Chapter Five: My Loyalty

Stellara and I got off to a rough start in the afternoon when we woke up, but Felix was alive and well, feeling a lot better after I wrapped his leg up with some spare cloth I’d thought would come in handy. It basically set the mood for the rest of the journey for Tidrel with Stell and I being pretty… Well, we were on speaking terms, but we really needed to talk some more. It would’ve been one thing if we were alone and on the road, but we had a veritable child with us, and as the days passed on the route between Rusval and her friendlier sister-city, it became more evident that Felix was barely old enough to feed himself, let alone actually do anything of importance for his own well-being. IT took some time for Stellara to break down and talk to him like a real, living, thinking being, but even then she talked down to him and showed Felix disdain that made my heartache and fear prickle in the back of my mind. In the left, creative side of my brain, I was running through the possibilities of Stell turning into Rachel through Felix and I wanted to get rid of him as a result. The right, logical side of my brain wanted me to take care of the cute kid with a penchant for playtime because it was both the right thing to do and he was my new friend. I still couldn’t get a straight or even truly legitimate answer from Stellara as to why she hated Felix so much for next to no reason.

That being said, I basically had to act as the bridge between the two so we could actually get somewhere, otherwise, Felix spent his time bugging Stell until she was close to hitting him. The ohsum was slow to learn and eager to please, so he tried and tried throughout the three days it took for us to get within sight of Tidrel to make Stellara just not hate him. He failed miserably, meaning that I practically had a son to take care of and a wildcard of a new wife to manage. I mean, my Partner could quite easily take care of herself, but my companion could be a tax write-off for the work he could actually do. That just annoyed Stell even more since it meant that Felix was nearly ineffective with pretty much everything he tried to do, and the woman was nothing if not one for pragmatism. The two weren’t even terribly different as far as I could tell at first, but the longer I spent with both of them, the more I realized that Stellara had no innocence left in her. Timidity and shyness were one thing, but the woman was by no means incapable or innocuous. Felix, on the other hand, was pretty much as pure and simple as you could get, leaving his days to scouting, eating, and playing.

I wasn’t exactly sure where I fell between them since they both obviously liked me a lot and didn’t get along with each other which was more Stell’s fault than Felix’s because the group dynamics were super fucked. While being the party leader and the guy that held us together, I was also the least combat-effective in the group and the most useless as far as things went outside of society. Stell was the ass-kicker and the shit-getter-doner for the most part, but her societal status found her on the slave rung of the ladder and gave her an inferiority complex that was too easy to land a hit on. I never meant to make her feel bad for her status or position, but I’d accidentally reminded Stell that her place was literally at my back, to support me through good decisions and bad. Meanwhile, Stell eventually told me (As in just before we set up camp outside of Tidrel) that ohsums were considered good luck in some parts of the country and were worshipped as Demi-Gods and minor deities in different parts of the world. There were few enough places in Avalesce that even tolerated Magical Beasts and most River Folk friendly places hated them for some reason, so the Avalesch native in the group had a healthy distrust of the shapeshifter. However, Stell seemed to hate Felix less when he was in the shape of a typical animal that could’ve been seen on Earth rather than Septural. The bird forms and some of the lizards he took the shape of for the rest periods were accepted by Stellara without question, though I wondered if it was because he couldn’t talk as anything other than a crow-like creature with three eyes in the avian category. The lizards couldn’t talk at all, and according to Felix, he didn't’ mind because he shifted into reptiles when he was ready to sleep in a little.

When we settled down outside of Tidrel, there was no cover off of the road in any direction, the forests of Rusval having turned into low, rolling hills and tall grass. Our food supply was running low but Felix finally had us covered with some of his abilities. He was a young version of whatever he turned into, but that just meant that he was smaller and harder to see while hunting. He liked to screw around too much to actually kill anything himself, but he could guide Stell and I to prey with relative ease. He himself didn’t give a rat’s tail about the death of his targets, but I still felt bad for ending a life to continue my own, especially since it wasn’t absolutely necessary. That’s not why I asked Stellara to let me kill the rodent-creature-thing I ate, though. I wanted to kill it myself because Gatian was an honorable guy, and honorable guys kill the things they eat themselves, even if they didn’t catch whatever it was. I felt like it was a matter of respecting my meal and where it had come from, as had been taught to me during my summers in South Dakota and the trip to Brazil (Seriously, Brazil was dope.). It almost felt like an honor and a privilege more so than an obligation or something of the sort, but I didn’t get any pleasure out of slaying a rat. Granted, it was a big, mean, fluffy rat, but it was still a fucking rodent.

I half expected to level up when I killed the thing, but I sadly did not.

