“Yeah, sometimes small things come attached to big packages, too,” Dero said, eyeing Tybalt up and down skeptically.

  Rather than get embarrassed, he just snorted quietly as if trying not to laugh.

  “Sometimes,” he said, looking annoyingly smug despite having been implicitly insulted.

  He’s probably too dumb to appreciate my brilliance.

  Then the human stepped back and faced the foxgirl. He gently took her hand in his.

  “With that taken care of, Victoria, do you want to resume our outing…?”

  Oh, they’re together, Dero realized instantly. The body language made it obvious in retrospect. He had pulled her slightly closer to him when he took her hand. She, on the other hand, blushed at his touch but showed no desire at all to move away. That’s cute. Good for them. That was why he played it cool. Trying to look good in front of his girl. I really would have thought he was with the other one, just based on how he and the catgirl both seem to be killers. The foxgirl really doesn’t have the aura of one. Opposites attract, but if centuries in this world have taught me anything, it’s similarity that sticks together.

  Dero looked over at the catgirl and saw the archer was watching the human and foxgirl with what looked like envy. Then she straightened up her expression, as if she had somehow sensed Dero’s eyes on her without ever turning to look in the elf’s direction.

  All right, these people are fucking weird! The human might not even be the weirdest one. The dark elf felt a sense of low-grade excitement at even the little things happening around her that she didn’t fully understand. It was all just new, in an intriguing way.

  Dero stepped away from the human and foxgirl. Victoria was telling Tybalt in a sickeningly cute way that they shouldn’t continue their date, because they had a feast to attend - sickeningly cute because she sounded like she genuinely wanted to continue. The elf decided to give them some space and allowed Carlos to fuss over her for a minute. It didn’t last long, mostly because she didn’t have a scratch on her, but it gave her a little space to think in silence without it seeming unnatural.

  Maybe these people are the ones who can make my next few years a little more interesting. I was already planning on parting ways with Carlos until we happen to run into each other again. I’ll miss Stella’s baking, but the world is too large for me to only go where there’s trading to be done. And there’s at least some sort of minor mystery to figure out here.

  She looked at the ground almost absently.

  I guess, if there was no void magic involved, or some other form of teleportation that’s not connected to that, he could maybe have moved the bodies underground using earth magic, but he doesn’t have the feel of an earth mage. The aura that surrounds him seems more… like mine. Neither earth magic nor void magic would explain that magic mist or the way the figures in the mist seemed to multiply from one to a handful and then randomly disappeared in the end.

  Once upon a time, Dero had vowed to herself that she would unlock all the secrets of the world’s magic, to accomplish a certain goal. That was all but forgotten now, so many years - centuries? - later but the residue of that commitment still lingered in her psyche.

  As she contemplated, she turned and realized that while she had been entertaining Carlos, the bodies of all the other giant scorpions had disappeared.

  “What the fuck?!” she swore under her breath. “How? I was right fucking here! I was watching. I mean, my back was to the bodies, but I was definitely keeping the human in my field of vision. And he’s just over there. If he used mana, I would have sensed it…”

  “Dero? Is something wrong?” Carlos asked.

  As he asked the question, the falcon from earlier swooped down and landed on Dero’s shoulder.

  “Oh, hey, Summer,” she said quietly. “At least you’re not trying to hide things right in front of my eyes like you think I’m an idiot.” She cooed at the bird, then reached into one pocket of her long coat and drew out a chicken drumstick. The rats had gotten to the food, but the bright side of that was that the men hadn’t wanted to touch the meat the beasts had nibbled.

  Falcons had no such qualms.

  The bird eagerly gobbled the meat, and she stroked its feathers.

  “There you go, beautiful,” she said in a low voice.

  From the edge of her awareness, she sensed the human separate from his girlfriend and start to walk over.

  “I guess you’re all right,” Carlos said after a moment.

  “I’m fine, Carlos. Give me a few minutes with the guy who’s walking over, yeah?”

  “Sure. I’m going to start working on unloading the carts with the men who were supposed to be keeping us safe.” He turned and began to walk away.

  The dark elf was left alone to meet the rapidly approaching human.

  She turned as he drew near, giving him a little surprise. He probably thought his footsteps were difficult to hear in the sand- and they were- but she didn’t need her conventional senses to know his location.

  “Can I talk to you for a minute, um, Dero?” Tybalt asked.

  “I’m all ears,” Dero replied, gesturing to the long, pointy things that jutted out from either side of her head, inches longer than a human’s. His lip quirked slightly, as if he was trying not to smile.

