Open [Sakel Event] Wisps and Tusks

[Syllyssandevanna]

Summer 13, 517 AV As the dark haired woman stirred beneath her blanket, in the delicious comfort of her bed, the first thing she noticed was the permeating smell of the salty, coastal air. Smiling, she curled up just a bit more, then stretching her body to its full length, a rolling groan of pleasure escaping her lips. This town was wonderful, it was why she'd returned after her many years of wanderlust. Could there truly be a more perfect place to call home? A whirl of cloth swirled over the bed as Deva flung her blanket up and off her nubile form, once more smiling at how the sound reminded her of a ship unfurling its sails. Sitting up, and looking out the window of her Kuahala apartment, she saw nothing but Syna's golden light dancing off of Laviku's back. A sight so lovely to wake to. This was why she'd bought this apartment, to wake up to this every single day. Huffing for a moment, she found herself thinking that it would be nice to wake up to a warm body next to her. But not this morning. Turning to slide of the bed, she froze, her eyes locked on the young boy, maybe ten years old, standing there in the center of her apartment staring at her. Snatching her blanket, and wrapping it around her form, "Who are you, boy? Why are you in my home? Sssstaring at me like sssssome sssssort of pervert." Anger rushed to her cheeks, reddening them, as she stood up, marching over to the boy in her make shift blanket-dress. "I'm Robin. Remember? You promised my mum you'd watch me for the day while she hunted." Eyes wide in confusion, "You're misssstaken boy, I don't know you. I never made any ssssuch promisssse. Turn around sssso I can get dresssssed. We'll find your mum and ssssort thissss nonsssssenssse out." The boy shrugged and did as he was told. Why did he look familiar? That name too. Something about those green eyes and messy mop of brown hair felt so close, yet she couldn't quite remember what it was. Deva pulled on her small clothes and simple black dress, slipping into her open toed sandals and tightening the straps. At the very least, she hadn't made any plans for the day. But whoever this woman was that pawned her kid off on her was about to get an earful. She never liked kids, always getting into trouble, making messes, making a lot of noise, was just too much to be worthwhile. And that was after seasons of being fat, miserable, and nearly torn in half to birth the damnable things. Petch that. "Where do you and your mum live, Robin?" The boy turned to face her, and she just couldn't shake that feeling that she knew him. "We lived in Syliras, mum was a farmer." "I don't care about that, boy. Where do you live now, for Wysssssar'ssss ssssake?" The boy just shrugged. "Don't try me boy, I'll jusssst leave you on the beach." "You promised to show me the plantations." "Plantationsss? There'ssss no plantationssss here boy. Thossssse are in Kena.." Her eyes grew wide as she realized that she did know this boy. Or had. More than twenty years ago when she visited Kenash, she had taken on a boy named Robin for the day. And she had taken him around to see the plantations as promised, because his mother was someone she'd owed a favor to. And while on the edge of a plantation, they'd encountered a rogue wild boar, and Robin had been killed before she or the plantation guards could do anything about it. Her eyes narrowed. Surely this must be a ghost then, one that appeared to have sought her out. And it seemed his unfinished business was that tour of Kenash. Groaning, quite annoyed by this, it meant that if she did nothing, this boy would be with her until she made the trip. Turning away from the boy, she decided that was not going to work for her. Moving toward her table, she grabbed an egg. Holding it in her right hand, she struck it against the corner of the table, crushing it a bit too much, the yolk splattering over the surface. Huffing, she scooped as much of the yolk and egg juice into her hand as