Stellara was ecstatic when I asked to be the one to take the rodent’s life, citing newfound respect for me as the reason. Apparently, most River People were said to either be so squeamish they couldn’t stand the sight of blood or were bloodthirsty themselves, which was confusing to me. I didn’t pay it too much mind and just killed the thing quick to make sure it didn’t suffer, which was something that Stell could get behind. Felix was present while we discussed mercy and necessity in turns, circling back to each topic each time we moved onto the other or another. Stell felt like everything alive deserved a swift death if there was no hope for them, which I kinda agreed with. I mean, I’d always prefer to try and keep something alive, but it’s not like I didn’t understand that Humans were omnivores and thus needed to consume flesh to survive. Still, feeling guilty over killing something was expected by me and me alone whereas Felix and Stell both wondered why I would care about conquering something or someone weaker than me. Apparently, bullying was perfectly acceptable to the natives of Avalesce which made my skin crawl. There was nothing I could tolerate less than cruelty for the sake of one’s personal gain. Other than evil for the sake of evil itself, that is. I was quick to let my companions know my stance on picking on people and Felix was the first to react. He liked my vision. Stellara giggled softly at first and when I asked her what she was laughing about she said that I was too kind for my own good.

Keep in mind that our conversation carried on late into the morning while we were outside of Tidrel, the companionship coming along with the dialog feeling different from the days before. With common ground to stand on, Stell was a little less repulsed by Felix though it was still obvious that she would have rather had a non-talking Companion. Speaking of, the last thing the three of just talked about before bed was what I expected from my… Well, I can’t say ‘partners’ because ‘Partner’ is a title, and so is ‘companion’, so I’ll think of something else. What do you suggest, Booksy? Hm…. Yeah, I like that. Thank ya kindly, my papery pal. As Booksy ‘said’, my ‘buddies’ wanted a real answer from me other than, ‘Just find happiness with me’, and they evidently didn’t like getting the same answer, even though Felix wasn’t too concerned about it. I figured it was more or less Stellara trying to find out where we stood before the journey continued and the ohsum just bandwagoned her idea because it was fun or something.

That conversation was awkward, and it took me like, ten minutes to get answers that satisfied all three of us respectively. Felix got a simple answer because he was a simple guy. I just wanted him to scout and stay out of trouble for the most part, which he would probably do without trying hard in the first place. For Stell, I told her that I wanted her to fight by my side instead of in front of me, hug me when I needed it, and generally just be my friend until I needed her to be something else. She had a small problem with that since she was more of a Warrior Wife than a Ferocious Friend, or at least that’s what her training had geared her towards. After noticing that I hadn’t said anything about seeking another person as my paramour or claiming her as my own for that matter, Stell asked if she had done something to change my mind and that too was hard to answer. I just didn’t want to commit to something I wasn’t sure of so soon after divorcing my own life from my body, which she understood. What she didn't understand was why I’d seen so much of my Ex in her over the past few days, although she’d made it clear that she was a different woman altogether. Something I’d noticed back on Earth was that doppelgangers tended to act and react similarly, so I tried testing Stellara with a few particularly annoying questions that had gotten blood spilled with Rachel to gauge her further. Much to my surprise, over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders were measured in hands instead of cups, waists were measured in millimeters (For some odd friggin’ reason.), and Common was actually Stell’s fourth language, and most certainly not the last one she’d learned.

Honestly, with the way she responded me, my Gatian brain told me that I had a sure-fire thing going with Stell if I wanted it but that made me ask something when Felix passed out after we made camp. “Hey, Stell?”

We were already facing each other with Felix on my side of the bedroll this time around. “Yes? Do you have a question?”

“Yeah, kinda. I-”

“Well, would you not have a question? If you did not have a question-”

“Hush, woman,” I groaned, making her giggle.

“What is your question, Gatian?”

“... What do you think of me? Honestly.”

She just looked at me like I’d asked what color oranges were. “... I beg your pardon?”

“What do you think of me? What was your first impression?”

“I do not understand.”

“What’s your opinion on me, then?”

“... You’re asking for my opinion?” Confusion, bewilderment, befuddlement, and another word for confusion were all on her face with the dictionary definitions attached.

“... Yes? Are you not supposed to give it?”

“Well, only if asked and never about the Partner themselves…”

“Since when do I strike you as a typical River Person?” I chuckled.

Stell looked incredibly nervous. “... What if you-”

“I won’t come after you if you say something bad. Believe it or not, not all River People are angsty, depressed, or terribly irritable in general.”

“I-I’m-”

“Ah-ah!” I lifted a finger.

She opened her mouth and closed it soon after, puffing out a couple of chuckles. “Right. An apology was unneeded.”

“An answer is though.”

She hesitated to give me what I wanted though I had no room to talk. She only made me wait a few minutes for an answer in contrast to the quarter of an hour I had her on standby. “... You are… I don’t know how to put it into words…”

“I don’t mind.”

“... You are kind, Gatian.” She finally said. “You are kind beyond your years and experiences, and that frightens me. Your heart is large enough to hold so much, but I feel as though you will be an easy target for those who would wish ill upon you. It is not that you are a do-nothing: I feel the matter depends more on what you see in the person you converse with that dictates how generous you are with your kindness, though I do not understand your feelings for Felix. He is a nuisance and I wish you would see him as such, but I cannot help but… Well, I very much like your compassion, how much you care for your fellow being, even if they are but an animal, However... You would not believe how relieved I was when you killed the gempling for our meal instead of having me do it, but I was also worried by the remorse in your gaze. This world can be very hard for charitable people, and I feel as though you would not hesitate to lend your only knife to someone who asked nicely enough.”

“... So I’m too nice for my own good?”

