“Dead. The short answer is dead. I could tell you about how it was the work or the lack of food or the sickness that sweeps through the camp every so often, but the result was always death.”

“So then why am I still here?”

Vilmar took a deep breath and released it.

“Because you’re lucky. You’re weaker than most and had to endure worse than some. If it weren’t for your regeneration you wouldn’t have made it past the first year. I honestly though the illness that most of the kids caught was going to take you too.”

“Are there any others? Like me that is? Who were lucky?”

“No.”

The word was so packed with emotion that I could feel the guilt and regret that Vilmar felt for some reason. He sounded so empty when he said it; like he had lost everything.

“Most kids,” he paused as if ordering his thoughts and deciding what to tell me. “Most kids didn’t make it past their second winter and the few that did died before summer started. Each time a new tribe was brought in the same thing happened. They stopped bringing in more tribes about five years ago. Weren’t any left to bring in.”

His final words were a whisper and I felt that they were spoken more to himself than to me. I wasn’t quite sure how to respond and simply settled for a quiet acknowledgement of what was said.

“Okay. My,” I paused to make sure I was asking the right question. “My age was brought up again today. Gerin said I was fifteen and that I would be sixteen soon. You mentioned it as well. Remember? When I asked you how old I was. Why sixteen? Why is it so important?”

“Because once you turn sixteen Selmet can finally get what he wants.”

I shifted to look up at him and saw that he was staring off into the darkness with unfocused eyes.

“What does he want? Vilmar? Vilmar.”

Instead of responding to my growing panic, Vilmar simply pulled me into a tight embrace while resting his head atop mine.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

A few wet, warm drops on my head made it clear that I had opened wounds that should have remained closed. I wanted the information but it wasn’t worth knowing if it meant reducing Vilmar to this state. He was supposed to be the strong one and protect me. How could he do that if I was hurting him?

We stayed like that for a while until I could hear the sound of Vilmar’s breathing and heartbeat slow to normal.

“Let’s get some sleep.”

He croaked the words out and I could feel how they were supposed to dissuade me from being concerned but something was wrong and I knew it. I just didn’t know how or what to ask.

Vilmar lay down and I followed suit, never leaving his embrace. I gradually fell asleep with my mind spinning in circles trying to figure out what to do with no solution ever appearing; only more questions.

Day broke and with it came the insecurity of not knowing what I was going to be doing. I didn’t know if I was still going to be assigned a job or if I was going to be given another ‘pass’ like I was yesterday. Gerin had wanted me to come back so he could check on me again but hadn’t specified when. This left a lot up in the air and it wasn’t something I was comfortable leaving undone since I now knew that I had had bone metal inside of me.

Vilmar went about as if nothing had happened last night and, if it wasn’t for the change in some of his mannerisms, I would have thought that the entire incident had passed without any effect on him. They were there though. The slight twitching of the fingers that I had never noticed before, a nervous countenance badly hidden behind his normal features, and the smell of sorrow. These were things I associated with the other Deamon in the camp, not Vilmar or Lindi. They were stronger than that; they’d shown me proof of it in their actions and words. I was starting to wonder how much of it was lies made up to help me or, even worse, to help them make it from one day to the next.

Dwelling on issues that I had no basis for was only going to leave me doubting myself and I had enough reasons to avoid doing that already. I followed Vilmar to roll call pretending to have forgotten the lack of an answer to my question, watching as the man I had built up in my mind slowly fell apart in front of me.

Roll call came and went without anything outside of the ordinary happening. Names were called, strokes were given, and someone was sent to the box. This, sadly, was the only constant in my life that I knew was a guarantee; everything else could change at a moment’s notice.

It seemed though, that I was not going to be getting a free day of rest as I was assigned to work with the masons. Vilmar was assigned elsewhere so I was on my own to find a destination no one told me and figure out what I needed to do. The second part wasn’t hard to guess since I didn’t have skills outside of manual labor, which probably meant that I would be carrying things around. Finding out where I needed to go was going to be another matter entirely. There were a few things I could try, but I had a feeling that I was going to end up needing to ask someone for help and it was most likely going to end with me getting hurt.

I had seen the statues on my walks to and from the post yard several times by now and I was hoping that I would find the masons there. My only concern was that I had never seen anyone working on the statues but their close proximity to the post yard may be the reason for this. It wasn’t a bad plan per say and if I was wrong, I wouldn’t have wasted a lot of time that was reserved for work.

There was a small problem that I had overlooked when making this plan. I had no clue what a mason looked like. The statues were my best guess off of my gut feeling on what the word meant but I wouldn’t know if I was right until I saw someone working with one of them.

Since the statues were fairly close, it only took me a moment to walk back to where the inactive totems were and look for people. The closer I got, the more worried I became since the few people that had walked in the same direction as me had peeled off at some point or another. This worry turned to a slowly growing panic when I arrived at the totems and saw that there was no one there.

The next thing I could do was look around the totems and see if anyone was working on more statues nearby. This too proved to be a futile effort as all the totems in this area already had their stories carved on them and a set of runes on the bottom. They weren’t glowing like the runes on Urik’s statue were and I could only guess that it meant they had never been activated before.

