As Marcus reached the first floor of his home, the noises that had interrupted his conversation with Orr suddenly stopped, replaced by a complete silence. However, this only made him feel more alarmed.

“What the hell is going on now?” He wondered.

He paused for a moment, trying to decide what to do, and then he opted for going to his room, the place from which the noises had come from.

He slowly walked through the hallway, listening carefully for signs that anything was amiss, but all he could hear was the sound of his own breath. Then, after a few seconds, he finally reached the door of his bedroom and cautiously opened it, peeking inside.

The room was a complete mess. A lot of furniture, the mattress and several other objects —which included a stag's trophy head that Marcus had never seen before— had been piled up in a corner in order to form some sort of crude barricade. He couldn't see Tiny anywhere, but then again if she was still in the room then she was probably hiding inside of her improvised fort.

“Tiny?” He called. “Are you here? Is everything alright?”

At first there was no response, but then, after a second or two, the ogress's head slowly peeked up from behind the piled furniture, looking back at him with eyes wide with fear and panic.

“Boss?” The ogress asked with a trembling voice.

“Yes, it's me.” The Vex Queen confirmed. “What's going on? Are you hurt or something?”

“Boss!” Tiny cried, jumping away from her nest and rushing towards him. Taken by surprise, Marcus wasn't able to escape and was suddenly wrapped in an uncomfortably tight embrace.

“Gah!” Marcus gasped as all air was forcibly squeezed out of his lungs.

“Boss!” Tiny cried again in the meanwhile. “Tiny was scared! Tiny thought that Boss had left Tiny alone!”

“Calm... down... Tiny!” The Vex Queen stuttered, struggling to speak. “Can't... breathe...”

However, as usual Tiny didn't pay attention to his complaints and just kept hugging him.

“Goddammit!” He thought, struggling desperately to free himself from the ogress's iron grip. “This again! I should use my telepathy to make Tiny let me go... but can I do that with the crown on? If she can't hear me, she might actually crush me to death!”

As his lungs started to burn from the lack of oxygen, the Vex Queen felt panic rising in his mind, and realized that he had to try something before it was too late. He decided to try and contact Tiny's mind, and failing that he would call his drones for help.

Forcing himself to ignore his discomfort, he concentrated solely on trying to reach the ogress's mind. It was harder than usual due to the crown dampening his telepathy, but after a few tries he managed to actually form a link. Then, without further hesitation, he psychically shouted a mental command as loudly as he possibly could.

“LET. ME. GO.”

Tiny immediately dropped Marcus as if he had been on fire and jumped away, surprise and fear flashing on her face, and the Vex Queen fell on the floor, coughing and gasping for air.

“Goddammit Tiny!” He cursed in a raspy voice. “You really ought to watch your strength! You almost killed me right now!”

“T-Tiny hurt B-Boss?” The ogress stuttered in a panicked voice, as tears formed in her eyes.

For a moment, Marcus was about to reply rather rudely, as his patience had been worn rather thin by now —and justifiably so, as he wasn’t really a fan of near death experiences. But scolding Tiny right now would likely trigger one of her panic attacks, and with his guests waiting for him downstairs he just couldn't afford to deal with that right now. So he swallowed the vitriolic words that were about to come out of his mouth and forced himself to calm down. He could always have a talk with the ogress later, after all.

“I'm fine.” He reassured her, though his voice remained hard. “But one of these days you're really going to hurt me if you don't watch your strength. So try to be more careful, alright?”

The ogress nodded enthusiastically.

“Alright! Tiny will be careful from now on!” She said.

Marcus doubted that would be the case, but this wasn't the time or place to discuss that.

“Fine.” He said. “Now, tell me what happened. Why were you scared? And why did you make that barricade in my bedroom?”

“Tiny was scared because Tiny could not feel Boss.” The ogress promptly replied. “Tiny thought that Boss had left Tiny alone, so Tiny tried to make a nest to defend Tiny.” She paused and studied Marcus for a moment with a confused look on her face. “Weird. Tiny cannot feel Boss, even though Boss is in front of Tiny. Why is that?”

“Right.” Marcus thought to himself. “So that's what happened. Tiny probably got used to feeling my aura, and she was disturbed when I hid it with the crown. Like those people who live in noisy places and feel uneasy when everything is silent.”

