Salamede POV

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What a day. Adventure, helping people, and a dashing mage confessing to me. Maybe. He said he was worried about my wellbeing. Hell, the way he handed over the silver for the armor like it was nothing was more generosity than I had received all year, forget splitting the troll bounty.

But was he worried about me as a friend or as a woman? I thought it might be the latter until we started our trip. If he.... was thinking about me as a woman he would have made sure his hands strayed when I was on his back.

Right?

I stewed in my thoughts as I walked down the quickly darkening street until my musings were interrupted as I was coming up the street to my house. My ears picked up a loud crash and a scream coming from the old thing. Rushing in through the back kitchen entrance I saw my mother holding her hand against the brown fur of her left cheek as she sat on the floor in front of the upturned kitchen table. Standing above her was the chubby Jayaga holding a small sack.

"What is going on?!" I bellowed through a rather forceful spirit connection.

"This fucker was taking my money." Mom screamed in outrage through the connection.

"again," She said, this time sounding near tears.

I looked at my husband, that fat waste of grey fur who never gave me anything. These past few months had been harsh but I now felt that thin line of patience I had in me finally snap. At that moment, I decided that I had had enough and after dealing with a troll he should be no big deal.

"Whatever, bitch," He said, sounding slightly drunk as he huffed dismissively at both me and my mother.

"Jayaga, I have tried to be a good wife. To be understanding and supportive. But putting your hands on my mother is the last rabbit's horn." I walked past the shoes by the door and activated my water shield around his neck. His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

"How did a no-name goat like you get magic items" He demanded. He apparently wasn't too drunk to realize what danger he was now in.

My answer was to drag him to the door and throw him out into the muck. Well, push and trip him into the muck anyway.

As he turned around covered in mud and looking very much like he would love to kill me, I used my flame thrower just above his head. It singed the tip of one of his horns and stopped whatever he was thinking dead in its tracks.

"Consider that sack of coins our divorce settlement. And if you ever darken my doorway again, I'll barbeque you." I said before slamming the door. As I turned around I saw my mother standing there looking at me with a smile playing across her lips.

"Wow, came in like one of those angels from the stories and took out the bad guys. That's my girl." She said while giving me an appreciative hug. I took the skinny brown and grey flecked Kelton woman in my arms as we enjoyed the now fresher air of the house.

"But he did ask a good question. How could you afford the magical items?" She asked.

"They came from that mage." I said, slightly saddened at how the conversation was moving away from how awesome I was.

"Oh, that crafter fellow?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Well, make sure to thank him next time you see him. How was your day?" She asked as she looked over my new armor.

"Wonderful, Eli and I went and saved a village from a rock troll and fed an orphanage," I said putting down the money I got from the troll bounty on the now upright table.

Mother's eyes immediately went to the sheen of the gold.

"How did you come by this?" She said as she walked over and caressed the gold like a long lost child.

Then we sat down at the table and started talking about the whole adventure, just like we used to talk about our day before the only topic of conversation in our lives centered around all the way's my husband was letting us both down. But she stopped me when I started talking about riding piggyback on Eli.

"Wait. On the way there did you wear your dress?" She said, an odd note of hope in her voice.

"No, Eli said to wear my full armor." I responded

Mother leaned back into her chair clutching at her eyes.

"Oh ancestors, please give this foolish girl wisdom." She said mournfully.

"What?" I asked, crossing my arms defensively.

"You should have asked him if he liked you wearing the dress while on his back. If he had said yes then you would have known if he liked you, at least on a physical level." She said, exasperation clear in her voice.

"If he wanted me as a woman he would have tried to feel me up on the way there." I rebutted. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't keep the note of disappointment out of my voice. Mother just raised her right eye at me.

"A man, at least one who can slightly think with the head on his shoulders, isn't going to just start groping a woman he likes. You need to at least let him know that your open to being touched." She asserted.

"But I don't think Eli really thinks of me in a sexual way. Honestly, I wonder if I'm just tolerated because he's lonely, not because I'm so great to be around." I said in a put out tone as I ran my finger over the table. Mother went out over to the kitchen cabinets to pull out a candle with a flint and steel lighter.

"Now, now. Even if you're there just because he's lonely, not saying you are, but even if that's the case, so what? How do you think most relationships start? Being lonely is the reason most people get into relationships in the first place. Besides, he seems to prefer solitude over being around all the other women. And he prefers being around you to being alone. So don't fret on that front." She said as she set the candle down and lit it with only two strikes of the metal rod and rock.

I smiled at her kind words.

"Fret over being clueless about how to handle him" She finished as she sat down.

I snorted and swatted her arm. For a long time after we just sat down and talked about the day, both mine and hers. I still hadn't told her about Eli being a quad element caster so I had to adjust the troll portion of my story some. That night we relaxed and smiled more than we had in ages before we called it a night.