Edited by Solyom
It was late afternoon when the door to the guild was opened with a light kick, mostly because Gisele, who stepped in, had her hands occupied with the body of an unconscious girl. Oh, we could be more than assured, that Gis would most likely kick the door open even with her hands free, in the end she is that kind of girl that needs to show herself off while coming in.
- “Sorry! Excuse me, excuse meee! I overdid it again!” she kept yelling as she walked past the other adventurers. A woman sitting behind the counter gave her a bit suspicious look. “… that’s the rookie that asked me for a little training… mind telling me where can I put her down?”
- “Are her injuries serious?”
- “Don’t think so. She is just exhausted and has a few bruises.”
- “I would still ask you to drop her at the ambulatory, we would prefer being sure that you didn’t break her ribs.”
- “I wasn’t that rough!” the dragoness pouted.
- “This way.” the secretary pointed the direction with a movement of her head, pointing at the door behind her. Gisele only rolled her eyes, but decided to follow. She got rid of her ballast in the other room, lying the poor newbie on the plain bed and waited for a medic to step by and check on her. Then, she left. In the end she only had a basic knowledge about treating wounds, so she would only get into the doctors way.
As she left the chamber, she once again called the secretary.
- “Hey, don’t you know where my partner is?”
- “He left a note before leaving with a team of beastkins.” a maid dressed staff member gave her a piece of paper. “… he asked no repeat, that he most likely won’t return before evening.”
The dragoness quickly took the letter from the secretary’s hand and began to read it quickly.
- “Tsk! I hope it was something important. I was supposed to start trai….” She stopped in the middle of her sentence.
- “Everything all right, miss?” her sudden change in behavior made the secretary quite concerned.
- “He cheated on me.” she said with an emotion deprived tone.
- “Pardon me?!” the girls eyes almost popped out.
- “He went training with some strangers! Despite we had an agreement of training together!”
The secretary once again lost her words.
- “Ma’am, with all due respect, but training with other people benefits everyone, you can learn how to deal with enemies using different fighting techniques and…”
- “… we had an agreement.” She pouted again with a weak tone.
- “May I at least know why did he decide to train with a different party? Did he write there a reason?”
- “Hm? Oh, yes, he said that some harpy wish to give him a flying lesson.”
- “Mister Zariel can fly?” their duo just kept becoming more and more weird. A jester-like magician and a berserker half-dragon that, in a few days, destroyed a rampaging dungeon without information of any sort. They went in blind, without maps, without equipment dedicated to deal with certain type of enemies, without preparation of any sort… yet they won. And now the magician seem to know some levitation magic.
- “Kind of. He says that he it resembles more firing himself like an arrow and then simply aiming at his target…”
- “Madam, I don’t know what kind of relations you have, but…”
- “He belongs to me!”
- “… I am pretty sure that he did that also for your sake. There is nothing wrong with raising your skill. Also, if I am correct you can’t really help him with that matter.”
- “… but we had an agreement.”
The secretary was slowly losing her temper. It was like arguing with a spoiled child that has already set its mind.
- “Am I not bothering you?” a calm, soft voice could be heard from the side, as a silver haired elf came from behind the corridor. “.. I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. Pardon me, you weren’t very quiet and my kin has enchanted hearing…”
- “Miss Lanele? Can I help you?” the secretary asked with courtesy.
- “No, I am fine, I was about to have dinner when the two of you started talking… I was wondering, wouldn’t the two of you mind sharing dinner with me? My friends are in the city attending their businesses, and I hate dining alone. I would love to listen about the adventures of the famous Jericho’s daughter… who knows, maybe I could also help you with the problems of your heart…”
- “I think she has no
- “Will you?” the dragoness tilted her head to the side with hope in her eyes.
- “I promise I will do my best, I may not have much experience on this field, but at least I am willing to hear you out.” She smiled in response, and her smile was so sweet and reassuring that Gisele wasn’t thinking much before deciding.
- “In that case, if I won’t trouble you, I would be happy to come along.”
- “Splendid!” the elf clasped her hands! “I already can’t wait for our conversation! Girls needs to stick together, in the end, boys will be boys… So foolish and tactless! They simply never know what we need!”
- “… I am afraid that I am the
…A Few Moments Later...
- “Really?” the elf burst into an honest laugh. “… that’s hilarious! He was running away from you?”
- “Only at the beginning. I can’t blame him, when we met I was bit… overly excited hearing that papa took in another student. All this time I was lacking a real opponent, someone on my level. I could spar only with other adventures, that couldn’t keep up with me for five minutes, or with papa Jericho… who even now is defeating me with one hand. I was lacking someone on my level, someone I could train with, someone that could make my blood rush in anticipation, someone against who I had no idea if I could win or lose. I needed a challenge. He, on the other hand, is the kind of man that never does unnecessary tasks, not if he does not see a reason too. He didn’t see any gains from sparing with me, so he was doing everything to avoid me. I was coming back from the quest – he was taking one, I was entering the inn via door – he was leaving by window… ok, I make up the last one, but that gives you idea of how our relations looked like.”
