The Unwanted Wendigo [ManxMan]

Chapter Four: The Princess and the Wendigo

~Chapter Four: The Princess and the Wendigo~

"You're pretty fast for a girl in a wheelchair."

My comment has the Mer princess pulling up short in front of the doors to the library. "You're pretty slow for a guy dressed like a deer," she retorts haughtily.

I consider this for a moment before conceding, "Touché."

"Come along, Wenderson," she calls, gesturing for me to go first as she pulls open one of the doors with a handle that looks like a metal shell.

"Wenderson?" I echo, in equal parts bemusement and interest. The name itself is clearly a play on either my species or my nickname - or both - but that does not make it anymore expected. Still, I do not hesitate to walk past her to enter the library - one of three that I have found so far in the palace.

"Wendy is typically a girl's name," Cyra says loftily, though her amusement shows in the slight twitch of her lips and the crinkle around her eyes as she follows me into the library. "Even if you aren't the son of a Wender, Wenderson is still more fitting than Wendy."

At least Mer have a better naming sense than demons.

Lips curling with retrained glee, I roll my eyes in false exasperation and sigh loudly. "Then I must give you a name, Princess, or it wouldn't be fair," I lament, moving over towards the bookshelves to drape myself over one dramatically and allowing myself into a controlled fall against it. "It would be a travesty, Princess, a travesty."

"Don't you mean a tragedy?" She asks, trying and failing to sound stern. Her mouth keeps twitching, and even when she bites her lip, it does nothing to hide the very obvious crack in her cold facade.

I tap my chin thoughtfully for a moment before deciding, "Maybe."

"You're weird," the princess declares, and then moves passed me while intentionally swerving just right to make the wheel of her chair almost crush my foot without actually going through with it. I pout.

As she starts looking through book titles, I consider her name and how I can twist it to my advantage. "Cyprus," I try, only to be met by a nasty glare.

"That's usually a boy's name," she says.

"Well, I mean, you never know," I point out slyly, wondering if she will catch my meaning.

Since she apparently does, her eyes soften a little, but her expression remains stern. "I'm a girl, but thanks for asking," she says, and then her brow furrows ever so slightly as she adds, "in your own weird way."

I just grin before thinking up something else, absentmindedly joining her in scanning book titles. When she found me wandering the hallways, she had asked me to join her in scouring the library for a book about languages, though not really with any specific language in mind. And since I find her interesting after the day of the party and have nothing better to do - travelling the palace can only do so much to keep my mind occupied for three days in a row - I followed her here.

This, though, is the boring library; all it has is learning material.

"Cy."

She immediately shakes her head. "My name's already short enough."

"Cycle."

The princess grimaces and picks up a book. "No."

"Cyrodiil."

Snorting, she puts the book back. "That doesn't even sound like my name, and isn't that from a game?"

She knows video games?