Chapter Text
⇒ Be Tavros Nitram
Your name is TAVROS NITRAM, and you are 9.09 sweeps old. Your country has been at war for 2 sweeps now, but you only joined the army last sweep, when you turned 8 and finally became an official knight. You remember feeling the look of your master, Knight Vantas, feeling very proud of you. He knew you since you were a grub, watched you grow up, and you became his page when you turned 3.2 sweeps, and he trained you like you were his son. Sure, he was aggressive and crabby and shouted at everyone, but you knew that he had a heart of gold, and truly cared for the ones he loved.
The day you rose to the Knight’s rank, he was very careful with his movements. He was already very old, and his body didn’t have as much strength as it used to. After the ceremony ended, you followed him slowly to his block, and he took off his helmet, revealing a proud smile and his cherry red eyes. This was the reason he never took off his helmet. Karkat was a mutant blood, which is a crime punishable by death. You don’t know much about his grubhood, how he survived and how he became a knight, but he did, and got to live his full life, even if it was short, like any lowblood’s.
He hugged you, and you hugged him back, careful with your horns and strength, afraid you’d break all of his now weak bones. “I’m proud of you, kiddo.” he whispered. You felt something wet hit your body and then you heard sobs. He was crying, but crying out of joy. He really was happy for you, and you thanked every God out there for giving you such a great master, even if he was mean, you know he didn’t mean it. You held him for a while until he pulled back, tapping you on the back. “Now, don’t fucking disappoint me, Nitram. I didn’t train you to be a wimp. Show those bulgesucking fuckers from Derse who’s the boy trained by Karkat fucking Vantas!” he cheered. You nodded fiercely, a confident look on your face, which was unusual for you.
He started coughing heavily, and you didn’t think twice when you brought him to his recuperacoon to rest. He passed away a few days later of old age, and even though he was far from being royalty, you still decided to give him a proper burial, near your old hive. You doubt many people knew about his blood color, and you feel honored for being one of the few who knew about his deep secret. You communed to some nearby animals to bring you flowers to plant there, as a form of thanking him for everything he did for you.
“I promise, to not disappoint you, Knight Karkat Vantas.”
You’ve been in the battlefield ever since, the army being divided in several groups of lowbloods, from bronze to jade, and highbloods, from teal to violet. Rustbloods usually stayed out of war to fulfill their duties, but if they proved themselves to be worthy of battling or having enough medical knowledge, they were allowed to enlist. As for fuchsiabloods, they had the right to choose if they wanted to go to war or not. Mostly decided to stay out of it, though. Last night, right before dawn, your commander stated that tonight you would be moving places, after staying in this current location for quite some time already. So now you are packing your things, which aren’t many. You brought a card game to play if you were bored, and you mostly played alone since nobody else in the group knew how to play it, nor even had interest in learning, calling you a dork for playing a wriggler’s game.
There was also a pile of clothes that needed to be cleaned soon, along with your uniform. And then there was your portable recuperacoon, that had its sopor slime drained right after you woke up. Near your pile of clothes there were some dolls that you liked a lot, one of them resembling a small, fairy bull lusii. Again, not many things, but enough to keep you entertained. After you were almost finished packing your stuff, a cheery, female voice called you from your bronze colored tent’s entrance.
“Hey, Nitram!”
You turned back to see the owner of the familiar voice looking at you, a smiling stamped on her beautiful face. That is your commander, Skylla Koriga — or just Ms. Koriga, as you prefer to call her — who is a bronzeblood just like you. At first, people were upset that a bronze was assigned to be the commander, but she fits that role pretty well. While she has to act tough and commanding — obviously — she is a very kind and sweet troll, not to mention strong. She never once made fun of you for your interest in wriggler games or stuffed dolls, and you grew to be very fond of her. You grinned and waved at her, before getting up and walking towards her.
“Ya’ ready for another journey?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m almost done with my, things, and then I just need to, uh, disarm the tent.”
