The World Is Crying Out for Love, Pt. 2

The inspection had begun.

“Sir Garret, please,” Martha pleaded. “You’ve made your point. You don’t need to involve the kids—”

“What is it with women and their need to fill the air with useless noise?”

I bit down so hard on my tongue I could taste blood.

If Daisy heard that, we'd be pulling this guy out of a wall.

Garret sighed, inspecting a half-empty box.

“I miss the old days,” he muttered. “When women were grateful. When all they had to do was cook, stay quiet, and let the men handle the real work… But nah, can’t have that anymore. Not when Sunlight and its nobility started playing moral high ground and calling it progress. Pot calling the kettle white.”

The three guards moved through the room like they owned it. One of them started rifling through the stack of Moonboxes by the door. Their fingers tugged at the straw insulation before he simply ripped one wide open.

The kids flinched.

“Open this one up,” another said, gesturing lazily to a crate half-packed with winter produce. “Could be hiding contraband.”

“They’re empty fruit boxes,” Martha protested. “We’re not hiding anything.”

“Yeah?” The guard from yesterday leaned over and picked up a neatly tied jar. He turned it in his hand, then smirked. “Cute packaging. Shame it's wasted on a beastkin-sympathizing urinal of a building.”

It was almost comically evil, the way he threw the jar onto the ground.

It splintered into little pieces.

“Much better!”

The first guard snorted. “Where’s all that Crown funding going, huh? This place looks like it’s rotting from the inside.”

Martha held her hands together. “I assure you, we’ve been doing the best we can with what we have. One hundred gold barely covers food and firewood, let alone the medicinal herbs necessary for—”

“Now listen here,” the lead guard cut in, holding up a finger. “A hundred gold is a month’s wages for us. 100 gold a week sounds plenty!”

Martha forced her mouth shut.

“Funny how it never seems to stretch when beastkin are involved,” the smirking guard added. “Maybe if you weren’t housing half the forest, you'd be in better shape. Bloody greedy inbred mongrels…”

The guard slowly moved near to Piper and I, his face soon mere inches from ours.

“Humans used to run the world—now we’re getting outbred by walking carpets. We’re being replaced!” He spat on the floor, just inches from one of the boxes. “And we’re supposed to smile and house them within city walls because they helped take down a bigger threat! Well, that time has passed; the beastkin are the bigger threat now.”

Then it happened.

That same guard suddenly jerked back with a yelp.

“She hit me!” he shouted. “Damned beast tried to hurt me!”

All eyes turned.

The guard was looking squarely at Piper!

“I didn’t do anything,” Piper said with widened eyes. “He’s lying!”

The guard straightened up and pointed at her like she was filth on his boot. “Get up. Now. Before I send this whole orphanage down the gutter.”

My blood ran cold.

Piper's tail slowly uncoiled… but she stayed exactly where she was, her head held high, gaze locked on Garret.

And maybe she could’ve intimidated him… if we lived in a better world.

The other guards had a say in that though.

Two seized her arms. 

"L-LET ME GO!!" 

They hauled her out into the courtyard.

I followed. So did the kids. No one said a word.

Garret drew his belt.

“You think you’re so smart, beast?” he spat. He turned to the others. “Hold her.”

Piper didn’t resist, even as they forced her to lay on the ground.

The first strike was loud. I heard the dog whimper.

CRACK!

I felt the urge to scream. I heard Martha cry out. 

And yet, when I looked at Piper, as she bit her lips so hard they drew blood, she didn’t even cry.

“LET THIS BE A LESSON TO ALL THE BEASTS HERE… YOU OUGHTA BE GRATEFUL YOU WEREN’T BORN IN THE GENERATIONS OF YOUR ANCESTORS!!”

The second strike landed, then a third.

CRACK! CRACK!!

“WHEN YOU LOT WERE BORN IN A SLAVE PEN!!”

CRACK!!

Every crack, I winced. Blood beaded through the back of her raggedy attire.

Still, she didn’t make a sound.

The children began to wail.

Every part of me was shaking, and all the while, Garret was laughing.

I had to do something!

I could feel that classic isekai protagonist delusion bubbling up in my chest. Like maybe if I just stepped forward and yelled loud enough, the guards would back off. 

It's worked well so far! My interactions with the kobolds, Malmitres, the dragon, and those freedom fighters were not flukes, right?!

CRACK! 

I shifted my weight onto my legs, about to move.

But it was right then and there Piper looked straight at me with those striking golden irises.

I swore... I saw her mouth the words, “It’s okay.”

What?

No. No, it wasn’t!

Before I could step forward anyway, a hand clamped down on my shoulder.

I flinched, turned, and noticed a small beastkin standing behind me.

She looked Anubian. Dog-like build, but with a human face, long black ears, and gold rings through each one.

CRACK! CRACK!!

“Respect her decision, Crystal,” the small girl said quietly. “She goes through worse pain in training anyway, rau.”

I stared at the jackal.

How was that supposed to be comforting at all?!

CRACK!! 

CRACK!! 

CRACK! 

CRACK!!!

After what felt like forever, the guard finally stopped hitting her.

I swore I saw red mist rising off her back.

They let go soon enough. She collapsed into a heap.

“My baby—!” Martha rushed forward immediately, stripping off her outer robe and wrapping it around the lamia’s scorched back.

“You’re lucky we are leaving this there,” the lead guard spat. “Frankly, you all deserve worse. You’ve made our lives impossible, when the true threat—the goblins—keep attacking the city walls!”

They left without much ceremony after that.

But not before the guard spat on Piper’s face.

They still wielded their bigotry as a lance, as if the beastkin here had any say in whether they were born into this world.

I heard a sharp inhale from Martha, hands on the floor. Then, a sob. Another, choked behind her hand.

“I-I am okay…” Piper slurred. “Really.”

Everything inside me screamed this was not the time to speak.

But the injustice laid before my eyes… it burned hotter than anything I’d experienced in Japan. I could feel it swelling inside me, like I might burst if I didn’t say anything.

So I said my piece as she held Piper by the shoulder and walked away.

“These guards don’t care if you follow procedure. Even if you do everything right." I’d seen this before… back in Japan, in those so-called black companies where executives did whatever they pleased and got away with it. “Following the rules will get us killed.”

Martha's teeth pressed into her lip. Tears slipped free before she could stop them.

The Mother needed to hear this… needed it carved so deep she’d never forget the feeling if she failed again.

“If you’d like to run this place, Cotter,” she said, without looking back, “you know where the ledgers are.”

Then she walked away.

Without a word, she turned on her heel and headed inside.

I immediately regretted it.

I heard the dog whine. It seemed to sense that I completely and utterly screwed this up.

“Cotter…”

I turned toward the one speaking.

“Of all the things I thought you’d say,” the salamander-kin across the table muttered, “you proved more Crystal than I ever gave you credit for.”