JP - The Keep - Herbs and powders

That was when Bella practically crashed into the room and stumbled to Difyr. Standing in front of the healer, she held out the box to her and whined.

Difyr frowned and accepted the box. She opened it and looked inside. Difyr was not sure of what it was, but had a feeling it was not good. “Where did this come from?” She asked Bella.

Bella spelled Alex’s name in the air with a finger and whined again. Pointing to the box she made a sniffing gesture and then a disgusted face.

It took Difyr a moment to get over the fact that Bella was able to spell. She would not wear clothes and could not speak, but she could spell? Difyr shook her head. “Do you know where Alex is?” He might have a good, magical, reason to have something so foul.

Bella made a raven gesture to indicate where Alex probably went. She had overheard talk between him and the others about it. Accursed dog ears…

Difyr blinked slowly at the bird-like gesture. She had no idea what Bella meant. “His room?”

Bella tried to spell “Black Raven” this time.

“Not the Black Raven!” Difyr frowned.

And that’s why Bella whined again, full of worry.

Difyr sighed. She turned back to Pinja and Miyuki. “I need to find Bai about something, I trust you’re both okay here?”

Miyuki nodded to Difyr, not looking at Pinja out of respect.

All Bella could do was glare at the box of nasty stuff.

Pinja nodded slightly.

“Okay. See you later.” Difyr said and headed off to find Bai. She would try his room first.

Bella grabbed the box and followed Difyr.

“That was…interesting.” Miyuki commented as she watched them leave. She had not expected Bella to know how to write. It made her wonder what other surprises the dog girl had hidden away.

“Yes.” Pinja’s voice was barely above a whisper. She had not seen Bella close up very often because Pinja mostly stayed in her room. But she had watched out the window and thought Bella was completely wild.

Miyuki turned back and smiled at Pinja. “Feeling a little better now?”

“A little.” Pinja’s voice was still raspy and close to a whisper. She shrugged. She was still sore.

“Maybe try lying down for a bit?” Miyuki suggested. “Sleep helps you heal…physically, anyway.”

Pinja did not think sleep did her much good because of all the nightmares, but she did lay down on her side.

Which was when Millie came in with the tray and two plates of food. She stared at Miyuki in surprise. “Hello?”

“Hello,” Miyuki got up and forced a smile. “I was just…leaving…” She slipped around Millie and out the door, bag in hand.

Millie watched the kitsune leave, then turned to Pinja. “What was that about?”

Pinja pointed at the labeled jars on the table and closed her eyes. Millie looked at the jars and picked one up, but before she could ask Pinja anything else she had fallen asleep.

***** 🍶

Lek learned that Miyuki went down to the kitchen to help with the dishes. He guessed she was comfortable down there and able to find her way alone, so he decided to go get his own stuff together. He also wanted to be alone for a little while, trying to sort through his complicated feelings over Pinja. He was supposed to go with Wulfsen back to the Village today, and since he could not even see Pinja he knew there was no reason for him to stay here.

Lek was alone in his room when his door creaked open. He turned and saw Tria, his sister had taken her on and was teaching her how to be a seamstress since Pinja no longer wanted to. Tria was strange, but her grandmother Fortune Calm, was even stranger. She really wanted to match her granddaughter with Lek for some reason. She had been so obsessed with it that Millie had even warned him to not be alone with Tria because she was worried he’d end up in a ‘compromising situation’ and be forced to marry her. So Tria coming into his room was probably a bad thing.

“Uh, Tria-” Lek started. Tria herself looked nervous and not happy. Her eyes looked very odd somehow. But before Lek could finish whatever he was going to say Tria raised a hand and blew some powder into his face.

That was when Miyuki knocked on the door, noticing it cracked open. She pushed it open, smelling something odd. “Lek, are yo-what are you doing to him?” Her eyes narrowed at Tria and she finally recognized the scent. It angered her that even here people were manipulating each other. “I think you need to leave, ma’am…”

Tria had been trying to get Lek on his bed, but of course not only was he too heavy for her to lift- he was too damned tall for her to handle. She was sort of struggling under his weight when the kitsune came in. Tria almost felt relieved to be stopped. She did not want to do this anyways. She knew how bad it felt to be forced to do something she did not, Lek clearly did not want to do this… Too bad there was going to be hell to pay. “Er…” Tria thought about dropping him, but the floor was stone and could crack Lek’s head. He had never done her any harm and his sister had always been kind to her, she did not want to hurt him. She staggered.

Walking over to them, Miyuki used a special salt from her bag and rubbed a little under Lek’s nose to bring him back from whatever fresh mental hell he had disappeared to. Her free hand went to his arm to help keep him from falling, but her gaze stayed on Tria. “It’s inappropriate for a young lady like you to be in a room alone with a fully grown man.”

Tria looked down. “But you were going to be in the room alone with him?”