On the third floor of a modest-sized building in the commerce district of the capital city, not terribly far from the gate leading towards the royal district, a soft groan of annoyance could be heard. The sound came from a rather large, well-built and imposing panther woman. She was looking at a collection of reports and paperwork in front of herself and was not well happy with any of it.
"Dame."
The voice of W'elma's maid and secretary both rang out not far away, causing W'elma to pause and look up at her. "Yes, Ellie?" The frustration in her voice rescinded itself slightly as Ellie added in turn, "Originally you had a few appointments for the rest of the day, but I took the liberty of rescheduling them." It was already after noon and nearing the end of the work day, but often enough the panther simply worked through such and continued with business. As she was the head of a modest, medium-sized trading corporation and also a minor noble, that was to be expected.
"And why in the hell would you do that girl, I certainly didn't ask you to." The frustration returned and doubled, utterly confused why her perfect secretary and maid would do such.
"Because someone I judged a little more important than the rest asked for some of your time and you tend to trust my judgment." The maid secretary's backbone surprised W'elma slightly who sighed and nodded, "Very well, you're right. It's not often you'd go against my choices, so… go on with you."
Who was it? Well, as Ellie walked out and invited the other in, W'elma's expression went from frustration to confusion to mild anger and once more confusion.
"You…"
–
About half an hour earlier, Ellie was out in the markets nearby W'elmas trading corp. when she suddenly heard a voice from nearby. "Ah, it's been a little bit. Sadly I don't believe I ever heard your name, but hello and I hope you've been well?" As proud and proper as she was, Ellie stood there in her traditional, functional attire. Simple, dark clothes and a frock, both hands in front of herself holding onto the satchel she carried with her that contained her things. A younger tabbycat, early twenties perhaps, terribly professional in appearance and mannerisms turned towards the voice and stared a moment before recognition hit and her eyes widened slightly only to return to normal.
"Ah, yes. The Dame's pleasure from a while back. Hello to you as well and she will not be further needing your services.
A peal of cackling rang through the air and echoed in Rou's head.
"Services!"
"Services!!! WHORE! She thought you were a whore! WHORE!"
Affection screamed and cackled with amusement at the delight of the maid, leaving Rou to look rather annoyed as he rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Yes, and no, you misunderstand." Rou tried to correct the misunderstanding early before it got out of control.
"No, I do not believe I did. Though I will humor you, in what way?"
"Yes, that was me, no, I am not trying to find my way back into your employers bed I assure you, no matter how terribly enjoyable it was."
Ellie sneered slightly at his last remark. Clearly it was meant as a joke, but she didn't find it terribly amusing. What did catch her eye, however, was what was in Rou's hand as he held it out for her to see.
–
"Ellie, what in the gods names are you thinking?" Anger echoed from the Dames throat as she very well felt like smacking her maid for the first time in her life. "Why would you ever mix my private and work lives like this! You, begone, and never speak to me again!"
"Dame, stop." Ellie said softly towards her in an attempt to calm her.
"I will not, you are out of line, I do not need…!"
As W'elma began to argue, Ellie slapped her hand on W'elma's desk and startled the woman, not used to seeing Ellie so outspoken. "Sit down, Dame, and pretend to recall I have worked at your behest for years and know very well about your desires about such. Even if you are my employer I will not be spoken to like a child."
Stolen story; please report.
The two stared at each other, professional ladies the likes of which neither would back down on the topic, only for Rou to finally step in.
"Wilma, was it?"
"W'elma!" both the maid and Dame stated curtly.
"Right, pardon, I… only heard it the once and I was a bit inebriated with other things on my mind, you'll have to pardon me. W'elma, I asked to speak with you and she judged my reason fit, could you ease up on the girl and hear me out?" Rou looked at her with those green eyes of his, causing W'elma to remember just how cute she found him and sighed, sitting back down and groan into her hands as they covered her face and forehead.
"Thank you." His voice was soft as he moved and sat down in front of her. His attire at the moment wasn't the adventuring attire he used, instead it was much more casual clothing. Clothing made by his mother as she'd taken a fancy to tailoring by this point and rather liked the idea of making his clothing. A soft, shimmering green shirt of some fancy material with wrist-length sleeves, a pair of somewhat loose, comfortable pants and a simple pair of shoes. His long tail had a slit in the back so it was free to move around and he even had a bow for the tip. A bit feminine for his tastes but his mother thought it was cute and he'd suffer being dressed a bit childishly for her sake.
"As with your secretary Ellie, I can assure you that I did not come to warm your bed, no matter how much I enjoyed our time together. I am grateful for the time we spent together, you took care of me when I was quite vulnerable and could have been taken advantage of in a far worse way by others if they cared to, and you did not. Sure, you got your fun out of me, but it was an equitable trade for both and… as I said, I appreciate that. But, that said, that is not why I am here. This is…"
Rou looked around a moment before reaching out and manipulating something in the air. Ellie and the Dame seemed confused before he seemingly pulled something out of the air that wasn't there before and sat it on the large solid wood desk between them. It was a wooden seal. Upon the butt of the wooden seal was a carved royal seal, whereas upon the stamp of the seal as she picked it up to look, was a symbol of a crook and a cottonfluff stalk crossed.