“... I am sorr-” I prepared a flick. “I am not sorry.”

“There we go. I’m not mad, and I’m not that nice. Thank you for saying what you did, though.”

She smiled weakly and nodded. “You are most welcome.”

“There’s more though, right?”

“... Well…”

“Same promise, Stell.”

“... Well… I have a question for you, Gatian, and I just want you to know that I will respect your answer no matter what.”

“Okay.”

“... Are you homosexual?”

I inhaled deeply and sighed heavily. “... No.”

“Oh. Oh!” She smiled. “Then I am just not to your liking. okay.”

“No, you’re very much to my liking.”

“... But… You have not shown interest in consummating our partnership…?”

“I know.”

“... If you are not homosexual and find me attractive… Then why did you make such a face at Armatura Clarik?”

“... Because he was cute,” I whispered softly.

“... You are greedy.”

“I am monogamous!” My reply was loud and audibly frustrated, even to me. “You Avalesch fucks know River People are monogamous and you still think I’m going to fuck everyone under the sun just because I fucking can! I’m bisexual, not a fucking slut!”

She stared at me. “Oh.”

“What.”

“... I did not take that into consideration.”

“No one does!”

“... I apologize for passing judgment before the eggs were in the basket. I should have known that your accepting nature would extend to your sexuality.”

My mood was ruined for the night and I felt like bawling my fucking eyes out anyway because I was just waiting for Stellara to change her mind as Valen did. Anticipating a knife in my shoulder blades was rough, but then what I would consider the opposite of a knife pressed itself against my back. Stellara’s gentle, warm breath ghosted over the nape of my neck, her comfort wrapping itself around me. It didn’t take but a few seconds for the tears to fall, and it wasn’t because of one single thing. My heart hurt so much from so many different events and resulting that I couldn’t shrug off, which made my chest ache more. I couldn’t change my nature, I couldn’t change my sexuality, I couldn't change the past, and I couldn’t actively change how Stellara ultimately felt about me. What I could do was show weakness to the most important person in my life at the moment which was something Gatian and Gage hated beyond words. Having my emotions run wild tore me up inside and having Stellara be there for me didn’t make it any better since I knew that she still thought bisexuality was disgusting, making me disgusting by association. Life in America had gotten so much better after the LGBT community had gotten a foothold, or at least fewer people made jokes with hate behind them. Finding myself in a regressive, judgmental world made Gage want to curl up into a ball and continue crying, but that wasn’t me anymore. Gatian shed his tears and stoppered the flow with a little effort, holding in the rest of the frustration and anxiety.

Stellara, in all her glorious awesomeness, held on tight until I fell asleep with not a word spoken between us. The night had run shortly into dawn, so sleeping with the sun breaking the horizon was a little troublesome. Staying asleep was no problem though. Waking up was another story since I felt incredibly drained from the moment I opened my eyes to the moment Stellara woke up. Felix, as heavy a sleeper as he was, woke up before Stell and went outside to do his business before returning to screw with his impromptu caretakers. I wasn’t in the mood for it, and for some reason he let me be. As I was getting my peace on the final leg to Tidrel, Stellara did something unexpected. She stopped suddenly and grabbed me, spinning me around to face her.

Once her hands were on my shoulders and holding me in place, Stellara looked me in the eye and said, “Gatian, do you think I do not like you now?”

I looked away until she brought me back to her, taking my chin in her delicate fingers to turn my head. “Stellara…”

“Are we not friends, Gatian? Am I not your Partner?”

“Where are you going with this?” I asked exhaustedly.

“I will make you happy beside me, one way or another. Never again will you shed a tear over what you cannot affect because of what I have done. Of this you may be certain.”

…

Real talk here, Booksy? It was touching. The determination and solid assurance in her eyes was veritably heartwarming, and knowing that she was completely serious about what she said and the implications within? It allayed my fears with ease and brightened my gloomy mood. Just looking into those endless blue oceans filled my heart with a solace I’d already discounted. It didn’t change the fact that she’d shot before looking at the target, but her genuine and sincere (Implied) apology was more than enough to earn her a hug. As I came to understand more about Stellara Inova as both a person and a Partner, seeing a new part of her that was serious yet soft, I knew the thing. It hit me in the high left cheek and the low right one, both muscle groups tingling with Cupid’s slap and tickle. The slap being figuratively literal and the tickle being a metaphor of the arrow, of course. In English, Booksy, that meant that I had all I needed to make a hasty decision that I’d probably come to regret, it just wasn’t the time to voice my conclusion.

Stell accepted the kiss and gave as good as she got until we heard something coming down the road. Whatever it was happened to make the most unsafe sounds I’d ever heard from a vehicle of any kind, and I say ‘vehicle’ because I could smell burning oil and misfires aplenty. We pulled away from each other in time to see the beginnings of a pollution-filled cloud heading our way. Stellara sighed with more than a little vexation tinging the sound, giving the pitch-black miasma a look as dirty as the smoke. Cursing ‘Artificers’ to hell and back, Stell took my hand and started marching down the road with no time to waste. Her gait was a little hard to keep up with despite the fact that she was shorter than me. I chalked it up to Choret Chops and practically had to jog to keep up with her unnecessarily fast speed-walk.

