Chapter 7: Settling In
The shadows whispered around him. His movements were disguised by the steady drip of water. The shuffling sounds of rats sounded off in adjacent corridors. Selihyr was peaked, his adrenaline rushing keeping him on edge and alert. He had left the woman at his house asleep. The dragon had curled up next to her as soon as she had settled into the room he had made sure was to her liking. Then he left, to go have a talk with a certain lady over some scrolls he had been searching for, for a very very long time.
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2 Hours Before
" So where was this house you told me about?" She was lagging behind again dragging her feet, looking around as if examining everything she saw. The dragonet was asleep in the sack on his shoulder content after the steak she ate.
"We are almost there just 2 more blocks" Selihyr was getting tired of answering the 'are we there yet?' questions. She had been non stop complaining since they had left the café and he was getting annoyed. They came around the corner and right up to a massive iron gate. " This is it, welcome to my jome" He opened the gates as he said this and immediately started heading for the door. He turned around to make sure she was following he saw the look on her face. " What?"
"You live here?" The look on her face was one of awe.
" Yea. Do you have a problem?" He looked at her as if she were stupid.
"Well no its just......big is all." She followed him up to the door and waited for him to open it. When the doors opened she walked in ahead of him slightly pushing him out of the way to get in first. " Not bad what did you do kill the owner and then claim it?" She turned around to see him glaring at her. "What?"
Selihyr just glared at her as he set his keys onto a little hook next to the coat rack. " I bought this house with the money I earned from taking jobs of the nobles at that time." Selihyr took his coat off and placed it on the rack. He then opened the sack with Fairith in it.
"Finally!"The dragonet streatched out her neck and slowly got out of the bag and walked around the immediate entrance scratching herself on whatever surface she could. "The sand got cold fast you know"
"Blame her" Selihyr pointed at Celeste who was sitting down on the stairs rubbing her feet. She looked up at him glaring.
" You're the one who said that it wasn't far away" Getting up she then knelt down next to the small dragon and proceeded to scratch her under the chin. " How does that feel Fairi?"
"Don't give me silly nicknames" Fairith turned one eye to look at Celeste and the dragonet flicked her tongue out tasting the air. " There is meat cooking near by" She cocked her head as if trying to find out where the scent was coming from.
Selihyr chuckled and pulled on a small rope and a compartment opened in the side of the wall. " Prepare half the boar for humans and the other half leave raw." Calling into the seemingly empty hole he then turned his head to look at Celeste and called down again. " Also bring up some numb-weed and a prepare a room for one female guest and a pet"
Fairith rolled her other eye around to glare at Selihyr. The dragonet growled a small warning." I am not a pet Father" She instantly purred gratitude as Celeste scratched her eye ridges and forgot about talking for a bit.
"So what are you going to do with us while we are here?" Celeste looked at him as if she knew some dark secret of some sort. Selihyr sighed and moved to the room adjacent to the stairs and sat on a luxury sofa made of leather.
" I am not going to do anything to you. You are free to come and go as long as you don't go outside the limits set by miss princess, who you are so kindly scratching, placed on us" He relaxed into the sofa a bit more." I will go meet Lady Grimoire when I deem it necessary and then we will leave."
"Leave? Where will we go?" Celeste asked taking a seat on a lounge chair opposite of Selihyr.
"I don't really know. I normally follow the wind on my journeys unless I have something specific I'm looking for." Selihyr stared at a painting on the wall deep in thought. It showed a tree and under the branches was a smiling child holding up a ruby red apple.
" You know you don't seem such an ass when you talk whimsically like that." Starting as if he had forgotten she was there Selihyr stared her up and down. "What something wrong with me?" She looks at her body looking for something wrong.
" No nothing. I am gonna regret this, but Rika would kill me if i did not get you more cloths, so tomorrow we will go shopping" Getting up Selihyr moved to a wall and pulled on a chord similar to the one earlier. " Is the room prepared?" He spoke directly into the freshly opened hole in the wall. A small voice replied that the room asked for was ready and dinner would be ready within the hour. Closing the foreign hole Selihyr walked over to a table that is laden with all sorts of drinks. "Thirsty?"
"If you have any wine that would be fine" Celeste shifted her feet to allow Fairith, who had been laying next to the foot of the seat, get onto the lounge chair with her.
"Wine huh? Well then you will like this one, it's a local cabernet wine, very sweet for a red but great none the less with its higher than average alcohol content." He poured a glass for both him and her he re-corked the bottle of wine and then walked back over and hands her one of the glasses
"This isn't poisoned?" Celeste brought the glass up to her nose smelling the wine as you would normally but searching for the bitter smell of an unknown poison. Taking a tentative sip she relaxed tasting no additives in the wine.
" Now why would i do that to a perfectly good wine it just doesn't make sense" Taking his seat Selihyr slowly sipped on his wine. " Now since we are gonna be 'parents' here i guess we should get to know each other, right?"
Celeste looked away from him as she sipped her wine. " I would rather not thank you. I don't know, very much less like you. If we are stuck together then so be it but it does not mean we have to be friends" Celeste looked over at him and stared as if trying to burn holes in him.
" Well look here, the roles are reversed it seems" Selihyr laughs softly and sets down his glass. Just then a small bell rung and trays were brought in on small stands. One was set before Selihyr, the other placed to the side of the lounge chair that Celeste was sitting on. " There is food for you Fairith if you want some" he pointed at the third tray set by the fire for her to eat in the warmth of.
"I will have just a portion as I am still digesting the steak from before" Sliding off the couch the dragonet walked over to the portion of meat and snapped up a few bites. "That was superb, thank you for the meal, but I find i need to sleep now" curling up by the fire Fairith passed out snoring softly every now and then.
"Give her food and warmth and she is fine huh? Simplest female i have ever met" Selihyr scowled for a moment as he Fairith spoke directly to his mind.
* I heard that*
Selihyr finished his meal and set his utensils down and his eyes wandered from the dragon to Celeste.
" Do you mind?" Celeste looked up at him and he turned his gaze elsewhere. " You know what I'm done!" She slammed her utensils down on the plate. She stood and left down a hall
"What was that for?"Following as quickly as he could after her abrupt exit he followed her into the hall. Selihyr saw her standing against the railing of the stairs. " What was the food not good enough?"
" It was fine. I'm just tired show me my room" Celeste turned on her heel and walks up the stairs without missing a beat. " Come on Fairith we are going to bed." From somewhere in the sitting room the dragonet got up and slowly followed her parents up the stairs.
"Yours is the first on the right Celeste." Selihyr reached past her and opened the door for her. "Ill leave you to it ok?" Celeste walked into the room and spun around looking at everything. " Oh one more thing rub this into your feet it will help the pain" He points at a small jar on the nightstand.
" It will work . Now leave." She closes the door after the dragonet walked in and locked it. " Now it's time for bed."
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Present Time
Selihyr stepped out of the shadows into the light of a single lantern on the side of a courtyard. " Now it's time for me to get my dues....."