The next day, Renwa caught Elunara as she climbed the hill. "Tulani is so timid, how does she survive you two?"
Elunara shrugged. "I don't know. She just opens up when it's just the two of us. She's a little shy with Grogek, but she's coming around because he's so sweet to her." Elunara got comfy. "I've been trying to teach her to stand up for herself. Especially after the way those little twits treated her." She said with a growl.
"Who?"
"The women that arrived with her. They've called her mean names, and won't speak to her any more. They call her "the whore's toy". Call her worse than a slaver."
"What the hell?" Renwa was outraged.
"Don't tell her I told you. In fact, don't mention it at all." She sighed.
"That's horrible."
Elunara popped open her board and pulled out her pencil.
"So... You told Grogek you wanted to have a threesome with me?"
She smirked. "That's why you're really up here."
"I was just curious." He tried for innocence.
She started her sketching. "Actually, I'm fairly certain I told him I wanted to suck your dick while he fucked me." She paused as if thinking. "Yep, that might have been my exact words."
Renwa's eyes grew wide, and she quickly sketched him out.
"You're still a strange couple."
"You have no idea."
"Not sure I want to." He shook his head and made his way back down the hill. Captain Jordan was at the training yard, and Renwa met up with him.
"Sir."
"Hey, keep an eye on Tulani. Tell me if the women that showed up with her are bothering her."
Jordan blinked. "Sir?"
"Just something I heard."
Jerry showed up a couple of days later. She raised her eyebrow as he closed the door.
"If anyone asks, we were fucking like rabbits."
"In my experience, fucking like a rabbit is a bad thing."
"Well, then we had mind-blowing awesome sex."
"So you two are still not telling people?"
He shrugged.
"Then next time, invite Louis to come with you. We'll call it an acrobatic threesome." She continued to add detail to her picture.
"Hey, yeah. I like that one. Maybe we could hang out for awhile. It's hard to find good space."
"Hell," She didn't look up. "Borrow one of the extra beds. Fuck like rabbits... well, like something entertaining."
"You'd let us?"
She snorted. "The only reason we kept those was for guests to be fucked on. We don't like contaminating our own bed. Just stay off of Tulani's."
"Hey, what's up with Tulani anyway?"
Elunara flicked her eyes up. "You are not allowed to ask about that relationship."
"No, I mean... I've seen her crying."
Elunara narrowed her eyes. "Those stupid bitches."
He rubbed the back of his head. "So you know about them? I saw them push Tulani in the mud."
Elunara jumped up, her board clattered to the floor.
"I take it she didn't tell you then. I saw her go up to the tailor and change her clothes. I didn't do anything because I wasn't sure WHAT to do. I mean... I heard the state they came in, so..." He trailed off. "I know you guys are close, but you can't go running out there and pound on them."
Elunara flopped back in her chair and frowned. "I hate that you are right." She picked up her board and frowned down at the portrait she was working on for Tulani. "I'm going to have to do something about them..." She tapped on her board.
"Why are they so mean to her?"
She sighed. "Because of me. They think she has tainted herself with my presence."
"Oh. I can kind of see that. Some people are still stuck in their old ways. They'd rather gossip and shun you, than actually sit and talk to you for five minutes."
She looked up at Jerry ad grinned. "You might have given me the answer." She returned to her sketch. "You've got ten minutes before I rough you up and toss you out the door."
"Cool." He sat in a chair and leaned back.
After she damped her face and tossed Jerry out of her room, she headed over to Ina where the pulled the woman to the side and told her exactly what was going on and her plan for dealing with it. Ina agreed. Elunara's next stop was the tailor's.
"You have me so busy right now!" She exclaimed. "Everyone wants a dress like yours."
Elunara grinned. "Your work was fantastic."
Eloise preened.
"Where's Tulani?"
"She's delivering an order."
"Are you aware of the abuse she's been dealing with?"
Eloise shrugged. "I know she's come to me crying, asking me not to tell you. She won't give me specifics. I take it you've found it out?"
Elunara went through the same with the tailor who agreed to the plan. Next Elunara hit up every supplier in town she had a good relation with, as well as some of the builders and other laborers she knew of. She hit the training yard next.
"Come for another spar, love?" Grogek stopped the swing of a sword with one hand and punched the offender with another.
"I need to talk to you."
Grogek wandered over and she began to explain.
"I'd rather decapitate them and present Tulani their horns."
"You know that'd only upset her more."
"Will it work?"
Elunara shrugged. "Bitchy, nasty women are all the same everywhere."
"You had to slit my sister's throat."
"Your sister was a vindictive orc. She died or she never stopped. These are a set of gossipy bitches; they don't do "confrontation".
"Let me know." He kissed her forehead.
"That guy is really slow on his back swing."
"Ugh, he is."
On the way back to the room, Elunara spotted the three, moving in a pack, like a herd of animals. She pretended not to see them as they walked past.
"Not even two weeks and she's already thrown away her vows." Whispered one.
"The ring too, it looks like." Whispered the next.
"If she got knocked up, who would claim it?" Asked the third.
"Maybe the orc will kill her before it gets far enough to find out." The first replied. They giggled amongst themselves.
Elunara closed her door and groaned. "They're goddamned children."