The Release

     The other two had hardly realized that Linias spent the entirety of the night away from the camp until they were mostly set to leave in the morning, having already eaten breakfast and all. Usually Linias was the one to prepare the food during each meal hour but Myrin took it upon himself this time around just to leave him be until he was ready to join the group again. However, once Revi and Haetia finally noticed his absence, they were dead set on pestering him, leading into an argument between the siren and the pair – more accurately just Revi who always seemed to be aching for a fight.

She was already starting to smolder as thin and sparse sparks emitted from her body in sync with her rising outrage. “What if those guards or the Seronites are still on our tail?? We shouldn’t spend anymore time here than we already have!”

“You guys didn’t seem all too concerned about that yesterday when you were singing and dancing around at the top of your lungs! I’m sure that alone would’ve attracted their attention if they were right behind us!” Myrin snapped back, leading to the sparks to ignite into embers.

As they continued to argue, Haetia subtracted himself from what he believed to be a meaningless quarrel and over his servant no less.

Just as irritated himself, he stepped away to find Linias and just order him to get a move on and solve the issue that way. He didn’t quite understand the problem in the first place really. Linias didn’t ever sleep, so why was Myrin so contingent on letting him rest longer?

The only place he imagined he’d be was the brook and luckily for him his retainer was indeed there, sitting against a tree with a hand through his hair.

Haetia kicked the leg his arm was resting on, causing him to slightly lose balance and jerk forward.

“What’re you even doing over here? Get up, we’re supposed to be leaving.”

Linias lugged himself onto his feet much slower than usual. He clearly hadn’t slept since the bags under his eyes were far worse than usual, being practically sunken instead.

Usually Linias was the silent type, Haetia knew that much about him, but for some reason he felt eerily silent this time around.

“...No ‘Yes Master’ or anything?”

His retainer’s lips stammered a few times until he finally muttered in a barely audible voice, “..Yes..Master.”

“For fucks sake.” Haetia groaned and slapped Linias’s cheeks between his palms. “I usually couldn’t give a shit about you but now your depressed face is annoying me. Tell you what, next chance you get you can do what you did at that couple’s inn. Consider yourself lucky that I’m even offering. Don’t I get a thank you?”

“...Thank you..Sire.”

“You’re unfortunately welcome, now hurry up so we can leave.”

Haetia whipped his heel and strutted back to camp, his lengthy lustrous locks bouncing with his steps. It was obvious enough that the only reason he ‘offered’ was just because he was horny but didn’t want to deliberately ask for sex, so he made it seem like he was doing him a favor instead.

A sugar coated order was still an order; and for once, something inside of him wasn’t inclined to follow it.

The words of his mentor Dharax rang in his ears, as if even in death he could see his resolve begin to waver.

‘All YOU’RE supposed to do is shut your mouth and follow orders’

Linias rubbed his eyes and breathed a deep sigh almost enough for it to come out as a groan. Pushing his turmoil aside, he finally followed after his Master.

Once his monochromatic frame emerged from the ferns, Myrin and Revi’s bickering quelled and they both focused their attention on him.

Myrin looked like he wanted to ask how he was feeling from his hesitant visage but ended up withholding to respect his wishes to keep Haetia and Revi out of the know. Still, his lack of sleep was worn plainly and Revi immediately pointed it out in her usual head first manner.

“Fuck Linias you look like shit. What happened to you?!”

With the lack of response and Linias’s debilitated blank staring, Revi was given the time to think to herself what the problem could be.

“Is it–?” She started to speculate then stopped, realizing that bringing anymore attention to it will just worsen whatever problem he’s having. “Nevermind. Look, Myrin and I were saying–”

Myrin interrupts and explains in her stead, “We should go to Alaria, it’s just a small city not too far away from here. It’s where most of the staff in King Arthur’s castle get supplies and all that. Not as big as Bevolia but yeah. We could get some information because otherwise we’re just blindly walking North which could make us end up with another run-in with the Seronites, especially since we just encountered them they’re probably somewhere ahead of us, I doubt behind.”

“And I was saying that it’s a shitty idea.” Revi barks in Myrin’s general direction with a scowl to which he rolls his eyes. “What if they settled in Alaria? We’d be fucked!”