“Nice,” she looked back to the camp and the smile fell from her face, followed by a hand at the back of her head. She turned back to you. “hey… none of them are picking on ya’ anymore, are they?” she asked with concern. Despite proven to be tough on the battlefield, you still get made fun of for your interests or lack of confidence by other soldiers. Ever since Karkat passed away and you joined the war, Skylla has practically been your new caretaker, always looking out for you and just generally being very kind. At first, people were upset that someone like her became the commander, a bronzeblood even — though Dammek was another close candidate — but she revealed herself to be serious when needed, and made a good leader.
“Uh, no, nobody has been picking on me, lately. And, despite my notable lack of, confidence, I have been standing up for myself, too.” That statement seemed to light her up. She put an arm around your shoulders.
“Hell yeah! That’s the spirit!” she cheered.
“I have promised my master that, I would not disappoint him. So, ever since I joined the war, I have been, um, getting more confident, so I can make him proud.“ she made a noise of understanding.
“Ya’ seem to talk about this master of yours a lot, was he a good one?”
“Oh yes, definitely, I mean, he was very shouty and aggressive and, cursed a lot, but he was a very good person who, genuinely cared for those he loved. He trained me, uh, since I was at the age where you become a page, but he has known me, since I was a grub. I have an older brother, but, he wasn’t qualified to be a knight due to his, uh, kleptomaniac tendencies. I have no idea where he is, nowadays. But uh, not only he has trained me, but also treated me like I were his son.” You confessed. Skylla raised an eyebrow when you described him, and you realized that she doesn’t know who has trained you.
“The attitude of him seems pretty familiar… might I ask, was your master the notable Knight Vantas?”
“Y-yeah, it was.”
She chuckled. “Oh man, I didn’t knew that deep inside that crankyness of his he had a heart of gold. No wonder you are so tough, you were trained by one of the best!”
“Oh, haha, thank you, but I don’t think I’ll ever be as good as, he was.”
“Don’ say that. Ya’ did a wonderful job last battle. Keep it up, and I’m sure that if he ‘ere watchin’ he’d totally be proud of ya’” She tapped your back. “You are tough, Tavros, don’ let anyone ever put ya’ down.”
You almost let out a tear. She never referred to you using your first name before, it was very… personal. But then, she has known you for about a sweep now, being almost family to you. “Thank you so much, Skylla.”
“Don’ sweat. I just wanna see ya’ happy.” She grinned, the leaf twig hanging from her mouth. You both looked outside, where trolls were chattering and many gold and olive tents were already disarmed. “Now, I need’a to go back and pack my stuff. Mind gettin’ the hoofbeasts ready?”
“No, I don’t mind.”
“Alright, see ya’ later then!” and she left, reminding you that before preparing the hoofbeasts, you need to finish packing your things too.
War is difficult. But at least there’s someone here for you.
—
Moving places suck.
Not only was your group of soldiers quite big, but it was also hard to find a definite place to stay. Whenever dawn was approaching, you had to immediately stop and take out only your portable recuperacoons and wait for the sun to set. Sometimes there wouldn’t be any river nearby so you had to stay stinky after waking up. There was no use taking the tents out since you wouldn’t actually stay there , it was just to pass the night, ‘cause if you kept walking during the sunlight, not only you would all be tired but also burn to death, with the sole exception of the jadebloods. Being a rare caste, there were only two in your group, Daraya and Lanque. They would sometimes tell others about the disgraceful life down in the Brooding Caverns.
The boxes of sopor slime were carried by the goldbloods with the help of their psychic powers. One of your goldbloods, Kuprum Maxlol, was extremely powerful. Unfortunately, that was also his biggest weakness. Powerful psionics like him get used by higher castes for their own benefit, just like how Kuprum is responsible for carrying most of the boxes, even though Skylla is against abusing the boy like that. There seems to be way too much energy in his body, which makes him a living overpowered battery. You never admitted it out loud, but you feel really bad for the kid, it must suck to live like that, and worse, to be abused by highbloods for his excess of power. In this case, it’s mostly the olivebloods fault.
He doesn’t deserve to go through that.
