Out of the Ashes Ch. 03

"Let's go, it sounds like Agatha could need some help with them," Alexia suggested and with a smile both got up to their full height.

The older hermaphrodite towered above Margaret, the blonde's eyes just level with Alexia's immense bosom, still barely restricted by the tight training outfit of hers.

"Maybe you want to change your clothes first," Margaret smiled, despite blushing as she looked over the toned abs rippling through the fabric. "You know to... blend in, as you put it," she concluded and grinned.

Soon after the two were standing in front of the familiar revolving door.

The whole tavern was dark and dead silent besides the sounds coming from the kitchen. No sight of the owner, which was a bit odd.

He seemed to leave the place as soon as they closed but both assumed Manuel would return sometime later, but it doesn't look like it, which was a bit suspicious to Alexia.

Margaret was the first to enter and was greeted by the sight of the two energetic twins trying to climb to the top of a tall cabinet to reach something from above.

"Look who finally got released out the dungeon!" Remy mused instantly shifting his attention towards Margaret as she entered, letting his brother literally hanging as he walked out from underneath him, while he was dangling over the ground.

"Remy! You idiot get back here!" Ricky shouted but his brother didn't really care, like usual he only had eyes for the blonde beauty.

"How did you take care of your drag-," he wanted to joke about Alexia, but the teenage boy's snarky comment died down in his throat as he saw the mentioned "dragon" enter as well.

Alexia took a deep breath, trying to ignore the comment but already started to feel her own prejudices against him reaffirmed and squinted at Remy angrily.

"Hello, my dears, so glad you finally decided to join us ... in our madness," Agatha grinned.

The chubby chef peaked out from behind a shelf of cooking books and looked genuinely delighted to see them, both of them.

Ricky was still hanging on the easily 8 ft high cabinet and tried to reach what looked like an extra wide pan.

"Yeah, we heard you ... and it sounded like you were having fun, so... I hope you don't mind another four helpful hands," Margaret chuckled and looked at the struggling twin while his brother stood in front of her.

"I certainly wouldn't mind a hand here!" Ricky sighed, still hoping his brother would come back, but pretty much everyone knew Remy wouldn't, atleast as long as Maggie was around.

Alexia stepped up and grabbed Ricky's hand, lifting him easily from the cabinet and back to the ground with one hand before reaching up to hand him the pan he struggled to get.

"Thanks, Lexi. Wow. You are ... really as strong as you look," he gasped partially in awe and in fear.

It took him some time to get more comfortable around the 8'6" warrior but he was still vary for the most part, just like his brother. Still, Alexia liked him way more than his more extrovert - and in her opinion - annoying brother.

"You're welcome. So... uhm... how can I help?" Alexia asked, feeling a bit awkward as seemingly all four were looking at her.

"Oh! An eager one. Here, you can help me with cutting onions. I already look like I cried for two hours straight," the constantly cheerful chef mused from behind the bookshelf.

Alexia looked over to Maggie, with Remy still closely around her. The blonde princess smiled and nodded softly, signalling it would be alright and with that the taller hermaphrodite joined Agatha while Margaret stayed with the two twins - something Alexia definitely didn't appreciate, but she promised to try to be a bit more open minded.

The already slightly uncomfortable incognito soldier just started to cut onions as she was told, but still focused on what the three out of sight teenagers were talking and doing, to jump in a moment's notice if necessary.

Her small talk with Agatha was minimalistic at best, far more than usually and the chef had to be the one to keep the conversation up.

"Calm it down, this is no competition," Agatha chuckled, seeing how expertly Alexia worked with the small kitchen knife.

"Uhm, oh, sorry. I just got ... carried away," she responded and faked a smile.

Agatha was the only human she spoke to regularly, there was something to her friendly, almost motherly way of talking that made Alexia forget about her usual grudges against humans, but still, by just being here, she felt totally out of place.

"Are you ok? You usually don't care much about ... socializing," the chef continued to point out the obvious question.

"Yeah, well, I got convinced it might be worth giving a try ... sometimes," Alexia mumbled and frowned at Remy once more turning into a comedian around Margaret and earning a laughter from her.

