FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

On a cool spring night in a house isolated from any nearby structures the screaming of a woman in agony gave way to the wails of an infant. On June seventh at four in the morning the son of Natalie and Edward pine was born in a room no bigger than a stable he was given the name Louis by his father and Red as a middle name by his godparent. Louis would grow as any normal child in this age, peacefully nestled close to his mother. Louis wasn't a needy child he was surprisingly self sufficient for his age, as soon as he could walk he wanted to go everywhere by himself, as soon as he could talk he wanted to speak for himself, as soon as he could reason he didn't want to be told. His parents were both proud and worried at their capable son, getting him to listen was difficult but he wouldn't fight if you could prove he couldn't do what he wanted to. Louis was receptive towards new information but didn't retain it well because he'd often have to be corrected repeatedly on the same mistake. Early in life his jobs were to help his mother by handing her things and help his father by observing him, even this proved difficult as Louis would get bored and wander off leading to a great game of hide and seek much to his parent's displeasure. When Louis turned four he gained his first responsibility, his baby sister laura. Born on January tenth in the early morning Louis at first didn't take to Laura not accepting his role as her brother and desiring to remain selfish and self absorbed. Louis didn't mind all the attention that went to Laura because that left him free to explore and more importantly to indulge in his new hobby, climbing everything he could. Louis always yearned to go higher, taller, farther than he did previously. He used to love riding on his dad's shoulders which put him somewhere near six feet and several inches off the ground but still there was sky always above him, Louis wanted to touch the sky. So when his mother and father were busy with Laura he would scurry off and climb the fences and the posts, the barn side, and the smaller trees. His hands grew rough and calloused at a very young age from all the climbing he did, always covered in dirt from head to toe which matched his dirt brown hair and dirt brown eyes. It wasn't until Louis turned six that he learned personal responsibility. One breezy day in late august Edward was busy with sorting the animals and Natalie was hanging the wash on an outside line. Louis and Laura were sitting by playing but not together, once Louis noticed that nobody was paying attention he got up and scurried off to the forest that bordered his home, a river running through it and a pathway leading north to a small town. Louis went to his favorite climbing tree and began to scrambled up the branches not noticing that shortly behind him was two year old Laura toddling along after her big brother. Louis was so busy climbing that he didn't see Laura reaching up after him, grunting in frustration as she hadn't mastered the level of climbing he had, she'd get a little height then slide back down onto her butt. Giving up in frustration Laura decided to chase bugs and small rodents she was less aware of her own speed though as she'd keep tripping over roots and leaves, resorting to crawling after so many tumbles. Louis from his perch was trying to reach the next branch when he saw a brightly colored thing, on the ground already eight feet up in the branches on what could be called the second level just beneath the bow, slowly moving towards the lip of the river. The forest river was six feet deep and six wide it had plenty of fish but its current was too fast for most non aquatic things so it kept a lot of more fierce creatures away from Louis's lands. It took a moment for Louis to realize that the brightly colored thing on the forest floor was Laura in her yellow and blue knitted one piece. Louis called out for Laura to stop but she couldn't hear him and continued chasing a butterfly through the forest. Laura didn't notice when the ground ended and suddenly she went tumbling into the river now caught by the current. Louis didn't think he just moved, running across the tree branch until he was over the river and grabbing it with all his strength he jumped down the tree branch bending with his weight. "Laura!" Louis reached out and caught Laura's tiny hand holding on as the current tried to drag them away. "Don't fight!" Louis shouted hoping Laura could hear him. Louis gripped the slipping branch, holding as tight as he could, relieved for once when he heard his name. "LOUIS!" Natalie and Edward noticed how quiet it was and began searching for Louis and Laura not knowing where they had gotten off to, much to their horror, the two kids had somehow ended up in the river. Edward broke into a sprint and jumped into the river wearing his work pants, the massive man sticking into the river until he was chest high. "Let go, I've got you." Edward grabbed his son and daughter and held them close against the current turning them towards it so the water pushed them into his chest. Natalie was near tears at the river lip on her knees reaching down. Edward walked sideways keeping a hand on each child before handing them off to their mother and climbing out. Louis was soaking wet and Laura was bawling her eyes out never having been that scared before. Edward approached Louis dripping from his waist down and looked at him sternly. "What happened?" He was so angry he could barely form words, he knew Louis was only young but he had a job, they gave him a very easy and very simple task, keep Laura safe. "I went to climb and Laura." Louis started but Edward shouted interrupting him. "WE TRUSTED YOU TO DO YOUR JOB AS HER BIG BROTHER AND YOU BETRAYED HER TO GO CLIMB TREES!?" Edward's voice thundered through the forest scarring all manner of small animal from its home and shaking Louis to the core. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Louis began to cry sniffling to try and stop it but even when he was several feet off the ground his father never yelled at him like that. Louis didn't know how to handle the emotions he was feeling, he was unhappy he got into trouble when he didn't do anything bad but more he felt like he had hurt Laura even though he didn't mean to. This new sensation of shame welling up inside Louis forced tears through the young boy's eyes his voice cracking. "I promise I won't do it again, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Louis was crying almost as hard as Laura was the two gripping their mother and sobbing into her chest. "I.." Edward went to say something not realizing he had gotten so angry but Natalie shook her head, even though Edward hated seeing either of his children cry this was something Louis needed to learn, he needed to learn what it meant to be depended upon and how it felt to fail the faith others put in you. "I hope so." Edward shuddered as he swallowed his apology and left Natalie behind holding her sobbing children. From that day Louis never wandered off to climb, he didn't stop climbing though that encounter with Laura and the river introduced him to a new sensation better than climbing, Louis began to jump from every surface he could the higher the better. Louis embraced his responsibilities as a brother taking care of Laura so his parents could do the work required for them to eat and survive afterwards he'd go off and play or he'd take Laura and play in the yard with her. Natalie and Edward were proud that Louis learned this one lesson as they counted dependability among a person's most important features. Laura would follow her brother being both stubborn and a bit spoiled as the youngest girl but she never wanted the attention or doting that Edward had, Laura wanted to be like she saw Louis, confident and proud. Laura rejected playing with handmade dolls and wearing dresses she liked putting on her brother's old clothes and going off exploring with him when she was old enough to handle herself. Laura and Louis would often go off into the woods for hours but they never crossed the river, Laura because she was afraid of the water and Louis because he knew better. Louis knew where his property ended, at the river, after was an entirely different land unlike his own. The town people didn't like Louis or his parents very much, he could distinctly remember strange looks and whispering whenever Edward and Natalie went to town. Laura had an affinity for animals she would play with creatures of the forest and befriend them while Louis took to climbing and jumping off of every rock and tree he could find. The two children were happy and wanted nothing more in life. When Louis turned seven he gained more responsibilities like helping his father with the farming and livestock. Louis was already aware of what it was like to be depended upon so he took to the new chores willingly. However wanting to do and being able to are two different things. Where Edward was strong Louis was weak, where he was fast Louis was slow, where he was good Louis was bad. Louis hated work so much that he tried to avoid it one day hiding in the forest. When Edward found him he was sitting on the ground curled up. Louis felt terrible that he was so bad at doing his job he felt that he was letting down his father. Edward smiled and sat down beside Louis placing his hand on his son's head. "So long as you try, you give me every single ounce of effort you have and you never give me anything less, the outcome doesn't matter you will become better in time as long as you always try your hardest." Edward offered this wisdom that he personally had based his entire life around, to his son, passing along the spirit of effort that he inherited from his mentor a legacy hundreds of years old. Louis felt renewed and took back to work with a vigor. He didn't improve until he was seven and became physically able to keep up with his father but the moment he could do what he was unable to do before was one of the proudest Louis would ever experience. Raised on the belief that hard work would yield progress and that talent was just a reason to work twice as hard Louis became a steady hand at farming and animal care though Laura was naturally better with the animals than he or his father was. Louis learned to cook and sew for himself from Natalie who in her best attempts tried to teach Laura but she wouldn't learn. When Louis turned eight he was given his own room, the old barn that he enjoyed climbing was converted into a room for Louis using the loft, with his own space he was able to make his own rules though he still had to obey his parents. For too long Louis, Laura, Edward, and Natalie shared a single bedroom house with Louis growing bigger he couldn't fit in the bed with all three of them anymore. Natalie naturally threw a tantrum when Louis got his own room and was promised the lower half of the barn when she turned eight in four more years, Louis also promised that she could come and sleep over with him whenever she wanted so Natalie was pacified for the time being. Louis was growing up in leaps and bounds, becoming taller and stronger and wiser thanks to his father's teachings and his mother's stories. Natalie would often share tales from across the world with Louis having gathered them, but she collected no books, all the stories were told by mouth and passed down from teller to listener. By the time Louis was nine he had a wealth of folklore and experience, enough to work any farm anywhere he wanted. However Louis didn't want to leave his home, he loved his parents and his sister even when she got too clingy. He loved his barn room and all the animals in the stables. Louis knew that when he grew up he was going to stay with his parents and work on their farm until he inherited the farm, as the oldest son was responsible for doing. Edward and Natalie saw his attachment to home and began to worry, not knowing how to fix this issue, they knew the world was a dangerous place with people that wouldn't think like they did. The reason that Edward and Natalie lived on their isolated mountain farm was because they did not agree with the world as it was, having both had parts to play in their youth they found that they just did not work in the conventional society. Edward however did not wish this on Louis, untainted by the world Louis had the potential to do great things, potential that would be squandered on this isolated mountain farm. Natalie was worried that Louis would grow into an ignorant adult a type of person she despised, as she valued knowledge and perspective highly from her collection of stories. Both of them agreed that this had to end, so Louis was given a new responsibility, to do the shopping for the house. In towns as small as the one near Louis's home currency wasn't used instead a market built on bartering had flourished. However traders traveling from farther north in the kingdom of everlight brought currency that was printed with the consent of King Archibald and endorsed as valued at a certain price. This created a hybrid economy where foreigners currency was valued depending on an individual's ability to use it which made trade a tricky subject. For Louis he would take some crop and some goods his parents produced and trade them for things they couldn't make like nails and metal goods. Edward tried his hand at blacksmithing once, it was nothing short of a disaster, the results were so terrible that the forge he built was destroyed and they never spoke of it around the house. Louis was nervous buried beneath excitement about his new task. He never went beyond the river because of how his parents were treated but he was an unknown entity just another kid, Laura couldn't follow him, and if he did it right he could be very valuable to the household and learn how to sustain it himself. The problems that he had was the interaction with people. Sure Louis could speak and tell a story but he'd never spoke with anyone besides his parents and Laura. Did he address everyone by their name, were there titles, how could he tell a person's status without speaking to them, many social intricacies eluded Louis but nothing stopped him from trying his best. The morning came of Louis's first day as the house shopper, he had a pack full of goods to trade Louis left early in the morning he woke up at four every day so it was normal for him to be up and ready. Edward and Natalie were also awake but occupied so they didn't notice Louis leave. Walking through the forest and along the path Louis marked down interesting tree's to climb in his head as he walked past the acres of forest. Emerging on the other side was like crossing through a portal. Where Louis had grown up around hilly plains the world on the other side of the forest was flat and lush with various types of plants. The river that ran through the forest pooled at its exit forming a lake which was more water than Louis had ever seen in one place. Staring at his reflection in the calm waters Louis marveled at it before moving on. The times that he had been with his parents Louis never noticed the path to town. He usually slept or was looking at the sky from his dad's shoulders not paying attention to the road before him. Signs pointed the way but Louis did not possess the skill of literacy, he could recognize symbols so counting and learning words wasn't an issue, he knew the word for town it was Mica. Following the signs to Mica when the path split into several directions Louis found himself alone at the wall of the town of Mica at six in the morning. Mica was a very small town, in the southern most reaches of Everlight, so it was very humble in its appearance. A district of houses and a market, a few buildings with purposes Louis didn't understand, a large house further away from the others on a hill the town was built around as far as Louis knew Mica had everything. Louis saw a tall stone wall that ran outside of Mica a barrier much like the river near his house. The urge to scale it was too heavy for Louis so carefully he clutched his pack and slid the leather strap around his waist facing behind him. Cracking his fingers and grinning Louis began to feel the stone wall looking for one that was just slightly out of place. He had learned from trial and error that it is easier to climb an imperfection than it was a sheer face. Trees were full of bits of missing bark from animals, buildings often had spots of disrepair or odd architecture, but a wall was the natural enemy of the climber it was smooth and often needed to not have flaws or it would fall. After searching a few feet Louis found his gripping point a single loose stone that he could jimmy out of place. Grabbing the hole he hoisted himself up scrambling against the flat surface until his foot entered the hole. Anchored Louis began searching around again. He repeated this until he scaled the ten foot wall, slinging his leg over the top and straddling it as he looked into the town. From this height he could see everything, the buildings, the big house, the well, and the other side of the wall. Louis licked his lips and looked down, a jump from this height would probably hurt. Leaning over he peered down and decided not to jump it, not yet at least. Louis used his height to try and scout the stores he needed to visit, the general store and the smith being the prime requirements. Louis had a mental list a sack of nails, a hammer, two bundles of twine, a stack of candles and some ink his mother had drilled it into his head the day prior. Louis watched as the sun rose over the town bathing it in orange and gold it was beautiful, it was the reason he climbed, to see what others couldn't to go where they wouldn't. He would have basked longer but a voice interrupted him nearly knocking him off the wall. "What are you doing down there?" From above him a girl's voice broke the morning silence. Next to the wall was a watchtower, one of four spread around the town made of wood and nails. Looking to the owner of the voice Louis saw a girl with long strawberry blond hair wearing a dark blue gown that clashed with her bright blue eyes standing in the watchtower. "Sitting." Louis responded, he wondered why the girl used the watchtower's stairs to get this high there was no sport in that. "I can see that I mean why are you sitting on the town wall, do you want to get yelled at by the guards?" The girl laughed and brushed away some of her strawberry hair. "Will I get in trouble, I didn't know we couldn't climb it." Louis shifted preparing to dismount. "Wait, you would get in trouble but I'll tell them I allowed it." The girl had never met such an interesting boy, one who was up so early in the morning and who could climb a ten foot wall of mason and rocks. "What's your name?" The girl asked. "Louis." Louis stopped his shifting, swinging his other leg over and sitting on top the smooth flat roof of the wall. "Louis, is that all?" The girl was confused everyone had three names in town, a first, a middle, and a last name. "Louis White Pine." Louis didn't like his full name, not that there was anything wrong with it, just that his mom used it when he was in trouble so it had some bad memories attached to it. "Louis White Pine, you are the first person I met that I liked today." The girl laughed softly and Louis smiled. "Why did you climb all the way up that wall, surely you could have gone around it easier?" The girl set her elbows on the railing of the watchtower and looked down at Louis. "There's nothing in this world worth doing that's easy, but, I climbed it because I could, because I wanted to, because I had to see it for myself." Louis explained spreading his arms out. "If I walked around and saw the sunrise I wouldn't get to see it over the town and the other side of the wall, perspective is everything." Louis rocked a bit when he talked, completely fearless. "I never thought of it like that, I always come up here to be alone but seeing someone else up here is kind of nice, you won't tell anyone I was up here will you?" The girl asked "How can I, I don't know who you are." Louis postured and the girl began to laugh harder. "Did I say something funny?" Louis was confused, did people laugh a lot in common conversation maybe he should to. Louis began to match the girl's laughter making him feel awkward. "Mary my name is Mary." Mary introduced herself through laughter what a funny boy she met at the crack of dawn on the highest point in town. "Is that all?" Louis asked expecting the same courtesy. "Yes that is, for now." Mary replied and Louis had a confused look, why did he have to give his full name. "Louis, aren't you scared of falling?" Mary asked resting her head in her hands, she was admiring Louis a bit as the morning sunlight bathed him in gold and red. "You mean am I afraid to get hurt, no, I'd be disappointed though to lose such a beautiful viewpoint." Louis thought about it checking his bag to make sure he didn't drop anything as he did. "You could always just use the stairs of the watchtower." Mary countered and Louis shook his head. "The perspective would be different and besides if I wanted to climb the watchtower I would stand on the roof!" Louis pointed to the sloped roof of the watch tower a flag pointing out of its peak. "You're either brave or foolish I can't decide." Mary was amazed at how adventurous Louis was she had never met anyone else like him, all the people around town were afraid. Afraid for her, afraid for themselves, afraid in general, fear dictated what people would and wouldn't do. Mary enjoyed her time alone but she was starting to think that she would have to spend more time with Louis. The two sat at their respective points and talked for an hour Mary watched Louis as Louis watched the sun. "Why haven't I ever seen you before?" Mary finally got around to asking. "Because my family doesn't live in the town, we live at the bottom of the mountain on the other side of the forest." Louis explained looking for anyone else around town, it sure was quiet. "The hermits!?" Mary gasped and Louis looked at her odd, he remembered that look from the few times he was in town with his mom and dad. "I didn't think you ever left the mountains." Mary seemed more enthralled with Louis "We're not hermits!" Louis took offense to being called a hermit. "We're just different, see my mom and dad don't like to be around people, they say it's because they think differently so they'd rather be with each other and me and my sister." Louis always thought it was odd that they didn't live near anyone. "That's what a hermit is Louis, but, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said it like that it's just that I know about you in a way I don't think you'd like to know about." Mary danced around the subject and Louis got confused. "You know about me, something that I wouldn't want to know about myself..." Louis felt a little dizzy which was dangerous at such a tall height, he gripped the wall to keep from falling. "That's too complicated, here I'll make it easy, from now on you ask me anything and I'll answer it and you only believe that about me okay?" Louis nodded and now Mary looked confused. "What if you lie?" Mary responded and Louis shook his head. "Why would I lie?" Louis didn't understand the question "Everybody lies, all the time, it's impossible to tell when they're not lying." Mary seemed to have an issue with trust which Louis neither understood nor shared. "Well I'm not lying so you can trust me okay?" Louis explained it in the most simple terms and Mary smiled "You know I think I can trust you something about you makes me feel like you won't lie to me." Mary was about to say something else but the sound of a bell from the temple made her stand up straight. "What's that?" Louis heard the bell too, it was loud especially this high up. "Morning bell, it starts the day, I have to go to academy will you be here when I get done?" Mary started to climb down the stairs, Louis following on the wall. "I don't know when does academy end?" Louis had never heard of academy. "You don't have academy as well?" This shocked Mary, everyone had academy, it was a law. "I don't know, if I don't know what that is how can I tell you?" Louis replied and Mary nodded. "It ends in six hours, it's eight right now so that would be." Mary did some mental math sticking her tongue out and counting on her fingers. "Two in the afternoon." She looked to Louis who made headway as she paused both of them five feet off the ground now. "I don't know when that is, I'm going to be here until I can trade for the things I need and I don't know how long that will take but I'll wait at top of the wall when I'm finished until it gets dark, if I don't see you by then I'll be back there tomorrow." Louis never learned to tell time, he knew day and night and when it was time to get up and time to eat and time to go to bed but he never learned the hours. In the kingdom of Everlight every child from the age of six to eighteen would attend public education known as academy. Held by scholars under the employ of the noble court knowledge was passed onto the children so that the next generation was stronger and more intelligent. Anything could be learned at academy including magic if one had the aptitude. Along with children those who grew to love study and knowledge found a home becoming Scholars and teaching the next generation. The cycle of the academy was a foundation of Everlight which was why Mary was surprised to see someone existing outside the system, did this mean her new friend was stupid? "I'll see you at the end of academy Louis, wait for me." Mary stepped out of the watchtower as Louis hit the ground jumping from the remaining four feet landing on his own feet with a solid thump. Louis watched Mary run off, she wasn't alone as children from the rows of varying ages exited their homes and ran in the same direction. Louis figured he would have to check out academy, maybe he could try going. For now he had a job to do and people depending on him doing it. Louis watched the shop keepers open their stores and entered with his sack of goods. He got everything he needed but the nails were going to take some time. He could pick them up at seven meaning that Louis would have to wait all day for them to be finished, the blacksmith was currently working on backorders from days before. Louis knew that seven was when it got dark so he had literally all the day to kill. He wandered around town growing bored of the streets and their cobbled stones he took to scaling a nearby house shimmying up the exposed chimney and getting onto the roof. Looking over the town Louis eyed the big house, it looked really tall, but he also noticed the metal fence around it Louis knew that a fence meant keep out so he respected the fence and jumped from roof to roof among the small cluster of houses. On the other side of the hill there were farms and a mine which Louis did not know about earlier which made him very curious. Louis couldn't get into the mine however as it was guarded by a pair of armed sentries who only let in mine carts and miners when he tried he was pushed away and told to go back home. There was an orchard with fresh fruits and a district for fabrication. Louis wandered around town until he came to a big set of buildings they had windows and were longer than the other buildings each one containing maybe four or five rooms in a line in the center between these two buildings was a big square building where the bell Louis heard earlier was seated. "So this is temple?" Louis looked up and smiled he couldn't resist the urge. However unlike the wall the bell tower was well observed and soon Louis caught the attention of the guards. "You up there, get down!" a woman wearing chain mail armor and carrying a long spear shouted from the ground, Louis was about six feet up the side of the bell tower when he was caught. "That is dangerous!" She yelled. "It's okay I can do it just fine." Louis yelled back with one hand making the woman's heart race. "THAT ISN'T THE ISSUE GET DOWN RIGHT NOW!" The woman screamed and Louis flinched climbing down to her level. The woman rushed over, her head was covered in a heavy helmet so he couldn't see her face but he could tell she was a woman by how her shoulders were and her posture. "Glory to the king, child what were you thinking?" The woman placed a armored hand on Louis's head. "You're so young and yet you were doing something so stupid!" Louis paused for a moment. "Climbing is stupid?" He asked and the woman placed a hand to her head. "Yes climbing tall structures without support is stupid, what if you fell!?" She seemed genuinely concerned for Louis's safety despite having never met him before, what a nice lady. "I'd get back up and try again." Louis responded and the woman sighed. "Okay, kid how old are you?" The armored woman didn't have time for this, she had patrols to do and only caught Louis by chance. "I'm ten." Louis had to take a moment to think age was another of those tricky subjects. "So you should be in academy then not climbing the tower!" The armored woman complained. "I don't know where academy is but I'd like to go this girl named Mary is there right now I think." Louis was excited to hear that he should be in academy he thought they would turn him away like the miners " Very funny alright I know exactly what room kids your age go to let's go." The armored woman reached for Louis but he evaded her grasp. "Kid don't make me upset, just because you're not mine don't think I won't take you over my knee right here!" The armored woman threatened. " My mom said never take a stranger's hand and my name isn't kid it's Louis!" Louis barked back and the armored woman let out a sigh. " You're supposed to trust town guards we're the good guys." The armored woman told Louis but he still refused. "Fine my name is Holly, wait Miss Holly to you." Louis looked at Miss Holly and didn't sense any ill intentions so he willing took her leather glove covered hand. " Thank you." Holly sighed and took Louis to the intermediate room of the academy whose clock he was just trying to climb. Miss Holly lead Louis into the building and through it's halls to a large room opening a door to a lecture hall where lessons were being conducted. "Found something of yours professor." Miss Holly pushed Louis through the doorway. The lecture hall was a descending row of seats cascading from smallest to largest in a half circle pointed towards the opposite wall where a blackboard and the professor stood. The professor was an older man wearing a red gown and a black cap with a tassel that hung over the side. "You are mistaken, that one isn't one of mine." The professor responded in a dry tone. "What do you mean he has to be he's ten." Miss Holly looked around this was the intermediate room where kids age ten to fourteen were given lessons. "He has to be yours." Miss Holly was confused the professor just sighed. "Look at him." He instructed and Miss Holly glanced over Louis, meanwhile the entire class began to stare at Louis making him feel pressure from every corner something he never felt before but Louis didn't shake or falter he stood firm. "Looks like every normal little boy I've ever seen." Miss Holly argued, she was getting tired of this smarmy professor. "His CLOTHES?" The professor accented the word in his speech emphasizing it. Louis was wearing a brown linen shirt and hempen pants that were a tan color without any dye. His clothing wasn't abnormal, his mother was a talented weaver and could make almost store bought quality clothing from fabric and a needle. "Look if you've got a point make it fast." Miss Holly was losing patience. "Gowns, all the students of the academy wear gowns, green for first stage, blue for second, gold for final, and red for staff." The professor explained and looked at Miss Holly who finally caught on. "What is he not wearing?" The professor exasperated his point repeatedly. "That doesn't mean anything maybe he just didn't wear it or it's in the wash!" Miss Holly was now getting defensive out of pride, she was supposed to be a role model, a town guard all the kids looked up to her and her companions. "Little boy." The professor bent down to meet Louis's face, considering how short the professor was it wasn't a far bend. "Louis." Louis responded glaring at the professor, there was nothing little about Louis he was already four and a half feet tall. Louis's response prompted laughter from the class a wave of stifled chuckles rolling through the desks prompting the professor to turn and glare. Louis saw out of the corner of his eye, Mary sitting at the very top of the room in the single seat desk he wanted to wave but he was busy. "Louis then, have you ever been in this room before?" The professor asked and when Louis shook his head Miss Holly went red in the face. "Ah, it seems you did not just forget your gown, you are in fact not a student of mine as I previously stated." The professor smirked to Miss Holly who was fed up with everything at this point. "No but I want to be." Louis responded and the professor wore a look of surprise. "This girl I know called Mary goes to this place and she said that everyone is supposed to go but I never went because my family lives up beyond the forest." Louis explained and suddenly the room shifted. It split two ways, first there were the people all staring at Mary who had shrunk down behind a book at the top seat, then there were the people glaring at Louis as if he had just cursed in their presence. "Beyond the forest, then you're not from this town are you?" The professor's look of surprise turned to one of disdain. "You're an outsider." He said the last word sharply, an outsider, in this context was someone who didn't belong where they currently were but this subtext was lost on Louis. "No I grew up on my parent's farm and I don't know about being an outsider because as far as I know everywhere is outside except when you're inside like right now, so maybe we're all insiders but when we step out we're outsiders?" Louis postured and the professor gave a smug laugh. "Ignorant little savage." The professor spat thinking Louis was mocking him. Miss Holly noticed long before Louis did that the room was turning hostile, getting in front of Louis before things