After a few more quiet breaths to try and collect himself some more, Linias forced himself to speak.

“It’s worth the risk. If it’s a city, no matter how small, Mitsuyo might be there.”

At the mention of the flimsy kitsune’s name both Revi and Haetia heave a long howl, recalling how unpleasant their last run-in with her was.

“So what, she can stab us in the back again?” Haetia is the first to say.

“I hate to agree with him but I’d rather not have to keep my guard up so much.” Revi follows up.

“I told you both last time that we’re guaranteed safety at least until both ends of a bargain are fulfilled, and that’s more than we can guarantee most of the time. If we can talk to her again, we can ask her about your clan, Revi, and we could also ask about the Seronites that were at the King’s castle if it helps ease tension.”

“...If I can ask about my clan, and only if.”

Now it was just Haetia who had to budge.

The pale prince clicked his tongue, hating the idea of Linias of all people to have some sense to their words. Usually he would protest some more rather than agree with him but he couldn’t deny that sleeping on a bed again sounded divine.

And so, he reluctantly spouted with crossed arms, “Fine.”

-------------------------------------------------------- 

     It uneased Linias’s heart to have to ride with his Master this time around but it’s not like he had a choice in the matter since no one else was willing to share a horse with him. Just as Myrin said, Alaria wasn’t all too far away so he thankfully didn’t have to put up with it for long although Haetia’s request was still dreadfully hanging over his head as much as he tried to forget about his emotions behind the matter.

Luckily Linias’s speculations were correct and there was a branch of The Fox’s Den in Alaria, so without any other stops they headed straight over.

They took the side entrance for staff members that all branches of her brothels had and after barely walking a few steps inside Mitsuyo popped out seemingly out of thin air.

“Oh-” She had a miniscule pause. “–My money bag! So glad to see you again but I’m honestly surprised your friends here agreed to come with you.”

The snarky kitsune exhales a cloud of smoke from her pipe, not even trying to hide the fact that the comment was directed at Haetia specifically since she smirked at him. Somehow learning from last time, Haetia kept his loathing for the self-interested woman to himself as visible as it was on his face.

“Business as usual I imagine–Come come!”

She led the four to another private cabaret room, same as last time. On the way over Linias noticed a lack of staff in the first place, making him already imagine what she was going to ask for in return.

Once they were all seated, Mitsuyo cut straight to the chase.

“Let me guess, the girl’s clan again and…something about those soldiers that came snooping by yesterday? Ah–Perhaps I shouldn’t have said that.” Mitsuyo smiled with her fangs.

Although Myrin started to become more of the group’s voice since his short time of joining, he could tell that Linias and Mitsuyo had some form of history together so he let him take control of the conversation.

“The Seronites have a lot of groups all acting in different places so there has to be a leader. Anything you could tell us about them in general would help as well.” Linias added.

“Ahh, A tall order! But I’m feeling a little generous today, so how about this: business at this particular branch of mine is quite low, I’m sure you can see that. Problem is that Alaria is too downtrodden! Have you seen the citizens–? Oh I’m sure you haven’t but they really are hard to miss since there’s so few of them. Barely any humans left and few mythicals are willing to try and settle here since it’s so hard to make a living! Well, that and the king is more on the prejudice side and that’s putting it kindly, which wouldn’t be a problem if the mythicals that did try to live here weren’t such pushovers, like the fae and forest folk kind.”

Looking back on it, they did hardly see anyone on their way over for what’s supposed to be titled as a city, even if it’s not all that large. And usually cities like these did have more than just humans about; Bevolia for one had all sorts of races in all sorts of roles.

“It used to be such a small little prosperous town but that balloon of a king–or kings–have robbed this town of its resources time and time again and they couldn’t keep up with the demand. Most people left, the others died from famine, you get the idea. So! You can imagine no one wants to spend what little money they have on a good time with an escort. I thought about closing this branch but I was thinking…Your siren friend could put on a little show. I do mean singing of course, don’t worry I won’t make him do anything explicit. A concert of sorts. It’ll get the people’s mood up which means more business for me, and even if they don’t actually solicit an escort I can still charge them for drinks and all that. So? Just for at most two hours, minimum one. I know you sirens can’t sing for longer than that in succession and even that is pushing it.”

