“H-He… really is… He really is alive. Oh my God, oh my God, Ajax can… survive a fucking decapitation!? This… You two, you’re not humans, right? Wh-What are you? Are you Usurpers? Wyvern kings? Or are you actual gods–”
“No, don’t make predictions like that, Sigvor. We’re not gods, Ajax and I were born full-blooded humans. We lived as humans with no affinity towards magic for our entire lives. We… We only got these kinds of abilities a few weeks ago. When we were removed from our homes and brought… here.”
“Here? Tritol? Or to the Federation? Where did you two grow up? It couldn’t have actually been some village in the remote wilderness, right? Were… Oh, were you two blessed by Osva? Or by the core itself? Or a-another god or goddess that–”
“Look, none of that is important right now! I didn’t bring you outside to explain to you our history… not today. I just wanted to show you that the head I have in my bag is not a reason to be afraid of me. Neither I nor Ajax did anything that should warrant fear from our friends.”
Shaula looks directly in Sigvor’s eyes without saying anything further. She wants to be believed. She had gone this far in order to prove it. She just hopes that Sigvor doesn’t try anything to separate the two of them from Angelidis and the rest of their friends. Shaula bites her lip in uncertainty while waiting for Sigvor to speak. The demihuman opens her mouth.
“I… I see. Ok, wow, I didn’t think anything like this would happen today. I can’t believe that the two random humans Angelidis adopted were actually some kind of… This… This is all fucking insane… You two have to be some species of demigod at least. That’s… incredible…” Sigvor looks at her with awe.
Shaula crosses her arms as if to pout, while mumbling. “She didn’t adopt us, we’re not shelter puppies or something.”
She then shakes her head and sighs while looking up towards the red moon. What a long strange day it's been.
“It doesn’t matter. Don’t worry about any of that now. We’ve talked about me and Ajax for long enough, I have some questions for you.”
Sigvor pauses. She takes a couple slow deep breaths while preparing herself for what Shaula might want to ask her. What exactly would a divine being want from her? Rather, why would divine beings like Ajax and Shaula choose to hang out with a group of pickpockets and prostitutes?
What was really interesting was that they had seriously been interested in spending time with their group. They had partaken of their cheap and trashy food without complaint. They had shared story after story after story, and they had truly endeared themselves with Sigvor’s friends and Sigvor himself. Angelidis, Dzan, Malia, Meixi, Olah and Sudirja were all glad they were around, too.
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As his mind tries to properly decipher the past few weeks spent around Ajax and Shaula, Shaula opens her mouth.
“I want to ask you something about… the local guard precinct jail. Do you remember the two orphans who were arrested earlier today?”
“Yeah, I think I… vaguely remember that happening. A boy and a girl, right?”
Sigvor stares blankly at Shaula, feeling a bit of whiplash from how the topic changed so suddenly. The fact that a demigod is concerned about two demihuman orphans is… odd, now that she thought about it. It made Sigvor realize how little she really knew about the divine in general.
Sigvor had spoken to Angelidis during the festival about what happened to those two kids. Shaula was, according to Angelidis, really angry at how the guards treated those two. So angry that Jelli had to pull her back from doing anything too reckless. Sigvor wonders if she should try to scrutinize Shaula’s motivations more, but right now…
Well wait, she did say that she was born a human and lived a normal human life, right? She really does care, doesn’t she… Just because she was made this way recently, doesn’t mean everything about her old life has just been erased.
Shaula gathers her thoughts concerning what she wants to know about the fate of the two arrested children.
“I… Well, first of all, can you tell me what those two kids would be charged with for what they did today? Would it be a slap on the wrist– a light offense or misdemeanor, I mean? Would they… be sent to actual prison for attacking guards, even if they’re kids? How… worried should I be for the two of them?”
Sigvor hesitates, considering Shaula’s questions. What would happen to the two orphan siblings? It’d really depend on a few factors. Some guard precincts would release kids, even demihuman kids, after a brief night in their local jail. Others however would not be so lenient, especially the precincts that had sent officers to guard the statue marchers…
Since the two kids were orphans and beastkin, the guards could… they would…
Sigvor lowers her head while biting her lip in thought.
“It’s hard for me to say, Shaula. It really depends on how cruel and depraved those specific city guards are.”
Shaula’s expression hardens.
“What exactly do you mean by that?” Shaula knows exactly what Sigvor is trying to imply, but she wants to hope for a better outcome for those two.
“Those kids could be kept in the precinct’s detention for days. They’re demihumans… and the guards around this area are mostly human supremacists on the side of the statue marchers, right? The kids could be, I don’t know, beaten, starved, possibly even… sexually abused… and, most likely, tried before a judge, and then turned into prison slaves.”
Shaula gnashes her teeth in rage. The air around the two of them grows hotter.
“How… How long?” Sigvor looks towards Shaula’s eyes focusing intently on his own. There are small streaks of red swirling through her irises. “How long would they be enslaved?”
“F-For what they did, their sentence could last for at least a few months…”
“Even if they are children?”
“...Even if they are children.”