started to get thrown. "Louis, honey, I think you should stop talking and leave." Miss Holly warned and Louis looked at her, she didn't seem to want to say what she was saying. "I just wanted to see Mary and tell her that I was going to be here until night time so we can meet back up at the wall." Louis explained but Miss Holly stuck her hand out in front of him sticking a single finger up. "Louis, I'm serious, you need to leave." Miss Holly was trying her best to remove the situation that she started. "I'm not leaving!" Louis felt insulted being asked to leave after being brought here by her directly. Louis and Miss Holly glared at each other but another voice ended the stalemate. "LOUIS, leave me alone." Mary shouted from the top of the seats. Louis turned and looked, she was completely red in the face flush with embarrassment. "Okay." Louis felt as if someone had hit him in his chest the wind was suddenly gone and he was defeated, walking out of the room he heard Mary when she was confronted by her fellow academy takers. "Do you really know the hermit boy?" They asked and Mary defended herself quickly. "I caught him climbing the walls outside of town, he insisted on talking to me while I was walking so I just ignored him and he thinks we're friends." Mary lied protecting her social status and Louis couldn't believe it. Miss Holly escorted Louis to the end of town looking down at him while he looked at the ground."You can't come in here, people don't want you around, I'm sorry but your presence only causes problems and it's my job as a guard to keep the town peaceful..." Miss Holly began to explain but Louis looked destroyed, the only other person he ever met denied knowing him and nobody in town wanted him around, it felt terrible to be unwanted he just wanted to go back home but he had to get his nails. "So go on leave." Miss Holly nudged Louis but he dug his heels in. "Come on why are you being so stubborn?" Miss Holly reached for her weapon ready to threaten if necessary. "I ordered a sack of nails, I have to bring them home or my parents will think I didn't do my job." Louis tried to hide the tears he wanted to cry, turning with red eyes to Miss Holly who paused unsheathing her weapon. She felt terrible, this kid wasn't dangerous and he seemed like a good soul. Conflicted between her personal feelings and her responsibilities Miss Holly mulled around the consequences in her head. That was when an idea struck her. "Alright, I'll permit you to stay on one condition." Miss Holly crouched down and put the back of her leather gloves to Louis's eyes. "You follow me around and don't leave my sight and you don't cause any trouble, don't speak unless you're spoken to, and no more crying okay?" Miss Holly smiled reaching up and lifting her helmet's visor, she had a very beautiful face with soft green eyes and brunet hair. "That's more than one condition." Louis responded and Miss Holly laughed brushing his nose. "I suppose it is but you're a complicated case, oh, in the name of the king and the court of nobles I hereby dub Louis a deputy guard under the watch of Martha Holly official guard of Mica." Miss Holly repeated some oath and touched Louis's shoulder with her spear. "There now nobody can tell you to leave as long as you stay with me but I'm not babysitting you, you have to keep up with my patrol and listen to my every instruction!" Miss Holly doubled back on the requirements and Louis nodded wiping under his eyes. "Yes Ma'am and I wasn't crying." He said defending his pride. Miss Holly just nodded and lowered her visor. Holly and Louis patrolled the town for the rest of the day, the bell rang through the town again and Louis knew that Mary was leaving the academy but she didn't want to know him so it didn't matter. Miss Holly and Louis watched the sunset from the guard tower, Miss Holly was nice enough to bring Louis some cheese and bread from the barracks so he didn't have to miss lunch. Louis told Miss Holly about how he grew up and his sister and his parents and Miss Holly listened while sipping a metal flask of liquid that smelled strongly of apples. "Hello?" A voice came from below Louis and Miss Holly as the sun began to disappear over the horizon, Mary poked her head through the door in the floor of the tower. "I should go." Louis became nervous when he saw Mary but Miss Holly grabbed him by his collar. "Stay, listen, that's an order deputy." Miss Holly looked at Mary, she was holding the hem of her skirt and fidgeting looking down at the wood, she knew that stance well and could tell what was going on just by virtue of being an adult. "You aren't relieved of your post yet, this isn't some game you can stop playing whenever you want, I'm going to patrol the south side you keep watching the north and if someone has to talk to you don't say anything until given permission." Miss Holly ordered and walked past Mary leaning down and whispering "All yours, try not to screw it up, he's a good kid." She went to the opposite side of the tower and propped her arms against the railing sipping from her cider flask. "I'm sorry." Mary began apologizing to Louis but got no response. "What I did was wrong, I shouldn't have denied knowing you and lied about our conversation this morning but I was scared because if people knew then they might..." Mary saw Louis watching the post intently. "Louis I mean, you don't understand how things work in the academy you can't just." Mary paused again frustrated she climbed up on the railing and stood in front of Louis. "Look at me!" Mary demanded her foot slipping when she stomped and losing her balance she went over the side of the railing. Mary felt herself turn upside down and saw the sun sinking into the ground. "Oh." She said closing her eyes as she didn't want to see the ground rushing towards her but a sudden jerk caused her to open her eyes her gown falling over her face. Struggling she fought her gown to see Louis hanging onto the end of the railing with one hand and holding onto Mary's leg with another. "Louis." Mary felt tears well up in her eyes, Louis struggling to hold on but Miss Holly was behind him yanking the both of them up. Mary was scolded for acting so stupid and Louis was scolded for being so brash by an enraged Miss Holly worry spread across her face, despite being hidden it was easy to tell. Louis's hand was burnt from the sudden action of grabbing Mary a splinter in his palm from the wood. Miss Holly left to get some bandages and medicine leaving the two alone. "Thank you, for saving me." Mary was still a bit shaken. "I wouldn't let you fall, even if you were a stranger, it would be wrong." Louis responded not minding the pain of the splinter but talking to Mary hurt something fierce. "Louis I'm sorry, I don't have a good reason why I said I didn't know you, I was wrong and there's no excuse but if you give me another chance I won't hide it anymore if someone asks me if I know you I'll proudly tell them yes and that they should get to know you too." Mary didn't know if Louis would ever trust her again. "Are you lying?" Louis asked and Mary put her hand on her heart. "Why would I lie to you?" She responded and Louis nodded in acceptance. "Everybody lies apparently, but not me, and now not you, so let's not lie about each other or to each other ever okay?" Louis turned and faced Mary but she had moved lunging at Louis and wrapping her arms around him in a hug. "Thank you Louis, thank you for saving me." She said squeezing him against her. "You already said that." Louis winced as Mary's hug was tight but patted her back, she must have been really scared. Miss Holly came back and dropped the bandages seeing Mary embrace Louis, admonishing the both of them again she treated Louis's hand and dismissed him it was already past time for him to pick up his package. "Good effort today deputy, I assume this will be our last shift together?" Miss Holly shook her empty flask of cider, using the last of it to sterilize Louis's wound. "You mean you're not coming back again?" Mary asked walking hand in hand with Louis and Miss Holly. "I can, if I have a reason." Louis smiled at the two people he met today already feeling like he was apart of something. "Well I can't make you, but I'll always have room for a deputy on patrols... not that I'm lonely or anything just two sets of eyes can cover twice as much ground." Miss Holly tried to protect her pride Louis and Mary laughed but Mary suddenly grew quiet. "I'd like it if you came back Louis, I want to spend more time with you because when it's you I don't have to pretend." Mary looked at Louis who looked confused and shook her head. "Nothing, if you're coming back, lets meet up at the watchtower that can be our meeting spot." Mary decided and Louis agreed. "You kids know that's for town guards only..."Miss Holly reminded them and then took a deep breath sighing. "Louis is a deputy so that's okay and you're..." Miss Holly was about to speak but a look Mary gave her shut her up immediately. "You're both authorized to use the watchtower to conduct early morning surveys for signs of danger under the permission of Martha Holly official guard of Mica" Miss Holly repeated her oath again saluting as did Louis and Mary. Miss Holly escorted the two to the blacksmith ensuring no more funny business happened as Louis accepted his package and then walked with the group to the edge of town. "Come on Mary your father will be worried let's get you home." Miss Holly commented and Mary nodded waving goodbye to Louis as he walked back up the path towards the forest where his farm was. Louis arrived back home to a tackle from his little sister, scolding him for being away all day, his parents were expecting him back sooner but Louis explained about the nails and they accepted his reason. Louis told his parents about Miss Holly and about Mary over dinner pausing between bites. "It was like I was a wolf who got into the stable." Louis said with a mouth full of carrot glaze. "I never thought a person could feel that way." He swallowed and looked towards his parents each wearing their concern on their sleeves. "Are we bad people?" Louis asked managing to free the words from his lips. "No, we're not bad at least we don't do bad things but like you said the wolf that gets into the stable is just looking for food, we can't let him eat our animals but he doesn't know they belong to someone good and bad is a matter of perspective." Edward responded and Natalie followed up. "Louis people don't like things that are different from them, the more different they are physically the more mistrust there is but people also don't like people who think differently than them." Natalie tried to word it simply so Louis would understand. "So because I don't go to academy and because I don't live in town people are going to hate me?" Louis was not grasping the concepts but he understood what was being said. "No, you've done nothing, if you never told anyone who your parents were then you'd of never been cast out." Edward explained. "People dislike you because they dislike us, hate spreads and grows with time, one person's grudge becomes a feud between families and a war between countries if you're not careful you can start a fire that will consume everything you care about." Edward warned and Louis looked confused. "Treat everyone with kindness and you'll never have to worry about people hating you Louis, it's as simple as be nice to everybody regardless of who they are or what they've done you'll have more friends than enemies that way." Natalie tried to back up Edward's rambling and Louis nodded understanding. "So when they call me Hermit Boy I should just smile and tell them my name is Louis right?" Louis looked to his parents who both beamed with pride at their maturing son. Louis went back to town every day, he'd meet up with Mary and they'd share stories. Louis told Mary about folk tales and life on the farm, Mary told Louis about the academy and what she was learning. Miss Holly would get Louis when academy started and he would serve as deputy town guard following Miss Holly around earning him the nickname Guard Dog from the people in town. Louis knew it was meant to be an insult but he wore it with pride smiling when people called him a Guard Dog. Miss Holly would always yell at people who tried to be mean to Louis, like when the asked her to push a leash on her pet she would start bringing up violations she had let them off with a warning on long ago. Louis and Miss Holly would spend the day patrolling and keeping the town safe, not that anything ever happened. After two Mary, Louis, and Miss Holly would eat lunch together and spend the rest of the time until dark in the watchtower or the barracks. As Louis got older Miss Holly taught him how to use a short sword and a spear, if the town were ever attacked he would have to defend it as an honorary guard. Louis even had his own set of armor at the barracks but it would often go missing and end up in the refuse showing him that he was trash. Louis would dig it out while the people called him a mangy dog rummaging through the trash, wash it off, and put it back where it belonged. Eight years passed like this and Louis grew into a handsome young adult. He had the physique of a statue from all the patrols, training, climbing, and his farm work. Miss Holly grew older but she didn't have a family, instead she doted on Louis treating him like her own son but never forgetting that her duties as a guard came first. Mary developed into a beautiful woman but when she turned fourteen she stopped coming to meet Louis after academy, they met in the morning and then Miss Holly and he would do their job during the evening. She never told Louis where she went just that he should not follow because it was dangerous for him. Louis respected her wishes because everyone knew that she and him were friends, she had kept her word and never again refused knowing Louis. Louis's reputation shifted in town, he went from a reviled pest to an accepted nuisance. Some people even spoke to him like a person and found his company tolerable but never for long or in the company of others. Louis didn't mind though all he needed was Miss Holly and Mary. Chapter 2 Mary sat at the base of the wall bordering the town, her long strawberry blond hair pressed against the smooth stone. A couple of boys had ambushed her early in the morning, they had gifts of flowers and sweets each vying for her attention. "Miss Brook if you'd do me the honor of a date?" One of the more daring boys asked, he was a common looking fellow with a bigger than average nose and all his teeth. Mary looked him in the eyes as she shot him down watching him slink away defeated. Next up was the son of the baker, a portlier fellow with curly brown hair caked in flower. "Miss Brook if you accept my offer I can provide you with the finest cake money can buy, just one date." The baker son was deflated like a souffle when Mary said she didn't like sweet things. Next was a young merchant, he was older than Mary by a year but he still sought her. "Miss Brook if you accept my offer I can take you far away from this tiny town, we can galavant in the city and partake of true culture." The merchant made a poor show as Mary turned and admonished him for insulting the town she loved and told him to do unpleasant things with a pitchfork. All three suitors backed away but a swell of courage led them to try again rushing Mary to her surprise. "MISS BROOK!" all three shouted and paused, looking up they saw a figure coming in fast. Like a meteor a tall man hit the ground beside the group, standing up slowly he came to six foot five and was broad like a boulder. Two of these men knew the massive figure but the merchant was ignorant. "Who in the waste lands is that?" The merchant pointed and the other two men whispered. "Guard dog, what the?" The merchant began to complain until he felt Louis's eyes shift to him, glaring at him. "Oh I see." The three men retreated and Mary turned to meet Louis smiling. "You are just a monster you know that?" She laughed in amusement and reached up on her toes giving him a kiss on the cheek. "How convenient that I needed one just then." Louis scratched his cheek with his finger and flinched when Mary kissed him. "I didn't mean to scare away your friends, sorry." Louis wasn't aware of the situation but Mary just shook her head. "Those were no friends of mine." She said in a huff "But they brought you gifts." Louis responded and Mary sighed "Those were for them not for me." She explained and Louis nodded. "Ok, well I have something for you." Louis reached into his pack around his belt, the same one that used to cover his entire back as a child. He pulled out a cut of meat from the animals at his farm. "We slaughtered one of the cows yesterday, that's the best cut of chuck, I had to convince my dad to let me give it to you." Louis pointed at it and Mary peeled back the wrapping looking at the raw bloody meat she was given. "That's so sweet of you, but why?" She placed the meat in a bag that she carried, slung around her shoulder. "Because eight years ago we met, today, its called an anniversary." Louis explained and Mary turned red. "Anniversary is what you have when you're married to someone but the gesture is appreciated." Mary blushed when she thought about sharing an anniversary with Louis, thick as he was he was still an ideal man. Faithful, hardworking, honest, and attractive Mary had seen a lot of potential husbands but turned them all down because she had her eyes set on the strange little boy she met atop the highest point in town eight years ago, not that she ever shared that with him. "Well I wanted to celebrate." Louis stuck his tongue out and Mary did the same. "You're a jerk, now I don't have anything to give you!" Mary kicked Louis's leg and he pretended it hurt. "Alright, you come to my house tonight after your shift with Miss Holly, I'll give you a present to celebrate then." Mary smiled and Louis looked at her. "Your house is?" He asked, he had never been to her house. "The big one, in the center of the town, just meet me by the gates at dark okay." Mary kissed Louis's cheek again and ran off when the bell for academy rang. Still seventeen Mary was not finished with her education yet so they continued their routine. "Was that wedding bells I heard just now?" Miss Holly asked making Louis jump as she appeared behind him. Miss Holly had not changed much since Louis met her eight years ago she seemed to be getting shorter but that was only because Louis was so much taller than her. "I don't know what those are, but, I think that's the bell for academy unless today is special." Louis responded and Miss Holly laughed further confusing Louis. "You've grown up my boy but you haven't matured at all." Miss Holly collected herself and nudged Louis with her gloved hand. "Are you going to stand around all day, deputy?" Miss Holly smiled to Louis who saluted her shaking his head. "Ma'am no Ma'am" Louis learned that people in the military like the town guards addressed their superiors like that, he spent years studying and training to be a guard like Miss Holly a direction his parents approved of only because it got him off the farm. "Very good by the way, if it's your and her anniversary then that would also make it our anniversary too wouldn't it?" Miss Holly asked and Louis looked dumbfounded. "Don't worry I don't expect a gift, just keep doing the incredible job you've been doing for eight years and we'll call it even okay?" Miss Holly reached onto her back and unsheathed her spear. "In honor of your years of service, I award you, deputy town guard, Louis Pine with this weapon and the rank of official town guard." Miss Holly held out her spear and Louis looked confused. "Don't be stubborn now I just got a new one last evening it's time I pass the old girl along, you take care of her now." Miss Holly commanded and Louis accepted the weapon. Miss Holly didn't tell Louis that today was her last day of being a town guard, she was going to retire and try to start a family at the end of the day, while Louis was an admirable foster son she wanted children of her own and a man to lay down with every night. Louis would be taking her post, she'd already approved it with the higher ups, after hearing of a young man who served eight years as a deputy who wouldn't. She never told them who he was because Miss Holly believed that your actions were your identity not your name.. Their last day together Miss Holly and Louis enjoyed a shared jug of aged apple cider, a drink Mica was famous for. Miss Holly became so drunk that she couldn't patrol leaving Louis to finish the shift alone. Louis put Miss Holly to bed removing her armor and laying her down in the barracks sleeping quarters. Donning his own armor and armed with Miss Holly's old spear the guard dog of mica went on patrol by himself for the first time. The day was quiet, people had grown so used to Louis's presence they didn't notice that Miss Holly wasn't around and felt comfortable knowing their guard dog was about. Louis broke up a fight at the general store between two women about a sale, he helped a lost senior find temple, chased away a menacing collection of cats by shouting at them, and picked up litter around the town. Before Louis realized it was dark and he was expected to meet Mary. Without remembering he was wearing armor Louis walked up the path through town to the big house on the hill stopping at the gates when he arrived. Louis waited for what felt like forever until he heard a scream cut through the night. Turning towards the mansion Louis grabbed the gate and scaled it clean landing on the other side of the estate. Now inside the mansion on the hill Louis unsheathed Holly's spear and proceeded forward. Coming to a window he pressed himself against the wall and looked in, Mary was surrounded by heavily armored men, without thinking Louis took his spear and smashed the window in jumping through. Landing on a glass covered carpet Louis looked at the assembled men his spear at the ready. "Louis!" Mary shouted from in the center of the circle and pushed her way out. "Louis what are you doing?" She yelled at him pointing to the window. "I thought you were in danger, I didn't think, sorry." Louis dropped his aggressive stance and shrank down when Mary started yelling at him. "Louis, why would you... OH." Mary looked at the center of the circle, a blond haired boy holding a white handkerchief to his nose. "I can see how you'd make that mistake, okay let me explain, I was getting ready to meet you outside." Mary started her explanation, she was wearing a ruby red dress a brighter shade than the gown scholars wore with no cap and frills on the end. "When I had some unexpected visitors." Mary motioned towards the assembled guards who were still at the ready until Louis sheathed his weapon. "One of them got curious and looked inside my bag, they saw the raw meat and screamed because I don't think they've ever seen raw meat before." Mary pointed to the golden haired boy holding his nose. "Everything is fine, or was, until you broke a window." Mary looked at the shards of glass and pushed Louis aside fearing he'd step on one. Mary whistled and a person dressed in a black formal suit appeared, she instructed him to clean up the mess and take Louis to the sitting room. The person nodded and took Louis leading him by the hand like a child. Louis was confused, why was Mary able to command other people around like Miss Holly, was this her own army? Who were the unexpected guests and why did they scream when they saw raw meat? Why was Mary dressed up to give Louis an anniversary gift, none of it made any sense. Louis arrived at the sitting room and took a seat, naturally, but he didn't expect to see an elder gentleman also sitting enjoying a pipe and tobacco. "You seem out of place." The elder gentleman said pointing to Louis in chain mail armor. "I feel it, oh I'm Louis." Louis got into the habit of introducing himself when he first spoke to people. "Louis, oh yes the town guard dog." The elder man puffed on his pipe and Louis frowned. "My name is Louis Red Pine not guard dog." Louis replied and the elder man just laughed "It's a title son, not a name, we all have titles that we must adhere to given to us by others, you'd best get used to yours it is afterall what you make of it." The elderly man blew a ring of smoke into the air. "I choose to make it mean that I will protect this town against any threat." Louis responded and the elderly man nodded. "Because Mary lives here right?" He suggested and Louis looked surprised. "No because I love this town, all my friends live here, even the people who don't like me live here but it's my duty to protect everyone." Louis explained and the elderly man laughed again smoke pouring out of his nose. "You are, without a doubt, the strangest young man I have ever met Louis." The elderly man used Louis's name instead of title making him smile a bit. "I hear that often." Louis laughed too, he had gotten used to humor and when it was okay and not okay to laugh. "Excuse me elder, but why are you in Mary's house if you don't mind my asking?" Louis couldn't figure out why an old man was staying in the same house Mary was. "That would be because it's my house." The elderly man chuckled. "I am Mary's father, Mayor George Brook." Mr Brook introduced himself after appraising Louis. "A pleasure to meet the man my daughter talked about every day for eight years." Mayor Brook took another puff of his pipe. "I feel like I know you already albeit second hand but why don't you tell me about yourself son." Louis told Mary's father about his upbringing, about his training as a guard, about his relationship with Mary. All the while Mr. Brook smoked his pipe and listened intently. "You two certainly have a history, it's a bit of a marvel that you're just friends still." Mr Brook mentioned and Louis looked confused. "What else is there besides friends?" He asked and Mr Brook looked at him to see if he was joking, he was not. "Something else boy, you're something else." Mr Brook exhaled and Louis sat in a stupor. It wasn't long until Mary came to retrieve Louis, unaware that her father was in the sitting room. "Louis, out." Mary commanded and Louis obeyed leaving the room. "Wait outside for me I need a word with my father." Mary told Louis before shutting the door. From inside Louis heard frustration and horror before Mary flung the doors open and took Louis's hand firmly gripping it and dragging him outside into the garden. "So, I guess you know now." Mary looked at the ground. "Know what?" Louis asked wholly confused by the situation "About my dad and what that means I am." Mary feared Louis ever learning her last name or her heritage. "He's nice, smells a bit like hickory smoke, but he's a really kind old man he even used my name." Louis smiled "You're Mary, I've always known who you are" Louis reached out and cupped Mary's chin making her look at him. "How can you be anyone different?" Mary laughed, she laughed and cried at the same time, a gigantic weight lifted from her shoulders. "I should have known you wouldn't care, I'm so stupid for worrying all these years." Mary continued to laugh wiping the tears from her eyes. "You're not stupid, you're the smartest person I know." Louis corrected Mary and she laughed again. "It's getting late, did you want to give me my present or should we do it tomorrow?" Louis asked in earnest and Mary collected herself. "If I don't do it now I might explode, figuratively Louis." Mary looked at Louis's concerned face and smiled. "Alright close your eyes." Mary instructed and Louis did as he was told, standing straight up and closing his eyes. "Lean forward a bit, just a little." Mary instructed and Louis did as he was told, leaning forward so he was a little lower. Louis awaited what Mary could be giving him but felt something warm press up against his face, his lips, opening his eyes he saw Mary kissing him very passionately, her hand holding his head for balance. "I'm confused." Louis said after the kiss. "You would be, Louis I gave you my first kiss, I like you, I want to be together with you for more than just the mornings or afternoons." Mary confessed to Louis who stood dumbstruck. "Do you mean you want to, be apart of my family?" Louis didn't know how to take what he was hearing, he had always wanted to start a family of his own he knew that he would need a wife in order to do that but it never crossed his mind that Mary might want to be his wife. "Not so fast, I'm still a year away from that so for now let's just be a couple, okay I might not be able to start a family with you but we can be together as often as we want and you can have a kiss anytime you feel like it." Mary put her finger up signaling for Louis to calm his imagination. "I don't know what to say Mary." Louis was at a loss for words but Mary took his glove covered hands and squeezed them "Yes would be a good start." Mary teased, she knew in a relationship she would have to be the thinker, but that was one of Louis's strong suits he never hesitated because his mind wasn't clouded he saw straight ahead and achieved what he meant to. "Yes, I want to be together with you Mary." Louis watched as Mary wrapped his arms around her pressing her back to his chainmail vest. "Um." "Just be quiet and hug me Louis." Mary ordered and Louis nodded. "Ma'am yes Ma'am" Louis and Mary stood out in the garden embracing for what felt like forever unaware that eyes were watching them. When the embrace was over Louis told Mary that it wasn't fair that he met her father, she had to meet his parents and sister. Mary agreed but it was far too late tonight they would go tomorrow after they met up at the watchtower. Louis departed Mary's house with a sense of fulfilment he had never known before he couldn't wait to tell Miss Holly. On the walk home Louis noticed something wrong, it was hotter than normal for October. When he cleared the forest to his horror he discovered why. His house and all the buildings on his property were on fire. Acting quickly Louis took a bucket and ran to the river filling it and sprinting back to the main house. Dousing it repeatedly with water Louis called out. "MOM, DAD, LAURA!?" He called and called but there was no answer. Louis inhaled and charged at the door to his parent's home breaking it down with his shoulder. The inside was filled with smoke and flames making it impossible to see but Louis trudged on. The layout of the house had remained the same there was the dining area and kitchen where the door lead to which the table was overturned and shards of glass were scattered along the floor. Next was the pantry, kicking the door down, Louis saw all their stores looted or smashed. Finally his parent's room he didn't even need to kick the door down it was already half cinder. Louis saw what remained in the bedroom, tattered clothes, bloody rags, corpses. Suppressing the urge to vomit Louis forged ahead grabbing a cloth from the kitchen. While the house burned down around him he inspected his father, there were multiple stab wounds he had bled out before he could die by the fire. His father wore a peaceful expression as the fire was quickly catching up to him. Louis hated to leave him but he couldn't help the dead, instead reaching over and closing his eyes so he looked like he was having a good dream. The house began to creak and groan as Louis sprinted for the door. His mother and sister were still unaccounted for the only place they could have hidden was the barn, was that why the entire place was on fire, to smoke them out? Louis pondered and broke the door to the barn, all the hay and feed on the bottom floor served as wonderful fuel for a raging fire. Kicking at the ignited bundles Louis broke down a blockade and there laying with her arms wrapped around a small bundle was his mother, dead from suffocation. Fighting back tears Louis checked, no pulse, he checked the bundle to, no pulse, feeling the weight of everything come crashing down around him Louis didn't see the beam falling from the rafters smashing down on his left hand. In agonizing pain Louis attempted to pull his hand free but it was pinned. The rest of the barn would come down there was no doubt about it. Unable to think Louis did what he did best and acted, taking Miss Holly's spear and plunging it into his wrist he cut his hand off at the wrist to free himself much like a wolf would chew its own leg off. Louis used the searing hot beam to cauterize the wound pressing his hand into the fire and screaming in pain. There wasn't much time before the entire structure collapsed Louis had lost a lot of blood and was woozy but he managed to hobble out before the barn finally caved. Exhausted, bleeding, traumatized and woozy Louis didn't know what to do so he just moved. His body carried him all the way to Mica collapsing at the Watchtower as the entire town was awoken by the sound of the forest catching fire. The town gathered at the south entrance to see the forest go up in flames, finding Louis laying there, bleeding slowly through his wound. No one raised a hand to help him, no one until a drunken Miss Holly staggered out of the barracks yelling to keep it down. When she saw what happened to Louis she sobered up almost instantly. "GET THE MAYOR!" She commanded and a few scared townsfolk went and retrieved Mr Brook. Louis opened his eyes, surprised he could, groaning in pain. His entire body hurt and he felt off balance. Looking he saw his left hand or where it should have been, it was slowly coming back to him. The fire, his family, the beam. Louis winced and held his left arm feeling the pain of cutting off his own hand again, a phantom pain. "How long." Louis looked around for some indication of where he was, he was laying in a big bed with pillows and soft blankets a four post bed. Straining to get up Louis couldn't move, his entire body was covered in burns and wrapped in bandages doused in salve. The door to the room Louis was laying in opened, Mary was carrying a pile of towels, which she dropped as soon as she saw Louis sitting up. "EVERYONE COME HERE!" Mary shouted and wrapped her arms around Louis holding his head to her body. "Louis I was so afraid, I thought, I thought you were dead!" Mary