Seek out Teuta

Jeane decided to trust your instincts and seek out the Knight, Teuta. You got up out of the bath first. Kara caught you and pulled your arm until you bent down. She motioned back cautiously.

“Watching. Someone. Standing and listening.” She informed you.

You let out a deep sigh and walked into the small room that held all of the cubbies of belongings. Your clothing was folded nicer than you left it. You tied your hair, dried off and dressed yourself, leaving the armour behind so that you’d have a shot at catching who it was. It seemed like they had just left, according to Kara.

You left into the hall and saw Marrien’s back a long way down, almost out. You rushed to catch her, pulling on her arm to turn her. Marrien was a bit taller than you by a couple inchest. You eyed her chest. She was also stacked.

“Hey.”

She looked surprised, then relaxed and took in a breath. “Eeeek~ a man in the bath~” She uttered theatrically, cupping her hands around her mouth. She made sure to not be loud but you grabbed her, pushed her against the wall and covered her mouth with your hand, anyway. As you two stood like that for a few seconds, she stared down at you curiously. You shocked your head and let her go.

“You heard.”

“I did.” She admitted.

“How long?”

“How long did I know? The whole time? I can recognize my daughter, dear.” She offered, sounding a bit incredulous that you even assumed you could trick her in such a way. Your eyes trailed down to her state of dress.

“What, this? Sometimes we enjoy ‘playing’ in unusua-”

“I- I didn’t ask! Shut up!” You blushed deeply. Marrien giggled.

“Where do we go from here?”

Your mother dropped the whimsical tone. She looked you over appraisingly. “I’m sorry for saying that you were only running away from marriage. To be honest, I was frustrated that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me what you wanted. But… were you being truthful when you said you would be fine getting married?”

“Not fine.” You muttered.

“But I also don’t hate it.” Staring at her very harshly you asked.

“You gave up on my brother. I’ve told you so many times that I know he’s still alive somewhere.”

“Honey, it’s impossible… Even with John-” She paused for a moment and rolled her eyes.

“Especially with John, even if he survived the incursion, all of the Mages and Scholars I’ve spoken to have told me that it is impossible to survive… after. They described things very not promisingly. I thought about my son, alone in those places for so long and made myself so sick and unhappy thinking about what he would be going through if he were alive that… it was just easier to believe that…” She stopped, biting her lip and covering her mouth and nose with her palm. Marrien looked away, down the hall to see a small gray face and two red ears poking out. You quickly pulled her into a hug.

“I can’t forget. That’s the only difference. I know he’s alive, and I know he’s probably having a hard time and for that reason I NEED to find him. I’ll do everything. You just have to not stop me. Can you do that?”

She sniffled and nodded. “You’re so reliable… I believe that if you say you can do it like this, you can do it. But… So long. If he’s been alive for so long in-” It was obvious to you that she did not want to think about that possibility. To those outside of the Layers, being caught in them was worse than a **** sentence. In some cases you could become the plaything of Deam. In other cases you would simply wither in a place that can not support you with no logic and no way out. The Academy’s study of Layers for the past decade or so had been entirely bankrolled by Marrien, so she was party to all the details, even the more secret ones.

“Mother. Mama, look at me.” You pulled yourself apart from her so that you could lock eyes. She nodded to show she was listening.

“He hasn’t forgotten about us. He wants to come home. I know it. I’m gonna do it. I promise. I… just need to get my actual emblem and get the hell out of this city.”

“Those ladies… they are nice.”

“I know.” You nodded.

“I believe they’ll be of great help to you, if not for any other reason than support.”

You stuck your tongue out and let her go, stappen back to lean against the opposite wall in the hall.

“Seems like I’m the one offering all the support. These girls are helpless.”

Marrien laughed, wiping her eyes. “You know I have an eye for people. It’s how I picked Sam.”

You nodded slowly. “You gonna tell him?”

