1 - Daughter Of The Storm

03 - The rebel

41rst day of the sun season 2447

"Rah! Fuck, Shirah got rid of her bandage!" exclaimed Azéna.

She whistled and Shirah staggered to her. She stroked her rough scales to distract her from Fayne. The creature purred as the brunette put her bandage back on. When Fayne's soft hands grazed the cut, she screeched and trembled slightly. Her cry resembled that of a panda with little more ferocity. Snapping her jaws as she stared at Fayne with her wild little eyes, she plowed the ground with the claws of her free leg.

"How stubborn can you be!?" Azéna barked. "Stop fidgeting! We're doing this for your own good!"

The animal shook its head in discomfort and then snorted, which made Fayne jump.

"This is normal behavior for a troxx," Leith said. "They are very proud."

"I think we noticed because we're raising one," Azéna replied sharply.

She crossed her arms, frowned her eyebrows, then her eyes met Fayne's. The brunette seemed unimpressed.

"What?" the Kindirah growled defiantly.

"I see it's time for me to leave," Leith said.

She walked towards Fayne and handed her the net full of royal apples. The peasant girl accepted the gift with a small but sincere smile. Leith climbed up, out of the hiding place, and left. Fayne stared at her leaving while Azena lowered her gaze at the bottom of the cave, caressing Shirah's snout.

"I didn't even have time to say goodbye and thank her."

Her friend felt herself resist a wince. She did feel bad for what she did, but only because it hurt Fayne.

"Anyway, she's a stranger," she pointed out.

"We owe her a minimum of gratitude. She helped us..."

"A few unimportant pieces of information, an apple fillet and a small rescue are by no means enough for me to trust someone," Azéna replied with a raised eyebrow.

"It's only natural that it's all worthless to you. You're letting your title go to your head."

The Kindirah girl knew what title her friend was talking about: she was the daughter of the ruling Lord and was, by family ties, a Lady. On the spot, she felt insulted and could not help but get defensive.

"Tch! I am watching over us, for our safety."

"You scare away potential allies, which is very rare nowadays if you didn't notice," grumbled Fayne. "I don't know what's wrong with people, but they're anxious. Anyway, it's a good thing Leith was there when I was trying to steal that roll of bandage. She's different from the majority. Her aura felt wise, majestic and honorable."

"Her aura?" Azéna questioned, shrugging her shoulders, clearly confused by the term. "Anyway, a simple solution is to get coins."

"We would have if you hadn't abused your father's generosity."

"Generosity... Yeah, right. Some fucking generosity..."

By habit of getting scolded by her father, who wanted her to get rid of this rural speech, she almost corrected herself.

- Where did you learn to express yourself like that? had bellowed the ruling Lord when she was very young. We are of noble blood! Show some pride!

The older she got and the more she enjoyed the company of commoners, the more stubborn she became in changing her noble habits to Bayrne's great annoyance. She chased away her sombre memories and returned to the present.