“You made a shoe Demon?”
Jay winced, her expression almost pained. Unable to meet Aila’s gaze, she protested the accusation.
“Look, I didn’t make anything. The Demon made her own choice on what she wants to do with her life, and apparently it involves… shoe repair.”
“I have so many questions I don’t even know where to start.”
Aila’s deadpan response was rejoined by an almost gleeful exclamation coming from Jay’s other side.
“Please tell me you named her Matilda!”
Jay turned her gaze onto Kerr, who was almost dancing as the trio walked down the street together. The idea of naming the yellow-eyed Demon Matilda had not even remotely occurred to Jadis. Up to that point, she’d been mentally referring to her as Yellow, if for no other reason than her eye color was her most distinguishing trait. Now that she had shown such an… intense interest in shoes, Jadis had wondered if maybe Cobbler wasn’t a better moniker for the Demon. Kerr seemed far too amused about naming the weird Demon Matilda, though, which led Jadis to believe that she was missing some context.
“Why Matilda?”
“You know! The Shoe Snatcher of Sarlat!” Kerr called out with a laugh. “Matilda the Boot Burglar? She had that whole traveling wagon of goblins with the forks and the…”
Kerr trailed off as she realized both Jay and Aila were giving her completely blank stares. Clearing her throat, the therion’s tail whipped around in agitation as she looked away from them both.
“I guess you just have to have been to Sarlat.”
“I have never been that far east,” Aila responded mildly.
“I don’t even know where it is,” Jay added.
Kerr was spared from having to explain who exactly the famous shoe snatcher was since in the following moment, the trio arrived at their next destination. General Voss was, as Severina had previously explained, a soldier’s officer, and thus had not been found in the same administrative building as Magistrate Lodovico. Instead, the man was out in the field. Or rather, out in the streets, personally directing the cleanup efforts. Specifically, they found him in the large market square where much of the fighting had occurred after the breach.
“Wow. I’m impressed you were able to clean up the rubble from the building we blew up so fast,” Jay commented as she walked up to where Voss was standing with a group of officers and some officials she guessed were engineers. “What did you do with the karkinos body?”
“Dumped in the river, along with the rest,” Voss said while giving her a small bow, which he extended to Aila and Kerr. “The quicker we get the demonic refuse out of the streets, the better for the health of everyone in the city.”
“Ah, that’s a shame,” Jay lamented, but quickly realized that her comment could be misinterpreted and so hurried to explain after a second of silence. “I mean about the crab. I totally agree with you; it’s for the good of everyone’s health that all the corpses are removed as soon as possible. I just really wanted to try some of that karkinos meat. Meli, one of the Dryads who are with me, said that it tastes really good.”
“It does,” Voss commented after a brief pause. “I’ve had it before. Best crab I’ve ever had. However, the corpse was a mess. Even if we had the time and manpower to focus on recovering it properly, the meat was ruined by all of the Demon blood soaking into it. A minor tragedy, but an unavoidable one.”
“That’s fair,” Jay sighed. “Hopefully I’ll get another chance to hunt one down. Preferably one that isn’t possessed.”
“Possible, depending on whether or not you are willing to head to the Siren Sea. Though, as good as karkinos tastes, there are many far easier methods to obtain crabs and fish that are just as worth the trip.”
While Jay and Voss commiserated over their shared disappointment at the loss of the karkinos meat, Jadis noted that the officers or whoever they were standing around Voss looked somewhat nonplussed by the topic of conversation. Whether it was because they weren’t used to seeing their boss talking about something as pedestrian as a favorite food, or their expectations regarding Jadis were failing them, she couldn’t tell. Either way, they stood off to the side, looking awkward, not saying anything.
While Jadis was content to discuss various seafood dishes and recipe recommendations with Voss for the next half hour, Aila took pity on everyone else involved and steered the topic of conversation to why they had sought the general out to begin with.
“Magistrate Lodovico provided us with a list of individuals who he would like us to transport to Eldingholt,” Aila explained as she passed a paper with the names written on it to the older man. “He said you would likely approve, but he also said that if you wish to delay any of the civilians in favor of soldiers, he will defer to your judgement.”
“I doubt I will make any changes to the roster,” Voss replied as he took the list from Aila. “These airships of yours are truly a marvel. I can hardly imagine the effects of such expediency. Thank you again for lending your aid, in more than one way.”
“Happy to help,” Jay smiled. “It’s not how we imagined our trip to Glanum would go, but I think I can safely say we are all glad that we came.”
Voss smirked at the response, a twinkle of amusement in his eye.
“I’m sure. I don’t have Aelius’ talents, but I do have access to a detect stone, and to reports saying what your level was upon arrival in the city. Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” Jay’s smile turned into a grin as she shook the general’s hand. As Voss also shook first Aila’s hand, then Kerr’s, she continued. “I guess we got what we were looking for, just a little more explosively than we had planned.”
“Speaking of,” Voss’ expression turned knowing as he held the folded paper in one hand and tapped it lightly against his other. “I’m damn certain you didn’t come over here to deliver this list. Your time is far more valuable than that of a simple runner. What brought you to my door, so to speak?”
“We have a few plans for our stay in Glanum we would like to discuss,” Aila said as she took a step forward. “Mostly involving where we will be heading on local expeditions around the area. We want to coordinate what we can with you. I have a map and a further writeup of our plans here, actually. Would you mind reviewing?”