And speaking of olivebloods, they were mostly the ones who bullied you. They only listen to Skylla because she’s the commander, ‘cause if she weren’t, no one would give a shit about her, since she would just be another bronzeblood.
You don’t understand why so many olives are so mean. It’s not like they’re that high on the spectrum. They’d probably be treated the same way they treat lower castes if they met an actual highblood, especially ceruleans, who are the epitome of cruelty. At least that’s what you think. You never had a good relationship with any blueblood you’ve met before.
Finally, after a few days of traveling, you have found a good place to stay permanently. Well, permanently until it’s time to move again. It is an open field, not very good considering that you’re all exposed to possible threats, but the forest still surrounds the area. Skylla decided to put her tent beside yours, which gave you a slight feeling of safety. After most were done with their tents, they went to pick up material to set up a bonfire, alongside hunting for food. Despite being in a war, you still don’t like eating meat. You love animals, even though this is how the cycle of life works, eating meat still feels… wrong to you. You told Skylla that after you two lit up a bonfire near your tents, you were surprised to find out she thinks the same thing.
“Yeah, never ‘been one to consume meat. Y’know, when I was just a wriggler, before bein’ a page, I had a lusus who’d feed me only food that didn’t originate from livin’ beins’. God, I miss Ladyy.” She sighed and ate her soup.
“Oh, so you’re one of the trolls that, uh, was actually raised by, a lusii?” You questioned.
“Yeah, Ladyy was this big, ol’ sweet dog who never tried to harm innocents. I haven’t seen her in sweeps now.” Her voice lowered at that last sentence. You don’t doubt how much she must miss this Ladyy. You would ask what happened to her, but decided not to, as it’s probably a touchy subject.
“Well, I think you already know that, I was, mostly raised by Knight Vantas, but, uh, before that, and I mean, before I became a page, me and my brother were raised by a tiny bull lusus. I said Karkat has known me since I was a grub, but, he didn’t give me much attention, back then. My father was dead, before I was born, and my brother has vague memories of him. At least, that’s what he told me, last time I saw him. Which was, a long time ago.”
She hummed, understanding. She ate another spoonful of soup before asking. “An’ how was this tiny bull lusii? Did they treat ya’ good?”
“Oh, Tinkerbull? Yes, totally. He was, very sweet, but couldn’t do much due to his small size. But he was very lovable, and liked to nuzzle my hair.” You laughed at the memory.
“Ah, that’s awesome. Ladyy liked to lick my face, an’ carried me on her back like a hoofbeast. Such a good girl…” She smiled and looked at the sky, the dual moons looking pretty. Dim light wasn’t a problem for trolls, being a nocturnal species, night vision is something you all possess. There was a sweet silence between you for a while, accompanied by the sound of other soldiers chattering around their own bonfires. Yet, despite the good silence, there was still something bitter in the air.
“I heard she was kidnapped.”
“What!?” you turned around so fast, if there was any troll near you they would be knocked down by your horns. Thankfully, there was a good distance between you and the commander.
“Yeah. I have never seen Ladyy again after I was taken away to knighthood at such an young age. But I heard about cases of lusii thievery going in the city, and in one of their hunts they somehow managed to catch one whose description matched hers.
I have cried for several days. Everytime my thinkpan revived one sweet memory of her, it was immediately replaced by one of Ladyy bein’ captured by a big group of thieves, taking her to who knows where. Goddarn’ THIEVES!” Her shout — which was so sudden you jumped, and some people stared, but then continued to do whatever they were doing — was followed by a whisper which you almost didn’t catch. “I didn’ even got to say goodbye.”
You heard a sob, and bronze tears threatened to come out her eyes, so you opened your arms, inviting her to a hug. When she looked up and noticed your position, she didn’t hesitate to jump at you and hug you tightly. You caressed her back while she fought to hold back the tears. She didn’t care if people stared and saw the commander hugging one of her soldiers, but probably didn’t want them to see her in a vulnerable state like that. Her lusus really was a touchy subject then. The hug was broken by someone screaming.
“What in tarnation?”