I was surprised when it took the noisy whatchamathingamabobble nearly twenty minutes to actually come into sight for once, though I had to consider our gait and environment into the equation to give the driver a fighting chance. Then the ‘contraption’, and I do use that word ever so loosely, failed to catch up to us by the time we got to Tidrel. I honestly understood why Stellaras hated Artificers because my ears were ringing, even as the racket ceased. We passed the ‘No Steamcycles/Coalcycles/Either Coach Form’ sign long before the loud-ass dick-prick-fricker did. However, the five minute gap between the beginning of the silence and my arrival at the checkpoint was full of bells and whistles along with a droning hum that worried me. Stellara and I talked as quietly as we could to the Armators manning the waystation, but they were practically shouting at us to get the directions across. The brass Identification Plaque I was given at Joad’s was enough to get us through without too much yelling, and thankfully Tidrel’s authority was kind enough to loan us their wait area to regain our hearing.

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The ringing stopped eventually, but we’d set off for Tidrel in the late afternoon. We’d been deafened for nearly half the time it took us to get there from our camp, and that had been a good three to four hours. I’m not saying that Stellara was authorized to do anything to the steampunk prick when he showed up to the gate, but we were compensated for what constituted as excessive harassment. The guy was evidently a rich bitch and didn’t mind forking over an exorbitant fee. A solid half went into the Armators pockets when the snooty douche cleared the checkpoint, but a quarter went to Stellara and I for our trouble. I gauged my own happiness by Stellaras, so ten gold pieces and ten brass ones felt like a good pickup to me.

We entered town with our hearing intact, though we had to wait for Felix to join us in the form of a sparrow. He let us know that there was a place to get food not too far away which was useless information at the time. He was the only one who was hungry and since we’d only eaten breakfast a couple of hours ago, it was unlikely that Stellara was going to part with our travel funds if she didn’t have to. We’d get supplies from the River Folk Welcome Center anyway, so it was even less pertinent to make a stop when our actual destination would do the thing the stop was meant to do. Redundancy is lost on children, so I got pecked by a fledgling for my insolence and he got squeezed like the little plushie he was for his insubordination.

Getting directions to the Welcome Center was as easy as asking the first person we met. By chance it just so happened to be a Centurn and a Unicorn at that. I’d half expected the guy to have brightly colored fur and a mane out of a cartoon, but he honestly looked like someone put longer, thicker hair on a Human and stuck some furry ears in his hair. The hooves were weird and so was the horn, but he couldn’t have possibly been much more polite or accommodating. Swift was a helluva guy and an off-duty Armator at that, but the fella was uglier than your mother and had some pretty big front teeth. I didn’t judge him for that, I just thought it was nice that I probably wouldn’t have to worry about Stellara going after a Centaur that was shaken instead of stirred. Stalwart offered to guide us to the Welcome Center after a little small-talk and gossip, which we happily accepted due to time constraints and a desire to get some actually decent supplies.

It’s either an Avalesch thing or a fucking ‘Septurn’ thing, but no one in the party other than me was confident about following simple fucking directions. Stalwart knew how to get to the Welcome Center from nearly every part of town and was the one giving me directions the entire walk there. He was giving me directions because he kept turning around for no reason! Seriously, first Stellara, then him, and now that I think about it, Valen and I passed some very familiar landmarks a few times while we were walking through the forest to Rusval… Fuckers get lost too easily, which is probably why it’s so easy to get around. Tidrel was no exception, but the town itself couldn’t have been much more different from Rusval in aesthetic. My starting point had seemed pretty standard as far as industrial towns went, but Tidrel seemed much more like a metropolitan area if the painted brick buildings were anything to go by. Murals and other random pictures adorned plenty of walls, most of them depicting rivers from different angles. Or it could’ve been the same river I came from, for all I knew. The colors used were muted and relaxed, more cool than warm in all of them. The backsplash often depicted a starry night and the subjects were generally female, but there was one around a block away from the Welcome Center that was awash with warmth and vivacity. It was one I wanted to stop and appreciate for a little while since we were close enough to the Center to get there with my memory, so my party bid Stalwart a fond farewell, hoping to meet again under similar circumstances.

The mural was a sight to behold from afar, but up close it was something else entirely. The detail in that particular painting was astonishing, and everything down from the leaves of the trees to the blades of grass were all there in fine detail. It was almost as if someone had brushed a photograph over the wall. I admired the mural for a little while until a stranger came up and asked what I was doing. Once I explained myself, the pleasant lady was kind enough to elaborate on the origin of the work, stating that it had been started by a Flistian that had settled down some decades ago. It had been left incomplete for a few years since the fellow passed away before he could finish his work, but his apprentice just so happened to be a procrastinator like no other. That, or the woman had the wrong idea and the River Person was working up to their Master’s level, which was what I suggested to her. She paid it little mind and carried on by saying that her father had been the one to sell the apprentice the paints and brushes she used to finish the mural, which in turn had reignited the art scene in Tidrel. Apparently, it was still going strong to that day as a result of the apprentice’s final touches.

