Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 58: Catty

Them and Pete sat across from Pollyanna after she had accepted their invitation to dinner. Sitting on Them's other side was the elf, Terran, and sitting by him was his sweetheart, Eliita.

The mess hall was abuzz with chatter and laughter as it always was, but Them was not there for merrymaking; all his attention was focused on Pollyanna.

The old woman was clearly upset, and Them felt sympathetic toward her, however evil she might be. Them wanted to help her.

Them liked and cared for Taylor—despite finding her frustrating in more ways than one—but felt like he could cut her out of his life if he needed to and he wouldn't be devastated by it. Pollyanna, however, seemed to love Eory, and seemed unable to cut him out of her life due to her blind loyalty to the Arrozans. Them thought it was an odd and almost grotesque thing for her to love Eory; he would rather not think about such a wrinkled, ugly, and demented creature being naked with someone who was as beautiful and untouched like Eory and Taylor.

Or are they sweet and untouched? Them rubbed his temples. I keep forgetting that Taylor and Eory are Arrozans—one of those responsible for enslaving and massacring the humans—and that they could snap at any moment. Perhaps Eory and Pollyanna deserve on another.

Even growing up in Trella, Them had heard horror stories about the evils Pollyanna and the Arrozans had reigned upon the humans.

And yet the woman he saw before him seemed so different from the one he had heard stories about.

It was true that she was gruff and violent and cruel, but she was also so very petty and human. She was not just a killing machine as he previously thought; she had her quirks and vulnerabilities, even if they were mental and not physical.

"So... Do you and Eory...?" Them couldn't help but ask teasingly.

Pollyanna shut down his question with a single, threatening glance.

Them laughed. "You're so feisty, Pollyanna! No wonder he chooses to spend his... Free time with Maruka instead of you."

Pete giggled—his laugh coming out in the sound of a high-pitched bell—and nudged his friend's shoulder. This is what you should be doing, Them! Laughing at the misfortunes of these monsters! Not making friends with them!

Pollyanna was glaring at the wisp and tapping her nails on the wooden table. "I don't know what he said, but it sounded insulting. As for Eory, I don't care who he sees. My task is merely to defend him."

Them gave her an incredulous, lopsided smile of disbelief. "Really? Then I wonder what those glassy eyes from earlier could have been about..." Them wondered and stroked his chin melodramatically.

Pollyanna clenched and unclenched her fists.

Them gulped at the sight of her fists. However, being a loquacious and risk-taking kind of fellow, he decided that he wanted to make her like him, and he wanted her as a friend, no matter what might befall him.

There's no one I can't befriend, after all.

"I had no glassy eyes..." Pollyanna murmured with very little confidence. "Eory's happiness is my happiness, just as his parents' was before him. Besides, you're the one who wants to bed Taylor. You're probably far more upset about seeing them together than I am."

Them rubbed the back of his neck; his cheeks turned red with embarrassment as he tried to ignore the looks the other recruits at the table were giving him. Them stabbed a thick piece of meat with a fork and waved it at Pollyanna. "Ah, Taylor. You know, I'm quite fond of her; she's beautiful and fun to play games with, but I don't need her to survive. It's true that I'm jealous when I see her with other people, but it's not as if I wish to marry her. You know what your problem is?"