Drachne Ch. 04

It was two days since Finia had swept onto the property, taking up the role of Lady Leolian.

Two days since she had started political warfare with the irritating elf known as Lady Trescotte. The smiling bitch who was absolutely determined to get her hooks into her brother's estate.

Despite the way she'd spoken to Elebert, the bunny was out of her depth. She'd greeted the woman as if mistaking her for a member of the staff, and refused to apologise for the mistake.

That had set the ground rules, but Finia was still nervous every time someone checked her bed for traps, or food for poisons. She was certain that an assassination attempt was simply a matter of time.

The bunny held out her arms as two of her handmaidens began wrapping her in a silken toga. Elebert stood impassively without so much as a glance at her chest, drolling on.

"Lord Ereoli is expecting to share breakfast in the southern gardens with you this morning."

Finia's ears drooped as she remembered the brother of her master. An arrogant little twat who was expecting to inherit the property. He was the heir unless she turned around and had kits.

She hadn't met him in person yet, but he had left a letter of greeting. Full of little lines like hoping she would enjoy using her master's property. Things masquerading as kindness whilst insisting that Ereoli didn't see her as anything more than a cheap toy.

She wished Leolian was here to tell her what to do. She hated politics with a passion. All the manipulating, and trading of favours.

Yet, she was still temple trained. She had an inkling of what to do.

"When did Lord Ereoli propose to interfere with my schedule?" The bunny snapped angrily, knowing her handmaidens were a guaranteed avenue of spreading gossip among the staff.

Elebert stuttered, apparently not expecting her response, "Sorry, m'lady. As it was your breakfast, I had not -"

"Silence." She sneered dismissively, and pulled at her toga, "This one itches. I would like to go shopping today for some decent clothes. Oh, the brother, right. I will eat my breakfast alone, in prayers for my master. If Lord Ereoli is insistent, he may join me."

The butler bowed his head meekly, "As you wish, m'lady. There is but one appointment for today that cannot be rearranged. Empress Tresian has requested to meet the Lady Leolian."

If her stomach was not empty, her bowels might have tried to move.

Finia blinked her marbled eyes lazily, feeling one of her handmaidens beginning to brush her hair, as another knelt and inspected her toes, clipping and polishing the nails of the sensitive feet.

She pursed her lips thoughtfully, "Am I to attend the palace, in such a poor fitting outfit as this one?"

"Her majesty will be inspecting the repairs to the western wall. She is expecting to see you there, m'lady." Elebert said politely, "A more... Rugged... Outfit would not be unexpected. Might I suggest the wolfskin shawl? Paired with one of your many magical staffs. Perhaps the salamander tail with eye of orc?"

He was gently advising her to look like a warrior. Her husband was a guard. It made sense that a certain amount of ferocity would be expected of her... Though, owning more than one magical staff was news to Finia.

A single magic staff was worth a king's bloody ransom.

So, her estate wasn't just powerful because her husband served the crown. They were also responsible for funding when the empress wanted to do anything that might stretch the coffers of the Golden Mountain.

She had gone from bullied slave to one of the most powerful women in the elven empire, overnight.

She needed to make a show of owning it.

"Arrange for a tailor to bring me a bunneko-cut of a basque and riding dress once my prayers are complete." Finia ordered, and tapped at her chin, "I presume that there is a space for me to practice my alchemy, somewhere away from the main house? I would visit it, once I have spoken to the empress. I... I think I will have luncheon on the wall. Please inform her grace."

Elebert failed to properly hide his smile as he bowed, "Of course, m'lady."

He left, and one of her handmaidens began to help her into some ridiculously high-heeled shoes. She immediately kicked them off, and pointed to the riding boots. Still high-heeled, but more warlike.

The woman apologised, and fetched them.

She really hated this way of letting everyone else take care of her. She could have been dressed half an hour ago, if she was allowed to do it herself. Every movement of the women caring fir her was slow and exaggerated. It wasn't just a show of grace, either.

Scared of so much as scratching her.

Yet, this was what she'd been bought for. She would take it as it was, as much as she resented being purchased. It wasn't all bad, she was rich and pampered, now.

