At some point on the way home, Kei had noticed her companion's nakedness. The woman had a lithe, almost athletic build, though the effect was marred by the purple and blue bruises on her otherwise pristine white skin. She was quite tall, perhaps six foot two, and that, combined with her golden hair, made for quite a contrast. Her tall, light and lithe to Kei's short, dark, and curvy.
Feeling suddenly conscious of the sight the stranger would make to an observer, Kei removed her cloak and offered it to the poor woman who, for her part, clutched it as if it were the dearest thing in the world.
The journey home went slowly; she was doubly cautious, fearing pursuit, and her injuries further limited their progress. The whole way, the blonde said nothing, though Kei had, a few times, caught the tall woman eying her rapier nervously. As this went on, Kei began to see why, at times, others found her own stillness unsettling. Regardless, they reached the house without incident. Kei, still unable to use her dominant hand, fussed with the key for a few seconds before, to her surprise, the door swung open, leaving Shino standing there beaming at her. "Kei! Welcome home!" He paused. "You're white."
She blinked. "It's flour. Shouldn't you be resting?"
He gave her a guilty grin. "But I feel fine!"
"You should go back to bed," she said, sliding inside and beckoning the woman to follow.
Shino ignored her advice and instead raised his eyebrows when the blonde, still cloaked, entered. "Brought home a stray?"
"Yes," she said absently, more focused on both Shino's and her own injuries than woman she had rescued from an apparently abusive life. "There were a few. I only could get this one to follow. I would have stayed longer to convince the others, but..." feebly, she gestured to her side which by now had clotted. Shino noticed the stain on the dark fabric for, it seemed, the first time. "Oh! Are you alright?"
"I'll be fine." She assured him. "You're probably still in worse shape than I am. Though," she added as an afterthought, "if that cleric comes by again, I wouldn't object to some healing."
"Yeah, sure. Shouldn't you sit down?" Kei got the distinct impression that he would say that an angel had commanded her to go to bed if it meant she'd actually rest.
So adorable
. "Do you need a hand?"
Kei laughed and unwrapped her head scarf. "No, I'm fine, but I do have something for you." She unslung the pack and let it hit the floor with a metallic thud. Shino stared at it as if he couldn't believe his ears. "Go on," she prompted with a grin. Slowly, hesitantly, like a child with an unexpected gift, he opened the pack and, as he drew out the first bar, his eyes went wide.
As he poked through the backpack, he said in awe, "There's so much! Kei, I could make a dozen hammers with all this!"
She shifted her weight.
Oops.
"Uh, perhaps you weren't the first the Rats had stolen from?"
Shino laughed, pulling out another few ingots. "I should think not!" The smile of gratitude he gave took her breath away.
So handsome.
His eyes were as deep and entrancing as ever, and though his clothes hid it, she remembered his musculature, even more well-defined after his transformation. His bronze skin just seemed exotic, and Kei found that she didn't mind his Efreeti background in the least. Indeed, the only thing she worried about was how other people would react to the horns. Other people...
She turned quickly and, as she feared, found the blonde cowering in muted terror, staring at the elf like he was some kind of monster. Silently, Kei cursed. "Shino, why don't you head upstairs and go to bed. I'll need a bath first, but I'll be along shortly, okay?"
Shino, who had followed her gaze, seemed to understand. "Yeah, sure. Should I help draw the water first?"
"No, I'll get the Stray to help me. Go rest." He looked about to offer some other excuse, so she held his hand tenderly, smiled warmly, and repeated, "Go."
He ambled up the stairs with only a few backwards glances. Once he was out of the room, the woman relaxed only slightly; she still looked at Kei as if she were some great and dangerous beast. Kei sighed.
I suppose that's as good as it's going to get. Well, nothing like work to serve as a distraction from fear.
"Come," she said, "Let me give you a change of clothes, then you can help me draw some water."
Kei led her to the bathroom and handed over her work clothes. The woman hesitated only a moment before shucking the cloak, donning the canvas garments, and wrapping herself in the black cloak again. Kei didn't mind that she hung on to the outer layer; in truth, Kei's outfit was conspicuously too small in some parts, going down only to mid-shin and so tight around the hips that they were left unbuttoned. As for the shirt, the only place it fit was around the chest; Kei's shirt left enough room for her breasts that, even for the bigger but small-chested woman, there was enough room to breathe. However, her midriff was still exposed, and it barely went past her elbows. To an outside viewer, she would look like a well-dressed beggar or a runaway. Either way, it would draw attention, something which Kei didn't want.
Privately, there was another reason she was glad the blonde kept the cloak on; Kei had only seen a few elven women, and fewer still had ever braved a bath house in the fiercely racist Islandport, but she had a clear memory of seeing one proud elven lady who had strode into the bathhouse like a countess into court. Kei had thought her so elegant, so beautiful; her willowy figure was carried with such confidence that all the things which made her different and loathsome in the eyes of the plebeians- her pointed ears, lean frame, smooth, hairless skin- only made her the exotic paradigm of beauty in Kei's impressionable mind.
Though the elf had gone, the ideal of beauty remained. It wasn't something she had considered in some time, but this blonde, though human, held that ideal, and the contrast between the two women was not felt by Kei to be favorable. It was silly, as she knew that many men found her attractive enough to assail, it was petty, and it was something she would seldom admit to herself, much less speak of. Therefore the feeling of relief she had when the woman kept the cloak was as indistinct as it was profound.
Kei led the other woman out to the well and, as she cranked as quickly as one hand would allow, she noted how the other's eyes stayed downcast, how her posture practically screamed surrender and her muscles were tense, as if expecting attack.
All to be expected,
