Ortai Legacy

18 - Visitors (L)

Kaliska and Mark ducked out into the hall to let me dress. It was a laborious affair that involved a lot of rolling around on the floor and grumbling. When I finally finished, I was so tired that Mark practically had to carry me to the dining room.

I sat in one of the two bipedal chairs, and it creaked ominously. Mark sat next to me, pulling his chair close enough that our elbows almost touched. As Kaliska returned to the kitchen, I decided that now was as good as ever to get this Knight bond over with.

"Where's my polearm?"

Mark paused, frowning. "I'm not sure."

"It's in the umbrella stand, dear," Kaliska called from the kitchen.

"It's there." He nodded definitively.

"Could you go get it?"

Suspicion clouded his features. "Why?"

"I want to remove you as my Knight."

"No."

I sighed. "Mark-"

"If it weren't for the bond, I wouldn't have come as quickly as I did, and that collar might have actually killed you. I won't let you remove me."

"If you still want to be my Knight once you're free, I'll make you one again, okay? I just need to be sure that I'm not... brainwashing you or something."

Eyes narrowed, he stalked from the room. When he came back, he dropped my polearm on the table before sitting again.

I activated the Interface and navigated to the Party tab. Mar'kost Vek Tivom was the only member of my party. I tapped his name and clicked remove before I could chicken out. Nervous, I looked up at Mark.

"Well?"

"Well what?" He crossed his arms.

"Do you feel any different?"

"Nope."

"Maybe it takes a minute to-"

"You said you would make me your Knight again if I wanted it, and I want it. Don't break your word on the baseless suspicion that this bond creates lasting effects, unlike every other Party bond you've ever seen or read about."

"I've never read about Party bonds."

He swallowed. "Of course- I misspoke, but I'm sure you understood my meaning."

"I did." I tilted the polearm to tap his chest.

"Do you want to add Mar'kost Vek Tivom to your Party?" appeared on the Interface. I tapped Yes and leaned my polearm against the wall.

"There, you're my Knight again."

Frowning, he reactivated my Interface himself and gave me a funny look. "You added me as your Party member. You didn't make me a Knight."

"Oh." I took the polearm back, and he guided me through reinstating him as a Knight.

As we finished up, Kaliska emerged from the kitchen with a serving bowl of stew and several smaller bowls.

"It isn't fit for an Ortai, but I hope it's okay." She ladled the stew into three bowls before sitting on one of the quadrupedal chairs.

"I'm sure it's great." Even if it didn't have a smell. I blew on a spoonful and tasted the blandest stew I'd ever had. It was all I could do not to scowl. As hungry as I was, anything should've tasted good. And it wasn't like Kaliska made weird food usually; the two days I'd worked here, she'd prepared good soups for me and Cadmus. This one was probably just weird because my sudden revival had thrown her off.