“Well, that's because I'm actually hiding my aura.” He explained.

The ogress glanced at the crown and suddenly looked worried.

“But why is Boss hiding?” She asked, as fear showed in her eyes. “Is Boss afraid of something? Is something very strong and scary coming to hunt Boss?”

“No, don't worry.” Marcus replied. “I'm not hiding my aura cause I'm scared of something. Quite the opposite, actually. I'm hiding it so others won't be scared of me.”

“Oh! Tiny understand!” She said, nodding enthusiastically. “It is like hunting! Boss has to hide so that prey won't get scared and run away!”

“Eh, something like that.” He shrugged, not bothering to correct her since that would have completely derailed the conversation. However, the ogress seemed unusually curious about this subject, and kept asking questions.

“What is Boss hunting?”

“Well...” Marcus hesitated a moment. “You could say I'm hunting for favors.”

“What are favors? Can you eat them?”

“I'm afraid not.” The Vex Queen shook her head. “Favors are when you do something nice for someone, so they have to do something nice for you in return.”

“Oh.” The ogress muttered, sounding very disappointed. “Tiny thought that Boss would hunt for something good to eat.”

“Well, you might not be able to eat the favor itself since it's mostly a concept, but I guess that some favors can help you get more food sometimes.” Marcus explained. “Besides, this favor hunting is going to happen at a banquet, so I guess there should be plenty of food there.”

Tiny immediately perked up at those words.

“That is good!” She said. “Can Tiny come to this banquet too?”

“No. You cannot.” Marcus replied adamantly, as the thought of Tiny attending any formal event was just too horrible to contemplate. Then, noticing the ogress getting all crestfallen, he added: “But I'll make sure to bring you a lot of food when I come back from it, alright?”

“Tiny would like that. Tiny like food.” The ogress nodded, immediately perking up. “Actually, Tiny feel a bit hungry right now too. Can Boss give food to Tiny now?”

“You're hungry? Really?” The Vex Queen asked in disbelief. “You ate more than my weight in meat just a few hours ago! How can you be hungry already?”

“Tiny was scared, and being scared always makes Tiny hungry.”

Marcus sighed. The ogress's bottomless appetite was becoming something of a problem. In only a few days she had basically emptied his larder, and by now there was barely any meat left —enough maybe for a light meal for a couple of people, but not even good as an appetizer for Tiny.

Luckily, he did possess one source of food which was virtually limitless.

“Well, if you're really hungry, I can give you some mold-wax to eat.” He said.

“But... but that tastes bad!” Tiny protested.

“Too bad.” The Vex Queen replied mercilessly. “There isn't anything else left, so it's either mold-wax or nothing.”

The ogress looked bummed out at that ultimatum. She even pouted a bit, like a little child, but seeing as Marcus didn't budge from his position she gave up after only a few seconds.

“Eating mold-wax is better than eating nothing, so Tiny will eat the mold-wax.” She said in a resigned tone. “But Tiny still don't like it.”

“Well, as I said we're not exactly spoiled for choice right now. Not until the Hunters come back from their hunting trip to the forest.” Marcus replied drily. “Now, go back to your room and stay there, ok? I'll have one of my drones bring you some mold-wax in a moment.”

“Boss will not stay with Tiny?” She asked.

“No, I have things to do.”

“What things?”

For a moment, Marcus wondered whether he should tell her or not. Knowing that there were strangers in the house could very well give the ogress another panic attack, but if she remained ignorant she was bound to sneak out of her room and wander downstairs. Remembering Klupp's reaction to Tiny's screams and how masterfully the coachman had handled a dagger, the Vex Queen decided that it was more prudent to inform her.

“I've got guests downstairs.” He said. “An old man called Orr and his servant, mister Klupp. I have some business with them, so I'd really like it if you stayed in your room until they left.”

Marcus expected Tiny to react with fear to this information, but much to his surprise the ogress didn't really seem all that worried.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Can't Tiny stay with Boss while Boss do business with these people?” She asked. “Tiny don't like being alone.”

“Wait... you're not scared of them?”

“Why? Are they dangerous?” The ogress asked, a flicker of worry flashing in her eyes.

“No. No. They're not dangerous.” The Vex Queen quickly replied. “I just thought... well, I thought that you'd be scared of strangers.”