A goldblood came flying towards the camp, shouting to get everyone’s attention. Skylla got up and cleared her face with her arm and runned towards their direction, while you followed after her.
“What is it, soldier?”
“So like, I have found out that there’s a village nearby! And they have supplements we can buy!” They said.
Usually you prefer to stay away from towns and villages to avoid harming the habitants, but you are all tired from walking to find a place to stay, so none of you could give a shit at this point. But then again, if the town is being attacked by the enemy, you’ll be there to defend the innocents. The battlefield is far from the camp, but the mere sight of a soldier camp probably isn’t a good sign. The enemy will target you, and then find the nearby city, and then attack it.
But again, none of you want to spend more days walking to find a place to stay.
“Well, isn’t that a miracle, like the Prince likes to say. Or, pardon me, used to say.” The Prince’s muteness was a shock to everyone, but the disappearance of the Heir was probably more. At least to you. You always had this feeling that he was watching you train, and it became more obvious the day he invited you for a dance on his Wriggling day!
But what shocked you the most was what happened a sweep ago. You heard people in taverns gossiping about how the dersian Princess had been defeated by her Heiress, however, the Heiress abandoned the throne ! Not only that, but she left it for some ruthless violetblood who seems to hold a hatred for lower castes. The Prince’s name is Eridan Ampora, and he has been ruling Derse for a sweep now, far from thinking of ending the war. He says he wants the prospitian land to his territory.
You’re shaken out of your thoughts by a tug at your sleeve. You blink a few times and look up to see Skylla staring at you. “Hey, the sun will shine soon. Tomorrow we’ll leave to buy some supplements in town, al’ight?”
You look up at the sky and see the dual moons setting, marking the begining of dawn. You nod and you go back to your tents to fall asleep in your recuperacoons.
—
Next night, you wake up early, around dusk. The goldblood said that the village wasn’t far from their camp, but Skylla still wanted to get up early. Ah, early evening girl. You went to a lake nearby to take a bath with some of your colleagues. Despite bathing in public literally every day since you joined the war, you still feel embarrassed to be naked near others, or seeing them naked around you. After cleaning, you dried yourself and went back to your tent to dress up in some fresh clothes and put on your armor.
Your armor was very simple when it comes to colors. It mostly consisted of just silver metal, along with some golden adornment behind the fauld, and a large yellow moon on the chest plate, representing the country of Prospit. The helmet had a ponytail whose color depended on your blood caste. In your case, it was bronze. Your signs were never shown on the armor, but instead, on the shield. Your large Taurus sign was plastered on your silver shield which you didn’t use much, unlike your lance, which was always with you.
Skylla said that Azdaja, Daraya, Lanque and a few other trolls will be coming to the village too. When you were all ready, you communed with the hoofbeats and went on your journey. It wasn’t a long one, given that the village was nearby, yet the aforementioned goldblood still came to lead the way.
5 minutes of cantering and the village came into sight. To be fair, it wasn’t that small. You have paid a local hoofbeats keeper to take care of your hoofbeasts while you’re gone. After entering the town, the citzens gave you looks, more because you’re knights rather than your blood caste, but eventually continued to mind their own business. You think some of these trolls might have never seen a knight in their entire life.
There was a kind rustblood merchant lady selling fruits and vegetables, and you and your commander didn’t waste a minute to go and buy some. Other tents were selling utensils for weapons, books, hand made crafts — like crochet or wood craving sculptures — and other things. The one who did wood craving statues had a lot of interesting pre-made ones, but if you gave them a good chunk of boondollars, they’d make something of your request. They seemed to really like sculpting lusii, it seems. There was one of a large sea-goat like lusii, which had caught your attention. The owner seems to have caught you staring at it and began telling more about them.
“Sea-goat lusii are one of the most aggressive kinds to ever exist, which isn’t a surprise considering that their blood is purple. But there is a myth that says they are also terrible as parents, who doesn’t carr about their wrigglers and leave them by themselves, which explains why most sea-goats prefer to not become caretakers.” The goldblood explained while filling their nails. “If that’s true then I’d feel bad for the kid with a lusus like this. That or they can just be raised by their blood parent.”
