldn't just die. Or at least this is what Derek wrote me in a letter."
I stretched a bit, then continued. "I feel it in our shared Quori. Her rage threatens to drown me at least once a week when Vakri, our Quori, shows me how she is. It's just fighting, blood, rage and death. I'm sure Vakri shows her my life, but I don't think she knows I'm her daughter. She's never replied to any letter I've sent her, and the one time I tried to see her I was denied entry. I need to be close enough to her to break through to her mind under all the angry and broken bits."
I frowned a bit, "James, my Dad, had a one year old son already when he took me into his home. James and Snow Den, my Mom, have never treated me, or Bit, any differently than their Leonin children. Bit's Vincent. My half brother, whom I technically kidnapped. and was also adopted by Mom and Dad."
I looked at Plight after telling him all this. Understanding that its a lot to process. ".... I wish I knew more about Quori, so I could offer some kind of advice..." Plight said after a fair bit of silence.
"Quori are usually good spirits that came from the nightmare realm Dal Quor. One of my ancestor's offered their body as a host to Vakri, my Quori, as they reproduced they all ended up sharing Vakri and it's gifts for telepathy, and being severed from the dream realm entirely. When we sleep we see the memories Vakri shares." I inform him, "if I have a child with a Kalashtar, like myself, or with a human, I will pass Vakri onto my child. If someone sharing Vakri with me dies, Vakri's abilities and strength with me will increase."
"Unfortunately that didn't help me come up with any advice.. but yes. we should go and see your mom at some point." Plight said awkwardly.
I giggled and said "Do you want to see Vakri?"
"The night.. mare demon...sure.. sure.." Plight replied.
I closed my eyes and focused on the empty feeling in my heart of the homesickness until it overwhelmed me. I began to cry quietly, and instead of fighting the strength of the emotion I let it ramp up until it overwhelmed me. It evolved into frustration at those girls, helplessness at being so weak and tired just from hauling bricks. I knew the moment Vakri manifested because the dogs reacted. They barked at Vakri, and I gave a sobbingly tearful smile and began saying, "Everything's ok. It has to be strong emotions to manifest Vakri."
"Ah...." Plight said, eyes wide, as he say the large insect-like multi-eyed creature that is the Quori Vakri, "that's alarming..."
I took some deep breaths, sniffling and getting myself under control again. I slipped from the rock and dunked myself under the cool water of the river for a moment, before emerging and returning to the rock. "Homesickness, gah. Jasper'd bully me." I continued calming myself, I've been through significant training to contain my emotions, until Vakri faded from sight again. The lead dog appeared on the rock and gave my face a washing. I hugged it, in return. Not as good as Dad's hugs, but that's ok. "Told you I had an alien monster attached to me."
"And you were not kidding.. Not a joke. At all." Plight replied.
"Are you scared of me, now?" I asked anxiously.
He chuckled a little and said "Not in the slightest."
"Uncle tried to fight Vakri once. It wasn't possible." I laughed. My face was poofy, I knew. I got up and approached Plight.
"It doesn't seem like a tangible thing." He replied.
"It's not. It's inside my soul." I said as I then lifted the back of my cloak and wrapped it around Plight as I grappled him, trying to pull him into the water.
He halfheartedly tried to resist, but I managed to pull him in still, by using my body weight against us. I splashed into the water, back first, and pulled him on top of myself. This is when I firmly realized, my friend has armor on. I twisted, tangling us in my cloak. I unpinned my cloak, tossing the hood over his shoulder and announcing, "I win. The water feels nice after all the lifting, doesn't it?"
He sputtered a bit and said in a falsely indignant voice, "How dare you!"
"I dare a lot of things." I replied, laughing. I check my shirt, glad I'd not worn a white one today.
He pulled himself up on the rock and strained his robe out a bit. "Well, you know how I don't have family... that is because they tried to kill me. They placed me in a box and expected me to die...Obviously I didn't die, but not through their lack of trying."
I felt tears prick behind my eyes once more. and I placed my hand on his knee gently, trying to comfort any pain he may still feel. A feeble attempt, I'm sure. "I'm sorry that happened to you. Sometimes there is so much rotten in a person's heart and it spills out onto the gentlest people."
"I still have no idea who let me out." he told me.
I gave him a light hug, once it seemed he'd say no more. "For what it's worth, I'm glad your here. Thank you for sharing this with me. I understand its hard to."
He actually returned the hug a bit. "Thank you for listening. It was difficult to share.. its the first time I have done so."
"Anytime, Deerling, do you have any extra clothes?" I asked him, ruffling his wet hair a bit.
"No, no I do not." Plight replied.