was in tears, soon all the staff and servants had assembled behind them Mr Brook. "Make way, make way, can't even move around his own damn house." Mr Brook pushed his servants away seeing his daughter crying as he held what he had assumed was a smoked corpse. "Glory be son I thought you bought a ticket to the next life, you were damn near dead." Mr Brook seemed amazed and Louis was just confused. "My head is killing me, how long was I asleep?" Louis groaned reaching to feel his head with his left arm and missing. Mary took a hold of Louis's arm and set it down taking a seat beside him and holding him for reassurance. "It's been four weeks son." Mr Brook explained and Louis's eyes went wide his breathing picking up pace. "Louis calm down, it's alright." Mary tried to be the voice of assurance but Louis was in shock. "I've been asleep for a month, what happened to the men who burned my house down!?" Louis didn't know how long it took to catch criminals but four weeks should be enough for a trial and execution. "Catch, Louis it was an accident, your house.. There was a lantern which leaked oil and..." Mary tried to explain but Louis turned to her, looking at her like he never looked at her before, scaring her. "A leaky lantern didn't stab my father and choke my mother and sister!" Louis yelled but Mary stood firm, despite being terrified of the enraged man before her, knowing how strong Louis was. "By the time anyone could approach safely nothing was left but bones there's no way to charge someone with something we can't prove even if we can find who might have done it, Louis you suffered extreme trauma it's not your fault to think something." Louis tore his arm away from Mary. "Mary, have I ever lied to you?" Louis asked calmly "No but you don't have to know you're lying, you just don't know the reality." Mary tried to explain but Louis wouldn't hear it. "I'll say it then, boy, leave it go, terrible things happen sometimes to the best of people sometimes to people because they're too good, but all is not lost." Mr Brook wanted to smoke so badly but he didn't think it would be the best thing for Louis. "Someone survived?" Louis looked up hopefully and Mr Brook looked away. "What he means is that despite this tragedy, it's going to be okay Louis, I asked father to approve our marriage before I became of age and he consented, we can be together and have the family you wanted." Louis was in shock, did they think that he could just replace his family, his mother and father and little sister did they think they were worthy to replace them? Louis didn't know how to express his frustration, he wanted to kill someone, kill whoever was responsible. In a single night eighteen years of his life was gone, Louis Red Pine died in that fire everything that made him what he was turned to ash. Hanging his head Louis muttered "I need some space." Mary looked at Louis and nodded, he would need time to get over the events, just finding out a month had passed. She calmly stood up and ushered everyone else out. "Louis, if you need me, just call." Mary felt so much pain, she wanted to tell Louis, she wanted to be his hero but there were things that people were better off not knowing because knowing Louis he'd do something even if it was a bad idea. Louis sat in shock, awe, and disgust. Mary was someone he deeply trusted, he was ready to have a life together with her, but now, after what happened he'd never know if his parents approved or if she and his sister would fight. That was only the surface of the dilemma that Louis faced cupping his head in his hand he thought about what starting a family with Mary would mean. Moving on from his family and forgetting they existed? He didn't want that, he wanted revenge. The idea that he could make someone pay for this filled his head forcing him to move despite great pain. As Louis turned he heard Mary scream from the next room "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" without knowing what she was screaming about Louis willed himself to his feet. He knew if he stayed here, he would forget, he'd let this seething rage soothe and he'd become complacent but there was no justice, Miss Holly taught him that justice was something that always needed to be carried out, the wicked must pay for their crimes or the innocent would suffer. Louis had already suffered he wasn't going to let anyone else experience the horror and pain. Wrapped head to toe in bandages Louis began to walk, then run, then sprint, then charge aiming straight at a window he smashed the glass and toppled out the other side. His rage sustaining him he kept going, anywhere that wasn't here, he may come back some day, he may apologize for how foolish he was acting but that was only after his hands were soaked in the blood of the people who destroyed his life. Unable to think of where to go Louis trudged to the barracks where he was greeted with screams of a monster. The entire barracks assembled and gasping Louis only asked one question. "Martha Holly?" He asked, one of the new recruits recognized Louis and told the others to lower their weapons. Approaching he looked carefully at the half crazed man. "She retired, weeks ago, moved to Garnet to start a family." Louis looked at the recruit making them yelp. "How do I get, to, Garnet?" Louis was gasping his rage subsiding replaced by fatigue and weariness. Louis collapsed in front of the barracks and woke up again in the home of Mr Brook, this time in a windowless room with a locked door, the cells beneath the house. Mr Brook looked from outside the cell smoking his pipe. "That is two windows in the span of a month you owe me." He pointed at Louis and Louis stood only to fall to his knees. "You come back from death and decide to go on a merry run to the barracks, your skin is barely on you." Mr Brook puffed. "Mary was adamant about locking you up until you came to your senses." Mr Brook bit the pipe and stood up approaching Louis as he knelt before his jailer. "You really are like a dog, you run away from home so we have to throw you in a cage." "I need to get to Garnet." Louis said tired and broken, physically and mentally. "Garnet, ah I see following her, well truth is Louis I won't stop you but I won't let Mary follow you headlong into whatever death it is you want to die." Mr Brook crouched down. "If you leave this house again, you are never to come back, you are to forget about Mary and never speak her name do you understand me?" Mr Brook's tone was serious. "I will place you on the wanted list and have you killed on sight if you enter this town, now think long and hard about what it is you want son." Mr Brook stood up and turned his back to Louis waiting for an answer. "Revenge." Louis responded immediately, a key sliding to his feet along with a change of clothing. "Then burn every bridge you come across because you can not come back." Mr Brook looked towards the ceiling. "I can keep her occupied for fifteen minutes if you fail to escape by then I'll have you captured again and I won't give you another chance, ready?" Mr Brook looked as Louis grabbed the clothing and started to change. Once Louis had donned some clothing, Mr Brook's old clothes by the look of it, he unlocked his cell and followed a servant through an underground tunnel that exited in the mines. Appearing behind a large rock and scaring the faith into some miners. Louis took a map and a pack from the servant before the vanished looking at the map there were two points circle, one was Mica the other was Garnet far to the north. Looking at a map for the first time Louis realized that he lived on the southern tip of the kingdom. Stuffing the map in the pack Louis made his way out of Mica, looking back only once and thinking about Mary. Louis trudged through the burnt down stumps of the forest, returning to the smoldering ashes of his home. Taking it all in again was painful but Louis had to do something. He searched for remains of his family, bones and teeth, whatever he could find. When he found all that he could Louis took the remains to the field where his father used to grow crops, dropping down to his knees and scooping up dirt. Louis cried harder than he had ever cried, tears soaking the ground making it turn soft. When the hole was deep enough Louis placed the remains in and covered them, he would of made a headstone but he could not spell his own last name, instead he made a rock shrine to forever mark the passing of his family. When Louis was done he scavenged the house to see if anything had survived, to his surprise he entered the destroyed barn and found a spot in the floor. He had always assumed that the floor of the barn was dirt but brushing away the dirt he found a wooden floor. Curious Louis pressed against the wood and it snapped dropping him into a dark and dusty cellar. Looking around Louis saw nothing, it was pitch black, the only light was from the hole but it illuminated a spot, on the ground was a small finger hand harp like a bard would hold. Picking it up and examining it he saw that there were letters carved into it but he couldn't read them. Louis placed the harp in his pack and continued to search the darkness feeling what he could. He stopped when he cut himself against something sharp, focusing his eyes he could make out the hilt of a short sword. Taking his right hand and grabbing the pommel he pulled and the sword refused to budge, trying again no luck, finally Louis gave all he had and felt his hand move as the blade snapped in two from the hilt. Once it was in the light the hilt was golden in color and had gems along the pommel and handle. Unaware of what value they held Louis stored it in his pack, a family heirloom as it was now, there were scrolls and other things Louis couldn't decipher and not just because he was illiterate, these were old things. Finding nothing more of value in the hidden basement Louis followed the walls until he found an exit, one that opened up where his kitchen table would have been. Louis wondered how long that had existed but shook his head, he had better things to worry about. He had a goal, get to Garnet, find Miss Holly, and figure out the next steps after that. Thinking was never Louis's strong suit. Fixing his pack and taking a firm breath Louis began walking towards Garnet unaware of how far away it was. Louis checked his pack as he walked there was a map, some rope, some dried meats, a jar, and a pouch full of brass coins that Louis didn't know the value of. Along with the hand harp, the broken hilt, and a map with Garnet circled. The road to Garnet ran alongside the lake forking around Mica to the right. Soon the lake ended and rolling fields replaced Louis's reflection. Louis briefly marveled at how many farms there were and how many people must have worked on them, he wondered if they all belonged to one person. Thinking too hard about farms brought up bad memories so Louis quickly changed his train of thought. Road signs pointed the way to various locations but Louis had only one direction true north from Mica. Going that direction took Louis through the grassy fields where no crops were planted instead there were wildflowers of almost every color. Every now and then Louis would spot a mound rising from the ground with sharp crystals piercing the soil. He wondered what they were but never indulged his curiosity. After traveling for a full day Louis came to a bridge crossing over a river and on the other side the entrance to a forest larger than any he had seen before. Louis pulled out his map and checked there was a great big patch of green between Mica and Garnet with the letters W I L D S written across them. Louis pondered and shrugged seeing no point in worrying about it. Louis entered the woods noticing that the only path was made by a space between the dense trees. Trying to fit his left arm through he was only able to get up to his shoulder before the bark stopped him. It was almost like a fence barring entry from the other parts of the forest. The path was beaten down by horses and wagons crossing it, smooth and grassless, if one had tracking skills they could see wheel marks By the time Louis entered the forest it was already dark, continuing on was ill advised but so was building a fire in the middle of the path. Seeing opportunity Louis figured that if he couldn't go around the tree's he'd have to go over. Climbing was a lot different for him now, with his natural strength he could make footholds in most surfaces and his height gave him a good reach between anchors. The trees had plenty of anchors even if you couldn't see them. Feeling the bark of an older looking tree Louis let his fingers dig into the soft spots of the wood, with only one hand he had to make double sure of where he was going. These trees seemed four times as tall as the ones that were in the forest outside his home, their wood was hard and thick. Louis found a hole and gripped it with his fingers lifting himself up with his right arm alone he pushed down and peeked up at the first layer of branches. Once his foot was in the hole he used to climb up he grabbed the branch and swung himself onto it by rotating and swinging on top of it. The tree creaked in protest but the branch did not break, even under Louis's weight. Louis was amazed these trees seemed almost made for full grown men to climb which meant he had options as to how he got through this forest. Sitting on the hefty branch Louis spied the area beyond the trees. Around the great wooden wall was a normal forest with creatures and plants and varying types of trees, some tall like this one others smaller and thin. Louis pondered what this could mean it was like the trees were a gate, did that mean he wasn't supposed to be in here? Before he could think any further Louis heard the rush of movement, suddenly he was surrounded by spear wielding tree people. They wore leaves and vines and their weapons were cut by hand, it was easy to tell. "How did you get up here, plain walker?" One of the tree people spoke, they wore identical masks so it was hard to tell one from another besides build, their genders and physiques concealed by gowns made of leaves. "I climbed." Louis responded and the tree people laughed. "Climbed, plains walker's can't climb these trees they're too tough, your kind like the ground like the bugs and snakes you are." The tree person jabbed at Louis showing his hostility. "Believe what you want, I climbed up here using a knot in the tree, I can do it again if you want." Louis ignored the jab, he knew reacting would be the worst thing he could do. "The moment we let you touch the ground you'll run, don't try and trick us plain walker!" the tree person shouted and jabbed again, this time drawing blood. "My name is..." Louis paused, he had lost his identity, he was no longer Louis Red Pine son of Edward Pine, Natalie Pine, brother of Laura Pine, guard dog of Mica, or boyfriend to Mary. Louis struggled internally with whom he had become, was he different from the man before the fire, no something felt like it was missing and it was more than a left hand. "My name is Red I'm just traveling to the city of Garnet I don't want trouble, if I'm not supposed to be up here I apologize I'll get down and I won't climb any of these magnificent trees." Louis apologized and the tree people glared at him "What did you call these trees?" The tree person spoke and Louis looked at their mask. "Magnificent, these trees are incredible they're as tall as four of the trees where I came from and they're thicker than a building and I can climb them, at my size, I feel like a kid again when I felt the smooth wood of the knot against my fingers it was like magic!" Louis loved climbing he was very enthusiastic about it. "I bet jumping from them into a nice pool of water would be amazing as well, oh, I'm rambling." Louis laughed and the tree people just stared. "I've never heard a plain walker talk so positively about our trees, they call them nuisances or try to cut them down, they act like Gigas is a burden or a wild beast to be tamed but you." The tree person lifted the spear and their mask revealing the face of a young man likely Louis's age. "You're different." "I get that alot." Louis smiled, the most basic act of trust forming one could perform, and the tree person smiled back pulling his spear back and offering a hand. "We might be able to make an exception for you, Red Plain Walker" Louis or Red as he was now known marveled at how easily he had become another person. He wished he had someone to tell about it but if he revealed his name the Tree people might not trust him any longer. Louis decided to wear this new name for the time being as the sun began to set through the canopy of the forest bathing everything in a golden and purple light. Louis had to slow down as it got darker but the Tree people didn't lose a step Louis noticing that beneath the thick vine and leaf gowns a dull glow like from a firefly. When one of them looked back Louis almost fell from the branches, the eyes of the masks glowing like candlelight or more accurately like a wild animals. Louis remembered seeing this as a child in the woods outside the farm " What's wrong Red?" One of the tree people turned seeing Red losing pace. " Plain walker can't see in the dark that's why they sleep during the night and build fires from Gigas." One of the tree people explained to another. The group slowed down to accommodate their guest coming to almost a crawl. "He's like a new grown." Another added and Louis glared. Eventually they made it to the center of the forest landing in a patch of grass that grew higher than others making it soft and cushioned. Looking around Louis saw completely wooden buildings no stone or brick, ones that weren't cut from fallen trees were made from hollowing out the massive trees that grew in the forest. "We take off all that Gigas provides and use it until it can not stand anymore then we take the remains and grow new life ours is a cycle of new and old." The tree people explained as the group passed by a large hollowed trunk. Louis spotted a group of tree people all kneeling and placing seeds on discolored mounds of dirt. "You farm as well?" Louis asked unaware if these people knew agriculture. "We know of it but this is not that." The tree person responded their words rigid and sharp. " A forest south of ours was burned down we are mourning all the life lost." One of the nicer tree people explained their words heavy with sorrow. "I'm sorry that forest was by my house I spent a lot of time in those trees as a child." Louis also felt a sense of loss making the tree people focus upon him. " You grew up in the forest, you climb trees, you respect Gigas and show sorrow for the loss of life, are you really a plain walker?" The tree people seemed confused and Louis shrugged he didn't really know what he was at this moment in time. "You mentioned Gigas who is that from how you talk they're very generous since they gave you the trees." Louis stopped when the tree people stopped at his question. " You are a plain walker alright who else wouldn't know the very life they inhabit, tell me do you think the soil is dead?" One of the tree people removed their mask revealing a head of orange fluorescent hair and yellow eyes that glowed like a half moon. "No the soil is alive naturally that's why it can grow plants with sun and rain." Louis understood farming better than most his whole life had been about it up until now. " See that is what plain walkers think but there are plants that grow with no rain or in the shade like mushrooms so what helps them grow?" The tree person pressed Louis and he stopped to contemplate. " I don't know, I've never thought about it." Louis admitted and the tree person laughed. " Do not feel sad Red no plain walker thinks about this the things they can not see do not exist such as us." The tree person laughed. " So how do they grow?" Louis asked his curiosity too great. "You truly want to know even if it means you've been wrong your entire life?" The tree person inquired and Louis nodded. Louis was unaware of a lot of things people called him ignorant but he just saw himself as inexperienced. " Gigas's gift is not trees or plants it is all life, you are Gigas's gift and Rhet is Gigas's gift, all living things are her gift." The tree person pointed to himself when he spoke leaving Louis to infer that his name was Rhet. " More than just trees died in that fire didn't they?" Louis asked and Rhet frowned. "What are they doing?" Louis pointed to the kneeling tree people. "Making new life, you plain walkers bury old life and forget but new life still grows flowers on gravestones, moss on bones, mushrooms from corpses, all things continue even these woods are full of old life when we plant old life and say goodbye we take a seed so that new life may continue." Rhet explained and Louis nodded. " May I plant a seed as well I want to contribute to the cycle, I don't want things to just end with death." Louis asked and Rhet smiled showing his sharp fangs. Rhet motioned for the rest of the group to return and escorted Louis over to the mounds, the collection of tree people became aggravated until Rhet made a symbol with his hands and they backed down. Rhet handed Louis a seed about the size of an apple, it was thick and hard with a good bit of weight to it. Louis knelt down cupping the seed in his right hand he lowered it into the ground and brushed some soil over it, the soil was warm it contained bits of other things, compost made of dead leaves and other parts. Louis lowered his head in respect and Rhet placed his hand on the back of Louis's shoulder, the other tree people assembled knelt and lowered their heads. Nobody said anything, just the sound of the night wind and the glow of the moon shining down on the soft mounds of soil. When enough time had passed Louis rose to his feet and Rhet escorted him to a stubby hut built of fallen trees and leaves. "This is Rhet's." Rhet pointed out, inside was modest a chair made of sticks tied together with vines, a bed of leaves, and a table in the same fashion. "Rhet knows plain walkers are poor in the night, you can sleep here in the morning time we will talk discuss what to do about Red Plain Walker." Rhet offered Louis shelter and he happily accepted entering the hut and sitting down, not about to take his guest's bed. Louis used the pack he carried as a pillow and felt his eyes grow heavy, he was physically exhausted and still recovering the bandages across his body growing loose. He'd need to get more medicine soon or he'd be in incredible pain. Louis awoke when the sun rose, Rhet sitting, watching him. "Good morning." Louis responded and Rhet nodded his fingers interlaced. "Good daytime to you Red, you slept well, I thought plain walkers hated sleeping on Gigas." Rhet commented and Louis shook his head. "Some do, I'm sure there are people out there who don't want to lie on the ground but I don't mind because you were nice enough to provide it to me." Louis sat up and rummaged through his bag pulling out his dried meat preserves. Rhet focused in on him intently as he ate. "Plain walker's eat beast meat yes, but what do you do with bones and claws and hooves?" Rhet seemed like he was fascinated with the plain walkers as he called them. "We use them in various ways, bones can be made into stocks and soups, claws can be made into trophies and jewelry, hooves can be used to make adhesive by being melted down." Louis explained and Rhet nodded, Rhet's body movement was much quicker than Louis's he seemed to move with the speed of a humming bird. "Yes, yes, yes not so different but completely opposite." Rhet muttered looking to Louis to see a confused expression. "My kind eat all the parts of Giga's creatures bones and teeth and nail and flesh and meat." Rhet pointed to his sharp fangs. "Gigas gave us many sharp teeth to bite and chew things that plain walkers can not." Rhet opened his mouth showing rows of the tiny razor sharp teeth. "Wood and plants all good for Rhet to eat." Louis nodded. "I see, that means that nothing goes to waste." Louis liked Rhet he was curious like himself and not afraid to ask. "What happened to Red." Rhet asked pointing to Louis's left arm, perhaps Rhet was too eager to indulge his curiosity. "An accident, no, an attack." Louis explained and Rhet's eyes grew serious. "The same one that burned your forest, they set fire to my home, it spread I'm sorry because of me you all suffered." Louis realized that the only reason that so many creatures died was because his farm was the target. "Red is stupid." Rhet waved his hand. "Things die, no one makes them die, forest burn without any help from plain walkers, trees fall without you too, plain walkers think they are the center of all life, no Gigas is, Gigas gives life and Gigas takes life it is her gift to give." Rhet stood up and offered his hand to Louis. "Come Rhet show you elder, he decide if Red can leave safely or not." Rhet took Louis's hand and took him around the tree people's city showing him the different buildings and people who lived there. "Rhet I don't mean to be rude, but you call me a plain walker, if I'm a plain walker what are you?" Louis felt the burning sensation to know bubble up inside him. "Red is a plain walker because he walks plainly, Rhet is a Wooded because Rhet lives among the trees, Wooded people are taller than plain walkers." Rhet looked at Louis only standing slightly above him. "Normally much taller, we have longer arms for climbing and moving through the branches, our eyes can see in the dark, and our flesh glows like the moon because we are full of Gigas's gift, plain walkers do not glow, can not see, can not move you are lacking." Rhet explained and Louis nodded, Wooded so that was what these people were called. "Rhet ask question now, plain walkers all live in stone houses and put stones on grass where Gigas can feel, why?" Louis thought about Rhet's question, why did humans cut themselves off from nature. The only answer that Louis could muster was one he didn't quite understand himself. "Fear, plain walkers fear the outside, they think it's dangerous because it's filled with wild animals and creatures." Louis finished explaining and Rhet just laughed. "Plain walkers are stupid, animals are friends they are also Gigas's gift takers, creatures are friends, plain walkers are scared of their friends." Rhet continued to laugh and Louis nodded. "They're scared of themselves and everything because plain walkers are afraid of dying." Louis could feel that Rhet did not fear death as he saw it as a part of life, something that naturally happened, not something that occurred by itself. "Rhet doesn't understand plain walkers are too difficult." Rhet wore a look of confusion and Louis laughed this time "Yes I agree." Louis and Rhet walked through the inside of the forest until they came to a large tree adorned with a massive skull. "Wooded elder inside, you speak with them, they judge whether Red Plain Walker is worthy of Gigas's gift, whether Red can leave or not." Rhet put his hand on Louis's shoulder "Good luck." "Rhet, what happens if he says I can't leave, I like your home but I can't stay here." Louis looked at Rhet and Rhet's eyes shifted away. "Best not think about that, Rhet likes Red too, but Rhet will do what Elder decides." Rhet broke off from Louis leaving him alone outside the hut of the elder. "So it's either say yes or die." Louis took a deep breath in, he didn't have much to defend himself but he could fight to the last if needed. Louis entered the hut, admiring the skull of the beast adorning the door. "ENTER!" a voice shouted from the hut after Louis was already inside. In the back of the circular single room hut was a smoke cloud billowing, in front of the smoke cloud a Wooded man wearing a goat skull for a mask and bones across his wrists and body. "Speak your name to me!" The Wooded Chief demanded and Louis gripped his pack tightly. "Red." Louis answered and the Wooded Elder screamed. "LIAR!" he shrieked and Louis flinched. "TELL ME YOUR NAME!" the Wooded Edler was seven feet tall with long legs and arms he jerked violently as if he was possessed. "Louis Red Pine." Louis answered and the elder calmed the smoke dying down. "I have seen your coming Louis of the humans, I have sensed the danger you bring, Gigas has told me of your passing and your crimes against them." The elder shook their wrists rattling the bones. "Then you know I don't intend to stay." Louis was finding it impossible to read this crazy old tree person. "Your intent does not matter, it is your actions that do!" The elder barked and sat down rattling his bones. "I have seen that you will bring about a great disaster, not one of your own making, but the fire and blood that you will cause will engulf Gigas whole!" The elder pointed a long bony finger at Louis. "I don't care what you've seen I just want to go to the city to find someone." Louis was getting annoyed, he was being accused of all these things that might happen. "Fool, you are ignorant." The elder spat and clenched his fist. "You will bring death and destruction but Gigas has ordained, new life must be had, a new world must be born so the old Gigas must perish in flames and fury." The elder reached beside them and grabbed a mask carved of wood, bright red wood, with the emblem of a bird carved into its face. "This is the symbol of the great destroyer and the rebirth, the eternal cycle, you will forever be known in these woods as the Phoenix." The elder declared and Louis bent down picking up the mask it was smooth and had been prepared what looked like weeks in advance. "Born of fire and cursed to die by fire you are the phoenix who rises from the ashes anew." The elder accused and Louis felt connection, did the elder really pre ordain his coming, did that mean everything that happened was fated to, was it like Rhet said without the influence of humans. Louis didn't dwell on the concepts floating around his head, he had something new to add to his ever expanding collection. "That mask will mark you as a friend of the Wooded, you will be granted safe passage outside the paths that plain walkers dwell, you will have access to the forest but all will know the destruction you will bring." The elder explained and Louis sighed. "If that's what it takes." He picked up the mask and pressed the smooth wood against his face. "I'll be your monster then." Louis turned to face his back to the elder. "One question, in your foreseeing, did you see the ones who did it?" Louis didn't look at the elder, he couldn't of seen the wicked smile across his face, giant fangs glistening. "You see the one bathed in blood, clad in metal, who sits upon a throne of stone, far away from the trees and grass, in place where the sun doesn't shine and dark black clouds circle above but give no rain, you seek a land of death and misery, where a great rift between them grows and threatens to swallow all." The elder gave his cryptic hints and Louis sighed, again no straight answers. Leaving the tent Louis was surprised to see Rhet waiting for him. Rhet marveled at Louis's mask. "So you are Red Phoenix now." Rhet commented and Louis nodded. "I'm not plain walker anymore?" Louis asked and Rhet laughed pulling down his mask, a smooth green mask with the image of a sun on it. "No when a wooded is given their true face they assume their true name, I am Rhet Sun and you are Red Phoenix, these are what Gigas knows as, sons of the great mother we were given names at the moment of our birth." Rhet shoved Louis and Louis shoved back. "I knew we would be brothers come Red we will feast!" Rhet seemed jubilant. "Doesn't the phoenix mean something bad?" Louis asked wondering why Rhet was so receptive. "You must stop thinking like a plain walker brother, the phoenix is a magnificent creature, in one wing it holds the inferno of destruction, in the other the ashes of creation you are a being that brings new life and destroys old life wherever you go." Rhet thought about how to best explain it. "Before you, Rhet had no brother, that Rhet is now old life, new life Rhet has Red as a brother!" Rhet threw out his arms and Louis grabbed his brother's hand. "Red understands now yes?" Louis nodded. "Red understands, Rhet is brother, Red is son of Gigas, we all share the gift of Gigas and are family." Louis felt a warmth spread through him, this man whom he knew for less than a full day was now his sworn brother along with all the people of the wooded city, he was apart of something much greater than himself. Along with that warm came a cold and hollow feeling Louis felt as if he was moving on and forgetting his own family. "Rhet you are my brother but there is something I must do." Louis released Rhet's hand and Rhet stared at Louis. "Before I came here I lived with three other plain walkers, they were my family, but someone took their lives and I have to go get revenge." Rhet looked at Louis confused. "What is revenge?" it was then that Louis first asked himself that question. "I need to go take the lives of the people who took my family's lives, destroy them like they destroyed me." Louis said his right hand tightening. "Why?" Rhet asked and again Louis looked at the issue for the first time. "Because I won't have peace until I do, inside, I can't accept that it's just okay to do something like and not get punished." Louis felt like he was breaking thinking about it he knew he was doing something stupid, foolish, even possibly fatal but his spirit wouldn't allow him to exist in a world where his family could up and die at any moment, how could he ever find happiness in that world, how could he ever have true peace? "You mean justice." Rhet replied making Louis look at him. "When someone takes, you take back, when someone hits, you hit back justice is the natural way of Gigas." Rhet explained his understanding of the concept. "You will not know peace until others feel pain, Rhet understands this but Red isn't alone, revenge may be for one person but justice is for everyone." Rhet made a fist with his hand. "Where Red seeks justice so too shall Rhet if Rhet can help then Rhet will get Red his justice so he may have peace as well." Rhet promised and Louis nodded. "I accept Rhet." The two walked to the center of the city, where a gigantic fire was burning bright even mid day. Louis marveled at the towering inferno before him and for once the flames didn't bring pain, he saw himself in them the way that the wooded saw him, a magnificent creature of both destruction and birth. Louis enjoyed the festivities with Rhet and the other wooded his family in the forest. They drank nectar from sweetened berries and ate the meat of forest beasts. While they were eating Louis paused to ask Rhet why it was okay to kill beasts of the forest but not chop down trees, didn't both contain Gigas's gift. "Tree's can't defend themselves, between two creatures who have Gigas's gift the stronger will survive, but if one can not fight, how can one survive no we must only take those that have grown old, trees so old that they fell when Giga's took her gift back, these beasts fought for their gift and lost, one day Rhet will too lose that fight." Rhet explained and Louis nodded, understanding that all living things had to struggle it was fate to either eat or be eaten but the trees did not eat so the rules didn't apply to them. After the feast Louis bid his tree family farewell and grabbed a branch hoisting himself up to the hidden road, feeling lighter and more agile with the weight of doubt freed from him Louis the Red Phoenix continued his journey ahead.