"Inform the chef that I'd like some lucerne for breakfast, this morning." She stated, mouth nearly watering at the idea of a treat she'd only tasted once before. "Remind him that I'm a herbivore. My stomach still hurts from when he snuck some bacon into my salad yesterday. He does it again, I'll drop the resulting pellet in his bed, instead of the water closet."

One of the women curtsied, "M-m'lady."

"Use my threat." She glared and then waved a hand to dismiss them. She needed to remain a little unpredictable. She wasn't going to completely adopt the persona expected of her.

Leolian had liked her attitude.

She held out a hand, and was helped to her feet. She waited as her toga was smoothed for her, and then breezed out of the room, making her servants run to catch up to her.

She moved quickly through the mansion, using the smell of offerings and incense to guide her towards the private chapel. Trying to pretend to have already memorised the location.

When she arrived, she could smell a man, but he was keeping to the shadows where she couldn't see him. Her near-blind bunny eyes not even showing her a silhouette.

She knelt by one of the statues, to the god of gambling, luck, and general trickery. She bowed her head, nose twitching, and offered the traditional prayer to the god.

"An interesting choice, m'lady." The man spoke, after she finished, "Are you an acolyte of Macuil?"

She smiled as warmly as she dared, speaking in a reverent tone, "He is the Great Bunneko, sir. It is not too surprising that one of his children would follow him, is it?"

Truth was, Finia didn't give a shit about any of the gods. However, she wanted the association with trickery, and the god being a bunneko made him the perfect choice for her.

She knew enough to fake devotion to any of the gods. She could pass as a zealot of this one without much effort.

The man stepped a little forward, becoming a blur at the edge of her vision, "May I join you, mistress?"

"If you insist upon it."

He hesitated, "I would not dare, mistress. I am but a caretaker for this place, a servant devoted both to the gods, and to your ladyship."

She apparently had her own personal priest.

"Did you train at the temple, sir?" She asked quietly. He still smelled like an elf to her, but the arrogance was missing. He had a touch of the timidity she associated with some of the lesser temple boys.

Finia, despite her exotic nature, always had standing in the temple. She was trained as a companion, so she had been encouraged to be separate from the others. She'd made friends with other exotics, but she hadn't blended much with the other trainees of the temple.

The elf chuckled softly, "I am not much older than m'lady. I believe I completed my seminary in the same year that she became available as a companion. I knew of you, as we all did. I am honoured to serve."

"What's your name, sir?" She kept her voice haughty.

"Enuil, m'lady." The elf gave a short bow.

Finia clicked her tongue quickly, a bad habit from when she was thinking something through. A show of anxiety, when she couldn't afford to show any fear at all.

She was... Too alone.

Finia had thought about buying one of her old friends as a handmaiden. Yet, she'd seen the way no one respected her, already. She needed to solidify her position before she annoyed anyone with a touch of favouritism towards an exotic.

"How long have you served my master, Enuil?"

"I have not." The man replied, "That is to say, this shrine was unkept until his lordship decided to take a mistress. I have never had the pleasure of meeting his lordship. My tenure began yesterday, m'lady."

Leolian had obtained a priest for her. Sort of sweet, in a misguided sort of way. Yet, though she wasn't a devotee, the gift was certainly going to come in handy. She only needed to make a couple tweaks.

"Well, as I assume then that this shrine was not of my master's design, then I would ask you to reconsecrate it to the Great Bunneko. Place the trickster front and centre." She instructed him, "After my prayers, of course."

"As you wish, mistress."

"Madame Leolian." She corrected him. It was a small thing, but if she could get the staff to use her title instead of honorifics, then she might be able to improve the deference to which they saw her.

"As you wish, Lady Leolian." The priest bowed.

She sniffed, nose twitching. One of her ears flicked back and forth as she impatiently tried to wait for her approaching breakfast. She wanted to bounce off the walls in excitement as the lucerne neared her.

She'd only ever had cheap grains and packed pellets at the temple. Greenery was too hard to come by. It would wilt before it could be presented. She could smell the dew and dirt from the garden on it.

She'd eaten lucerne exactly once before, at a festival. Cookie had spoiled them all rotten, buying everyone one bowl of their favourite foods. Mostly as an excuse to buy something for Raltin, whilst pretending not to be obsessed with the incubus, but it had been sweet of her all the same.

