Lily tries to EDUCATE!

The spell (just figuratively of course!) was broken instantly. We both took a hasty step back and Al’Reeza quickly gripped the steer and concentrated again on the landscape in front of us. I’m sure, if her skin wasn’t already a crimson red, her shade would’ve turned an even deeper colour.

I waved friendly back to the emerging hulking figure.

“Hello, do you want a chocolate too?”

Her expression was unusually grim when she gruffly answered:

“No, but I want a word with you!”

“Certainly! What’s on your mind?”

Behind her Illyára also emerged with a contrasting, amused looking, happy smile on her face. Were the girls eavesdropping?

Lily opened the door to the cabin and waved impatiently. Both of us inside she closed the door and turned fiercely towards me.

“YOU!” she boomed and pointed a claw at me. “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?”

I just stood there in the middle of the room, flustered, and was at a complete loss.

“What do you mean?” 

I had trouble forming any words.

“What do I MEAN?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!” she bellowed, spittle flying.

“Are all people in your world so naively trusting or do you just lack common sense?!”

Slowly my senses started coming back.

“Look: Why don’t you just come to the point and tell me what is bugging you?” I said, arms crossed.

The beast girl stepped closer, looming menacingly above me and I had a hard time to stand my ground.

“YOU!” she roared directly into my face. “YOU are bugging me! YOU and your carelessness! How can you just go around and pour out your heart like we’ve been intimate friends for YEARS?”

Well, that was a valid question. But not one I could adequately process right now.

“Well…” I stuttered, trying to find my footing. “Since I bugged you all with so many questions, It just seemed fair…”

“FAIR?!” she bellowed again in excessive volume. “FAIR?! You just asked us valid, factual questions about our world, you didn’t try to pry into our personal lives or probe us about secrets regarding our mission! Reeza on the other hand just barely touched onto your personal space and you instantly spilled everything out like you were getting intimately in touch!”

So she was eavesdropping! But her implications let my ears burn.

“Well, she seemed genuinely interested.” I mumbled. “That never happened to me all my life.”

Lily sighed deeply from the bottom of her heart and plunged onto a mattress.

“Oh, dear Yurá! Look, you have to be careful!”

She spoke much more subdued now, but not any less fierce.

“When you deal with any sentient being, you need to watch your tongue! You can’t just spill out your deepest feelings to somebody who you’ve come to know for just two days! You have to earn the trust of your counterpart, but your counterpart also has to earn your trust, for Yurá’s sake!”

I furrowed my brow, confused.

“And that didn’t happen?”

Lily sighed again and slumped deeper into the mattress.

“No,” she groaned, sounding more like a half wail. “No, that didn’t happen, at least not on the same level! We were just beginning to build mutual trust! But you opened yourself up like a child that has never experienced the harsh, unforgiving realities of the world! Just what’s the matter with you?!”

She sounded broken now and in real distress, so I sat down and tried to comfort her.

“Look, I get it. I’m also usually not so quick to talk about my thoughts and feelings. Actually, I never got to this point, because usually nobody listens to me or has already lost interest before I even come close this point.”

“Great! Ignorance can be a bliss too, I guess!” the beast girl growled quietly.

“But with you three, it was completely different!” I added quickly, before she could interrupt any further.

“Nobody has ever approached me so openly, kindly and supportive, except maybe my old master.”

Lily sighed again and straightened up a little.

“Haven’t you ever experienced that people can exploit, hurt or use you like a tool and toss you aside, once you’ve run out of use, when you are so …naive, trusting them with your deepest secrets?”

I nodded.

“Yes, I was often mocked, bullied and hurt, although never really exploited and used. Except maybe from my parents. I left them as soon as I was of full age.”

Her wild eyes widened.

“Your own parents?! Well, guess we have that in common…”

Immediately she interrupted herself and shook her beastly head.

“No, don’t tell me! At least not now! Look!”

Her voice softened again. As far as a deep, rough, bestial sounding voice can soften at least...

“I can vouch for me and my companions, but when we approach civilized lands, be prepared - I beg you! - to hold your tongue, not to talk to strangers and especially not to any officials until we say so! And even then, tell just the bare minimum and stick firmly to the most inconspicuous details without spilling any sensible, vital information!”

I furrowed my brow again.

“Well, that sounds just reasonable, but what exactly do you mean by ‘sensible, vital information’?”

Lily facepalmed (or better: snoutpalmed).

“Great!” she grumbled to herself. “We have to babysit a grown manchild without any common sense and the potential to destroy the world as we know it!”

“Hey!” I protested. “I’ve already thought about this scenario! And I have no intention to cause a culture shock or even a collapse!”

“Great!”

She looked at me with renewed vigour.

“And you know the key to that?”

Again she pointed her claw at me. Right into my face.

“Don’t talk and Keep! Your! Mouth! Shut!”

With that she got up and left the room, leaving me behind, bewildered, confused, and (in all honesty) a little bit embarrassed.