After the fun little local history lesson I guided my small group to the Tidrel Welcome Center and took note of the building’s appearance just in case I needed to find it again by sight. Rather than being painted in bright colors or being covered in pictures like most other buildings in the town, there were sculptures everywhere in front of the building, on the balconies, and hanging from awnings that were evidently stronger than they looked. There were also one or two that were floating and had to be chained down to the ground, which was very interesante, if I may Spanish for a second. The Tiffany-style stained glass was beautiful and mostly clear, though colored ridiculous hues to make up for the bland, solid concrete of the building. The architecture itself was what was interesting rather than the color scheme. Its spiral staircase led to nothing on the side of the building was odd and then there was the multitude of owls sitting on the fenceposts around the place, all cut from stone. Even the domed roof was odd, but then again I had to consider that the lawn/grounds of the Welcome Center were the on ly ones I’d seen in Tidrel that could actually hold a few people. More than a few, I should say.

There were Armators at the gate, but the second the fellow on the right saw me approaching, he did a double-take and alerted his partner. The one closest to me turned and waved, shortly followed by the other, both of them wearing… Um… inviting smiles, we’ll say. They were enthusiastic to be sure, but their excitement was bordering on mania to my eyes and I’m pretty sure that’s not far from why Stellara took my hand. With Felix on my head and my Partner by my side, we continued on until the guards approached us, practically gushing from the get go.

“You must be a River Man, right? I can see it in your walk; definitely a River Man!” The

guy who’d seen me first said.

His partner tapped his shoulder merrily. “When you’re right, you’re right! Welcome to Tidrel, friend!”

Their giddiness wasn’t rubbing off on me or Stell, but they were being nice. “Thank you so much for that. Not everywhere is as happy to see me, y’know?”

Right Guard waved it off. “Ah, did you come from Rusval or Sindrel?”

“Rusval.” I chuckled.

“That’ll do it. A lot of the more rural towns aren’t as fond of River Folk, but your Guide was nice, right?”

“Yeah, for the most part. She was a Sun Sister and the moon rose on our trip.”

Both guards made a noise of understanding. “Yeah, we Daylight Devils can get a bit touchier when the sun falls, but I’m sure you didn’t come here just to talk to us.”

“To be honest I really didn’t, but polite conversation is a luxury to be cherished in my opinion.”

Apparently the guards felt the same way because they waylaid my party for hours, testing both my patience and my adherence to societal niceties. Still, I’m nothing if not a sucker for a good story, and I had a few decent ones to tell in between the guards’. Stell didn’t really want to join in and nobody pressed her to, and Felix stayed quiet like he does about half of the time. Once we got away from the guards (Which only happened because their shifts ended), we were allowed into the Welcome Center and what lay inside surprised me a fair bit. I’d been expecting polished concrete and maybe some Earth stuff to remind me of home, but the inside of the Welcome Center looked like an anti-hospital. Everything was painted a dark color one way or another, contrasting reds and blues along with greens and oranges so subtly that it was almost imperceptible. The light definitely helped, but I couldn't’ understand why someone would paint a place so morbidly. Weapons and armor on stands lined the walls along with tapestries and display cases holding tomes and other books of varying condition, but what I was more interested in than anything was the functioning steampunk water fountain. Shit was cool and made a cool noise when you pretty the button. As impressive as the contraption was, the water tasted like copper and was warmer than whatever flowed from the main vein.

Once my curiosity and whimsy were both sated, Stellara also tried the water fountain for the hell of it and managed to spray herself in the face before I could tell her to raise her head. IT was funny at first, but then she didn’t stop, soaking her shirt in the process. I wish I could say she stopped once she realized she was getting wet, but it was ten seconds easy before I pulled her hand off of the button and woke her up from her trance. Stellara had taken a trip to another planet for nearly half a minute before I manged to get her attention and wipe the dopey look off of her face. It wasn’t a smile or a grimace per se, but something that I couldn’t really describe. She looked happy. Kinda. I guess ‘dopey’ was more apt than I thought, because she low-key looked like she was high on something. I sort of wanted to try spraying myself in the face with warm water to see if it really was that nice, but my eyes and attention dipped from Stellara’s dreamy expression to the soaked portion of her shirt. If it weren’t for her jacket, the entirety of her brazier would have been visible under her drenched, ash grey blouse. As it was, her cleavage was enticing and the design of what I could see was interesting enough to put my mind where the leaves fall. Instead of typical doily-lacy stuff, there were monogrammed leaves in the pink fabric, the exact color escaping me at the moment. Once I remembered that I wasn’t supposed to be a pervert, I tore my gaze aware from Stellara’s chest and checked her eyes again.

She was still halfway across the universe while I was blushing up a storm, so I tried calming myself before getting her attention. That failed as I expected it to, so I closed her jacket for her and put a finger in her mouth. Stellara also didn’t react to that, so I gave her a brief peck to see if that would do something, but she was still standing there. I didn’t know what else to do that wouldn’t hurt her, so I wandered off to go look for some help and maybe an answer. It took me awhile to find an attendant/employee, and when she saw me, she rushed over and tackled me to the floor. It was a slow fall since I tried to catch myself but the little Sotan was evidently too happy to let go, even as we were heading to the floor. She practically exploded with joy over seeing me and getting to meet me. I was concerned about exactly neither of those things at the moment. Once she shut up long enough for me to say something, I asked her to get off of me so I could lead her to my dumbstruck friend/love interest. The lady complied with plenty of cheer to spare, and when I led her over to my Partner, all she did to wake her up was do something I would’ve done if I’d have known it would work. A hearty slap to the rear cheeks got Stellara out of her daze ad back into reality.

