I’m a Human among Fey

After a bit of time passes by, we get into the carriage and drive towards town. This time, we take a bit of a different route moving through more expensive looking areas with less dirt roads and more extravagantly clothed people. The scenery then changes a bit as we come upon what looks like an upper class shopping district with different sit down bars and restaurants where our carriage stops. Hildi carries me out of the carriage, into my wheelchair and even though people do look, they seem to stare less than when we were in the less affluent areas.

"Alright Sammy, what do you want to do?" Hildi asks me while AbBEE moves the carriage to another place.

"Can we just slowly go towards the knight camps so I can do some window shopping on the way there?"

"Of course we can."

Moving along the sidewalk, we go past several restaurants selling mostly stews, baked foods, steamed fish and wild game. From the smell alone, I can tell that they use a lot of herbs and garlic in their cooking. Surprisingly, the streets are somewhat crowded with people going on walks, street musicians and the occasional cart or carriage. The musicians use both medieval looking instruments like lutes and flutes and also newer looking ones like makeshift drum sets and bagpipes. As we go by some outdoor patio seating, a red haired man with a long beard, clothed in expensive furs with a long sword dangling from his hip walks up to us, causing me to shiver a little. He reminds me a lot of Boss, just less shabby looking.

"Ah, hello there Ms. Ixodida, are you back in town for some trade?"

"On the side, yes, but I'm mostly here this time to show my daughter around."

"Oh, I didn't know you were married! By what title should I refer to you from now on?"

"I am still unmarried, so Ms. Ixodida is fine."

"So you had her out of wedlock!?" He yells out, prompting multiple people to stare in our direction.

"What a rude assumption to make. For your information she's adopted!"

"My sincerest apologies Ms. Ixodida, that was improper of me to assume."

"If you truly wish to apologize for this indignity, I assume you buying my next wares with an up charge of 30% will not be a problem."

The man's eyes glaze over as he says, "Why of course, that is more than fair," and afterwards go back to normal.
"Uhum Well, now that we solved that problem… If I may ask, was adopting the cripple part of your charity work?"

I can't see Hildis face because she's standing behind me so I can only assume but it feels like she's very angry, despite her not showing it.

"It is not. It is only due to a recent fire attack, that my daughter has become disabled, though I do hope she will recover soon."

"Well damn, I sure hope someone will hang for that. Such a shame too, with a face like that she would have been able to marry well… Now that I think of it, you know my son Cedric, right? He's just about to turn twenty four and hasn't eloped with anyone yet. She might be damaged goods but she has a pretty face and as long as her loins still work it should be fine. What do you think Ms. Ixodida? I'm sure this marriage would benefit both of our families." he says while giving Hildi a smile.

Still sounding very cordial, she answers, "I'm sure it would help your family, though I doubt marrying my daughter off to the third son of a provincial textile merchant would be of much benefit to my family. Also, if I remember correctly, wasn't the reason he is not married because he is known to have contracted syphilis from cheap whores due to his hygiene being so bad that the high class brothels kicked him out?"

Suddenly getting really angry, the man goes red in the face and points at us, "Hold your dirty tongue wench. Don't forget your place. You might have money but you're still just an unmarried woman without a title. You're one mistake away from being married off to some noble and spending your time between castle walls rearing children for the rest of your life."

"Oh? Big words coming from someone who's biggest supplier is that wench you speak so lowly of. If I'm just a woman and you are beneath me, what does that make you? A frightened little girl?"

SLAP

The man slaps Hildi and yells, "Your arrogance will be the death of you foul wench. Know your place!"

I'm so angry I forget that I can barely move, so instead of standing up and kicking him in the balls like I wanted to, I angrily flop around in my seat. When I notice that not working I just stare him down and yell, "Fuck you! Leave my mother alone!"

Even more angry, the man winds up his arm for another slap but before he can hit me an armored hand grabs his arm from behind.
"I think that is more than enough, Sir."

"And who the fuck are you to tell me to st- Uhm…Sir knight what are you doing here?"

"I heard a young affluent Lady would like to sponsor one of our knights, so I came to escort her, only to find you attempting to violently accost her disabled daughter."

Shooting an annoyed and disgusted glare at Hildi, he replies, "So you're trying to buy yourself into the knights now as well…Fine, I'll leave her be. Let go of me Sir knight."
The person behind him then lets the asshole go and lets him walk back to his drinking buddies, revealing a tall and blonde knight in not so shining armor covered in scratches and specks of dirt behind him.

Putting his fist on his chest, he gives us a sorrowful look, "I regret not being here earlier Ladies, I wanted to freshen my face up a bit before leaving the training grounds to meet you."

"It is alright, you came just in time Sir Knight," Hildi answers calmly, not a bit of anger in her voice.

"How can you be so calm about this? He slapped you! And he was extremely rude towards both of us!"

"What does it matter to the oak if a boar scratches itself on it?"

"What?"

"It's a saying meaning something like 'Why should I care about someone so far beneath me, misbehaving towards me'."

"But he slapped you! He even tried to hit me!"

"Don't worry Sammy, if anything he got lucky Sir knight intervened in hitting you…Otherwise I would have. As for me, do you really think I can't take a weak slap like that?"

"No…But I still don't want you to get hurt!"