You carefully picked it up and inspected it. It seemed to have been craved recently, and even had some small details on its fins, horns and gorgeous tail. “You really think, a lusus would be capable of doing that?”
“Eh, considering the fact that they’re highbloods, I don't doubt that.” They gave on look to their nails and threw the nail file away. “So, you’ll take it?”
“Hm,” you inspected the object one last time before making your decision. “Yeah, I’ll take it.”
“Great, that’ll be 110 boondollars.”
Money gone and wood craft in hands, you left the tent looking for Skylla and the others. You called for her, and she seemed to listen, calling you back. You followed the sound of her voice and eventually found her standing in front of a building that seemed to be very active. A tavern, probably.
“Yo Tavros.”
“Hey, Skylla.”
“What’s this in your hands?” She pointed to the wood sculpture.
“Huh?” You looked down, almost forgetting it was there. “Oh, this? I bought it cause, um, I really, liked it, and I think its pretty and, uh, well made.”
She hummed. “Say, is it for someone?” She whispered.
“What? No!”
She chuckled, holding her grass twig. “No, it’s not for anyone, I bought it cause, I think it looks cool.”
“I was just teasin’ ya’. But it does make a beautiful gift though.” She shrugged and looked back to the tavern. “Wanna go in there? The jadebloods are already chilling in this big ol’ tavern.”
You stayed silent for a while, considering the idea. “Okay, maybe, it won’t be so bad.”
“A’ight then, let’s go!”
She opened the door for you to enter first and she followed after. The place was very active, a giant amount of trolls from almost every caste crowding the place. Loud chatters filled the air, along with the stench of troll alcohol and drunken trolls. Ah, taverns. Nothing new here.
Lanque is nowhere to be seen. However, Daraya is sitting on a table and chatting with a girl with blue hair. Oh shit. It’s a cerulean. You don’t have good experiences with ceruleanbloods, they somehow manage to be more capricious and meaner than purples sometimes!
This girl seems familiar in a way. When you walk closer to them, Daraya was the first to notice your presence there. “Oh hey Nitram, commander Koriga.” Daraya scoffed after calling Skylla the commander. The girl with blue hair looks back and recognition becomes more clear on Skylla’s face than yours.
“... Elwurd”
“Wassup, girlll?” She greeted the other bronzeblood quite cheerfully. Then it clicks.
Elwurd is also a knight, but from the highblood side, her being a cobalt and all. You’ve met her on the training blocks before, and man, she was so radical… but if a knight from the high camp is here, then does that mean–
“What in tarnation are you doing here?”
“Oh nothing, just my camp is staying nearby and we found this town to get stuff. Cool right?” Elwurd replied casually.
“And that’s what I told her, how our camp is here too dude.” Daraya states.
“Daraya? You know Elwurd?” You ask.
“Yeah, she used to be quadranted to another jadeblood. I just don’t understand why would you want to be with Bronya of all people.” She played with her drink. You and Skylla took a seat at the table.
“Eh, she seemed nice at first. You know how I like the nice ones, so I can try to get to their meaner side.” She chuckled. Daraya laughed a little too awkwardly and scratched the back of her neck. Now’s something you thought you’d never live to see: Daraya fucking Jonjet blushing. A little too hard.
“Yeah, yeah. The good girls, so they can be… bad. They’ll never be as cool as us though.”
“Hell yeah!” The ceruleanblood shouted.
Skylla cleared her throat, a bit too loudly for your taste. “So… Elwurd, who else is here with ya’?”
“You mean my fellow soldiers? Well there’s me, Adalov, Moolah, Maenad, Codakk… ugh, I fucking hate that guy, and… ah yeah, our commander, Xoloto. He became our commander after the old one disappeared. We just think she got killed.” She shrugged.
“Wait, who? Who was yer commander?” Your own commander asked.
