The Lineage Ch. 07

"Alright you stupid elf, enough with these games of yours."

She raised a blue eyebrow, "oh? You want to get serious now?"

"I'll get serious when you drop that show you're putting on."

The elf opened her mouth to say something, but then hung there for a few moments as her train of thought derailed. Slowly, her mouth shut and her demeanor fell at terminal velocity. The intensity in her red eyes also fell dramatically, as if someone splashed water on the fires within them. She lowered her head and shoulders a bit as her confidence plummeted. It was now Alexis' turn to be pleased that she forced the elf's offensive lines back across the table.

"I can see I at least got that right. Why are you putting on such a fake guise of strength?"

Still with her eyes not focused on Alexis, she sighed and responded, "I'm just... trying my best to sound like I... know what I'm doing."

"And what exactly do you think you're doing?"

Her pale face scrunched, "I'm just... trying to get to know you."

Of course, Alexis' first reaction was to again ask "why?" yet she knew it would just give the elf more ammunition to ricochet back at her. These past few nights the elf had proven herself not only dense, but stubborn. Clearly, avoiding her questions forever would simply make the two endlessly ask questions about each other. The guard knew this better than the elf and decided that it was her duty to finally put an end to the cycle. With a burst of confidence from some unknown place, she cleared her throat and answered.

"That's not how this works. You're never going to get to know someone by pretending to be someone else. You're just a timid little elf that is forcing herself into having a conversation with someone who would rather be left alone. Why are you sitting there, convinced that something is eating me up on the inside, when you should instead be asking that question of yourself. You're full of your own demons, girlie - you have no right to sit there and question me about mine."

The elf's slump grew even larger as she closed her eyes and then squeezed them shut further, as if suddenly developing a migraine. Each and every word the officer had just spoken may as well be arrows piercing her through.

She sighed into her chest, "you are wise beyond measure, Alexis."

"I wouldn't say that."

"You just proved how wise you are. I'm just telling you the truth."

Alexis laughed once or twice, "the truth? Since when have we cared about the truth?"

For a moment there was nothing but silence from the elf, but then she just barely mumbled, "since we both stopped believing in it."

"Stop that already," the guard growled.

The elf leaned back up to her with questioning eyes, "stop what?"

"Stop filling yourself with such fake confidence. If you want to speak the truth -- be truthful. Quit playing a character and start being the real you. Anyone could tell you are forcing yourself to talk to me by pretending to be someone you're not."

Her eyes fell again, "I'm sorry then."

"That's not going to cut it."

"Then what will?"

"Stop being phony with me and start being honest for a start, stupid little elf."

The girl squeezed her eyes further until they were almost crushed. Her teeth came out to bite her lower lip even as her face reddened, giving Alexis an amazing contrast of her tomato skin to her baby blue hair. Moments passed as the girl sat silently and nearly motionless, with only her nose twitching on occasion. Finally, she made a small whimpering noise followed by a snort from her nose. The elf's little arm came up to wipe at her eye, and a line of hydration sticking to her pale fingers made Alexis pause. Embarrassment and guilt warmed her chest as something also grew in her throat. The anger that had built inside her was doused a bit, and she sighed heartily.

"Shit... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry," Alexis said softly.

The elf sniffled, "it's fine... it happens a lot."

"You're too pitiful."

"Sorry. I just... can't stand arguing with people... it hurts me a lot..."

"Why?"

"I don't know... I've always been like this. It tears me apart to be upset with someone... even if they're being cruel... it hurts to fight back..."

Alexis huffed in displeasure, "that's no way to live. People would constantly take advantage of a beautiful elf like you if they knew you wouldn't resist."

"I'm so sorry... that's just how I am."

Another wave of hydration fell down her red façade as she worked to clean out her tear ducts. After a few moments the elf seemed to have gotten her feelings back under control and brought her eyes back to Alexis' mud-brown pair. They stared at each other for a few moments longer, but neither was sure what to make of this situation, or how to continue their conversation further. Alexis felt as if she had to try something, because as annoying as this girl was to her, she truly was beginning to grow a seed of curiosity about her.

"Are we going to answer each other's questions now?" the guard asked sharply, her tongue dangerous as a razor.

She sniffled, "if... if you want."