When I ran out of places to search I returned to the main pathway I had started from and took one more look around before giving up. I crouched and hugged my knees while whimpering since I now knew I was going to have to ask and get hurt. Getting this out of the way sooner rather than later would save me more pain in the long run. After I had gathered some courage, I stood and walked to the nearest Demon I could smell.

As expected, most people ignored me. So the Demon not noticing that I was standing next to him was something that I was prepared for. I took a deep breath, swallowed my fear, and tugged on the hem of the Demon’s shirt. His reaction was delayed, almost as if I had woken him.

“What?”

I was expecting to be yelled at but instead got a fairly calm and laidback reply.

“I…I was assigned to the masons, but I don’t know where they are.”

Saying more than I needed too wasn’t going to earn me any favors and I settled on asking exactly what I needed so nothing could be misconstrued.

“You’re close. ‘Bout a three-minute walk in that direction and you’ll get to where they’re working. Do you know which mason you were assigned to?”

“Um. No. I was just told I was with the masons.”

My voice tapered off into a nervous whimper since I had no clue what this man’s temperament was and I really didn’t want to get hurt. The Demon didn’t really seem to notice this, or really care, and simply stood there thinking for a moment.

“Nope, can’t think of which building or mason you would have been assigned to. Come on, I’ll walk you to the main one and find out for you.”

I wanted to whimper even more now but held myself back to a quiet subdued mewling. It was bad enough that I had to ask since that alone was an excuse for Selmet to whip me. The fact that this Demon was now leaving his post in order to help me and was then going to inquire about who I should be assisting basically guaranteed that I was going to be whipped once Gerin said it was safe.

Regardless of this, I followed behind the Demon in silence while watching where he was leading me. We walked further back into the area with the statues, past where I had searched, and into one of the many stone buildings that dotted this area of the camp.

The Demon opened the door and it became very apparent why I had been unable to find this place by listening for noise. A methodical tapping and the patter of feet moving back and forth were the only sounds in I could hear and even then I needed to strain myself to hear them.

When I was able to see around the Demon, I could make out over thirty Deamons in front of status with a similar number bringing them stone from the other side of the room. From what I could see, my assumption about the masons making the totems was correct and I would be bringing them stone. I looked up at the Demon I had followed and saw that he was scanning the area for someone. He walked away from me towards another part of the building and I stayed with him since I didn’t want to be left behind.

After checking over a dozen rows of finished statues, the Demon found what he was looking for and started down that particular row. Walking between the towering statues was unsettling. Everything was always bigger than me and, in this case, the statues blocked out any vision I had of the rest of the room. It didn’t help that the statues had menacing faces carved on them or that their eyes seemed to see me even when I was trying to hide.

My eyes continued to dart between the statues, my anxiety growing with each passing figure. I didn’t like this, the feeling that the looming stone Demons saw through my attempts to hide my fear. My steadily mounting panic escalated as I ran into the legs of the Demon I was following. I backed away while trying to make myself as small as possible, cowering out of arm’s reach from the man while afraid of what he might do. He didn’t notice and instead addressed the person he had come here for.

“Adamo, you’re supposed to be doing paperwork or watching the workers, not fucking one of them in the back.”

“Don’t try to lecture me Gian. You’re nowhere near where you patrol and besides, I can do what I want since she’s mine. Now why are you here?”

When I ran into Gian, I had stayed a little ways away from him. During this conversation I worked up enough courage to get close enough to use him as a makeshift wall and look around his legs. What I saw was a little confusing. The Demon, Adamo, was sitting at a chair ‘working’ on papers scattered over the desk in front of him and at first I didn’t see anyone else. I could smell them though and it only took a moment of looking elsewhere before I found them.

It was a tailed Deamon woman, one I recognized by scent from the party I was forced to serve at, and she was under Adamo’s desk with her head between his legs. From my current vantage point I couldn’t see what she was doing but I was able to see that she was completely naked. My eyes traced what I could see of her body while Gian and Adamo talked and when my gaze fell lower I paused to take in what I saw. From what I could tell, her stomach was bulging a minuscule amount as if she had eaten too much. Below that, the area between her legs looked wet and something seemed to be oozing out of her.

I recognized what it was and felt my stomach twist into a knot while the heavy feeling in my gut that had dissipated returned. It looked and smelled like the same opaque liquid I had thrown up three days ago. My mind blanked as I watched another dribble of it exit and pool on her lower lips before dripping off. The resulting droplet formed a thin string between her groin and an already formed puddle of multiple liquids on the ground before finally breaking, leaving a smaller drop hanging off of her. I felt my entire body shudder in revulsion and terror at the sight.

My heart was hammering in my ears and I was fighting the urge to run until I found the smallest hole I could fit into and hide inside it. I turned and started to frantically look around only to make eye contact with the stone statues. Their unblinking stares drilled into me causing me to crouch and curl up on myself as tightly as I could to hide from their gaze.

Broken pieces of memories came back while I hid under my hands. Being surrounded by so many people larger than I was, being overpowered and forced to do things I didn’t want to do. I remembered pain only to be followed by the same smell that was coming from the Deamon woman between Adamo’s legs. I didn’t remember what came after that, only that it was a very old memory, and that it ended with the same opaque liquid leaving me in the same way.

I squirmed and shuddered in place not feeling safe or comfortable inside my own skin while my insides tightened again forcing me to resist the urge to vomit. I needed the little food I had inside me to stay there and I didn’t want them to notice me like this; to see that I was weak. They’d eat my guts.