As Aila and the general took a few steps away from the rest of the gathered officers to review the documents she had in hand, Jay took a backseat and simply watched the surroundings. Looking around, she could honestly say that she was impressed with the recovery efforts thus far. Not that the city was anywhere close to being fully recovered. The damage to the buildings was extensive, which really hammered home exactly why the local citizens had been evacuated. Jadis doubted any of the structures in the lower tier of Glanum had escaped without some level of harm. Still, the majority of the muck and blood that had been left behind by the dead mire hounds had been removed, as had the larger instances of rubble. Jadis guessed that magic had a lot to do with it, though she couldn’t see any mages casting spells nearby at that moment.
With a start, Jay also noticed that she couldn’t see Kerr anywhere nearby, either.
Jadis didn’t panic at the realization. She guessed that the archer had wandered away from the meeting in search of something to hold her waning interest. Jadis had noticed that Kerr was reaching her limit when it came to the tedium of business talk, even if that business heavily involved plans for combat. While she had no doubt that Kerr was capable of taking care of herself, she still couldn’t help but want to keep an eye on her, though.
Slowly shifting around, Jay swept her sight across the market square to see if she could figure out where her miscreant of a lover might have snuck off to. When she eventually spotted Kerr, Jay’s eyebrows shot up with interest. The gray-haired archer had found some company to talk with, and they were not who Jadis had expected.
Standing off to the side of the west entrance of the market square was Kerr and two other therions, both of whom were male. The bigger of the two was a large man, close to Noll in size, though he had a leaner build. His fur was gray, but he had a black splotch surrounding his right eye which reminded Jadis of some dogs she had known back on Earth. His horns were large and had a similar curve to Kerr’s horns, though unlike her the man had decorations all over his horns. While they just looked like a mishmash of circlets and beads to her at first, Jadis quickly recognized that the second male therion standing a pace behind the gray one had the exact same style of decoration on his own smaller horns.
The shorter therion had brown fur with a dark brindle pattern. His muzzle was thinner than any other male therion Jadis had seen before, which made him look a little more foxlike than like a wolf. That impression of a fox was further enhanced by the way he kept fidgeting in place, eyes darting from one side to another in a decidedly shifty way.
No, not shifty, Jay corrected herself as her eyes narrowed in concentration. Uneasy. Possibly embarrassed, or more like uncomfortable, if she was reading him correctly. The shorter therion was giving off the distinct impression that he was unhappy being where he was. Likely, he would have fled the scene, if he was given half the chance. Switching her attention back to Kerr and the larger man, Jay picked up on why.
Kerr and the therion Jadis had mentally dubbed Spot were arguing. Not loudly. There was no screaming or shouting, nor had things turned physical. However, even from her great distance, Jay could feel the vibes radiating from the two. It felt like a fight was imminent, especially with the way both were posturing with their muscles tense and fists clenched. She couldn’t tell what they were saying, since Kerr’s face was turned away from her and there was no way Jadis could read a male therion’s lips, but she would be shocked if the two didn’t come to blows in the next few moments.
As Jay prepared to rush over and intervene in the coming fight, a sudden move from Spot nearly caused her to dash to her lover’s aid. However, what she initially mistook for a lunge on the part of the big therion turned instead to be a… hug. Yes, it was a hug, Jay realized as she watched the exchange. It was an awkward embrace, and not at all reciprocal. Kerr’s body remained stiff and unyielding as Spot wrapped his arms around tightly around her. After just a handful of seconds, it was Kerr who broke the embrace with a shrug of her powerful shoulders.
“—th you!”
Jay just barely caught the last word Kerr snarled at the gray-furred therion, her volume having increased beyond the restraint she had shown earlier in the confrontation. Poking the big man in his chest with a clawed finger, the archer said something else that was completely inaudible to Jay before whirling on one boot and stomping off.
Neither of the two men tried to stop her from leaving. Instead, they simply watched silently as Kerr stormed away, heading for the southern entrance of the market square. When they finally turned to go, the foxy one simply left as quickly as he could while Spot left a lingering gaze on where Kerr had disppeared. However, as he finally turned away, his eyes met Jay’s for a lingering moment. The therion’s green eyes stared at her, unblinking in their concentration, just for a second, before he fully turned away and followed his companion out of the area.
“I think we’ve covered everything we need to, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Hm?” Jay blinked, then turned to look back at where Aila and General Voss were staring at her expectantly. “Oh, yes, sorry. That’s everything.”
Aila smirked at Jay’s response, though she quickly smoothed her expression back out to neutrality as she passed some of the papers she held to the general.
“Here, take a copy of our plan. Let us know if you have any requests for coordination, or if there are any changes to the flight roster you are making. We’re planning on departing for Eldingholt tomorrow, unless there are any unexpected delays.”
“Understood,” Voss said before giving first Aila, then Jay, a soldier’s salute. “I’ll keep you informed. Take care.”
Taking their leave, Jay and Aila were silent as they walked together towards the south gate of the market square where the aftermath of Aila’s impressive explosion magic was still visible for all to see. Waiting until they were far enough away from any soldiers that they wouldn’t be easily overheard, Aila asked a quiet question.
“What was that all about?”
“Something weird is going on with Kerr,” Jay answered as best she could. “She had a fight or something with one of those mercenary therions we saw during the battle. No idea what it was about, but the guy hugged her, and she pushed him away.”
Aila was silent for a few paces as they walked before she responded.
“Perhaps he is a former lover? Kerr has never been shy about the fact that she has just as much interest in men as women, at least in the past. They could have been an item?”
“I didn’t get that feeling from the interaction,” Jay shook her head. “It was something else. Something… more serious.”
“Then I would say we should avoid speculation and simply ask her.”
“That’s the plan,” Jay agreed. “Just have to find her, first.”
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