“Oh!” She gasped, jolting in place. She shook her head to bring some clarity to the situation and felt her chest. “... Gatian…”

The look she was giving me was enough to kill. You know, if looks could do that. And if Stellara wasn’t absolutely adorable when she was embarrassed, I guess. “Hey, I closed your jacket for you! Someone could’ve seen some stuff!”

My Partner covered her chest, her cinnamon complexion giving way to flushed cheeks. “You knew that would happen!”

“You pressed the button before I could help!” I argued.

The Sotan woman giggled. “Oh, come on you silly Choo-roo, you should assume that River Folk don’t know anything about your kind!”

Stell huffed and turned away from me. “... It is not fair.”

“You’re a Partner, don'tcha know? It’s not like you deserve-”

“Finish that sentence and I’ll trump up charges to have you arrested for harassing a River Man.” I spat, venom entering my tone for the first time in nearly a full decade.

Stellara and the Sotan were both shocked, but I couldn’t have cared much less. My point carried itself through my words and posture well enough that I didn’t have to elaborate. “... Y-You would do that…?” The shrimp bitch asked.

I pointed at Stellara. “My Partner is my friend. My guardian. You attack her, you attack me.”

I didn’t see the look on Stell’s face because I didn’t give a shit what she thought. I also didn’t care much as to whether or not I was about to get us kicked out of the place. The employee-lady looked like I’d slapped her mother and threatened to struggle-snuggle both of them if they didn’t make me the perfect New York cheesecake. They probably wouldn’t know what it was and I didn’t know if cows even existed on Septural, so it was likely that my hypothetical would have ended poorly for all involved. By no means do I consider myself intimidating, but I am tall and anger at a snail’s pace. The quiet ones are the ones you should be afraid of in my experience, and I considered myself quiet. It’s one thing to talk down to me, but to come after one of my loved ones? Yeah, no-no’s abound, intelligence not found. I could tolerate pretty much any kind of abuse thrown at me with no issue, but the people who cared about me were another matter entirely. Hell, the last time I threw a punch was probably the reason Rachel went for me if it wasn’t just for my parents money. Unfortunately for me, I ended up breaking a guy’s jaw, cracking some teeth, and doing some damage to myself in the process. He got what was coming to him for messing with my main man Melon Matt (Named as such because he was fruity), though I couldn't help but regret it later since my hand hurt. The Sotan, however, didn’t give me the impression that I was going to have to warm up my hurty-hand.

I stared down the thin ginger until she nodded, giving me a mild, apologetic smile. “I apologize, Mister. It’s just that Partners don’t rank too high around here.”

I gave her a flat look. “Doesn’t mean you have to treat them like shit. They’re just as sentient as you are, and you’d do well to remember that.”

She pursed her lips. “Yes, that’s true, but do you know why Partners get such a bad rep?”

“No, and I don’t really give a shit to tell it straight. I like the one I have and Americans in general think slavery is retarded.”

“Mmm, not slavery, Mister. Not by a long shot.”

“Like I implied, if I get curious, I’ll ask my Partner.”

“And if she lies to you?”

I looked at Stellara, finding that she wouldn’t meet my eye. “How many people did you have to put down to get here?”

She closed her eyes. “... Many.”

I didn’t know. I’d taken a shot in the dark and hit both of us. It wasn’t a surprise, so I didn't let anything show on my face when I looked at the cocky ginger. “That’s not all~”

“Then what else is there?” I asked boredly, making her triumphant mood diminish rapidly.

“... You don’t care, do you?” She asked.

“You seem pretty dead-set on telling me.”

“Um… Well… Besides the Tourney, I guess there’s the evaluation…”

“... And that is?” I gestured for her to continued, as visibly annoyed as I could be. “Are you dumb, or did you forget that I’m not supposed to know this shit?”

She flinched. “W-Well…”

I turned to my Partner, seeing that she was wearing her shame on her sleeve. “Stell, can you tell me any of what you had to do to become a Partner, or do I have to ask the right questions?”

“... Please, do not inquire further.” She requested.

I heard the beginning of a snicker and cut the Sotan a glare sharper than I thought I could, making her shake in place. I’d have felt worse for ‘flexing’ on someone half my size and a woman at that, but she evidently took joy in making my Partner feel less than Human. “Got somethin’ to say?” I sneered.

“... They have to perform sexual favors to pass the test! And kill all sorts of things! Partners really aren’t worth anythi-” Her head whipped to the side for some reason, which confused me.

I glanced at Stellara, the tears in her eyes unfallen which was strange given how wide they were. “Gatian!”

“What?” I looked back to the shocked woman in front of me. “I didn’t do anything.” The Sotan stared at me and so did Stellara.