"Then I am sorry I got you all wet. I can wash them for you and we can dry them. I can go to town and get you fresh clothes. I'm really good at picking clothes." I tell him.
"Then I'm afraid I must ask for your hospitality again in purchasing me some new clothes." Plight replied.
"It's fine. I'll be back. I enjoy spending money on people I care about." I tell him with a grin, returning to my boots and bag. I look back at him for a moment to see him smiling in a gentle manner. I then slip my boots on and start walking back. I tell two of the dogs to stay with Plight.
The lead dog came back with me. It didn't take long for me to reach town. And we hadn't even been gone long. I'll be honest and say I didn't think about how I'd look, dripping wet, reddened eyes, returning to town. I was thinking about it now, as the guards eyed me.
"You may want to stop by the Inn." One said.
"I will later." I replied. I headed for the stalls in the square, noting that I'm not really dripping any more but visibly damp.
As I started to pass by Mills stops me, he approaches with concern in his features and says, "Hey, are you ok? You look like you've been through hell- or at least a watery version of it."
I look at him for a moment, let my cheeks redden and say, "I fell in the water." The dog snorts.
He started walking me to the clothing stall then and said "Let's go get you some clothes then, what happened to your friend?"
I looked at him and said "He's ok. I left him at the river though."
We reached the clothing stall and I looked over the clothes. The women here must be primarily shorter than me, like Clara, because a lot of the clothing was either too big for me, or too short. Then again, all my clothes are normally tailored specifically for me. That's fine. I select some clothing that'll fit, even though it'd be a bit short, and I then find clothing for Plight.
Its not as nice as I'd like him to be dressed, but that's fine. It'll suit him. I pick three outfits for him and pay for the clothing.
"I need to return to Plight," I tell Mills.
"Yeah, you should probably get back to Plight, he's probably cold by now.. I'd like to have dinner with you tonight at the tavern, if you're up for it?" Mills said with a friendly smile.
I paused as he spoke and felt color rising to my cheeks. "What?"
His smile turned mischievous as he said "I think we ought to get you warmed up, I think hypothermia may be getting to your ears.. Would you like to go on a date with me, to have dinner at the tavern?"
I stare at him, surprised and blushing, for a moment before starting to answer him. "You've disarmed me, truly. I... your lord will make your life a misery if I accept and my family is very dangerous." These lands are owned by the Denoirs and the Denoirs hate my family venomously.
"The good lord Denoir makes my life a living hell already, and yet.. here I stand waiting for an answer." Mills smoothly replies.
There were a hundred responses going through my mind in my surprised state. Finally, I lowered my head slightly and answered him, "Alright."
"Great, I'll see you at dinner, then, and we can discuss all the ways in which the Denoirs are a pain in the ass." Mills said amicably.
"An odd topic, but I'll see you then.." I replied. With the lead dog at my side I went along my way back to where I left Plight.
Once out of sight along the river I changed my shirt and pants, then finished my walk to Plight. Still a little dazed and out of it. Lost in thought, I suppose.
Plight was hanging his damp clothes up when I returned. The dogs were playing. I approached him from behind and poked his spine.
"Ah!" He gave a surprised yelp.
"You're cold." I inform him.
"I'm always cold. I'm just more so at the moment." he replied.
"Hm.. so I ahm.. have a date tonight..." I awkwardly tell him.
He looked confused and said "The food?"
"Maybe. Hmm... A date, in this case, is when a person is courting another.. and has semi private meetings to get to know each other and potentially form a intimate romantic bond." I explained. Still in the shocked state.
"Ah.. With who?" Plight asked.
"Mills. He was very forward." I tell him. I remember the clothes I'd selected for Plight then, and got them from my bag. My face slowly went crimson again. "Here.. your new clothes."
"Thank you." He said getting dressed, "Is a date something I'm supposed to attend, or do you just need time?"
I giggled a bit and said, "I should think Mills'd be quite put off if you joined us. My mom would probably want me to have a chaperone.. but I'm not a noble, and neither is Mills. So, I'll have to ask you to mind the dogs, I guess. We should name them."
"Do you have any ideas?" He asked.
"Not really. I'm terrible with names." I look at the dogs. The lead dog is a tan male, another is a grey spotted black and white female, and the last one is a dark brown male.
After thinking on it for a moment, I had suggestions, "Fawn for the tan and Theo for the brown?"
Plight said, "Chaser for the other?"
I nod and say "Ok. You're Fawn, you're Chaser and you're Theo, ok?" I repeated this to them mentally.
Fawn nodded, appearing to agree. "They're so smart." I say. "Do you feel recovered enough to finish the stone quest?"