“I… probably should. Otherwise he’ll keep looking and you know how competent he is. We came all the way here, after all.”

“Will he listen?”

“He will. He’s here for me.”

You sighed. “Tell daddy I love him, then. I just… I need to do this.” You looked up sharply.

“Also… stop letting him get so fat!”

Marrien fanned herself. “I can’t help it, dear~ There’s just nothing like having such a big man on-”

“Holy Mara, shut up!”

Marrien grew serious. She crossed her arms under her voluptuous chest and asked. “Plan?”

“Get an emblem. Low. I got complacent. Something got switched and the exam bar raised. Ended up with gold instead of bronze.”

Marrien nodded and pushed off the wall, pacing while placing her knuckle to the bottom of her lip.

“Some variables can’t be accounted for. Good idea, though. Bronze allows mobility without the attention of Silver and Gold.”

“I didn’t want people seeking me out while I was doing my thing.” Marrien nodded approvingly at that. You continued.

“I’m provisional Gold. I’m gonna try to reduce my grade.”

“You should think about just accepting the grade and absorbing the attention. Since your Father and I will be on board, we can keep the Prince from knowing anything is wrong.”

“I know you two can.” You sighed.

“It’s something to consider. In fact, it’s something I may be on the path to doing, regardless.”

“Oh?”

“The elf-”

“That’s an Aeldeam. Did you know?” Marrien informed.

“What? No.”

“I don’t think it’s bad, just something to consider. I’m not typically wrong. She seems sweet. There were many elven schisms. The first was the split between the Central Plains elves and those that settled the northern forests across the Sea of Ael.”

“Mom, you’re giving me a history lesson.” You interjected.

Marrien rubbed her eyes. “Sorry. Essentially, Aeldeam, as is suggested in their name, are collaborators with the Deam. They summon them and contract them, often with their own blood. Sometimes they don’t have a choice in the matter.”

“She sucks the colour out of things.” You informed.

‘Typically it’s without even trying.”

“That’s common. The common Patron of the Aeldeam is-”

“I don’t care, just gimme the important facts.”

Marrien smirked. “It’s a known quality. Some have it worse than others. The entire forest where they live is said to be drained of colour. Blacks and greys. I’ve heard it called eerie and beautiful in the same sentence… much like its people. From what I understand, they would be given special talismans, cases, things that would draw their power and prevent it from leaking out if they were to travel.”

“She thought she had that, but it was a fake. Some guild Clerk fucked her over near her home and she didn’t know it until she got here.”

Marrien clicked her tongue. “That’s a nasty trick. Someone’s trying to get that girl killed.” She thought for a few moments.

“I’ll look into it using our connections. What’s her name?”

“Jeane. I didn’t get her last name.”

“I’ll see what I can do. What about the beastfolk?” She asked curiously.

“Just some crazy stray hooker. Seems loyal so I’ll keep her along until she bites me.”

Marrien laughed. “Alright.” She stepped forward and hugged you tightly.

“Gonna keep pretending to be a boy?”

“Probably.” You murmured into her chest.

“Good call. Girls have it rough on the road. But… as you’ve experienced you look like quite a lady-killer when you do yourself up like a man so be careful of Foxes.”

You squinted. “Foxes?”

“It’s just an old expression. That’s a woman that’ll take advantage of any man she comes across. Not sure where it comes from.”

You shrugged. “Thanks mom.” You squirmed out of her grasp and walked back to the changeroom. She blew you a kiss as you walked away and left through the door to the outside. Returning to the changing room you found two girls pretending to have just finished changing. Kara grabbed your cuirass and presented it to you as an offering.

“For you.”

“Thanks.” You took it and fastened it. You eyed both of their ears.

“Well, I’m guessing you both heard everything.”

Jeane’s cheeks darkened. “You really don’t seem to care.”

“I don’t.” You nodded.

“I’m supposed to protect you from Foxes.” Kara offered bluntly.

“Hah?” You stared at her in disbelief.

