Almost three weeks had passed before Marduk interacted with Minerva again and even then it wasn’t by his own wishes as she had approached him out of nowhere and taken his hand.

She was dragging him through the house and moments before ripping his hand free of the Lamia’s grasp the woman let his hand go and asked him to continue following her, she led him to a private space in the house that he soon realised afterward was her living space. It was here that she put on something of brave face and bowed her head completely to him speaking as she did-

“I understand better than any person in this town how terribly and awfully I have messed up, loyalty and trust are something our people share in common. Breaking it in my tribe, the Drakes, is equivalent to suicide, you might has well have died because even destroying the trust between yourself and a family member can led to social exile…” Her voice trailed off as it got small and sounded like she was fighting off the urge to cry.

He wasn’t sure what to make of it, but wasn’t sure if he could trust her word, but he supposed that was his Saurian upbringing much like she said. His people valued trust and loyalty as highly as community and friendship.

“I… I- I was already abandoned by one family…” He noticed tears falling from her face and he knelt down. “I d-don’t mean to off load this on you- but that was how I came about the Saurians. I was outcast for breaking the trust of our chief and came across the Cahautl who were willing to a-accept me into their tribe…”

She sobbed quietly.

“I know of them, they fell to the jaws of Kihtapactli the Great Patriarch Hydra of the western falls of Nymphelia.” Marduk knew the story well, because his sister Ninti had seen it and described the horror of its destruction.

“You do?” She asked, forgetting her worries for a moment.

“My sister Ninti was there when the attack happened or at least close enough to tell a very detailed recollection of events-” He stopped himself going dead silent.

‘I probably shouldn’t say that my mother was given a vision of the attack and due to problems with travelling Ninti failed to make it in time to warn them…’

“Is everything alright? Why did you stop?” The woman asked concern in her tone which only made him want to frown, she’d been trying to share her pain but he’d accidentally hijacked the conversation.

“It’s nothing to worry yourself about, heartaches by the number and troubles by the storm are no good for a person.” He felt hypocritical saying something like that but it was true in any case. “You were saying about your tribe..?”

His nudging the conversation back toward what she’d been saying only served to make her tear up again.

“Right… the Cahautl… they accepted me so easily after I was exiled that I fell in love with them, but this wasn’t for long when I left on a trip to the Oxolautl to retrieve something on behalf of my surrogate father who had traded with the clan… but when I returned everything was gone…” Sucking in a sharp breath Minerva barely kept herself from crying again.

“I’m forgetting myself I… I was trying to apologise for breaking your trust, I should have known better, I shouldn’t have trusted Mila until she gave her word instead of letting it slide with an apology.” A ragged breath escaped her lips. “Like the saying goes ‘A Harpy’s word is as bad as her singing is good’ that was my fault- I’m Sorry… please forgive me.”

She pleaded, taking a hold of his right hand as she spoke.

He didn’t need to be told twice what it was like to be an outcast to your own people, he’d experienced it while taking care of his mother, maybe it wasn’t right of him to deliver his anger unto her when she was a victim of the Harpy’s effect as well.

As well, he couldn’t ignore a crying woman, he was a bleeding heart and seeing someone bawl their eyes and share their pain was hard to ignore especially since he’d bleed his heart to Adalgard only the night before. He would feel disgraced and awful if he didn’t accept it when it clearly wasn’t intentional.

“I accept your apology Min-” He hadn’t even finished his sentence before she crashed into him hugging him tightly and thanking him a hundred times over as her tears streamed down his scales.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou” Her words became a mess of emotion lost in her thanks.

Tentatively he reciprocated the embrace feeling a swell of cold in his chest, he wasn’t sure what to do anymore, he was never any good with women and now he felt like all he interacted with were women. It wouldn't have been much of a problem if he knew what to do when he said or did the wrong thing.

‘Damn it… I wish life was a lot easier’ He complained internally.

He would end up spending the rest of his day with the Lamia hoping his presence would reinforce his position and acceptance of her apology. They did little more than talk, speaking on what the Cahautl and what Minerva’s time with them was like. In return Marduk shared his past, or at least some small facets of his time as a Sukkal.

Though the conversation with her was brief, part of him was greatly relieved to be on good terms with her again, that part of him that was still human and wanted to make friends instead of pushing people away. Especially since he’d shared a bed with her, it would be unfair to do something like that, he might have been monstrous but he wasn’t a monster.

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

Though his relationship to the Lamia was loosely repaired in his eyes and completely back to how it was in hers, he still felt wary of her when she came to him asking if he wanted to go into the town again and continue where they left off with going straight to the Bazaar otherwise referred to ‘Golden Street’ an enormous cross shaped marble building with a long domed roof that supported tens of businesses.

While traversing Golden Street, Marduk asked his guide in Minerva about the country they were in to start building a better idea of what the world was like beyond the confines of the town walls.

“Let me see… well we’re on the continent of Opal which is the largest landmass from what I understand, but as for countries it is more a matter of city states and kingdoms. With regions being the wider classification.” The woman answered unsure how to explain things.

“What are the regions called?” Marduk asked, making a compromise on the specific terminology.

“Barcas Crags is the name of the region we are in, then there is the Duranki crater and volcano toward the south, but you already know about that… hm I guess north is Barakah and its winter tundras then to the far south past the Lakar Woodlands is the Almond Plains then near the bottom of the continent the arid desert lands of Maláka and its coast.” Nodding along the Saurian made a mental map of Opal to get an idea for places he could go.

“What other continents are there?” For each new word he learned from her he replied in a mix of Suran and whatever the Auran word was that his language didn’t have.

