Mess With His Head

You nodded to yourself smugly. The idea of driving Sfen crazy appealed on multiple levels. For one, you did not like the way he seemed to think about beastfolk so you reasoned that if you could influence him, you could make him less of a bastard.

I can definitely fix him if I mess with his head enough. Was your direct thought, as you contemplated more subtly how you were going to go about it. Slow was the answer, you decided. You exhaled, relaxed your posture and crossed your arms as you leaned back against the stone walls of the hallways.

“Sorry for misunderstanding. If you really weren’t intending to hurt her, I guess that makes it a bit better.”

“I wasn’t.” Sfen nodded seriously.

“Even if she is just a dog, we are still comrades, and she knows her duty well and follows the rules and customs. You as well.”

“Huh?” That caught you off-guard, prompting you to curiously ask.

“What do you mean?”

Sfen smiled and remarked frankly. “Defending her like that was very noble and appropriate considering the information you had.”

“R… ight. Yeah. Thanks. I was just doing what I thought was needed.”

He looked at you warmly and said, “I think that you are very good as a candidate, in that case. I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do here.”

“Oh.” Your eyes widened and your cheeks flushed suddenly. You quickly pushed those flustered, warm feelings to the back of your mind, coughed into your fist to clear your throat and said gruffly.

“Thanks! Uh… Yeah, it’s nothing, really.” Something that was on your mind just a minute ago crossed it again, and with him here you thought it would be okay to ask.

“Hey, what’s with the huge hole?”

Sfen’s golden brows lifted. “You saw it?” You looked back out towards the training ground.

“You’ll be acquainted with that very soon. As will we all.”

“You don’t know?”

Sfen smiled knowingly. “I do know… some things. But, you’ll have to show me a bit more before I decide to let you in on what exactly that is.” He winked and continued walking down the hall. It was the direction of the bunks. You watched him go, then realised all too quickly.

Wait… You nearly pulled your hair out.

Is he fucking messing with MY head, too!? I’ll get that bastard. You slapped both your cheeks lightly, then strutted back out to the training ground.

Get it together.

As you walked out into the wide circle you were ambushed by Kara, who jumped up and glommed onto you.

“Hi!” You instinctively went to use your left hand to keep her at bay, only to pull it back due to your injury. Thus, the fox was able to get ahold of you.

“What’re you doing?” You asked, finally prying her off with your left. She easily separated and stepped back.

“Got told I can hang around if I look like this.”

“Like…” You looked down to see Kara in her maid outfit.

“Jeanie refused.” Kara shrugged.

“I don’t think she likes being called Jeanie..”

“I don’t think Jeanie’s here.” She said with a subtle smile.

You nodded slowly and looked out. There were a few squire’s still training. At least one had a maid in attendance outside their range, waiting and watching with a towel in hand. You sighed and told her very directly.

“You know, it’s not actually about appearance. I think whoever told you that meant that if you actually ‘were’ a servant you could. Do you actually want that?”

“Nope. I just wanna wear cute clothes and go wherever I want.”

Your eye twitched as you heard that. “Me too, but we can’t always get what we want!”

“If I just stand around and watch, and you never tell me to do anything, wouldn’t that mean I’m basically always doing my ‘job.’”

You opened your mouth to rebuke that idea, then thought of it for a second and had to begrudgingly admit.

“Technically yes. You are correct. Fine. Why do you just want to ‘hang around?’”

“Hmm.” Kara was trying to figure out how to explain it. Eventually she just admitted.

“Lotta energy around people like you who are doing stuff like training.”

“Eh?” You squinted.

“The hell does that mean?”

Kara smiled cluelessly and with her head cocked to one side she offered a very believable.

“I dunno.”

“Kay…” You gave up.

“Do whatever you want, but if I ask you to grab me a towel, don’t make a scene.”

“Kay~” Kara agreed brightly.

You drew your sword with your left arm and began doing some Glasian exercises. Spinning the sword around nimbly. You felt like it would probably take some getting used to.

“If I’d taken the test with my left hand, I’d never have been mistaken for Gold. Never would’ve been able to help out you or Jeane. Never would’ve been here to help that Heilan girl. Regardless of what Sfen said, I’m not sure I believed him when he claimed he wasn’t gonna hurt her.” You mused out loud. Kara listened closely, nodding along.

“I think… I heard somewhere, from someone, that fate’s kinda like a candle.” You stopped what you were doing and listened, since Kara rarely offered her thoughts, and when she did they rarely sounded compelling or good.

“It’s like… the fire is where everyone is, and it’s always burning the candle down, and whatever the fire does, doesn’t seem important but a little flicker in any way makes the wax drip down different.”

“That’s just chaotic. You can’t predict the way a candle's flame will flicker.”

“That’s what we look like to someone that’s looking at us, though.” She offered with wide eyes.

“Huh? Us?”

“All of us. All the people in all the world… Everyone moving around to someone that looks at all of it? That’s like a candle’s flame flickering to them. All the little things moving together? Well that’s just chaos. But all the parts are thinking and doing things that affect other things.

“Huh.” You looked at Kara thoughtfully.