Linias asked in a glance for Myrin’s opinion on the matter which was a kindness the siren knew that Haetia nor Revi would’ve given him had they been the ones speaking.

“That’s really it?” Myrin asked for clarification and in suspicion.

“You’re smart to ask, but yes it is. I can’t demand much without having you work at a different branch instead and I know that none of you would be comfortable with that. And…” In a quick instant, Mitsuyo eyes down Linias’s worn gloom and fatigue, then taps the ashes out of her pipe. “..I’ll tell you for now that those soldiers are long gone, since you’d be reluctant to agree otherwise. They came by, saw how dead the city was then left. For the rest of you I’ll provide some lodging albeit not as extravagant as before, consider it a complementary addition.”

As skeptical as Myrin remained, he ultimately agreed, “If Linias trusts you’ll hold up your end of the deal then I’ll bite my fins and swallow.”

The kitsune shoots up from her seat, eagerly clapping her hands together and exclaiming, “Perfect! I’ll set you all up right now then.”

     All it took was a snap of her fingers for a pair of staff members to enter, leading Myrin away to get ready while the rest were taken to a neighboring building that looked only a tad higher class than a day-to-day inn.

As they were guided to their rooms, Revi asked, “I’m surprised you were so willing to let Myrin be on his own.”

“It was his choice.” Linias explained. “If he wanted to decline or add his own terms he knew he was free to do so.”

“Huh, sure I guess.”

“Are you worried?” He surprisingly found himself asking.

“No, it’s just…” The fire elemental looks ahead to Haetia who already skipped ahead of them and eclipsed past his bedroom door. Nonetheless, she lowers her volume to almost a whisper. “Are you alright? I didn’t see what Myrin was talking about but…Is this about the dryad?”

“I’m fine.” Linias immediately shut down the thought.

“You sure? I know you didn’t want to kill–”

“I said I’m fine.” The second time around his voice slightly rose, causing Revi to reluctantly hush whatever further concerns she had.

“...Alright. I just wanted to say…”

“Can we not talk about this please?”

“Y-Yeah I get you. ‘Course. Just take care of yourself, yeah?”

Linias doesn’t respond, nor does he even give her a moment of eye contact. Instead he continues after his Master, almost slamming the door shut.

In the same instant an object meets with the back of his head.

“What the hell were you doing taking so long!? I’d like to get undressed before morning.”

Without even so much as caressing the now throbbing pain he received, Linias slightly bows with a muffled apology. “I’m sorry, Sire.”

“Don’t be sorry get a fucking move on.”

“Yes, Master.”

Haetia extends his arms to allow Linias to remove his articles of clothing one at a time, and in the process his atypical loose mouth doesn’t cease but Linias ignores it altogether albeit not intentionally. His muscles moved rhythmically while his mind was elsewhere, and before he knew it he had already put Haetia to bed and long past.

No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get his mind off of Nevenia and now with it affecting his duties it was undeniably a problem he needed to remove in its entirety. Myrin’s words couldn’t be the answer–They too were in conflict with his duty to his Master. And telling himself what Revi once had told him–that some things are necessary even if not really correct–didn’t help either.

Was it really necessary for her to die? Was it necessary for his people to always be forced to choose between the loss of their freedom or death? That couldn’t be true. If anything her death worsened the problem the dryads faced: eradication.

What bothered him more than anything was the fact that he felt as if he could’ve prevented it somehow. There had to have been a way around it all. Of course he knew he couldn’t go back, but if something similar happened in the future he wanted to avoid that outcome again by all means possible.

…Was it really because of his loyalty to Haetia that she died?

Linias vehemently shook his head but the tempest in his mind just kept reforming in different ways each time.

He needed to forget about Nevenia. That had to be it. Whatever things that her existence and death infected his thoughts with was obstructing his purpose to serve. This had to have been what Dharax meant by the penalty of emotions and he couldn’t bear it–this…pain. How did people usually get rid of these emotions? His usual teachings of just muffling them weren’t working so something out there had to help.

Unsure what else to do, Linias left his Master’s side to ask the only mentor he had left, Mitsuyo.

     Unexpectedly she was in her office considering that she was rarely seen there, but it was likely because Myrin was doing well enough for her to not have to supervise all too much. At the sight of her coin purse her eyes widened and then dropped into a scowl.