- “And how did the two of you start dating?”
- “Oh, I charmed him with my grace and beauty! Then I said I want him and he agreed! Ha! As if he had a choice” the elf was still smiling but none of her muscles bulged. “… you don’t really look to be convinced.”
- “Maybe because I am not.” It was so nice to chat with this elf. She was really listening, easily picked up which part was made up.
- “M…may I know why are you interested about us so much?”
- “I am an elf from… in human language you would call it royalty class, when I reach a certain age, I will return back to my home to never leave it again. I have only these few dozen, maybe hundred years. I want to see as much as possible, hear as much as possible and make as many friends as possible. Such vivid, eccentric characters like yourself are worth being met. I wish to make as many memories to treasure as it is only possible. And you are vivid, and your partner eccentric.”
- “… it was quite the opposite. Eventually I gave up on the idea of challenging him and started asking him to team up to pick quests together. This way he could rank up in the hierarchy and I could evaluate his skills. He gained a reason to stop avoiding me and I get the knowledge I wanted… One quest, two quests, then three, we started getting friendly… also, I got to know him better. You see, he is… he has a little secret. In short words, he has many talents and many fractions wish him in their side. He was running away from guilds, nobles, councils, mages… He was afraid of being used. Everyone that learned about his little gift… or curse… would look at him bit differently…”
- “But not you?”
- “… how could I? Zariel is Zariel! He overthinks things, he can get clumsy and he is just adorable! He will act like a bastard, will make you think that he is an asshole to keep you at a distance, but eventually he will help you. From the shadows, so you would not know that he was responsible for your good fortune. His… condition… doesn’t make him a different person. He is a nice guy and I didn’t see a reason to treat him in any different way that usual…”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
- “You have no idea what you did to him.” Lanele smiled widely.
- “Pardon?”
- “You accepted him. You truly did. Whatever he is dealing with, you showed him that you do not care how others see him.”
- “…that’s wasn’t really big of a deal, you know?”
- “Maybe not for you. Maybe not for me or anybody else. But I think that the support you gave him was the first step for you to be together… so… now! I want to know the spicy stuff! How did it happen!”
- “But…”
- “TELL ME!”
- “I- I mean…”
- “TELL ME!”
The determination of the priestess to pry into this matter was truly worth admiring.
- “Why would you…?”
- “Isn’t that obvious!? You have a lover! I am soooo envious! My marriage will be arranged! I won’t get to know my husband until the day of my wedding! As an elf, I will probably have my own little harem, but if you think I will pick most of my mates you are wrong! The first, second and third man I will be with will be decided by my mother in order to set more political alliances! And then how many people would actually would want to date me because of who I really am?! No! I will draw attention only of people wishing to boost their own position! So right now I need you to tell me the details!”
- “But…”
- “NOW!” elf was half joking – half serious. She was laughing all the time, but her eyes said clearly that she is not going to stop until she would get answers.
- “Well… you remember when I said that Zari has many gifts? He is an alchemist too, and he managed to cure the wife of a higher noble. He was invited to the party to celebrate her convalescence… he tricked me into joining him, father and Alesia – the guild’s head secretary, forced me into wearing a dress and all these trinkets…”
- “And?”
- “What
- “AND?!” the elf blushed, her fingers were rumbling on the table.
- “I went to the balcony, to catch some fresh air and watch the starts, he came after me around three minutes later.”
The fingers of the elf were hitting the table so fast that it could catch a fire any time soon.
- “We started talking about recent mission, about our friends, our situation and… And why am I even telling you about his?! It’s private!”
- “Oh no! No-no-no! You won’t leave me here! Not in best moment!”
- “… he said that he feels different next to me, that he consider me special…”
- “AND!?”
- “I said that he is great friend to me too…”
- “NO! Who could you fuck this up so bad!?”
- “… he smiled awkwardly, started leaving, but froze in place. He said that he is not ok with that…” Lanele started acting like teenage girl. “… he said that if I want to, I can stop him… then he kissed me.”
- “What was your reaction!?”
- “Of course that I panicked!” now even Gisele was blushing. “… I said that I allowed that only because he took me by surprise!”
- “What did he do?”
- “Said that now I know his pattern and from now on I should be ready to guard against him effectively, then he started counting down and at zero he…”
- “Oh my goddess. That’s sooo romantic! Up until now I read about such things only in books! Lemme guess, from this time the two of you started dating?”
- “Yes… it was bit awkward at first. Everyone in guild was looking at us… but…”
- “But?”
- “I learned to ignore it, later, to enjoy it. I have a mate, you know, I… He…”
- “Yes?”