“Not if Boss is with Tiny.” She shook her head. “Boss will protect Tiny, so Tiny does not have to be scared of other people.”

“Really?” Marcus asked, even more surprised. “Do you really trust me that much?”

“Yes!” She confirmed enthusiastically. “Boss Marcus promised to make Tiny happy, and Tiny would be sad if Tiny is hurt!” She paused and then added in a confidential tone: “That is why Tiny do everything Boss says, even when Tiny don't like doing it. Tiny knows that Tiny can't think well now, so Tiny would get hurt if Tiny had to decide things alone. But Boss is doing the thinking for Tiny, so Tiny don't have to worry! Boss is strong and smart, so if Tiny follow Boss's orders Tiny know that Tiny will be happy! That is why Tiny is happy to be with Boss!”

“You're... happy because you know I'll make you happy?” The Vex Queen asked, trying to make sense of the ogress's words.

“Yes!” Tiny smiled brightly. “Oh... and also Boss feed Tiny and don't hurt Tiny. Those are also important things. Being fed and not being hurt also make Tiny happy!”

“Understandable. Well, I'm glad I could make you happy then.” Marcus replied in a carefully neutral tone.

Though he tried not to show it, he had been shaken quite a bit by Tiny's words. While the fact that the ogress had come to trust him was certainly a positive development, her way of expressing it made it sound as if she considered him some sort of parental figure —a concept that made the Vex Queen cringe internally.

“Maybe it's just my impression.” He thought, trying to calm himself. “I mean, sure, I did try to help her, but that's nothing that warrants being seen as some sort of parent. All I did was feed her, give her a place to sleep and treat her as a person and not like a dangerous beast or some tool to be used like everyone else did before and... oh.”

It finally dawned on him that what he had done for Tiny, while nothing more than basic human decency by his own standards, was probably an unprecedented amount of kindness for the ogress, who had been either shunned or mercilessly exploited her whole life. Given that she had seemingly mentally recessed into childhood, it was no wonder that she had started seeing him as some sort of parent!

“Christ on a candlestick.” He silently cursed, as this realization hit him like a truck. “I really didn't think this through, didn't I?”

At this point his uneasiness probably had become clear, because Tiny gave him a worried look.

“Is Boss ok?” She asked. “Boss do not look happy. Even less happy than usual.”

“Boss.” Marcus considered the word. “Well, at least she isn't calling me daddy. That would have been so wrong on too many levels to count.”

“I'm fine.” He then replied in a resigned tone. “Just... thinking about stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“Mostly some mistakes I made.” He sighed. “But I guess it's too late to fix them, so I'll have to live with them. Besides, now it's not the time in any case. We've got guests downstairs, and it'd be rude to let them wait any longer.” He glanced at the ogress, noticing her clothing, or more specifically the lack thereof. “But if you want to come with me, we've got to make you presentable first. I'm not going to have you strut downstairs completely naked.”

----------------------------------------

As always, getting Tiny dressed up was quite an ordeal. Since the ogress couldn't get her clothes on by herself without accidentally ripping them apart, it was up to Marcus to dress her, something which was definitely not easy considering that she was three times his size. Moreover, Tiny had absolutely no concept of “standing still”, which considerably complicated things.

Luckily the ogress's dress was quite easy to fit, since it was basically just an oversized tunic that was held at her waist by a belt. So, after a few minutes, the Vex Queen finally deemed Tiny to be presentable enough to be seen by strangers without too much awkwardness, and carefully walked her downstairs.

Orr and Klupp were still sitting where the Vex Queen had left them, and both of them raised their heads when they heard him coming.

“Oh, sir Marcus!” The Magister greeted him. “What happened? Is everything...” He hesitated a moment as he noticed the ogress. “Alright?”

“Yeah, it's all fine now.” Marcus replied. “Tiny just had a bit of a scare because she couldn't feel my presence when I wore the crown. And speaking of which...” He gestured towards the ogress. “This is Tiny-Sneaky. Tiny, this is Magister Orr and his servant, mister Klupp. Say hello to them.”

“Hello.” The ogress said timidly. Her previous confidence had all but disappeared now that she was actually in front of the strangers and she was trying to hide behind the Vex Queen —with very little success considering the difference in their sizes.