"It's not about what I want, it's about what we want. You're not even making any sense by being concerned with what I want when you instigated this relationship."

"I'm sorry, then."

"Stop apologizing for everything."

"I'm sorry," she said again, but then raised her lips slightly as if poking fun at herself. Alexis also uprighted her frown somewhat and nodded softly.

"I think we've wasted enough time with the bantering. If you really want to get to know me, I'm going to have to get to know you as well. This is a two-way street we are walking here."

The blue-haired woman nodded in agreement.

"Are you going to be honest with me from now on, elf?"

Her smile grew again, and the girl even perked up a bit as her confidence came running back, "only if you're going to be honest with me."

"Smart girl. Let's shake on it," Alexis said, raising her arm out to the elf. The elf stared at the appendage aimed at her, and then raised her own to match it. Her small pale hand contrasted starkly to the guard's tanned beaten skin, having thrown her fist against countless beings during her tenure of protection for this city. Both women raised and lowered each other's hands in tandem as their contract was signed for the gods to witness. Then, both held onto each other for longer than they originally thought they would, as if enjoying the physical contact. Both also smiled a bit.

Alexis released the girl's hand and asked bluntly, "who are you?"

"An elf," was her immediate response.

"Oh, really? I couldn't tell. Your hair kind of draws one's eyes in the direction of your ears. But I mean to ask if you have a name, girlie. You already know mine, so..."

Her red lips went up as she said, "I'm Z..." but then she suddenly stopped herself. Her eye twitched a bit as her mouth slowly shut. Alexis was visibly unhappy with the answer she was being given.

"Enough of that. You said you were going to be honest with me, remember?"

A visible gulp went down her pale throat, "y-yes... I just... don't know if I can tell you yet."

"Why's that?"

"B-because... umm... it might... compromise me."

"I'm not going to turn you in, girlie."

The elf sighed, "I don't know... it's just that..." suddenly she stopped again, her eyes bulging enormously. A cold sweat rolled down her skin, obscuring the trails of tears that once streamed from her eyes. With a shuddering gear effect, her vision went back up to Alexis, who was visibly smirking now. Even with her stammering jaw and pounding heart, she asked, "w...what did you... s-say...?"

The guardswoman laughed loudly and heartily, "you already know what I mean, I see."

Even though her eyes were scanning Alexis, the elf was only thinking about how fast she could escape the bar, "h-how... how did you know that..."

"That scalp of yours is a dead giveaway. The list of blue-haired babes in this city is incredibly short, I might say. No wonder you were wearing that cloak with that enormous target painted across your head. When they first told us about you, I thought they were joking."

"W-who... told you about...?"

Alexis sat up in her chair a bit and cleared her throat heavily, even taking on a deepened voice for effect, "those of you charged with protecting our great nation's capitol, you are now tasked with a burden of the highest importance. There is a woman amongst our midst whose location must be found immediately. Her return is essential, and your duty is beyond clandestine. You will know who she is the moment you see her - she is a young elf with eyes red as fire and hair bluer than the sky above. She may try to hide, but we already have checkpoints on every exit to the city; she will not escape. Your duty is to find this young woman and return her to the palace, unharmed, at all costs. Everyone is expected to work as many hours as they can in your search, all while keeping this operation anonymous. That is all."

For a moment the elf shuddered, "what is...?"

"That's the speech that my captain gave out a few days ago. Summoned every single guard we had for it. We all rolled our eyes and groaned at how big of a deal they were making. A few of us even joked they hired a poet with how flowery his words were. Still, they were serious as could be. Palace will punish any slackers they catch... I just haven't been caught yet. Overtime pay is killer, I should add," Alexis laughed.

The elf only blinked a bit, "I guess... but I'm not going back to the palace willingly; you'll have to drag me back."

"Ah well... don't worry then. No one's dragging you because I'm not turning you in."

Her face crushed in confusion, "but why? You could get in trouble."

"Remember what I said the first night we met? I'm off-duty," Alexis' smirk grew to its largest yet, "and shit, you should have thought about this in advance before making the moves on a city guard. Consider yourself lucky you picked me specifically -- if I were anyone else, they would have gladly thrown you back at the palace without question."

The elf smiled a bit as her fear faded, "thank you, then."

"Name," Alexis interrupted, snapping her fingers in addition.