possible, trying to avoid as many shell pieces as she could, and then poured the egg into her open mouth. She held it within, not chewing or swallowing. She then grabbed a handful of the buckwheat flour and dropped that in as well. "What are you doing?" Deva ignored Robin, and kept at her task. Tearing off a chunk of cheese, she popped it into her mouth and only now began chewing the foul mixture. She was used to the taste that came from making soul mist, but she never once enjoyed it. Once she had a good glob chewed up, she grabbed her eating knife, and pressed the knife against the bottom side of her forearm, just below the elbow. Sliding it down, blood welled out. She pressed the wound to her mouth and sucked blood from it, adding it to the mixture in her mouth. While mixing the soul mist, imbuing it with a bit of her own essence of life, to make it more than just a strange dough. She concentrated, focusing to add as much of her magic, her very being to this substance. Deva focused on the task she intended for this particular batch, to deceive this ghost of a boy. Continuing to chew and mix, she tore off a piece of linen. She stuck the linen against the wound, covering it and the many other scars, all from this same method of crafting soul mist, and held it down to the skin with her nose. It was not dignified, but wrapping your own bandages was always annoying. With her free hand she wrapped the linen around her arm, and once the end was covered, she pulled away and wrapped it up a few times, before tucking the opposite end upon itself. Satisfied her basic bandage was good enough, she brought her hands to her mouth and spat out the soul mist into her hands. It was colder to the touch, and glowed slightly. Even though she was much better at making it now than she'd been for a long while, it still made her smile when she was successful. Rubbing it between her hands, she began focusing on Robin's mother. The woman was a friend of hers, at least prior to her son's death. Her name had been Ezzemere. Deva could remember her face like it was yesterday, and she had Robin's green eyes. Keeping this image in her mind, Deva smeared the soul mist onto her face, and prepared for The Lie. Turning toward the boy, keeping as many memories of Ezzemere in her mind as possible, she spoke, trying to force down her accent, "Robin, go home. We'll go to the plantationss tomorrow. I'll be home ssoon." Robin looked at her, "What are you doing? Why's that stuff on your face?" Petch. The Lie had failed. Growling, she wiped off the soul mist, returning it into a ball in her hands, then offering it to Robin. "Here, might asssss well eat it. Will make you at leasssst feel better." "Gross! I'm not eating that! It was in your mouth." Head cocked to the side, face confused, Deva stared at the boy. She'd known times the Lie had failed, but no ghost refused freely offered soul mist. It was extremely peculiar. Deva needed to think on this. Was he not a ghost? She had no intention of harming him with her tools, just to check. "Come with me, Robin." Crossing the apartment toward the door, she grabbed her staff, using it as a walking pole, and she made her way out to the beach. Robin followed her obediently. Occasionally she'd glance over her shoulder, to make sure he was still leaving foot prints in the sand. And they were there. She walked into the tide, and he followed, and she saw the water swirl around him, just as if he were solid. If he was a ghost, he wasn't acting like one. Resigned to being stuck with him for the time being, "Well, do you like beasssstsss? We can vissssit the Menagerie." The boy smiled and nodded fervently. It broke her heart to trick him like this, but it was the only way to know for sure. If he saw another boar, it might remind him of his death. And so, Deva walked up the beach toward the road, heading for the Menagerie. Robin, could be seen by none but Deva, but his footprints continued to appear as he walked next to her, grinning as only an excited boy could.