Even though I was trying to hide myself from the world, I was still making small panicked whimpers and had unknowingly drawn the attention of both Demons.

“What the hell’s wrong with her?”

“Probably a panic attack. It happens to all the ones who’ve been to the box. Just shake her a few times and she’ll snap out of it.”

Hands placed themselves on me and shook me.

“Nope. Not working.”

“Ugh. You’ve go to do it harder than that. No. Oh for fucks sake. You stop for now. I’ll finish with you later.”

I heard the sounds of wood against stone and the stomp of feet approaching me. The approaching footsteps made me curl tighter in on myself before I was sent sprawling on the ground with a large crack. My side flared in pain from the bones breaking and I continued to lie on the ground without moving.

“Up. Now.”

I stood as quickly as I could, ignoring the protesting of my ribs. I had been given an order and followed it as quickly as I could to avoid being hurt again. Once I was standing, I quickly looked up before lowering my line of sight. I stood there silently as Adamo walked closer, the musty smell from earlier getting closer.

He stopped in front of me and I kept my body ridged in an attempt to not shake. Looking up at him would mean making making eye contact and I wasn’t about to show any signs of defiance right now. My eyes stayed glued to the ground until he grabbed my chin and forced my head up.

“Let’s get a better look at you.” His hand moved my face so he could see both sides of it. “Yeah…You’re the one Selmet’s claimed. Tell me, you know what this is?”

He gestured to the limp object hanging out of the crotch of his pants. It looked like flesh and was covered in what smelled like saliva. I shook my head as much as I could before flinching and speaking in a subdued voice.

“No.”

“That shocks me; especially knowing Selmet. The man loves to train his pets. Though that being said…You don’t seem to recognize me which means you probably don’t remember anything. Explains why you’re here.”

My chin was released and the hand relocated itself to the top of my head.

“A small reacquaintance then so Selmet has one less thing to teach you. This,” my face was shoved into the man’s groin and I started to resist while whimpering in panic. “Is a penis.”

I was using both of my hands to try and leverage myself away from Adamo but he was much stronger than I was and easily kept me in place. The shaft of his stiffening penis started to spread over the left side of my face while the head got closer to my eye. As it slowly grew larger, a trail of whatever liquids covered it was left on me making me gag from the smell.

I continued to fight for my freedom until I was suddenly released and found myself on the ground again looking up at Adamo. He towered over me and I stared up at him with wide panicked eyes. My mind was all over the place; there were thoughts of fighting back, of following orders to remain unharmed, and of running away as fast as my legs would carry me.

All of these thought ground to a screeching halt when he started to walk closer to me, making me crawl backwards until I ran into a statue. I started to whimper louder and curled in on myself to try and protect my head.

“Ieva, come.”

I took a risk and looked up to see that Adamo was standing over me waiting for the approaching Deamon woman. A quick glance around the area made me realize that it was just the three of us; Gian had left. With nothing I could do but wait, I watched as she made her way over to where we were, leaving a trail of liquid behind her.

Once she reached Adamo, she stopped moving and I watched as her thin snakelike tail wrapped itself around her leg. I instinctually knew it was a sign of discomfort but Adamo didn’t seem to care as he turned back to me and bent down.

“Little lesson for you now. You’re a woman and I,” He patted his chest, “am a man, the better of the two sexes. Your use is just like hers.” He pointed to Ieva.

“You’re a tool. A toy. An animal and, I can see that you already obey orders like a good little pet should. But your main use is to pleasure men. Understand?”

I shook my head while barely whispering the word 'no'.

“That’s fine, that’s fine. Just need a little demonstration is all. Ieva.”

He stood and moved so I could see Ieva get on her knees and take his penis into her mouth. She started to move her head back and forth while her cheeks sunk from applying the pressure to suck causing Adamo to groan slightly while muttering to himself before he returned his attention back to me.

“This is what you do. You don’t matter, only making the person ordering you feel good does. Got it?”

I nodded frantically just wanting this to end. I would rather be whipped than watch this since it made me feel like my stomach was trying to leave my body.

“Ieva, stop. Up.”

Ieva stopped what she was doing and pulled her head back, leaving a few strings of saliva connecting her mouth to Adamo’s penis once it was removed. She then stood and waited for whatever it was she would have to do next, her tail returning to its place around her leg. I looked at her, watching as her vacant and dead eyes just stared straight ahead as if there was nothing there to see.

Adamo walked around behind her, his shoulders falling level with the top of her head. He started to run his hands along her body while looking at me with a proud smile on his face.

“Ieva here is a good girl. Does what she’s told with no complaints. She’s like you, heals faster than others even if I need to wait a bit longer between sessions then Selmet does. Feathers were a pain to keep gone because of that but it wasn’t too hard to do.”

He continued to run his hands lower and lower until one hand found itself between Ieva’s legs. Two of his fingers slid almost all the way into her and I could see her eyes flinch slightly and her tail tighten around her leg even if the rest of her body remained still. He pulled his fingers apart and a thicker trail of opaque white liquid with a few ribbons of red in it trickled out of her onto the ground. As he did this, I could smell the telltale scent of iron that only came from blood add itself to the air.

