The walk to roll call felt more like a dream than reality. After exiting the hut I had grabbed ahold of Vilmar and let him direct me where to go since I was still asleep on my feet. Looking at anything resulted in it blurring as my eyes struggled to focus and any time I closed them I would wake seconds later from the jolt of my head dropping from its upright position. The fact that my eyes itched didn’t help matters as closing them was the only thing that helped alleviate the annoyance.

Roll call was conducted in the same manner it had been the previous two days though I lost most of it from nodding off while on my feet. I managed to keep my eyes open when Selmet got to us and I was afraid that I was going to end up on the post again because he simply wanted me there.

“Vilmar, Rea, you’re both sorting today.”

He started to walk down the line before stopping in front of me and leaning down.

“Little birdie told me you did well last night. Try not to fall asleep hmm?”

When he stood, he roughly rubbed my head and I resisted the urge to whimper because of the force he used. He took his hand off of my head and proceeded to flick my ear causing it to chime.

“A nice addition.”

As Selmet continued down the line, I finally recognized from the sound of the bells that they hadn’t been removed last night with everything else.

Vilmar took the lead and once we had left and were out of sight I settled for rubbing the area that was manhandled to try to ease the pain. I was incredibly happy that I wasn’t put on the post but I was torn as to whether or not I should remove the bells. I wanted them out, but Selmet had noticed them and that meant he would see that they were gone. While thinking about this I noted that Urik wasn’t back yet nor did I know how long it would be till he returned.

I followed Vilmar as we walked in the direction of where iron was sorted using him as a guide while in my half awake state. My eyes closed for a brief moment only for them to open again as pain lanced its way through my forehead accompanied by the tinkle of bells. I opened my eyes and saw the ground, which slightly disorientated me. Standing up was a chore and I was incredibly happy when Vilmar picked me up and I was able to close my eyes to rest. His natural warmth helped make me feel safe as did the familiar and comforting scent of family.

Sadly, this brief respite only lasted until Vilmar reached the sorting area. I was woken again and Vilmar spent a great deal of time making sure I was going to remain that way for a while. Once he was sure that I could stand under my own power and that I was awake enough to work he started to crack the rocks from the mines into fist sized chunks.

I did my best to sort through the first few chunks but focusing was hard since my vision kept blurring. I tried rubbing my eyes to remove the sleep from them but all I succeeded in doing was getting dust in them.

“Rea, I’m going to tell you about cores today. I know you’re tired but you need to stay awake and do the work so Selmet doesn’t have a reason to whip you. Between having to sort and listen to me I’m hoping that will be enough for you to make it to the next roll call.”

I nodded, jerking my head up at the last second as sleep nearly overtook me again and causing more chiming. I had only half registered what Vilmar had said and I wasn’t sure my fatigue-addled brain was going to help me remain awake.

“Every creature or being that can use magic has a core. No, come on, stay awake.”

Vilmar patted my face lightly to force me to reach up and stop him and I reached up further to silence the bells. I looked him in the eye and could see a reflection of my own bloodshot eyes.

“There you go. You remember what I said?”

I shook my head ringing the bells and looked at him for a second before replying.

“ ‘Bout what?”

I tried to stifle a yawn but failed and closed my eyes in the process only to feel Vilmar shaking me in an attempt to wake me up again.

“One more time Rea. Stay awake. Please. We can go slowly but you need to get something done. Come on, just start sorting and I’ll talk when you’re a little bit more awake.”

I nodded, ignored the bell’s tinkling, and picked up another few pieces of rock that didn’t have iron in them before making my way over to the pile they needed to be deposited in. While walking I felt something sharp jab the bottom of my foot and fell while trying to stop it from digging further in. After silencing the bells again, I looked to see that a piece of stone was partially embedded in my foot and pulled it out. I stood, picked up the rocks I had dropped and limped my way over to the pile of stone so I could finish disposing them.

After a few more trips I felt a little more awake even if my eyes felt heavier and itched more. All of my actions had a minuscule delay to them that caused everything that I was doing to look as if I was doing it in water.

“Are you feeling more awake?”

“No.”

“Think you can handle listening to me?”

I nodded and chimed while slowly filling my arms with another small load of stones that had to be carted away.

“That’s good. Just let me know if you need me to repeat something. I’m more than happy to say it all again.”

