Dinner with Kristhyra

"So, we talked about titles and honorifics a bit, but you didn't offer up what we should use for your own." You turn back to the elf sitting next to you as Garth sets down your meal. "Thanks, Garth." The meat isn't like any you've seen before, but still looks appetizing.

"'Ornet. We go' plen'y more tuh go 'round i-fya wan' secon's." The burly man grins as he continues on to other patrons.

Once more, you turn to Kristhyra, awaiting her response. "Kris. Human...friends use Kris." She smiles at you.

You chuckle as you begin cutting into your hornet steak with the dull knife provided. "I'll call you Kris, but you have to call me Dusk, alright?"

Her smile persists. "Yes...Dusk." She turns her attention to her own meal, mostly finished by the looks of it. "You...have party?"

"Is there something to celebrate?" When she looks to use confusedly, you realize she meant 'adventuring group'. "Ah. Wrong 'party'. Well, most of my adventuring, if you could call it that, has been with Camilla and Eve. Camilla uses a sword and shield, Eve uses a bow and arrow, and all of us can use at least some magic. We haven't done much fighting as a group, but that will probably change soon with the hornet hive up north."

She nods along, pausing for a moment. "You use...Empress? Not Queen?"

"Yeah. I don't want to scare you or anything, but the Hornet Empress is a step up from the standard queens. She's stronger, faster, and even able to give birth to hybrid monsters." Although I should check if they're actually hybrids, like me, or like those undead dragons I heard about. "She's already well on her way to giving birth to one of those hybrids, now. We've already sent word to Recuan about the Empress, and now...we're just kinda waiting." You take one of the meat cubes you've been cutting up and stick it in your mouth.

"...hy-brid?"

You chew and swallow, contemplating how to best explain. "It's when two different things come together to make a new thing. The new thing has traits and characteristics of the two things it came from. For example, you could be called a hybrid of your mother and father."

She nods again, this time taking one of her remaining slices (not cubes) of hornet steak and taking a bite of it. The two of you sit in relative silence as she chews, before she asks another question once she's swallowed. "Dusk...want more party..." She pauses, seemingly stuck on the word.

"Party member? You want to join my party, Kris?"

She hesitantly nods. "You save me... I want help you." You let her continue as you use God's Eye. "I not strong, but I heal you." She makes her hands glow a bit as she looks to you, eyes full of hope.

A Priest... It wouldn't be bad to have one of those around, even if she's only level two. A few hornets would solve the level problem, but... "Are you sure? You just got out of a pretty rough situation. I'd hate to drag you into another one. Besides, don't you want to see your family again? Let them know you're okay?"

"I...I want help you. I want..." She pauses again, once more looking for a word, her frustration showing as flexing her hand before pressing the butt of her fist into the bar.

"Okay." My whole situation is gonna be hard to explain... You set a hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you take some time to think about this? It's a big decision, and I don't want you rushing into it. In the meantime, why don't you tell me about your home. Tres...duin, was it?"

"Dismissed!" Camilla watched the new recruits disperse. Once they'd all left, she sat down on the ground against one of the felled logs, hearing a thunk when her elbow hits it. Oh, seems like this one's starting to rot. Might have to ask Kyle about helping replace it. She sighs, her mind drifting to what she'd said just before she left the tavern. Or more specifically, how she said it. "Ugh!" She covers her face with her hands, hiding the embarrassment from the vacant area. "Why does he have to make everything seem complicated?!" She'd been crushing on Kara for years, but one duel and now a pregnancy and she was falling for him at least as hard as for her.

"Complicated, you say?" A mature, feminine voice echoes spookily from behind the captain.

Camilla quickly pushes herself away from the rotting log and draws the queen's sword as she turns around, readying herself. "What..." Before her, just on the edge of the forest, not even a hundred feet away, was a large fox, its coloring disguised by the twilight shadows. "Did you..."

"I did." The fox nods, lowering its rear and sitting. "You seem to be having trouble, child." Four tails swish around behind the fox as it stares at Camilla.

The brunette doesn't lower her weapon. "And who might you be?"

"...I thought you might be more amicable to my kind. Perhaps I was mistaken..."

Her kind? Monsters? Wait... "Are you..." She shakes her head, steadying her blade. "Doesn't matter right now. Answer the question."

The fox bares its teeth. "Child, if you aim to threaten me, you will find it difficult to do so. Even your nephilim friend will have trouble if he crosses me."

Camilla takes a step back, her arm dropping slightly. "You know what he is?"

"I know everything that happens in this town. How do you think your friend received his new garments?" The fox pats the ground with its front paws as it seems to calm down.

"So it was you..."

"I will not claim credit for actions that were not my own. Enough about me, though. Why don't you lower your blade so we can speak like civilized people? You seem to be having difficulties with your lovers."

Camilla relents, lowering her sword, but not sheathing it. "I'm not havi-, did you say lovers? As in multiple? Gods, if I didn't know better, I'd call you Kara!"

The fox seems to chuckle. "Your mouth and heart tell different tales, child. Or should I say your womb?"

The captain raises her sword defensively. "What do you want?"

A silence falls over the area before the fox speaks again. "Camilla, you currently act as the bridge between your kind and ours. You have accepted not one, but two of us into your ranks, defending them passionately against your brethren. I wanted to meet you. Not in my human form, no. I would prefer not to hide myself anymore, at least from you."

"Then I'll ask again: who are you?"

"In time, child. In the meantime, perhaps I could offer you advice with your...predicament." A hint of laughter emanates from her mouth. "You know there's no shame in having two lovers? Kara has already expressed her acceptance of it, so why can't you?"

Camilla begins pacing perpendicular to the fox, her sword at her side. "How does that count? All she's been doing is teasing me about it."

"That's not true, child. You know that's not true. Kara and her family hail from a different land. They have a different culture, where it's not uncommon for one of status, such as the captain of the guard, to have more than one lover."

"But that's not how things work here!" The brunette waves her arms angrily.

"It is now." The fox suddenly turns its head toward the sunset sky, the sun itself already fallen over the horizon. "It is late. You should get some rest, child..."