"I see. It sounds like a good idea though. Everyone wants to belong somewhere, and you are here for a while by now."

"I know," Alexia responded drily, looking down at the recipe in front of her and taking more veggies to cut down for the stew they were preparing. While the others seemingly started to cook some fish in the pan she pulled from the cabinet.

"It's not any of my business. But you two aren't here because you wanted to, right? You were running away from something, or someone," the elderly human said in a cautious tone.

"Can't say. But trust me, I wouldn't be here if we got a choice," the hermaphrodite's voice was less focused, her mind slowly drifting off to the events leading to them getting here in the first place.

"Is it really that bad?"

This took Alexia a bit by surprise. Would any other human ask this question she would have immediately answered with "Yes", but saying this to the one person that showed unconditioned hospitality ... felt somehow wrong?

"I... don't know," the former commander responded varily.

"Look, I get that it must be hard to live with humans and I know we can be cruel sometimes, but ..." the grey-haired cook tried to calmly explain how she and probably many humans felt, but Alexia interrupted her almost instantly.

"No 'but', I literally did nothing wrong to you all, still I get treated like I got the plague," she angrily laid down the, in relation to the rest of her, tiny kitchen knife and sighed to calm herself down.

A short awkward pause followed with Agatha looking up to the uncharacteristically emotional looking hermaphrodite, trying to find clues why she acted so differently today. Eventually the human broke the silence.

"It's not anything you personally did. It's what you are standing for. You are the epitome of what many of us really don't want to be reminded at. Not like that's your fault, but still, try to understand why we humans often act like this," Agatha spoke slowly, clearly but still resolute, her gaze not wavering for a moment when Alexia looked down to her.

"And what am I standing for? I tried to be polite, but ..." unexpectedly the smaller human interrupted the in-comparison hulking woman.

"Sorry, Lexi, but you really didn't. You see these ... idiots as justification that your way of thinking is right. That you are superior. That we are your enemy. And frankly, are not much better than the drunkards calling you out for something you never did ... generalizing all because of the deeds of few."

Agatha never raised her voice but the silence that followed was only partially interrupted by the twins and Margaret's lively conversation and laughter.

This wasn't anything Alexia wanted to hear, even much less so coming from a human. But there was no denying that this older woman, this human, Agatha, spoke with wisdom out of many more years of life experience.

Alexia thought for a while on how to respond, knowing that the comparatively tiny cook was right, but her pride didn't allow her to fully confess it.

"You... aren't wrong. Still, there are many humans that can't be reasoned with. Look at Manuel, I barely spoke to him and he hates my guts. Even immediately after meeting m-"

"But still he allowed you to stay, didn't he? And trust me, would you be in the same position as he is, you'd probably be far worse".

Alexia rolled her eyes and sighed angrily while continuing to cut down their ingredients with increasing intensity.

"Lexi, did you ever hear why he is so unfriendly towards you and likes Margaret so much?" Agatha asked.

The former commander just silently looked down at the stocky chef and shook her head.

Agatha now put her knife away and rested both hands on the table, thinking for a few seconds where to begin.

"Manuel... he... wasn't always this grumpy and broken man. There was a time where he was one of the most sincere and gregarious guys you could think of. He was a more than capable musician, had a wife, two sons, life was good for him at the time."

Alexia as well put her knife away and keenly listened to this seemingly lengthier and more elaborate tale.

"Things changed for him after the first war, like for most of us. He didn't fight on his own, he got lucky he wasn't deemed suited to fight someone... well, like yourself," Agatha continued after looking up at the imposing stature before her.

"His sons though, both of them, were just too eager to fight and actually really good at it aswell. They kept on resisting the queen's new rule and were one of the first rebellion leaders in town," she explained, with admiration in her voice.

The former commander was surprised, but now it atleast made sense why Manuel, despite being mostly unfriendly these days, was so respected. Barely anyone spoke up against her when he was around or intervened, which to be fair happened rarely.

"I think I know how well that went," Alexia responded, sounding a bit more distant than before.