Vilmar stopped talking as I left to dump another load of rocks, but he resumed once I was near him again.

“Everything living that uses magic has a core. Cores are like another organ that lets us use magic but they are made of crystallized mana.”

I blinked and felt something impact against my head and heard the chime of the damned bells. Picking myself up, I realized I had fallen asleep where I was standing and the rocks I had sorted had mixed themselves into the rubble I had yet to search. The sound that followed this realization was the appropriate mix between a whimper, a whine, and a groan.

Pulling my knees to my chest, I was content to hug them and sulk while wiping the tears off my face. Vilmar had stopped what he was doing and was looking at me, his face caught in between a look pity and concern. He walked over before sitting next to me and I leaned into him before crying as silently as possibly so my guts wouldn’t get eaten. We stayed like this until I had managed to calm myself down and I sniffed a few times to collect myself before trying to stand back up using Vilmar for support.

When I finally stood again, my breathing was still as shaky as my stance and I struggled to remain upright at first before firmly planting my feet into the loose dirt. I was going to make it through this; I had to.

“Do you want to work in silence?”

I shook my head and forcibly blocked the tinkling of bells from my mind.

“No. I’m barely awake as it is and having to listen to you helps keep me that way.”

“You don’t have to force this.”

“I need it though. Just…something that is normal and not outside of my control.”

Vilmar nodded and stood up, his skin growing taut against his bones making them stand out even more.

“Right then. Cores. I have one. You have one. Anything living that uses magic has one. The more of a magic you use, the better the core gets at channeling it. This is why you get better at using that type of magic; you can use a more refined version of it. Good so far?”

I nodded and jingled.

“Let’s get back to work then.”

I started sorting through the rocks again but the forced wave of energy didn’t last for as long as I had hoped it would. By my third trip to the rock pile I found that my eyelids had become as heavy as the rocks as I was carrying and the occasional tinkle of bells was the only thing telling me how many time I came close to falling asleep on my feet. At some point in my endeavors I had started to feel cold as well. It was fairly apparent that I was fast approaching the point of no return where I would simply collapse from exhaustion.

Vilmar had done as I asked and was telling me about cores and their uses, but at this point I was only half listening and not much of what I heard was actually internalized. Cores were magic and could make other things magical. He had gone into more depth than that but I couldn’t for the life of me recall what he had said and I would feel worse than I already did if I had to ask him to repeat what he had spent the last half-hour explaining.

I knew he wouldn’t care and that he would do it, but acknowledging the state that I was in would be enough to emotionally break me again if I had to admit it. The realization pained me but if this was how life here was then if I never got the rest of my memories back I would be happy.

At some point I fell again and woke from the impact of doing so, the repeated jingling of the bells being the final straw. Instead of moving, I just curled up and cried. Vilmar pick me up and held me in his lap until I cried myself to sleep. I knew I was going to be woken back up because Vilmar wanted me to be on the post as little as possible, but if I could gain a moment of peace I was going to take it.

I was allowed to sleep for a small period of time and when I was woken again, I realized that it had been a mistake to try and nap. Instead of feeling better, I now felt worse since the brief bit of sleep only served to exacerbate the pounding tiredness that was pushing every other thought out of my head.

The rest of my time sorting rocks passed in a dream-like haze that made me unsure of what was real and what was my imagination playing tricks on me. I was falling asleep on my feet more frequently and it was getting to a point where I wasn’t sure the impact would wake me anymore.

It was around this time that our job finished and Vilmar carried me back to roll call since I was too tired to move by this point. Every step he took served to make the throbbing in my head worse and now that I had an opportunity to sleep it was evading me. This only served to make me break down into tears again and Vilmar simply held me closer while singing under his breath.

When we got to roll call I was barely conscious and found that I had to lean into Vilmar’s side to even remain standing. Both of us knew what was going to happen and I wasn’t going to try and fool myself into thinking that I had miraculously met my quota somehow.

I felt sick. Selmet knew this was going to happen and it was exactly what he wanted. The only thing holding him back was lack of a reason and I only now realized how easy it was for him to make one.

Selmet seemed to make his way down the rows at an agonizingly slow pace and the fact that I kept nodding off wasn’t helping. By the time he got to Vilmar and me, I was barely conscious of what was happening.

