Un glared at an Akumajin who wisely gave her a wide berth.

Hana had no idea why the shopkeeper disliked Akumajin, her grasp of the local tongue was practically nonexistent, but the man paid her coin to look mean and seemed happy that she was good at it. Another Akumajin drew near, this one angled straight at her. Un set her stance and glared at him. He looked a bit confused, but didn’t otherwise take the hint. Un shifted in front of the doorway and leveled her spear at him.

The Akumajin took a small step back, held up both hands, and to Hana's surprise, said "hello" in what could have passed for an imperial dialect. Well if he could speak Ityean?

"No Akumajin may enter." Said Un.

He tilted his head. "Why?"

"The owner has instructed me to keep all Akumajin out of the building." Said Un, the voice deadpan and emotionless as it always was. Hana didn't care about the man, it was just her job. Nothing personal.

"Does that exclude Tel'ani?"

"What is Tel-a-ni?" This was probably a trick. He would no doubt claim that he was one of these other people. Did he think her stupid?

"The ones with purple skin. They're native to this world. Not actually Akumajin."

Okay, that wasn't what she had been expecting. The Akumajin continued.

"Most of the farmers use them as labor and as this is an agricultural supply store, I expect you are scaring away most of the customers."

Was this guy being serious? The purple ones did all have the same features, similar to the Akumajin from back home. The horns were in the wrong place, their skin the wrong color, and their faces were drastically different. Good fortune to them. She wasn't sure she could resist strangling the life out of them if they all looked like the mad king. How to deal with this?

"What is word for purple color, in the local tongue?" Un asked.

The man smirked. "Purple."

"Pur-pell." She tasted the word before turning inward. "Hey. Amo. Pur-pell. In? Out?" It really didn't matter if the Akumajin was lying about the word for the color. If she was saying gray, the boss would say no. This either wasn't the trick or he was very bad at talking his way into things. Honestly, she would have booted him away at the beginning if she wasn't starving for a conversation she could understand.

The boss looked up from his desk with a puzzled look. "Pur-pell?" He looked past her at the Akumajin and gave a smug little grin. He got up and approached the doorway. Halfway across the room, his smile faltered. "Purple?"

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Yes. Pur-pell." Un tapped the exposed skin on her face to get the word she didn't know across. "In? Out?"

He brushed the question off as he made it to the doorway.

***

"Ha! You fuckers don't know when to quit do you?"

Alek looked the shopkeeper over. Making a show of sizing him up. "Afraid I'm not with Tarson and his crew. You do realize your guard doesn't know the difference between Tieflings and Tel'ani right?"

The man hesitated, wiping his dusty hands on his dusty-er apron. "I guessed that, but it's worth it if it keeps you fuckers out."

"I just want a sack of chicken scratch. I'll explain it to her. I don't even need to come in."

The keeper shifted uncomfortably. He looked at the Anorian woman. "Purple. In."

The guard stared at him for a moment before nodding and returning to glaring at Alek. "Seems fine now."

Alek just stared at him.

"Ermm, fine. Two decs then get lost." He disappeared into the building.

Alek took a moment to look the woman over for real. She wore a dull red brigantine, a suit of metal plates attached to the inside of a leather coat. Articulated metal plates covered the front of her feet and shins over sturdy boots. Odd tassets attempted to cover her upper legs, but they seemed cobbled together in a style he wasn't familiar with and by a person who wasn't an armorer. Her belt held an axe, a knife, and a pouch. She was about average height for a female Anorian, on par with a Tel’ani, but with the thicker stature of a human. Her dark hair was cut short in front and the longer rear part was tied back. If it weren't for the scars, odd calluses, ground down nose, the cold dark eyes and the near expressionless resting face, she might be considered attractive. Shit. She was probably ten years younger than he had originally thought. And there was a brand on the side of her neck. Some complicated symbol he didn't recognize. The same symbol was painted on the round shield resting on her back.

"You look lost."

Her Anorian shaped eyes narrowed at him. The eyelids making an appearance from under the fold. "I know where I am." Said Un.

"No. I mean you look lost…" Alek halted. He didn't actually know the word for "figuratively". He opened his mouth again, but realized he didn't know "metaphorically" either. Did Ityean even have words for those? He couldn't say mentally, that might be taken as an insult. "I mean you look lost in a general sense."

"I am lost." Hana silently said from deep within the machine known as Un. The words pushed through the filter. Un grunted.

"Where's the orc?"

"What is orc?"

"Greenish guy, ugly face, you were following him a week or so ago."

"Dead. Killed by a stalker." Hana said inaudibly.

"Missing." Un said.

"You're not concerned?"

"No." Both Hana and the machine said.

The shopkeeper came out with a heavy sack that he let thump against the ground. "Chicken scratch."

Alek held out the two, ten-sided copper coins. "Two decs."

"Great, now get lost."

"I'm Alek." He said to the woman, ignoring the keeper's glare.

"I am called Un." Said Un.

"Lucky is an odd name for a person?"

"It's not a name." Said Hana.

Un's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing.

"I said get lost."

"Fine, fine. Keep your panties on."

Alek took some pleasure on how red that made the guy's face.

Hana watched him leave through the machine's eyes. Her body returned to its job without her conscious direction. That was nice. Clearly she was more starved for interaction than usual. She had hated the orc, but the machine, the survivor, deemed the man necessary to continue and Hana hadn't had the will to fight it.