“You know you were just the person I was hoping to talk to.”

She rummaged through a drawer then came over with a small bottle. “Stand still.” Mitsuyo untwisted the cap to reveal some form of clear ointment which she coated her fingers in then transferred to Linias’s sunken eyes. Once she finished she wiped the remains on the hem of her black kimono and put the container away.

“It’ll help clear your eye bags. I would’ve had you work the floor along with your friend if it weren’t for that and the fact that I can just tell you’re not in any state to be playing a homme fatale. Tell me, what’d that brat do to you? Or more accurately make you do.”

Although Linias came here for the very reason of speaking to her about that matter, he still stammered to speak. It took a few pauses between breaths for him to finally get it out and even then he only vaguely muttered, “...It’s hard to explain.”

“Then I’ll assume it’s something you were against but you had to do it anyways because of your ‘duty’ to him. Correct?”

Linias nodded.

Mitsuyo sighed.

The usually composed fox lit her pipe and a few subtle candles in replacement of the stronger lamp she had on.

“Listen, Linias…” Mitsuyo absorbed a long whiff of smoke into her lungs, then exhaled it just as gradually. “The only reason I’m going to tell you any of this is because to me you’re a product and when I see you get damaged that ruins my profit, got it?”

He nods again.

“Good, then as your investor, listen well. That brat is just a child. Mentally, of course. People learn from mistakes. When he makes a mistake, you’re there to clean it up therefore he doesn’t learn anything. In your case I understand that’s what you were made to do, so I’m not asking you to stop, but I am asking you to check the dust you clear up before you throw it away. You’re like a large bag of waste just waiting to explode and you need to empty yourself out every now and then. Dharax being the narrow sighted minotaur that he is didn’t think that he needed to teach you that but I do because you never know what’s going to happen and when a skill like that would come in handy, like now.”

She hops off the surface of her desk, tapping Linias with her pipe.

“I can’t tell you how to empty yourself, that’s something that’s different for everyone, but from the way Dharax raised you I can guarantee you that it won’t be easy to find and maybe you never will find it, or when you do it’ll be too late. In all honesty, I despise what he’s done to you. Dharax was an old fashioned minotaur with old fashioned beliefs of ‘strength’ which was the same thing that ran his entire race into the ground but he still believed in their old ways. He used to get plenty of kids like you. Train them in the hopes of offering them to your little Haetia by the time he was born. You can imagine they all died somehow. Overworked, in training, in combat, themselves. He tried all sorts of ages too but none of them lasted long enough. If you didn’t work out he in short terms was royally fucked, and luckily for him you were everything he hoped. He ruined you more than he should have, I knew that from the moment he brought you to me. I still can’t fathom why that child…”

And unusually, she sighs again.

“Nevermind. Linias, if there’s anything I want you to take from this, it’s that you need to preserve yourself. Dharax taught you to lose yourself in exchange for your master, but there’s a way for you to do both. In words you can better understand, how are you supposed to serve him if you keep letting yourself get harmed like this? I hope for a day that when all of this is said and done you can settle down and work part time or something along those lines. I put time into you and I’d hate to see all of that go to waste on something preventable.”

The retainer knew better than to thank her for anything, but…for once he felt like thankfulness was in order but apparently his eyes spoke as much to her.

“You’re welcome.” Mitsuyo tapped the embers from her pipe. “You still have something on your mind though.”

By now he wasn’t amazed at her ability to read people, and especially not with him since he had worked so closely with her for so many years.

“...You connect your branches with portals. Is there a way to make a one use portal?”

“Now that I can directly help you with.”

Her tails waved from side to side as she stepped away to her dart board, picking one off then coming back. In her open palm the dart became engulfed in blue flames, then a sigil etched itself into its fin before she handed it over.

“Think about where you want it to go and throw it, that’s all you need. It’ll stay open for a few seconds so you’d have to be fast. Now go get some sleep. I’m not your mother, I’m not going to give you so much for free next time. And no, you’re not welcome for that.”

Mitsuyo gestured towards the exit with her pipe, and withholding his slight gratefulness Linias left.

Just as he thought, he needed to find a way to let his emotions go. Whatever that may be.