Xaxac did not trust normalcy, did not trust routine, so he was elated one night when Lee knocked on the door of the sitting room. Xaxac was lying on the couch with his legs wrapped around Agalon’s back, thinking that even this no longer really staved off the madness he felt. He needed more and more as time went on, and the darkness that fell over him, though it would be washed away by an orgasm, came back sooner and sooner each time.

There was something wrong with him, but he couldn’t articulate it, couldn’t explain it. And he didn’t think Agalon would understand.

“Your guest has arrived, master,” Lee announced.

“Guest?” Agalon asked, “Is she by herself? Just… show her to her room.”

“Yes, master.”

Lee apparently disappeared and Xaxac fell back into the comforting rhythm that would stave off the madness, at least for a little while.

After the buzzing had dissipated, he followed Agalon to the bedroom, to get themselves cleaned up and in any kind of shape to receive guests, then clung to his arm as they made their way into the hall, not to the guest room where Alex stayed when he visited with his master, but to another that was apparently exactly like it. Agalon knocked on the door and was greeted by a woman’s voice.

“Come in, your grace.”

Agalon opened the door and led Xaxac into the sitting room lit by a blazing fire. Mrs OfAgalon and one of the human women Xaxac did not know were working in the background in silence, dragging luggage into the bedroom and putting it away. Everything was too quiet; the only sound was the cracking of the fire.

An earth elven woman in a military uniform stood by the table that was meant to provide a space for eating, pouring herself a glass of the wine Lee had probably provided. Her blond hair would have likely been as long as Agalon’s, had she wore it down, but it was obviously a natural blond; she was much younger and had none of the lines on her face that some of the other elves hid, and if she was wearing makeup, she wore it in such a way as to conceal that fact.

But Xaxac’s attention was not on her. It was on the man sitting on the sofa.

He wore an outfit Xaxac had never seen before; it was a plain, dingy greygreen, with a series of numbers along the breast pocket and the back along his shoulders. The pants matched in color, and his boots looked as if they had seen better days. He wore a necklace that reminded Xac of a much thinner version of the shackles the fighters had worn around their necks when they had walked to Alex’s master’s house. His hair had been cropped so short it made his ears seem even longer than they were, and his eyes narrowed as Agalon stepped into the room.

He had flesh that was a deep blue, eyes to match, and hair the color of seafoam.

He seemed to hate Agalon instinctively, but interest flashed over his eyes when he saw Xaxac.

“Welcome!” Agalon said, “I reckon y’all are comfortable?”

“Ah, yes,” the man said, “It’s better than the cell. Much nicer.”

He had a strange accent that Xaxac could not place, but was sure he had heard somewhere before.

Xaxac could not stop staring at him.

“I think I know you,” the man continued, staring at Agalon, “But then again… you all look so similar…”

“Yeah, well,” Agalon said, sounding insulted, “This here is Xaxac, the human I wrote about. Xaxac, this is Ara Sylhice, and I- did… did you come alone?”

“We don’t have unlimited resources, your grace,” Ara said as she sipped her wine.

“And this is… Taka..shit...o?” Agalon said, as if he wasn’t sure or was speaking about something he didn’t understand.

“Ta-ka-shi-to,” the man said, sounding insulted, “Kai-lu.”

“Kailu,” Agalon corrected, speaking much more quickly and with his twang, the way his name was meant to be pronounced, “An I reckon I prefer, “Duke Agalon’.”

The man glared at him, then broke into a smile that did not reach his eyes.

“Duke Agalon,” he said, “Your grace. I think I do remember you.”

“It’s pretty easy to keep the water crystals away from him,” Ara explained, “And he’s always had real good behavior. I ain’t real worried about it.”

“Perfect,” Agalon said, “Reckon we can get him some real clothes? This is just… depressin…”

“Long as he keeps the collar on I don’t care what he wears,” Ara shrugged.

“Is this the boy?” Takashito asked, staring at Xaxac, “Is that what you said? The shifter?” He stood, then stretched his hand out in an awkward way, as if he had practiced it, “Xa-xa-ac?”

“Xaxac,” Xac shook his hand and thought the man’s grip was shockingly tight, “Mister Takashito.”

Takashito smiled, “You are the first person in this godfor- in this kingdom, to pronounce my name correctly on the first try.”

“Folks wanna get mine wrong, too,” Xac said, “I was named after a rug.”

“From the fire people?” Takashito asked.

“Yeah, I reckon,” Xac said, in shock.

“Zjazjack,” Takashito said, “In the language they speak. They flew on those rugs. And they were beautiful; we imported them, back home, back when home existed. But you pronounce it differently. Xaxac. You are very small. Perfect.”

