Friday Post

Happy Friday everyone! Had a small break last week, now back to creating! Enjoy!

NAILHA

The kitchen was large enough to constitute a double door entrance, and I stood there, awkwardly, waiting for someone to notice me. What had seemed like a slow morning outside was quickly proving to be misleading with the crowded, almost frantic kitchen atmosphere. Everywhere people were attending their tasks with brisk efficiency. Bread was being formed into small loaves, eggs and ham were being prepared. Across the room, toward the back, three men were processing an entire pig.

"Who the hell are you?"

I startled out of my busy thoughts to find a mid thirties woman staring at me with something akin to disgust. Carrying two wooden buckets, she was dressed in a fine linen uniform, neatly pressed. The delicately spiraled curls of her blond hair bound up on the top of her head and covered with a neat little cap. She narrowed her heavily lashed lids.

"Nailha Monaris, I am to report here to be assigned to duties starting this morning. I'm looking for Ms. Whelbrat."

"She's over there," the woman gestured across the room. A tall middle aged woman was giving directions to the butchers, she had striking black hair, tucked and braided but without a cap, and cheekbones sharp enough to cut stone. "But I don't advise you interrupt, she's a bit cranky before breakfast."

She did look a little put out, and the tone she was lecturing the butchers with brooked no argument.

"I'll wait," I answered, no need to make enemies straight out of the gate.

"Great, then get out of the fucking way," the blond snarled.

I raised a brow at her, but stepped just outside the door, allowing her to pass.

I didn't let the tone get to me, I grew up in a girl's orphanage, if a little snarling got to me I'd have never made it. Besides, I was early, I didn't have to report in until mid morning.

The air outside the door was noticeably cooler, and I found myself drawn to a group of youth, several feet away they had emerged in the short time I was inside and were hunkered down over something between them.

"You got that one Onen, but you'll never beat Gerv, he's the champ, and you're just a loser," one of the boys taunted.

There were four of them, and as I got nearer I could see a pile of bones on the ground beneath them. A game, but I wasn't familiar with it. One boy, the smallest of the group tossed up a bone gathering up the rest that lay scattered on the ground, five or six, from what I could see, before catching the air-bound bone again. A tight smile graced his small lips.

"Big deal," the tallest of the boys laughed. He grabbed the bones and performed the same maneuver. "You think you're something special?" he snarled.

The smaller boy said nothing, just put his hand out.

A little put out by the lack of response the taller boy put the bones in his hand.

I watched, drawing closer as they continued to play, one against the other, the tricks becoming more and more complicated. The final step was announced by the smaller boy.

"Tower," he called and quickly dropped all the bones he had collected into a neat pile.

"War," the other boy challenged. His two cronies were invested now, leaning in over the pile, looks of consternation on their faces. They hadn't expected the smaller boy to get so far, and now, I guessed, given how the tension had thickened, he might just win, and inside I was rooting for him.

The older boy grinned, he'd gotten an edge somehow, and reached out pointing to one of the bones near the bottom of the pile.

The three, the challenger and his friends, laughed. They'd gotten some kind of advantage.

Curiously the smaller boy smiled. He leaned forward, studying the pile, then in a move too fast to see, whipped his slender, dexterous fingers down and snatched the piece the other boy had pointed to. Nothing else in the pile moved.

"What?..." one of the others growled.

The small boy ignored them, tossed the bone into the air and easily gathered the entire pile before catching it again. He grinned in satisfaction.

…That is until his competitor, the tall one, growled in rage, the sound becoming animalistic toward the end. Fur sprouted along his arms, dark and wiry. His body convulsed and shifted, muscles churning.

Shit. He was shifting. I didn't know what type of shifter he was, but by the bulk of his ever expanding shoulders I didn't think it would be good.

The smaller boy's face fell into concern, and then fear. He scrambled back toward the nearby wall, dropping the bones to his feet.

Clothing stretched and tore, something I would guess the older boy was going to be in a great deal of trouble for later, but for now he was too angry, too caught up in his emotions, and the shift exploded from him until a heavy figure the size of a large hound stood before me.

Double shit. Badger. Gods damned stubborn, over-reactive...

He stalked forward, the low growl menacing, hackles raised, beady black eyes hard and furious.

The smaller boy scrambled back now, eyes wide and alarmed, in his hurry the cap listed to the side and I caught sight of something odd. The glimmer of a hairpin...a very feminine hairpin.

The smaller boy wasn't a boy at all, and now she'd enraged a badger. She wouldn't be able to defend herself against that.

"Gerv, maybe we should just let him go..." one of the cronies wavered, his hands up toward the beast as he backed away.

The badger snarled in response, stalking forward until the girl had herself pressed against the wall, her eyes searching desperately for some means of escape. They landed on me, where I stood, frozen.

She was young, thirteen, maybe fourteen, with pale hair and bright blue eyes, freckles dotted across her nose. The heavy lashes and full lips hinted at her future beauty, and her panicked expression made it clear she'd had no idea what she was getting herself into.

"Gerv!" I shouted with all the authority I could muster. The badger hesitated, not expecting interference. "You will get control over yourself this second and you will leave that boy alone."

The boys turned to me, and I straightened, doing my best to look like I wasn't bluffing out of my ass. The badger, Gerv, puffed out and bared his teeth.

Not good. He was in a rage and if I didn't snap him out of it someone was going to get hurt.

"I don't want to have to tell your mother," I warned as I began skirting my way around the group, slowly placing myself between them and the girl, who stood frozen against the wall.

"Gerv doesn't have a mother," one of the boys interjected helpfully.