Louis exited the wilds deciding to stow his mask unless it brought unnecessary attention. It was already evening the night was coming and Louis was still not in Garnet. Louis continued walking until it became dark wishing he had the eyes of Rhet in this situation, Louis settled down beside the road making a fire out of brush and debris from the edge of the forest. Louis slept soundly, his body was beginning to heal but his mind was taking longer. Chapter 3 Louis emerged on the other side of the forest dropping from the tree branches. The meal the sun was high, so it was likely sometime shortly before or after noon. Looking at his map after the WILDS there was nothing between him and Garnet besides distance. The long road ahead was daunting but Louis felt renewed conviction after learning of Rhet's form of justice which made him feel like he was out to avenge and not for revenge. The small but significant difference took a lot of weight off of Louis's mind. Starting in the afternoon had its advantages, the cold was slightly less numbing than it was in the morning and with half the day gone the chance of bad weather was decreased. The walk was pleasant enough although the open plains were lacking, there were no farms out this way only hills and fields. Louis stopped when it became late and ate some of his preserves worried about his remaining stock. Louis didn't take the time to hunt while in the forest and he imagined that game outside of it was only small creatures he barely saw any trees for fruit or plants growing besides wild flowers and grass.When the sun finally set Louis still hadn't reached the city, there was no brush or good kindling to make a fire and sleeping out in the open without a fire was never a smart idea. Louis continued on throughout the night heading straight along the road keeping his eyes and ears open for any unlikely predators. When the sun rose again Louis beheld a great and marvelous stone wall, at least three times as big as the one outside of Mica. Louis had reached the southern gate of Garnet. Louis ran towards the gate but stopped when he saw a line of caravans and merchants all gathered outside. The line was so long that even Louis couldn't see the end of it. Turning to look at the sun Louis tried to guess the time, he never was good at reading the sun, after failing he decided to ask the nearest merchant. "Excuse me." Louis approached a merchant but they turned away. "Pardon me." He said waving his hand but no response. "I need to know the time, does anyone know?" Louis began to shout wondering if he was perhaps speaking too soft. "It's not that they don't hear you lad." A man sitting atop the back seat of a caravan called out to Louis. "Its that they don't want to hear you." He smiled picking his fingernails with a dagger. "I'm going to guess you're new around here, must of taken a toll on you getting here, you look like hell warmed over." The man pointed out Louis's bandages. The man himself was unassuming, a dark blue shirt and black woolen pants, leather shoes and a pair of thin hide fingerless gloves. He had short red hair and a small nose with big eyes and long ears, if Louis counted the number of fingers there were four on each hand instead of five the index finger absent. This gentleman was not human like Louis was, but he didn't seem to be foreign, in fact he seemed more at home than Louis. "What do you mean don't want to hear me?" Louis asked happy that someone would talk to him. "Also do you now the time?" He added not wanting to forget his main goal. "Those are some good questions, around here, questions are profitable if you get my drift?" The man stuck out his gloved hand out and Louis took his hand making the man recoil. "You are thicker than mud caked on the bottom of a horse's foot aren't you?" The man asked wiping his hand across his vest. "Horses don't have feet, they have legs and hooves." Louis responded and the man went to raise objection but shook his head. "Look kid, nobody in this town will talk to you unless you have coins, them's the language of the city." The man explained and Louis reached into his bag taking the satchel out and shaking a single copper coin into his hand. "These?" Louis held up the copper coin, it had a hole in the center, it was oblong, and had words written around the edges on both sides. "Wow, haven't seen one of those in a while." The fingerless man marveled at the antique coin. "Those are about two or three decades out of mint, I don't think anyone but collectors will want them now." The man whistled and leaned forward inspecting Louis, eyeing his left arm. "Where you from son?" Louis rightly didn't know what his homeland was called so he went with the closest place. "A farm near Mica." Louis responded and the fingerless man slapped his knee. "Ah a boonies boy, should have guessed you look it." The man finished cleaning his fingernails and stowed the knife in a holster on his side twirling it a bit as he did. "Well if you're from the sticks you're probably here to become an adventurer right?" The man took somewhat of an interest in Louis. "I don't know what that is, I'm looking for someone named Miss Holly" Louis replied and the fingerless man scratched his head. "She runs an inn, she moved here about four weeks ago." Louis explained his target and the man shook his head. "Sorry son, too vague, any number of little ladies inside those gates could be called Miss Holly." The man shrugged and thought about it for a while. "Of course you could pay someone to find her, but as we discovered previously, you have no valuable currency." The man rocked back and forth. "Do you think I could trade?" Louis asked and the man perked up. "Bartering, wow haven't done that in a while but sure, lets see what you have." The fingerless man held his hand out. Louis poked inside his bag and he had a broken hilt, the tiny harp, the phoenix mask. He wasn't ever going to part with his mask, not only because of its practical use but because of its sentimental value. That left the harp and the sword, Louis had no desire to fight so the sword was a good pick but he regretted giving away a family heirloom which he could only assume would have someday made its way to him. The harp was for all intents and purposes useless to him, he couldn't play with one hand or at all really. Reluctantly Louis pulled the hand harp out of his bag and handed it over to the fingerless man. "Well don't you have a hidden talent?" The fingerless man mused and Louis shook his head. "It's not mine, I picked it up somewhere." Louis explained and the fingerless man looked at him, then his left arm and the missing hand. "Oh I got you, found it, well lucky for you I'm not turned off by hot merchandise." The fingerless man whispered to Louis and Louis blinked in confusion, was the harp really that warm? "Alright so you paid for information and information you'll get, there's an inn in the lower city what opened no less than three weeks ago, they say some pretty miss is running it but she is a bit..." The fingerless man searched for the words. "Dopey." He finally settled on perhaps the most insulting one. "Don't get me wrong some people find that attractive, god knows I don't but hey no judgement." The fingerless man waved his hands dismissing the thought. "Anyway the inn is called the Guard Dog." Louis's eyes opened when he heard the name. "If you got a map of the city I'll mark it for you." The fingerless man offered but Louis declined. "You said lower city, isn't it all one city?" Louis inquired and the fingerless man laughed. "Well I guess the harp is pretty nice so I'll fill you in as a bonus, Garnet used to be a little middle of nowhere town on the south side of the continent, after the Last War it became one of the lesser jewels of the kingdom nothing big like Ruby or Sapphire but still, anyway the original town is now called Lower City, after that behind a great big wall like this one is Upper City where all the upper class live, bright name right?" The fingerless man nudged Louis who didn't get the naming sense. "What about there?" Louis pointed to the largest structure, dead in the center of the city visible from outside the walls, a massive intimidating stone structure that towered above all else and cast a shadow over the rest of the city depending on the time of day. "That's nothing for you to concern yourself with, a person of your profession will likely never want to end up there." The fingerless man cautioned and Louis shook his head insistent. "Fine but this is the last piece of information, I'm likely to go out of business or lose my reputation if I tell you everything, that's Crimson Castle, the home of the Duke of Garnet and his army it's off limits for everyone without special permission or if you're dumb and get caught, it's where you go to get tried and executed thus the name." The fingerless man explained again and it went right over Louis's head. "Thank you by the way my name is Louis." Louis offered his hand again, this time intentionally. The fingerless man eyed Louis up, trying to see if he had a weapon on him or was up to something. Louis's dopey smile and general aura was disarming even to a veteran swindler and information trader like the fingerless man. "Jack, Jack of all Trades" Jack introduced himself with his work name. "Thank you for the valuable information Jack I'll treasure it." Louis nodded to Jack and began to advance up the line. Jack felt something stir inside of him he long thought dead, his conscience, this kid was going to be eaten alive. "May whatever is strong enough protect that kid, he's gonna need it." Louis made it to the front of the line but was stopped by the guard positioned at the post. "Can I go in?" Louis asked and the Guard raised their visor at him. "Papers." The guard demanded and Louis was confused handing the guard his map. "Papers." The guard demanded again throwing the map aside. "If you don't have papers step out of the line you're holding up business." The guard didn't even look at Louis as he dismissed him. Louis didn't know what papers this man wanted so he stepped aside watching merchants hand the guard a stack or a single paper and then the gate opened for them. Sitting on the outside of the wall Louis contemplated climbing it but when he went to touch it just to see the look he got from the guard told him this would probably end badly. Louis watched the merchants file through until noon, unable to advance, unable to go back, unsure of what to do. Louis sighed and looked at the guard, he was wearing plate mail a full suit and wielding a halberd which was a bigger version of the spear. He had a bright red plume of feathers coming from a fountain atop his helmet and a visor like Miss Holly wore. "Louis!" Jack called out having finally arrived at the front of the line. "My assistant this is where you got off to!" Jack grabbed Louis pulling him up. "My friend you forgot the papers, I know it's noon but lay off the sauce!" Jack laughed and the guard remained emotionless. Jack produced a stack of papers and handed them to the guard. "Everything is in order then yes, come on Louis we must not be late!" Jack motioned with a head jerk for Louis to get on the caravan next to him so Louis obliged. Once through Jack turned to Louis holding two fingers up to his eyes. "You owe me." He seemed aggravated. "Okay, when I have some money I'll pay you." Louis offered but Jack shook his head. "No kid what I mean is I want you to do something for me." Jack handed Louis a package. "I don't care when but sometime you gotta go to the North Star and deliver that package and don't open it!" Jack warned Louis then pushed him off the caravan, Louis landing on the stone street with a clunk. Standing up and brushing himself off Louis looked for Jack but he was already gone. People surrounded him making him nervous, feeling the urge to hide behind his mask Louis suppressed the urge and took a calming breath. "The Guard Dog." Louis repeated and thought about asking anyone if they knew where it was, but he was out of things to trade. Louis figured it better to find the inn himself picking a direction, he was currently at a crossroads, south was the gate so that left north, east, and west. North was likely the way to the Upper City so that eliminated that option because Jack said it was in Lower City. Taking the coin in his right hand Louis flipped it, heads he would go east, tails west. The coin landed and it was tails so Louis turned to the left and walked forward brushing past people much smaller than him, not realizing how badly he stood out with his unnatural size. Louis walked past shops and buildings but he didn't see anything that looked like an inn. It was then that it struck Louis, if he couldn't read, how would he tell the sign when he saw it? Puzzling this Louis accidentally walked into a crowd of people knocking two women over. "Oh I'm sorry." He reached his left hand out to help one of them up but they recoiled when offered. "Oh sorry, again." Louis offered his right hand but now everyone was clearing a space around him. "A thief, pick pocket, got his hand cut off, someone should tell the guards." The whispers circled around Louis and he stood erect moving on and not dwelling on them. Louis was used to gossip, he was used to scorn, used to being revolted against but he was not used to isolation. Miss Holly always was with him when things got tough and Mary. Thinking about Mary hurt more than his left arm did, it was a pain that was so fresh and vivid it could have brought him to his knees. Louis continued searching and came to another wall, he was confused, had he turned around and went south. Unlike the gate though this one had no guard standing at it. Louis walked through unhindered and saw the scenery change, before the buildings were shops and merchants, now they were artisans and crafters. Louis continued walking west not realizing that the lower city was built in a circle with walls quartering it off each quarter served a purpose. He was previously in the market quarter, now he was in the trade quarter. The sun was getting low and Louis had not yet found his goal. Another wall and a new quarter the newest one filled with houses but not inns, likely a residential quarter which made no sense to lack Inns but who was Louis to judge. There were less people in the residential quarter so it was easy for Louis to move around, plenty of back alleys and he could even climb up to the roofs to get a better view. After scaling an alleyway Louis sat on the roof of a building and ate some of the last of his preserved meat. "I hope I find Miss Holly soon." he mused to himself. Louis was so occupied in thought that he didn't notice the person come up behind him and snatch his pack right off the roof sprinting ahead of him. "Thanks friend!" the person called out and dove off the roof. Louis snapped too and chased after the thief. "WAIT!" He shouted and leaped from the roof landing with a heavy thud on the stones below, his joints shaking from the impact. Pain was nothing to Louis he needed to retrieve his bag so he broke into a full sprint running after the snatcher. "A chase you want is it?" The snatcher seemed amused with Louis and turned around running as fast backwards as they did forwards. "Alright friend, keep up!" Nimbly the snatcher darted from wall to wall scaling the alley to the roof tops but Louis wouldn't be out done crouching as he ran and sprinting into the wall grabbing it with his finger tips and clawing up to the roof. The snatcher was waiting looking with complete amusement. "Give it back." Louis grasped with his left hand forgetting his injury, swinging at the air. "Oh and you're doing it one handed too, very talented!" The snatcher clapped either to taunt Louis or to praise him it was hard to tell. As Louis struggled to pull himself up the snatcher cheered him on, when he finally managed to clear the roof edge the snatcher resumed running away. Louis chased the individual until it became dark, neither of them able to continue running. "Well you managed to stay in pace, I suppose you deserve a reward, I'll let you keep one item." The snatcher fished into the bag throwing the contents out. Louis watched as his mask, the rope, the broken blade, and what was left of his food fell to the ground. Deciding quickly Louis jumped from the roof and snatched the mask before it hit the ground, rolling as he landed he watched the snatcher run off with the rest. "Let's play again big guy okay?" The snatcher shouted as they leaped away on the roof tops. Louis collapsed, resting on his knees and breathing heavier than he ever breathed before. Louis always climbed at a leisurely pace he never tried to do anything like that before and it took its toll on him. Wobbly as the fatigue and accumulated pain finally set it wracking his body. Gasping for breath Louis cursed under his breath, it had gotten late, he wasted so much time and lost both his family heirloom and the only map he had. Today was slowly turning into a disaster, it was then that he realized that he also lost the package Jack gave him. Louis was mortified, he couldn't just let this happen. Louis spent the night sleeping on the street, the cold january night bit him fiercely. Louis climbed to the roofs and waited, he waited for hours, well past noon and into the evening. Like clockwork however the snatcher appeared again. "Up for another round, but you don't have anything to wager." The snatcher smirked, now able to get a good look at them, they were smaller, lighter, skinnier, and had triangular ears poking out of the top of their head like a cat, a thin curvy black tail coming from behind them. "You won't just give me back the package you took from me yesterday will you?" Louis asked sitting with his legs crossed looking at the snatcher. "There's no fun in that." Their voice was high, were they young, were they a man or a woman,. It was hard to tell. "Then I'll have to take it back." Louis stated standing up, before he even managed to the snatcher barreled into him knocking him down. "Don't get excited because I played with you yesterday, you're still a chump I could dump off these roofs like garbage if I wanted to but you put up a good show, maybe I'll let you play me for it." The snatcher hissed and their tail stuck out. "Play?" Louis asked and the snatcher laughed. "Another game of chase I'll even make it easy for you, all you have to do to win is touch me, do that and I'll return what I took yesterday." The snatcher pulled Louis's pack out of a larger pack they carried on their back. "Lookie, still here." they opened the pack and looked inside but didn't show Louis. "Fine, how long?" Louis asked and the snatcher put a finger to their chin, a thick hooded cloak concealing their face but two yellow eyes peering out from beneath the darkness, and a wicked row of teeth in the form of a smile. "Until dark, like last time, but unlike last time no participation trophies you win or you get nothing, now what's up for grabs?" The snatcher's tail swished and flicked. "I don't have anything you took it all." Louis complained and the snatcher turned around to leave. "BUT." Louis shouted reaching out. "I'm willing to bet myself." Louis knelt down. "If I lose I'll swear myself to you and do whatever you want for the rest of my life, I give you my word." Louis looked up to see the snatcher staring at him, the bemused grin gone. "So you'll be my slave?" The word seemed hard coming out of their mouth. "What makes you think I want such a stupid thing?" The body language had changed, from casually playing to agitated. "I don't have anything else, I need that pack back, someone's counting on me to deliver something." Louis punched the roof and the snatcher jumped. "I know I'm just some worthless nobody, but I'm all I have left if I can't place value in myself what point is there in going on!?" Louis shouted and the snatcher seemed taken back. "Alright, you've convinced me." The snatcher hopped down and met Louis on his level. "I agree, if you can catch me I'll return what I stole from you, if you lose I'll take you as my personal slave." Still that word fell hard from their mouth. Louis shook and the bet was made. "We have until the sun goes down, ready, set, go." The snatcher counted and sprinted off bouncing from roof to roof. Louis just watched. Knowing that this was a game and they would stay until the time limit gave Louis an advantage, they wouldn't run away. Louis observed how the snatcher bounced and pounced making distance from him. They were faster no doubt but Louis also saw a flaw in their method they couldn't climb without an alley with two walls. That would mean his goal was to chase them into an alley with only one wall and trap them, ideally against one of the two sectioning walls. With a plan set Louis began to carefully move while the snatcher bounced and flipped around, every time Louis would jump from a roof he would make sure that he turned a certain direction to lead the snatcher to where he wanted them to go. The snatcher ran literal circles around Louis but he remained calm pushing and boxing them in. Looking up Louis saw that the sun was beginning to set, he had to hurry. Spotting the snatcher he charged forward making them run directly away. Louis smiled when the snatcher realized too late what his plan was, jumping off of a roof and landing smack against the sectioning wall, Louis slamming down behind them. Louis wore a confident smirk and walked up to the cornered snatcher reaching out slowly and grabbing their hood. Louis pulled it down to reveal a woman with tabby colored short hair. Louis recoiled when the woman scratched him with her nails and hissed pulling her hood back up. "You won, don't push it." She spat throwing his pack back. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you didn't want anyone knowing who you were." Louis didn't mean to anger her, just win. With his possession back he felt something of a connection with this snatcher, despite being trying the past two days were fun. "I'm Louis." Louis offered his hand and the snatcher hissed. "Good for you, you won, now get lost." The snatcher was trapped, if she tried to move past him he could pull her hood down again, someone could see, and she couldn't go into the other districts not on ground level. "Look I know we've had a, rough, relationship but I don't want to be enemies." Louis insisted on offering his hand and the snatcher looked up curiously. "Wait, you saw, and you don't want to be enemies?" She was confused her tail flickering pensively. "Saw what, your face, it's cute." Louis smiled and the snatcher stiffened her tail going rigid and her ears standing straight. "SHUT UP!" she shouted and then looked around to see if anyone noticed. "Hey I'm not mad, I won't tell anyone." Louis continued to smile and the snatcher seethed, there was no way out of this other than playing by his rules. "FINE!" she shouted taking his hand and shaking it. "We're friends now happy?" The snatcher seemed eager to leave, perhaps to be away from Louis. "Almost, what's your name?" Louis asked not letting go. "WHAT DOES IT MATTER!?" Annoyed the snatcher hiss and spit and scratched at Louis but he refused to release. "UGH, Kirsty my name is Kirsty!" Kirsty finally revealed her identity and Louis released her allowing her to scurry back against the alley wall. "You're a weird human, most humans see a beastman and think we're going to eat them or that they can tame us." Kirsty glanced at Louis. "I don't think anyone can tame you." Louis said without irony and Kirsty chuckled. "That's right." Without another word Kirsty scampered up the walls and away to wherever she went. Louis took a look inside his pack and all his belongings were still there, except the meat, that was gone. Hanging his head Louis clutched his stomach and prepared for another night on the street. Morning rolled around and with his things back in his possession Louis pressed on into the next quarter. This quarter was, odd, even for Louis's taste. It seemed to have shops like the other districts but they only sold weapons and armors and potions. In the center of the district was a town square and a big board with posters on it, none of which Louis could understand, but when he went to go near the board a thousand eyes fell on him. Looking around everyone in this quarter was wearing armor or robes and wielding some kind of weapon. This quarter had a large building that stretched beyond the height of the wall, making Louis really want to scale it. There were also inns in this quarter meaning that somewhere in here was Miss Holly. Louis checked every in he could find everyone greeted him until they saw he wasn't a potential customer then they'd either throw him out or turn cold to him. Louis searched for hours checking dozens of inns until he came to a tiny inn with a picture of a puppy on the front of its sign. Feeling good about this Louis entered the inn. "Welcome to the guard dog, rate's eleven copper for a room, nine for a meal, twenty for room and meal." Martha Holly the innkeeper said from behind a counter, a thick ledger on the counter and bottles of alcohol behind it aligned on a shelf. "We have a special where if you rent for the week all meals are free." Martha looked up to see Louis and dropped the bottle she was holding. "OH MY GOD!" She ran over wrapping her arms around Louis making him wince a bit due to the pain. "Is that really you?" Miss Holly asked "I think so." Louis smiled and put his hand on Miss Holly's head while she hugged him, she was still shorter than him which made Louis smile. "Louis what are you doing here, it's such a long way from Mica, don't tell me you walked." Miss Holly lead Louis to a seat and set him down, pouring him a drink of cider and offering him a plate of meats and cheese. Louis graciously accepted his stomach aching from the lack of food. "I climbed, ran, and yes I walked." Louis said between bites. "What reason could you have, Louis this city is such a dangerous place for someone like you!" Miss Holly was still mothering Louis despite him being fully grown. "I know, I met some interesting people." Louis laughed thinking of how to describe Jack, Rhet, and Kirsty. "I came here because I need your help Miss Holly, you were always the best guard I ever saw, someone attacked my home and killed my family I want to find them and get revenge." Louis explained and Miss Holly looked at him, her eyes somber. "Yes Louis I know, I was the one who found you after the attack, you made it to the outer wall of Mica then collapsed from your injuries but Louis, you can't have come here all the way from Mica for that..." Miss Holly sounded incredibly sad when she considered that Louis left behind comfort and safety to pursue revenge. "I did, I left everything,... even Mary." Miss Holly gasped when Louis told her what happened but she didn't scold him, she simply reached over and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Sometimes we think the choices we make are forever but somethings change with time mistakes fade and people forget, Louis don't give up on Mary." Miss Holly gave Louis's shoulder a squeeze. "Mr Brooke said to forget her, to never come back, he was right to, what I want to do is going to make people want to come after me, there's no way I can just take revenge and not have a price to pay, isn't it better if Mary isn't involved?" Louis looked up, pain in his eyes. "Louis you sound like you're throwing your life away voluntarily." Miss Holly felt compelled to point this out and Louis was silent. "I see, well I don't know what you thought coming here would get you but I won't help you throw your life away, like or not you're still a town guard and your job is to live so you can protect the peace, the only way you're allowed to die is defending your home." Miss Holly spoke with authority and Louis nodded. "I don't have a home anymore." He added and Miss Holly closed her eyes, she wanted to slap him for saying that but he wasn't wrong, he just couldn't see that he had other options right now. "Well Louis, we need some able bodies at the inn, it's not guard duty but I'd welcome your presence around here." Miss Holly offered and Louis smiled. Just then the door flung open and the sound of two young children filled the in. "MOMMY!" The two children cried and rushed Miss Holly clinging to her legs. "Mommy I have to tell you, I have something to tell you." A little girl with brunette hair, likely no older than six and a twin sister tugged at Miss Holly's dress. "Not right now sweetie mommy's got company." Miss Holly held on for dear life as she was nearly tackled over. The children turned and looked at the massive man sitting at a table eating food and conversing with their mother, naturally they felt threatened and stood behind her. Miss Holly scolded them and told them that this man was her friend from before she met their father. At the mention of his name a man walked through the door as well, he was wearing full armor and carrying a short sword. "Company huh?" the man looked at Louis and smiled at him, Louis smiling nervously back. "Welcome home dear." Miss Holly shuffled over and kissed the man, Louis watching, his grip around the table tightening. "Louis, this is my husband, we met after I left Mica and, well, we fell in love and decided to get married." Miss Holly blushed and her husband laughed. "I didn't know you had children." Louis spoke up finally and Miss Holly shook her head. "I didn't give birth to them but they're mine all the same, we adopted them." Miss Holly pointed to one of the twin girls. "This is Janice and Olivia they're my darling daughters." Miss Holly crouched down and scooped the two girls up making them squeal. "I was just telling Louis about how we could use some help around the place." Miss Holly turned to Louis who looked tired, his face weary and his eyes sunken in. "Sorry." Louis stood up and pushed his chair in. "Thank you for the offer but I can't I have somewhere else I have to be." Louis excused himself and tried to exit the inn but Miss Holly stopped him. "Please move." Louis wanted to cry, he was trying so hard to keep his emotions in but he was starting lose. "Louis, you're welcome here, just because I have a family now doesn't mean you're not my family anymore." Miss Holly explained putting down her daughters and letting them go to their father. "I can't, you did it Miss Holly, you achieved your dream." Louis smiled through forming tears. "You left Mica, you found a place, settled down, got married, and have two beautiful children all in the span of a month your life is completely different." Louis felt his voice wavering. "I know how that feels, your life changing in the span of a month, but unlike mine your life is better I'm not going to bring my misery onto your doorstep, you deserve better." Louis moved forcefully brushing past Miss Holly who could only frown as Louis strode away trying to maintain his pride. "Did your friend not like us Mommy?" Janice asked pulling at Miss Holly's hand. "No, sweetie, he said you're beautiful, but right now mommy's friend needs to like himself." Miss Holly bent down kissing Janice on the forehead making Olivia want a kiss too. Louis walked as fast as he could before he couldn't he had to stop, crumbling to his knees he bent over the ground and slammed his fist into it. "DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN!" he shouted repeatedly drawing attention, but nobody would interfere with a distressed man of Louis's size. Tears rolled down his cheeks, as much as he was happy for Miss Holly, he hated how pathetic he was compared to everyone else. Mary was going to have him as her husband and he could barely function, Miss Holly had moved on and made a happy home for herself, and then there was Louis. Wallowing in rage and sorrow he was lost and seeking out some invisible phantom that may or may not exist. What if they're right. A question that passed through Louis's mind. What if a leaky lantern did start the fire, what if he just imagined the wounds or misunderstood, what if he threw everything he had away for nothing. Louis remained on the ground hunched over clenching nothing. "What am I doing?" Louis asked himself, he was in a city he didn't know how to survive in burdening others with his mere existence. Did he expect people to just offer him food and shelter for the rest of his life, how was he a man if he lived like that? Composing himself Louis took stock of his options. He could go back to Miss Holly, accept the job and pull down her happy life, no that wasn't really an option Miss Holly had moved on from Louis it was time Louis moved on from Miss Holly. He could go back to Mica, no that wasn't an option either, Mary was probably disgusted with him and Mr Brook would kill him, he could go live with Rhet even though he'd never really be a wooded. The last option was the most immediate, he had to deliver the package to the North Star. Finding his strength and standing again Louis looked at the people around him. "NORTH