Then I noticed the handprint on the ginger’s cheek and put two and two together. Her head had snapped to the side because I’d slapped her, which was also why my newly christened ‘Bitch-Smackin’-Mitt’ was tingling. You probably put that together since you’re a pretty smart book, but that’s the order I realized things in. Stell took the time to start rubbing her temples while the rude employee just nodded a few times.

“Okie-doke. Don’t insult the River Man’s Partner. Gotcha.”

“I didn’t mean to do that, but I do feel like it was justified,” I said. Awkward wasn't the word for it.

“Oh no, I understand. I mean, I’ve heard tell of some of you River People just going wild from the adjustment. You’ll get used to it eventually and you’ll treat your Partner like-”

“Oh no, if I ever treat anyone like you people do, then I’ll kill myself again. People do what they have to so they can survive their situation. If that means taking down your former peers and sucking a fat one to live a better life, then I’d do it too, and you know damn well that if being a Partner was better than what you had, you’d make that your goal. Empathy is one of the biggest strengths of Humankind and right now I see someone weak and pathetic.”

She stopped rubbing her cheek and just looked at me for a little bit. Her eyes seemed a little glossy for my tastes, but then the ‘fog’ cleared and she was back. “... You… You have a really good point… I’d probably do anything to avoid being a denite.”

I nodded and peeked at Stellara, seeing that she was a little… Happy isn’t right, so I think ‘touched’ would be closer. If I had to guess, I’d say that she was amazed that an Avalesch citizen saw her struggle for what it was, even if they only had a few pieces of the puzzle. “I know I do. I’m a man. Men are always right.””

‘

She giggled at that, going back to rubbing her cheek. “I wouldn’t say that. Most guys woulda knocked me over with a smack that fast.”

“I really wasn’t aware of it.”

“Oh. That’s… Worrying.”

“No, what’s worrying is that my Partner gets treated like shit for non-understandable reasons. I mean, that’s like the first time I’ve hit someone in years.”

Her face fell. “Aww, now I feel bad! I’m sorry, Mister, I didn’t mean to push ya, don’tcha know?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. Just proves a point anyway.”

“What point is that?”

“That I need to make Stellara’s quality of life better for her.”

“... You’d do that for a Partner?”

“What part of ‘friend’ did you not hear?” I asked irritably.

“Uh… Right… So, what brings you to the Welcome Center?” She tried, rubbing her face some more.

“... We needed supplies.”

“How bout I write off a few extra things and you don’t charge me for harassment?”

I thought about it for a second, wondering if I should juice her for all she was worth. In the end, it didn’t sit well with me to get extra things for nonsense anyway, but we needed the supplies more than we needed my morals intact. “Throw in an instrument and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

She blinked. “An instrument?”

“Oh mercy, uh... Like a guitar or something, I guess”

“Um… Those are pretty hard to come by outside of Thesuvia, but we have a few, I think.” The lady tapped her chin and looked off into the empty air for a moment. “Oh! We have and undlegar! That’s like a guitar, I think!”

Stellara started to say something and cut herself off, looking at the ground. “Stell? Were you going to say something?”

“... Well, I don’t mean to discourage you, but…” She bit her lip and looked at the ginger shrimp, leading my gaze to her as well. A raised brow and pursed lips awaited me.

“Are you sure about what you’re gonna say there, Partner?” The rude lady asked, not being rude for once. “It’s your job to be supportive.”

“Is the undlegar hard to learn or something?”

“It has six strings.” Stellara said nervously.

“... How many do you think are on a guitar?”

The ladies looked at each other and said, “Four.” simultaneously.

“... A normal guitar has six strings. There are some with eight to twelve. A Pikasso is a guitar with forty-two strings.”

“Oh.”

“Oh.”

“So what’s actually hard about the undlegar?” I looked between them.

“It has more strings than you have fingers on one hand!” The Sotan huffed. “Isn’t that enough difficulty for you?”

“How many people play instruments here?”

“Few,” Both women answered.

Ginger lady carried on by saying, “Those that do actually practice instruments are usually at it for decades until they stop making people’s ears bleed.”

Stellara picked her train of thought up with, “And even the River People that are said to come to Septural have trouble learning instruments, much like Septurns themselves. Granted, it’s more of a River Person or Centurn pastime, but there are Stallards that play, as well as some Teh Sens.”

“Yeah, okay, that’s… Bad news but... I chose playing music as my art,” I said simply.

Stellara’s face melted into disbelief. “... You could have made art worth thousands and you chose the hardest profession?”

I nodded. “Guess it won’t be that hard to be the best.”

“Is that your adventure? Becoming the best musician in Avalesce?” The lady asked doubtfully.

“Hey! It’s a perfectly valid goal!”

“I didn’t say that it wasn’t, you’re just in the wrong place for it.”

“I know. That’s why I’m going to travel until I can find a place to learn and evolve until I don’t suck.”

“And I will be beside him to ensure that the sucking does not happen.” Stellara said proudly.

“I’ll suck y- Oh, that was dirty.” I bit my lip, my face heating up.