After all she was the leading commander of the royal guard and just listened to someone explaining why many of her race and predecessors had to die. Probably just kids playing heroes.

"The hell you know?!" the usually composed and constantly happy chef snapped, hissing angrily and even the three teenagers stopped with what they were doing and looked after her.

"You know what they, your people, did to him?! They dragged both his boys here, right here," Agatha angrily pointed at the door leading to the bar, ignoring that the others were now also keenly listening.

"They executed them right before his eyes, cut both their throats. Both were alive for atleast a minute, Alexia. And you know what? When his wife tried to intervene, she got shot as well. He... he had to look at his whole family getting butchered by someone just like you. Tall, strong and proud, looking down at us, seeing us like nothing more than a disease that needs to be cleansed. Did you ever wonder what happened to his two left fingers? " the chubby chef now basically screamed at Alexia who didn't even dare to speak up, not that she even wanted to and just shook her head silently, while Margaret and the boys were equally as devastated as she was - with the princess even tearing up.

"They saw the piano and asked him what his profession was. They cut off a finger for each, and I quote, "disobeying son" so that he would never forget about what stepping out of line brought them and even took away his ability to play. No, not only taking his family away but also the last thing, he might have enjoyed and not for a fair and noble cause! Just out of sheer arrogance and spite! And now Alexia, tell me, what would you do if you were him and see someone like you walk into your home?!"

"Kill me," she thought.

There was nothing left to be said, Alexia lowered her gaze, feeling immense shame, for her ignorance, for being a proud member and even the leader of the royal guard ... for being so hostile towards Manuel and many others.

She wasn't naive enough to believe that such things didn't happen at war but hearing the story from an eyewitness was something else - something far worse.

Wars shouldn't be fought in someone's homes, but on battlefields. That was something she genuinely believed in, but this... was taking it too far, regardless of what the humans might have done.

This was the first time for Margaret aswell that she heard her new bosses story, but now she understood why he brightened up as soon as she started to play and enjoyed her and the twins to have around, resembling somewhat of a family in a place that constantly remembered him on his own.

He just didn't really know how to express himself, but still they noticed glimpses of his joy underneath the surface at times.

"How...how do you deal with this. How can you even be ... friendly ... with me?" Alexia eventually managed to ask and slowly looked at the still furious looking grey-haired woman.

"Because you are no enemy, because I am not yours. Because I believe if you treat someone with respect you will eventually get some respect in return. 'Eye for an eye' works both ways you know. There is no point in hating someone, especially for something, like you said, he or she was no part of. I am sure you can agree."

Rarely, maybe on a handful of occasions in her life Alexia felt this speechless simply because of someone else's words. She didn't expect that this little excursion would turn into a life lesson, but still, this was a valuable experience and definitely hit a nerve.

"I understand now. I am sorry," Alexia cautiously said, her head still hanging low, making her 8'6" appear smaller than usual.

"Don't be sorry, just be better," Agatha responded as she rested a hand on top of Alexia's and nodded.

This was more than a strange sight, seeing the smaller woman lecturing the giant hermaphrodite but everyone in the room knew that these words were having an immediate effect on Alexia.

Another silence followed, as Margaret wiped away her dried tears from hearing that, with even the twins refusing to be the first to speak up.

Once more Agatha had to be the one to be the forerunner and had to find the right words for the occasion - and to bring up the mood.

"Well, look at that, I finally managed to make you two shut up," she joked, earning only confusion by the twins but making Margaret and Alexia break a smile.

"Sorry, if I have brought down the mood, but this needed to be said," she continued and looked at the piece of paper Margaret was holding. "What do you have here, my dear?"

Margaret unwrapped the note and looked at the twins and softly smiled before answering.

"This... is just from a festival Remy told me about. Looks like it's an annual thing," the blonde beauty stated.

"Oh... riight. I almost forgot, yeah in two weeks. Yeah, that's really something to look forward to. Who knows, maybe Manuel even manages to import some foreign beer to the occasion," Agatha smiled again and walked up to the still sad looking heir.

"You both should think about it. This could be something you really don't want to miss," she mused, trying her best to bring up the mood again.