STAR WHERE IS IT!?" He bellowed and nervous fingers pointed to a shabby bar pressed firmly against the greater wall separating Lower City from Upper City. Louis walked up to the shabby building, a picture of an owl perched upon a glistening star painted on the front. Louis saw no reason not to complete Jack's errand, it was closer than his only other option of returning to Rhet. Pushing the door open Louis saw that this was a tavern, or it was a long time ago, dust covered the walls and floor and the furniture was either broken or absent. It was clear that nobody had been served in this tavern for a few decades. Completely lost on as to why Louis was to deliver the package to the abandoned tavern he looked for some place to put it. Behind the main bar was a dilapidated kitchen, bricks in the fireplace and holes in the roof made it uninhabitable. The upper floor fared no better, holes in the wood made the structure unstable. Finally in the back office Louis found the only thing that looked like it had moved in the past century, a large painting of a tall woman with raven black hair and emerald green eyes behind the manager's desk a small safe beside it opened and empty. Louis shrugged, thinking it was the best place to place something that was secure and put the package in the safe. When the package left his hand he heard a click and turned around to see the painting swing open like a door revealing a set of stairs. Louis was speechless, a hidden staircase in an abandoned building, who were these people that he was delivering to? Louis figured out that the switch was inside the safe, beneath the bottom set off by a weight but he didn't know if that was safe to leave the package. Louis instead took the rope out of his pack and placed it in the safe, the pressure switch satisfied he made his way up the stairs. Louis climbed the spiraling stairs until he came to a hallway, it was dark but torches lit the way, except instead of fire they were lanterns housing crystals which glowed with a bright red flame. Louis placed his hand near it and recoiled when he felt it burn just like flame. Pressing forward Louis carried the package to the end of the hallway where a switch sat waiting to be pressed. Louis checked around fearing some kind of trap but there was nothing so steeling himself he pressed the switch and the wall in front of him began to slide open. Louis stepped out of the hallway, through a door like painting into a lavish room with carpet across the floor and furniture along the walls. There were columns and a set of stairs leading to the left, right, down, and around the wall housing the painting further up. A crystal chandelier hung above him and balconies of the upper floors surrounded him. Louis took a moment to admire the lavish and ostentatious design before wondering where the exact hell he was. He went from a dusty run down tavern to this place which had to be the nicest building he ever saw. "Well what have we here?" A voice from behind Louis caused him to spin around and set eyes upon a woman wearing a crimson red gown with gold lacing up the side and along the chest. "A visitor, not the normal kind, they use the front door." The woman smirked and walked slowly down the stairs curling around where Louis was standing. Louis was mesmerized like a rodent before a viper he couldn't move. She strolled over effortlessly and reached out cupping Louis's chin in her hand, she was taller than he was six foot six, only a little but it made a difference. "Rather big, you aren't like the normal runners, no you must be special." She smirked and removed her fingers holding out her hand and tilting her head back looking down her nose at Louis. "Well give it here." She demanded and like a dream Louis snapped too handing her the package. "What is it?" Louis asked and the woman's eyebrow raised a wicked smile spreading across her face. "Are you in the business of others business?" She asked and Louis said nothing in confusion. "It's none of your business that much is certain" The elegant lady scoffed and snapped her fingers two black suited men appearing and taking it away. "Much more interestingly who are you?" The elegant lady pointed at Louis placing her finger on his chest. "My name is Louis." Louis responded and the elegant woman twisted her finger digging her nail into him. "Where I was raised it is proper to give your FULL name." She accented indicating that she knew he was not giving her all the information. "Louis Red" Louis answered, he wasn't sure about using his last name, whether it was still his or not. The finger twisting ceased and the woman smirked from ear to ear hearing the name. "Louis Red, strong name but I can't place the family." The elegant woman hemmed and hawed before forgetting the matter all together. "Well thank you very much for your service mister Red, what would you like as payment?" The elegant woman seemed, fickle, for a lack of a better word. It was only after staring at her that Louis noticed who exactly this woman was, on both paintings, a similar woman with raven hair and emerald eyes stared at you and now he was staring at her. "I need a place to stay and some food." Louis responded a bit stunned that he was looking at the woman in the portraits. "What an odd request." The elegant woman commented and shrugged clapping her hands, two men in black suits appearing. "Take mister red to the guest chambers, oh room ten should do." The elegant lady instructed and the men in black suits nodded each taking Louis's hand. "Who are you?" Louis felt compelled to ask, a burning sensation in his gut would not let him leave without learning. The woman turned and extended her hand, raising her right leg and bending it as if she were standing on something and tilting her head as she pointed. "You may call me Mia Bella Donna, mistress of the mansion and Madonna of Garnet." Mia introduced herself in spectacular fashion while Louis was lead away. "Do not worry mister Red, we will learn more of each other in the coming days, this I am sure of rest for now we've a long road ahead of us." Mia waved as Louis was lead away to his chambers for the time being. Louis was shown to a room with the number ten written on it in numerals a giant x across the door. Entering the room it was perhaps the nicest room Louis had ever seen, there was a window with a balcony overlooking a garden, a brass tub with hot water for bathing, a tray of bread and cheese with a bucket of chilled ale, a desk, shelves with books, a small table and couch, and a four post bed with silk curtains. Louis felt out of place in such a lavish environment walking over to the window and looking out of it. Over the wall surrounding the garden a figure hopped in, landing in the garden and drawing down her hood, it was Kirsty. She hadn't noticed Louis yet as he watched her from the balcony seeing her enter the mansion. Louis wondered if she was going to rob the place like she stole from him, he had an obligation to stop her, he went to leave the room but as soon as he touched the door the handle turned and it swung back making him move to avoid it. Kirsty looked at Louis, in her room, and took a deep breath. "I'm not going to scream, I'm not going to kick or bite or punch you, I am going to calmly ask what you are doing here before I throw you out the window." Kirsty's ears and tail went rigid and began swinging violently. "I was told to stay in this room by Mia." Louis braced for a fight but by invoking Mia's name Kirsty lost all her fight. "I'm sorry?" Louis said, reaching out and touching Kirsty but she was absorbed in her mind. "Another one, she grabbed another one, how does she keep doing it, if this doesn't stop the mansion will be overrun... " Kirsty mumbled and meandered over to the couch sitting on it and covering her eyes. "It's not your fault, you couldn't of known, I should have recognized the package." Kirsty muttered and Louis walked over sitting beside her. "What is going on, I delivered the package and then Mia asked me what I wanted as payment, I said I needed a place to stay and some food and then I was brought to this room, I'm from the country I don't understand any of this." Louis explained and Kirsty sat up wrapping her hands around Louis's throat. "YOU HAD THE CHOICE OF ANY REWARD AND YOU CHOSE THIS!?" She grunted out while strangling Louis. "I DIDN'T KNOW, WHAT IS THIS!?" Louis broke the grip with his single hand and looked at Kirsty who was fuming. "Louis you got involved with someone really dangerous, Mia is a mastermind in the city, one of the most powerful nobles in Upper City and also one of the most generous, she provides work to the unwanted and if they choose they can also live with her in the mansion but once you decide that you become her property, Louis you just agreed to be her slave!" Kirsty explained and Louis's face was awash with shock. "I never agreed to be a slave, what are you talking about?" Louis rebutted but Kirsty shook her head. "You might not have said I want to be a slave but Mia's a genius at tricking people, she can make you into her slave without actually enslaving you she's the best manipulator I know." Kirsty sighed and draped herself over the couch. "How do you know Mia, if she's such a bad person and does this to people?" Louis couldn't figure out the relationship between the two. "Mia's my mother, my adopted mother, I know her better than anyone because I was the first of her 'pets'" Louis watched Kirsty as she answered. "I was the first but not for long, Mia has a habit of collecting anyone willing to follow her, she scoops them up and swallows them whole and soon you can't leave." Kirsty explained rolling around the couch. "It's insane it's like she casts a spell on you and then suddenly you just love her and never want to leave her, she likes to make us call her Mama, which for me she is but there are servants around the mansion who call her Mama." Kirsty's tail flickered "Are you jealous?" Louis asked watching this hyperactive beastgirl scamper around. "NO!" Kirsty shouted adamantly then recoiled shrinking down. "I mean if I wasn't her daughter she'd have me call her Mama anyway but when it was just me and her it felt more special, I don't know it's complicated!" Kirsty hissed and Louis smiled a little, she wasn't all bad this tabby girl. "What's so funny?" Kirsty asked "I understand, I recently had someone very close to me obtain a new family and I didn't know how to process it, I still don't." Louis smiled because he knew how Kirsty felt and at the same time couldn't imagine feeling like she did. "You're so much more mature because I hated them, I hated the people that made the person I care about happy because it wasn't me anymore." Louis sat looking at his hand. "Maybe I'm just immature but I couldn't handle it happening constantly with my actual mother and not just my friend." Louis looked up from his hand and Kirsty was crouching over him staring at his face. "Of course I'm more mature than you, I'm the daughter of Mia Donna the most influential noble in Garnet and leader of the garnet elf faction, if I wasn't mature it would make her lose face, you can't be a kid forever and keep indulging those selfish desires." Kirsty admonished Louis for even talking about being that self centered. "Yeah I know, I guess I just wasn't ready to see people move on from me." Louis returned to his hand and Kirsty grabbed it. "No more thinking like that, whether you're serious about staying or not, if Mama let you in her house then you're one of her children now and as the first of her children that makes me your big sister and as your big sister I won't let you mope around feeling sorry that nobody likes you because I believe that if you don't like something about yourself it's your responsibility to change it!" Kirsty declared raising Louis's hand as she stood on the sofa. "If you think you're immature then make the effort to act more grown up!" Louis looked at Kirsty as she declared him a member of their family and herself his big sister. Louis had always been the older sibling the one who leads, he didn't know what it felt like to be a younger sibling. Indulging a bit Louis nodded "Okay big sister." Kirsty turned red and let go of his hand hissing at him which made him laugh. While the two were talking a note slid under the door, a single word was printed on the front and instructions on the back. Kirsty noticed it and jumped over grabbing it and reading it. "Mama wants to meet you in the main hall, she says she wants to talk to you... oh and you've received your new name." Kirsty turned the card over showing Louis but he just explained that he couldn't read making Kirsty sigh. "Your new name is Puppy." Chapter 4 Louis looked at Kirsty when she said his new 'name'. " Excuse me?" Louis pretended like he hadn't heard her clearly. "Puppy like the little dog your name that's what it is, look I know it's not the best name." Kirsty held back a chuckle with Louis glaring at her. " Hey you don't like it take it up with Mama good luck though." Kirsty mumbled sitting down and enjoying some of the cheese on the platter her ears flicking as she ate. Louis made a break for the grand entrance he arrived through the painting in storming past the black suited servants. "MIA!" Louis shouted and burst into the grand hall MIA had a table relocated and was sitting calmly sipping tea. " What ever is the problem Puppy?" Mia sniggered into her cup. " Is that funny to you kicking a man when he's down?" Louis accused and Mia scoffed setting her tea down. " It would be a shame to do so were you a man, you're just a lost little boy howling at the moon like a mangy dog, all bark no bite, this Puppy." Mia explained her reasoning and Louis shook on rage. "I may not have much but at least I have my pride, I won't let you trample on it!" Louis threw out his hand signaling his severity. Mia lightly shook her head and sighed getting up from the table. " Your pride is worthless unless you can defend it, I can see you won't bend you reason so perhaps physical persuasion is required.' Mia rolled her hair back and cracked her neck. " I won't fight you." Louis hated conflict he especially hated fighting people. " I won't let you not." Mia was the first to move, vanishing from sight leaving only the scent of lilacs. Louis watched and for a brief second saw Mia's green eyes before he was struck in the ribs. Mia appeared instantly in front of Louis he leg raised and pushed into his ribcage. Louis doubled over the foot hearing a sickening crack rattle through his body, slumped on the floor Louis heard Mia walk over, the click of her shoes echoing through his ears as his consciousness began to waver. "Pride is a luxury of the strong, the weak do not get to feel proud, the subjugated do not get freedom, and the dominated do not have choices, the weak and beaten get pleasure and until you can beat me you have the pleasure of serving me." Louis heard Mia whisper before blacking out completely. Louis awoke later in the day, his bandages changed, his clothing changed, his attitude changed. "Told you." Kirsty sat over Louis her tail flickering. "Thought mama might have killed you but you're tough." She licked her lips and poked Louis in his newly bandaged area, across his chest. Groaning Louis sat up holding his right arm across his chest. "I did not imagine that response." Louis groaned he had always been the toughest around besides his father, his mere size and stature was enough to ward off most aggressors but Mia was not threatened by him in the least. Louis was so far in over his head that he didn't know where the sky was anymore. He was for all intents and purposes prisoner in some influential nobles menagere to do who knows what for who knows how long. Mia did however mention a way out, beat her, which would mean Louis would have to fight. "Mama's unpredictable she has that trait in spades." Kirsty yawned and relaxed on the couch laying on her side. "No one's ever beaten her but people keep trying, nobody knows why she sets that as the requirement to leave but she does and now you see what I mean since you'll never beat her you're basically her slave." Kirsty stretched out and hung her hands in front of her. "I will." Louis declared, swinging his feet over with a groan. Standing hurt, he wasn't sure what Mia broke but it was important by the level of pain he felt. "But I can't do it alone, will you help me?" Louis asked and Kirsty's ears raised. "Why me?" She asked brushing her hair down with her hands. "Because you're the only other person I've ever fought with, you did that move, back on the roof." Louis explained and Kirsty nodded. "Yeah when I pounced on you." Kirsty explained shaking her head, her hair popping back up making Kirsty groan in frustration and start over. "Yes, you can teach me that." Louis insisted and Kirsty contemplated it. "Nope can't too big." Kirsty dismissed the idea but Louis smirked and took a deep breath in. "Well I guess that's that then, I mean when my little sister wanted to learn how to fish I taught her even though she was too small but I guess if you're not as good of a big sister as I was a big brother then." Louis started but a hand covered his mouth glaring eyes staring into his. "Alright smart mouth, you want to learn how to fight like an animal I'll teach you." Kirsty's hair was puffed out, she was clearly egged on by that challenge. "Kirsty?" Louis muffled from underneath her hand. "Why do you care if people think you're a good big sister?" Louis removed her hand genuinely curious about Kirsty's quirk of needing that sibling approval. "Because, I'm not anyone else." Kirsty answered in frustration knowing that keeping it from Louis would end in misery for her. "I don't have anything else so I value myself on how good of a big sister I am to all of mama's children, maybe if they say I'm a good big sister Mama will praise me and tell me how good I am." Kirsty looked like she was in pain, opening up must have been difficult for her or maybe where as Louis was used to having people to talk to about anything Kirsty felt she was alone. "I'll tell her, if you train me and I beat her I'll tell her my amazing big sister taught me the moves that took her down." Louis smiled and Kirsty's ears perked. "Yeah, I like that, if I train the person who takes mama down then not only will she recognize me but everyone else will have to accept me as their big sister!" Kirsty shouted in excitement then covered her mouth. So the truth was let out, Kirsty wanted to be recognized as a big sister because she wanted others to recognize her and by extension Mia. "Alright let's start training then." Louis pretended he didn't hear anything and Kirsty eyed him with suspicion. "Not here, it's too small, for someone your size we need a big open space." Kirsty thought and then ran to the window pushing it open revealing the garden. "That will do." She said leaning over the balcony and jumping down onto the ground. "Come down I think I know how I can teach you!" Kirsty called to Louis who pushed himself over the rail with his right hand and landed with a heavy thud feeling his bones rattle and his ribs crack further, doubling over in pain. Once the pain subsided Louis gave Kirsty his full attention. She demonstrated that beastpeople were unlike humans in that their bones more closely reflected the animals that they evolved from, Kirsty being a tabby made her more agile and increased her flexibility and jumping. Louis on the other hand was a human and humans had no animal traits at least in the physical category so there was only one course, practice what every animal did. Jump, kick, punch, bite, and claw those basics would have to comprise Louis's beast fighting style. Louis understood the premise but not the practice, he knew how to bite and jump, kicking was just an extension of jumping and punching was like climbing, clawing was a new concept though but how was he going to practice this? Kirsty had the answer pointing up at a flock of birds coming to land. "Kittens learn by chasing birds, they practice predatory instincts and reflexes, from my fight with you I can tell you're too slow because you think like a human, you wait for an attack and react to it but animals can sense an attack before it happens and react it's called precognition or instinct." Kirsty explained and Louis simply looked at her. "You want me to chase birds until I catch one?" He seemed less confident about this than he was before, he thought she jumped up the wall a thousand times or did meditation but chasing birds? Louis was reluctant but let it never be said he didn't try everything at least one time. Preparing for the birds Louis readied his hands centering his concentration and focusing waiting for the feathery prey to land. Just as the birds landed Louis began sneaking up behind them, carefully, so carefully leaning over he just about had one when. "WRONG!" Kirsty shouted scaring the birds away leaving Louis covered in feathers. "That's not how a beast person would do it, if you want to learn the proper way you need to stop walking like a human." Kirsty pointed down and Louis groaned dropping onto his knees and hand "Good now stay like that until the birds land again and catch them!" Kirsty took a seat on a hedge and watched, half with amusement half with anticipation she was curious if a human could learn to move like a beastman Louis felt ridiculous standing on four legs he really was turning into a puppy. Not willing to give up and let Kirsty have this over him Louis waited, tense, his elbows and knees hurt because of the unusual stance but Louis noticed something, his lack of a hand didn't affect this stance as much as it did his normal one, true he was missing the ability to grab but Louis could still use his left arm to fight when moving like a beastman. The birds settled from the scare Kirsty's loud voice gave them and perched on the ground pecking at the soil searching for food. Louis attempted to move but it was awkward and ungainly stumbling around like some kind of newborn Louis put all his focus into just walking. Unlike crawling Louis had to be aware of the noise he was making that meant having to lift his knees and elbows instead of dragging them, once Louis stepped too hard and scared the birds away, another time his foot tapped the ground and scared the birds away, a third time his shallow breathing from exhaustion scared the birds away. Louis chased birds in the garden on all fours for nearly four hours before they were interrupted by Mia who was nothing but amused at the situation. "Practicing for your walkies?" Mia teased and Louis glared, getting back onto his feet and scaring the birds away. "I trust this was Chesh's idea?" Mia asked and Louis shrugged not knowing who Chesh was. "Oh that's right you don't know, that one over there." Mia pointed at Kirsty who folded her ears trying to hide. "Her real name is Cheshire Donna, but she calls herself Kirsty I don't correct her but it is important to know a person's real name." Mia mentioned looking at Louis and Louis felt the look. "Anyway that's enough playtime it's time for you to do the job I've acquired you for." Mia clapped her hands and a pair of servants appeared, sniggering at Louis's antics. "KIRSTY and I" Louis loudly mentioned, just to be defiant to Mia. "Were training not playing, what do you want us to do?" Louis wouldn't be beaten by this woman, he may not be able to challenger he physically but there were so many ways to break chains. "I need only YOU to do something, Chesh has her duties." Mia responded waving Kirsty away and obediently Kirsty pounced off. "As for you, I doubt you're very HANDY." Mia chuckled and Louis contemplated going for a strike right then and there. "But I need to make use of you, can't have useless property." Mia tapped her chin showing that she was just making this up as she went along. "Today we will have you prepare supper!" Mia announced and the servants clapped showing her with undue adulations. "So what should I make?" Louis replied and Mia laughed loudly. "THAT my dear Puppy is up to you, I only ask that you make something, the weight of your judgements and the shortcomings there of shall be made apparent to you through the only fair and balanced method, trial and error!" Mia almost spun as she talked, very animated for a 'refined' woman. "So make whatever I want and then you'll complain if you don't like it?" Louis postured and Mia clapped. "Who's a smart Puppy, yes if you make bad food then nobody will eat it and you will have to eat all the servings yourself, but if you make good food everyone will want it and you'll have to keep up the pace until everyone is satisfied, I WONDER WHICH FATE YOU SHALL SUFFER!?" Mia bellowed and Louis just sighed, he felt exhausted after his 'training' and now he had to possibly cook for an unknown amount of people, add to the list of mounting problems that he never did anything besides roast a fish and boil water. "If I told you I've never cooked before?" Louis asked and Mia pretended to cry. "So sad for our little Puppy he's being tested beyond his comfort zone, oh well, as they say." Mia approached Louis poking him on the nose. "So" she poked him on the nose. "Sad" She poked him again pushing him backwards "Too" Another poke "Bad" Louis was starting to get really annoyed. "Life's just unfair that way." Mia finished her sentence without additional poking, probably because Louis was liable to bite the hand that fed so to speak. "Fine." Louis was already tired but dealing with Mia exhausted him mentally she was always twisting and turning and she spoke like she was apart of a play. "I know just what to cook." Louis boasted making Mia smirk. " We shall see we shall see." Mia waved Louis off and walked away leaving Louis in the garden it was two hours until sundown and supper was usually at sundown. " Not even going to show me where the kitchen is..." Louis grumbled and walked into the manor looking for the kitchen which used up some of his valuable time. Louis eventually found the kitchen, it was as ostentatious as the rest of the estate with silver flat ware stocked on shelves, fine plates stacked in rows, pricey glasses hanging upside down from racks, and a wine cellar in the floor. Louis was less amazed the more he was exposed to the extravagant the less impressive it was as he adapted to the extraordinary making it common. Louis rummaged through drawers which were mysteriously cool containing meat, specifically pork, cuts of bacon thick and white chilling in the cold storage. Dry potatoes were easy to find, mountains of vegetables were piled together in various mounds. Lastly were the eggs, Louis lived on a farm so he knew what a good egg was Mia's kitchen had rows and rows of eggs dozen upon dozens. After grabbing handfuls of each ingredient Louis began, prep had taken an hour so he had one left. Louis cooked as fast as he was able with only one hand tasks took longer. He finished with just a little time to fill containers full of food and eagerly Louis waited. Louis didn't know what to expect Mia seemed to have it out for him if not humiliation she wanted to break him but Louis knew he was strong and he wouldn't succumb. The doors to the kitchen opened and servants began plating Louis's meal of fried eggs, potatoes, and bacon. Louis was amazed at the efficiency and speed of the servants they all made no wasted movements it was like a dance. As soon as they arrived they were gone but they didn't stay gone for long. Plate after plate came back and Louis's heart sunk. No words were exchanged between the servants they just glared at him dumping his food into a bin. " Amazing." Mia walked into the kitchen to see a distraught Louis looking at his rejected meal. "Crunchy texture, rich flavor, and just perfectly cooked." Mia was eating a plate of the meal quite happily. "I don't understand..." Louis was confused she was complimenting it why we're the diners refusing. " Of course you don't, you come from a world of good effort." Mia continued to stick a silver fork into the meal. Taking a piece of the eggs she bit down a distinct crunch of eggshells escaped her lips a smirk forming. " But quality pig food is still pig food, this slop is unacceptable." Mia dumped the entire plate and meal on the floor shattering much like she had shattered Louis's confidence. " Much like you, it's not good enough from the base level you need to rethink, relearn, and remove what is fundamentally wrong with the core, in short your best isn't even half good enough." " Was that your point that I'm not good enough?" Louis growled feeling fury coursing through him. " Part of it." Mia stepped over the mess and grabbed Louis's chin turning his head to face her and looking into his enraged eyes. " As you are now pig slop is the best you can do, however you have a rare opportunity, unlimited resources and time much like better materials and careful attention can forge a masterpiece you need to temper yourself." Mia shook Louis's face with her hand. " Become a great weapon by bathing yourself in trial after trial, take away what you can and improve constantly because Puppy I will either fix you or kill you trying this I promise you." Mia licked her lower lip and released Louis. " Clean this up and start eating not a ounce of food goes to waste." Mia commanded and two servants remained stationed inside the kitchen one handing Louis a silver fork the other refilling a glass of water whenever Louis finished it. Louis stumbled into his room it was half past nine three whole hours having passed. He was aching and physically ill barely holding down his fourteenth plate of failure food as he came to call it. Groaning Mia had again left him incapacitated. Landing on the couch Louis rolled over slowly looking at the tub. "Yes" he managed to get those words out before failure tried to come back up. Slowly he crawled on all three over to the tub reaching for the lip. Pulling himself up he looked down, there was nothing there now but two crystals sat at the bottom of the tub. "This one." Louis touched a blue crystal making it glow and water began to pour out of it filling the tub he touched it again to deactivate it the crystal ceasing to glow. Once the tub was full Louis felt the water it was cold, refreshing and clear. The second crystal's purpose eluded him peeling off his sweat soaked clothing he climbed into the tub and just relaxed. Louis closed his eyes remembering when he and his sister were young, their father would go into the river after he was done fishing and gather gallons of water then his sister would take a bath with their mother, he'd bathe alone and his father already soaked in the river so he didn't need one. Louis felt his body becoming numb from the cold water even though his torso stuck out of the smaller tub, probably designed for Kirsty. Keeping his eyes closed Louis let the sore and pain fall into nothing as he cooled down. "You're going to get sick." A voice startled Louis awake nearly jumping out of the tub naked. It was a maid, a female servant, dressed in a black uniform with a ruffled skirt. "Master Puppy." The maid bowed to Louis and he tried to hide beneath the water. " Master Puppy please use the warming crystal right next to the water crystal." The maid suddenly reached into the water soaking her sleeves and making Louis jerk back to avoid being touched. A red glow emanated through the water and suddenly the cold water was warming steadily. " That is satisfactory Master Puppy." The maid shook her hand dry and Louis continued to try to conceal himself in the water, his sore joins now melting in the warm bath. "Louis." Louis replied and the maid turned to him "My name is Louis not Puppy, I won't be called that by anyone other than Mia." Louis bubbled sticking his knees out of the water to slide down so his upper back could soak. "I was instructed to call you Master Puppy by Mama." The maid informed Louis disregarding his wishes. "Why is it that you will only allow her to call you by that name?" The maid inquired and Louis shrugged. "I guess because I can't stop her from doing it." That seemed as good of a reason as any. "Very well then Master Puppy, I find you'll be unable to stop myself as well so I shall continue." The maid spoke with a very confident voice, making Louis curious whether he could stop her or not, there was a good chance Mia trained all her servants and they were as tough as she was. "Fine, call me that but I won't like it." Louis compromised or more accepted his lack of ability to change it. "What's your name?" Louis asked and the maid looked at him. "You know mine, both real and fake." The maid shook her head. "I do not have a name Master Puppy, one such as I does not require a thing, I am a single unit among a hive neither special or unique enough to warrant identification, I am simply a servant." The maid explained and Louis smiled. "Alright since you don't have a name I'll give you one, let's see." Louis thought and finally came to a conclusion. "Lucy, your name is Lucy." Louis pointed and the maid glowered. "You can't stop me from calling you that." Louis chuckled and closed his eyes again. "Very well, Master Puppy." Lucy replied stiffly and exited the room, taking Louis's clothing to be washed and happening to forget to leave a towel. "Point for me" Louis smirked and felt confident in his tiny victory over the oppressive atmosphere of this mansion. He had spent barely a day here and he hated it, not that he had any other choice. Leaving would be impossible so long as Mia 'owned' him though it didn't look like he was a prisoner, he could come and go as he pleased if Kirsty was any indication perhaps she was special. Louis contemplated while sitting in the warm tub of water letting the heat soak into him. Louis awoke an hour or so later in the dead of the night, looking over to see Kirsty sitting on the couch looking at a map. "Sorry I didn't notice you return." Louis said reaching for his clothing and realizing there was nothing there. "No point..." He sighed. "You were sleeping didn't want to wake you, don't mind me." Kirsty said her eyes focused on the map. Louis didn't want to get out in front of Kirsty and there was nothing to cover himself with. "Can you call a servant, I really could use a towel." Louis asked and Kirsty looked up giving him an annoyed face. Kirsty