“Why hello there, miss Tiny-Sneaky.” Orr saluted her back, quickly getting over his initial surprise. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”

Klupp didn't say anything, but just stared at the ogress with suspicion, his hand hovering near his hidden dagger.

Marcus marched towards the sofa, followed by Tiny. He then sat down and gestured for the ogress to do the same, something she did immediately, though she still leaned heavily on the Vex Queen, trying to get some measure of comfort and security from physical contact with him and actively avoiding eye contact with the two guests.

Meanwhile, Orr carefully studied Tiny, now that she was closer.

“How peculiar.” He commented, in the same tone the host of a wildlife documentary would use to describe a particularly interesting specimen. “I've never seen an orc behave like that. Usually they are far too aggressive to coexist peacefully with other species, but this one not only is not actively trying to eat us but also shows signs of being emotionally attached to you. And then there is the way she looks... I certainly didn't expect her to look quite so feminine, though to be fair being shapeshifters ogres can assume pretty much any physical appearance they desire. I do wonder why she chose to look like this though.”

“Well, it wasn't exactly her choice.” Marcus replied. “Her previous master, the Blue Terror, forced her to take this appearance.”

“I see.” The old man nodded. “But why would the oni do such a thing?”

“That's... well, a bit complicated.” The Vex Queen said hesitantly. “Do you know how orc society works?”

“I do.” Orr replied. “Not that it's a great achievement, since it's quite primitive as far as societies go. Their hierarchy is established simply through sheer physical prowess, with the strongest orc or ogre of the tribe being the leader and having first dibs on the prey the tribe catches.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Marcus cut him off, trying to get to the point. “But do you know how the ones on top of their society... ehm... show their dominance over those under them?”

“Do you refer to the fact that orcs are hermaphrodites and the stronger ones take the role of a male during intercourse?” The Magister asked.

“Yes, that.” The Vex Queen was starting to feel a little uneasy talking about this subject. He turned to see if Tiny was also bothered by it, but luckily the ogress didn't appear to be following the conversation, as she was still trying to hide behind him while cautiously staring at the guests. “Anyway, in case you didn't know, the Blue Terror used to be a human in his previous life and he probably still had somewhat human tastes when it came to... intercourse. So he forced his partners to take a feminine appearance in order to better suit his tastes.”

“Ah. I see.” Orr nodded again. “That would certainly explain this situation. Mating with an ogre —or at least one with a regular appearance for its kin— is not something most humans would look forward to.”

“Absolutely. Though I don't know how much humanity was left in Blueskin by the time he attacked us.” Marcus commented in a bitter tone. “Judging by the things he did during his attack on Treval, I'd say that he shedded it a long time ago.”

“That could be the case.” The Magister said, making a sad smile. “Or maybe not. He certainly wouldn't be the first man who performed acts so horrible that others would question his humanity.”

“Hm. Fair enough.” Remembering the history of his previous world, the Vex Queen couldn't really disagree with the Magister, no matter how much he wished he could. “Well, human or not at least he won't hurt anyone else anymore.”

“And for that, the kingdom of Medelan is forever grateful to you and the others who contributed in stopping the Blue Terror.” The old man raised his cup of tea towards Marcus. “Which is something I hope will be made clear during this Toathal in Rennhafen.”

“Oh, you already made it clear.” Marcus touched the crown on his head. “This thing you gave me solved... well, a lot of problems for me.”

“I'm glad to hear that. Still, it's only proper to demonstrate our gratitude in a more official way as well.”

“Well, if you think it's necessary then I won't stop you.” The Vex Queen shrugged. “Besides, I'm curious to see the capital.”

“It's a lovely city. I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay there.” The old man sighed and slowly got up from his seat, albeit with some effort. “And speaking of the capital, I'm afraid that we ought to be on our way there now.”

“Oh, you're leaving already?” Marcus asked.

“Yes. I'd love to stay a bit longer, but sadly my obligations require that I return to Rennhafen as soon as possible.” The old man said regretfully. “Though I do hope to be able to visit you again soon.”

“Likewise.” The Vex Queen replied. “Well, you're in such a hurry don't let me keep you any further. Is there anything you need for your trip?”

“No thank you. I already have everything I may possibly need on my coach.” He started heading for the door, accompanied by Klupp who immediately came to his master's side. “Thank you for the delightful conversation, sir Marcus.”