"W-what?"

"Stop stuttering, I'm not your enemy. I'm already doing you a favor by not turning you in, so return the favor to me by telling me your goddamn name already."

"Oh... well, in that case, my name is Zenna. It's a pleasure to meet you, Alexis."

The entire room lit up as if a backdraft filled it. A heat washed over Alexis in a way she never felt before. The name was entrancing, as if a sorceress' spell had been cast on the woman. Alexis saw it spelled out in her mind as if she was always meant to know it -- as if she was always meant to know the girl to whom the name belonged. She let herself be swallowed whole by it, falling deep within the flames licking at her skin. The toes in her boots curled even as her heart skipped.

"Zenna. Such a lovely name."

The elf blushed a bit, "thank you."

"You are most welcome, Zenna," Alexis answered. Her eyes scrolled across the room as she shook her head, "gods... why do I love saying that? Zenna," she allowed the name to roll across her tongue, making her giggle a bit.

"I do suppose it's unusual."

"Why is that?"

"I come from a secluded elven village. A lot of people who live in that kind of community have odd names. To some people there, Alexis might be the odd name."

"Zenna's not odd, it's lovely. Unlike Sonol over here," Alexis turned her head and shoulder to peep at the elf behind the bar, who stared at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Sonol is a very nice man. You should be kinder to him; he cares a lot about you."

Alexis scoffed, "yeah right, that old hag? He could hardly... w-wait, what?"

"What?"

"What did you say?"

"I said he cares a lot about you. He told me he does."

The guard leaned back in deep surprise, "w-what? When?"

"Tonight. Before you arrived, I talked to him for a while. You would not let me get to know you, so I had to go through him so I could learn a bit about you. Sonol says he knew your mother and you since you were a little girl, and despite how poorly you treat him -- you're still his favorite customer through all these years. Still, I think he would like you to be a bit more appreciative of how he looks out for you."

For the first time since the two began conversing, the guardswoman was at a complete loss for words. There was nothing she could say to defend herself, as if trying to stop an avalanche that was advancing on her location. Instead, she shuddered for once as she kept scanning the elf's eyes for a hint she was lying.

Zenna giggled and smiled a bit, "Happy birthday, Lexie," she imitated Sonol's voice.

The officer shivered in place as if someone had stripped her naked and thrown her into the street for everyone to see. What else did Zenna know? What else had happened without her knowledge? With barely a few sentences, the elf had chipped off entire chunks of Alexis' armor. Now, she was the stuttering, timid one. Were she to not dig herself out of this hole, Zenna would only dig it deeper for her.

Finally, her mouth began to move again, "th-that's private information! That old crone is like my psychiatrist, y-you can't just go asking questions about his patients!"

Zenna leaned into her and answered without hesitation, "well, if that drink you're still sitting on is any indication," she nodded to the mug in Alexis' hand, "he's not your psychiatrist... he's your pharmacist."

Alexis stopped shuddering and became still as stone. Both Zenna and the guard stared at each other again, allowing the elf's comment to hang in the air for a while until it coated the entire bar. Neither of them made a move, as if afraid to do so.

But then Alexis snorted.

Zenna snorted in the same fashion.

A smile grew in unison on both of their faces.

Both of their chests throbbed as they struggled to keep their emotions in check, but it was a position they could only hold for so long.

Then they both started laughing loud enough it drowned out all other noise in the bar, echoing off its wooden walls like the sound of music. The elf's pale face flushed red as emotion flooded it while Alexis slammed her open palm across the table, causing her drink to shake. Everyone customer present stopped eating, drinking, and gambling as the pair caught all their attention like a flytrap. Even Sonol missed the mug he was pouring a drink into as Alexis laughing with genuine heart caught him off-guard.

"That's a damn good one, girlie!" Alexis fought out between her chuckles. Even if it wasn't the best joke in the world, the attempt itself was the humorous part.

"T-thank you!" Zenna responded through her own giggling. She wasn't even attempting to be funny -- yet their shared reaction made her joyful.

Both felt warm as if sitting alongside a fire as the humor filled them, even as they both knew they were the center of attention. After a few minutes, they slowly but surely worked down into silence, yet every little movement that one of them made seemed to cause the other to stifle another laugh as if under the effect of some drug. Alexis started to say something, but Zenna giggled, making the guard giggle in return. On the flipside, whenever the elf tried to speak, Alexis would jab in her direction, making the elf's mouth lock up also. This trend went on for a few minutes as their faces burned with happiness.