snapped and Lucy appeared looking at Louis with a devious glare. "Get him a towel." Kirsty commanded and Lucy leaned over whispering something to Kirsty making her slip and laugh. "That's unfortunate." Kirsty tried to contain her laughter, her ears flicking. "She says that there are no clean towels right now you're just going to have to wait until tomorrow but she can bring you a pillow." Kirsty snickered and giggled wildly. "You won't win Lucy." Louis glared and Lucy smirked. "FINE, I'll get out but you have to turn around." Louis watched the two of them turn around facing the wall. Slowly he got out of the tub and grabbed a sheet off the bed wrapping himself in it causing it to become wet. "This isn't over." Louis warned and Lucy continued to smirk bowing before dismissing herself and fetching Louis's clothing, taking the wet sheet and vanishing. "You shouldn't start fights with them, they'll win." Kirsty warned pulling an apple out of her pack and biting into it. "I missed dinner, how did it go?" Kirst looked up and Louis was sullen. "That bad, well it was to be expected, you don't look like you can cook for anyone but yourself and your tastes are probably more in line with animal feed than what could be considered gourmet." Kirsty tossed her apple up and caught it with her other hand. "She called it pig slop." Louis checked his ties and looked at himself, he was getting better at dressing with one hand taking less and less time every day. "These seem different." Louis looked at his clothing, they fit better, had no holes, and weren't missing buttons. "The servants thought your clothes were garbage so they probably replaced them, or they fixed them, they're wonderful." Kirsty finished her apple tossing the core out the window into the garden, right by Louis's face. "Yeah they're wonderful." Louis grumbled thinking about Lucy and her prank. Stepping closer and looking at the map Louis tilted his head. "What are you doing?" He asked sitting down next to Kirsty, making Kirsty agitated. "Planning." Kirsty responded flicking her tail at Louis to get him to leave. "Planning for?" Louis asked brushing the tail aside. "Work, that's all you need and get to know." Kirsty seemed really defensive, he thought she was a thief, but she turned out to be a noble's daughter, and also had another job. Louis couldn't help but think about how complexe Kirsty was especially wondering about the thievery. Finally taking the hint Louis turned in for the night since Kirsty was taking the couch he took the bed. Louis awoke the next morning feeling slightly less terrible than when he went to bed. He scanned the room for Kirsty but she was gone, it was weird having someone so independent live with you or did he live with her? Louis walked down to the grand hall and saw Mia sitting eating another plate of his failed meal the instinctual urge to vomit resurging. Mia turned when she sense Louis and waved him down to join her. "Had this made special I have to admit I'm a bit addicted to it, there's a rustic charm, omlette du garbage I call it." Mia was enjoying her failure food and Louis looked ill both physically and mentally. "Did you only want to tease me some more, you can only degrade a person so much over one mistake." Louis sighed knowing he should have expected this from her even this early in the morning, some people were just horrible before the sun came up. "How very astute Puppy, then let us move on to your next mistake shall we?" Mia seemed eager to mess with Louis today. "The entirety of the day you are free to do as you want use the facilities of the manor in any way you see fit, go into Lower City and buy whatever you want, go anywhere you want do anything you want as I said last night, unlimited resources and so on." Mia waved her fork around as she ate. "Alright, assuming I believe you." Louis said and Mia smiled, Louis was learning. "You'll continuously be expected to make dinner until you get it right so be back before seven." Mia noted pointing to a large clock. "Why do you do this?" Louis asked staring Mia right in the face, he couldn't figure out why someone he never met had it out for him so badly. She gave him trials, beat him up, pushed him around, and then told him to figure it out by himself how to improve. If she was trying to make him better it made no sense to leave the improvement to him she obviously knew better, if she just wanted to make him miserable why give him all these chances to do well. It didn't add up because Louis had never met someone with such dubious motivations before. "Louis." Mia turned setting her fork down and addressing Louis by his actual name, which scared him a bit. "Do you know what I hate more than anything in the world?" She asked but didn't give him a chance to answer knowing he'd say something stupid. "A lucky optimist, someone who believes that good things happen because they are a good person and people who believe because they are a good person good things will happen to them." Mia glanced at Louis while she spoke, standing and walking around him. "You see you're just some plucky little farm boy from the country and yet, you walk with the swagger of an accomplished man even though you've done nothing, why is this?" Mia placed her hand on Louis's shoulder. "When your entire catalogue of life achievements is at best called a collection of failures and in sincerity a tragic comedy." She released his shoulder pushing off of him. "You're like a fly in a herd of elephants, you think so long as you keep on buzzing away nobody will step on you, but I'm trying to show you sometimes the elephant comes looking to step on you, especially if you piss it off." Mia returned to her seat. "So the answer to the question of why, is simply, because I can, I want to, and I feel a need to." Mia resumed eating her omlette du garbage and Louis silently walked away unable to comprehend what he had just heard. Louis exited the mansion via the painting route coming out of the North Star tavern in Lower City. He had an idea of how to avoid having to eat plates of failure food. He knew the layout of the city pretty well having wandered it for a full two days, he remembered where there were stalls selling food so he took a stroll to the market quarter looking for ideas on what to make and possibly someone to teach him how to make it. Louis went from shop to shop, stall to stall experiencing the food. When he entered people greeted him which made him wary, but apparently all of Lower City was made aware that he was under the care of Mia and all expenses were to be spared and charged to his caregiver meaning he was free to try a lot of things he'd never seen or heard of. Louis ate all the food he ordered believing it a crime to waste food but he didn't feel anything from the meals they were lacking a personality. While walking between meals Louis ran into someone unexpected, Miss Holly was out with her two daughters Janice and Olivia each one carrying a smaller component while Miss Holly held the burden. Louis tried to avoid her out of embarrassment but she spotted him and trapped him with inescapable psychology. "Private Pine!" Miss Holly barked and Louis instinctively saluted with his left arm. "You, I've been worried sick about you!" Miss Holly rushed over her little ones scurrying behind her like baby ducks. "You turn down my offer, run out, and I don't hear from you all night you had me pacing the floor!" She admonished him and Louis tried to avoid her gaze. "Private Pine answer when you are spoken to!" Miss Holly barked and Louis felt his body and tongue betray him. "Ma'am yes ma'am I apologize I had a package to deliver and through doing so found alternate means of shelter and employment, Ma'am!" Louis was suddenly back in Mica being instructed in discipline and serving others. "I know, I was amazed to hear, you're working as an envoy for Mia Bella Donna." Miss Holly handed Louis the bags, no where near as burdening in his arms. "They told us when we had a sudden rush of business last night, something about the new cook being useless, we made so much money!" Miss Holly bragged and Louis tried to hide his shame. "But now I insist you share a meal with me and my family, Louis I want you to be apart of my life still." Miss Holly placed her hand on Louis's shoulder and Louis went to object. "That is an order Private Pine now on the double take those to the mess." Miss Holly trumped Louis using her old absolute command over him and Louis walked alongside Janice and Olivia, yet another baby duck. "You're big." Janice pointed out to Louis who nodded somberly. "Sorry." Louis replied not knowing what that meant. "No its neat, you're the biggest person I ever saw, Olivia says she saw someone bigger but I think she's a liar." Janice looked at Olivia and stuck her tongue out. "Mommy Janice is calling me a liar." Olivia tattled and the two went back and forth. Louis was, amazed, that siblings could act this way. His little sister only had admiration for him, maybe it was because they were both girls the same age. "Miss Holly." Louis started but Miss Holly turned holding a finger up. "Miss Masters now, remember I married, I'm now Miss Martha Holly Masters." Miss Holly corrected him. "Miss Masters." Louis amended and Holly laughed. "You can call me Holly, Louis I know we're different ages but we are both recognized guards you're my equal not my subordinate anymore." Holly laughed and Oliva and Janice laughed even though they didn't know what was funny. "Your children are, energetic, I'm surprised you don't have the same control over them that you did me." Louis explained and Holly nodded. "It's different raising your own kids and raising someone else's but you weren't difficult Louis you mainly just didn't know what was okay and not okay to do so it only ever took one time to tell you." Holly explained pushing open the door to the Guard Dog. "You were calm, quiet, respectful, and just happy to have someone be with you, pretty much the perfect soldier but I don't want little soldiers." Holly instructed Louis where he could put the food. "I want happy and healthy little girls, that's why I left that life behind... but I'm happy you came here Louis you were the best part of that life." Holly placed her hand on Louis's arm and he nodded. "I should go..." Louis tried to escape but froze when he saw Holly block the door. "You'll have to go through me, Private." Holly glared and Louis let out a defeated sigh. "Good you can help make dinner, I know we didn't cook a lot back in the barracks but you should know how to peel vegetables." Holly pointed to a stack of potatoes, carrots and onions. "Not since losing my hand, I've had trouble doing a lot but fine motor skills are my worst." Louis explained using his left arm to hold the vegetable and his right to hold the knife. His work was sloppy, bits of potato skin still hanging off, chunks of potato destroyed. Holly watched and nodded seeing the issue. "Louis, remember when I taught you how to wield a short sword, this isn't any different, this potato is an enemy of this kitchen and needs to be slain, take your weapon and dispatch it Private." Holly demonstrated taking a potato and laying it flat, with one hand she took the knife and sliced a thin layer of skin off, rolling the potato as she repeated the process each knife swipe was fluid like a horizontal slash. "Combat?" Louis looked at the potatoes and nodded mimicking Holly's movements. The first few weren't as successful but soon Louis got the movements with his strength he had to adjust but he managed to skin all the potatoes. Next were the carrots dicing them with vertical slashes this was easier as it required strength for a clean cut, last were the onions which mixed the two techniques. After an hour of prep Louis and Holly had finished the cutting. Holly prepared the meat, beef cut, dicing it into cubes showing an adept handling of the knife. Louis, Olivia, and Janice all watched her move in amazement she was like a dancer or a master swordsman. Taking all the ingredients and throwing them into a pot Holly added water and set the pot on a wooden stove letting it cook. "What are you making?" Louis asked. Holly smiled and stirred the pot. "Stew, it's the most filling and economic meal, I've learned to make it since moving to the city, no more salted meat instead you boil it until it's tender and mix it with thick vegetables to soak up the water, the stock turns creamy and you can eat it for any meal." Holly explained and Louis nodded seeing the logic in it. Janice and Olivia played with Louis while Holly watched, Louis wasn't bad with kids, he was a big brother after all. He had to be very careful because of his size he could hold one of the girls in just one hand so they were able to climb him like a tree. Holly laughed as they swarmed over him like locust chasing Louis around the back alley of the inn. Louis was exhausted when time came for the meal, sitting down, Mr Masters returned he eyed Louis with suspicion until Holly admonished him telling him Louis was like a son to her. Mr and Mrs Masters and their two daughters along with Louis enjoyed the homemade stew and Louis's eyes lit up as soon as he tasted it. This was what the other meals were missing, the touch of a person who cared. It was by far the best meal he had all day even though it was just hot water, vegetables, and meat. Louis felt it warm him and heal parts of him that had hurt for so long, mostly his heart, he remembered his mom cooking like this and without realizing it a tear was rolling down his cheek. "Louis are you okay?" Holly asked from across the table and Louis quickly wiped it away. "Hot, I wasn't careful, burned my tongue." Louis fought back any more tears not wanting to go into those memories, not here. When dinner was over Louis offered to help with the dishes but Mr Masters refused him saying that was his job, Louis accepted and he an Mister Masters shared a nod to one another, Holly saw Louis off. "It was wonderful having you Louis, anytime, ANYTIME you need a place or just want to say hello." Holly wrapped her arms around Louis embracing him, a warm motherly embrace. "You are welcome here like I said I want you to be apart of this life too Louis you're as much Janice and Olivia's brother as the spunky little private I knew eight years ago." Holly released Louis and he nodded. "Yes, I'll be around more, thank you... I'm sorry I was so confused when I first learned about your family I must have seemed like a spoiled brat, I wanted to accept your offer but I couldn't, I couldn't drag you down with me." Louis explained and Holly smacked him across the face, it didn't hurt but it got the message across. "No more Louis, no more treating yourself like you're some kind of burden, I'm an adult damn it, I will take on whatever problems I so choose and you will sit there and accept it because you're one as well, children get to complain about people caring about them not men." Holly stated and Louis smiled nodding. "Ma'am yes Ma'am" He saluted her and she saluted back then Louis left waving goodbye to Janice and Olivia promising to come play Mountain Monster for them again. Louis trekked back up to the North Star and ascended the stairs seeing Mia waiting for him and his mood suddenly turning sour. "So Puppy, tell me about your day." Her usual table was assembled she had tea for both of them. Instead of fighting Louis sat glaring at her over his cup. "I heard you racked up a bit of a tab at eateries, are you trying to culture your palate or just abusing my generosity for free meals?" Mia smiled from behind her cup. "I was trying to learn what city people ate, I got a good idea but that stuff is too advanced for me." Louis explained and Mia nodded. "Yes and then it seems that you met with a woman." Mia was reading a paper, one of the servants handing it to her shortly after Louis arrived. "Oh the inn keep of the Guard Dog, her meat pies are amazing." Mia sipped her cup and Louis nearly crushed his. "You were watching me?" Louis felt a surge of anger rush through him "Obviously I observe my investments, you're not special Puppy, you're just another long term investment." Mia explained and Louis took a calming breath. "You seemed to get along well with her, are you into older women Puppy?" Mia laughed and Louis grimaced. "She's my superior." Louis said through gritted teeth. "No I am your superior, she is just your old boss." Mia dismissed his claim and Louis's eyes went wide, did Mia know about his time as a guard in Mica? "We lost contact with you once you entered the inn, tell me what happened." Mia stirred her tea while Louis barely remained in control. "No." Louis refused and went to stand up but two servants held him down shaking their head. "That wasn't a request, Private." Mia smirked and Louis felt his bones pop electricity coursing through him pushing him to lunge across the table and choke her. "Don't use that word." Louis growled and Mia laughed in a bemused tone. "Yes because that's her term for you, very well Puppy, we all have our special names." Mia picked up a biscuit and bit into it. "So what happened?" Louis struggled against the hands of the servants, they were strong as well. "I cut vegetables and helped her make stew." Louis grunted and groaned trying to free himself from their grip. "How lovely, it's almost like you respect that commoner, using her as an escape from here... what a shame I'm a jealous person I want that kind of respect from you Puppy, maybe I should just destroy that runty inn?" Mia smirked and Louis's heart froze, for the first time he realized the true terror that Mia was, with her influence she could easily destroy Holly. "Don't threaten Holly." Louis warned he was about to snap but Mia saw this as an opportunity. "Swear fealty to me then, get down on your knees like a dog, kiss my feet and swear that I am the most important person in your life, that I am the person you admire and look up to, that I am your superior." Mia extended her leg and Louis began to shake. "You're not half the woman Holly is, you're a monster, a wicked lonely empty monster." Louis wouldn't slander Holly by saying Mia was a tenth of the person she had been. "If that's how you feel." Mia clapped and a servant appeared, it was Lucy. "Bring me the deed to the Guard Dog, I think we needs discuss their property taxes since they are seeing such a windfall we should increase it say two hundred percent?" Mia looked at Louis as she reached for the paper once it was brought. Louis watched, time slowing, his heart racing, his brain screaming ACT! The next thing he knew he was in his room laying down, a compress on his forehead. "What?" Louis sat up looking around, jumping when he saw Lucy standing beside him. "Are you alright Master Puppy?" Lucy asked standing ramrod stiff. "Yeah?" Louis didn't rightly know the answer to the question there was just a blank spot in his mind. "Was I asleep?" Louis asked and Lucy shook her head. "You were unconscious, knocked out as some would say." Lucy explained and Louis felt his head, there was what felt like a dent or a bump. "You responded poorly to Mama's teasing and needed to be physically incapacitated." Lucy explained and Louis blinked, confused as to what she meant. "All I remember was Mia taunting me and saying she was going to destroy Holly then nothing." Louis laid back down and Lucy pulled up a chair sitting down beside him. "You lashed out, threw the servants off of you, grabbed the deed and ate it." Lucy calmly explained to a confused Louis. "Then you attempted to attack Mama so the full force of the servants came down on you, we barely stopped you." Lucy lowered her collar showing a large hand print across her neck. "You are a monster." Lucy replied and Louis was shocked. "No I, I never would, I mean I wanted to but... that's." Louis had trouble coming to grips with the fact that he ate a property deed but that he attacked Lucy and Mia despite knowing she could kill him, despite not wanting to ever be involved in conflict. What did Mia do to him? "Your rage took over, you're the kind of person who is so used to things going well that you don't know how to process when a situation goes poorly, you hide or you're pushed to the limit and then you snap." Lucy explained raising her collar. "You don't realize the danger you possess to both yourself and everyone around you, by the way, you missed making dinner, Mama is very disappointed in you." Lucy stood up and pushed the chair in bowing to Louis and reaching for the door. "Do you hate me?" Louis asked he was conflicted, he didn't like Lucy but he didn't want to be hated, he worked so hard to have people like him to not ever feel those accusing eyes and judgemental whispers again. "I am neutral Master Puppy, I am professionally obligated to serve you as Mama's adopted son, my personal feelings are not of consequence." Lucy answered and turned the knob leaving Louis to stew but before she left she said one last thing. "However if I had to place a value on my feelings towards you personally, you are a troublesome pest that has descended into an otherwise organized environment, you are crude, loud, irresponsible, annoying and most of all you are stupid." Lucy turned the knob. "I feel as though you are a friend because you insist on giving me a name and making me feel unique despite my wishes to not, you dominate the people you encounter and overwhelm them with kindness this will not work with Mama however." Lucy shut the door and there was only silence. Louis felt miserable, he had lashed out and hurt someone he liked and who apparently liked him at least a little bit in a very obscure way. He had betrayed his mother's teachings and gave into this utter contempt for Mia unable to continue treating her with kindness because she threatened someone he cared about. He obviously felt the aftereffects of being beaten down physically but psychologically Louis worried about his relationship with the servants. Lucy was a troublemaker but her pranks were harmless what if he made enemies of less kind servants all of whom were probably stronger than he was. It made Louis's head spin, sitting in the bed he did the only thing he could and closed his eyes, tomorrow was the time to make amends for the mistakes of today, dwelling on them and letting them cloud his mind did nothing for anyone. Louis laid in the bed and waited for Kirsty but she didn't return that night leaving Louis to wallow in his lonely misery. Chapter 5 Louis awoke the next day feeling terrible. Kirsty was still gone, Mia was nowhere to be found, Lucy was absent. Louis felt alone and depressed he wondered if he really had just done the unthinkable but he was still here. Not dwelling on the negative Louis reaffirmed his goal, today he was going to make dinner that everyone would eat. He started early making his way to the kitchen and practicing. Louis peeled and chopped and peeled and chopped over and over. He ended up wasting a few pounds which he ate for breakfast and lunch. After a few hours Louis could peel a potato in a few strokes, chop a carrot in less than ten seconds and peel and cut an onion in less than thirty. His speed having increased he turned to the meat which was the most challenging. Carefully as if he was painting Louis learned the angles and the depth where he had to cut. He remembered it Holly moving so swiftly and with intent, he couldn't compete with her but he could learn from her. Louis practiced and practiced and practiced until he was satisfied with his progress. Spending the day practicing left him a lot of time and a lot of ingredients meaning he could spend more time on cooking. Louis still had six hours left before it was time for supper. He spent his time cooking batch after batch of stew. He ate four batches himself and had to save three for later by placing them in containers and putting them in the cold storage. By his tenth batch Louis started to notice that it resembled Holly's stew. Louis smiled, proud of his effort and hard work paying off. The time came, Louis had prepared six batches of stew each one holding about ten bowls so there was plenty, he had all the stoves fired and constantly boiling. The servants came in and took the bowls. Louis waited, he waited to see them return with displeased faces, he waited to see them glare at him again, to think he was just a waste of their time. Nobody returned, the kitchen was quiet, an air of victory filled the atmosphere. Then the door swung open, empty bowls returning for refill. Louis spent the next hour cooking two more batches and ladling out all the stew. When he was done eight pots lay empty, a mountain of bowls, and one extremely satisfied Louis. Lucy appeared wiping her mouth with a napkin. "Well done Master Puppy, your meal was adequate, simple, and ultimately edible." None of those was a compliment but Louis took it with pride. "Not one of the servants turned it down." Lucy reported and Louis smirked. "Are you prideful?" She asked and Louis nodded. "A shame it could have been much better, it was only, just good enough." Lucy tried deflating Louis but he wouldn't be brought down. Louis finished the dishes, all but two, one for himself and one for Kirsty. He took the bowls back to the room and waited, he waited and waited, it was midnight before Kirsty returned and she was staggeringly exhausted. Kirsty flopped onto the balcony slumping as she landed and crawling into the room. When she saw Louis she grimaced but when she saw Louis's food she perked up scampering over to the couch and snatching the bowl. Louis watched in amusement as Kirsty scarfed down his stew not complaining, not berating, not even talking she just accepted the meal with gratitude. "How was it?" Louis asked nursing his own. "Food." Kirsty replied wiping her lips and looking at Louis's own bowl. Louis laughed and pushed it towards her, the starving tabby woman downing another. "Was this the failures?" Kirsty asked rubbing the remains off her lips and onto her arms. "No it was a hit." Louis smiled and Kirsty poked his forehead. "You're creepy when you're that happy." She complained and Louis laughed. "Sorry this is the first time in two days I feel like I've won a complete victory." Louis explained and Kirsty nodded. "I have to go report." Kirsty excused herself and Louis took the bowls back to the kitchen seeing Mia inside. He peeked through the door not opening it overhearing the conversation. "His meal was a success then?" Mia asked looking at a clean pot and inspecting it with her finger rubbing it along the rim. "Yes Mama." Lucy was the one responding to her this time. "In terms of difference between this meal and the last what had changed?" Mia took a seat pouring herself a bowl from the remains of the container that Louis put in cold storage. "His goal, he wanted to win, he wasn't doing it because he was asked or because he wanted to prove something, he was working earnestly for the sake of working and it could be tasted, he was up since six in the morning practicing all his effort gave it a." Lucy explained but Mia held her hand up stopping her. "Leave me." Mia commanded and Lucy nodded leaving through another door. Louis continued to watch waiting for Mia to berate his hard work and put him down, she must have talked awfully about him when no one else was around if she treated him like trash to his face. "Do you see Natalie, he's growing up." Mia spoke to no one in particular stirring the stew with a spoon. "He's rough around the edges just like Edward but he's such a good boy, it's a tragedy you don't get to see it but when he came to me he was so fragile and broken I couldn't believe what a trauma he had suffered." Mia lowered her head placing her hands on top of her hair. "I felt so sorry for him disgusted at myself for letting it happen, you always told me if anything happened I would be responsible but so late in his life he never needed me before and now." Mia sighed finishing the bowl. "Well we're just starting I promise Natalie, Edward, I'll raise him into a fine man one that can be worthy of the name Pine." Mia set the bowl down and Louis dropped his startling her and alerting her to his presence. Louis fled, he dropped the bowls and ran, he couldn't confront this. He had overheard perhaps the strangest thing he had ever heard, not only was this despicable woman aware of his last name which he did not provide and she had no way of knowing even if she spied on him, she knew his mother and father's names and had made a promise to raise him if something were to happen to them. This information overwhelmed Louis as he slammed the door to his room standing on the one side. A knock came and Louis looked in horror, he didn't want to, he didn't want to think that Mia was actually a good person it didn't make sense to him. Another knock and finally Kirsty began shouting from the other side of the door. "LET ME IN OR I'LL COME AROUND AND BREAK YOUR OTHER HAND!" Louis released the door and an agitated Kirsty stormed in her tail puffed out. "Want to explain that?" Louis shook his head and sat down on the couch, he was utterly horrified. A million things raced through his head, if Mia knew about his actual family was it possible that she was the one who did it, she said before that she could destroy a life and showed herself doing it without any remorse. Was Mia the person he was seeking revenge against, whom he was now indebted to, whom he knew people who relied upon her and would be devastated if she were to die, whom personally challenged Louis to defeat her removing any meaning from his vengeance. Panic coursed through Louis he couldn't breath. Kirsty approached Louis to see what was wrong with him and startled he swung at her missing her but showing his distraught state. Kirsty bristled almost being hit and turned on Louis. "What the hell is wrong with you!?" She shouted and Louis fell to his knees. "Everything, everything is wrong, nothing is right, it's all so horrible." The image of Mia laughing as she stabbed his father, choked his mother, and burned his sister alive made a permanent home in Louis's mind. He was visibly shaken glued to the floor refusing to move. "Louis, Louis!" Kirsty shouted again seeing Louis fall over like a log. She rushed over and inspected him, he had gone into shock, fully aware but unable to act. Kirsty ran out of the room and soon returned with Mia, Kirsty, and two other servants. She explained that Louis just shut down and Mia looked at him her eyes were so cold and lifeless. Louis was taken to an infirmary room where Lucy acted as his nurse. For the next two days Louis was fed by hand and monitored, he didn't move, he didn't want to move. Louis had ostensibly given up becoming invalid and succumbing to the mounting mental stress that had plagued him since the day of the tragedy. On the third day Mia entered the room and instructed Lucy to guard the door. "Louis." Mia started and Louis's eyes shifted to her. "I know that you have questions." Mia was speaking so softly, her tone neither sharp nor haughty but full of concern. "I'm sure you have a lot of them but I can't answer them now, right now what you need to know is that for starters I am your friend." Mia reached over and grabbed Louis's hand his body jerking in response. "I am not a good person when it comes to relationships, when I care too much about people I overwhelm them using my influence and affluence but with you I had to be distant." Mia explained Louis continued to stare at her. "I had to pretend like I couldn't stand you because of how much I love you Louis, you are my best friends son after all." Mia finally revealed her stance in all of this. "When you were born in that little room on that little farm so far away from anyone or anywhere else I knew that one day you'd show up on my doorstep." Mia continued to calmly explain. "I knew that someday fate would lead you to me and when I heard about..." Mia swallowed the lump in her throat. "What happened I knew i had to do something, I told Jack to be on the lookout for someone fitting your description, your dad was so proud of you when I visited Mica he would tell me stories at the tavern." Mia smiled her eyes full of grief. "Do you know why you have the name Red as a middle name?" Mia asked holding Louis's hand. "I gave it to you, when your mom gave birth, I was her midwife because we had been friends for such a long time I was the only other person beside your parents allowed to see you be born and you were covered in blood and so tiny it just came to me." Mia's eyes began to water as she squeezed Louis's hand. "They looked to me and said, 'Godmom would you like to give him a name'?" She smiled and squeezed. "Sarcastically I said 'well he's pretty red' your dad and mom laughed and said it was perfect so you were given the name Red." Mia felt her grip slipping as she doubled over tears streaming from her eyes. "You were beautiful like a rose and I wanted to take you with me to the city to take them both with me back here but they refused, they wanted to live alone because of all the things they've seen and done and how it influenced them, they wanted you to grow up pure and untainted by this rotten world." Mia looked up bawling Louis seeing great sorrow in her face. "You showed up through my tunnel and my heart stopped, I couldn't believe it was actually you, even though Jack told me I thought, surely it's another person it can't be him." Mia wiped her eyes sitting back up. "But it was and you were just as beautiful as the day you were born, I couldn't look at you and not see that tiny red rose again." Mia collected herself still holding Louis's hand. "I knew that if I let myself give in, if I treated you like my godson, I'd go against everything Natalie and Edward wanted I am apart of the corruption she wanted to keep you from so I had to, I had to do such terrible things to you to make you break, but I never wanted I didn't mean to." Mia was on the verge of crying again. "I never wanted to hurt you Louis just keep you on the right path, please if nothing else, believe that." Mia went to stand but Louis gripped her pulling her close. "I hate you." He said barely getting the words out. "I hate everything you stand for, I hate everything you are, I hate your very existence more than anything else because when I needed someone to hold me, when I needed someone