Bending the Rules Pt. 12: Trial

"Hey baby, you can do better than him!"

"Hot mama, come over here and I'll show you a good time!"

"Oh good! I have volunteers for my surgery practice. You boys don't mind if I rearrange things a little bit, do you? Put your lips down on your ass where you talk out of?"

"Come this side of the bars, I'll have you singing a different tune."

One of them managed to latch on to the sleeve of her healer's robe. The guard started to reach over, but she held up a hand and looked at the man attached to it.

"Come on suger, give us a kiss," the man said, pulling at her.

She slowly reached for that hand and did something. The man shrieked, tried to pull back, and wailed in pain as she did something else.

"Jabu's balls, lady! That hurts!"

"You got some nerve, buddy. How big is your cock? Nice and girthy?"

"Yeah," he said, one octave too high to make it impressive.

"Then you're just one big pressure point to me."

She twisted, and something snapped.

"Aaaugh shit shit! Do no harm, lady!"

"Your kind are what's known as a 'cancer.' I will cut you out of society in a heartbeat."

"Fuuuuck," he moaned.

"G'bye boys. Be good to my little bard over there. Don't make me come give you a physical."

Even the guard gave her a wide berth on the way out.

*****

"Come with me, Nuru," the guard said.

He followed silently, and then went to a small interrogation room. A few minutes later, the Mayor came in.

"Fine mess you've left me in, Nuru. Demons, in the Home Town temple... I cut you a deal on your property, thinking there was no way you were going to be this much trouble. And I'm getting pressure like you wouldn't believe from the Rules Lawyers. They wanted me to throw the book at you, let you rot in prison for a year, maybe even more, and they're hounding me to let them into the prison to talk to you, cut you a deal. But everybody loves a redemption story, and I've decided that's what this town needs right now, so I'm doing it myself. It's been a hard season, Nuru. Lots of people have lost loved ones. People have gone rogue, people once trusted here - like Gram, respected member of the community and now an outcast. Just between us, I think you've actually done the High Factions a favor, giving them an enemy to unite against, and a way to rally their members. But you've got to keep your nose clean. Call it credits for good behavior."

"I'm listening."

"There are a number of tasks around town, things that would make such a difference but nobody wants to put out a quest for, and my budget's already tight. The people who would benefit don't have the money to make it worth anyone's while, and the charities all have bigger problems to solve out past the Gate. And by rights you could do more good there... if only you could leave. But since you can't, you can do these others to make this a more cheerful place, and help some good people along the way. What do you say? It'll get you out of that cell for a little while too."

"Where do I sign?"

The Mayor chuckled. "Nothing official, so that'll do. You'll start tomorrow. Every day you succeed, I'll count it as two days of your sentence served. Play it right and you'll be back on the road in one week. You're on the clock once visiting hours are up, and make sure you're back before sundown."

Nuru nodded.

"Good. And fantastic job on that armor Nuru, it's a work of art. I may have to start making official announcements myself more often."

"Glad it was worth the effort, sir."

"You're a good kid. Your parents would have been proud."

"Thank you."

"Time to get back to mayoring. Gotta earn those votes, you know."

"Of course."

The guard led him back to his cell. Nuru passed the time drumming on his legs, the wall, and the cell bars.

*****

He had a visitor the next day.

"Well well, if it isn't the class failure."

"Dubaku, what a surprise. Guard, can I reject a visitor? Or am I stuck with him for the whole ten minutes?"

"Uh... I'm not sure you can, actually. It's part of your sentence to get chewed out by the general public, I reckon."

"Oh, well, had to try. Come to gloat then, have you?"

"You know what they say. If you've got it, flaunt it."

"Let's hear it then. How's life treating you? Still maxed on that INT?"

"Oh, not too bad. You know, Level Eight. Joined the Brotherhood of Masego, passed my entrance quest with honors. On the fast track to the prestigious Sage Society of Mamad."

"Good to see you can use that giant stick up your butt to rise pretty high."

"Meanwhile, here you are, half my level, languishing in prison, rejecting all factions. They just want to help you, Nuru. But listen, if you find yourself in a hard spot, don't despair. Send me a letter and I'll let you write odes to my glory for a few coins a week."

"I'll start with your face, so people know what to expect when meeting you for the first time. What's a good rhyme for 'nausea'?"

"You aught to be more respectful of your betters. I have a heart, you know, I'm willing to throw you a bone from the table now and then. I even have connections that might get you out of prison faster. Say the word and I'll draw up an arrangement for you."

