"I swear Vim! He thinks he's so smooth! He had the gall to sneak into my room earlier, you should have seen his stupid smirk when I opened my bedroom door and found him naked on my bed!" Nasba continued to ramble about her love life.
She was leading to rit's chambers, and we were walking through the large stone hallway with walls of vines and flowers. The plants clinging to the stone walls and ceiling made it seem as if we were underground, under a thick rain forest, not in the center of a lake in the middle of a massive desert.
"He's not even a duck! Who does he think he is?" Nasba then said with a huff, her tail feathers flapping wildly in annoyance.
She sounded, and looked, utterly pissed off… but I could hear the truth hidden beneath it all. Or maybe I more so saw it. Was it the way her feathers were swaying? They were fluffed up, as if angry, but had that twitch of happiness that ducks got. The one where they wagged their tails, like a dog.
"He's not a duck?" I asked, unsure why that was such a big deal. To so it was, but I had not really thought Nasba to be one of them. She was one of rit's closest friends, and had been involved in rit's little Oasis from the beginning. There weren't many other ducks here, so I had always thought Nasba to be more open minded.
"Not at all! He's a fox! That stupid, handso faced bastard even has a tail! It stinks, you know!" Nasba said angrily.
I smirked at that. Jeez she was barely hiding it at all, wasn't she?
"So do say foxes stink," I agreed.
"They do! At least, he does. I swear, not even a long soak makes it any better," Nasba grumbled as her tail feathers flapped again.
Right. A long soak together, I bet.
How nice. If anything I was glad to hear it. It was just another point of proof that the Oasis was doing well, all things considered.
I had spent an hour or so walking around the city, naly the docks and outer layers where the common folk lived. Everything had looked relatively fine. The market stalls were full, but not so full that no one was buying anything. The people were smiling and healthy. A few had even offered to buy dinner, inviting to join their happy little lives for the small mont I had walked past them. Like always rit's Oasis was friendly to outsiders.
And as far as I had seen, there were more non-humans than before too. I had seen almost a dozen while walking around, and I'd not recognized any of them. I had no nas to any of their faces, though it had been obvious they had been mbers of the community. A few of them had been delegating work on a stairwell, one that led to the upper levels of the city. Community work, basically.
"When'd your little fox fiend arrive?" I asked, wondering if maybe I could get a little information out of her before she continued on her love struck tirade.
"Oh? A few years ago. He ca with a group from a neighboring nation. He ended up staying here after realizing what we are, joining us. Though he claims it's only because of , I know the truth! He just likes our water!" Nasba said as she pointed at , as if I was the one she was upset with.
"I've always found your water a little stale," I admitted.
Nasba laughed at . "Because it is!"
I shook my head at her as we neared a corner. One I knew led to rit's chambers.
I had helped build this place, after all. I didn't actually need a guide.
But I enjoyed hearing Nasba's latest news, even if I had to pick through her lovesick rambling to get any of it.
"Speaking of delegations… I've heard you plan to ban anyone from Wevling from entry," I said.
"Hm…? Oh. Yes. Maybe. They sent a delegation a little bit ago. So of them are still here. They're being insufferable, they want us to subjugate them," Nasba said.
Subjugate…? "Them?" I asked.
"Sothing about a war, or famine. I don't know Vim… I'll be honest I've been very distracted lately," Nasba said with a sigh.
"By your fox? Understandable," I teased her.
She laughed at as we rounded a corner, and approached the large door that looked too big even for Nasba to open. She opened it easily though, with one hand, as she turned to grin at . "I know? Isn't it weird? A fox and a duck!" she told .
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"Least you're not a hen?" I suggested as I stared past her shoulder to the dark room beyond her. It looked like a prison it was so dark.
Nasba's laugh and grin both disappeared as she went wide eyed at . I paused half a mont, since she stood in the middle of the doorway and blocked my path, and then she barked out a happy laugh. "Vim!" she shouted a groan as she went on a laughing fit.
She stepped away, allowing to enter rit's bedroom. As Nasba continued laughing she stepped away from the door and went to a nearby wall. The dark room quickly beca lit up as she opened windows and pulled back their curtains.
"Co on! Wake up!" Nasba yelled as she then walked over to the bed in the center of the room.