“She was resistant at first. Always fought to try to stop me from releasing my seed inside her, but a little training breaks even the strongest spirit. Now she serves as my pleasure toy while I try to impregnate her. Once that happens, she’ll bear the next generation of Aviards.”

He pulled his fingers out of Ieva and brought them up to her face where she licked them clean of her blood and the other liquids on them.

“That’s the problem with Deamon, especially Nooix like you and Ieva here, it’s so hard to knock you up even when you’re at your most fertile. But there’s a very simple solution,” He gently ran his hand over Ieva's stomach and then pressed down forcefully enough to indent it. She slipped slightly, the pads of her feet no longer touching the ground as she squirmed, but Adamo kept her upright as a small, thin torrent of opaque liquid spilled out of her and puddled on the ground, “We just need to fill you up again and again until it works.”

I could hear Ieva's breath shudder with a nearly inaudible whimper as the flow of liquid slowed while turning pink. Shortly after this, a few drops of pure red ended the stream of liquid leaving Ieva and she seemed to lose all strength in her body, sagging against Adamo's hand. Adamo let go of Ieva showing no concern when she fell to the floor, her previously distended stomach now flat, and stepped over her to stand in front of me.

“Normally this goes in here,” He gestured to his crotch while tapping mine with his foot. “But as you saw there are other places it can go. You’re assigned to Tor.”

He turned to leave and I slowly made my way to my feet in order to walk back to the masons and find whoever Tor was. My mind was still a mess and I wasn’t really paying attention to what was happening around me. I looked up only to see that Adamo was still right next to me.

“Before you go though, I think it’s only fair that you prove you learned the lesson I taught you. So, come suck it.”

Adamo placed a hand on my head and pushed down, causing me to drop till the hock's of both my legs were brushing the ground. I looked up at him and then back down at the still stiff penis that now hung at my eye level before making my way closer as slowly as I could. The only thing I could think was the word ‘no’ even if I was unable to say it. When I reached a point where I was close enough that I had no other options, I hesitantly opened my mouth before a hand roughly grabbed my head.

“One more small thing I forgot to tell you. If you bite, I’ll break all you fingers then make you do this again. Got it?”

I tried to nod and managed a weak yes before my mouth was filled with Adamo’s vile taste.

“Get to work then.”

Only the head of his penis was inside my mouth and any attempt to pull it out had it forced back in. My eyes watered as I was forced to move myself down his shaft, stretching my jaw to its limit. The hand on my head was removed and I was left to stand there with my mouth filled to capacity and my hands fidgeting by my sides. I had seen what needed to be done; I just didn’t want to do it.

The cracking of knuckles made me start moving and I couldn’t stop myself from gagging each time I had to push Adamo further into my mouth. I clenched my hands and focused on the pain of my claws digging into my palms in an attempt to escape reality. Time seemed to stretch on as my neck and jaw grew tired and my attempts to remove myself from Adamo slowly increased.

“Selmet still has a long way to go with you I see.”

With that comment, a hand was placed on either side of my head and my face was pressed all the way to the clothing on Adamo’s body. The foreign object in my throat made me gag again and I continued to struggle as it was then removed before being jammed back in place repeatedly. I began to push and scratch uselessly against Adamo's legs as I tried to stop myself from being deprived of air and free myself from his grip.

Adamo started to make a few grunting noises as his penis seemed to swell. My face was jammed into his body with even more force as something left him and forced its way down my throat. My gagging increased to the point that I would have thrown up if there was somewhere for it to go. Adamo’s grip relaxed and I was allowed to pull my head back slightly only to have a thick sticky liquid fill the empty space in my mouth. It was highly salty and had a nasty bitterness to it.

What had started out as an overly think liquid got even thicker and more viscous and I found myself forced to swallow what was in my mouth since I was being held in place against my will. The last dredges of what was being released were nearly solid and quickly mixed with my spit to form a sticky mixture that seemed to get everywhere inside my mouth. To make matters worse, this mixture seemed to contract making me have to fight to keep my mouth open.

When I was finally released I immediately fell to my knees and began to vomit and cough, the taste of burning acid and salt not unlike it was three days earlier. The mixture hadn’t fully left and I could feel some of it coating the roof and sides of my mouth, pulling everything it covered taut. I drew in a deep breath to calm my ragged breathing and wiped the spittle from my lips and tears from my eyes before retracting my claws.

“That wasn’t so bad now was it? Even if it is a shame you wasted perfectly good semen. Don’t worry too much about that though, just a few more times and all of this’ll be second nature. I will, however, leave Selmet that pleasure since training a new ginga is too much work when I already have one. Off you go. Ieva, deal with your messes and find me afterwards.”

Adamo walked away while I was gently pushed to the side by Ieva. She picked up some of my vomit in cupped hands and started to walk towards the entrance of the building. I stayed on all fours shivering and doing everything I could to try and remove the taste and smell from my mouth and nose; it wasn’t working.

By Ieva’s third trip I finally stood up and followed her to the front of the building still trying to remove any traces of what had just happened from my mouth. When we reached the building’s entrance I walked off in the direction of the masons still feeling disgusted and violated.

There were other things I could focus on though that would help me hopefully forget about this. I knew that I needed to help someone named Tor, but didn’t know who they were. Hoping that one of the working Deamons would help me, I walked over to the nearest mason and waited until he noticed I was standing there.