“You're welcome, Magister. Please have a safe trip.”

Marcus then walked Orr and Klupp out of his house, opening the door for them and saluting them one last time as they headed for their coach, while Tiny simply remained firmly behind him, seemingly still trying to hide from the two men.

“Well, that went well, all things considered.” Marcus thought as he watched the carriage disappear on the horizon and he closed the door. “Orr seems like a nice person, and luckily Tiny didn't cause too much ruckus apart from her little panic attack. Besides, I finally solved the problem of my aura! That is certainly ground for some celebration!”

“Uhm... Boss?” Tiny called him timidly. “Now that the guests are gone, can Boss give food to Tiny? Tiny is hungry.”

“Oh, sure Tiny.” The Vex Queen replied. “I'm sending a drone to grab some mold-wax right now. And since the Magister didn't stay for dinner, I guess I can even give you some meat to go with it.”

“Really? Tiny would like that!” The ogress said, immediately cheering up.

“Sure.” Marcus shrugged. “I mean, I have no problem eating mold-wax, and besides you behaved very well in front of our guests, so you deserve a treat.”

“Tiny is happy for that!” Tiny said with a big smile. “Tiny is also happy that those two humans are gone. Tiny didn't like them.”

“Why not?” The Vex Queen asked.

“They were scared and tense like cornered animals, and ready to attack. That made Tiny nervous.”

“Well, mister Klupp was certainly a bit jumpy.” Marcus conceded. “But Orr seemed perfectly calm to me.”

“Orr?” Tiny asked, tilting her head to the side in puzzlement. “Who is Orr?”

The monster girl sighed. The ogress's obliviousness was impressive in its own right, but damn if it didn't get tiring after a while.

“Orr was the old, bald man.” He replied.

“Oh.” Tiny nodded. “Tiny remembers the old human without hair. The old human was the one who was most scared.”

“What?” Marcus raised an eyebrow in surprise. “What makes you say that?”

“The old human looked scared and tense.” She repeated. acting like she was explaining the obvious. “Tiny could see that clearly.”

The Vex Queen gave her a steady look for a few more seconds and then let out another sigh, dismissing the ogress's words. It was probably just a misunderstanding on her part, and besides even if Orr had been secretly tense, it wasn't as if it really mattered to him anyway.

“Well, whatever.” He said. “Let's go have lunch, shall we?”

“Yes Boss!” Tiny replied enthusiastically, immediately forgetting everything else.

----------------------------------------

Several kilometers away, Magister Orr took a sigh of relief as the coach left the Vex lands behind.

“Well, that was utterly unnerving.” He thought, relaxing a bit on his seat. “These Vex are even more creepy than rumors indicated, though maybe that's because I actually walked into their nest.”

He shuddered, remembering the sensation he felt when he had entered the Vex territory. It had been like stepping in the maw of a colossal creature, ready to close on him at any time. Everything in there, from the ground to the air, was permeated by the alien aura of the Vex Queen as if it was an extension of her body, and its sheer oppressive power made it difficult even to breathe.

Luckily, thanks to his sorcerous training —not to mention his years of experience in politics— Orr had been able to stay calm and put on a facade of unflappability. He even took some moderate pride in the fact that his act had been so uncanny that not even the Vex Queen, despite her telepathic abilities, had been able to see through him.

Or so he hoped, at least. He still had to perform some tests before being able to define the scope of sir Marcus's powers, and whether or not they could penetrate his mental defenses. However, judging by her behavior, he judged that unlikely. The Vex Queen clearly wore her heart on her sleeve, and she would have definitely reacted in some way if she had noticed anything amiss.

Of course, he told himself, there was the possibility that the lizard-bug girl’s naivety was only a pretense she held in order to make others trust her more easily. It wouldn’t be the first time Orr had met that kind of duplicity in his long political career.

In any case, the best thing to do was to keep a close eye on the Vex Queen. At the moment she was an incredibly valuable asset to the kingdom and the benefits she brought were worth the potential risks; therefore taking any action against her wouldn’t be advisable, specially since she had never been anything but friendly for now. But preparing for the worst wouldn’t hurt either, just in case.

After all, she was an Outsider. And if Orr’s studies of the secret history of the Empire had taught him anything, it was that people that came from another world tended to attract trouble, even when they had the best intentions.