“I will!” She insisted.

“Sure thing.” You waved your hand dismissively, fastening the rest of your armour and your boots.

“Let’s get going. Finding that Knight isn’t gonna be straightforward, because we can’t just walk up and ask.”

“Any lead?” Jeane asked.

“Yeah. She’s sponsoring her own Hero for the selection that’s coming up. I think that if we can find her anywhere that’s away from places we do NOT wanna go, it’s probably there.”

The coliseum in Teor was, according to your Mother’s uninvited history lessons, built by Gnolls. When Gnolls had taken the city and much of the northern continent for a short few decades they altered much of the architecture. Teor adopted it for themselves and claimed they thought of it. It was described as the moment that the title of ‘barbarian’ passed from humans to gnolls on the continent, and the rest is history. The tall structure was an ancient star fortress with crenulation and ramparts and everything. Each arm held different rooms and amenities. Then, stuck in the centre was a slope of seats that had been modified and iterated on over centuries and the actual coliseum stage itself, which had not changed much at any point. There was supposedly a second structure beneath the coliseum itself with a maze of passages, shops and dwellings which were occupied by slaves, beastfolk that did not like that sun, or who would otherwise not be appreciated out in the sun.

You kept both Jeane and Kara close as you approached the massive structure. It went dark for a moment and you could hear the echo of the crowd all around as you passed under and arch, then the torchlight kicked in and you were in an open enough space for it to feel like you were outdoors, but there was a tall ceiling held up by massive arches that could each be their own building with their own rooms or shops inside. People were thinning as they were funnelled off into different sections. You stopped in an open space and looked around.

“Dammit… Gonna need to ask for directions. I think if we get to the training area we’ll be in a good spot from th-” You flinched, stepping out of the way as someone almost bumped into you. It was a small girl with small grey beastfolk ears that were pointed down. She had short black hair and wore baggy clothing that was patched together, though her legs were showing. She was wearing tight sandals.

“Oops.” You kept turning to face her as she did the same.

“Sorry, Mister.” She grinned and gave a salute, backing away.

Kara immediately started growling in your ear and pointing. “Thief!”

You squinted and caught your gold emblem being held in a thin, dexterous black tail. She had been in the process of trying to stuff it down the back of her shirt when she was caught by Kara’s advanced senses. She gulped, then quickly turned and sprinted nimbly through the crowd, weaving and making ground quickly.

“Oh great! How are we going to-” Before she could finish complaining you picked up Kara onto your back and darted forward from a dead stop.

“Ahhh!” Kara screemed. You were moving incredibly quickly and jerkily.

“Stop complaining and tell me where she is!” You shouted back.

Kara held her breath for a moment, nodded, then swallowed and started giving vague directions. As you followed them you ended up somehow sliding in front of the beastfolk thief.

“Erk…” She stared at you pensively.

“You stared back. Look at the thing you stole, idiot.”

She seemed confused, then reached back, took it out and looked at it. Things felt tense as there seemed to be a stand off, then suddenly as quickly and dexterously as she had darted away, she was on the floor prostrating with her rear and tail up in the air. Her hands were folded before the emblem that she was presenting submissively.

“T-terrible sorry sir.” She mumbled into the ground.

“Supid!” Kara shouted. She was still on your back and happy to be there. You dumped her abruptly and stepped forward.

“Kara, go grab Jeane. Don’t wanna get separated.” You asked delicately.

“Kay.” Kara nodded and bounced off into the crowd.

You got down and took the emblem back, staring at her prostrating form. “What do we do about this?” You wondered out loud. It was a rhetorical question.

“What are you? A little-”

“Ra-Rat! Eep!” She looked up hopefully, but slammed her face back down the moment she saw how gravely annoyed you were.

“If I’m feeling nice, I’d let you be my **** for a bit and have you show me around. If I’m not… Well, let’s just say I can be a bit of a bully. Let’s see…”

***

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