The mason I had chosen to stand next to glanced at me before returning to work, leaving me to standing awkwardly next to him while trying to build up the courage to speak.

“I…I’m, um, I’m looking for Tor.”

“Speak up girl. Can’t hear you over the chisel.”

I swallowed and tried to speak louder and with more confidence.

“Tor. I’m supposed to help Tor.”

The mason stopped working and looked over at me. I could feel myself shudder as his eyes lingered on the new stains dotting my dress.

“He’s farther down the line; third to last. Be careful, he’s not very happy since he’s been having to do both jobs as you weren’t here yet.”

“I…I didn’t have a choice. On being late I mean. No one told me where to go or…or who to help. And…and then Adamo…”

My voice trailed off into a small whimper at the all too recent memory.

“No, I understand that. But he can still be blame you for it and it’s easier for him to do that instead taking the full punishment for not meeting quota by himself.”

I could feel myself start to breath faster at the mention of punishment and I started to wring the front of my dress in an attempt to calm myself. When my breathing finally leveled out I returned my attention to the mason only to find he had gone back to work. It was obvious that he had nothing else to say to me and I decided that I should probably get to Tor before he had even more reason to be angry.

The building was much larger than it seemed from the outside and it took me a minute to walk from end to end. When I got to the far side of the building I began looking for a mason without someone bringing them stone and quickly found a match. From what I had seen of the other masons, Tor was as starved as the rest of them, even if they were all in better health than the workers like Vilmar or Lindi.

If I understood correctly, the mason’s job required people adept at magic which helped me rationalized why they would be better taken care of. They still weren’t in the best condition as that position belonged to Ieva and the other women who helped serve at the party. It helped I had finally learned why they would be kept in a more desirable state than everyone else even if the answer disturbed me on every level.

I really didn’t want to talk with Tor since I was told he was angry, so I instead looked for this area’s source of rock and began to walk over to it. Once I was there, I picked up what I could without aggravating my side and brought it back before repeating the process. By the time Tor would need more stone my hope was that I would have enough there for him to work with and diminish his anger.

During my return trip for the seventh armful of rock I saw that Tor had stopped carving the totem and was sitting there looking in my direction. He continued to sit and watch me with his arms crossed as I got closer and sat the rocks down.

“What took you so long?”

His voice was gruff and I could hear that there was something in his lungs, most likely stone dust.

“I didn’t know where to go.”

“Sure you didn’t. Look, just bring me stone and we won’t have an issue alright?”

I nodded.

“Great and just an FYI, you’re going to need to bring it faster than this.”

He turned back around after picking up a chunk of stone and I watched as he said some words and pressed it to the statue. The rock seemed to melt into the statue and I watched in fascination as that part of the statue now held the unshaped stone as if it had always been there.

I quickly shook myself out of my reveries and scurried back to the stone on the far side of the room to bring more back. By the time I returned, Tor was waiting for it and took most of it out of my hands before once again melding the stone and the statue. This process continued for a while and I could smell the annoyance and anger start to build up and tried to move faster to appease him.

Everything seemed to be going fine once I started to move faster but I couldn’t keep up my current pace. It only took three more trips before I started to noticeably slow down and had trouble catching my breath from the growing pain in my side. My legs had started shaking and felt like they weighed as much as the stones I was trying to carry.

The rocks dropped from my arms near Tor’s feet as I bent over to bring my ragged breathing back down to normal. I tried to wipe the sweat from my brow but only succeeded in getting a little bit into my eyes, which stung them. When I finished catching my breath I looked up to see Tor glaring at me and I scampered off as fast as I could manage.

This time, I lasted one more trip before collapsing from the pain and inability to breath properly. For whatever reason, this seemed to be the final straw for Tor and I could hear him walk over to where I was currently on the ground. I instinctively curled into a ball just in time to feel his foot connect with my side again making me yelp in pain as the partially healed bones broke.

He had started to yell and continued to kick me but I had retreated inside my own head. It was impossible to form a cohesive thought from the overpowering pain of having my broken ribs continually kicked and I was only half aware of my continued whimpers and yelps.

I wasn’t even sure when he stopped but eventually the pain died down and I was able to think again. Without uncurling, I listened and smelled the air to figure out who was around me. I could smell the stony scent of Tor nearby as well as the predatory scent of Adamo but both were nearly overwhelmed by the stench of blood. I sniffed again to confirm that it wasn’t my blood I smelled before I cautiously unfurled to look around.

The first thing I saw was a boot before the person next to me bent down. Adamo lifted my head with both hands to look at me while using his thumbs to clean the wet rivulets off my face. It was hard to keep him in focus and my wheezy breathing was painful enough that I was restricted to short gasps. Once he finished with my face, he began to probe my side and I started to yelp and whimper while trying to squirm away after a light touch.

“Hopefully Gerin can fix this. You’ll be lucky if you didn’t do anything too serious Tor. Selmet’s claimed this one and you know how he gets about his property. Really though, you should have known you wouldn’t be expected to meet the same quota since she’s so tiny. Very stupid on your part." Adamo returned his attention towards me, "As for you, get up.”

I was released and left to struggle in righting myself as best I could. Even with the pain being at near debilitating levels, I did everything I could to do as I was told. Despite what my mind may have wanted, my body had finally had enough and collapsed out from under me when I tried to move from a sitting position.

