"Hi...I mean, hello," I stammered out, pretty sure I was shouting. "I...I just got...I became a citizen of the Sahal Empire and was told…!"

"May I see the card?!"

Rather reluctantly, as it meant letting go of my ear, I handed the receptionist the proof of my claim. She looked at it, turned it over, and handed it back to me with a professional smile. "Take the door on the right, go all the way to the end of the corridor, and turn left! You can read Standard, right?!"

"Y-yes!"

"Then look for the door on the left marked [Aid Distribution]. Anything else, ma'am?!"

'Shit! Shit, shit, shit! Was there anything else?' As if the Fae runes behind my ears kicked in, I find myself unable to come up with a single thing to ask.

"N-no!"

"Well, have a nice day, then! NEXT!"

And with that, I was rudely shoved aside by a plump woman waiting in line behind me. The urge to bare my teeth at the bitch surged through my body, but knowing I had no one to blame but myself for not thinking this one through, I headed off in search of the door before my irritating beastly instincts could get me into any trouble.

Thankfully, following the receptionist's instructions, I arrived at the door in no time, basking in the relative silence that the depths of the City Hall’s corridors offered.

[Aid Distribution]

Gathering my courage once more before entering the unknown, I knocked on the door, waited for permission to enter, and was left staring at the elf-looking man sitting behind the desk as I walked in. Quite rude, for sure, if not downright hypocritical of me, knowing full well how unpleasant the gawking could be, but I couldn't help it. There behind the counter, bent over a book, sat the first elf I had run into in the city, the first I had ever seen outside of the movies.

But then, the initial shock wore off, and doubts crept in.

'Is he an elf, or something else, though?'

Sure, the man had their pointy ears and even a youthful look, but he kind of lacked the elf-ish vibe, their dignified elegance. Heck, instead of long white locks, he had short-cropped brown hair; his cheeks weren't sharp the way I had grown to know elves, and even worse, they were covered in short stubble. If it weren't for those long pointy ears, he would look like any other guy, ordinary and average - simply something I could only envy him for.

"Here for the aid?" The maybe-an-elf cleared his throat, obviously annoyed that he was being disturbed while reading.

"Yes," I stammered, snapping out of my rude stare. "You see, I...became a citizen of the Sahal Empire and was told to come here."

"Of course you were. All right, let me see your card..." The man said, trailing off as he finally looked up from the book. The moment his dark eyes landed on me, a shiver ran through my body, making me feel like prey, weak, desired, and naked.

'Did he see through my lack of clothing as the Terr'dens? Wait, was that what he was?'

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"Please have a seat, ma'am." Oddly enough, the thing giving me the shiver was gone when the not-quite-elf spoke - almost as if he had noticed my unease and reacted to it, hiding his predatory nature. Quite unsettling if true. Even my beastly instincts would have preferred him to ogle me openly than this...unknown.

Anyway, once seated again and with my card in his hands, I watched the not-so-quite-elf insert it into a tool resembling an identification station, only smaller. Then he moved the tool over to me, his eyes fixed on mine.

"Y-yes?" I asked as we sat there for a moment in awkward silence, him studying me, me trying to figure out what he wanted.

"Your hand, please."

"Y-you ...you could have said that right away, m-mister…?" I said, my eyes following the movement of his hands to the name tag placed unfathomably on the face of the counter, just below the top. "Mr. Welkes."

"Could and should have," the maybe-a-Terr'den admitted bluntly with a shrug. "My bad. But you must forgive me. My first time seeing a...fine lady...of your stature."

"I...I g-get that a lot." The elf-like man named Welkes was honestly an enigma to me. While my almost-forgotten experience of human interaction would suggest that under the guise of a cheerful, lofty, charming man of my age hid someone sad, depressed, bored, and looking for some distraction, my instincts led me to believe differently. To him, I was prey, but not the kind you hunt down in blood, the kind you have fun with.

[Bookkeeper: 53 sigils]

'Shit! Yet another array better than mine.'

"I can only imagine, milady... pardon me, I didn't catch your name."

Not really willing to play his game, whatever it was, and having little inkling of what the tool he had put my Citizen Card in would do, I placed my hand on it as he asked. The runes on the thing lit up, and a magic hologram appeared above the back of my hand.

Korra Grey

Slave: 97 sigils

"Korra Grey, a lovely name for a lovely...dame just a few sigils away from 2nd Array."

'What was that about this "lady, milady, dame" thing?' Did the elves have beef with the half-Terrd'ens or something? Did he mock me for being a Slave?

"Well, your card seems genuine, but may I ask who issued it to you, Miss Grey?"

'Oh, he finally cut the bullshit.'

"I d-don't know, some guy in the barracks."

Welkes, or rather bored-elf-like-man, smirked. "Let me put it another way. Who did your identification?"

"Oh-OH, s-sorry, Captain Rayden did."

Hearing that, his ears immediately pricked up. "Traiana's tits! Captain herself? What did you do, Madame Grey?"

"I...I am sorry, but...is t-this standard questioning to get the aid? Because I've already cleared these things with her."

Not to mention that even though Captain Rayden didn't explicitly forbid it, she had strongly advised me not to talk about what we had discussed behind the closed doors of that windowless room.

"Of course you did. You wouldn't be sitting here otherwise. No, that was, let's just say, my pure interest to lift the dullness of the day. Not a lot is happening here - except for today. It makes one wonder if another Terr town has been swallowed by the beasts. But don't worry, I won't pry - as you said, it's not my job to question you, although I have to ask if you'd be willing to have a drink with me - to dispel the dullness."

"I c-can't say my last days were...you know, dull."

"Tits, not what I meant to imply at all. On the contrary, I thought you might find comfort in sharing your hardship with someone over said drink. Obviously, I misread the situation," Welkes said with an apologetic sigh, his ears drooping.

Honestly, the half-elf guy didn't look bad; in fact, he wasn't bad-looking at all, and seeing him all crestfallen made him look kind of cute. But if he thought I was some naive, stupid girl from the Wilds whose knickers he could easily get into, he was damn wrong. First of all, I didn't have any; actually, kind of the reason I was here. And I SURE as fucking shit didn't struggle for my freedom to end up in bed with the first guy who asked me only to wake up with a collar around my neck.

"Well." Welkes clapped his hands together, a mask of renewed energy covering his inner disappointment. "It wouldn't be me if I didn't get the hint. I am glad to inform you that you are eligible for the aid, Miss Grey."