“Knight Pyrope. You know, the one who thought she was all rad and shit? Yeah, her. We all know there can only one radical girl on the team. And that’s me, haha. Bet losers wanna compete.”
Skylla audibly gasped. “How can ya’ simply assume someone such as HER could’ve died? She can still be alive, y’know? Just… lost. She can clearly defend herself from wild beasts!” She yelled.
“Well yeah but no one really was up to go after her, so we just assumed she was dead. ‘Tula had always been quite hardcore.” She sipped her drink.
The only reason Skylla wasn’t jumping at her is because you’re holding her back. Elwurd is visibly taken back, Daraya looking unimpressed. “Woah, calm your tits cowgirl, yeah she can very much be alive but it’s like you said, she can defend herself. Else she wouldn’t have been our commander, would she?”
She had a point. Skylla just sighed and leaned back on her seat, so you freed her from your ‘embrace’. “You’re right. Sorry about this fuss.”
“Nah, don’t sweat it. It’s chill.”
“It’s just, I have always known ‘Tula and she not only was a great fighter but also an incredible person, even with that radical persona o’ hers.” She put her hands on her cheeks, elbows resting on the table. She had a sad look on her face. You rested your hand on her shoulder. She sighed again. “Well, changin’ subjects, where’s your camp at?”
“Not too far from here. A little bit south from town.”
“Ours is at north.” You said.
“Cool, cool,” she drank the rest of her drink. You’ve noticed Lanque has finally appeared from wherever he was, but he’s busy chatting with another troll, and it’s best to not bother him. With nothing else to say, all four of you turn your heads to the stage. Currently, there was a girl of your caste singing with a mask on. Strange, you didn’t knew there were masquerades around here. Her voice is really pretty and it’s obvious that she has practiced this song a lot. You turn back to Elwurd who is staring at the girl intently. She probably isn’t even listening to the song, too focused on the owner of the voice to care for that.
Daraya seems to show some sort of discomfort towards that. She is looking at the floor, hugging herself and a friend accompanied by a green blush caressing her face. You’re thinking of something that it’s best to keep with you, knowing about her usual rudeness, and this is probably something she really doesn’t want to talk about, but you think that maybe Daraya has a red crush on Elwurd? What can explain the usual rude and apathetic girl being so awkward towards someone, or even express jealousy.
She seems to have noticed you staring, and quickly glared at you before watching the girl on stage again. Now it’s you who’s blushing, embarrassed for having been caught staring.
Wait, didn’t Elwurd said she liked the good girls? This one seems a bit too intense for that. Or… perhaps that’s why she wears a mask, to hide the good girl she actually seems to be.
The girl leaves the stage with her chest heaving, and an tealblood comes with the announcement. “And that was the bronzeblood Chixie Roixmr and her song ‘Penalty to Thieves’. Next in line is a purpleblood whose name was not revealed. Interesting.” They leave the stage and wait for the mentioned purpleblood to come on stage. Meanwhile, the girls chatter.
“God, have you seen that Chixie girl? Fucking awesome. Wish I could sing like that. Gonna totally ask that girl out sometime.” the blueblood said, obviously entraced with Chixie. Daraya nods weakly.
“Yeah, yeah… you should tooootally go for it.” The jadeblood deadpanned.
“Heh, I know so.”
They stop talking when a troll with tall horns and a hooded face comes on stage, holding what seems like a lute. He sits on the chair and clears his throat before he begins to play. The melody is sweet like honey, immediately making the entire tavern stop talking and listen to it. The troll playing it seemed to calm, even behind that hood that covered his identity. This bard not only made everybody silent to pay attention to him, but also managed to calm them down, even those who were super dizzy due to the amount of shots they took. The song was already good enough by itself.
And then he began singing.
His voice was very deep and a mixture of raspy and soft. For some reason, it seemed oddly familiar. You can swear you’ve heard that voice before, somewhere back in the castle. This man had a good amount of clothes for such a hot place, but who are you to talk? With your blazing armor on? Besides, the other guy said he was a purpleblood, which has one of the coldestbloods, in both meanings.