He gave a thumbs up and said "Let's show these dwarves that we can get it done."
"We should take the wet clothes to the Inn and pay a scullery maid to launder them." I tell him.
"That's a good idea." He agrees.
So we take out clothes and head back to town, enter the Inn and I ask the Inn keeper which of his ladies performs scullery duties so that they may make a hefty price by laundering out things. He directs us to a shy young girl, maybe a little younger than myself. I smile and tell her I will pay her two gold to wash our things for us. And another two if she does any repairs on clothing items that need it, by her opinion. This price is easily fifteen times what it'd normally cost, but sometimes if you tip well you get special or preferential treatment. And this is my goal.
She seemed to be particularly shy of Plight, but she accepted the price gleefully, promising it'd be the cleanest we've ever seen.
As we returned to the area the stone is located I explained to Plight what the price should be for this town for a scullery girl to do the work, and I explained why I paid her more than the price.
"I'm impressed with your knowledge on the matter. I'm not aware of it." Plight'd commented.
"Just stick with me and you'll be mistaken for nobility, too." I grinned at him.
We loaded up the wheelbarrows and started for the north gate. While crossing the bridge, we see Fish dive into the river. Ash and Lana look frustrated as he does so. Jack is with them, too.
While passing them Ash stops me, so Plight also stops, watching the situation. "Can you get Fish to come out?" Ash asks.
I take a deep breath, "I'm a little busy..."
"Please Saria." Ash insisted.
I sigh deeply, "Plight, please watch my back, lest a blade find purchase there."
He nodded, as I then approached the riverside. "Fish." I call.
He looks at me. "Fish not coming out. Little lady is mean!"
I look at Lana and say, "Apologize and he'll come out."
"I just said Chips isn't real." Lana said.
"Chips?" I frown.
"The otter he carries whats stuffed and all." Jack informs me.
"He calls it his brother. Its real to him. apologize." I tell her.
"It doesn't hurt anyone to let him believe in it." Ash said, reasonably.
"Fish... Come out," Lana says in an annoyed voice, "I'm sorry I said Chips isn't real."
Fish appears to think it over. I take a cookie out from my pack, "Does Fish want a cookie?" I ask dangling it. Fish nods. "Fish has to come out to get a cookie. The cookies are super yummy. Fish does want the yummy cookie. Come along." I say backing up from the side.
Fish scrambles to the side and climbs out, coming directly to me.
"Good Fish. Fish, you gotta listen to Ash and Jack, ok? They are Fish's friends like Chips." I tell him while I give him a cookie.
"Ok." Fish says after taking a large bite out of the cookie.
I grinmace at his lack of manners and give the rest of the cookies to him. "Behave." I say and return to the wheelbarrow.
I remember as we reach the North gate that the baker had been working on perfecting the cloud bread. "Plight!" I say suddenly as we had started unloading the bricks.
Plight drops a brick right onto his foot, much to my immediate horror. His features were pinched and he looks at me and painfully says "Yes?"
I pick up the brick halves off his foot and move them aside. "Sorry, that was terrible timing. I just remembered about the cloud bread and got really excited. Take off your boot and I'll tend you."
He complied removing his boot. I took off my pack and got into my medic kit. I then checked his foot, it wasn't broken, thankfully. Very immediately bruised though, and swelling. I blended some herbs into a salve that would both numb his foot and reduce the swelling. I applied it gently, taking care to be gentle with him. "Sit for a moment, I'll unload these." I told him.
Plight complied with my directions and I finished unloading both wheelbarrows. I then checked his foot again, making sure the swelling was reduced. "Are you ok?" I asked.
"Yes, I'm fine. It'll heal. It'll just take a little time." He replied.
I nodded. "Stay here, then. I'll work on delivering the bricks."
"It's fine, I'll just carry my foot in the wheelbarrow." Plight joked lightly.
I frowned at him and got another herb put of my pack. Then put away my supplies. "Here, you can chew this and it should help the process. Or you can use your magic." I suggest.
He accepted the herbs without complaint. We then started back with the empty wheelbarrows. Our pace was a bit slower, but we soon enough finished the delivery with all 5 to the North gate and the 5 more to the East gate.
When we returned to the Dwarf once more he grunted and asked for the paper to sign. He also paid us.
"Surprised, hm?" I ask.
His response was just grumbles. I laughed and told Plight, "Let's go get a room and rest your foot some more. I'm gonna go get some of that bread I mentioned, too."
Plight agreed and I helped him to the Inn, where we got to pick up our mended and cleaned clothes. I thanked the girl and gladly paid her. She did a fantastic job repairing the owlbears clawmarks and the punctured parts from the displacer. She even made patterns in it that made it look brand new. Her name is Inari.
