When Your Feathers Flutter Down to Me

Chapter Four: The Princess And Insults

Elisia stared at him, furious. "You worthless man," she spat. "I should just burn you down here!" But, as she raised her hand to create a spell, the point of a spear immediately touched the underside of her chin. "Put your damn hand down, princess," the guard commanded. With the pain he caused by calling her "princess," Elisia's hand dropped. "You will not lay a hand on the elder," the guard said, glaring at her.

"That's enough, Hanen," Gorose said. With that, the guard, Hanen, dropped his spear back into a relaxed position.

"Elisia," the elder said. "You should view this as an opportunity."

"Tch," the former princess scoffed. "What opportunity? To mingle with the rabble at the bottom rungs of society? Ah, how greatly that will benefit me! Or, perhaps, it would benefit them. Maybe you animals can learn a thing or two about how to act like a proper human being. Oh, but maybe I'm just overestimating you all. The thought of you being able to learn is honestly almost laughable."

Next to her, Hanen audibly grounded his teeth, but across from her, Gorose remained calm, seemingly unbothered by Elisia's sharp tongue. "If you wish to teach," he said, "then I will welcome it." Of course, he knew Elisia hadn't been making a genuine offer. Still, if he could at least put the idea in her head, then maybe it was possible for her to do a bit of teaching one day?

At the current time though, that was impossible. "You really are a fool," she sighed, then muttered, "Honestly, this is what I get, getting my hopes up in thinking that I've found a demi-human capable of being perhaps halfway decent."

"Argh!" Hanen let out. "I've had it with you, princess!" As the young woman curled over, experiencing another bout of pain, the guard charged. Seeing him out of the corner of her eye, Elisia went to use a spell, but she was too slow. The guard was on her in seconds, but as she braced for impact, she heard an odd sound.

Opening her eyes, she saw Gorose standing in front of her, his hand up. Touching his hand was the point of the spear, but where it had once been a perfectly sharpened object, it was now completely bent and misshapen.

"Hanen," the elder said with force. "A loss of temper can be the difference between life and death. Remember that the next time you go charging at someone without thinking."

"Y-yes sir..." Hanen said, clearly frightened. Having dropped to the ground, Elisia looked up at Gorose.

"How did he do that?" she wondered. "He didn't cast any magic, and his hand is fully open, so I don't think he grabbed the spearhead either... Is his hand truly so hard the spear bent on impact?"

It sounded ridiculous to someone who treated demi-humans and monster people as completely incapable, but when Elisia really thought about it, she thought she recalled hearing stories about the abilities of some demi-humans and monster people. "Perhaps those stories were true..." she thought. "And if they are, then... the elder may be correct in telling me to not underestimate them."

It was a bit sickening for Elisia to admit a demi-human might be right about something, but at the very least, her short time with Gorose had taught her that he was a man not to trifle with. If she dared, Elisia had a feeling it may cost her life.

As she was contemplating that, a small group of children walked by. Consisting of two obvious demi-humans (a cat-boy and a girl with tiny antlers sticking out of her head) and one monster person (something of a cross between a human and an armadillo), they looked over and saw Elisia.

"Hey, look, it's the princess," the cat-boy said mockingly. Instantly, searing pain shot through Elisia, keeping her to the ground.

"What's wrong, princess? Does something hurt?" the armadillo child piled on.