to tell me it wasn't the end, you weren't the one who did it." Louis gritted his teeth, fire surging through him as he regained control. "You berated me, beat me, spat on me, crushed my pride, and utterly humiliated me because you were afraid but did you even think about how afraid I was?" Louis squeezed enough to make Mia flinch. "I thought everyone was gone and now suddenly after everything someone who knew my family, knew me, was still around but they were too afraid to tell me because it was for my own good?" Louis released her hand. "Screw you, screw you and your notion of right and wrong I was wrong you aren't a monster you're a demon." Louis felt his strength ebb away and returned to laying in the bed. "You're right." Mia smiled seeing Louis respond to her. "I am a demon, I am a necessary evil of a world you barely understand I am the darkness that keeps the light from being overrun, I don't expect you to understand Louis but the world needs good and bad people willing to do the right thing, I'm just one of the bad people." Mia brushed her tears away and stood up turning to Lucy. "Do not let him leave this room until he is fully recovered, call in the best healer in Upper City, his arm is likely infected preventing him from fully recovering we will need surgery." Mia resumed her confident stride and exited the room leaving Lucy and Louis alone. "Master P... Louis are you okay?" Lucy inquired using his prefered name for once. "I have been better." Louis shook with rage again trying not to lash out like last time. "Do you mean that, you hate Mama?" Lucy asked while standing still overlooking Louis. "I don't know how I feel, I'm overjoyed that not only did someone who knows my family survive but isn't in danger, I'm enraged that she didn't tell me and never was going to tell me, I'm heartbroken that I hate my godmother, I'm just tired right now." Louis explained and Lucy nodded reaching over and placing a hand on his forehead. "You are one of the most unlucky lucky people I have ever met, Louis." Lucy smiled, a rare display of emotion from an unfeeling drone. "You are complicated in all the wrong ways and simple in all the right ones, you are much like Mama, a flawed but good person so I ask you Louis don't judge Mama too harshly, there is a lot you don't know." Lucy pleaded and Louis closed his eyes. "Tell me then, stop treating me like a child and tell me about these things that I don't understand, help me understand." Louis turned his head to Lucy and she stared at him dead in her eyes. "If you really wish." Lucy lifted her hand removing the glove she wore over them, around her wrist was a black mark like a chain. "This is the darkness Mama spoke of the world of nobles and the world of commoners is like day and night." Lucy stood up and turned her back to Louis sliding her uniform down revealing scars. "Deplorable behavior, unthinkable acts, crime, justice, hate, love it all warps and takes on new definitions so Louis you are not currently prepared to deal with this world because it will destroy you." Lucy raised her uniform covering her scars. "Mia Bella Donna is the guardian of the underworld in Garnet, a savior to those without hope, though to someone like you she seems a cruel and uncaring villain she provides for people that would be dead otherwise, myself included." Lucy looked at Louis and Louis frowned. "What do those markings mean?" He asked trying to be as polite as possible. "They are a slave's brand, I was born in a northern village and sold by my starving parents to a noble who..." Lucy stopped her breathing accelerating. "Please don't relive it for me, I understand." Louis spoke and Lucy shook her head. "NO!" She shouted. "You don't understand, you grew up with loving parents, a surrogate mother, friends... the first person who challenged you, you called a monster in front of the people who she saved, you asked if the staff hates you, we do." Lucy glared at Louis. "Not because of your outburst but because of what you say to the literal only angel we have, you insult our god and yet ask for friendship, you are a conceited child in our eyes." Lucy continued to admonish Louis. "Yeah, I have acted like a brat, I won't say I'm sorry though I am, I will promise you I won't look at Mama the same way again." Louis sighed feeling himself grow tired from all the energy it took to talk, Lucy was silent watching Louis and wondering exactly what to think of him. Most people if they found a slave did one of two things, they pitied them or the persecuted them, Louis had done neither but perhaps he wasn't given the right circumstances. Lucy didn't trust or like Louis she recognized his value as a member of Mama's family, she understood her professional obligation, but she couldn't suppress her disgust for him. Lucy watched over Louis as he recovered from his mental collapse, Mia kept a distance only watching from the door. Washed and fed from the bed Lucy had become Louis's nurse for the better part of a week, his left arm beginning to show signs of infection as a fever broke out incapacitating Louis. The effort was tireless keeping him stable, Mia biting her lip as she watched her servants work tirelessly. Once Louis stabilized it was decided that a doctor couldn't wait and Mia used her connections to call in a favor with the ruling lord of Garnet and have his personal physician come. "The area was cauterized but has since opened, the flesh is infected and is at risk of causing catastrophic failure, honestly the only option is to amputate." The physician addressed Mia while standing beside Louis, still wracked with fever. "The only other option is a radical and expensive surgery but it's not proven to work as effectively as we'd like so I would recommend the amputation of the left arm." The physician explained and Mia was overcome with worry. "It could mean his life." The physician tried to hammer the point home. "He needs his arm." Mia was weakened by stress and the tireless hours of watching Louis suffer. "The surgery, what is it?" Mia wanted to explore all the options, she knew Louis wanted revenge he had a better chance of getting it with both arms rather than being at a complete handicap instead of a disability, for the most part Louis could managed with up to his left wrist in tact. "Put simply, we would meld the bone with metal and seal the wound so it can't get infected, capping the arm essentially." The physician explained. "We would need to open the wound to gain access to the bone then remove the muscle, veins, and other organic materials filling the cavity with rubber then smelt the iron to the bone and meld the flesh to the iron cauterizing the wound the entire process would be excruciating." The physician shuddered to think of the pain Louis would endure. "It is much more humane to just amputate, the surgery is closer to torture than it is to medicine, not to mention the cost." Mia looked at Louis and then at the physician. "The surgery." Louis groaned through his fever able to hear everything. "I want, the surgery." He opened his eyes to look at Mia his entire body was in pain, he was close to convulsing. "If you love me, truly, don't take away my revenge." After struggling so hard Louis passed out again. "You heard him." Mia felt relieved, Louis was a fighter like his father. "How soon can you operate?" The physician sighed when Mia made her decision and nodded. The surgery began immediately, a portable forge brought in and plates of iron being smelted down while the physician cut open Louis's wrist from the end exposing the infected flesh and cutting it away. Louis screamed in pure agony he could feel every second. When the doctor reached in and grabbed the muscle surrounding Louis bone he went silent, his voice failing. Screaming endlessly Louis felt the contents of his arm removed, piece by piece and minute by minute. Hours ticked by slowly, Mia had to leave the mansion for the day unable to cope as the agonized screams filled every room until they simply died. Once the infected tissue and muscle was removed the process began, the entirety of Louis's arm up to his elbow was now hollow, spare for his bone which had been picked clean. Twitching and shaking Louis couldn't feel anything in his left arm he had hit his pain threshold. The smith walked over with molten iron sheets and they began to bend and insert them into the hollowed cavity. The smell of burning flesh filled the room once the plates were set the now lined cavity was filled with lighter steel coating the bone causing it to fortify and the cavity was slowly filled with a polymer gel to replace the muscle. Finally a round metal cap was placed on the opening to the wound hammered into place anchored in the bone with an iron spike. Louis lay catatonic the operation was done but his recovery was still in progress. Lucy was informed by the physician that the metal cap would need to be reheated every single day until it naturally melded with the metal cone inside of Louis's arm, the flesh would peel away as it died off. Lucy accepted responsibility and cared for Louis for the next week. Louis awoke on a quiet February morning. His entire left arm down from the elbow had become made of iron and steel any skin that one existed was gone. Louis's fever had subsided and he was able to move his body no longer under paralytic shock. Gingerly he moved unaccustomed to the weight of his now iron appendage. Louis felt the weight, though the inside was filled with light gel the outside was solid iron, knocking on it gave the same sound as a metal gate. Lucy opened the door surprised to see Louis standing, she was holding a box for Louis's final day of recovery. "Is it heavy?" Lucy asked sitting Louis down and opening the box, inside was a custom built metal hand, structural rods running through the fingers connecting to a central support which connected to Louis's cap. Lucy clasped on the hand locking it into place by connecting it to the anchors and Louis admired it. Nothing hurt anymore, his arm felt numb but he could tell it was there. Reaching out Louis touched Lucy's arm with his metal prosthesis. "It's cold but it feels like a hand." Lucy shivered and Louis smiled, he felt whole for the first time in a month. "No it feels natural." Louis examined the hand and looked at the door when he heard someone enter moving to stand. Mia approached Louis looking at him, the two just stared at one another. Louis was silent as was Mia both too proud to say what they truly felt to one another. The silence was broken when Mia wrapped her arms around Louis and burst into tears, sobbing out all the concern and stress she had felt for the past two weeks. Louis flinched when she suddenly reached for him but felt the tenderness of a woman wracked with concern reaching over and gently patting her back with his right hand his left remaining stationary. "I was so worried." Mia sniffled when Louis touched her. "I didn't know if you were going to make it and when they told me of the screaming I..." Mia started but Louis clapped her back. "Thank you, I am sorry, I was upset I didn't..." Louis thought about what he was saying. "No I won't lie, I hated you but I've had time to think about it and you were right to keep me distant, if I found out I had family still alive I would have leaned upon you and not progressed even if it was due to less than good circumstances the experience I had was a positive influence, thank you Godmom." Louis calmly spoke his voice having become deeper after screaming it horse and healing again. "Now that you know, what will you do?" Mia composed herself and sat with Louis near the bed. "Continue, I still haven't gotten my revenge and with this new arm I feel like I am closer to getting it." Louis responded and Mia nodded. "I will assist you then, I've been doing research before you came but found nothing but you will join Cheshire and the others in their work, that way you can get proper experience and move closer to your goal." Mia decided before Louis woke up that he would join Kirsty's group, a collection of individuals who worked for Mia in less conventional ways. "Of course you will need education, so your days not on mission will be spent learning." Mia was back in full force snapping her fingers and making servants appear. "Prepare a selection of materials for Louis, they are to be in his room by dawn, hire the best tutors you can find, discrepancy is the highest priority." Mia commanded and it was done. "It feels weird." Louis commented Mia looking at his left hand. "No you being supportive, I guess I'm used to you being my enemy." Louis smiled and Mia laughed. "Don't think I'm your ally just yet, it was easier when you just had to cook meals and wash laundry I'm a harsh mistress but the rewards for working with me are comparative." Mia laughed and raised her left leg bending it and pointing at Louis. "You stand in the employ of Mia Bella Donna the greatest noble in Garnet and Madonna of the elves." Mia reintroduced herself. "The most inconsistent godmother ever to live." Louis added and Mia began laughing, Louis joining her the two adversaries enjoying a good joke together. Kirsty waited outside of the medical room, she looked as though she hadn't slept in a week. "Good to see you're not dead." Kirsty responded as she saw Louis. Mia smirking as she whispered to Louis. "Chesh was so worried she slept outside your door like a house cat it was so adorable." Mia glanced over to Kirsty who was beet red. "MAMA!" Kirsty shouted and Mia laughed at her embarrassment. "Thank you, Kirsty, for being concerned." Louis was just happy to be up he didn't want to lay around anymore. "By the way, I don't know how the big sister thing is going to work now, considering that we're more like cousins." Louis explained and Kirsty became riled. "I HAD A COUSIN AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME!?" Kirsty barked at Mia who whistled innocently. "To be fair, dear, I wasn't really present in his life so I wasn't much of an aunt to him and beside the point as a godmother you're not really his cousin more like, a very potential candidate for an arranged marriage." Mia pointed out and Louis exchanged glances with Kirsty both cringing at the thought. "No, no, no, no, NO!" Kirsty repeated and Louis nodded in agreement. "Oh come off it you'd make a beautiful couple, Puppy and Cheshire." Mia teased and Kirsty hissed Louis remaining silent. "I WILL NEVER BE INTERESTED IN A BLOCK HEAD LIKE HIM!" Kirsty shouted her tail puffing out, Louis reaching up to feel his head, was it block like? "Yes yes, we get it dear calm down you're going to ruin your fur." Mia tried to bring Kirsty down. "There's no mission today, I want you to train Louis, he's going to be joining your group." Mia explained and Kirsty looked like she had been shot. "You're putting him in my group, did I do something to you, did I offend you in some way?" Kirsty asked and Mia shook her head. "Oh because I was wondering why you suddenly hated me!" The two went back and forth but Louis had no patience so he walked off to find the kitchen. Once inside Louis reached out and grabbed a potato holding it in his left hand. Louis began to smile taking a knife and peeling the potato between his stationary metal fingers. The fingers of the left hand were positioned in a slight curl allowing Louis to cup and hold onto things. He couldn't move the fingers so gripping was impossible but he could grab as Louis discovered using his left hand to reach one of the shelves and fitting the end beneath his fingers lifting himself up he felt the shelf begin to give underneath his weight. Louis was excited to go try climbing with his new arm. Mia and Kirsty caught up with Louis finally, finding him in the kitchen cooking up a batch of stew his original batches that he put in cold storage gone. Louis looked up from his pot when they entered still bickering, he served three bowls and sat down holding the bowl in his left hand taking a deep quaff. Kirsty and Mia stopped arguing with one another and both enjoyed some of Louis's stew. "What do you call this?" Mia asked pressing the bowl to her lips. "Holly stew." Louis answered lowering his, Kirsty just inhaled it like it would vanish holding her bowl out for another serving. The three sat in the kitchen and finished the pot of Holly stew, perhaps the closest they had ever been. Louis enjoyed the first family meal in months with his slowly growing family. When they finished eating their stew Kirsty took off and left Louis alone unable to accept his inclusion in her group. Louis still didn't know what her group did but he could imagine it wasn't something normal by the way that Mia talked. Louis took the rest of the day to visit Holly. She screamed when she saw him and his new prosthesis. Explaining to Holly about what had happened, Mia's complex relationship, his family history with her and his actual position in relation to her as well as his new arm. Oliva and Janice were amazed at the transformation unable to stop staring despite Holly constantly reprimanding them. "That sounds awful." Holly gasped when Louis explained the procedure as it was explained to him. "Its hollow?" She pointed at the arm and Louis shook his head. "Filled with something called rubber apparently it's a hard substance like flesh that will protect the bone from fracturing everything else is metal." Louis tapped his left hand against the counter a faint ringing could be heard. "I can hold and grab things but I can't grip them so I still have to become accustomed to only having one functional arm but this really helps compared to nothing and it won't get infected." Louis was happy and despite not being sure if this was a wise decision as opposed to full amputation, Holly was happy for Louis. "So you had a godmother, who was never in contact with you?" Holly asked while washing dishes, Louis handing them to her. "Are you sure you can believe her, not that I'm saying she's lying but it sounds awfully suspicious." Holly was wary of Mia, she appeared out of nowhere had all the answers and magically had some kind of connection to Louis's most intimate weakness. "If I said I truly trusted her I'd be lying but something about the way she confessed, I guess I'm still naive because I do believe she knew my parents, I believe she is troubled by their loss, and I believe she wants to help me get my revenge that's all I really need to believe about her." Louis handed over a cup and Holly frowned. "Louis you should live for yourself and forget about revenge, nothing good comes from it." Holly had mixed feelings about Louis seeking revenge, of course she'd want vengeance if someone took her family away from her but it only went so far. "You're starting a vicious cycle because whoever you kill will have people that will want to kill you." Holly raised objection and Louis nodded. "I'm planning on that, it was why I had to leave Mary because I don't think I'm going to live much longer than my goals, I will probably start some kind of crusade against me but I'm prepared to shoulder that and survive as long as I can because there needs to be a world where justice exists." Louis explained and Holly bit her lip. "Justice isn't this." She finally managed to get the words out. "No this isn't justice, for me it's revenge, but to an outsider if you see it you'd think it's justice and that's good enough there needs to be the concept that if you do something awful someone will come after you, I can't live in a world where that isn't the reality." Louis set the bowl he was holding down. "I can't live in a world where tomorrow you might be dead and I'm just supposed to accept it as the whim of higher beings, I might be stupid, I might be simple, but I'm not wrong in this, there needs to be a justice." Louis spoke with a firm passion he truly believed that the world needed justice. "Why you though, why do you have to be that justice?" Holly asked sitting beside him resting her head on his shoulder. "Why do you have to suffer and struggle, can't you let someone else be the hero?" Holly was concerned she wanted Louis to become an old man and have children of his own, she was selfish in wanting her surrogate son to be complete and well. "I guess, I could let someone else do it." Louis placed his right hand on Holly's head. "But I don't want justice, justice is a byproduct I want revenge, something I have to do myself, I want to feel the life leave their body, I want to hear their words of regret, or I just want to experience the silence after they've paid to bathe myself in that peace." Louis's voice was low and sounded like someone confessing their sins at temple. "Louis revenge won't make you feel whole, accepting what happened and remembering them fondly will." Holly sat up and Louis nodded. "I won't be stopped, not by Mia, not by you, not by anyone I know it's not the right thing to do for me but I need to send the message." Louis began again but Holly put up her hand. "Enough, right now you're here with me and people who love you, leave the grim and dark destiny for the future." Holly stood up taking Louis hand and leading him into the main hall of the inn, it was busy with food and drink and song. She lead him over to the small stage leading him into a dance, Louis wasn't too fleet of foot but he took directions well. The patrons of the inn began clapping enjoying the show of a giant man and the beautiful inn keeper performing for them the bard began playing an energetic tune and the two twirled away. When the inn emptied out Louis decided to spend the night in the Guard Dog wanting a change of pace to Mia's mansion. He was given a spare room and felt content with his day so far. He had neither seen nor heard Kirsty and Mia was busy doing something else somewhere else so he was just comfortable. The Guard Dog was an inn but it felt like a home, which would explain why it was so popular, the feeling of home was invaluable and Louis missed it. He felt the soft pillow and the small mattress beneath him reminded him of his little barn back home. Louis awoke the next day with a note laying on his chest. He wondered what it said and found Holly asking her. "Meet me in the main hall." Holly read the note looking for who it was from but Louis new. Louis thanked Holly for the bed and the food and promised that he'd have Mia pay her. Holly rejected it saying that if she accepted payment for Louis's board she'd feel like she was growing distant, he was always welcome for free. Janice and Olivia didn't want Louis to go, having grown on him especially since he got his metal arm. Louis traveled back up the North Star passage and met three new individuals. One was a tall and angular man like Mia, he was an elf, who wore a jacketed suit with coat tails in the color red. The other was a squat little creature who appeared to be made of clay or stone their eyes sunken like lamp lights. The next was another beastman this one was part avian with white spotted feathers instead of hair and small beady eyes that focused like lenses, he was only wearing pants as his bare chest looked like a down coat. Lastly there was Kirsty wearing a leather harness and shorts knives slotted into every inch of the harness. "Welcome back Louis." Mia appeared above the group standing on the balcony overhang. "I trust you slept well?" Mia sounded, annoyed, that Louis spent the night at Holly's maybe she really was jealous and that wasn't an act. "Can we get on with it?" The elf man asked sounding bored and agitated. "Of course, a request came in from a village to the north west, it appears that a beast is growing bold and repeatedly stealing from the farms and consuming massive quantities of product and cattle." Mia read off of a bill. "It's big enough to steal cattle, this is going to require some special toys." The stone creature cackled madly. "We don't know what you'll be dealing with so do it cautiously, I expect to see you all back here come next week." Mia declared and all four saluted in a special way that Louis had never seen. "Excuse me." Louis spoke up drawing all attention to him. "Does someone want to explain what exactly is going on?" he was lost, they were talking about some creature pillaging farms and they were going to handle it, by doing what exactly? "Yes I forgot we didn't explain to you." Mia had adopted her distant persona. "We're hunters, professional assassins of creatures outside the capability of normal men." The hawkman explained his voice sophisticated and dry. "That's a rather dull way of putting it Roc but yes, under my employ and lead by Cheshire is a unit of expert adventurers, hand picked from the very best that ever entered Garnet top of their guild, and you Puppy are honored to join their ranks." Mia smiled and Louis looked dumbstruck. "However, Puppy isn't a fitting name for you, no you're not just a little runt anymore... let's call you, Wolf." Mia declared Louis had a new title and the three others clapped Kirsty was not amused at all. "We need to get moving or we'll take another day explaining all this to the dumb dog." She motioned to move out and the others followed Louis just, going with it, he couldn't fight Mia and he didn't want to upset Kirsty. He understood that he was apart of something special but he didn't understand why. "Wolf, cool name." Roc, the only one who's name had been exposed spoke first. "I am Roc and before you ask yes these are actually attached to my skin." Roc showed his plumage, it ran from his hands which were an off yellow color to the top of his head, leaving a bald face and a feathery everywhere else. "Not your real name?" Louis asked and Roc laughed. "No, we don't use our real names for reasons best left alone, adventurers aren't the type who want to keep connections to their past." Roc explained and the elf man spoke up. "Not all of us are sordid, some of us just simply wish for simplicity." The elf was haughty, maybe that was something that ran among elves. "If Madonna demands it so shall I obey." The man turned to Louis, his crimson coat tail swinging like a robins. "I am Trouble." He introduced himself cupping an invisible glass and the rock creature chuckled. "Hey you said it." Trouble looked at the rock creature and groaned. "That is Scamper." He pointed down and the rock creature looked up at Louis. "Pleased to meet you, Wolf, I'm the one you call when nobody else will do name's Scamper." The rock creature reached up to shake Louis's hand but instead grabbed his metal one. "Such amazing craftsmanship, hey what's the chance that I could open your arm up and tinker around, such an amazing device." A drip of molten lava fell from Scamper's lips making Louis pull his arm back. "Oh..." "Don't let him mess with you, he's more likely to blow you up than fix you up." Kirsty said while leading the group. "I'd like to blow you up..." Scamper mumbled Kirsty turning around. "What was that soldier?" She placed her hands on her hips and stared the rock creature down. "Nothing captain." Scamper grumbled and looked at Louis's arm with awe. "I feel so overwhelmed." Louis held his hand to his head feeling the slightly warm metal, Scampers body was amazingly hot. "Don't worry Rookie." Kirsty said without looking at Louis. "As much as it pains me, it's our job to see you make it back home safely, this is your first mission and we're not going to let our sterling record get tarnished because you pissed yourself in combat." Kirsty was emulating Mia's distant persona, both were completely uncalled for and rude. "She must like you." Roc said with a dry chuckle. "She usually tells rookies that she'll use their share to buy a good tomb stone." Kirsty hissed and Roc immediately shut up. The group traveled to the market district of Lower City stopping by a few stores. Kirst purchased Louis a short sword, a longsword, a knife, a buckler, a chainmail vest, padded trousers, and reinforced sollerets making him look like a common soldier. "Don't lose them, they're your only hope of surviving Rookie." Kirsty warned and Louis nodded, swept up by the military style of Kirsty's command, she reminded him of a slightly less maternal Miss Holly. "Ma'am yes Ma'am." Louis responded and Kirsty went rigid the other three chuckling. "A military boy, you did come as a personal recommendation from the boss so you must have been something else." Trouble placed his hand to his chin. He was wearing his crimson coat and carrying around a quill, a rod, and a book. Roc had a short bow, a crossbow, and a pistol as well as a quiver full of arrows with similar colored feathers to his own plumage. "Hey Wolf, you want in on the pool?" Scamper asked counting a handful of coins, scamper didn't have any weapons instead he carried a tool set, a pair of goggles, a pack of components, and a sack of crystals. "What pool?" Louis asked admiring his new armor as the five marched towards the north exit to Lower city. "How long you'll last, see there's a reason there's only us four in the core group." Scamper pointed to each of his companions. "We always have one Rookie who either dies or quits after the first few days so we've started a tradition, how long will you last, if you win you get all the money as severance package." Scamper laughed and Kirsty struck him over the head making debris fall off. "He won't quit, this one is especially stupid." Kirsty admonished Louis while also praising him, Kirst had changed over to leather boots, reinforced hide pants, a padded shirt and silk mask wrapped around her face showing only her eyes. She had dozens of small throwing knives, two heavy daggers, two light swords, and a collapsed staff all of which was concealed in the padding of her armor. Louis knew she was a thief but her apparel and weapon choice made her more like a spy or a rogue. "She's right I'm not quitting and I won't die." Louis said and the three men looked at one another adding more coins to the pool. Louis frowned and ignored the troupe wondering exactly why he was put with this team. When the group reached the guarded north gate they showed the guard their badges and he opened the gate until they got to Louis. "Papers?" The guard asked and Louis pointed with his metal hand, the buckler strapped onto it. "I'm with them." The group hadn't noticed that he got held up but the guard wasn't having any of it. "Papers?" he asked again unsheathing his spear Louis raising his buckler. "Let him through you stupid peon!" Kirsty shouted and the guard jumped nearly stabbing at Louis. He saluted and opened the gate letting Louis through. "Forgot you don't have a pass." Scamper muttered. "I'll have to bang you up one when we get back I don't have any gold, let me know if you find any." Scamper commented and Louis nodded, this was an entirely new world for him. Outside of Garnet there were miles and miles of open fields. The road itself was paved down from all the travelers making it easy to spot among the tall grass. Unlike the road from Mica to Garnet there were trees and small woods along the way as well as caves and rivers it was a much more diverse area north of Garnet. Louis started down the path but Kirsty whistled to him catching his attention. "Where are you going Rookie?" She looked at him confused, paying off a coachman and climbing in. Louis was, kind of disappointed that they wouldn't be walking, there was so much to explore but he climbed into the carriage and sat next to Scamper until he saw them drooling while looking at his arm then moved next to Roc across from them where he could keep an eye on them. "Smart move." Roc complemented and Scamper scowled. The ride to the small town was quiet. Scamper was mostly absorbed in doing whatever he was doing with his tools and crystals, Roc liked to sleep, Trouble was reading his books and Kirsty was looking over a map planning. Louis found himself oddly without anything to do he hummed to himself but Kirsty scolded him so he just sat quietly. "What would you do, if I let you look at my arm?" Louis indulged the devil and leaned into to Scamper causing him to look up. "Just curious." Scamper smiled wide, his eyes igniting to the size of fireballs. "Oh well the applications are endless, you want a gun arm I can make that, how about a flying fist, or a grappling hook, or a hidden blade!" Scamper listed off all the completely impractical but really amusing sounding weapons. "How about flexible joints?" Louis asked and Scamper looked a bit disappointed. "If you can make me able to move these fingers I'll be more inclined to trust you in looking at the rest for, additional, modifications." Louis reached over and detached his hand tossing it to Scamper who caught it eagerly, not aware it could already detach. "Motion, hmm, not impossible but the question is how to tie it to your nervous system without hard wiring it." Scamper mumbled and began drafting up plans pulling out a paper drawing designs on it. Louis took the buckler and strapped it onto his arm watching Scamper work out designs for a motor system for his hand. The troupe arrived in the town being plagued by nightfall, traveling by carriage was much more efficient. Scamper was still working on getting Louis's left hand capable of motion muttering something about neural links. Kirsty moved them from the carriage to the local inn, this town was about the size of Mica. The inn was called Silent Knight and was the center for adventurers hosting more rooms to adventurers than merchants or travelers. A board at the bottom floor of the inn housed the bills, Roc explained when he woke up that as adventurers they took requests from towns facilitated by the government and were paid upon completion, basically they were a better class of mercenary. Louis looked around seeing the multitude of adventurers gathered, some older, some younger, some his own age. All of them had hungry looking eyes which made Wolf the sheep in the room. Louis approached the inn keeper, an older man with a large belly and a white beard. "Excuse me." He said meekly the man spinning around and blasting him with a yell. "WHAT!?" The innkeeper bellowed nearly knocking Louis over. "Have to speak up lad it's not easy to hear in all this racket" The innkeeper laughed. "I SAID EXCUSE ME!" Louis shouted and it sounded like thunder silencing the room. "You don't have to shout lad we can all hear you." The innkeeper snickered and Louis sighed. "What is this town