“Vilmar you’re with the masons for now. Rea will be joining you once she gets her twenty strokes for not meeting quota.”

Selmet passed by not even sparing me a glance and I was pulled from the line by one of Selmet’s helpers. I was more dragged than directed since most of my ability to move under my own power was currently missing. My clothing was removed and I was tied to the post. The bells jingled as my head impacted the wood from falling asleep again.

The whipping started but I was already so close to unconsciousness that I passed out after the first stroke. I was vaguely aware of what was happening and when the whipping stopped I assumed that my punishment was over. This meant that the feeling of someone running a hand over my shredded back wasn’t expected.

“Oh shit. Please tell me that this isn’t happening.”

I felt the hand on my back again and flinched slightly as one of the open wounds was probed momentarily. Which was strange; not the hand but the fact that I still had an open wound. Some part of me realized what this meant around the same time that the Demon inspecting my back did and he swore again before calling for Selmet.

“What? Can’t finish the job?”

“No sir. Her healing’s stopped.”

“Bullshit, let me take a look.”

Another hand ran over the wounds on my back and I whimpered from the pain caused by the contact.

“Fuck! You stopped when you noticed right?”

“Y-yes sir.”

“That’s good, this is good. We can fix this. Go tell Gerin that I’ll be there momentarily. Don’t just stand there! Go!”

I heard someone leaving at a rushed pace before everything was drown out by the tinkle of bells. The smell of blood overpowered everything else as Selmet picked me up and I resisted the urge to shake myself free.

“Can’t have you dying on me, I need you. Let’s get you some help and then everything will be back to normal.”

The idea that this was going to be my new normal was revolting and I refused to let myself get into a situation that I wasn’t going to be able to get out of later. There was nothing I could do right now, but that didn’t mean that this was the end. If there was a way out of this camp and out of this life I was going to pursue it the best I could.

I knew that these were all just false promises I was telling myself to avoid falling into a pit of despair. There was no realistic way for me to change my life without a small miracle happening. I was too weak and the Demons holding me captive too strong. No one was going to help me.

Vilmar couldn’t.

Lindi couldn’t.

I couldn’t.

I was seen as a tool and in Selmet’s case a toy. My only purpose was to do what I was told to do and hope that it wouldn’t be too bad. My options were to either reject this or embrace it and the harder I fought; the harder the fight was snuffed out.

My body was shifted as I felt something remarkably soft placed against me. My face was turned to face the side and I could hear Selmet talking to someone. The conversation was brief and a few seconds later a pair of hands were placed on my back.

Up until this point I had never felt any magic aside from what I used myself.

With the introduction of this foreign mana I could feel my back start to stitch itself together as if my healing had returned. I paid close attention to it and as I watched what was happening I felt something click. I tried sensing for my mana specifically and watched as the mana on my back seemed to disappear.

I repeated this and tried to focus on only seeing the mana that was healing me and then further more for different area along my back. About the time I was getting a better grasp on how I could be selective in what I detected, the hands were removed and with them the mana.

My back felt normal and a hand was run over it to check for any lingering inconsistencies.

“Not a single mark, just like you told me to do. Now get the fuck out of my clinic. I have patients to watch.”

“Fine, but she’ll be healthy right?”

“For the last time, yes. But only if you actually take care of her. Now get out and let me do my job.”

The bang of a door shutting accompanied by the muttering of ‘fucking ass’ in a quiet voice signaled that Selmet had finally left. Whoever Selmet was talking to walked off to another part of the room and I heard the clinking of glass along with the scuffle of papers being moved. I could try to get up, but doing that felt like a bad idea for so many reasons that it wasn’t worth the risk.

After a few more minute of lying there I started to nod off only to be nudged. I grumbled in annoyance and opened my eyes to see who was poking me. It was a Demon man, most likely Gerin, and I was shocked to see that he looked as unhealthy as Vilmar or I did. He was abnormally thin and the skin on his face seemed to hug it too tightly giving his sunken eyes an even hollower look. He had the underlying scent of a Demon about him but it was masked by the smell of plants and sickness. Seeing that I was looking at him, he held a small glass vial filled with an opaque red liquid out to me.

“Drink.”

He didn’t seem like he would do anything if I moved and I reached out to shakily take the vial from him. I pressed it to my lips and took a tentative sip. It was bitter and overall tasted nasty but that was mitigated slightly by the taste of something sweet that had been mixed in.