Margaret just smiled and Alexia nodded silently, still thinking about what to do next, how to come to terms with Manuel... 'how to be better'.

The others soon recovered from this little emotional outburst by the calming force that usually was Agatha, but the out of place hermaphrodite, no, 'futa' as they called her, was mentally absent ever since. Many of Manuel's antics and passive aggressive outbursts made sense now.

When helping at the docks, bringing in the heavy crates with supplies she noticed him getting moody everytime she displayed how much stronger she was than him. Probably reminding him of the ones slaughtering his family - her predecessors, maybe even colleagues.

Her mind was set, she had to fix this somehow, not that she could, but hopefully he would atleast appreciate the effort... hopefully.

The rest of the cooking went over Alexia's head for the most part, she noticed Margaret having a blast and was happy the young heir was enjoying her time with her human friends, but besides some faked smiles she wasn't able to look like she was enjoying this at all. The younger futa's laughter made up for how she felt a bit, but no, she definitely had to and would fix this somehow.

Their time in the kitchen and consequential meal was relatively short-lived or atleast it felt like it for Alexia and the two once more headed up to their room.

Neither of them said much, only Margaret thanking for her friend to join her and apologizing that it turned out like this. But the 8'6" futa wasn't feeling anger towards Agatha or mad for Margaret to bring her into this situation, no, in fact she was almost thankful.

Soon they decided to go to bed, since both weren't really in the mood to talk and sleep quickly overwhelmed them, well it would have, but Margaret was the only one dozing off. With Alexia staying awake... waiting.

The blonde princess yawned as she felt a cold breeze blowing through the room and begrudgingly opened her eyes. She groaned slightly angrily and turned around looking into her roommate's direction, or atleast where she should have been.

Margaret saw that the bed was empty and as she guessed by the darkness outside it was still middle in the night or very early in the morning at most.

She got up, a bit confused where Alexia could have been at this time of day and walked into the hallway, hearing voices from down below.

Was she back in the kitchen? The others definitely were heading back to their rooms as well. No, the voice was male. Manuel's voice.

Her tiredness wore off instantly as she started to hear Alexia's voice as well and already started to fear the worst.

The two didn't come along, not by a long shot, but maybe after this explanation she hoped Alexia would try to let his comments and moody attitude slide. So, she hoped.

Margaret stopped at the top of the stairs listening as their surprisingly clear voices echoed through the inn up to the upper floor. And it sounded like they had an argument once more.

"Damn it... Lexi." she muttered disappointingly but it felt like they were already talking for some time.

"... Where is this coming from all of the sudden? Do you want anything? If so, speak up and don't waste my time with false apologizes and trying to charm me," Manuel hissed but not more angry than usual when he was with Alexia.

"No, that's not it. I... just wanted to say I wasn't appreciating what you did for us, even for me... and I wanted to thank you and apologize. No ulterior motive whatsoever," the familiar voice sounded even a bit more cautious than back in the kitchen, but she tried her best to sound friendly.

Margaret keenly listened and slowly started to realize that Alexia was actually trying to address this issue with him, just without mentioning that she heard his whole story by someone else. The old innkeeper definitely wouldn't tell this to anyone, surely no one out of the three young residents and definitely not Alexia.

"Well, what do you want to hear from me then?" he asked, curious but still didn't believe a word.

"I don't want anything. I just want to come along with you. Remember when we got here? I said I'd be useful and that's the least I should be. So, I ask, do you want me to do anything? Can I help somehow?" Alexia asked.

The blonde princess gleamed with joy in total silence as she heard this kind words and felt pride in her friend for being the first to overcome her own nature.

"I... " he paused, and Margaret thought for a second he would ask Alexia to leave.

"I think this place could need a bit of a renovation. You could help with that. You seem to be more suited for this type of work than me," he said, calmly, confused but not nearly as hostile.

"Sounds good. I will start as soon as you want me to", the former commander responded enthusiastically, happily even.

"Yes, uhm. I guess we can start tomorrow then. But, let's get some rest before that," Manuel said.