"...Fluff Sage's seal? Why would you have this?" W'elma seemed confused.
"As much as I think that title is silly, that is the title given to me, and that, accordingly, is mine." Rou looked at her in amusement, somewhat used to that look she was giving him.
W'elma balked at this before suddenly realizing what was going on and stood up in a panic, "You're the Sage of Fluff?! Oh fuck me, I've gone and…"
"Peace, Dame! I already said I quite enjoyed myself and don't hold it against you. I promise I never will either." Rou quickly tried to placate her as he heard Affection cackling as she was prone to doing in his mind.
W'elma slowly tried to calm down as she looked at the pretty fellow and asked, "Please, Fluff Sage, my business here means more to me than my own life. I go to great lengths to keep my personal and business lives separately and just you being here is already a stretch. Whatever it is…"
Rou sighed softly and came to realize he really was worrying her. "I'm sorry, Dame W'elma, it wasn't my intention to worry you like this. If you want, I'll leave here and now and never interact with you or your company in any way again, you have my word. I'll make an oath in Affection's name if it helps assure you. I simply came here today because I trusted your honesty and wished to have you take care of that seal and use it appropriately. I have no business acumen and my education is lacking in that regard. I trust your personality well enough after our brief time together more so than I would trust any other merchants, especially as I don't know any."
W'elma instinctively wanted to shout at him to leave and never come back, but his request took her by surprise. He wanted her to barter all Fluff Sage-related dealings? That was… that could easily push her corporation from near-medium sized to a massive figure within the capital and world at large if handled correctly.
"Fluff Sage… Rou, was it? Are you actually asking me to manage this on your behalf because you do trust me, or… are you wanting to try and take me in as a mistress or something and bind me to you? Your request can be seen in multiple fashions." For a moment she relaxed and sat upright, regaining her composure for a moment and putting on a business front.
As Rou saw that, he smiled and tried to reassure, "Again, if you feel better, I will make a oath in Affection's name for you. I don't want you, I don't want your body, I simply want your honesty and business sense. In short, I do not know if I am actually a good judge of others, but I trust myself, and myself trusts you. Wholly. I believe in no uncertain way that you are with scruples and I believe if given the chance, you will not only do right by me, but also gain from it in turn."
The Sage of Fluff chuckled and sat back in his seat, adding, "That said, I would never say no to your comfort either, as I cherish that memory and would not mind experiencing such again, but I would also never ask it from you after this point, because it wouldn't be fair to you."
The fear and frustration about W'elma slowly faded and she looked at Ellie, nodding at her once and causing the maid to nod in turn, turning and leaving as she did. "In that case, Fluff Sage… certainly. I would be insane to do otherwise. But I must ask, were there no other choices? No one recommended by the Church, or the King perhaps? Surely you are in contact with both."
She still could not wrap her head around why her, besides him being overly attached and romantically interested despite not wanting to admit it.
"Because I tire of the King trying to arrange a marriage between me and his eldest daughter, no matter how sweet she is. As for the Church, they spread my relationship with Affection without my permission or knowledge and now I am being treated as a Goddesses consort. Not that they're incorrect in some sense, but I never intended to use my relationship with Affection to my benefit and now I cannot detach our companionship even if I tried. So… I wish to ask someone else to handle that kind of thing for me. Someone else that I /do/ trust. Like I said, you could have taken your fun and tossed me out, but you gave of yourself back to me when you didn't have to. So here I am. One good deed breeds another." at which point he paused and coughed. "Well, breeding might be a bad turn of phrase given our past."
W'elma snorted laughing at that point, guard down enough that the humor hit home perfectly, causing her to stand up and walk towards the door to her office, opening it and looking around before spotting Ellie. "You said you cleared the rest of my day, yes?" Her good mood, which had been gone the whole day, had returned. Ellie smiled a little in turn and nodded, "I did."
"Good. Our doors are closed for the day. Shoo anyone away and take a day off for yourself on my coin." And with that she closed the door to her office.
Ellie chuckled and looked at the room the Dame had walked into only to turn and walk down the nearby set of stairs to the second floor. 'How did I know.' Ellie knew very well that look on the Dame's face. The flick of her ears, the tone in her voice. That wasn't the 'business' look, that was the 'pleasure' look. 'Maybe mixing business and pleasure isn't so bad for her now and then.' Making a point to leave before she was asked to bring them refreshments again as she imagined the Dame was very much about to drag the Fluff Sage to her attached bedroom that she used for naps when she got tired.