“All of it. It won’t work if you only drink that much. I know it tastes bad but I can only do so much to make it taste better without ruining the alchemical properties.”

I obediently drank the rest and held the vial out to him. He took it and slipped it into a pocket on his shirt. Because of this action, I noticed he wasn’t wearing the red and gold colors I had come to associate with the Demons. Instead, he was wearing a faded blue shirt with brown pants covered in various stains of varying colors. The quality of his clothing looked better that anything I had worn sans the fabrics but they didn’t count as clothes in my mind.

“Been a long while since I’ve seen you, let alone a kid, in here.”

He was looking over a few papers in his hands while talking.

“Let’s see. Rea, female, fifteen estimated sixteen in about three months. No records of ovulation so not fertile yet. Here we go, the interesting stuff. Nooix Tribe.”

He stopped talking for a moment and stood, running a hand over the end of my tailbone and then quickly running it between my legs to feel around my groin. He ignored my whimpers and squirming and roughly sat back down in his chair before looking at the papers in his hands and making a few notes on them.

“Couldn’t feel the start of feathers underneath the skin near the vagina but the tailbone was slightly raised meaning the tail’s starting to form. Let’s see, yup there it is, regenerator and a greater regenerator at that. No wonder you’re still around. I honestly surprised it took this long for you to end up in here again; it’s been three years according to my chart. That’s some resilience there if I’ve ever seen it.”

He flipped over the page and kept reading.

“Looks like avian heritage so you probably won’t get much bigger in any regards.”

The comment was made while looking at my chest and I had no idea why it would be significant.

“Uh. Right, stand up for me if you can.”

I listened and shifted myself into a sitting position the best I could. Gerin waited for me to do so before walking away and coming back with a square tile and what looked like string.

“Stand on this and try to stand up as straight as you can.”

The tile was cold when I placed my feet on it and I stood at my full height once I felt comfortable letting go of the bed I was put on. He placed one hand holding the string near my head while the other was held at my feet.

“Give or take roughly a hundred and twenty centimeters and about ten kilograms. They haven’t been feeding you enough. I suppose it’s my job to fix that.”

He stood back up and wrote more on his papers.

“Don’t expect you to grow much more than about thirty centimeters when you enter puberty if you grow at all. Arms up. See if you can move them like this.”

He started to rotate his arms in small circles and I did my best to copy him.

“Motor control is fine but weak. Here,” He held out his arm, “Squeeze my arm as hard as you can don’t worry about hurting me.”

I did as he asked and found that my hands barely made it halfway around his arm.

“Not great. Alright,” he sat his papers down and held both hands up in front of him, “Push against my hands as hard as you can.”

He continued to run through as series of tasks with me either pushing or pulling with my arms before directing me to sit on the bed and doing the same thing with my legs. Once that was done he made a few notes on his paper most likely noting how everything I had done was below his expectations before walking over to a bowl in the corner of the room and cleaning his hands off.

“Right, legs open, hands behind your back and keep them there.”

I hesitated to do as he told me but complied when he repeated his instructions in a less than friendly tone. He started poking around my groin with both hands and I whimpered feeling incredibly uncomfortable with the situation.

“No infections so that’s good. Now stay still and don’t move.”

I obeyed his command to remain motionless as he spread me apart and increased the volume of my whimpering even though it continued to be ignored. One touch near the top of what he had spread apart made me squirm and start to hiss but I stopped myself since I didn’t want to learn what would happen if I angered him.

“Nothing wrong here. Hymen’s still there though, that can’t be right…”

I felt one of his fingers press against my flesh before being pushed into me. My whimpering intensified since the finger was twice the size of where it was put and I yelped loudly in pain when I felt his finger move against and tear something inside me.

My whimpering finally drew some attention as I was told to be quiet and the inserted third of Gerin's finger was pulled out with a tiny pop. With its removal came the smell of iron and I watched him wipe blood off the tip of his finger onto a rag while some was left to trickle out of me onto the bed. He continued to hold me open and watched while I felt the ripped flesh repairing itself leaving the pain to linger.

“How do you like that, good as new. Still can’t believe it repaired itself. So many issues with regeneration this strong. Bells in the ears are a great example.”

