The Mother of Monsters

Teyva didn’t have time, there weren’t any places to hide in the wide-open room. Instead, Azrael snatched up the linen shirt and moved to toss it over Teyva’s head as the door opened. The two women looked in the direction of the intruding party, wide-eyed and amid their hopeless effort. They had been expecting Elat seeing as he had been their main point of contact for their stay. Instead, a female stood in the doorway. She was smaller than Teyva would have expected; with a youthful face, button nose and her hair combed over to one side, on the other it came down in thick braids ending in silver cuffs. Her tusks were pronounced, with a trio of silver rings on each.

She was carrying a wide tray made of dark wood, two large covered bowls sitting on it. To the right of the bowls was a pale leather satchel that looked full to bursting. The woman hesitated at the door, glancing between the two of them. Azrael still held the shirt in her hand and Teyva was holding onto her horns.

“Am I interrupting something?” She asked, not moving from the doorframe.

Azrael glanced at Teyva and back at the woman. There was no reaction to Teyva’s unusual appearance. The two women put their hands down and shook their heads, dumbstruck. The woman smiled and stepped between them, glancing down at their shoes and back up at them with some surprise. She set down the tray on the floor and sat down to remove her boots.

“For strangers, you seem to be accustomed to our lifestyle,” The woman commented as she set her boots down. She turned around and crossed her legs. Azrael and Teyva exchanged a look with Teyva offering a smug grin. Azrael rolled her eyes and sat up a bit straighter, “I’ve brought you both something to eat, and I’d like to have a look at your wounds.”

“Our wounds?” Teyva asked, she’d already forgotten about the bite from the wolf, it had mostly healed with the thanks of her abilities.

The woman nodded at Teyva’s shoulder, “That’s quite a lot of blood,” She turned to look Azrael over, “And you have quite a few cuts and scrapes as well.”

Teyva scratched the back of her neck; “I heal quick, I think I’ll be fine, thank you though miss…?” She trailed off.

The woman inclined her head to the two of them, “I am Sari, a healer.”

It was Azrael’s turn to ask a question, “You aren’t bothered by us at all? We got quite a few looks coming in.”

Sari shook her head, “Not at all, I traveled on my own quite a bit before rejoining the settlers. I have seen many different people, while your friend is unique she does not frighten me,” She said, reaching for the large sack and opening it. Inside were rolls of clean cloth, vials of what was probably medicine, and other materials. She glanced up at Teyva, "My father warned me about you as well. He said that a 'strange creature' was among our guests."

"Your father?" Teyva asked.

"Elder Yol."

Teyva clicked her tongue, that wily old bastard. She relaxed a little though it was a relief that she didn't scare the first stranger that had seen her. Unable to resist she used her journal.

Teyva’s eyebrows shot up, she was way tougher than she looked. The toughest person she’d met so far. That extra line was a little weird too. Sari got to her feet and walked around behind Teyva and crouched. “Remove your gambeson, please,” Sari insisted, “I would like to see your wound for myself.”

“I’ll be fine-” Teyva began but was cut off when a hand clamped down on her shoulder, fingers digging into the fabric of her gambeson. A sudden shock of pain went through her arm and she winced, “Ow! Shit! Okay, okay!”

Nearby she could sense her Mockeries becoming disgruntled. A few of them began to come out of their hiding places, ready to defend their mother. She willed them back, urging them to remain hidden for now. Sighing she reached up and slid off her top, revealing her bloodied shoulder. The wound had mostly closed thanks to her abilities but it was not fully healed. Sari reached into her bag and opened a bottle, dabbing the fluid inside onto a cloth. Teyva could already guess what was coming, she took a deep breath and exhaled hard when the antiseptic touched her wound, the stinging setting her arm on fire.

“Azari cleansing balm,” Sari said, glancing in Azrael’s direction. Azrael winced in sympathy. “You handle pain well, um…” She trailed off and Teyva realized that the two of them hadn’t introduced themselves either.

“Teyva Akura,” Teyva said, “And this is Azrael Unabi,” she introduced her friend who had gone sniffing around the tray between them, “Yeah, this is nothing.”

Sari finished cleaning the wound and wrapped it tightly with some clean fabric before allowing Teyva to slip her top back on. She cleared her throat at Azrael who was about to lift one of the bowl lids. Azrael sat up and blinked; “Food comes after your injuries have been cleaned and treated, not before,” She said sharply, stepping away from Teyva. She nodded to Teyva and gestured to one of the two bowls. There was a utensil that looked eerily like a spork sitting next to it. She picked up the bowl, it was heavier than she’d expected and opened it.

The smell that came out was glorious, like a mixture of saffron and pepper. Once the steam cleared she saw a bowl full of thick noodles floating in a dark broth. Small cuts of vegetables floated to the surface along with bits and pieces of some sort of white meat. Teyva’s stomach roared at the sight. She’d gotten by with only her ration bars and some of the soup that Azrael made. She scooped up a helping of it and sipped, it was like chicken soup! She let out a groan of delight and began to eat with gusto while Azrael hissed and grunted nearby.