Finia had got drunk that night, and hung off a balcony upside down when the fireworks had been going off. She giggled and laughed, watching the sky fill with brilliant reds and golds, and had felt at peace.

"I wish to show my devotion." Finia lied, "Which minister is responsible for the local festivals? I would sponsor a parade to Macuil."

A festival to the trickster would be fun and games. Everyone would dress up in costumes, being certain to hide their faces. Wedding bands would be forgotten, as lovers danced away without fear in every corner of the city.

Food would line the streets, as fireworks filled the skies above.

Finia would be able to slip away and see her friends.

"I will endeavour to find out." The priest acknowledged her, "I am quite certain that many of the local businesses would be excited by such a prospect, and approach the House Leolian for a partnership, Madame. The temple would also be interested."

She nodded, "You would need to prepare a prayer to open and close. Would you like me to leave the details in your hands?"

She would make this her test for him. A test of both loyalty and his organisational skills. He would need to show some logistical nous, but also the political wherewithal to know when to bother her with minutiae.

"I would be honoured, Madame Leolian."

She went back to ignoring his presence as the food finally arrived. Her tiny tail flicking around like a vibrating ball as the handmaidens laid out an extravagant platter in front of her.

She felt like screeching as she had to wait through the deliberately slow tasting of each item by one of her handmaidens. The silver chopsticks showed no signs of poison, and there were no ill effects after twenty minutes.

Finia snatched up her chopsticks, quickly rolling a branch around and getting it coated in whatever the chef had drizzled over it before shoving it into her mouth and puffing her cheeks.

Her teeth chattered as she chewed it excitedly, revelling in the dense and delicious feed, until her tongue managed to identify the tastes of the oil on her salad.

She hucked it out quickly, splatting the greenery onto her plate.

"That wasn't very ladylike." A man laughed.

"Water." She croaked, glaring around, "And somebody find the fucker who just tried to kill me."

Her staff stiffened and she slammed her chopsticks into the ground, impaling them into the wood. "The chef!"

She turned her head, gratefully sipping cold water from a copper cup as her handmaiden tipped it for her. The newcomer swam into her vision as he knelt beside her and bowed his head in apology.

She ignored him, for now.

She was somewhat surprised that Lord Ereoli had deigned to join her. He was still the heir of the estate. Technically speaking, she was in charge, but as everything was expected to pass to him, his influence was more than her own.

Finia turned slowly as the chef was dragged by two guards and tossed onto hands and knees in front of her. The elf touched his head to the ground, "Mistress. Is there something amiss? By my honour, nothing could possibly have been poisoned in my kitchen! No one would dare."

"Except you." She snarled.

"M-mistress?"

Finia's foot began to anxiously drum against the floor as she felt her stomach cramping and tried to maintain the tough exterior of a warrior lady when she desperately wanted to shit herself. Her master hadn't given her an easy role to fill.

She indicated the plate she had eaten from, "Describe the ingredients."

"F-fresh lucerne hay, from the south garden, m'lady. The dressing is oil and oceanic vinegar." The chef stammered, not seeing his mistake.

Finia grabbed him by the back of the neck, both her ears dropping backwards as her voice dropped an octave, "What oil, motherfucker!?"

The chef's skin prickled, and he whispered his answer, "Goose, m'lady."

She released him, standing upright with the assistance of one of her handmaidens. She didn't want to kill him. She didn't even know if she had it in her to kill... But she couldn't allow this kind of mistake.

It would kill her, when her intestines became clogged.

"Should you be rendered into oil, sir?" She snarled, but he didn't answer her. Just lay prone and quivering, awaiting her judgement. She was a first class lady, no one could dare to advise her, save her absent butler.

It had to be her choice, and if she hesitated too long, he would be literally turned into oil. Her word was law, no matter how cruel or unnecessary it was.

Finia sighed, ears popping for a moment before they drooped, "Put him in the stocks for a day. I need an exotic chef. Make inquiries. I expect an answer before lunch... And... Give this to someone who can actually eat it."

She didn't know if she had any stocks on the estate. She supposed they would build them, if she didn't.

The bunneko drifted with the help of her handmaidens to the teahouse. She greeted the woman in charge and asked for a particular set of herbs. It would have to do until she had a proper alchemy lab.

Her stomach really hurt.