I nodded my head to the side in confusing causing the bells to chime while keeping my whimpering as quiet as possible and was rewarded with an answer.

“You haven’t felt them have you? Skin’s basically fused to the metal so you’d practically have to cut them out at this point.”

My heart dropped and I released my death grip on the bed sheets to reach up with both hands and feel my ears. Sure enough there was no place I could feel a separation between my skin and the metal of the bells. My eyes started to water at this revelation and I was allowed to curl up and wallow in my physical and mental pain.

Gerin walked away from the bed and came back with a blanket and tossed it next to me.

“Get some sleep. The potion you drank will help finish getting your regeneration back up to speed and I’ll get you some decent food for when you wake up. I know you have problems with the cold so that should help. If you have any problems staying warm let me know.”

“I’m not warm now.”

I took the risk to speak and hoped that I wasn’t going to be hurt for it. He looked at me for a moment before placing a hand on my head and then another on my gut. The hand on my stomach felt wrong there and my whimpering resumed with a slight continued increase in volume but was ignored.

After taking his hands away, Gerin seemed to make up his mind and walked over to a shelf and started to look for something in one of the boxes there. He stopped looking when he pulled a red orb about the size of my hands cupped together from the box. I couldn’t tell why it would help or why he stood there holding it for a minute before coming over to me.

“Should be just about ready. There we go.”

As he spoke, the orb flared to life with heat and he held it out for me to take.

“That should last for the full day assuming you’re allowed to stay here that long. Make sure to hold it to either your stomach or preferably your chest as those areas need the heat the most.”

I nodded before crawling under the blanket that was left for me and wrapped myself in it as tightly as I could while making sure no skin was exposed to the air. Once I was sure no one would be able to get to me without waking me in the process, I curled up while holding the orb to my chest. The makeshift nest made me feel safe and the added warmth from the orb pressing against my bare skin was almost too hot.

As the air and my body slowly warmed up I found myself finally getting tired. The adrenaline crash after my recent panic helped in this matter and I quickly drifted off to sleep.

My dreamscape was dark but it was just as warm as my waking surrounds. I smelled a scent that was family and instinctively tried to nuzzle into it only to feel my head press against flesh. More feelings came as a pair of arms pulled me closer and I heard the unintelligible yet familiar voices of a man and woman talking to each other. Someone with the scent of family started to rub around my horns and I purred contently while taking in a deep breath of the relaxed and safe environment.

Eventually the warmth I was against started to fade and I reached out to try and pull it back only to meet resistance. Something was stopping me from moving and I started to panic and thrash out.

My eyes opened to dim light making its way through the blanket I had cocooned myself in. The orb that was providing me warmth had fallen away from my chest and was lying near my waist. I moved around enough to bring the orb closer to my chest and wipe my tears away. It wasn’t so much a dream but a memory of a much better time. I couldn’t even recall the last time I had felt as safe or relaxed as I had in the dream. There wasn’t much I did remember.

I was tempted to try to fall back to sleep but a voice stopped me.

“If you’re awake and want some food, I have it here for you.”

The prospect of getting food was more important than sleep since I had just gotten some and I was more than content to put off a nap until later. I weaseled my way out of the blanket and poked my head out of it to look around the room flicking my ears to get them above my hair in the process.

There were plenty of shelves covered in vials and jars of various plants, fluids, and unidentifiable objects in a wide range of colors. The shelves didn’t end when I looked lower but instead changed to house thousands of loose sheets of paper. I sniffed the air for food and caught the scent of meat coming from my left.

Gerin was sitting at a desk that was flooded with papers slowly scribbling away on a few while occasionally flipping back and forth between them. He did have a plate of uneaten food next to him but from what I could tell it was cold and had been so for a while. I didn’t care that much but the idea of a hot meal like the one I had gotten last night was too good to resist hoping for.

“If you want it you’re going to have to leave your little blanket fort.”

I made my way to the edge of the bed as I unwound myself from the blanket and pulled it around me before hopping to the floor. The orb was too warm to leave behind and I carried it with me making sure to press it tightly to me.

Gerin turned in his chair to look at me and sighed.

“Well that’s one way to do it I suppose. The food’s yours but I’ll need the orb back while you eat it.”

My scowl was well received and he understood why I was doing it.

“You’ll get it back. I just thought you’d like me to recharge it since you can’t hold it and eat at the same time.”