The lyrics had something to do with the aspects responsible for the creation of the universe or something like that, which left you kind of confused, but you don’t mind. You just got the opportunity to listen to a nice melody accompanied by a beautiful voice, something you hasn’t listened in a long time. But something about that man still intrigued you. He’s giving you a sense of familiarity, like you have already seen them before, even though he’s hiding his face under that hood. The tall horns had to be exposed so that the face could be hidden, and that shape also seems familiar.
Maybe you’re going crazy. That’s just some bard who came to the tavern to play his song, why is this feeling bothering you so much?
The crowd began tapping their shoes in the rhythm of the song, and before you realized you were doing it too, probably on automatic. Even Daraya seems interested in it, when she’s usually uninterested in anything around her. How can someone be so charming to the point they manage to catch the attention of literally everyone in a block? You don’t know, but you’re enthralled, too.
Soon enough, the song comes to a stop, to everyone’s demise. Everybody clapped as the bard bowed carefully, even some flowers were thrown to him. “Thank you, thank you!” He said. You bet he’ll become the topic of gossip for the next few weeks. Before he leaves the stage, he looks towards your direction, and if the hood didn’t cover his face, your eyes would have met. Even still, he physically frozes after seeing you, like he had been hit all of sudden. He stays long enough for the announcement guy to escort him out of there, and he seems to come back to his senses, leaving you mouth agape.
A tap on your shoulder startles you and if the person who did that wasn’t a few inches away from you, they would’ve been hit in the face by one of your horns. Thankfully it was no drunk stranger and was actually just Skylla, who muttered an apology for startling you. “Yo, Lanque is here, and the others are waitin’ outside. It’s time to go.” She said. You got up and said goodbye to Elwurd, who shot you finger guns. She said she’d be going soon too, probably to find that Chixie girl from earlier.
During the walk to the hoofbeast keeper, Skylla had gently elbowed you. “So, you an’ the bard, huh?” That immediately made your face go brown. She noticed?! Oh God, of course she did. She really is like a mother to you. She wriggled her eyebrows suggestively while you shook your head intensively, you heavy horns making your neck ache slightly.
“I-it’s n-nothing like, like t-hat!” The bastard just grinned at you. You looked back to see everyone busy minding their own business, and let out a sigh of relief. You whispered to her “Look, that man might, uh, caught my ganderbulbs easily, like everyone else, but, but um, it was just a sense of, familiarity. It’s not like I, had been crushing on him, or anything.” You covered your face with your hands.
“Sure boy, I believe in ya’, but you can’t fool this cowgirl here. I know what I see.” She crossed her arms. Thankfully, you had reached the guy who took care of the hoofbeasts and galloped back to the camp. Nobody usually liked to talk while the beats were running — except the goldies, they dont ride hoofbeats because they can fly, thanks to their psionics. Unless the goldblood is a non psionic, but that’s uncommon — because of all the concentration and adrenaline, so that saved you from the older bronze to return to that topic.
For now.
When you reached the camp, everyone went back to their respective tents. Except for Skylla, who was scolded by Dammek for taking too long to return, since she was the commander, or something along those lines. You dropped the small bag you brought with you and heard a weird sound. That’s when you remembered about the small wood carved lusii figure you bought. You immediately picked it up to check if it was okay, and let out a sigh of relief to see no damage. You held it close to your chest. This lusii horns have a very interesting shape, almost reminding you of…
Holy shit.
The bard from the tavern has the exact same horn shape of this sea goat. And wasn’t it mentioned that the guy was a purpleblood? And the goldblood who made this wood figure also said that these kinds of lusii have a purple blood color.
You don’t know anything about the guy, so you don't know whether he had been raised by family or this lusii, but if it was the latter, you feel really bad for him, remembering about the myth that sea goats don’t raise wrigglers because they are very neglectful and aggressive. But then again, it’s just a myth, right?