  “Thank you for your help earlier,” he said.

  “Oh, no, thank you. You definitely cut the kill time down by a few seconds. I might have gotten sand in my clothes if you hadn’t made it.”

  His mouth twisted into a sort of involuntary smile. “I’m glad you survived. Anyway, um, this is a bit strange to say out loud, but I think you have my falcon.”

  “Oh, no, I think he’s his own bird. Summer, do you know this man?” The falcon actually pulled slightly in Tybalt’s direction until Dero stroked it. She was slightly surprised but avoided showing it on her face.

  Elves were naturally good with animals and nature - well, Dero had never had a green thumb, but she was a dark elf, not a wood elf - and she had always found it easy to charm wild creatures. It was a little surprising that any animal would have interest in a human when it was around her.

  He must have actually treated the falcon well.

  “You… You gave him a name?” The human was incredulous. “Um, how long have you had him?”

  Dero smiled to herself. “Well, you wouldn’t want me to just call him ‘bird’ all the time, would you?” She pointedly didn’t answer the second question.

  “His name is Valmont.”

  “I don’t know, he really seemed like more of a ‘Summer’ to me.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Based on what, exactly?”

  “Um, I don’t know, his personal preferences? If you cared.”

  “That’s not even a male name - wait, are you saying you can talk to animals?”

  “If I did, would you believe me?” She gave him a teasing look.

  “I guess I should be careful about listening to strangers making outrageous claims,” Tybalt replied. He sounded suddenly bored, and for some reason, that irked her slightly.

  “I’ll tell you what, if you tell me what was going on inside that mist, I’ll ask Summer to go with you, even though it would break my heart to part with him.”

  “Nah,” the human said. “You seem like you’re keeping him properly. I saw you give him a bit of meat before, and he’s clearly comfortable with you. Take care, Summer!” He bowed his head lightly to his bird, and the creature spread its wings and let out a shrill cry as if it wanted to go with the human.

  Dero lightly shushed it, and the falcon calmed.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to give me just a little hint?” she asked, turning back to Tybalt. “Your secrets are that precious to you?”

  The more you don’t tell me, the more I want to know, she thought, slightly amused at herself. On a deeper level, she began to wonder what was going on in these mountains. What was this man up to? Didn’t the humans of Niet generally hate beastfolk and abuse them? The foxgirl who had been with him didn’t exactly look like she was throwing herself at Tybalt, but she was definitely interested. Not being held against her will or pressured into spending time with him, unless she was a great actress.

  “I don’t really believe in attachment to worldly things like animal companions,” the human said calmly, in a voice that made it hard to tell his real meaning. “We’re all going to Death God Mudo eventually. Even you.”

  Is that like a subtle threat? Or just trying to suggest that he and I are on the same level? What is he getting at? Not actually a religious angle, right?

  “Eventually,” she replied. “But I’ll watch ten generations of your descendants live and die before I have to worry about it.”

  For the first time, he looked really annoyed by what Dero had said. It was a little bit satisfying, since he had been trying to act much cooler and more mature than he conceivably was. The elf still wasn’t perfect at gauging human ages visually. They all just seemed like they had one foot in the grave to her, once they were old enough to be taller than she was. But Tybalt looked young, vital, and much too energetic to be so calm and collected.

  “You know, I didn’t realize that skin tone occurred on living things,” he said after a moment, looking at Dero’s violet pallor with a raised eyebrow. “Only corpses.”

  All dark elves look like this… or they did. I guess it doesn’t occur on living things. Funny. Good observation there.

  “I guess you don’t get out much,” she said, shaking her head. “You’ve never even seen a dark elf before. Sad. Maybe never left your village? Wait, you’re not actually a beastfolk, are you? Sorry, I thought I was talking to the back part of a horse for a minute.”

  “So this is what a dark elf is like. Short, sarcastic, shrimpy. I always thought elves were sort of tall, willowy, and graceful.”

  You will not win this, human. Even though… I have to give that at least a seven or eight out of ten for insults from someone who just met me. People aren’t usually that good at putting it into a few words.

  “I already knew humans were dumb, but you’re making a strong case that it’s because your nutrients all go to physical size instead of brain development.”

  “Well, you’re- ” He looked her up and down. “Wait, what’s that tattoo?”

  “Magic runes,” Dero replied without checking where his gaze had wandered. She only had one tattoo, just above her sex, and only the top of it was visible above the hem of her skirt. “Also, my eyes are up here. Well, down here for you, you fucking giant. But definitely not that low.”