- “He is my everything.” She said weakly in the end. “… I don’t know if it’s because of my dragon blood, or maybe just because I am a horrible person, but each time I hear about him spending time with somebody else, especially with woman, I get…”
- “Protective?”
- “Possessive. After a moment or two, with the perspective of time I see how stupid it was… but, I just… I am… I am not very smart, ok? And I act before thinking, I am impulsive and I don’t like sweets which Zariel adores. He even baked a cake for me, when I said I am not really into it he looked so woeful… Also, men prefers girls with petite bodies, right? Definitely not taller than them…”
- “You are afraid he would leave you for somebody else?”
She nodded silently with sour expression.
- “You talked with him about your concerns?”
- “No. Each time I fuck something up I turn it into a joke.”
- “So. If I would ask Zariel now, what he likes about you, what would he answer?”
- “Zariel would answer that he actually loves her impulsiveness, because of it he is never bored…” somebody answered from behind the dragoness. A white haired boy was standing right behind the bit drunk Gisele. “… she is not repetitive. Despite the fact that the way she hates sweets left him heartbroken, he found a positive aspect of this issue – she will never steal his treats from him, and the thing that leaves him speechless each time he looks at her is her eyes. Kind, greedy eyes looking directly into his soul, the gaze that makes his melt. And I bet he would ask you, whoever you are elf, to repeat it to her, because her concerns are simply ridiculous.”
- “How long were you standing there?!” the dragoness jumped on her chair.
- “Around the part you admitted what a horrible dancer you are. My poor feet still remembers the torture.” He smiled brightly at her. “… but you know, I regret nothing, would love to dance with you again. You just have to put that dress on one more time.”
- “Oh. I see…” Gisele went silent for a moment, and then she punched him in the guts. “… That’s for eavesdropping on private conversation!” the magician grabbed his belly for a moment.
- “Are you crazy!? You dumb lizard!”
- “That’s for going for training session with somebody else!” another blow that was partly parried.
- “For fuck sake! Hold me or I will kill this oversized Gekko!”
- “And… that’s for staying with me despite my mood changes…” she pulled him closely and hugged him tightly.
In this moment Zariel looked at the elf.
- “You may be wondering how I am able to hold up with this crazy, hormone-stuffed beating machine. I will tell you, you see, secretly I am a masochist with Stockholm syndrome…”
- “I see… wait, what is Stockholm?”
- “Ignore this part of him. Every time in a while he just says something that nobody gets.”
Eventually, the magician managed to free himself from his lover’s embrace.
- “Now, I would like to know why you are your friends are chasing me and Gisele despite the fact I nicely asked you to fuck o… ough!” another blow from Gisele.
- “Be nice to her! Lana is my friend!”
- “Lana?” the elf raised her brow.
- “You don’t like it? Sorry, in our guild, we are shortening names of our friends. Zariel is Zari, I am Gis and Marika is Mari. Sometimes we even shorten Morgul’s name even if it sounds weird… Hey, but we ain’t shortening Loki’s name! Maybe because his name is too short to be shortened even more…”
- “Or maybe because no one likes him at all…” Zariel suggested.
- “No! I am fine with that! It sounds quite sweet! Also, I want to apologise to you for my friends’ actions, I may be the one responsible for this whole mess, I could have… vocalized my thoughts that it would be nice to chat with you and... well, they are quite eager to help me with my wishes.”
- “You better be sorry, they were quite…” Zariel started…
- “Forget about it! It’s nice to finally meet you!” …. But wasn’t allowed to finish.
- “If you wouldn’t mind…”
- “I would…” the magician started, yet once again he was silenced.
- “… I would love to do some quests with you. I just want to get to know you even better. I may not be very skilled, but I will do my best to support you, or at least not to get in your way.”
- “If you aren’t that skilled you shouldn’t push your way into S rank party….” the white haired boy was still hostile towards the elf.
- “Neither should you! One, you are still B rank, two, you leeched on higher tier parties from the very beginning to increase your rank!”
- “Only because my abilities allows me to do so! I just wanted to lie my hands on better quests faster! You yourself know that I can complete S rank quests alone!”
- “Sure you do!” Gisele was teasing his partner.
- “Not to even mention I am stronger than you.”
- “HOO!? What did ya say, punk?!”
- “I say that last time we spared I handled your ass back to you!”
- “One, you took me by surprise, two, you were lucky, three… you did not win.”
- “You were lying on the floor!”
- “I never surrendered!”
- “You couldn’t even move!”
- “Was regenerating my strengths to fight back! But then you simply left the room!”
- “What kind of absurd bullshit is this! I will tell you more!...”
As they were arguing Lanele, or Lana for short, was laughing trying not to fall under the table. It was more than obvious that sticking with these two would be one hell of an experience.