Avarein: Vant

Chapter 14: Primul

"So, you can't use magic?"

Morma carefully rubbed behind Fiara's additional pair of ears, split between respecting their new servant or going wild and satisfying her fluff fix. In her other hand was Fiara's tail, stroking down from the root towards the tip. She was tempted to just bury her face in it, but for now, that was off limits. In all honesty, it was likely that she would have given in to her desires if Carte didn't hover over the pair of them, Morma being wary of his watchful eye. Fiara, on the other hand, was completely focused on the alibi that she had formed with Carte the night before, carefully going over her slightly tragic backstory in her head. It wasn't the easiest task though; she couldn't really feel her 'extensions', but it was distracting to see an eleven year old girl drool a little while staring at her tail.

"Not... anymore."

The girl tilted her head questioningly, but this time, Carte was quick to respond.

"The experiments did more damage than they did good. That's all there is to it."

Fiara quickly shot him a look of 'thank you', but he simply went back to his book, both reading and keeping an eye on the two of them.

"Oh, also Morma. You should give Fiara some room. You've been at it for half an hour already."

Morma looked up with Fiara to confirm, only to be met with a nervous nod. Looking a little disappointed, Morma went from glued to Fiara's back to lazing around on the floor. Fiara turned to see the girl, feeling a little bad for what had happened but after a few moments of silence it became apparent the girl was asleep.

"I'm... sorry about her. She's a bit selfish. It's been a big day for her, so here we are."

"Oh, it's fine. It's better dealing with her than cold stone floors."

The mood was awkward, with the room filled with silence, outside of the scratching from the quill coming from Carte, who was still taking notes. Fiara pondered if Carte chose not to read the atmosphere of the room or if he was unable to, with her current suspicion being the latter.

"So uh... what do you want me to do?"

It was out of left field, but Fiara wanted to get the awkward questions out of the way, for her own sake. Carte looked up, his eyes tracing Fiara's body, focused on the spots her arms and legs. Fur poking out of human skin wasn't exactly the most attractive, but perhaps... He wouldn't in the same room as a child, would he?

"For now, take care of Morma and listen to my orders. That's all."

Carte went back to his writing but Fiara almost immediately cut him off, a little shocked by what he had said.

"That's all? What's the point of buying a slave?"

"Are you asking for me to take you back?"

Fiara almost immediately shook her head vigorously. Anything was better than back there.

"For now, I don't have the proper tools or information to do research on what my godfather did to you. I've been told dicing up your body for the sake of science is a no go either, so for now... you'll be doing whatever odd jobs we come up with."

"So... I'm just a maid?"

"If you think getting experimented on is the job of a maid, then perhaps. Although I'm not allowed to separate you from your organs, I do plan on starting off by removing those hideous spots of fur on your arms and legs. Looking like that, you'd be suspected of being a new breed of magical beast."

Fiara let out a sigh of relief. His terms seemed clear enough and she suspected that what he was writing about entailed observations about her. She moved Morma into one of the two beds in the room and rummaged through the bag to find the old rags that she had worn hours before, preparing for a cold night on the floor.