[Orin Fenix]

Apparently there were monsters living next door to Orin’s place of work and the chef had never known it. Maybe monsters was stretching the truth a bit, but there was something called the Monstrous Menagerie, and while there wasn’t actually an entrance by The Almond Blossom as near as Orin could tell, the buildings were right next to each other, albeit with the City Council Chambers mostly in between them. From what Orin could glean from listening to his few acquaintances in the city, this Monstrous Menagerie was something called a ‘zoo.’ Supposedly, it housed all sorts of weird animals in something called exhibits or enclosures. And, from the whispers that Orin could barely overhear, there might even be more oddities in the place than just animals. The chef had made a note that he should visit some day, just to confirm if the stories were true.

He knew that Akalaks kept slaves and thought nothing of it. To the chef, it was an abominable practice; taking away someone’s freedom was the worst act one person could do to another. Still, the chef had to admit that most of the slaves in Riverfall were treated well enough. If the conditions had been worse, maybe the chef would’ve been more agitated by the concept. As it was, the human kept a sharp eye out for any sign that a slave might be mistreated. Now that he was a Kuvan, he was considering actually buying a slave of his own, solely to free them. Still, he didn’t know how everyone else would react to such an act, and he wanted to be able to set up whoever it may be with a place of his or her own. Which, of course, had spurred Orin into seriously planning to open his own restaurant. He would be forever grateful to Korana and Dolmar, but Orin had learned everything he possibly could from the two of them, and it was time for him to move on. Besides, it was a dream the chef had longed for, but never been able to accomplish. Now that he had coin on hand, and, more importantly, the skills and confidence to make a go of it, he’d started scouting out likely locations.

Still, it wouldn’t happen until next season at the earliest, which would give him plenty of time to get his affairs in order. Until then, he was still at The Almond Blossom. Of course, he wasn’t actually supposed to have been at work at all today. He was still recovering from his injuries that he’d received in his Kuvan test at the beginning of the season. As a result, Korana and Dolmar had ordered him to rest and only come to work part time. However, Orin hated not feeling useful, and as soon as he was well enough, had come back to plead with them to let him do something useful. They’d resisted, but eventually came back, for which Orin was grateful. The human needed to stay busy. He needed the routine in his life. Otherwise, his memories overwhelmed him, and Orin was buried in the past

He knew he was depressed, and it should’ve bothered him more than it did. Maybe because he was so surprisingly functional, or at least good at faking it, Orin didn’t feel the need to do anything about it. As long as he kept moving, he would stay out of the darkness that lurked within him. He knew he could become a monster if he wasn’t careful, so he lost himself in work instead of in grief and rage. It worked, and if it meant that he wasn’t happy, or that sometimes he felt crippled with debilitating fear, or even consumed by apathy, that was a price he was willing to pay. Orin couldn’t afford to let anyone in, which was the only way he’d heal, since he’d been abandoned and hurt by those he trusted too many times in the past.

Since he wasn’t supposed to be working full time, Korana had been sending him on various errands around the city. This particular one had seen him down at Bluevein Winery placing their usual order of wines. “No, no, we only need two of the sweet reds. Why do you make us go through this every time?” The clerks here must think the chef was an idiot if the Akalak thought Orin was willing to pay full price for their mistakes. The chef was willing to fight this one until the winery’s attempts to haggle and negotiate for a more expensive product ended. “We’re not paying you anything for the wrong order. And we bring a lot of business here, so you’d be losing a huge profit. Take that to your bosses and see what they say.” Orin didn’t like threatening people, but this Akalak was getting on his nerves.

The dark-skinned giant finally conceded that Orin knew what he was talking about. Orin left feeling a mix of victory and a low rage that had started in his argument, and had been growing ever since. It wouldn’t do to go back to The Almond Blossom in this mood, so Orin set off for a short run, trying to burn off excess energy and ignoring the occasional twinges in his rib. He probably shouldn’t be running but at least because he knew he wasn’t going to be at work he was wearing his old, worn-out clothes from Syliras and his boots. As his arms pumped and his chest heaved for air, Orin could feel his daggers, currently secured to either hip, bounce and hit him repeatedly. It gave him something to focus his anger on, as he found himself racing down steps down towards the beach. At the bottom, the chef slowed, trying to catch his breath.

His short, but intense run, had done its job and Orin found himself wandering through the sand in the direction of the road to The Almond Blossom. Thankfully, he’d spent enough bells staring at his map of Riverfall that he had a vague sense of where everything was in the city. As he kept going, having passed the Kuahala Estates he noticed one figure on the same path as him, a woman. The chef didn’t notice the second set of footprints, as he eyes didn’t want to see what his brain insisted couldn’t be real. This woman wasn’t wearing the bracelet indicating that she was a Navikak, so she was a free woman, rare enough in these parts. She was shorter than Orin, nothing remarkable as far as he could see right now, with dark brown hair set off nicely by her pale skin. She carried an iron staff much like Orin’s own, and the chef felt his interest piqued. He sped up his pace so that he could catch up to her.