"Surely he has someone he answers to," he must, because my threat had gotten to him somehow. He was looking at me now, since I was blocking the girl, and I could see his hesitation. "You need to learn how manage your anger," I told him, "you cant be bursting into a badger every time you lose, not only is it wrong, but one day your opponent will be bigger than you and that, my friend, is a good way to get yourself killed."

I had more to say, but in that moment the courtyard fell into shadow. The sudden silence was broken by wing-beats and I looked up to find a dragon descending upon us. He was a magnificent creature with dark blue scales tipped at the edges with silver. It reminded me of a midnight sky, if the sky was bringing all it's wrath down upon you. From below I could see that the chest and throat of the beast had a disruption in the scales, like a dry riverbed twisting it’s way through forest of blue. The boys paled, even Gerv slunk lower to the ground, his form suddenly wavering. From behind me I thought I heard a muttered 'shit'.

In a move of undeniable grace the dragon lowered himself into the yard, shifting as his feet hit the ground. He was massive, three times as tall as me and so long the courtyard felt small, each and every part of him a tribute to perfection…except the scar, for that’s what I now recognized it was, which crawled from his chest and neck up over his jaw, and spider-webbed over the lower left side of his face. One of the many branches reached as far as the dragon’s left eye, leaving it glazed over and blind.

A corner of the beasts lip rose, revealing fangs longer than my arm before its skin roiled.

And then, in a blink, I stood before the most dangerous looking man I'd ever laid eyes on. He was tall, well over six feet and in fighting shape, as most of the higher shifter's tended to be. Tanned skin suggested plenty of hours outside, his black hair was slightly ruffled, and furious blue eye pierced through me. The scar didn’t allow for beauty, it pulled at the edges of his lip and the corner of his eye, forcing a perpetual sneer, but there was something more about him because of it. He was…magnetic, was the only word my flustered mind could come up with.

And naked. He was naked. Which made sense since he'd just shifted, I supposed.

Before me badger Gerv had shrunk, quickly, but not nearly as seamlessly, forming back into his human form.

"What is this?" the dragon demanded, flashing white teeth, not in a smile but a definite threat.

The boys froze in fear, I almost felt sorry for them

"A game of...er.." I began my explanation.

"skinners," the voice behind me whispered.

"A game of skinners that got a bit too competitive," I straightened. It was difficult because the dragon man was bearing down on me, the intensity of his stare frightening enough that my heart thundered in my chest. What had I gotten myself into? I was going to be fired, before I even had a chance.

He stopped, about a foot away, and studied me. The brow of his good eye lifted.

"You were part of this?"

"Ah..."

"No, she just stepped in when Gerv shifted, to protect me," the voice behind me was resigned and the girl wandered into the open, her expression contrite.

The dragon looked at her, his lips pressed into a frown.

"Availine, we've had this discussion..."

"Availine...?" a young male voice squeaked.

Poor Gerv, he stared at the girl, his eyes wide with horror.

"Yes, the girl you nearly attacked is my sister, Availine Vandaven. State your defense, if you have one."

"I...I...didn't know, sir, I swear," Gerv stuttered, tears sprung to his eyes, adding a pathetic flare to him, especially given his naked state.

I did feel a little sorry for him now. He was young and stupid, a little full of himself, but facing a dragon was well beyond him.

"That's the trouble isn't it? You didn't know your opponent, yet you attacked over losing a game."

"He...She cheated!"

She had?

The dragon man's gaze flashed to his sister, who flinched involuntarily.

"Regardless," he told Gerv, "if you're ready to shift and fight for it, then you're ready to die for it."

A wave of shock flowed through Gerv. The same wave that shot through me, no doubt.

"You can't..." I began, but I was silenced by a warning glare.

"When we shift our most primal instincts take over. Logic, or the rules of real life fade and we make decision based on our animals. Do you want the badger to control your life? You'll have to be prepared for the consequences."

"N..No, sir," Gerv was definitely rethinking a few life choices.

"You're lucky this woman stepped in, even I cannot spare the consequences if you had so much as touched Availine. You will thank her now."

Gerv blinked at me, "...thank you."

"I know your father depends on your wages here, so I will not fire you...yet." If relief had an avatar it would be Gerv in that moment. The fight and tension went out of him and he almost looked as if he would collapse. "You will report to Mr. Lupire, he will have extra duties for you to help teach you control. You will do these duties without complaint and thank him for them. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir." Gerv nodded.

"Then go."

The boys took off without looking back, Gerv's naked backside disappearing around the back of one of the outbuildings. The courtyard had gained onlookers since the incident began. People stood, well back along the wall and buildings. In the kitchen the staff was crowded at the doorway.

"Terran..." the girl started.

"Later," the dragon...Terran, snapped. He turned to me, his eyes narrowed and he studied me for a long moment. "Thank you for your prudence ms?..."

"Monaris."

"You are new here?"

"I am to start this morning, sir."

He looked around, picking Ms. Whelbrat out of the crowd at the kitchen door. "You're charge, I assume?"

"Er...yes, she would be."

Terran nodded. "See to it that she is well set up."

Ms. Whelbrat nodded, but her lips turned downward in a tight frown. "Yes, M'lord."

"Come, Availine," Terran gestured to the gate. "Let's get you inside before Magrus finds out."

Availine stepped away from me, but turned at the last moment. "You weren't even going to sell me out," she told me. "I like you, come visit me sometime."

"Availine," Terran warned and she gave a small smile, slipping into pace beside her brother. Then they walked from the courtyard, leaving me standing, the new center of attention.

"Well," Ms. Whelbrat huffed. "I don't know why you're all standing around like a bunch of layabouts, but we've got a meal to set and duties to see to. Ms. Monaris, come along, let's get you settled."