Completed Time to Find a Job! [Sunny]

[Ruzekiel Soren]

He was not getting out of this. Not like he was afraid, but it was uncomfortable to hear people’s surprise at the state of his hair. He knew that when Sunny pulled that wooden comb through it, the glittering blue tones would come out. Zeke supposed it might be pretty on a girl, but he was a man, a human man, although his father’s side seemed to claim his head with a vengeance. Then again, he trusted Sunny not to tease him about it, and he really needed a good brush out anyway. After all he wasn’t a pirate anymore, he was a working class man, and he was sleeping in a clean fancy kitchen thanks to this girl. So he sat on the bench and let her comb in front of the dim flicker of the hearth, wrapped up snug as a bug and humming quietly.

[Sunny]

Zeke returned to sit on the settle beside her. Sunny turned and went to work on his tangled hair, using great patience and gentleness. Still, there were a few knots that took quite a bit of finessing to remove, and she knew from occasional winces that she wasn’t entirely successful in making this process pain free. In the end though it was done, and she ran her fingers through his soft, dark hair one last time, checking for any missed snarls. Noting its shimmering blue low lights, she remarked, “Your hair is very beautiful, Ruzikiel, like a girl’s. If you grew it long you could pass for a lady. Well, as long as you don’t turn around,” she appended, thinking about his darkly stubbled jaw.

Laying her hand gently on his back, she said, “Alright. Done.” She rose and placed a soft kiss on his rough cheek. “I’ll be back in just a moment.”

Moving to the pantry, she closed the door partially behind her and got undressed quickly, folding her clothes neatly away on a shelf. In a flash of light, she shifted to her canine form, a large, narrow waisted but powerfully built sight hound, with curling golden-brown hair and large expressive dark eyes. Now, up to this point, she had not thought to say anything to Zeke about being a kelvic. And she wasn’t aware that he had already figured this out on his own. So she might have given some consideration to the possibility that he would be surprised as heck to see a dog come traipsing out of the pantry, where a girl had gone in. But, being Sunny, she had no such qualms, and simply expected Zeke to see her as she saw herself, just…Sunny, in whatever form she took.

With her nose she pushed the door open and came back out into the kitchen, walking over to the young man. She nosed the side of his knee, and licked his hand once, then took a step or two to the hearth. There lay an old mat woven of rags and on this she circled three times and then collapsed. She was oriented so that her head was pointed towards the settle, and she stretched out her front limbs and rested her head upon them, her brown eyes gazing up at Zeke.

[Ruzekiel Soren]

Zeke smiled just a bit, smile turning to a wince as she untangled the last wayward knot. Somehow, coming from Sunny having pretty hair wasn’t such a bad thing. She ran her fingers through it and finished, standing up and setting the comb down on the bench. He felt a gentle hand on his back and was surprised by a supple kiss on his cheek. Zeke nearly giggled at the feel of it, but he suppressed the feeling and let out a soft, short chuckle instead, turning to watch her enter the closet. Through the slightly open door he saw bits of skin and layers of clothing slip to the floor. He really did not want to be watching Sunny change her clothes, but he couldn’t help it. Perhaps she was shifting into her kelvic form? The flash of light confirmed his suspicions, and he smiled when he saw the lean, golden hound nose its way out of the closet and come padding towards him, tail awag and its deep brown eyes still uniquely and completely Sunny.
She pushed her damp black nose against his knee and licked his hand and he reached down to gently scratch her behind the ear. When Sunny slipped down into a lying position and looked up at him with those eyes he hmmed.
“Ah, so you are a kelvic. You make quite the pretty canine,” Zeke said quietly, sliding off the bench into a kneeling position in front of her. He took her silken head in his hands and kissed the top of it, looking down to smile at her. He gave Sunny’s ear one last tousle and flopped onto the settle, wrapped in the blanket and sighing contentedly.
“Goodnight, Sunny,” Zeke said sleepily, her expressive face the last thing he saw before he fell asleep.


Zeke had been waking up quite early for the last few months so when he heard pots clanging quietly and caught a whiff of Cook’s signature rosemary soup, he stirred and clambered from the settle, dragging the blanket with him. Panicking at the sight of the soup pot already simmering away he bounded to the common room, fearing that he and Sunny had both overslept. Only when he skidded to a halt in the middle of the great cavern, the sound of bare feet slapping the stone echoing behind him, did he realize that it was at most only five in the morning, that the bar wasn’t even open yet, that Micah, the owner of the tavern, was regarding him imperiously from her seat in front of the fire, and that he himself was wearing nothing but a blanket. He froze.
“Good morning, Mr. Soren.”
“Uh, heh, good morning Micah. If you’ll…just excuse me…” He crept closer to the firepit and gathered up his dried out clothes. While he was hastily tugging and pulling them on, Micah spoke.
“So I hear you’re looking for employment at this establishment. Korin heard you play. He seems to like your music. Not many entertainers get compliments from Korin, minstrel.”
Zeke chuckled nervously, “Well, I’ve been a few places, cultural melodies an’ all.” Morwen this lady was scary. He buttoned up his shirt and pulled on his boots, hopping around on each foot while Micah appraised him sternly, still and refined as a statue.
“I can show you some of the songs I do, if you need refer--“
“That won’t be necessary,” Micah snapped. “Korin told me that Sunny has expressed her preference for you to stay here, and I like Sunny. She works hard. And we need some entertainment. So, you play from noon until evening, nine hours, but with 4 fifteen minute breaks and 1 half hour break in between. We will provide meals and lodging while you work here. Everyone gets up at eight, no exceptions, and everyone helps out. Y’understand, Soren?”
“Yes sir—I mean, ma’am!”
“Good. Now go get some sleep. It’s not even dawn yet.”

When he got back to the kitchen Cook was stirring the pot and taking the occasional taste test. When she heard Zeke come in she turned to him and put a finger to her lips, nodding towards the sound asleep Sunny, still in her animal form, her ears spread out like soft, golden brown bird’s wings and her head resting neatly on her paws. Zeke smiled at the sight, then took his journal, quill and ink from the rucksack under the settle and lay down. He dipped the quill in the inkwell and dated his first journal entry in a while, but after much contemplation on what to say, he instead turned his body around to look at the dog sleeping in front of the hearth. The pen scritch-scratched away amid the sounds of the simmering soup and Cook’s alto humming, a whole city slowly waking up around them.

fin.