Finally, drawing near, Orin greeted her. “Hello! Looks like we’re headed in the same direction, so I figured we might as well walk together. Where exactly are you headed?” Hesitating, Orin realized that he probably shouldn’t have assumed she wanted to talk to him. “That is, of course, assuming you want company – I can go, if you’d like.” Still, it would be sad to have gone through all this effort when the chef had trouble talking to people on a normal day. Perhaps the run had been good for him in more ways than he’d initially realized. Nodding towards her staff, the chef grinned. “Either way, you have to tell me if you know how to use that. I’ve been dying to learn how to use it myself, but haven’t been having the best luck.”

[Syllyssandevanna]

Brown curls swished along with the folds of her dress as Deva turned to the sound of someone calling out to her. A taller man, a human, with short, messy, brown hair, atop a pale form, was approaching her. Deva stopped moving, and for a moment, the dhani woman forgot all about Robin standing with her. Smiling at his seemingly eager approach, hearing him offer to join her, in the same direction. Arms crossed comfortably, in a chipper tone, "The more the merrier. We're heading to the Menagerie, to sssee all the critterssss until thissss one'ssss mom comesss home. Mosst sssertainly welcome to join ussss." Stepping forward, closer to the man, she offered a well manicured hand, "I am Deva, thissss issss Robin," gesturing to the boy next to her with her free hand, a boy that was still invisible to Orin. After the offering of greeting, she turned, smiling at his next phrase. "I'm not ssso sssure I'm in a possition to teach you to ussse thissss. I'm passsable at bessst mysself." Leaning in closer to him, voice a bit lower so that Robin wouldn't hear, "Perhapssss later we can sssee how well you usse your ssstaff though." A smirking grin accompanied with a lingering look was given to the man, before turning back to the road. "Shall we?" Deva led the way up the steps from the beach to the first tier, Robin following in behind her. The sound of multiple footsteps could be heard, sand left in places where Deva didn't step. Going slow, hoping that Orin might catch up and walk by her side, "Ssso what'ssss a nice man like you do for a living? Or might you jusst be a lurker upon the beach, waiting for the firsst woman to fall under your charm?" She smirked, trying to make it seem as if he was trying to seduce her, rather than the other way around. Higher and higher she climbed, while waiting for his response. It didn't take long to reach the road, and the Menagerie was quite close. Deva stopped at the entry way, just before the steps, "Either of you boyssss ever vissited here? It issss quite... fasscinating."

[Orin Fenix]

There was something off about this situation that was nagging the chef, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. There were just a lot of factors that weren’t adding up to a coherent whole and Orin felt fingers of fear crawl up his spine. Something was wrong here but seeing as he couldn’t figure out what it was, and seeing as this woman wasn’t acting in any overtly strange way Orin was willing to see this situation through. Still, the woman’s use of pronouns was odd, and her voice carried such strong sibilants that Orin almost couldn’t understand every word.

Still, she was headed to the Menagerie, and Orin had just been planning on going some time soon. “That’s so odd. I was thinking about that place earlier. I pass it all the time, apparently, but I’ve never been inside.” Perhaps this woman worked in the area as well, or maybe she was just coming out here for a visit. Riverfall wasn’t a small city, after all. Orin considered her offer for a moment. Korana would probably be thrilled that Orin got out of her restaurant. She worried about him, thinking that he wasted far too much time with work and not enough time with living. Orin figured that it must be a Konti trait. They looked after others, since Kavala, who he’d met once, long ago, had been the same way. Although Orin had wanted to take their advice to heart, it was too hard for him. Work was easy. He always knew the solution to the problems he encountered there. When it came to anything outside the restaurant, though, Orin almost always found himself lost.