  The human blushed - actually blushed - which made her wonder if he had actually been ogling her in a sexual way, rather than just looking for new fodder for insults. She didn’t actually care about people looking at her as long as they didn’t try to grab her, so she might have missed it if he was gazing at her more intently than average.

  “What do the magic runes do?” he asked, apparently shrugging off every word they had just exchanged.

  So you’re a mage too. I guess I knew that already. Doesn’t answer my questions, but now that I know he’s interested in the tattoo, maybe I can trade some runes for a few of his secrets. Just enough to answer my curiosity.

  “None of your fucking business,” she replied instantly.

  Considering the tattoo is located right over my womb, what do you think it does?

  “Real friendly, aren’t you?”

  “I have centuries to make friends, so I’m more selective than you humans.”

  “You’re a bitch,” he said, but he was smiling and looked like he wanted to laugh.

  “Takes one to know one,” she replied.

  Damn, I could have done better than that! I reacted too fast.

  “I can’t imagine you have an easy time making friends.”

  “I can. I’m not always keen on it. You humans die too quickly to make it worthwhile.”

  “Fair. I can’t imagine the devastation someone would feel, being deprived of my company forever. Better to protect yourself from having real feelings.”

  Dero clicked her tongue. “I don’t know why that foxgirl bothers giving you her time. You seem like you only know how to love your own reflection. Pretty grumpy. And boring, too.”

  He met her eyes and gave her a long, intense look. His green eyes seemed to sparkle in the dying desert light, but the dark elf managed to more or less ignore that. Dero focused on not breaking eye contact for the duration of the staring contest. The instinct was to look away, but that was when you lost the primitive human dominance competition. She felt her heart beat a little bit faster as she waited for him to look away first.

  “Liar,” he said quietly.

  She wondered if her face had given something away. What was it that I said before? What does he think I was lying about? For a few seconds, she spaced out, trying to remember.

  Oh. When I said I thought he was boring. Yeah… Yeah, that’s fair. He’s not that.

  “Do you want to come to the feast we’re having in a little bit?” he asked.

  “You… want to invite me to dinner?”

  “It’s not my event. Not like I control who comes. You and your merchant friend would probably be invited anyway. Victoria said he’s one of her people’s few human, um, friends? Allies? That’s why we came down in response to his distress signal. We wanted to help. As for the feast, I said it’s not my event, but I guess it is kind of for me. Wouldn’t want you to be surprised and disappointed by that. Well, in me and my fiancee’s honor.”

  “Oh, you and she are that serious?” Dero looked over at the foxgirl, slightly surprised. They had seemed like they liked each other, but not necessarily like they were in love yet. “Well, um, fucking congratulations!”

  “Um, yes and no,” Tybalt said. “Different woman, but I am also courting Victoria. And her sister Vidalia. Them and my fiancee Mariella.”

  Dero just blinked at him for a few seconds, processing.

  Humans are fucking dogs. Three different women on his dick, and he’s sort of flirting with me? I think? What a perverted man. I mean, good for him that he can get away with it, but seriously…

  “Who the fuck are you?” she asked after a moment.

  “Tybalt. Of Greentear.” He gave her a smirk, and she knew he was thinking of some sort of old-age-forgetfulness joke.

  Before he could unleash that undoubtedly cringe-inducing attempt at humor, Dero spoke up.

  “Not that, dumbass. Why are you so important you get to court three women?”

  It was his turn to blink in surprise. “Polygamy is really common for the beastfolk and among human nobility.” A smile crossed his lips. “As for whether I’m important, I’d let the other guests at dinner fill you in. I guess you’re part of the circle of trust, so they’ll probably tell you whatever you want to know.”

  I will deliberately not ask them, just because you clearly want me to… I can figure out whatever significance you have on my own. Also, with your personality, you’re undoubtedly keeping back a lot of secrets from the people around you. And is this guy trying to say he’s a fancy bigshot among the humans?

  “Why would you invite me?” she asked after a moment.

  “You’re amusing enough.”

  “What? Like a jester, I amuse you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Sorry, I have a line forming for that.”

  She burst out laughing. Yeah, that was good. Maybe it was just the timing.

  “I don’t need your pity food, human. I’m- ” She was about to say she wasn’t hungry, when her treacherous stomach growled again.

  “All right, see you tonight,” Tybalt said.

  “Maybe. Whatever.”