"You know what the difference between you and me is? Besides the fact that I've already gotten laid more than you ever will in your life, we will both be Level Fifty someday. And on that day our INT will be exactly the same. But I'll be the one with the perfect 20 in MAG."

Dubaku paused, frowning even harder. "We both know it's impossible to hit Level Fifty without a faction... so, those rumors are true; you sold your soul for a respec."

"At least I wasn't born without a soul."

"I tire of this. Do some research, give it some thought. You might think better of me next time we meet. I'll be the only one of our graduating class still bothering to talk to you."

"If you're on fire, I certainly will think more highly."

"Time's up," the guard said.

Dubaku left without another word.

*****

"Nuru, come with me."

The guard led Nuru out a side entrance to the prison. The Mayor was there, along with someone in a hooded cloak with a heavy veil.

"OK, Nuru, today's the day. You're to take your instructions from this... person. They will report back to me on your successes. I take my leave."

The Mayor turned the corner and vanished.

"Hello, Nuru," the hooded figure whispered. "I've been watching you."

"Hey Furaha."

"What!? How did you-!"

"Lucky guess," Nuru grinned.

"Liar. But don't worry, I have my ways, I'll find the truth soon enough."

"I hear you have a task for me."

"Two of them. Your first task is to go around to all the merchants, collect the mail, and deliver it to the post office. Come see me at my usual place after you're done, and we'll talk."

"You got it," Nuru said.

"...well? Time's wasting! Get to it."

"Hang on, I'm planning routes."

"Hmph."

On the surface of it, her last word had indicated annoyance and disapproval, but something about her tone...

"Are you smiling under there?"

"Mind your own business, Nuru," Furaha said playfully, turning to walk away.

(Lemme borrow that run spell will you?)

/All yours. Hardly use it myself, I think I mentioned; you might actually improve my proficiency on it.!Kafa Mara Nauyi!/

Nuru took off at a rate unreasonable, but theoretically possible, for a high-stamina build. He had to stop and wait for the cooldown several times, but he still made short work of the whole merchant district.

*****

"Almost done," Nuru said.

"You mean 'barely started', right?" Furaha said, back in normal clothes, eyebrows furrowing. "It's only been an hour."

"Nope, you heard me. Last stop, the post office. I thought I'd come by and see if you wanted to... inspect... any of these letters before I turn them in."

"Oh, you are *naughty*," Furaha said, looking at the envelopes with a wicked smile. "Well, well. Top marks for you. Go ahead and take them in."

"Don't you want to pop any of them open with a hot knife or something?"

"Funny thing, Nuru. Most correspondence isn't all that interesting. Anything that's really sensitive will be in code, or delivered by trusted courier, and there's a mountain of boring drivel to sort through. There's nothing to be done about the latter, and for the former I can learn far more just seeing who sent something, and to whom. A glance at the envelopes tells me nearly everything I want to know. I was just going to have you recite them back to me. There's no time to waste; get those letters to the office and get your cute ass back here as soon as you can. I have one last task for you before you go back."

A quick glance over his shoulder caught her biting one of her fingers as he rounded the corner.

*****

"Alright, so where do you want to..." Nuru said, skidding to a halt at the Klein Bottle desk.

Furaha was gone. There was a sign up saying, "Stepped out, be back shortly."

That couldn't be right. Nuru looked around, then went back to the room with the travel books.

Nuru scrolled back through his memory. Almost everything was exactly where it had been. Everything except - there. The wall had a small nook, where a book had been placed that hadn't been there before. There was a curtain over the wall; it had been pulled back last time, and a blank wall behind it. Nuru peeked around the corner of it - and the space wasn't blocked off anymore. He stepped through into a hallway, dimly lit with old-fashioned candles compared to the oil lamps and light-emitting crystals most people used nowadays. A velvety red carpet lined the floor, dampening the sound of his footfalls in the silence, and the softness caressed his feet in a surprisingly comfortable way. He reached the end of the hallway, sad to see the end of the carpet but delighted at the gleam of the polished wood floor at the end of it, and the intricate patterns that flitted in an out of visibility with the candles lining the walls and clustered on the floor. At one end of the room was a massive witch's cauldron-looking bowl, with steps leading up to the top.

Nuru gave a mental tug at his succubus.

/Oh... my. I like the look of this already./

(So it's not just me, this place is...)