The bed was huge. Far too big for soone so tiny, to the point it was comical. There were dozens of massive pillows, each bigger than the one lying amongst them, all piled in a circle in the center of the bed. Nasba grabbed at the heavy blanket that lay upon it, pulling it off and away the bed with a little more force than really needed. The blanket hit the large pillars around the bed, which held up a mighty canopy of vines and plants, wrapping around one of them in the process.
A tiny groan of a complaint ca from the bundle of pillows and other blankets as Nasba crawled onto the bed as to get to the center.
"Get up you! Co on! You have work to do!" Nasba shouted at her friend, and queen, as she rummaged around the pillows looking for the tiny monarch.
I smiled at the two as Nasba found rit. I watched as Nasba crawled back off the bed, pulling rit by an ankle. She went so far as to fully drag rit off the bed, to the point she fell off the bed and onto the ground.
Although there were large rugs all around the bed, rit still fell with a hard thunk as she landed face first on the ground. rit let out a pained groan as Nasba brushed herself off as she stepped away from the bed and rit.
"Really now. Get up already! You're a queen now, start acting like one!" Nasba shouted at her friend as she walked away from the collapsed rit on the floor. She paid her no heed, even though rit wasn't moving and wasn't even properly dressed. She had a thin nightgown on, which had fallen and rolled upward in her fall and was revealing her backside in full. Nasba didn't seem to care at all as she walked over to one of the corners of the bedroom, to one of the large dressers.
"She's been a queen for years Nasba. If she hasn't adapted yet, she won't ever," I said gently as I kindly looked away, to stare out one of the nearby windows Nasba had recently opened.
One should be modest in front of royalty, after all.
"Oh shush…!" rit finally finished waking up, groaning as she pushed herself to her feet.
As she stood and Nasba rummaged in the dresser, I noted a nearby table. One that had a bunch of cups and other stuff on it, a ss really.
Her crown was amidst the ss. A napkin was even stuck on one of its many little arches. The sight of it so haphazardly sitting amongst the ss made smile.
Stepping over to the table as Nasba helped rit get dressed, I cleaned the crown of the things clinging to it and lifted it up. It was a closed crown, but the inside piece was a soft silk. I'd fashioned it to be a crown that would not get her looked down upon by neighboring royalty, but still retain a semblance of humility and her purpose. It was more akin to what a princess or duchess would wear in other nations, not the actual monarch, but it was adorned with special jewelry. The type that I knew made them seethe with jealousy when they saw it.
A part of the reason I had made it so was simply her size. rit was a tiny thing, and making her a massive crown that was accustod and expected to be worn by rulers would have been funny. She would have likely taken offense if I had made her one of those towering things. So of the rulers in the northern nations had crowns nearly half her size for crying out loud.
"I don't need you to wipe my butt!" rit growled.
"You do when you're dirty!" Nasba shouted back, which made frown and glance at them. Nasba was in fact wiping rit with a cloth, but not her ass. She was just wiping her shoulders.
"Why are you so filthy anyway? Does that an your bed is all nasty?" I asked as I stepped over towards them and the bed. Her room didn't sll bad, really. Though the plants helped, they were mostly what I could sll at the mont.
"What…? No? She's just a picky bird," rit complained as Nasba went to wiping rit's face with the cloth. rit made noises as Nasba did so, as if she were rit's mother and preparing the girl for school or sothing.
The thought was a funny one, but I kept it to myself as Nasba finished and then went to give rit her last layer of clothes. A blue dress of silk that was fashionable and proper. One she could wear even outside and not be found odd, or not properly dressed.
"Don't smirk at like that. You think I want her to do this? She does it no matter how much I complain," rit said stiffly as she glared at .
I shrugged as I waited for Nasba to finish, and once she stepped away with a smile… seemingly content that rit was now prim and proper and ready to face the day, I went ahead and placed her crown upon her head.
Unlike before, the crown settled easily. It didn't shift or fall off to her chin, thankfully.
rit glared at as I moved the crown a tad, a little to the left. Although Nasba had cleaned her up, her hair was still sowhat rough. She needed to comb it.
"Good morning rit," I said in greeting.
"Good? You call this good?" rit asked as she suddenly yawned. It was a mighty one, one that made her reach up to cover her mouth if a little slovenly. As she did her crown shifted, tumbling off her head and down her back. Before it landed on the rug, Nasba caught it. She sighed in a way that told she had fully expected it.
"See? You don't put her crown on until after her morning drink," Nasba chastised by waving her crown at .
How was I supposed to have known that?
Reviews
All reviews (0)