So, though it went against every instinct he had, and though he still felt an odd dread, though nothing was really explicitly causing it, Orin decided to take a chance. It wasn’t really living, just surviving, if he didn’t try to go outside his comfort zones every once in a while. Besides, he didn’t know this woman, and if he didn’t enjoy her company during the Menagerie, he could always leave her there and make some excuse. It was a low stakes risk, and though Orin normally had trouble with people, he decided to make every effort to be charming here. “I think I will take you up on that. Should prove to be an interesting experience.”

Immediately after he agreed to it, though, everything got weird. The woman introduced herself as Deva, but then said that someone else who was with them was named Robin. Orin glanced at the direction the woman pointed in, and it was then that he noticed the set of much smaller footprints keeping pace with theirs, with no apparent cause in sight. Orin was incredibly confused. When Deva had spoke about a mother earlier, Orin had somehow assumed she was talking about herself and just using a weird mode of speech. However, that didn’t appear to be the case, and Orin found himself curious about the mystery of this Robin. “Hello, you two. M’name’s Orin Fenix. It’s nice to meet you.” The chef would play along with this for now and see where it led. After all, he was trying out new experiences. Still, he had to at least bring up the unnatural happening. Leaning in close to the woman, Orin lowered his voice as much as he dared. “I hate to say this but I don’t think your friend Robin is all there. Physically I mean. I can’t see him, at all.” Hopefully Robin, if he existed anywhere outside the woman’s head, hadn’t heard that.

Orin didn’t let the disappointment show on his face. He’d been looking for someone who might be able to teach him how to use a staff properly for a while now, since it wasn’t all that popular a weapon among the Akalaks. Still, there might be an opportunity here. “That’s all right, I’m still starting out with it myself. Perhaps we can learn together?” The woman, though had other ideas in mind, apparently, and Orin felt his eyes widen at her brazen suggestion.

Is she…flirting with me? It certainly seemed like it, and yet Orin almost couldn’t believe it. In a city full of dark-skinned giants with heavy muscles and generally handsome features, the chef didn’t feel that he stood out, especially given the discrepancy between the number of men and the number of women. So Orin had long ago given up on his romantic prospects. In fact, even before coming to Riverfall, Orin hadn’t exactly considered himself a catch. He was too awkward, and didn’t really know how relationships worked, to be considered a candidate. And though he wasn’t unattractive, his lean frame didn’t seem to be appealing to people. Apparently Deva was the exception that proved the rule.

Orin found himself blushing, and he carefully considered his options. He knew he was terrible at flirting, and his first impulse was to withdraw, scared at getting hurt in some way if he tried to engage Deva. Still, he’d come to learn that a lot of people flirted just for fun, without expecting anything to come from it. While the chef figured that Deva didn’t actually feel attracted to him, perhaps this could be an opportunity for practice. The woman was pretty, and while Orin hadn’t had much, or any experience with the opposite sex it wasn’t necessarily by choice. “I can uh…certainly give you a private lesson, if that’s what you want.” It was a pretty lame response, especially give that Orin could only sink a little heat into it, but it was the best he could do under the circumstances. Even that little bit made him uncomfortable. “Yes, let’s move on,” the chef agreed gratefully, wanting to put that incident behind them.

Deva, unfortunately, seemed to have other plans for him. Orin found this whole scenario so bizarre that he couldn’t seem to even think about extricating himself. For whatever reason, she seemed to be trying to seduce him, although she was perhaps trying to be subtle about it and failing. Orin didn’t know. He was a stranger to the amorous arts, that part of life having passed him by so far. “I’m a cook, a chef really, and I work at The Almond Blossom – it’s right next to the Menagerie, actually, which is why I was thinking about it. Anyway, I was running an errand and I decided to take a detour on my way back since I had a lot of time before I needed to be back at the kitchen.” It wasn’t exactly a lie although it was certainly a creative way of looking at the truth.