/The home I've never had./

"Furaha?"

"Ah! Nuru! You're so fast. I keep mis-estimating your arrival time," her voice floated down from the cauldron.

"What can I say? I got excited."

"I hope you know how to slow down, too. Not arrive... too quickly."

"Not sure, but I'm a quick learner."

"Better be able to learn slow, too. Throw another log in that heating chamber, lose the clothes, and come up here."

Nuru found a small door at the base of the cauldron by a pile of logs, and threw one into the flames inside. He dropped all his clothes and went completely naked up the staircase. Furaha was in a milky water up to her chin that was gently fizzing with bubbles that Nuru couldn't see through.

"Come in, join me."

She drank him in as Nuru sat at the edge, put his feet in, and slowly eased himself down. There was a ledge under the water; he was only in it up to his belly button as he sat on it, but his feet went deeper than that towards the middle.

"Love what you've done with this place," Nuru said. "Looks real cozy."

"Thank you. It's my personal space. My inner sanctum, if you like."

"I very much do."

Furaha's eyes smoldered.

"Since you're here, mind washing my back?"

She turned, reached over the lip of the tub this clearly was, and brought back a sponge and a bottle.

"Gently now, and watch your hands," she warned sternly.

She stood up, facing away from him. He unstoppered the bottle using his teeth, and poured some soap on the sponge. He closed it up again carefully, and reached out to trail the contours of her shoulders, the shoulder blades, and her spine.

"Make sure you get it all," she murmured over her shoulder.

He filled in all the gaps, getting soap over every inch of her, going back over it as well just to make sure.

"That's enough. Now my legs."

She moved back to the side where Nuru had gotten in, laid down sideways, and covered her breasts with one arm, propping her head up with the other, and lifted her leg out of the water and up over his head. Nuru rinsed out the sponge, applied some more soap, and slowly ran it up and down her calf, one side and then the other; then the back. She stared at him intensely, face unreadable. She lifted the other leg and he repeated it. She giggled a little bit as he brushed the back of her knee.

"Ticklish?" he teased.

"Just a little. Now get my arms."

He held her hand as he rubbed her up and down the length of her slender arms. Her head fell back and her hair got wet, and an ear poked out.

"You're an elf?" Nuru asked.

"Half," she said dismissively, shaking her head in annoyance.

"What's the other half?"

"Plain ol' vanilla human. Sorry to disappoint."

"Well you're fifty percent elf, fifty percent human, and a hundred percent gorgeous," Nuru said.

"You'd think so, but I'm filthy in a way that will never wash off."

"Maybe you just need the right person to help you."

"That's the problem. Too many people have tried."

"Got nothing to lose with one more, is what I'm hearing," Nuru said.

She stood up, covering herself.

"You want to try it then? Wash me everywhere?"

"I'd love to."

She uncovered her breasts, and sat down at the higher end by the stairs. The water came a little higher on her, between her belly button and her breasts. She stretched her arms out to the sides and held on to the edge of the tub as Nuru soaped up the sponge again and carefully pressed it into her chest, trailing white suds across her skin, hanging from her nipples. He broke eye contact once in awhile, pretending to concentrate on what he was doing, but acutely aware of her half-lidded eyes on him.

"Almost done," he said.

She stood and bent over the edge, presenting her ass to him. He dutifully dragged the soapy implement across her, and trailed down the outside of her thighs. She dipped back down to rinse the soap away, then turned back to face him and stood up.

"You're sure?" she said, covering only her nethers with her hand.

"Absolutely," he said.

She sat back, and spread her legs. He washed the inside of her thighs, putting soap directly on his hands and kneading the flesh leading up to her sex. Her breath caught and she trembled a bit. He washed over the back of her hand.

"I- but-" she said, suddenly unable to form words.

"If you want me to stop, just say so."

"N-no."

She lifted her hand, shaking.

"You couldn't possibly want to..."

"Oh, I absolutely would. I'll use anything you want."

"Your hand? Your... tongue?"

"Gods yes. Please, let me do that for you."

"You b-better do a good job."

"Or your money back," Nuru said, sinking to his knees.

She laughed nervously. A chime sounded distantly. She frowned, shoved him away, and got up to towel off and dress.

"That's your cue to leave."

"But I haven't even started!"

She dashed out through the curtain, and he poked his head out to see if anyone was there. She waved at him frantically.

