As the final bell rang, lisa waited for Javir as she was told to do. As soon as Javir appeared at the door, lisa walked up and asked:
"Hey, Javir? Quick question: does this place have a library?"
"A 9-year-old asking about a library. Am I dreaming?" Javir chuckled, raising an eyebrow. "Indeed we do. Why do you ask?"
"Think we could stop by for a bit? There's sothing I want to look up."
Jaylin, standing nearby, let out an exasperated sigh.
That girl didn't talk much, but she did this ti.
"Seriously? We're going to delay going ho for... books?"
"Now, now," Javir said, smirking. "A little extra education never hurt anyone. Well, except maybe that one ti with the exploding grimoire, but that's a story for another day."
Soon, they were walking through the towering shelves of the academy library.
lisa's eyes widened as she took in the sheer volu of books.
[There's so many of them!] lisa grinned. [There's gotta be sothing on the nim, right?]
lisa began her search, pulling out tos on the history of Syux and its inhabitants.
She found a few passages on kitsune, mostly about their "exotic beauty" and "natural affinity for magic." That was interesting. Although lisa hadn't seen it firsthand, kitsune often made for the most powerful nature.
The darians got a brief ntion in the book she was looking through, primarily focused on their "savage nature" and "potential for destruction."
But when it ca to nim...
Nothing.
Nada.
Zilch.
[Okay, this is weird,] lisa's brows furrowed. [It's like we've been erased from history. Like nim didn't exist until last Tuesday.]
Frustrated, lisa walked over to Javir, who was doing her best to try to lure Jaylin into reading one of her nearby tos (and failing).
"Hey, uh, is there nothing about nim here?"
And, Javir grimaced.
"I... You probably won't find much." Javir's grimace deepened as she tried to explain. "You see, lisa, nim haven't exactly been... prominent in Syux's history. They've been more like... background characters, so to speak."
[Background characters? More like extras who didn't even make it into the final cut,] lisa thought but kept her face neutral.
"Really? Nothing?" she pressed.
Javir shrugged, looking only slightly uncomfortable.
"I'm afraid not. Nim have always been... well, nim here have always kept a low profile."
[A profile so low it's practically subterranean, apparently.]
lisa wanted to argue, to point out how ridiculous it was that an entire race could be completely absent from historical records.
But Javir's expression made it clear this wasn't a topic she was going to change her mind on or get more curious about.
[Fine. I'll just have to dig deeper on my own.]
She returned to the shelves, determined to find sothing, anything about nim history. Book after book yielded nothing but disappointnt.
Just as she was about to give up, one thin, dusty volu caught her eye.
She pulled it out and flipped through its pages, hopeful, only to have her heart sink as she read the lone passage ntioning nim:
"Nim, being naturally weak, spineless, and of no consequence, have contributed nothing of note to the glorious history of Syux. Nothing at all."
lisa blinked.
[Don't praise us too much,] lisa thought bitterly, slamming the book shut.
"Alright, ti to go, girls," Javir called. "Your parents are probably wondering if sothing's wrong. Let's not worry them to death."
As they left, lisa's mind was a whirlwind.
[Weak? Spineless? Of no consequence? Is that really all we are to them? And if so... why?]
She simply couldn't say.
---
{Javir}
Javir stood on her balcony. The twin moons were out in full force. There was not a cloud in the sky.
The cool night air was hitting her just the right way. She needed it. She needed sothing to make her skin a bit colder after hearing the...
The enthusiastic sounds emanating from Margaret and listair's room.
"Oh, fuck, fuck ! Harder!" Margaret, one of the sweetest ladies Javir had ever t, was currently shouting such vulgarities at the top of her lungs.
The tips of Javir's ears turned red.
[Well, at least soone's having a good night,] she thought wryly, her gaze wandering over the dimly lit lower districts of Syux. [Hopefully, they don't wake up the little ones.]
Her mind drifted back to that mont in the village, when she and Margaret had... connected.
The mory sent a shiver down her spine.
[By the gods, that was intense. I've felt the effects of nim pheromones before, but that was sothing else entirely.]
She'd always prided herself on her self-control, but in that mont with Margaret, it had all but evaporated. It was exhilarating, yes, but also terrifying.
Like standing on the edge of a cliff, knowing one small push could send you tumbling into the abyss.
[Part of honestly does wonder if at least part of the prejudice toward nim is just fear. I an...] She inhaled and exhaled slowly. [The way I felt that night... I would have done anything Margaret asked in a heartbeat if it ant she'd help cum.]
A sudden noise jolted Javir from her thoughts.
[Hm?]
It was faint, barely audible, but in the stillness of the night, it might as well have been a thunderclap.
And it ca from the front doors.
[What the...? My sister wasn't out, right?]
Javir crept back into the house.
The last few weeks of walking around outside Syux kingdom had honed her senses.
And right now, every one of them was screaming danger.
---
{lisa}
lisa tossed and turned in her bed.
It was hard to sleep given the fact that her parents' room was right in front of hers.
[Geez, guys, I get that you've probably been pent up or sothing, but could you tone it down a little? They can probably hear you all the way back at the village...]
Just as she was contemplating the rits of burying her pinkies in her ears, lisa heard sothing that definitely wasn't part of her parents' ongoing softcore scene.
The soft creak of her bedroom door opening.
[What the hell...? Who's coming in here at this hour? And more importantly, how are they ignoring the live performance going on next door?]
Imdiately, she felt sothing had to be wrong.
lisa's hand crept towards her pack, fingers closing around so of her runes. She slept with this thing right beside her in case of situations exactly like this.
She pulled out an Illuminate rune.
As the door swung wider, she took a deep breath and whispered:
"Illumina, car ei!"
The room flooded with light, revealing a figure in black robes standing by her door.
lisa's heart plumted faster.
"W-Who are you!? Stay away!"
"Dammit." The figure, a man, whispered, raising a hand toward her. "Ignis, fel ca-"
Before he could continue that incantation, a ball of flas struck the side of the man's head.
"AGH!"
He scurried out of view and lisa watched as Javir appeared, arm raised in his direction.
lisa ran to the door.
The intruder retaliated, a few shards of ice flying through the air. Javir dodged them all.
"ACK!" lisa nearly got hit by one.
But she wasn't going to stop watching.
They kept trading spells but it was clear the guy was outmatched. Javir's spells flew faster and hit harder, turning the brief duel into a decidedly one-sided affair.
"... Fine," the man muttered before turning around and trying to run away.
"Oh, no you don't."
Javir chased him but he wasn't running down the hall, he was running into a window.
CRASH
He jumped straight through. Javir cast that vine spell of hers at the last mont, but the man just narrowly slipped away.
"Damn it," Javir muttered angrily. "He got away."
lisa, feeling her heart pounding, asked:
"What was that?"
Javir, a troubled expression on her face, opened her mouth to speak and closed it a couple of tis before she finally said:
"A... A thief, I think," she said. "Don't worry, I chased him off. Try to get so sleep, okay?"
lisa wasn't buying it.
[A thief?] She asked in her mind. [But...]
lisa looked down.
[Then, why would he co into my room, specifically?]
Just then, listair and Margaret burst out of their room, faces flushed and hair disheveled, but looking very determined.
"What's going on? We heard-" Margaret's voice trailed off.
lisa froze and Javir scoffed.
"M-MOM! DAD! CLOTHES!" She shrieked, slapping her hands over her face.
listair yelped, attempting to cover himself with his hands while Margaret ducked behind him.
What an odd night.
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