You put the object near your recuperacoon and began to remove your knight armor. If you spent just one more minute on that thing you’re sure you’d have melted to death. That leaves you in your casual clothes that are now soaked with sweat, but you’re not feeling up to changing them right now, perhaps later when you go take a bath on the lake. You pick up the mini statue and head out of your hive and light up the bonfire to prepare some food. Turns out you don’t need to, because Skylla is already there making soup for both of you using the food you bought back in the village. She was still in her armor, so you assume that after being scolded by Dammek she immediately went to make dinner for you. You don’t doubt that she must be melting in that thing too. She caught the sight of you staring at her and she waves. You walk and sit on the wood log, making sure to keep some distance between you due to your horns.
“So, what did he um, told you?”
“Who? Dammek? Eh, don’t sweat ‘bout it. He was just pissy that I was bein’ a irresponsible commander for leavin’ my group alone for way too long, and how we ‘ere supposed to just buy supplies and return as soon as possible. This is why I didn’t ask him to come with us.” She vibrated her lips in distress.
“Yeah, he can be um, quite too serious, at times.” You can hear she muttering a “yeah” under her breath. Her mood immediately changes and she looks at you with bright eyes. Oh no.
“But what ‘bout you, though? If my thinkpan recalls correctly, there was somethin’ I was up and talking ‘bout earlier.” She smirks and you pinch the bridge of your nose. Of course she wanted to talk about that. She won’t let go of the topic until you give her an satisfying answer.
“I already told you, I don’t wany anything, with that guy!” You threw your hands to the air.
“Boy, stop lyin’ to yourself. That ain’t cool, ya’ know? I’m your friend, you can tell me. You can trust me.” She drops her smirk and gives you a more kind, empathetic smile.
You take a deep breath, and release it slowly. “Okay, fine, maybe I want something, with that guy. I guess, something about him just felt, really familiar to me, but, um, I have no idea why. I guess, he was really charming, but that’s just the obvious, seeing how, well, um, he caught the attention of, absolutely everyone in that tavern. But his seemingly kindness, and pretty voice, makes flutterbeats fly in my acid sack.” You admitted. The soup was done, so she picked up some boslsy to put the soup for both of you. After handing you the bowl, she began speaking.
“Yer secret is safe with me. And since ya’ told me about that red quadrant interest of yours, I guess it’s all fair that I tell about mine.” Your hearducts perk up in curiosity. Skylla never mentioned having a quadrant interest before. “‘Member when I asked Elwurd who was with her? Well, she mentioned this lady that ‘m not sure if ya met before. Maenad. Chahut Maenad. Just like that bard, she was also a purpleblood, but a much more violent one. Despite her thirst for murder, she was very calm, and liked to tease a lot. Heh, funny how a mere bronze like I got close to a purple, one of the strongest soldiers of the headquarters. She had a taste for killin’ lower castes, but didn’t seem to mind my presence ‘round her. In fact, I guess she liked having me nearby. She probably appreciated my strength, but that’s not just it, and ‘m sure of it. Perhaps she was red falling for me, like I fell for her…
But then war came, an’ we got separated. God CURSE the casteism!” She growled and relaxed afterward, seeing how she startled you. She sighed. “An’ that’s it. War destroys love lives. But I guess, now that her crew is nearby, I might have another chance.”
You were never expecting something like this. Not only did she reveal something that might have been touchy for her, but she also trusted you to talk about it. You don’t know what to say, so you just stare at her with your eyes wide and mouth open. She seems to realize it and flush a light bronze and put a hand on the back of her neck. “Ah, sorry ‘bout that. Didn’t mean to dump this on ya’, it’s just that I know how it is to love, an’ how war ruins relationships.”
“No no! It’s alright, you can, tell me whatever is on your mind, I’m uh, here to listen. Always.” You give her a warm, comforting smile, to assure her that you mean what you just said. She grins.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
“Hey, even if it doesn’t work out, I still think ya should go for it. Perhaps he’s still in the town, ya can send letters and all that stuff. Don’t miss that opportunity boy, you only live once.” She states. No more words are exchanged between you that night save for the good morning you gave each other after eating.
When you entered your recuperacoon, you couldn’t help but feel like you were being watched.