It wasn’t hard to see a good deal when it was offered and I proffered the orb to him and took the plate in exchange. Once I had the food, I greedily stuffed myself not even bothering to taste it, making the meal end all too soon. I licked my lips before wiping my mouth with the back of my hand and then any remains off of it. Having eaten, I looked expectantly at Gerin for the orb back so I could resume sleeping.

“I know you want this back but before you get it I need to do a few more tests.”

I took a step away and bared my fangs at him while hissing quietly. I didn’t want to get hurt again. He didn’t seem phased and simply stayed where he was with a bored look on his face.

“None of it should hurt you and you won’t get the orb back until you let me do them.”

After thinking for a second, I opted to go back over to the bed and crawl up onto it. Once I was there I curled up again and tried to fall asleep. My attempt lasted for a little while before I found that I was having a hard time warming up and staying warm. I poked my head out from underneath the blanket to look at Gerin and saw he had gone back to writing with the orb still sitting next to him on his desk.

I sighed and resigned myself to my fate since I really wanted to sleep more. Once I was off the bed, I walked up and pulled on the sleeve that I could reach. Gerin stopped writing and turned to me.

“Decided you wanted it back after all?”

I nodded.

“Right then. First things first, let’s do the ones that don’t require you to take the blanket off.”

He reached over his desk to a small metal case and opened it up. A few things I didn’t recognize were pulled out and he sat them next to his pen and inkwell.

“Follow my finger with both eyes.”

I did as I was told and followed the movement of his finger while ignoring what he was doing elsewhere.

“Good. Alright next I need to look up your nose so head up.”

I tilted my head up and waited before being instructed to lower my head and open my mouth. I did that and could feel something metallic tapping against my teeth. Something was put into my mouth and pressed against one of my fangs. When it was removed, I tried to get the taste of metal and alcohol out of my mouth by sweeping my tongue around but was met with little success.

“Well we don’t have to worry about you poisoning someone yet. Your poison glands haven’t developed yet and even then not all Nooix get them. Ears next.”

I turned my head and let him handle my ear. Aside from the earlier incident he was being surprising gentle with his inspection of me. Each bell was touched as he looked for signs of infection or discomfort but aside from the noise getting on my nerves I was used to them.

He seemed content with the results and instructed me to put the blanket on the bed and come back. I obeyed him and returned to where I was previously standing. By the time I did that, I was already shivering slightly. Gerin tapped his leg and I tried to climb up onto it only making it partway before being lifted onto his lap.

I didn’t mind being there simple because he was warm even if I would have preferred to be leaning into Vilmar. From where I was, I could now see over the edge of Gerin's desk and some of the papers covered in writing. Most had words I didn’t understand but I recognized my name and some information about me on one of the top pages.

About this time Gerin reached over me and pulled a small tube attached to a metal disk towards him. I looked up to try and see what he was doing leaning my head backwards to watch as he put one end into his ear. Both arms circled around me and I whimpered slightly as I watched him tap the metal disk with one finger before pressing it against my left breast.

The cold metal made me gasp and I pressed myself further into him to try and pull away from the cold.

“Deep breath for me.”

I did as instructed but when I reached the peak of my inhalation something in my lungs irritated them, causing me to start coughing lightly. This seems to loosen something inside me as the urge to cough got worse and I continued to do so until I eventually coughed up a black ball of mucus and spat it out onto the floor.

“Fuck. You’ve got bone metal spores in your lungs. This is going to take some work. First off,”

He picked me up and set me on the floor before giving me the orb back. I held it to my chest as I watched him go over to one of the shelves and pull down a bottle filled with a blue powder. Once he had place the box back on the shelf, he picked up a small metal tin about the size of our food bowls and returned to his chair. He sat back down and placed both the bottle and tin onto the desk before lifting me back onto his lap.

Gerin worked around me, pouring some of the powder out onto a piece of paper before taking the orb away, eliciting a whine of displeasure. The orb was placed back on his desk while the paper was held in front of me.

“You need to breath this in. It’s going to be uncomfortable but we need to get the bone metal out of your lungs before it starts to sprout.”

I looked at the powder and then up at him before repeating my action. I wasn’t sure what to do.

“How?”

“Just put your nose next to it and breath in. It’ll sting so be prepared for that.”

