Date: 13.02.7349
Dear diary, today was an exhilarating day! The Lord and his daughter, Lorient, choose me to show them around Furri!
I told my hubby about my day at dinner, and he excitedly listened to all, but he was also quite saddened that he couldn't meet them. It was understandable.
I was delighted when they approached me, but my mood soured with the stinkbag Larry hanging around. At the training camp years ago, he always annoyed and poked fun at me, but at least it ended there. I respected him, and he did the same to me. However, for some reason, whenever I glanced at him, he started to pose around like a moron.
While he was dumb as a log, he had the strength and was unconditionally honest. I respected this the most, as long as he didn't open his mouth. But he at least told them that I would be a guide, so I put away old grievances with this mudball for the Lord and Lori's sake.
I really like Lori. She was so dignified, except when the Lord said something, she became so startled. Seeing a young noble who sometimes acted like a commoner was so funny!
I could also listen to all their talks about their family, and it seemed that the Lord was worried about one particular child of his. His name was Alexander.
I only know that he was born last year or so. He seems unlucky, always having accidents and whatnot. Hopefully, he is ok.
I also hope my future children will not have such bad luck as with the one accident where the carpenter made the crib for Alexander. I empathize with the lady and the gossip I heard that the carpenter was imprisoned and whipped till he barely could walk because his furniture endangered the noble child. I would do worse things.
They also talked about Narsiz's upcoming legacy, and they both agreed that he would become a, and I quote, dusty bureaucrat. I don't understand nobles, but I hope my future children will become dusty bureaucrats since it is much safer than hunting down riff-raffs in the city.
We also spoke a lot about me, as Lori was interested in me! Can you believe it? She is so curious.
I told them about me and my cute hubby, a mouse-kin and accountant. Lori was initially confused, as we are different beast-kin subraces and together. Something like this usually angers me, but she was just naively confused. It was not in bad faith or disgust, so it was fine. After all, she is young and, as a wolf-kin, a couple of years away from her first mating season. It is natural for her to be naive in these kinds of things.
The Lord needed to explain to her that a wedding between different beast-kins was ordinary. This talk between them was charming as he tried cautiously to explain relationships. She tried to listen neutrally and learn but had a visibly flushed face. How cute! Would my hubby do the same with our future children? I genuinely hope so since I am not the most sensitive person.
I also forgot that the Leonandras won't marry off their children like other nobles, so they probably learn about something like this very late!
I always thought being a noble and attending those parties was exhilarating, like the elephant-kin nobles from the central part of Mal-Gil. Still, after hearing many rumors about how they were sometimes miserable, I started to pity them. I am also happy for Lori that she doesn't need to go through the same problems other nobles do.
Furthermore, the Lord explained the royalty's stance on mixing beast-kin races and allowing or rather encouraging it as they want to unite all of us more closely. This was new to me since I had only heard how other nobles were biased toward certain races and disgusted by mixed relationships.
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The child of two different beast-kin races would always be either one of the races. There were very rare occasions where hybrids had neither the superficial characteristics of their parents. They would look very similar to humans in those rare cases.
But even if they looked like humans, they always had a specific smell that we, the beast-kin, could recognize and differentiate them, and of course, they also had their [Divinity Line], so they were beast-kins through and through.
For us, beast-kin, the human-looking ones, so the hybrids, were actually highly appreciated, as we use them as spies in our enemy's territory.
Lori was very interested in everything, also about me and my story, which I freely told her. I didn't know why! Usually, I am reluctant to do it! I would always just say something like I had a boring life or something similar. Still, she is very approachable, like you want to tell her everything. I think it has something to do with her naivety and honest curiosity.
I told them how we fled from some noble territory in the central part of Mal-Gil, my hubby and me, because the local nobility was extremely discriminatory towards our mingling.
They had this kind of superiority complex. Lori's father, the Lord, called them idiots, and I quote him: "It is not our job to mingle in their private life as long as it has no negative effects on the territory."
He forgot to add that many nobles think that something like this has adverse effects and call it washing out bloodlines. They even go so far as to choose their servants from the same subrace or close to it. Dragon-kins are usually that notorious.
After I told my story, the Lord's aide, the fox-kin, tried to teach Lori all the time about the stuff in politics. Sadly, I couldn't understand anything.
However, what surprised me the most was that we visited at least five restaurants while we discussed all political topics. I can't believe how much the wolf-kin could eat, or was it a Leonandra family perk?!
Every visit was followed by at least a three-course menu and gigantic portions. What the hell was going on? Do they have a hole in their stomach?
However, I told them all about the harbor, the four jetties, the canal system, which we are very proud of as the mole-kin crafter union designed it and much more.
At some point, the earl of the city showed up, a mole-kin, and was very nervous. Somebody seemed to have informed him. I never saw him sweat through his suit. It was so funny!
Nonetheless, nothing much happened. They just talked a lot and exchanged pleasantries. Later, I was told that it was a typical talk between nobles, and you needed to listen between the words and tone to discern one's real intentions, but for me, it was dull and superficial.
Since the Lord was a druid, I wanted to show the local temple, but we couldn't visit one because there was none. It is quite sad that there is only a small temple in Wolfsteeth with two sprouts and two leaves working there, but it is all we have around sea Howl.
The Twin-Acorn branch was always small, and it could never catch up when the Leonandras started to revamp their territory by putting a massive amount of coin in it.
The Lord said that most workers are nature-dwellers and slow-moving; thus, not much could be done. We need just wait for them.
Talking about nature-dwellers, we saw the fairies from yesterday. They were accompanied by some guards. Wandering through the city and looking curiously at everything. The residents would usually call them bumpkins.
Still, everyone practically knows that nature-dwellers hate cities, so even seeing a couple of them is something to behold in Furri.
After they saw us, they shivered and ran away. Can't blame them! The bloodlust from yesterday was insane. Even I could feel it coming out of my office.
At the end of the day, we sat down at some café and talked about what was happening in the east. Too bad I failed the test for the campaign, so I didn't know much. Afterward, I started to work as a guard, but with this, I had a nice and comfortable life with my hubby and am pretty happy! I also wouldn't want to be there now, even if I could. Sometimes I think I wanted only adventure in my youth and didn't know anything else. Love? Nope, sounds boring. I always saw myself as a knight for something greater. I was dumb.
Seeing how the Lord, as a strong druid and knight (?), I am so unsure what or who he is, but that is not important! He had the prestige I always wanted in my youth, but he was missing his loved ones and looking forward to his wife, the lady which he hadn't seen for over 1 1/2 years.
Today it strengthened the decision I made years ago. I should consider myself lucky for such a stable life and having the one I love more than anything. Thinking about not seeing him for more than a year would break my heart.
I already wrote so much down, so I will say good night as the more I write, the more I want to see him, my lovely hubby.