“Ah fuck. Right then, looks like you won’t be getting to the tink under your own power. Tor, get back to work when you finally get your sorry ass off the ground. I’ll find you some help when I get back but I expect double quota today in compensation for interrupting my fun.”

Adamo turned back to me while muttering ‘come here you’ and I was picked up in the same way Vilmar carried me against his chest. Once I was against Adamo it was hard to ignore all of the scents on him and I panicked slightly since he smelled too similar to Selmet for me to be comfortable. I wanted to struggle and move away from him but forced myself to remain motionless. My attention instead focused on my breathing and ignoring the fresh smell of Ieva’s and Tor’s blood on him.

I continued to remain still with my eyes clamped shut while trying unsuccessfully to suppress my whimpers that were accentuated by small pules of pain each time a step jostled my ribs. It was hard to do anything other than focus on my ribs and the blinding pain they were causing me when I could feel them struggling to fix themselves at an agonizingly slow pace.

The sound of wood being hit signaled that we had probably reached Gerin and the subtle smell of dried plants helped me feel confident in that guess. Nothing happened for a moment until Adamo moved and kicked the door again causing me to yelp quietly from being moved roughly.

“What? Are your arms broken? Door’s never locked you know.”

“Maybe, but I have my hands full at the moment.”

I heard the creak of old wood bending and was able to catch Gerin's scent alongside the influx of the smell of plants.

“Son of a, what happened this time? She shouldn’t have needed to come here until later tonight. Come in and put her on the bed.”

The smell of plants grew stronger and I felt myself being lowered onto the bed with my hurt ribs facing up causing me to whimper softly as my weight redistributed itself. I could feel a pair of hands slowly start to trace my body and push slightly on different areas.

“So what happened?”

“She was supposed to help Tor since it was easy but had to find the place first. Tor didn’t like that he was having to do everything by himself and eventually did this.”

I felt a hand push into my right side and yelped while trying to move away.

“What the hell did he do? That’s not just broken it’s fucking shattered. And there’s no way that he had the strength to initially break these. So.” The hands left and I could hear Gerin stand, “How’d her ribs actually break.”

“Had a panic attack after seeing Ieva working. Had to shake her out of it.”

The indifference in Adamo’s voice wasn’t hidden and it seemed to enrage Gerin.

“Is everyone in this camp an idiot?! If you just wait for a few minutes they come out of it on their own and from the looks of these stains you didn’t have her leave right afterwards anyways so it’s not like you were concerned about time. Ugh. I’ll heal her but don’t expect her back for a good while. This is going to take quite a bit of time.”

I listened as the two moved around and felt a pair of hands start to take my dress off of me eliciting even more whimpers. When my dress was fully pulled off I was left lying where I was to slowly start shivering. I risked opening my eyes and saw Gerin coming back with the orb from yesterday already glowing brightly with heat.

He pressed the orb to my chest and I did my best to hug it as tightly as I could without aggravating my side. The heat felt good and helped set me at ease while changing my whimpers into tiny whines. Hands returned to tentatively probing my side and for the most part I was able to restrain from crying out in pain.

“Sureem this bruise is huge. Practically takes up your entire side. One day, they just had to not hurt you for one fucking day and then you would’ve been fine. But nooo, their needs come first every single time.”

Gerin stopped feeling my side and stood before walking over to the basin he had washed his hands in and dipping a rag into it. He then wrung out the rag and beelined to a bottle-covered shelf and pulled down a few. He sat down roughly in the chair by the bed and placed the rag on my side causing me to inhale in shock from the cold. The bottles were all opened and the rag was removed leaving my side wet and gradually getting colder.

“This is going to hurt a little. I’m fully repairing a few bones here so just bare with it.”

I whimpered in acknowledgment as he poured a jelly like substance that smelled like fruit into his hand and began rubbing it on my side. Even though I knew it was going to hurt it didn’t stop me from reacting to the pain. Gerin ran his hand and the jelly over my side unit I couldn’t feel anything but residual liquid before wiping his hands on the rag and picking up another bottle. This one contained a powder and was poured into the rag before being placed on my side again. I could feel the area heat up slightly despite the rag being cold and damp.

Gerin placed a hand on both sides of my ribs and I heard him mumble something before a searing pain lanced through my side. I felt my ribs move back into place and fuse into one piece again but Gerin didn’t stop his spell. My side gradually hurt less and I could feel the swelling reduce and slowly go away. I stopped twitching once my side felt normal causing Gerin to stop and take the rag off of me before testing for any lingering issues.

“Well, looks like you’re okay for now.”

He stood up and walked over to his desk before coming back with a small earthen cup.

“Take this.” He held his hand out and I took the small pill from his palm.

“Swallow it; don’t chew. You can either use this to help,” He raised the cup slightly, “or drink it afterwards.”

I looked at the pill before reluctantly letting go of the orb and holding out my other hand for the cup.

“Please.”

“There you go. It’s not going to taste great, but I think you could guess that already.”