I nodded and put my nose next to the powder before sniffing. The powder stung and I started to cough again almost immediately. Gerin put the paper back on his desk and held onto me loosely while I coughed. Something came loose in my lungs and I felt it move up into my throat. I gagged but finished coughing up the spore and spat it out into the tin that was being held in front of me before launching off into another coughing fit.

After spitting up another seven black balls of mucus that were progressive smaller the coughing subsided and I sat there glaring at tin.

“It sucks I know. I’ve had to do it too.”

He pressed the metal disk back to my chest and I leaned into him to try and move away from it.

“Deep breath for me. Good. One more time. There we go. Sounds like there’s a little left still.”

I agreed with him as I coughed lightly from having to take such deep breaths. More of powder was poured out and I inhaled what I could before I started to cough again. This time the coughing lasted much longer than before since nothing was coming out. It got to the point where it hurt my chest every time I did cough and when I stopped my breathing was a weak wheeze.

My chest felt like someone was stepping on it to prevent me from breathing. More of the blue powder was offered and I breathed in as much as I could before I resumed coughing.

When the last dredges of the bone metal in my lungs decided to leave it did so all at once. I found myself choking and gagging to a point that I nearly lost the food I had eaten as a continuous string of black liquid made its way from my mouth into the tin. A few final coughs cleared what was left in my throat and I spat out the remnants in my mouth before repeating the action one more time for good measure.

There wasn’t a large difference in how I felt but breathing was slightly easier and I felt like a weight had been removed from my lungs. The metal disk was pressed to my chest and I was able to take a few full breath without any problems.

“Looks like that did it. How do you feel?”

“Bad.”

“Why?”

“Chest hurts from coughing.”

He nodded while taking the orb off of his desk and giving it back to me. I hugged it close letting the warmth spread through me and purred contently.

“Alright. How’s your breathing?”

“Good.”

I was lifted off of his lap and Gerin bent down to scoop the spore on the ground into the nearly full tin using a piece of paper. He sat the tin back on his desk and turned to me.

“One last thing and we’re good. I need to check your horns.”

I let out a low long whimper and shuffled a few small steps back to put myself out of arm’s reach.

“I only need make sure they’re not cracked or chipped. Nothing too bad. It’ll be quick so come here and let me check them.”

A few hesitant steps put me in range and Gerin reached out with one hand to grasp my arm and pull me a little closer. I scrunched my eyes shut while he shifted my hair around and tentatively touched my horns. Having someone touch my horns wasn’t nearly as bad as having the beadwork placed on them but I found that if they were rubbed the wrong way it hurt slightly.

“Still soft so definitely developing their capacity but hard enough that I don’t see them being damaged in the future unless they’re specifically targeted. Right. You’re good to go.”

I was left to my own devices as he turned to scribble onto more paper. With the orb back and my chest still sore I was looking forward to taking another nap. I climbed back onto the bed and wrapped myself up until I was comfy before settling in to fall asleep. I had just about drifted off when I heard the door to the room open. Poking my head out was a bad idea so I stayed underneath the blanket content to just listen and remain warm.

“Hey Gerin, how’s the kid doing?”

“Darach, and she’s doing better. Her regeneration should be back in working order in a day or two and I found bone metal spores in her lungs so we got those out.”

“Selmet wants her at roll call to make sure we can get a good count. Also wants her to go back to the huts afterwards. Think it’s okay?”

Gerin didn’t answer immediately and I could hear him shifting papers around.

“I’m hesitant to say yes but she should be fine as long as I see her again tomorrow to finish up treating her and make sure I didn’t miss anything. And make sure to tell Selmet to get her some decent food too or else it’ll take longer for her to recover. I don’t care if he sees her as a pet or a person, either way both need food and care when they’re sick.”

“Where is she?”

“Under the blanket on the bed. She should still be awake since I heard the bells on her ears when you entered. Want me to get her up?”

I heard the sound of wood scraping against woods.

“Nah, I’ve got it.”

The thumps of someone walking closer made me poke my head out to see how close the new man was.

“Hi there.”

Darach was the prime example of what I had come to associate with the other Demon right down to the fake smile he was wearing and the forced cheery tone.

“You gonna get up?”

I shook my head before pulling it back under the cover the blanket provided. A moment later the blanket was pulled off of me and I whined at the loss of warmth.