"I guess with," Alexis could not stop another laugh from coming up, "introductions out of the way, what do you want to talk about?"

Zenna giggled like a child, "anything you want, Lexie."

"Don't you start on that, too," the guard answered with a playful wink.

A full two hours later the two were still talking and laughing the night away. Alexis would tell Zenna about things from her childhood and adulthood, about how she followed her father into the city watch and how she watched the 'scum and villainy of the city become apparent when you look for it,' a comment that elicited another giggle from the elf. Zenna would ask her about life in Underhill, how it is to be a citizen, how it is to live and work there, and so on. Alexis answered with all the truthfulness she could muster, about how the citizens care about and look out for one another. Zenna tried to point out that Sonol also seemed to want to look out for Alexis, but the guardswoman shut that down immediately. When she tried to pine about the elf's past, Zenna would answer... but only in half-truths. Although the brown-haired woman could easily pick up on the elf's lies and lack of completeness, she did not comment on them and allowed the woman to keep spinning her tales. The simple joy of having a friendly person talking to her was more than enough to fill her heart. It was something she had not allowed inside the organ in a long, long time.

Like a fulfilling meal shared with loved ones, both were filled with contempt by conversion alone.

The guardswoman worked herself down from a high and whooped a bit before speaking "gods, girl... I don't remember the last time I've had time fly by like this... it feels so wonderful."

Zenna blushed and smiled, "me too, Lexie. Talking to you like this is..."

Alexis made a clicking noise with her tongue and wagged a finger at the elf, "I told you to drop that nickname already. It's followed me since childhood, and I would very much like it to disappear."

Zenna laughed, "sorry about that."

"I also told you to stop apologizing already. Is that elf brain too small to remember?"

"Sorry... oh..." both women laughed a bit more.

"Hmm... gods. Maybe I do want you to keep apologizing like that. You're so damn cute when you do. Seeing a woman lovely as yourself humble herself before a peon like me fills me to the brim with contempt."

"Oh, really?"

"Indeed. You could have a great power over people if you wanted to. Few would dare disobey a woman such as yourself."

For just a split second, Alexis caught Zenna's eyes rolling off to the side while her mouth sounded out a great power over people. It was easy enough to see the elf hang onto those words, yet the guardswoman made no comment when her red eyes came back up to continue listening.

"It's just not fair, girlie," Alexis leaned in to study the elf closer, "you're so drop-dead gorgeous even without trying. No make-up, dirty face, and ill-fitting clothing... yet you're a goddess in mortal form. No one I've ever seen could never compare."

Zenna looked away and blushed, "no... stop that. I don't like being compared to a goddess. I'm sure they're more beautiful than me."

"I doubt that, Zenny," Alexis responded, batting her eyelashes at the girl, "they're up somewhere right now having a fit of jealousy."

The elf shrunk her head down into her shoulders a bit, as if embarrassed of her own appearance, "do you really mean that?"

"Damn right I do," the officer deepened her voice to drive home the point, "even if I were a quarter as exquisite as you are, any man in the world could be mine. Any chance you could share some of your looks with me?" she shot her eyebrow up.

The elf's face reddened again and her head sunk even further between her shoulders, "I don't think I can; you're just going to be happy with how you look already. Please forgive me."

"Damn," Alexis sighed disappointedly, "there's just no way... actually," she leaned in close, "can I borrow your arm for a minute?" she nodded down to the girl's cloak. Zenna's eyes studied her for a moment, as if evaluating how dangerous the strange request might be. Without audible complaint she sent out her left arm, lying it down across the table with her palm facing up. Seeing how lithe but perfectly balanced the appendage was, capped off by her soft, unsullied palm and delicate fingers, Alexis cooed. She reached out and placed her own arm in a mirror image to Zenna's own, so each woman had a bit of each other's forearm to grab. The guard worked along the elf's flesh, feeling how silky soft it was. Even the warmth in the girl's arm caused Alexis to bite her lip. The blue-haired woman returned the favor, making each of them smile, although Zenna was visibly confused.