After situating Plight with the dogs in his room I ask if he needs anything before I go get ready to meet with Mills.
"Just meat for the hounds." He replied.
"I can ask Inari to bring you a meal?" I offer, "You must be hungry."
"If she can just bring me the meat, I can prepare it up here." He says.
I tilt my head slightly and say, "Alright. I'll ask her to do so. I'll need to hunt tomorrow for the dogs. They are going through my stock quite a bit." I handed him a few of the pouches of smoked meat for the dogs.
I then went to find Inari with my strange friend's request. I gave her a gold piece for the unprepared meat for him, plus extra to not ask too many questions about a nobles particularities.
I went to my room and selected a very short dress from my things. This one is blue with silver decorations and red gems. With it I paired the matching blue arm band, necklace and bracer. I then put on black leggings and the blue and silver boots that also had red gems. I then tied my hair up and put ruby earrings on. I then added my cloak and wrapped it around me, adding my sword to my hip. And leaving my bag in the room.
With my outfit concealed under my cloak, I went on my way to the bakery. As I entered Kaz greeted me, "Welcome, welcome! Come, come! I have breads to test."
"I'm sorry I hadn't been in. Was hauling stone bricks for the dwarves union. Much to their surprise." I grinned.
"Buncha simple minded stone pusher's that lot." Kaz grumbled.
I laughed and said "They're fine. But I think I'd be better off trying to get along with you and your sweets. By the way, do you know Mills at all?"
"Yes, I know the boy." Kaz answers lightly.
"He's.. confident." I comment.
"He is indeed confident, like me, he is a salesman. He's also a hunter, so he's also confident in his skills in survival." Kaz agreed.
"He asked me for a date.. I told him he'd catch his lord's ire for that and he laughed it off. Not to mention my family is dangerous. Which is why Lord Denoir does nothing to me." I told him with a shrug.
"He has his own reasons for hating the Denoirs.. and who are your family?" Kaz asked.
"James Hearthry of the Lucky stone is my father. And an eyesore to the Denoirs that cannot be touched by them." I told him. It's not even a brag. William Denoir has tried many times to do anything to my family. It always fails.
He thought for a moment and said "I think I've heard of the Lucky Stone. They aren't much into baked goods, but they do quite a bit I think."
I nodded and shrugged. "Merchant mostly, mercenary at desire."
"Ah good. It is the one's I was thinking of then." Kaz noted. "I can see why the Denoirs wouldn't be able to push them too much. Granted, all I get around here are rumors, but still."
"Any about a violent silver leonin are true, probably. Uncle is beastly." I grin.
"And here I thought that was metaphorical." Kaz said.
"Uncle tought me to knock people out in one punch." I told him.
"Let me guess.. Go for the jaw?" Kaz said.
"Can be. Or the liver." I replied.
"Either way, a good thing for someone to know." Kaz stated.
I grin at him and say, "Does Mills have a favorite of yours? Since I agreed to have dinner with him, I should bring him something."
"I think his new favorite will be this right here." He said, lifting a blueish, kinda purple colored cloud bread.
"Ooh, blueberry? You're genius!" I say. "What else have you done?"
He chuckled and laid out three more. Strawberry, peach and blackberry.
"I'll take the blueberry and blackberry ones for now. Do you think Mills is a good person?" I ask.
"I have doubts about a great many people. Throughout years I've met quite a few of them. Mills isn't one of them." Kaz tells me, wrapping the two cloud breads in their own parchment papers.
I consider his words quietly. Excited to try the bread. "So he likes blueberries?" I ask.
"His favorite berry that grows in these parts." He nodded.
"The sweet ones are better than the tart ones, in my opinion." I told Kaz. I look outside and note that its nearing time for me to go meet him. My face flushed red at the thought. I was actually nervous.
"You'd probably find Mills is much of the same mind." Kaz commented.
I paid the man for his cloud bread creations, and then I said, "What do you think you'll name your cloud breads?"
"Elven Pillow Bread." Kaz said.
"...You'd name it for elves!?" I was caught entirely off guard.
"For that exact reaction right there. No body would expect it." Kaz stated.
"You're certainly more open minded than I've come to see of Dueling Rivers dwarves." I agreed.
"Well that's not exactly a high bar, but yes." Kaz nodded.
"May I make a suggestion?" I ask.
"By all means." He waved his hand.
"Elven Pillows. Leave off 'bread'. It flows easier." I suggested.
He nodded thoughtfully to himself then agreed with the suggestion. I then excused myself to head on to the tavern to meet Mills.