“Thanks!” Xac said proudly, “Folks say I’m cute.”

“People say many things,” Takashito said and turned to Agalon, then bowed, but in a very strange way. He did not, as most people did, fist one hand over his heart and fold the other in the small of his back, but kept them at his sides. “I am grateful, your grace, for this opportunity. This is my last assignment. I am told that if I perform well here, I will be able to return to Mizunohitobito.”

“What’s that now?” Agalon asked in genuine confusion.

“It’s the fishing district of the water continent,” Ara explained, “I don’t know that there’s a whole lot of it left. Most of that place is underwater. It wouldn’t on the mainland, it was one a’ the outlyer islands.”

“I know it has changed,” Takashito said, “I was there, that fateful day when the Emerald Knight killed the Great Sea Spirit and the vengeful waters claimed the land. I will never forget it. I will… never forget it.”

“Right, well…” Agalon said, “Let’s… get y’all somethin to eat. Try an get you some clothes.”

“Xaxac,” Takashito said once he had stood again to his full height, “You are a fighter? I will teach you well. My freedom depends on your performance. I trust that you will learn well.” It was not a question; he took Xac’s hand again in both of his and stared into his eyes.

Xaxac had so much he wanted to ask him, but as he stared into the hope in those blue eyes, hope that he thought had been buried for some time and now had to fight its way through a dullness that made it almost impossible to see, he realized something heartbreaking.

This was not the man from his dreams.

This was not Lapus.

But Xaxac could still help him. He still needed to help him.

“I learn real fast!” Xaxac promised, “An I’m a shifter so I heal, and I’m real strong! Look, Billy knocked my tooth out but it grew back! And one time I broke my arm but it grew back, too! I’ll do real good, I promise!”

“You are a shifter?” Takashito asked in shock and alarm, though he had to know this, had said it himself, “Is this true? You are a shifter? I have heard stories… How do they do it… How do they take… warriors… monsters… queens… how do they…”

“Come on, Honey Bunny,” Agalon pried Xaxac’s hand from Takashito’s grip and tugged him away, “I’m gonna run out to the hall and ring for my butler to bring you up some clothes. Y’all just sit tight a minute.”

“It was nice to meet you!” Xaxac said, waved to the people in the room, then clung to Agalon’s side and allowed him to pull him out into the hallway to ring for Lee.

“I like them!” Xac said.

“Yeah, he seems like he’s really tryin,” Agalon said, “I think he’ll do alright. He’s almost completely rehabilitated. Really shows what good work they do, don’t it? Lots’a people said them folks never had a chance, couldn’t be civilized.”

“What is he?” Xac asked, “I ain’t never seen no elf what looked like that!”

Except in my dreams.

“He’s a water elf, darlin,” Agalon explained, “Before we got there them folks was practically livin in the stone age, under the tyrannical regime of a siren queen who used her siren’s song to mind control everybody. There was… well, I wouldn’t wanna scare ya, but the rulin class wouldn’t even elven. They was monsters. They ate their own. It was… it was… somethin else. That place was a nightmare.”

“But we’re gonna help him!” Xaxac said, “He said if I helped him he could get free? Is he a slave? I didn’t know elves could be slaves.”

“He ain’t a slave, darlin, he’s a prisoner,” Agalon explained, “He’s a murderer, workin off a sentence. But he was damn good at killin, lots of them little water elves are, flippin around and shit, hard to track…”

“Who’d he kill?” Xaxac asked, intrigued by a good murder mystery.

“I don’t know, darlin, I’d have to look it up. I know it was an earth elf, probably more than one.” Agalon said dismissively as Lee appeared and Agalon turned his attention to him. “I need to get some kind’a proper clothes for that water elf.”

“Proper clothes, master?” Lee asked, “I… master, I ain’t got a clue what them folks wear.”

“They wear my robes!” Xaxac said excitedly, “That’s what Alex said! He’s a water elf? Alex done went to the water continent! That’s where his master got his robes.”

“Xaxac,” Lee said as if Xac’s very existence annoyed him, “Grown folks is talkin.”

“A houseslave uniform would be a step up from the prison uniform,” Agalon said, “Do we have any more of those?”

“Somebody mighta made some more,” Lee shrugged, “But…” He seemed to remember who he was speaking to and held his tongue.

“I know he’s an elf,” Agalon said as if he had predicted the end of his sentence, “But it’s all we got and I wanna get him outta that uniform. It’s… depressin.”

“Yes, master,” Lee said, bowed properly, and hurried off down the hall.