called?" Louis asked and the innkeeper pointed to a map on the wall which read Beryl. Louis looked at it and sighed, he didn't think telling this man he couldn't read would be a wise idea so he thanked the man and returned to his group. Kirsty arranged a shared room for the four of them while she had her own room adjacent. The troupe retired to their rooms, Louis taking the bed closest to the door, Roc taking one closest to the window, Scamper taking the second corner and Trouble taking the one across from Louis by the door. Half way through the night a meal was brought up to the troupe, steak and potatoes with gravy. Louis ate with quiet content but Scamper was having trouble with his heavier frame. "Hey Wolf, my bed is lumpy is yours lumpy?" Scamper grumbled and Louis bounced gently feeling no lumps. "Want to switch?" Louis asked and Scampers eyes ignited with a spark of genius standing up he rushed Louis making Louis pick up his plate to avoid having it knocked over. "Say that again." Scamper demanded and Louis took a bite of steak then swallowed. "Do you want to change beds?" Louis was confused and a bit nervous. "NO NO NO you said it, switch, a switch no not just one several switches!" Scamper seemed to have stumbled onto something and dove into drafting designs. Louis was utterly lost just shrugging and eating his meal. Night came around Scamper was still scribbling on paper using a crystal for a light source, the faint soft glow of genius working long into the night. Chapter 6 Louis awoke to the knocking of Kirsty outside the troupe's door, as well as the sound of Scamper running around. Louis groaned sitting up and saw that Scamper had his hand cracked in half cut open and removed the metal rods, he was instead filling it with circular little pieces that Louis didn't recognize. He hoped that he wouldn't regret asking Scamper for this, hoping his hand didn't randomly blow up. "Get your gear and get out in five!" Kirsty shouted through the door and everyone besides Scamper hopped to. Roc, Trouble, and Louis emerged from the room Kirsty looking beyond them at Scamper hunched over the hand. "Who gave him a project?" Kirsty asked her tone sharp and flat, Roc and Trouble immediately ratted Louis out. "Do you know how long it's going to be?" Kirsty tapped her foot and the three shrugged. "Alright we're a man down but this is an easy mission, recon and intel." Kirsty sighed, she was wearing her normal hooded cloak concealing her face, Roc was wearing a similar outfit but a jacket and Trouble was wearing a cap covering his ears. "We go around town find information on the recent troubles, speak to witnesses and gather as much intel as possible, if you happen to encounter combat your orders are to disengage we aren't here to fight." Kirsty looked at Louis and glared. "Why is everyone wearing different clothing, do I need to wear something different?" Louis asked Kirsty and she gave an exasperated sigh, Trouble and Roc looking at one another in confusion. "No you're fine how you are Wolf in fact you might do the best of us here, just...go be yourself around town." Kirsty saluted as did Roc and Trouble, Louis just nodded and they left Scamper behind. Descending Louis saw the disheveled mess that the inn's dining hall was left in. The innkeeper was sweeping the floor of trash when Louis descended the stairs. Roc and Trouble had already left breaking out in their own style. "Wild night?" Louis asked the innkeeper, watching the portly man nod and continue sweeping. "Do you have another broom?" Louis asked and the innkeeper stopped sweeping placing the broom on a table. "I'm not paying you to help out." The innkeeper sighed and pointed towards the board. "You want some coin go do a request." Louis nodded and walked over picking the broom up before the innkeeper could. "I JUST SAID!" the innkeeper began to bellow but Louis held up his left arm. "You said you won't pay, that's fine, I don't want pay I just want to help." Louis began to sweep able to move at a livelier pace than the old man was. The innkeeper watched, making sure Louis didn't steal anything while his back was turned. Two hours passed and the inn hall was spotless the innkeeper speechless. Louis sat down and returned the broom over the bar counter. "What's your angle?" The innkeeper asked pouring Louis a mug of ale without asking, and one for himself as well. "I don't understand the question but me and my friends are here to help with the farm pillaging, do you know anything about it?" Louis asked and the innkeeper put down his mug. "Monsters, pure and simple, there's a cave up in the hills to the west nobody goes up there because of a great black monster that lives inside of those caves." Louis blinked when he heard the term monster, a very generic term for any number of possible problems. "What does this monster look like?" Louis asked and the innkeeper laughed. "Nobody knows boy or else we'd hunt it down ourselves, the thing is over a dozen monsters have come down from that cave, all of them black as night the locals have taken to calling the cave the mouth of hell since it only spawns damned demons." The innkeeper pointed to the map. "Just a few miles west of Beryl." Louis finally learned the name of the town. "The mouth of hell sits atop a cliff, sounds echo out of it like screaming and groaning and every so often a pitch black creature will emerge but never the same one." The innkeeper finished his mug setting it down. "I wish you and your friends luck because those damn things have an army." The innkeeper walked off leaving Louis to nurse his complimentary ale. "Monsters, black as night, all coming from that cave..." Louis contemplated what it could be, his mind reaching back to the folk tales his mother told him when he was just a boy. Louis knew about creatures who were possessed by entities called Demons, they were creatures without a body of their own that took control of the host body slowly killing it but giving it unbelievable power, most took the form of animals but every now and then a human could be possessed. There was a famous story about a human who willingly let a demon share his body inhabiting his left hand and eye. The human used the powers for good sensing evil with his cursed left hand but eventually the curse swallowed him as well and he became a mindless monster. "Could it be demons?" Louis pondered, the thing that made this peculiar was that nobody had seen a demon in nearly a thousand years, they only existed in stories. Louis didn't think he would find anything sitting on his butt so he left the Silent Knight and wandered around town. The people of Beryl were cautious of adventurers especially when they were asking for anything because doing anything for an adventurer was an excuse to demand a reward. The poor people of Beryl didn't have a mayor like Garnet did they were run by a counsel who sent out the request to Garnet for aid. Louis tried to learn the counsel member's names but nobody would divulge that so Louis went to the farms that had been pillaged, all facing towards the mouth of hell curiously. Louis arrived at the first farm at noon after having walked around for a while asking various people. Louis looked out upon the farm and saw devastation, the fields were torn up, crops trampled on, fences broken and general destruction abound. Louis saw an old man picking up piece of wood and approached him. "Excuse me sir." Louis called out but the old man just waved him along. "Excuse me SIR?" Louis called again but the old man continued to wave him along. Louis was right behind the old man when he reached over and tapped him on the shoulder making the old man jerk up and fling the wood he collected everywhere. "LOOK WHAT YOU DID!" The old man shouted half in surprise half in anger. "I've been collecting that wood since dawn and now I have to start ALL OVER!?" He seemed to be questioning the reality of it himself Louis lowering his head. "Sorry I didn't mean to." Louis knelt down and began picking up the wood by his feet. "OH no, no no no, you're not going to pick up a single splintery piece I'm not paying you for doing squat adventurer go find a cat stuck in a tree and rob that little girl of her coin!" the farmer spat at Louis and he continued to pick up shards of wood. "Didn't you hear me I said GET!" The farmer shouted and Louis continued. "I don't want money, I just want to fix what I messed up, after I pick up all the wood you dropped I'll leave." Louis declared and the old farmer looked at him curiously. "I ain't buying it nobody is just that helpful, it would take a fool to do work for free in this day and age." The farmer announced his skepticism and Louis laughed to himself. "I have been called foolish before." Louis muttered as he picked up the smaller pieces of wood. "I still don't trust you." The farmer rebutted and Louis just stopped answering. He spent an hour picking up all the shards of wood scattered across the farm, then the farmer started to chastise him for making the farmer late to fix the fields. So Louis grabbed a hoe and fixed the fields, then the farmer complained how his back hurt from picking up the wood and he couldn't build a new fence. So Louis grabbed a hammer and built the farmer a new fence. When all the complaining and work was done Louis had repaired the farm from a site of devastation to a fully functional agricultural factory. Soaked in sweat Louis took a seat on the soft ground hearing the farmer come up yet again to complain. "You know." The farmer started and Louis closed his eyes preparing for it. "You were a big help, I forgot people like you existed with all these damned adventurers around always looking to make a profit, you tend to dismiss anyone genuinely trying to be helpful so thank you son." The farmer had a glass of lemonade in his hand and offered Louis it, along with a seat on his porch. "Can you tell me what happened here?" Louis asked while drinking the lemonade, a big pitcher filled with sweet lemonade sat on the porch along with him and the farmer. "I can tell you, but you won't believe me." The farmer replied rocking in a wooden chair. "People say I'm getting too old that my eyes are going bad but I tell you son, as sure as you're standing there I saw it, a big black dragon." The farmer spread his arms out looking at Louis. "Go on laugh, everyone else in town did, I've been labeled a drunk!" The farmer complained and Louis shook his head. "Dragons are real or they were, my mom told me stories about them way before humans were around the dragons created all the other races, they brought magic to the world and developed fantastic flying cities but they also brought chaos because in their arrogance they forgot that a man is only as good as his deeds so the lazy and prideful dragons used magic to the point where it threatened the very life of the world so brave heroes from a lesser known race called humans rose up and slayed the dragons saving the world." Louis summarized the tale of the dragon killers he was told as a child "You know some fancy stories, that one's from four towns to the east." The farmer nodded. "But yeah, sure as day it was a big black dragon." He emphasized again Louis picking it up. "Black you said, like midnight?" Louis asked and the farmer nodded "Darker, it was like an abyss." Louis nodded in understanding there were two theories now, dragons that somehow survived the extinction of their race or demons that were possessing a multitude of creatures either were as viable as the other one. "What did the dragon take?" Louis asked finishing his lemonade. "Two heads worth of cattle and five or so pounds of crop, like he's making a stew." The farmer touched his nose signaling that he was onto something. "I didn't know dragons could cook." Louis replied and the old man laughed. "No I guess that was never mentioned in the stories." The two laughed for a minute and Louis stood up pardoning himself. "Anytime you want to chat come back fella, you're okay even if you are a swindling adventurer." The old farmer waved and Louis nodded. "My name is L.. L Wolf" Louis almost gave away his real name which he was guessing by the fact that they were all using assigned names he wasn't supposed to do that. "Strange name but you're welcome here anytime Wolf." The old farmer waved to Louis as he walked back to town, the sun was coming down already. Back at the Silent Knight Louis helped the innkeeper with cooking some meals and brought the food up to his troupe which returned earlier than he. Roc was sitting preening his feathers, picking away old ones, using the old feathers as fletching for his arrows. Trouble was reading, still and Scamper was working on the hand. "Any luck?" Louis asked bringing the troupe a plate of roast beef. "None what so ever all the stories conflict some say it was a giant cow, others a wolf, and some yet a yeti!" Roc was flustered his chest puffed out and his fingers clicking, long talon like nails at the end of every yellow finger. "That's pretty consistent with what I heard, I had to trick some people into telling me but it seems that there's either multiple opponents or one that can change form." Louis blinked wondering where Trouble got that impression. "We might need to prepare for a war of attrition." "That goes there.." Scamper mumbled to himself while setting gears into the hand. "What did Kirsty find out?" Louis asked and the three looked up at him curiously. "I mean Captain!" Louis turned away pretending it was just a slip of the tongue. "Captain hasn't returned yet, she's always the last one to come back sometime in the middle of the night, she's probably rummaging through people's papers and pockets looking for answers." Roc commented and Louis sighed placing her plate down. The four ate roast beef conversing about the discoveries it wasn't until Louis shared his findings that the conversation became active. "Wait." Roc held his head trying not to laugh. "You think it's either a dragon or demons?" Roc chuckled. "Good one Wolf I didn't know you were a comedian." Trouble just looked aggravated. "Of all the unscientific, unreasonable, just plain stupid you think mythical creatures only found in stories originating from further east of here did it?" Trouble didn't even look at Louis. "What proof do you have, oh that's right, some senile old farmer who used you to do his labor... how are you in this unit again?" Trouble had completely lost faith in Louis. "You're all being too hard, it's the Rookie's first mission let him have the implausible theories that way we have everything covered, it may also be an avatar of the forgelord." Scamper commented while tinkering. "Nice of you to weigh in on something you did nothing for." Trouble snapped and Louis sighed. "Look I know it's unbelievable." Trouble scoffed and Louis rolled his eyes. "But the old farmer was convinced he saw a dragon and not just any dragon a black dragon, the color black is the only commonality between all the accounts so between all the things likely to have a black skin or scale, a dragon is the only one." Louis explained. In the stories dragons game in five colors which were Gold, Silver, Crimson, Cobalt, and Ivory there were no black dragons but the accounts were only that, accounts, who was to say that long ago different flights didn't exist. "Alright Rookie I'm willing to indulge you." Trouble sighed putting down his book, Roc and Scamper observed it was time for a debate. "Let's agree that it could possibly be a dragon, alright, how would one live this long dragons according to all tales went extinct thousands of years ago before the founding of the kingdom or the Last War." Trouble brought up a logical point. "What if he's been hiding, if the stories are true and humans slayed the dragons then founded the city states then it's also possible one escaped and went into a thousand year hibernation." Louis explained and Trouble groaned. "You're talking only in theoretical you need your argument to have some grounding in reality Rookie we can't operate this unit on maybe and fairy tales." Trouble argued and Louis sighed, he knew the lore, lore always came from somewhere even if it got twisted over the tellings there was always a grain of truth. "Alright." Louis conceded and Trouble scoffed raising his book. "What if a dragon egg survived and it was dormant until something caused it to hatch?" Louis postured and Trouble lowered his book again. "It matches with the motive of stealing food but not taking lives, it also explains the crying and screaming heard from the mouth of hell, what if we're dealing with a baby dragon which would still be huge by any standard!" Louis had a running theory that even Trouble couldn't simply dismiss. "Alright fine, we will add, baby dragon to the list of possibilities." Trouble was tired of arguing with Louis it got him nowhere and just made his head hurt. Roc walked over and gave Louis a pat on the shoulder. "I've never seen a Rookie win an argument with Trouble, you are something else." He tossed Scamper a coin and Scamper caught it happily "Always knew betting on you was the right thing." Scamper chuckled and Louis frowned, were these three really that money obsessed? "If it is a baby dragon... what do we do with it?" Louis asked and Trouble grumbled in frustration. "Kill it." Roc answered but Louis shook his head. "How can we condemn a baby for doing what it needs to survive, would you slay a human child for crying and eating?" Louis protested and Roc considered. "Tame it!" Scamper was already thinking of harnesses and such to ride it with. "Again, a baby, we can't imprison it or kill it." Louis sighed not quite understanding how they didn't see this like he did. "If it IS a baby dragon." Kirsty appeared in the window rolling her eyes at Louis. "I'll adopt it and raise it to replace you." Trouble snorted and Roc chuckled but Louis nodded in agreement. "Deal." He said raising his left hand as a show of vote. "Morons." Kirsty mumbled. "So I'm guessing you've all come to a conclusion, NOT WOLF, anyone want to share?" Kirsty motioned for Louis to sit when she asked. "Popular PLAUSIBLE theory is that it's a tribe of ferals possibly the size of a city." Trouble reported and Louis raised his hand. "What?" Trouble looked at Louis with minor disdain. "What are ferals?" Louis knew what a feral animal was, wild and undomesticated, but the way that Trouble used that word. "Feral." Roc swallowed. "Is what they call beastmen who live outside of the kingdom they are, much more primal in nature and often have a disregard for rules and structure they are a natural enemy of any town because they take and do as they please." Roc explained and Louis nodded figuring that dealing with Ferals had to be hard for a beastman like Kirsty or Roc. "Not only that but most people believe that all ferals have a giant beast as their leader, a Beast God." Scamper spoke with wonder in his voice. "A beast so advanced that it has learned how to communicate and grown to fearsome sizes!" Scamper raised his hand, along with Louis's which he was holding. "That would make sense because I got a hold of this." Kirsty produced from her pack a scroll, unfurling it a large imprint was recorded on it the footprint was massive and had four claws facing forward and a back claw like a bird or a lizard. "See it's a!" Louis jumped at the sight of the imprint. "A reptile beast god." Trouble overpowered him in the conversation. "It's very plausible that a reptile beast god who has black scale coloration is leading a group of ferals in ransacking nearby farms to feed their population." Trouble nodded and Kirsty nodded but Louis crossed his arms. "That could easily be a dragon's foot print." He objected and Kirsty kicked him in the face knocking him over. "If we're all done being stupid today, tomorrow we set out in search of this print and see if it leads anywhere, Boss gave us a week deadline so we should bag this thing in two to three more days I like to be ahead of schedule, and NO MORE SIDE PROJECTS." Kirsty shouted and Scamper stood up saluting. "Yes captain." He saluted using Louis's limp left hand. Kirsty just gave a disgusted look and sighed leaving through the door. "Meeting adjourned." She returned to her room and Louis looked down seeing the plate of roast beef. "Good that someone is the voice of reason..." Trouble shut his book and rolled over into bed, eager to get a start to some actual deductive reasoning in the morning. "Hey I think it could be a dragon, if it is maybe Kirsty will let me ride it when she adopts it." Scamper continued to work on the hand "I don't care what it is, let's just be done with this place, it makes my down itchy." Roc sat on his bed sleeping while sitting much as a bird would. Louis frowned, standing up and opening the door he walked over to Kirsty's room and knocked. "What, do, you, want?" Kirsty poked her head through the door. Louis handed her a plate of roast beef and walked back to the room, he wasn't really fitting in with the troupe he seemed to be the idealist While the three slept the open window let in a cool February breeze but also the wails of a creature high up in the hills, hauntingly hollow wails that froze your blood and put your mind on pause. The four boys and Kirsty woke up and headed directly for the gate to Beryl looking at a covered print in the ground, the edges still raised. "Alright." Kirsty turned to the group. "Find any matching prints and track their direction, note the single claw is in the back so if it is pointing that way turn around." Kirsty instructed and all four saluted with a yes captain Louis just doing his guard salute. Roc took off right after they saluted and Trouble wouldn't talk to Louis leaving, Scamper who proudly held an improved prosthetic arm. "I present to you, the Wolf's Bite mark two!" Scamper declared and Louis clapped with one hand. "I spent all night replacing the rod frame with cogs and gears so now you will be able to move the fingers." Scamper demonstrated by flipping the hand over. "On the bottom of the hand there are seven buttons that work as switches Scamper pressed one and the pinky began to curl. "Press the button down to make the finger corresponding close, press it up to make it open, you can control all five fingers independently." Scamper demonstrated waving to Louis with his own left hand. Louis was impressed he didn't imagine something so practical the way that Scamper talked. "You said seven buttons, what are the other two for?" Louis asked accepting the hand and placing it back into its anchors, locking it into place. "Emergency release and rotation." Scamper explained and Louis raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you saw the safe in the boss's old place, I designed that, it works off of a pressure plate spring release so your hand does the very same except it works like that and in reverse." Scamper checked to make sure that the arm was secure. "See in the palm there?" Scamper pointed to a raised indent in the left hand's palm. "If you press on that plate it will cause the fingers to snap shut grabbing whatever is inside your hand, watch!" Scamper pulled a sword out and struck the hand making Louis flinch in response. The sound of metal snapping could be heard as Louis's prosthetic hand snapped the blade between its iron fingers. "Press the sixth button to release and reset the fingers to resting." Scamper demonstrated pressing the button, shards of metal falling from the hand. "I've also increased the grip so you will be able to stop weapons and hold two handed weapons in a single hand, provided you can lift the weapon." Louis nodded feeling that arm had gained a few pounds. "You mentioned rotation, this thing isn't going to spin is it?" Louis asked and Scamper laughed. "No do me a favor turn your right hand without turning your wrist face your palm away from you." Scamper urged Louis to follow instructions and he did, turning his right hand away but having to turn his entire arm to do so. "Without a wrist joint your reflexes are diminished so I implemented a ball bearing joint system that will rotate your wrist however you swing your hand." Scamper explained and grabbed Louis's arm swinging it away from him the hand turning to face away. "Now with a flick you can spin your hand towards a different direction but press button seven?" Scamper pressed the button and the hand snapped back. "Useful for yanking things away once you've caught them." Scamper was incredibly proud of the work and Louis was really satisfied. "Alright, you did what I asked so you can look at my arm anytime you want." Louis promised and scamper nodded. "Thank's for the offer but I'm gonna stick to building new hands and... well your little request got me thinking, would it be possible to build an entire human made of iron?" Scamper had a wild look in their tiny fire dot eyes Louis himself was intrigued. "Well tell you what Scamper, anytime you need help let me know I'm willing to lend whatever aid I can to such a noble project." Louis shook Scampers hand and the two agreed to build a new lifeform together. Once Louis was more accustomed to his Wolf's Fang mark two he began searching for signs of the dragon, climbing was easy with his new hand, the weight made it a perfect anchor and in most substances he could make gripping points by stabbing the fingers in anything he couldn't he could grip with enough strength to lift himself. Louis searched the hills and the cliffs for any sign of a similar print. There was no such print, he ventured far away from the town to find anything but came up dry.. Louis searched his corner until noon, the troupe meeting back up by the gate. None of them had found any additional prints, they were beginning to wonder if that print was genuine or did someone plant it to convince others that there was a giant lizard, or a dragon. "This was pointless." Trouble groaned not accustomed to coming up dry. "Our mission is to kill the monster pillaging the farms, which is difficult if we can't find the damn thing." Roc grumbled ruffling his feathers up. "Maybe we're looking in the wrong place?" Scamper scanned the area wearing a pair of optical enhancing goggles of his own design. "Where else would we look, the thing takes the cattle and carries it off into the woods, it's not complicated!" Trouble barked and Scamper made a rude gesture with his hand. "It doesn't make any sense..." Kirsty pondered the confusion ignoring her men bickering like children. "What if it took the cattle up but then it came back in a way that nobody would suspect, what if they're not hiding in the forest or the cliffs?" Louis proposed and the others looked at him. "That would mean they're in the town hiding in plain sight, which is impossible!" Trouble retorted. "Why?" Louis asked not sure how it was impossible. "Because we would have known, we're trained experts at finding things that stick out and concealing ourselves we know the tricks!" Trouble responded and Louis thought about it, they were very good at dissapearing and hiding. "What if they aren't sticking out?" Louis replied and Trouble nearly lunged at him Roc holding him back. "What do you mean wolf, how does a monster capable of making a footprint like that not stick out when hiding in a town full of humans?" Roc struggled holding Trouble back with his one arm. "Well the footprint could be fake, dug to look like something when it's not, that would explain why it was partially covered in or not completely dug out." Louis explained and Roc considered the option. "You mean we're getting the run around?" Scamper waddled over giving up searching. "But why?" Scamper removed his goggles, his tiny flame eyes narrowing in on Louis. "Yes Wolf, why pay us to find a monster that doesn't exist?" Trouble pushed Roc away and regained his composure. "I don't know, I'm not really good with money..." Louis admitted and Trouble scoffed, Scamper and Roc laughing. "A mercenary who's bad with money, that's got to be the funniest thing I've heard all day." The three responded in unison. Louis frowned, he didn't like being the center of attention or the butt of the joke. "How much are they paying us anyway?" Louis never asked what he'd be taking home from this, not that he cared or could understand it. "Two hundred per person." Kirsty responded knowing the details. "Wow that's a lot, and the town has to pay it?" Louis whistled two hundred was a big number let alone five two hundreds. "Not right now, the town has to pay it when taxes are collected." Kirsty explained and her ears went rigid. "Because if they don't have the money right now there's no way they could pay all the adventurers..." Kirsty's tail began to flicker and she started to think more closely about the situation. "Okay?" Louis didn't understand but he didn't think he was supposed to understand. "What happens if we can't fix their problem?" Louis continued and Roc took over as Kirsty contemplated something privately. "Basically we get nothing, which is a best case scenario, usually if a request can't be completed it means that someone died and they withdraw the request out of respect or no one is brave enough to try again." Roc explained and Louis nodded. "Luckily this is a first time request, so nobody has been eaten by a dragon." Roc joked and Trouble scoffed. "Ha ha." Louis gave a mock laugh and looked to Kirsty who seemed really perturbed by his previous questioning. "Why cows?" Louis thought to himself, Trouble overhearing and coming down on him. "What else would a quaint farming village be full of unicorns?" Trouble took the time to get his shots in but Louis ignored him. "No I mean why cows, cows are heavy and hard to move unless you're big enough to lift them or patient enough to heard them, wild pigs or deer would be much easier game and more abundant it doesn't make sense for a group of ferals to pillage cows instead of hunt normally, not to mention no one would get in trouble if they hunted." Louis explained and Roc shook his head. "These forests belong to the king, you can't hunt here without permission, that's why Ferals have to steal, they refuse to live under the rule of the kingdom and hunting would get them the attention of the royal army, the worst pillaging small farms like this will bring is adventurers." Roc pointed to the farms. "Cities have guards, towns like this have militia made up of farmers using hoes as weapons the difference is major when it comes to picking a target." Roc then pointed to the woods and cliffs. "With plenty of hiding places it can be years before a militia can find you but it's only a few days before a guard or a soldier and a few hours before a knight could find you." Louis nodded impressed by Roc's knowledge. "How do you know all this?" Louis asked and everyone looked at him. "I used to be a feral until I got caught, I was going to be executed but apparently being a beastman does have one silver lining, people are eager to buy and sell you once you get caught so instead of executed I was purchased by the boss and I'm her slave." Roc casually explained and Louis nodded. "It's good that you weren't executed you're a very talented scout." Louis smiled to Roc and he cocked his head slightly just looking at Louis. "Yeah, thanks." Roc seemed shaken and Scamper was quick to interject. "Alright so all these hypotheses revolve around a simple concept, that there is no monster pillaging the farms, by which then I ask what in the blue hell are we doing here then?" Scamper had no interest if there was no pay. "Trying to fix a problem, but the question is, what is the problem?" Kirsty finally spoke standing up. "I think we're looking at the wrong things, the only consistent thing about this entire mission is that nothing has been consistent." Kirsty began to explain. "The first night we arrived the inn was full of adventurers now, nobody, everyone we talked to said a different creature did it and they can't agree on a form only a color, and has anyone else noticed how cold the town is to adventurers after the first night?" Kirsty was piecing something together but it so far eluded her. "Everyone I offered to help said they couldn't or won't pay me even though I didn't want any money, I can understand why they'd hate adventurers apparently they've been bleeding the town dry." Louis added his bit and Kirsty looked directly at him her eyes locking on. "Couldn't or wouldn't?" She repeated and Louis nodded. "It's starting to make sense but it's just a theory I need proof." Kirsty began to walk away leaving the other four to stare at each other in curiosity. The troupe returned to the Inn which was full again, it seemed every night that the inn was bursting to the seems but only Louis and his group were actually staying there. Louis looked at the innkeeper with suspicion, would such a nice man lie to him like that? Louis shook his head, lying was something bad people did good people never lied. Louis and the troupe returned to the room. Louis and Scamper left together a little later going behind the inn to practice with the wolf fang mark two. Scamper built some dummies out of scrap wood and Louis practiced the gripping and ripping features of the device. With little effort Louis tore the poorly constructed arms off the dummies. "This won't be that powerful on a human will it?" Louis grimaced and Scamper laughed. "Depends on if they let go or stand stationary your force is amplified if the target is not moving otherwise physics dictate youd pull them along." Scamper explained and Louis nodded in agreement with no actual understanding. "Most people will let go of their weapon or get thrown to the ground." Scamper noticed Louis's cluelessness and re-explained. "Why do all this for me?" Louis asked looking at his arm, the wolf's fang mark two. "Because you asked, if that's not enough, no one's ever asked me to design a hand before so it was a new and original idea, see people think in these tiny boxes and people who don't think in those boxes are labeled crazy or unstable but I like to think outside that box and your request and your thought patterns are outside that box." Scamper pointed at Louis. "You see a problem and think, how can I fix this, other people see a problem and oh no a problem!" Scamper smirked to Louis. "Me and you wolf, we're fixers, others are worriers so it's natural that we fixers help each other out so we can fix more