He watched as I put the pill into my mouth, wince at the taste, and then smelled the liquid in the cup. It smelt of plants and alcohol and I took a small sip only to grimace at the nasty bitter taste it had. I coughed slightly from the burn it left in my throat and moved the pill onto my tongue before gulping down as much of the cup’s contents as I could in one go. The liquid washed the pill down my throat and both left behind their respective bitter tastes making me gag and cough from the residual burning the drink left behind. I looked into the cup and saw that there was about a third of it left and looked up at Gerin before whining slightly. He looked at me and then reached down to tilt the cup so he could see how much was left.

“Sorry squirt, still too much left in there. Gotta drink some more.”

I whined again before trying to drink the rest of the cup’s contents in one swig and managed to do so with minimal difficulties and coughing. Gerin took the cup back from me and I soon found that I was struggling to keep my eyes open. The blanket I used yesterday was put over the top of me and I burrowed under it to create a nest for myself before drifting off to sleep.

When I woke up I was overly groggy with a dry mouth and small headache. I shifted slightly causing the bells to chime, making me sigh in mild frustration. My side still hurt even if it was back to normal but it didn’t seem like the pain was going to any worse. I wormed my way to the side of the blanket and poked my head out of it to see Gerin at his desk with his head in his arms.

A sniff of the room told me that there was food here and I could tell it was next to Gerin. My stomach grumbled in anticipation and I quickly looked around the room for my dress, hoping to get back the small bit of mental armor wearing it provided. My dress had been left next to me on the bed and I quickly put it on while staying under the blanket. Once it was on, I slid off of the bed making sure to keep the blanket over me and the orb against my chest.

The closer I got to Gerin, the more sure I was that he was asleep at his desk if the soft snores were any indication. A small mental debate started to take place about whether or not I should try to wake him to get the food or just leave him asleep. I could see a plate of what looked like a half eaten meal over the edge of the desk but I wasn’t sure I would be able to reach it, which swung my decision closer to needing to wake Gerin. However, that didn’t mean I couldn’t try to get the plate first.

I continued to eye the plate and reached up to pull it towards me only to fall slightly short as my fingers brushed against its edge. My second attempt while on tiptoes was closer and I was able to get my fingertips on the plate even if I wasn’t able to pull it to me. Before I tried for a third time, I walked back to the bed and reluctantly placed the orb and blanket on it. Now that I had both hands free, I stood against the desk on my tiptoes while hopping slightly to give me the extra reach needed to pull the plate while hoping the jingling of my bells wouldn’t wake Gerin.

When I felt the plate move closer after my first try I purred with excitement of having my plan work. The plate was close enough that I didn’t need to hop anymore and I pulled it to the edge of the desk before taking it off with both hands. I sat on the ground against the desk and ate what was left on the plate not really caring about temperature or taste aside from that it contained meat.

Once the food on the plate was gone, I licked it clean before doing the same for my hands and lips making sure I had consumed all of the meal. Content, I pushed the plate back up onto the desk and then returned to the bed. I crawled up onto it and pulled the orb close before proceeding to wrap myself up in my blanket nest again. I purred freely since I was genuinely happy for the first time in a long while. I was warm, fed, and felt safe in my little nest. Even if it was only temporary, I was going to enjoy it.

Ever so slowly, I felt myself beginning to nod off again and happily let sleep take me. My dreams seemed to reflect my current state of mind as I had a very fuzzy mental image of Vilmar, my parents, and myself all sitting around a cooking fire with the meaty smell of roasting goire filling the air. I sat in my mother’s lap playing with her tail and listening to Vilmar and my father’s unintelligible talk while my mother occasionally interjected. Vilmar was in plain view and I turned my head to see what my father looked like only to see a blurred and indistinguishable mess of color. I looked up at my mother and saw the same blur hiding her features.

A part of me hurt realizing that I didn’t know what my parents looked like and probably never would seeing as I so rarely remembered anything beyond small random tidbits of information. This realization made the dream start to fall apart as I stirred and woke under my blanket.

I lazily lied there for a while before poking my head out to see if Gerin was awake. I didn’t have a reason to care aside from being curious but it seemed like he was awake and crushing dried plants in a pestle on his desk.

“I see that you ate the rest of my breakfast while I was recovering from healing you. They didn’t give you any food like I told them to did they?”

“No.”

Gerin sighed and stopped what he was doing to turn and look at me.

“Then I suppose it’s a good thing I went and got more food for the both of us. While you’re eating I’ll check your ribs again before seeing how your regeneration’s doing.”

I jingled in response before making my way off the bed again while taking the blanket with me. I knew that I was going to have to put it back on the bed eventually but that time was not right now. Gerin offered me another plate of food and I sat on the ground next to him before happily gorged myself while savoring the taste of the meat and any plant that wasn't poetan.

“Watching you move and act I can understand why other people would think you were an animal.”

I cocked my head to the side after licking the plate clean.

“Just like that. Your mannerisms are the same as a small animal. Hell, you’ve been purring this entire time; it’s actually pretty cute. Makes it easy to understand why some Demons want your tribe specifically as pets since your people remain so small in comparison to a normal Demon. But gods do you break so easily when under too much pressure.”

He stood while taking the empty plate from me and sat it on his desk.

“Right, I need to look at your side again. You can either lift your dress up so I can see it or take it off. Whichever’s easier for you.”

Weighing the options, I left the blanket on the ground and decided to just lift my dress since I wouldn’t have to take it off all the way. Gerin started to probe the different bones gently at first and gradually began to apply more pressure while targeting individual ribs. It wasn’t comfortable but it didn’t hurt either which Gerin seemed to pick up on after his second round of testing.

