>>5481722Silence reigns then. The music around you in nothing, distant, gone. There is only the hammering of your heart, then sound of the sharply-drawn breath of the female in your arms—your dearest one, your oldest rival. Your Novice. Your Sseztlussth.
“Th-this affliction…” she begins.
“It is not an affliction,” you correct her.
“I can fix it!” she insists. “I can remedy it! It is a defect of your mind—that damn mammalian taint! You will be okay, better than okay. I will—”
“I do not require medical attention, Fleshweaver.”
The Novice’s mouth snaps shut with a click. She stares at you. She looks away. She looks back. She fidgets, as if to free herself from your arms. When you loosen your grip, she doesn’t leave them, but clings tighter to you, as if afraid to lose you.
“What has happened to you?” she whines. “What has happened to my… My stupid little hairy-headed, long-faced mutant freak?”
“You haven’t called me that EXACT string of pejoratives in some time,” you note.
She goes quiet then, and you reach down to stroke her head and neck. She flinches..
>18…But does not smack you away, or flee. Instead, she quietly rattles with laughter.
“The insults remain apt. You are absolutely Degenerate.”
You feel the tension leaving her body.
“…My Degenerate.”
You suppose it is the best you can expect, given the circumstances. The Novice Fleshweaver’s fundamental nature precludes romance—as it YOUR nature should preclude it, if you were ‘right’. She was never going to return your confession. You know that. Declaring your love for the Chaplain’s Daughter was a doomed, foolish errand.
You did it anyway. You’d do it again.
She takes your hand in hers, and gently guides you away from the dance-floor, towards the door.
“I would like to go now,” she says. “Can we please go?”
You allow her to lead you outside, and away, and home. You leave the Archer to his gaiety—he will join you later, you are sure. The others—the Duelist, Jazkarmel, even the new King of Elves—are likewise too occupied to register your departure. You and the Novice travel alone, instead.
She does not release your hand the entire way.