I got laughed at by the ladies. It didn’t help my pride any. The little woman changed the topic from sucking things to getting things and led Stell and I to the supply rooms, which included a small armory, a ration pantry, a large miscellaneous room, and a training room for some reason. I assumed it was there so that River People could practice with whatever they’d just gotten and had my hypothesis confirmed upon asking about it. After that, however, things actually started to get interesting. Yolanna, the employee I’d accidentally smacked, helped us gather the necessary crap and a few less necessary things to go along with our new supplies before we moved onto the weapons. From there, Stellara picked up a tuck that was needle-sharp and weighty, but the blade itself had me fascinated. It was diamond-shaped if you considered playing card diamonds to be the standard, though I’d rather just call it a rhombus. To my understanding, a tuck was not a sword with a cutting blade, but the thing my Partner was carrying could definitely do the job if needed. It wasn’t suited for slashing with as straight and narrow as it was, but after seeing Stellara familiarize herself with the sword, I knew it wasn’t necessary. The woman could thrust faster than a gigolo and was twice as sexy while doing it, turning on the scarousal a little.

As one of our extra things, Stellara also picked up a recurve bow that she was unduly happy to see. From what I knew it was just another bow, but when I asked about her excitement Stellara took the time to explain that a good recurve was faster, lighter, and in her hands, more accurate than a longbow. It was also more pleasing to the eye, which I couldn’t help but agree with. After she got her sword, bow, and arrows, it was my turn to pick out a couple of things. I was tempted to pick a sword and shield because of my build, but I wasn’t much of a hack ‘n slash kinda guy in the first place. Instead of a sword, I picked up a crazy looking clockwork revolver that had exposed gears and a simple action. It was also pretty simple to take apart and clean as well, evidenced by the fact that I figured it out in less than ten minutes if that. I still needed a second thing, but I didn’t really want anything that would do much more than maim someone. I mean, you could get some bad luck with a shot and kill someone, but I’d had plenty of practice with larger calibers in South Dakota. The caliber of my new weapon was a mystery, but from memory I placed it around a 10mm, if not a long-brass .40 or .45 ACP. There was definitely a need to test it out, but Yolanna wouldn’t let me leave the room until I picked something else, so I grabbed a quarterstaff with a round metal ball on the end. It wasn’t impressive and it looked pretty old, but the thing spoke to me in a way. Me and Douglerina, my new whacking stick, were both bottom of the barrel picks when it came to anything other than our specific specialties, and I liked the similarity between me and Doug. Doug was a good stick.

After being chewed out for picking a stick when I could’ve picked a bow, Yolanna took us to the training room where I scared the literal piss out of Felix. He’d fallen asleep in my hair, the warm trickle running down my face most likely being a bodily fluid. We didn’t practice for much longer since I was pissed off and pissed on. Plenty of both, really. There were lodgings for River People and their Partners in the Welcome Center, but they were on different floors for some reason. I didn’t even have to ask that Stellara be allowed to sleep with me since Yolanna said as much pretty quickly. The knowing look she gave us brought a smile to Stell’s face and a blush to mine.

The Welcome Center was larger than I’d thought, but it was so sparsely decorated that it almost felt as if you were always walking down the same hall, no matter where you were in the building. We eventually came up some stairs that were quite logically next to an elevator that I wasn’t allowed to use. I didn't care enough to ask about it and no one cared enough to explain, so Stellara and I climbed the steps to the third floor to find the room we were to be allotted for our stay. There wasn’t a time limit on how long we could mooch off of Tidrel’s tax dollars, so I made sure that my bath was extra long and pretty hot. I wasn’t as shocked as I probably should’ve been when Stellara didn’t knock or even ask before letting herself into the bathroom. However, the sounds that woman’s butt makes? Low-brow comedy had never been my thing, but my inner child couldn’t help but laugh at the funniness within flatulence.

I couldn’t decide if I was happy or nervous when Stellara started stripping, but I decided on happy posthaste post-poot, forgetting all about the butt thunder that had previously rocked the room. Stell was beyond happy to get her still-wet clothes off and said as much, giving me a sly smile as she unzipped her denim… Pants? I hesitate to call them jeans since they weren’t blue, but they were certainly pants, and she took them off. It was a little disappointing when her livery didn’t match, but that didn’t mean that either was less exciting to see leave Stellara’s voluptuous form and generous endowments. Once I saw her completely in the buff for the first time…? It was a difficult thing. Quite challenging. So hard to not comment, so I didn’t bother to hold back. Stell wasn’t wooed by my flirting, but she was happy to get into the tub with me while Felix swam in the sink. The bath was large enough for both of us, but only if we weren’t too shy about getting up close and personal. My partner had absolutely no problem getting in with her back to me so she could lay against my chest, which was how we spent the hours, draining and reheating the water until we were tired of being wet. Even after we were both dressed in nightclothes (For the first time since leaving Rusval at that.) and ready for bed, my mini me refused to lie down so I could toss and turn peacefully. Instead of being able to get plenty of good, quality rest, I had to deal with a kickstand.

We didn’t do anything after going to bed, but I will say that it got a lot easier to sleep when Stellara requested cuddles. That alone made the entire trip to Tidrel worth it, Booksy, and we’re not even to the good part yet. I’d write more, but this entry is already running pretty long and I’d hate to bore you. Maybe we’ll have another go at it again? Until then, Booksy.