“Oh sit still! It isn’t that bad!” She heard Sari say.

“Speak for yourself!” Azrael barked back.

Teyva shoveled down a few more helpings before Azrael finally got free of Sari and reached for her bowl. The orcish healer started to pack up her things as soon as she was done, moving to the edge of the floor to put her boots back on.

“Thank you,” Teyva said, setting down her bowl.

“It’s nothing,” Sari said, smiling back at her.

Teyva lingered on the woman for a moment before her brain caught up with her. She snapped her fingers and quickly reached for her [Old Satchel] that was still sitting next to the pile she’d made. She reached inside, pulled up the inventory screen, and selected the [Orcish Signet Ring]. She pulled it out and held it up for Sari to see.

“We found this on a wolf back in the forest, do you know who it belongs to?” She asked.

Sari froze, looking the ring over with wide eyes. She got in close and held out her hands, her clear blue eyes sparkling a little bit. “May I see it?”

Teyva handed it over and the healer took it gingerly, rolling it over between her fingers and looking down at the symbol embossed on it. She let out a small breath and looked up at Teyva with a sad smile; “It belonged to my brother-in-law,” She said, “My sister, Ola, is the cook who prepared your meals, her husband was a hunter. He went out hunting with a few of the other men a few days ago but never returned.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Teyva offered.

“Memory eternal,” Azrael said quietly, going back to her food a few moments later.

Sari bowed to them both, “Thank you for returning this, it will mean the world to my sister.”

Teyva smiled and a prompt appeared.

She got specific reputation points with Sari? That was interesting. It was also interesting that she could get reputation with the entire settlement at once. Did that mean that the settlers would react differently to their presence? Teyva also wondered what exactly the [Travelers Lunchbox] did. Probably not much given it was a glorified fetch quest, but still. She set the thoughts aside for the moment and inclined her head to Sari.

“It’s the least we can do, thank your sister for the meal, it's delicious,” She said. Sari smiled a pretty smile and lingered with them for a while after that. She didn't ask a lot of questions but instead made sure that the two of them had eaten enough. Once or twice she asked if there was any additional pain in their wounds. Teyva caught Sari giving her a few looks as the time passed until finally she decided to excuse herself. She quickly put on her boots and departed with a quiet wave and a round of thanks. Teyva watched the door for a few moments after she left before looking over at Azrael who was giving her a smug look.

“What?”

“She your type?” Azrael quipped.

Teyva groaned; “I deserved that.”

Azrael laughed and slurped up a few more noodles, “We should get back to getting you situated. What do you want to do next?”

Teyva reached down and shoveled a few more helpings of her meal into her mouth, slurping loudly as she thought. Azrael shook her head and crossed her arms. After a few more bites Teyva glanced over at her staff and picked it up, nodding to Azrael. Her friend leaned forward, intent on seeing how this worked. Teyva rolled her jaw and squeezed it.

Just like before with the Iron Shortsword, the staff began to melt. The liquid metal seeping toward Teyva’s hand and coiling up and down her arm. It wasn’t as painful as last time, instead, the feeling unsettled her stomach. The tendrils of liquid wriggled into her skin and beneath it like tiny worms. She gripped her wrist and grit her teeth against the sensation, taking low breaths to work through the feeling until it ultimately faded. She exhaled hard when the sensation passed and looked up at Azrael whose nose had wrinkled.

“That was disturbing,” Azrael said with a shudder.

“You didn’t feel it,” Teyva shot back and held out her arm, “Okay let's see how it looks,” she cast [Simple Shift].

Her arm began to change color at the shoulder, slowly taking on a coppery hue. Instead of growing longer, as she had expected, it began to become slimmer and almost skeletal. The sensation of losing muscle wasn’t nearly as bad as absorbing the weapon itself. Instead, it almost felt like she still had what she had lost only more compact. When her arm took on a metallic shine she realized just what had happened. She stretched out her fingers. They were jointed and made of copper, on the back of her hand was a smaller version of the stone that the staff had been holding. She rotated her wrist and tried a few gestures before looking up at Azrael.

“I was kind of expecting your arm to turn into a stick,” Azrael said, looking a little amused.

“So was I,” Teyva said, “This is a pretty good time to be wrong though.”

“Does it still, you know?” Azrael asked. Teyva reached over and picked up the linen trousers with her normal hand and grasped one of the legs with her metal one. After a few seconds, the pants leg began to dissolve. She let go, leaving a hole behind.

“Nice!” Teyva said, holding it up. She tested [Chilling Touch] and frost formed on her fingers before spreading down to her palm and partway up her arm. “Very nice.”

“Your sword arm is still more practical I think,” Azrael pointed out.

Teyva nodded, clenching the hand into a fist, “Still cool though, maybe I can find a use for it eventually.”

“I would hope so,” Azrael said, “Speaking of finding a use for things, your new Aspect, how is it?”

Teyva turned to Azrael and shrugged, “Let’s find out.”