Orin gulped audibly. This whole flirting back and forth was so unusual that he wasn’t quite sure if he was supposed to be responding or not. Still, as before, he figured he should at least give it a try. “So, no I ah, well I don’t go down to the beach often. No lurkers here.” The chef did his best to attempt a winning smile, and hoped he didn’t just look ill. “Though maybe that will change if I find out I can meet beautiful women like you down there.” Realizing that his comment could be taken out of context and sound a bit creepy, Orin rushed to reassure Deva. “I mean I should visit the beach more often, not that I should lurk! This is a lurk free zone, I promise.”

Thankfully, they returned to the significantly more neutral topic of the Menagerie. Orin shook his head at her question. “I can’t say that I’ve ever been.” Still, her second comment about the Menagerie being fascinating aligned with what Orin had heard about it earlier. “I heard that it can be quite…exotic,” he tried to say diplomatically. Glancing at her sidelong, he asked, “Is that true?” Perhaps it would be better if he just tried to wait and see. Until he got more information on Robin, Orin was going to stay silent on that particular front.

[Syllyssandevanna]

Deva pondered on a few of the things the man had told her. The first being his name. Orin Fenix, a normal enough name, for a human at least. Certainly not as nice as the names of her own people. But nice enough. The second was what he said about Robin. It didn't really make sense. She understood Common well enough, but perhaps she was missing something. How could he not see Robin, when she could? Ghosts couldn't be selectively invisible, as far as she was aware. Unless... this was something new, something she'd never seen before. And that was exciting to the woman. This child's ghost was an interesting oddity to say the least. But even more interesting, at least for the moment, was Orin's reciprocation to her flirtation. A private lesson, of a both types, was definitely something she would take him up on, a bit later. But she had to shake this ghost first, which was the whole reason for trip to the Menagerie. Deva glared at the boy, annoyed that he was preventing her from more fun goals. The Sakel looked back at her, a chuckle hidden in his eyes, still feeding off of any emotion that he himself caused. Though perhaps if Orin couldn't see him, she could just ignore him as well. At least if her initial plan didn't work. Still listening to Orin, she smiled as he told her of work at the Almond Blossom, a fine restaurant to say the least. Now she knew where to find him should the mood strike her. As he smiled and continued his very awkward rambling and explanation, Deva decided to ease back on the flirting, for now at least. Orin was doing his best, but seemed to be trying, if even uncomfortable with it all. She'd cook up some fun a bit later with him. But the Dhani woman truly couldn't help herself. At the mention of the Menagerie being exotic, she set her eyes on the man. She slinked close, into his personal space and raised up on her tip toes, one hand on his shoulder, the other against his chest, whispering into his ear. "The most exotic beast stands in front of you..." With that, she settled back down, tapped his chest with hand a few times, and turned back toward the Menagerie. Climbing the steps, slowly, with an extra sway in her hips, she entered the zoo. The first creatures to be seen were the plentiful and colorful birds of so many types. And they made Deva's stomach rumble. She loved bird, raw or cooked, and loved eggs, at least when not used to make soul mist. The first enclosure had a pond and lots of trees, and inside were large, rat like things. Deva had never seen them before, but they were fat, and she suspected tasty, her mouth salivating at the thought of eating one of the large capybaras. She wondered where they lived normally. A question primed for Orin should he join her, "Ssso, misster chef, how might you cook thesse," glancing at the wooden sign, "Capyabarassss. A good sssseared ssssteak perhapssss?" Robin laughed, and while his form was still invisible to Orin, his voice could be heard.

[Orin Fenix]

When Orin brought up Robin’s invisibility Deva gave him the oddest look, then didn’t even respond, so Orin gave her a puzzled look of his own. What the petch is going on? Whatever was happening here wasn’t normal. People didn’t just turn invisible, and even if they did, they didn’t turn invisible to selected individuals and become visible to others. At least, that had been Orin’s experience although he’d be the first to admit that his understanding of everything out there in the world was highly limited. At least Deva didn’t seem to be acting like anything was that out of the ordinary, nor did she seem crazy, even if she was a bit forward. So Orin was willing to stick around for now, although at the first sign of trouble he didn’t know if he’d run towards it or away from it. It was sort of a toss up these days whether the chef would be brave or be a coward. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to find out.

