Kavisha’s smile was tiny. Just Barely a twitch at the corner of her mouth. Because Lady Eleonora was not reacting to Lucien how most did instead, she absolutely enthralled by him.

  She was rushing across the street to greet him.

  Lucien, for his part, stood awkwardly across the street, towering at nearly seven feet tall, his green skin catching the afternoon light. His spellbook was clutched to his chest like a shield.

  He clearly hadn’t expected a noble girl to come bursting out of the Graceful Doe running straight up to him.

  “Oh my gosh you’re HUGE!” Eleonora gasped, eyes wide as saucers.

  Causing Lucien to blink in disbelief.

  “Uh. Sorry?” “No! It’s cool!” she said brightly. “Your skin... is it really green? Like naturally green? Do you get sunburn? Does it get darker in winter? Does it get lighter? Oh! Does it shimmer when you sweat?”

  Eleonora had never interacted with anyone who wasn't human until arriving Haigan and she had always been fascinated by orcs as growing up. Since they featured in so many stories.

  So to actually see one who looked like he just stepped out story book was amazing.

  Although in the story's orcs were always evil and said to eat human flesh, especially babies; though Eleonora thought that wasn't true.

  Before the empire had unified the heartland orcs had lived along the eastern frontier in various tribes raiding and attacking the pre-imperial kingdoms.

  The first empress over a 150 years ago had waged a bloody campaign to subjugate the orcs. She had succeeded and the orcs were dispersed though empire though they were mostly women and children as most of the men were killed.

  The Empire's victory was so complete that almost no orc can speak orcish and most now have human names. And since orcs are not one the 5 species in the agreements they had few rights and faced extreme discrimination.

  Lucien was frozen in place at the onslaught of questions and he wasn't used to people being so nice to him.

  “I...I don’t… know? He stammered trying to think of how to respond to such questions. Uh, my lady my skin is green and I don't think orcs can get a tan," he finally responded.

  “Fascinating!” Eleonora clasped her hands.

  “And your tusks! Do they make it hard to eat soup? Or chew? Or drink tea? She asked rapidly. Causing Lucien to sputter and his cheeks to flush.

  “N-no my lady it uh... doesn't make it difficult to eat?” his answer and Eleonora’s question made Kavisha bite back a laugh as she’d never seen the quiet orc so rattled.

  Meanwhile, Isadora had stepped just slightly closer, while her posture had eased a bit now that she had assessed Lucien and determined he wasn’t a threat to Eleonora.

  Eleonora however felt she had cart blanche to continue her barrage of questions. Asking things like “So how strong are you? Can you lift a cow? TWO cows? Could you throw a goblin?

  Or a dwarf?

  Oh... maybe not a dwarf because they’re heavy” she asked in rapid secession causing Isadora to wince and Kavisha to begin choking as she tried to not laugh.

  Lucien blinked in disbelief.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “I...I’ve never tried to lift a cow…” he stammered.

  “You should!” Eleonora shouted gleefully. “What if you have to rescue one someday?” Lucien stared at the girl like she had two heads.

  Then the fireball went off when Eleonora noticed the spellbook attached to the orcs hip.

  “What’s that?” she asked, innocently pointing at Lucien's spell book. And before Isadora could warn the poor man he responded. “My—my spellbook, my lady,” Lucien said quietly.

  “Oh WOW!” Eleonora’s eyes sparkled like stars.

  “You’re a MAGE?! That’s so cool! Do you throw it at people when you run out of magic?” she practically screamed causing a number of angry looks in the group's direction.

  It took Lucien a moment to process that last question.

  “WHAT?!” he cried out at the thought of his expensive and precious book getting lobbed a monster. I

  sadora actually made an uncharacteristic choking noise at this point.

  While Kavisha slapped a hand over her mouth, her shoulders shaking with laughter she could no longer control.

  “Throw my spellbook?” Lucien repeated weakly. “Wh—why would I do that?”

  “It’s a TACTIC!” Eleonora said, utterly serious.

  “I’ve been arguing for years that mages should use their spellbooks as improvised weapons when they run out of mana! It’s heavy, and thick, and very book-y! You could totally knock someone out!”

  Lucien stared at her. Long. Slowly.

  “My lady,” he said softly, “I would never throw my spellbook. It's very expensive and hard to replace” Eleonora then gasped.

  “Oh no! Right! That makes sense!” she said slightly embarrassed.

  Kavisha could no longer stop her self and was clutching her stomach as she laughed uncontrollably.

  Eleonora turned to her, eyes bright.

  “Your friend is AMAZING!”

  “Yes,” Kavisha said slowly as she begin to recover from her mirth, “he is something.”

  Isadora stepped closer and bowed her head politely toward Kavisha.

  “My apologies for my lady’s… enthusiasm,” she said in a low voice. “She means well. She is simply… spirited.”

  “Spirited is one word,” Kavisha muttered.

  But Isadora’s tone was unexpectedly gentle, causing Kavisha blinked she didn’t expect the intimidating maid to be capable of warmth.

  Eleonora, oblivious, stepped closer to Lucien to ask more questions.

  Kavisha watched the exchange with a strange warmth in her chest since Lucien rarely got kind attention. But Lady Eleonora saw him with genuine curiosity, untainted by any fear or bias.

  For someone so unbelievably dense, the girl had moments that could thaw even the hardest heart.

  Isadora stepped forward.

  “My lady,” she said, “the walk to the guild hall is not short. We should leave now before the streets grow too crowded.”

  “Right!” Eleonora said brightly. “Everyone ready?”

  Lucien nodded timidly.

  Kavisha nodded too.

  Isadora took her place slightly behind Eleonora, eyes sharp, already scanning for danger.

  Together, they began walking down the cobbled avenue toward the Adventurers Guild, the rhythm of boots and footsteps blending with the noise of the city.

  This freed Isadora to slow her pace just enough to walk beside Kavisha, whom Isadora didn’t look at at first.

  Her eyes remained forward, posture relaxed but alert, one hand resting near the hilt of her sword. “Mistress Kavisha,” she said quietly, her voice smooth and polite. “I want to be very clear about something.”

  Kavisha felt her shoulders tense at the tone of those words.

  “I had a feeling you might,” she said as a matter fact as she had been preparing herself for this talk since meeting the women this morning.

  “If at any point,” Isadora continued after Kavisha spoke, “I believe my lady is being manipulated, endangered, or harmed, whether, that be physically, emotionally, or otherwise, I will act.” She finally turned her head, her dark eyes sharp and scary.

  “I will not warn you twice. I will not ask questions later.”

  Kavisha swallowed and let out a slow breath.

  “Straight to the point. I can respect that,” she finally stated after mulling it over.

  Then she glanced ahead at Eleonora, who was currently waving her arms as Lucien awkwardly tried to explain the difference between a cantrip and a proper spell.

  “For what it’s worth, I don’t hurt kids. Especially not ones like her.”

  Isadora then studied her for a long moment. “Ones like her?”

  “Kind and Naive.” Kavisha said. Isadora’s expression shifted, though only slightly.

  “Then we understand each other.”

  They walked in silence for a few steps before Kavisha spoke again, more subdued.

  “You scare me, you know,” she informed Isadora

  Isadora allowed the faintest curve of a smile to grace her lips. “Good,” she stated.

  Despite herself, Kavisha felt a strange sense of reassurance settle in her chest as they continued walking.

  Already she was finding that she had a very unlikely fondness for the young girl.