"Come on, shoo. You can't be here when I have a client. And you can't stay when the gateway is changed to a new destination."

"OK. See you tomorrow! Wait, is it getting dark outside?"

"Time flows a little differently in this place," Furaha said gravely.

"Woah. What kind of magic is that?"

"It's a psychological effect called 'time flies when you're having fun'," she intoned with a sassy little shake of her head.

"And there's your proof that you're not filthy. Because it worked on me too."

"You miss your curfew, you're gonna be in real trouble."

"Going!"

He dashed straight back to the prison.

"Just in time for gruel," the guard said.

"This stuff doesn't look so bad. I can actually identify the ingredients," Nuru said as he took his bowl back to the cell.

"We have the *finest* gruel," the guard said, sticking his nose up in the air.

He laughed, and Nuru laughed with him.

*****

The morning passed in a flash of fantasies and memories, featuring Furaha heavily.

"Visitor for Nuru. Man, you're popular for a demon collaborator."

Someone rushed up to the bars.

"Nuru... please, you have to help me."

"Mesi! Hi. What's the matter?"

"I fucked up. I mean, bad. Dayo and I are in trouble. I can feel her pulling away. Them pulling away. Gods, why is that so hard for me to get right!?" Mesi burst into tears.

"Woah, slow down, it's gonna be OK. What can I do, though? I'm in here for several more days."

"I know, I know. But when you get out... Nuru, I want to do it again, if you're willing. I want to have that birthday celebration again. You know what I mean."

"I... are you sure that's a good idea? How is that going to fix anything?"

"I can't stop thinking about what happened that night, when I fucked it all up. I had this panic attack, this wave of jealousy and fear. I had no idea it was coming. I- I'll explain the details later. It even could have been fine then. But after you left, and your trial I... said some things. I felt them in the moment but I've realized I don't truly mean them. And they hurt. Nuru, you don't know Dayo the way I do. I saw the look on... their face. And it's even harder now not to say 'her' face because she's started dressing that way again, her old goth clothes, the makeup. I've pushed her away, Nuru. I've hurt her, really hurt her this time. She doesn't want to be that person with me anymore, that non-gender-specific person. She wants to be 'she' again, and I'm really worried that she doesn't want to be with me anymore, maybe not even with women, I don't know. Nuru, they're the best thing that's ever happened to me, and dammit, I'm not going to lose them without trying everything. So yes, I'm sure. I want to show them that I want for Dayo what they want for themself."

"Wow. Well, I'm still not sure how it'll help, but I'm there for you. I'll come find you at the inn when I get out and we'll make a plan."

"Thank you... thank you so much," Mesi said, fresh tears cascading down her cheeks. "Here. I brought you a little something to help pass the time."

She passed him a wine bottle.

"Hey, now. That's not contraband is it?" the guard said.

"Surely not," Nuru said. "I think there's possibly too much for me to drink, you want to share it?"

"Oh, I just remembered, that's not contraband. I'll go grab my mug."

Mesi rolled her eyes, wiping her face with a handkerchief.

"I forget how simple you men are sometimes. Anyway, my break's over and the lunch rush is starting. I have to go."

"Sure, I understand. It's gonna be OK, Mesi."

"I hope so. Bye, Nuru."

"Bye."

*****

"It's time, Nuru," the guard said the next day.

He led Nuru out, made sure the hooded Furaha was there, then shut the door behind him.

"So does the Mayor not know who you are, or is it just the guards?"

"It's not always me in here."

"Care to explain?"

"I don't. Now, listen very carefully. You need to go to the alchemist shop and ask for the drain cleaner kit. He won't charge you for it. Then you need to go get the fountain working."

"The fountain? But I know nothing about how that works."

"I believe you will find that there is some debris stuck in the pipes. The Mayor wants it back up and running, so that is your task today. Any coins you find there are to go to the temple."

"And then come find you?"

"Correct. Put this crystal into the statue when you're ready to try it, and make sure you remove it if you have to put your hand back in; I might need that hand for something later. Good luck!"

Nuru fought his revulsion as he stared at the task before him. The fountain was slimy with mold, the water in the pool filthy with dirt and leaves and who knew what else, and it stank horribly. He looked down at his clothes and decided to go as minimalist as possible; he ducked behind the armor shop and picked out some discarded short trousers that looked sturdy, and changed out of his current outfit. Going back to the fountain, he stripped down to the trousers and folded his clothes carefully to the side, then hopped in.