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“Malachite is the only other I know of, it's further south across the Arcadian Sea.” The Lamia furrowed her brow while thinking about whether she knew of another, but she’d never even left Opal so she had no idea.

“You said earlier about other peoples of the land that aren’t like those in this town?” Marduk wanted to hear more about what others made up the conscious part of the world's societies.

“Yes. To be brief, those you’re mostly likely to encounter travelling are the Minotaurs of north-eastern Barakah or the wandering tribes of the Plains. Aes Sidhe who live in the Lakar woodlands as well as different types of Centaur like those fawn girls who are fond of you. Otherwise in Maláka there are the Arachne peoples, they are… how do I explain them… think of a shelled insect with eight legs with a human torso?”

If he could raise his brow he would be doing it right then and there.

He inferred them to be Half-scorpion people and presumably half-spider people with the fact that they were eight legged. Either way it sounded terrifying on a level that made him freeze up in the middle of the street for a moment as they walked past the shops causing a few more careful glances his way.

“Hm? Are you alright?” Minerva asked, looking up at him.

“I- uh yes. I don’t think I plan on meeting these Arachne anytime soon.” He replied and the woman laughed.

“W-well you d-don’t need to!” She stuttered out before calming herself and breathing a sigh. “You said you wanted to travel, yes? Where do you plan to go first?”

“Hm…” Humming in thought the Saurian gast his eyes around at the Bazaar thinking of the places he’d learned about from their talk.

The many storefronts displayed their wares on racks, hangers and tables showing off what they could and more tucked away by countertops where the owners served or idly waited for those to buy something. It made him wonder how big trade really was with the other regions of the country as he saw a lot of very foreign appearing designs and materials that weren’t anything like what else he’d seen.

“You said these Aes Sidhe live in the woodlands?” He asked after a moment of silence between them.

Receiving a nod in the corner of his eye he answered the woman.

“Then I will travel there first, Adalgard mentioned that she was of them when we started travelling, I would like to meet more of them- are you familiar at all?” Looking down at the brown haired Lamia she made an odd expression he couldn’t quite discern before responding.

“I haven’t personally met them but I know of someone who deals with them regularly, you’d need only meet him.” She wore a warm smile as she replied and he was reminded of Sophus’ words.

‘There isn’t any harm in travelling with her… and I won’t deny how nice it is to sleep with a warm body… though that might just be my cold blooded nature.’ He thought to himself before clearing his throat and speaking.

“You are welcome to join me when I leave, it would be great to have someone who can actually converse with people as well as a guide to this friend of yours.” His offer was met with a surprised look on Minerva’s face, clearly not expecting the offer.

It took a moment before the woman found it in herself to happily accept the offer with a bright smile.

They continued discussing the differences between the different regions of Opal and where each of the different peoples lived for some time, completely forgetting whatever the half snake woman had originally intended with their visit to Golden Street.

Things went well and they continued to repair Marduk’s opinion of her until the time they decided to head back to the manor, but a problem arose as the left the domed roof of the Bazaar-

“Those Corvus are following us.” He commented, turning his gaze from the black birds to the Lamia who let her eyes dart around until she noticed them flying overhead at just the right pace with the pair.

“I don’t think they are- you’re seeing things Marduk.” She replied, shaking her head and returning her eyes to the road ahead.

Everything in his body was telling him to run and that he should be here right now.

And as time would tell, he should have listened to his instincts-

“!” A short gasp escaped Minerva’s lips as the woman halted in the street and pointed to an alley next to them where the form of a man was slumped against a wall and another looming over it spotted them looking before turning away and bolting off into the shadows.

Giving chase without really thinking Marduk's enormous form ran into the alley past the body to where he watched the shadowy figure dart into another alley, when he turned the way they went he found… nothing.

It was completely empty, nothing was there, nothing disturbed and he couldn’t even smell the scent of a person, just the blood of the victim back where he’d passed them.

Letting out a grumbling noise he returned to the scene of the crime noticing a spray of gore leaking over the cobblestone of the alleyway and the snake woman wearing a pale look as her eyes darted between him and the body unsure what to do. Kneeling down the Saurian put a hand to the body to see if they were alive-

“No pulse… he’s dead” He verbalised for the sake of the woman.

The body was in a familiar looking set of clothing, they wore a hooded cloak to conceal their face, when he removed the hood he was met with the face of a human man.

The man was dark haired, fair skinned and clean shaven with dark coloured eyes, the same as Sophus’ messenger.

“You know this man?” He turned his head to look at the Lamia who was now even more aghast at the sight clear recognition on her face.

When she didn’t respond he breathed something of a sigh feeling grateful that his lizard wiring was saving him from heaving his guts all over the cobbles at the sight. Realising there might have been a deeper meaning to the killing with Sophus’ words ringing in his mind about the Corvi and Count Fel he checked the pockets and clothing of the messenger hoping to find a letter of some sort but all he got for his trouble was bloody hands-

“Miner-” His voice was cut off by a yell and the clatter of heavy metal.

“Stop! Cease your movements this instant!” A gruff voice ordered in a deafening tone as an order of guards like he’d seen on the dock charged him down with weapons in hand pointing them at him and yelling.

Unsure of what to do he stood back up and held his hands in the air hoping they’d take it as a sign of nonaggression, before he knew it a crowd of ten guardsmen stood around him with shields raised and spears levelled at his joints and neck.

“Don’t make any sudden movements Monster! I won’t have you killing another one of our citizens!” The leader of them ordered, he was adorned in a shoulder cape with a black raven on it.