“Zerus! Why the hell is she naked!?”

The blanket was thrown back over the top of me but it was a moot point since it no longer held any warmth.

“That’s how Selmet brought her to me.”

“He didn’t bring her clothes too?!”

“ ‘Fraid not.”

“You have anything that can be used as clothing?”

I poked my head back out from under the blanket and watched the two talk.

“Nothing that I would be willing to part with.”

“What about the blanket?”

Gerin acted as if he had been offended an aghast look plastered to his face.

“Hell no! What would I use then?”

“You could always get another one.”

“No, no, a thousand time no. Just take her back as is and don’t worry about it. Selmet sure as hell won’t care.”

“Fine. It’s just weird.”

Gerin rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in front of him while resting one leg on top of the other.

“Yes. Naked females are such strange things. Not like you’re married or anything.”

“Fuck off. You know I’m just waiting for her father to finish the details.”

“Shouldn’t have knocked her up before getting married.”

“Yeah, yeah and you should try getting laid once in awhile.”

“You offering?”

“No. And never ask that again. It’s weird as hell.”

Darach spat on the ground.

“Don’t know why Zerus even allows your kind.”

“Well Sureem has no problems with it plus I have to stay in this hut for a reason. Selmet hates it and you know how well things go when he hates something.”

Both men shuddered before Darach walked over to me and pulled the blanket off again. I whined in protest again since I had just warmed it back up.

“Nope, off the bed with you. We’re going to be late as is. Now head outside.”

I complied and walked over to the door before waiting for him to open it. Darach walked over to me and I moved to let him open the door but he stopped and took the orb from me instead. My mewling was ignored as the orb was returned to Gerin and Darach opened the door, pushing me out of it into the cooling evening air.

“We still on for cards tonight?”

“Should be fine unless something comes up last minute. Liviana and Nunzio want to join in.”

“I hate when we play with Livi. I swear she cheats.”

“No use complaining about it. See you later tonight.”

With his last remark, Darach shut the door and start to walk away from the shack. I followed behind Darach as he led me through the log houses back to the stone buildings and the post yard. When we got there the lines were mostly gone and I was told to wait at the end. Darach stayed with me and talked to Selmet when he reached us.

Selmet would occasionally look at me, his eyes roaming over my body hungrily. When the two finished talking Selmet leaned down to talk with me.

“Hand.”

I swallowed and held my right hand out to him. He took out the knife I had used to cut my finger off and made a small cut on the back of my hand. It healed slowly but it healed nonetheless.

“Good; very good. You can go get food now.”

He stood and reached over to flick my ear causing the bells to chime before turning and leaving. I was left standing alone and naked in the yard feeling very small and very vulnerable. Not wanting to remain where I was, I hastily headed to the food hut in hopes of finding Vilmar or Lindi and my clothes.

Because of the time of day, the temperature of the air and ground continued to fall and I started to shiver uncontrollably before making it even halfway to my destination. My clothing had become to my top priority and in the interim before I got it, I was going to use ember to keep myself as warm as possible. I ended up abandoning the idea after a few tries since my constant motion made the heat dissipate before it reached me and I ended being the same temperature as prior to trying.

I could smell the food and people long before I could see them and picked up my pace in hopes of getting inside a crowd for the warmth they would provide. It wasn’t surprising that most people overlooked me as I weaved in and out of them while trying to catch a whiff of either Vilmar or Lindi. There scents were definitely here, but I was having trouble locating them due to the number of smells present simply overloading my nose.

Fortunately for me, Lindi must have caught my scent as she appeared in front of me and gestured for me to follow. I scurried after her to make sure I wasn’t left behind and was led to Vilmar. He had my clothing and after putting my dress back on I sat myself in his lap and pressed myself into him as hard as I could. No words were exchanged between us and Lindi walked off and returned with a bowl of the peotan sludge for me.

I asked them a few questions regarding what had happened after I was taken to Gerin and they filled me in. The small talk was nice but I had a much larger issue I wanted to question Vilmar about later.

Eventually, we left and I followed the two of them back to the sleeping huts and settled down in Vilmar’s lap.

“I have a question. A few actually.”

“Sure.”

I took in a deep breath and could feel Vilmar shift as he realized this was going to be a rather heavy question.

“Where are the other kids?”