The Boy and the Animal

Part I | Fourteen

Taking Jesiter to my mother's house taught me something that led me to my next goal; he was ready now to be around other people beside me, and I decided to put him to use.

"Jesiter, table 4 please," I shouted from behind the window between the kitchen and the bar.

"Okay," the boy chirped back, handing the basket of bread to my brother- who smiled and thanked him.

With it out of his hands, Jesiter sauntered over to the table I had assigned him. He reached into the pocket of his pink apron for a rag and wiped the furniture of the crumbs from the last patron that had used it.

My chest warmed as I watched him work. The way he made little enthusiastic brushes against the table and scrubbed each and every stain on the wood was so earnest and sweet, I found it hard not to separate the child I'd met and this fine maiden before me.

It had been officially one year since Jesiter and I had come to forcefully live in my brother's basement, and we celebrated the anniversary by making him an official employee of Dark's inn. Of course, my brother wasn't an entirely accepting boss. But I made it work. He was hiring, so I made him a a deal: hire Jesiter, and I won't lace all your guests' beds with poison ivy.

Needless to say, my pride and joy was hired right away. That isn't to say that I didn't make him work for it, however. The three months between my mother's birthday and his hiring, I worked him to death in preparation. At night, when my brother and his guests were asleep, I would bring the boy out and teach him how to clean and stock- everything he would need to know.

The adorable memories of him asking me if it was time to clean yet and so excitedly working with those sweet eyes of his distracted me from the eggs I was cooking. The hard snap of my brother's fingers woke me from my trance.

"You burn my inn down, you'll be dead," Dark warned me, placing the loaves in their slots.

I looked down at the smoking eggs and flinched, quickly removing the pan from the fire before the egg could see to my end. Its corpse didn't look too bad- more or less edible- so I placed it on a plate next to extra crispy black bacon and mostly thawed sausage. Hey, it was an improvement since the first week.

With the plate complete, I handed it to my brother. He took it from me with an exhausted sigh and dumped it straight in the trash. He may as well have stabbed me in the heart. Apologizing to his hungry patron, Dark shoved me out of the kitchen and took over. I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Cyrus," the goddess of beauty muttered my name. I looked down to find Jesiter peering up at me with big, earnest eyes. I drooled. "It look good?" He asked. I shook my head of the fuzzy cloud hanging over it and examined the table he'd cleaned. I smiled.

"Good job," I praised him, ruffling his hair. The boy giggled and sprang into the kitchen to see my brother.

I watched him from the bar with a half smile as he held onto Dark's arm and stood on his tiptoes to face him. Dark grinned and patted his head, mouthing what I could only guess was a praise for his hard work that day. Jesiter blushed. Doing his best to suppress a happy mew, he headed back out of the kitchen to finish fixing up the bar and cleaning the dishes.

They seemed to be getting closer, lately. Of course, he still much preferred my company!

The swing of the entrance door brought me from that thought, and, when I turned toward it to greet whoever was there in that wolfish charm I strutted like the perfect host I was, I found myself struck in awe.

On the other side of that door, a tall and lanky man with six guards behind him carrying his luggage struggled to get the pile of folders and parchment through it. When he did, he slipped, and they scattered all across the floor.

I immediately headed over and began picking up the papers and items for him, when he suddenly bashed me with a cane. I whined. Looking up to see what the fuss was about, the frown on my face lit up into a grin.

"Don't you touch my stuff, you miscreant! I'll have you know it's worth more than your life," the man shouted at me. I took his hands.

"Tobis," I called as he swung at me with his cane, "Tobis, it's me. It's Cyrus!"

Upon hearing my name, the man suddenly stopped and grabbed a pair of thick, bottle cap glasses from his pocket. When he put them on, his eyes growing to the size of baseballs, he dropped his cane and held out his arms.

"Cyrus!" He chirped. Those rough, analytical hands slapped themselves onto my cheeks, and he gave me a tight squeeze. "Ah, my boy! I haven't seen you since the funeral! How are you? How's your mother?"

Pushing aside his mention of a funeral, I laughed and stepped back from him. Tobis was a face I hadn't seen in a long time, but he was a welcome one. He was a researcher for the empire that sometimes stopped in to see the mercenaries; he also happened to be Jesiter's father- though I tried to ignore that fact when I saw him. The man was like a father to me.

"Good," I replied, "but who cares? How are you, Pops? What brings you here?"

"Bah," he grumbled. I gestured for him to sit with me at an empty table as the guards handled the mess. "Now that the war is over, the empire is sending me this way and that. Currently I'm studying sightings of Enicrih's son."

I nearly choked on a gasp that ran inward through my torso rather than out. Enicrih- the most revered and unforgiving god of the empire- his... Son? Religion was not something I had paid much attention to since I was in school as a boy, but I thought I would have heard about the merciless god of hunting and wilderness having a kid.

"About 17 years ago, a human girl gave birth to a son on Enicrih's alter with only one set of human genes. The others? Unrecognizable, but Enicrih's spirit is reported to have been seen there, and ive found that Enicrih's blessed pendant reacts to him," Tobis continued. He sighed and propped a long leg up on the table, kicking off a shoe to reveal long, moldy toenails. I gagged and scooted away from them.

"A-Ah, I see," I replied politely. "So Enicrih has a son now..."

"Yes, and he wasn't seen for years. My fellow scholars believe Enicrih had taken him to secluded wood to be raised by his animals there, but apparently he escaped about two years ago. Been on a murderous rampage ever since," he explained. I nodded and looked down at my folded hands. "He's killed 20 people already, racked himself up a hefty bounty. He's been quiet for a year now, though. I came here to his last known location. Actually, I did catch him before he disappeared, but blast it all he got away. Tricky pest."

"Last known location, right," I agreed, spacing out from his jargon. He swatted me across the head and lectured me for not paying attention to him. I rubbed the back of my neck and whined.

Tobis's arrival to the inn was welcomed, and soon he was ushered into his room for the night, but his was the only notable event. Aside from him, we ran the inn- me, Dark, and Jesiter- until my brother headed off to bed. Me and Jessy followed him, heading upstairs to the spare room he'd given us- of which had nothing to do with the fact that I sent the boy to tell him he was 'my nice friend'.

We settled into bed together, and I tucked him in with a kiss to his nose before lying my head down, as well. As usual, he rolled to his side and placed his head on my chest. I shut my eyes and pet his hair as he traced the deep scar in the center of my chest with his finger.

"This... What?" He asked. I peeked open an eyes to see his looking at my scar. Swallowing down memories, I shut my eyes again.

"A boo boo," I replied.

"Why?" He asked again.

I shushed him and pulled the blanket higher around him. Jesiter took the hint, lying his head over my heart to listen to my heart. I held him. He held me. And I could swear that I had never felt as warm as then.

"Love Cyrus," Jesiter muttered as he drifted to sleep, and suddenly it was warmer.

"Love Jesiter," I whispered with a trembling lip. I kiss the top of his head.

If I had died right then, then I would die complete.