“Last thing then is to see how your regeneration is doing. I’m going to need to cut you for this since it’s the easiest method to use.”

I hesitantly nodded before holding out my hand and Gerin made a small cut on the back of it. The cut bled for a minute before slowly healing and when the blood was wiped away we could see that the skin had healed without leaving any marks. Gerin wasn’t satisfied with how fast I had healed and went over to his shelf of bottles before bringing back one that I recognized from yesterday. Seeing it made me uneasy just because of the connection it had to me being hurt again but I wasn’t in a position where I could turn it down.

Like the first time I drank it, the mixture in the vial was mostly bitter with a slight fruity flavor from attempts to make it taste less awful. Gerin took the vial from me and told me to follow him as he left the shack. He headed in the direction of the masons and I realized that I wasn’t going to be given any more time to relax. I didn’t want to go back yet, or at all preferably, but unfortunately it wasn’t up to me to make that decision.

It only took a few minutes to return to the mason building and, once we entered, Gerin led me over to Adamo and started talking to him. I ignored their conversation in favor of looking for Ieva since I didn’t see her at first. When I saw her, I felt my stomach lurch again and questioned why I had listened to my morbid curiosity.

She was unconscious at Adamo’s feet and, from where I was, I could see bruises along her body and neck that were slowly healing. The area between her legs was covered in dried blood while her stomach was bulging again like when I first saw her. Even worse was that her breathing sounded shallow and strained, as if she had something in her throat blocking the air from getting to her lungs.

I wanted to know if she was going to be alright, but I was afraid that asking would lead to a bad result for both of us. Any thoughts I had of doing this were forgotten when Adamo walked over to me and placed a hand on my head.

“Up and moving just like Gerin said. Means you get to start working again and pay us back for keeping you healthy. Now don’t give me that look. You may not be happy but you’re alive and being fixed when broken aren’t you? Besides, once you’re trained properly by Selmet it’s not like you’ll think about anything other than him.

“Regardless, you’ll be helping the old man now since he’s already so slow. Probably should have sent you to him in the first place, but no harm, no foul right?”

Adamo turned away from me to address Gerin.

“You know where to find Gahnka right?”

“I think so.”

“Building three. Send the woman that’s helping him now over here to assist Tor.”

Gerin signaled for me to follow him and we left the way we entered before heading over to another nearby building. This building was virtually indistinguishable from the others in the area and when we entered I saw that there were only a few differences. For one, I was able to count the number of Deamons in the building on both hands and second, the size and detail of the totems being worked on were by far a grade above the others.

I was reminded of Urik’s statue and of how even the symbols on it were aesthetically pleasing, serving to somehow heighten the realism of the totem. These totems were easily the same size and the Deamons working on them stood on wooden platforms that supported them and their tools. The Deamons themselves all had horns larger than anyone else I had seen which had to mean that these were the mages of the Deamon tribes. If this was true, then the complete lack of any Demons in the area didn’t make any sense.

While I continued to try and sniff out any Demons in the room, I followed Gerin to one of the statues in progress. I again confirmed that there were no Demons present and changed my focus to the woman bringing this mason stone. I recognized her scent from the party, but her larger, bulkier build and lack of a visible tail meant she probably wasn’t from my tribe. There was also height to consider and when I mentally compared her to everyone else I knew I placed her at about half a head taller than Ieva and Lindi.

Gerin waited until she had deposited the stone she was carrying into the nearby bin before walking over to talk with her. I decided to look for the mason that she was getting the rock for in favor of listening in on what they were saying. It took a moment to find him visually even though I could smell him, but once I had done so I took in a few very familiar traits.

He had a tail like the one Ieva had, long and snakelike, that seemed to move to an imaginary rhythm as he dutifully chipped away on the statue. His grey hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail to keep it out of the way and I noticed that there were white feathers intermixed into it. These features all paled in comparison to his horns.

While the other mason’s horns were large, his were moderately sized and curved around to cover the back of his head. However, the other masons didn’t have the same complexity of patterns on their horns like he did. From where I was standing it was hard to see them but what I could see was mesmerizing to the point that it commanded all of my attention.

The woman that Gerin was talking to had started to walk away allowing Gerin to walk over to the base of the totem and call up to the mason. The Deamon’s reactions were slow and measured just like the carving I had just watched and he carefully set down the tools as if he revered them before unsteadily climbing down the scaffolding. Gerin approached him and the two began to talk. A few gestures were made in my direction and I could see the mason eyeing me curiously before nodding in agreement to whatever Gerin had asked.

Both of them started to walk in my direction and I stayed where I was while they got closer. As they approached, I was able to better distinguish the old man’s scent for the others in the room and realized it smelled even more familiar than Vilmar’s did. The old man stopped in front of me and knelt on one knee while Gerin continued by us to most likely return to his shack. I looked at him and took in his features before meeting his eyes and becoming absolutely sure of one thing.

He carefully reached out towards me as if scared that I either wasn’t here or would move away before finally wrapping his frail arms around me in a snug embrace. I started to purr despite myself and began to nuzzle him aggressively.

“It has been a very, very long time since I have gotten to see you Rea.”

He was family.