---

Suleos helped Sindi into the rented carriage, before sitting down beside her on the cushioned bench. "It will take us half a day to get to Golden Mountain, and we'll have to go through the Tangles to get there."

The elf shivered, "The Tangles? My father always said not to go there. That the forest isn't safe."

"True, it isn't." The unigrad admitted, "The forest can be confusing, and is occupied by bandits and worse. However it is the fastest route, and you have me by your side."

Sindi smiled, "You must have been this way a lot. Was it always like this?"

"It was a desert once." He recalled, "But even then, it was a dangerous patch of earth. It was called the Sea of Souls, then. Not because there had ever been water, but because many travellers went into the dunes, but few arrived. As if they had drowned."

She shivered, "That's incredibly creepy."

"There was a time it was safe." He tried to reassure her, "It isn't inherently cursed. There was a queen who ruled over it, in the early years of the Golden Mountain. She ensured the safe travel of all who lived in her forest. Protected her city. Strangers who entered the forest always emerged, but they could never find her city, not without a guide."

Sindi lay down into his lap, looking up at him, "What was the city?"

"Their language was not a spoken one. They communicated by scents." Suleos chuckled, "I would say a best translation of the city name might be... The smell of dew during a winter sunset."

"That's just pretty." Sindi grinned, "Did you ever see it?"

He nodded, "I lived there, for a time. It was a queer place by the standards of today. It wasn't a city of races. It wasn't mostly elven, or human, or anything of the like. They saw the elves isolating themselves into the empire of the Golden Mountain as... Evil. All were welcome there, but that was normal, in that time."

"Mongrels were... Common?" Sindi asked in shock.

He nodded, "Common enough we didn't really have a word for it. The purity of races was re-established later. In that era, I was strange for being purebred. They called me sunblood, like someone might be called beastkind, but purity is what they looked down on."

The elf blinked in amazement, "How... Weird. What was the queen like? She hate you?"

"She attempted to impregnate me, once." He smiled in amusement, "She was an arachne. Thought an immortal eggbearer was a wise idea. It didn't work, but we were amicable."

Sindi glared jealously, "Guess I need to get used to your tales of lovers."

"Queen Vessimultik was not a lover. You need not feel such things for her. It was a practical experiment, which failed." Suleos tried to reassure her, and kissed her forehead, "You are mine, my dear."

She smirked slowly, "Feeling up to proving that?"

"In a carriage?" He said with surprise. It was true it wouldn't be the first time he had used the transport that way, but it was more adventurous than he expected her to be.

Sindi nodded firmly, "I want to fall asleep in your arms. Safe from the Tangles. But I'm not that tired, yet. If... We did... Then I might be."

She was adorable, even when proposing something carnal.

Sindi had been clear since his last return. She saw the two of them as soulmates, destined to be together. That she was a soothsayer meant that even if it had not been fate before, her desire alone made it likely that the gods would change it so that it was.

Suleos kissed her forehead gently, "If it is your want."

"No, but I can't have exactly what I want." She smiled lopsidedly at him, and sat up slowly. Her soft lips brushing his cheek, "What I want, is an eternity by your side. But I'm mortal, and you're not. So... I'll take what I can get."

The elf stood up, using one hand to brace herself against the rocking of the vehicle across the uneven tracks, pushing up on the ceiling. From there, she undid her belt, dropping away her skirt, before clumsily beginning to undo her buttons.

He gestured for her to come closer, but she shook her head, "Just... Relax. Enjoy the show."

Sindi's ears were tinged with red in embarrassment as she fumbled with her clothing, undressing herself for him. Revealing her smooth skin, flawless in so many ways.

Despite the life that she had lived, she was still so soft. A delectable treat, untainted by the experiences of her life. The impossibility of it made her seem all the more perfect to him.

"Um... Tell me what you like, about what you see." She said nervously, her shirt just beginning to slip over her shoulders, and slide to the ground.

"You are beautiful, my temptress." Suleos mused quietly, eyes greedily drinking in the image of the elf. "I love that you are light, that I can carry you in my arms. I adore your breasts, and crave to one day be between them, if you'd allow it."

Her eyes widened and she lifted one of them nervously, "Your spiral... Thing... Between these? Would that... Feel good?"