“Who’d be watching the world like we watch a candle’s flame?”

“Uhm… dunno.” She looked to be genuinely thinking about that.

“Mara, maybe?”

“Maybe. Mara’s just a candle’s flame in size to us, too.” You joked, going back to your exercises. Behind you, you could hear in Kara’s voice strangeness, and you could hear her smiling as she remarked.

“That’s true.”

You stopped again and turned to look at her, but it was just her staring back at you with her usual, mostly clueless and wondrous gaze.

“Yeah.” You shrugged.

“Something’s going on, here. There’s apparently something in that big hole that I’m gonna be acquainted with real soon. Something Sfen knows about. Something maybe a lot of people here know about with their connections. I’m out of the loop.”

“It’s not that big a secret.” Came a small, yet disciplined voice behind you. You turned to see a boy with light skin and bright red hair bound back in a long braid. He wore the squire’s attire just like anyone else, though you picked out immediately that he had the service sewn to it in the pattern of 5 red spades on a field of white. Like the playing card. The very delicate ‘he’ lifted his chin proudly and stared at you with a subtle smile. Deep, ruby red eyes stared into yours appraisingly as he added.

“Long ago, there was an incursion here. But, unlike others it started in a deep crevice beneath where we stand. The Deamhain formed an empire below the earth, below everyone’s noses and eventually broke through. Without boring you, to this day there are Deamhain that live down there, waiting to get up. That is why, to this day, this coliseum acts as a secret fortress at the heart of Teor. That is why the Entrants of Teor come here to train, as they are also coming to defend the capital.”

“Wait… I’m gonna have to go down and fight Deam!? That’s-”

The boy smiled coyly. “The Deamhain are in a ceasefire with us. However, that doesn’t stop other critters from crawling up from below. That is what we test ourselves against,” He nodded to you and offered politely.

“My name is Roy.” Behind him stood a maid with bronze skin, light blonde hair and tall blonde bunny ears. She was waiting with the most professional of patience and attentiveness, in contrast to Kara who was getting distracted by insects flying around.

“I’m… Fin.” You returned your own name to him.

“Nice to meet you, Fin.” His eyes remained centred on you for a while, then he seemed satisfied enough to dip his head and turn to walk back to where he was training before. His red braided pony-tail swung behind him as he walked, like a tail. You watched him go, then turned to Kara and uttered.

“Don’t talk to that guy. In fact, don’t talk to anyone.”

“Kay.” Kara nodded, looking up and to the left as you demanded that. You sighed and just continued your exercises. Eventually Heilan joined you, her demeanour seeming different when she saw you in uniform. She approached, bowed her head and said.

“I’m sorry for taking you into custody. I was only doing what I had to do.”

“You did a bit more than that… but I get it.” She got closer, looking you over and bending forward to sniff the air curiously next to you. You groaned and slapped your forehead.

“Oh god, another one.” Kara’s ears perked and she smiled cluelessly in the background. Heilan’s expression softened as she added apologetically.

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were fem-” You rushed her and tried to stifle that next word with your left hand only to have the girl duck down and throw you over her shoulder onto your back. You wheezed and sprawled your arms out to your side. She looked down at you.

“Oh. Is it a secret?” You nodded. She nodded in turn.

“Then just say so.” Heilan offered you a hand that you took and allowed her to help you up. She eyed the training ground.

“I understand that.”

“How’d you know just by sniffing me out?” You questioned.

“I’m not even on my-”

“You smell like an aroused woman.” Heilan uttered very frankly with her lips close to your ear. Your face became bright red and Kara snickered knowingly behind you.

“N-no I don’t!” You argued.

“Ah.” Heilan looked at you with passive eyes in disbelief. She knew you were wrong but didn’t care to push the issue.

“I’m not.” You insisted again. Heilan looked up and nodded half-heartedly. You quickly changed the subject.

“How’s Jeane? The elf. I wanna know that she won't be mistreated.”

“Everyone here is disciplined. She is staying in the nearly empty womens dorm reading books and I’m to check on her consistently. You have nothing to worry about at all.” Heilan at least believed what she said, but you squinted sceptically and commented.

“Oh yeah? Real disciplined when someone tries to kill you after surrendering in a duel.”

Heilan looked at you sharply. “That was never going to happen. I made a mistake. It won't happen again.”

“You really think so? I’m not so sure. Who knows what could’ve happened? Aside from that, I doubt you won't let it happen again. Dogs like you are trained so strictly that I doubt you could even stop yourself from standing down after a human noble surrendered. Right?”

She gulped. “What do you know?”

“Elgan’s. Protectors of Teor. The stoic guardians of the North descended from wolves. You have loyalty to Teor bred into your brains.”

Heilan shook her head calmly. “I was trained by my Elders. We choose loyalty out of pride in our position. Our privilege above other beastfolk in this Kingdom and elsewhere. We are in a special position above other beastfolk elsewhere, as well. We have grown in number and are renowned for our ability to serve as Guards and Protectors. It is simply our culture that makes us.” You wondered how far you wanted to go with her, considering how much you actually knew.