Deva nodded as he spoke, seemingly following along with what Orin was telling her. Frustratingly, she didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk about herself, and so Orin found himself carrying a one-sided conversation, as he often did. He very carefully refrained from frowning, still wanting to make a good impression, but it was hard to talk about himself exclusive and get nothing in reply. He was about to start asking her some personal questions when the situation rapidly changed, and Orin couldn’t decide if it was better or worse.

She had gotten close – Too close his mind insisted – and he shrank in on himself a little. At least he hadn’t gone for his blade at her sudden approach. She had a different kind of physical activity in mind other than fighting, and Orin felt heat rush to his cheeks. He was sure that he was blushing a furious red color. People simply didn’t get that close to him, or touch him like that, ever. In fact, Orin couldn’t remember the last time, and so he was waffling between wanting to reciprocate and wanting to go dig a hole and hide in it for eternity. The former won out, barely, although Orin was still acutely embarrassed. “You’ll ah, you’ll have to, to, to show me what kind of ah beast you are some time.” He was stammering horribly and he knew his own attempt to be seductive had failed miserably. Hopefully she could tell what effect she was having on him though.

Of course, that was when his mind caught up to his ears. Referring to oneself as a beast was not a common occurrence, at all, and Orin had a moment of panic. It might not be a metaphor at all, since there was a large chance that she might be a Kelvic of some kind. After all, female Kelvics were common in the city, although they were usually slaves of some sort or another and this woman did not appear to be under anyone else’s control. Still, there was nothing he could do about it if she was a Kelvic, and running away for no reason would make him look and feel foolish, so he’d stick around for now and see what happened.

They finally arrived at the Monstrous Menagerie, and Orin was grateful for the distraction from their previous interaction, as well as the much more public nature of the place they were in. She was much less likely to act in such a forward manner around other people. At least, he hoped. Deva had already proven to be quite unpredictable and Orin probably shouldn’t count on anything with her.

They passed a variety of colorful and exotic birds. Orin found himself slightly captivated by the darting shapes and the music they made. They didn’t have anything like this in Syliras and the chef was shocked he hadn’t actually come here before. It was magical, in its own way, not monstrous at all so far and the chef was entranced. “That’s incredible,” he breathed, not really expecting a reply.

The next exhibit was less beautiful, although Orin supposed some people could find the shaggy critters cute. Orin didn’t as they reminded him too much of giant rats, which he tried to kill whenever he came upon them in the kitchen, without much success. Rodents of any kind were not his friends. He was still pondering them when Deva asked her questions, so he responded distractedly. “Probably not enough meat for a good steak on them. I’d put ‘em on a stick or a spit and roast them over an open fire” The chef started, realizing that his matter of fact answer might not be appreciated by anyone who owned or operated this zoo. “We ah, probably shouldn’t talk about destroying the merchandise, though.” He’d been caught off guard, that was all, or he’d never have considered answer such a question.

It did remind him that he still knew nothing about what Deva did. Once again, Orin was about to find out more about the mysterious woman, and once again, there was an interruption. A children’s laugh came out of no one in the space beside Deva, and Orin turned to stare at it, narrowing his eyes. Creepy child. Orin normally liked hanging out around youngsters but this Robin character gave him chills. Still, someone who apparently wasn’t old enough to be left without supervision would not deter the chef.

Deliberately turning away from the spot where Robin stood, Orin pointed looked at Deva. “So, I feel like I’ve been monopolizing the conversation. Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself? You know, where you’re from, what you do for a living, that kind of thing.” As he spoke, he walked away from the capybaras, heading towards the next animals on display. It was forest habitat, or the facsimile of one, at least, and Orin couldn’t see whatever creature was hiding within it just yet.