Hildi then moves next to me, from behind my chair, crouches down and looks me straight in the eyes. She gives me a warm smile while brushing my hair to the side and says, "It's not your job to worry about me silly. That's my job as a mom, your job is to be happy, loved and get a little spoiled by me from time to time. Got that?"

"But what am I supposed to do when you get hurt?"

"Either get to safety or stay by my side so I can protect you from being hurt."

Putting my head down, I answer, "That just sounds very selfish…"

"That's okay, you're allowed to be selfish." Hildi replies, brushing over my cheek and giving me a kiss on the forehead before going back behind me to push my wheelchair.

"Now then Sir Knight, shall we?"

"At your ready, Miss."

I don't get it… Why does Hildi do all this for me and doesn't want anything in return? I haven't done anything for her and yet she still loves me, takes me in and cares for me when I can barely move.

"Do you already have a knight in mind you wish to sponsor Miss?"

"I'm planning to watch their capabilities today and decide on that. Additionally, I would like to sponsor a farmer's boy named Morgan. I have heard he had a big part in the subjugation efforts of the bandit camp in the woods."

"I'm surprised you know about that. You're very well informed. But while he is a brave young man, he is still just a farmer. He lacks any sort of formal training. If you wish to reward him, perhaps it'd be best to buy him some livestock."

"Unfortunately I can not do that. It is my daughter's wish for him to become a knight not mine."

"And why is that? If I may ask."

"It's because he attempted to save her. She was one of the people they kidnapped. Unfortunately, it turned into her saving him instead and in the process getting severely hurt."

"Don't tell me…The charred remains and the fire we saw in the distance were from…"

"My daughter, yes. That bastard covered her in oil and lit her on fire. She barely survived."

"That must have been quite frightful for you Miss Sammy."

Maybe the reason she doesn't want anything from me is because I'm still so young from her point of view. But then again I still don't understand it…She took care of me from the very beginning, never wanting anything in return even before she saw me as her daughter. Is Hildi just a saint or something?

"There is no point in talking to her right now, she's in her own world again."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Again? Does that happen often?"

"Yes, once something triggers her curiosity she just thinks about it without any regard to the outside world. The only way you can get her out of that is by giving her some outside stimulus like a pinch or waving in front of her face. If we leave her alone, she will talk to us on her own terms in due time."

Or maybe she doesn't really love me and just thought she did for a while. No Sammy, what are you thinking! You saw her pink soul just a week ago. She did tell me not to use my eyes anymore though until I'm healed because they use up mana…Surely she wouldn't have said that just to hide that she has grown tired of me and doesn't love me anymore right? No of course not Sammy! Don't be stupid! I should definitely just trust her, it's not healthy to doubt someone close to you like that. Although…One quick peak wouldn't hurt, right?

Looking up at Hildis face I activate my eyes and her soul is still pink, making me smile and giving me a sigh of relief before closing my eyes.

Feeling someone carefully shaking my shoulder, I open my eyes again. It seems like I fell asleep, instead of the streets we're now in a tent. Both AbBEE and Hildi are here but the knight is missing.

Hildi then says to me, "Good morning sunshine. They're almost done preparing the demonstration so I thought it would be best to wake you."

She bows down to me and whispers into my ear, "Also, I told you, using your soul seeing eyes is too draining for your body right now, we're going to talk about that when we get home."

A little ashamed, I ask her, "How did you know I was using them?"

"Honey…Your eyes and hair change color when you use them, of course I noticed."

"Oh…Yeah, haha I kinda forgot about that…Wait! Does that mean the knight-"

"Don't worry, your glimmer disguises that as well to Humans."

"Miss Ixodida! The preparations are complete, we're ready to start." A voice from outside the tent tells us.

"It seems like it's time, are you ready Sammy?"

"Yep!"

Hildi then nods to AbBEE who pushes my wheelchair out of the tent. Outside, there is what looks like one of those medieval training fields you see in movies with archery targets, horse stables and what looks like a makeshift parkour course. In the midst of it are six guys, all around the age of about thirteen to probably twenty. They're not wearing metal armor like the one that escorted us but instead wear pieces of leather armor like shoulder and knee protectors while holding wooden swords. Waiting outside, are what looks like older knights. Some in full armor, some dressed in normal clothes, all looking excitedly at the boys in the center.

The blonde knight from before then loudly says, "Men, tonight stands before you both a symbol of success and great shame. Most of you will remember the young lad who sat at our gate for days pestering us to find his friend, a young girl his age, that had gotten kidnapped.

Crowd: "Mhm, yeah,"

"He did manage to give us a description of where their camp was and yet we still hesitated. Some of us thought it was a trap, others thought we'd need more intel and some were rearing to go without any deeper thought on the matter. Either way, we took longer than we should have and waited till the boy left for the forest by himself to mobilize. I still remember being overjoyed when we saw him running towards us but our joy didn't last long because once all was over and we freed the prisoners we couldn't find his friend. We could only find burned oil and the smell of charred flesh from the place the boy last saw her. Seeing how that boy wept that day still makes me feel ashamed for my own indecisiveness. To this day, I'm still thankful to all of you who chimed in for her funeral procession to give that boy some closure."

Crowd: "Such a shame, poor kid,

"BUT, today I bring to you something we never thought possible. The girl from that day didn't die, in fact she's here today! And not only is she here with us today, she even convinced her mother to sponsor one of our knights as well as the boy that showed so much compassion and bravery. "

Cheering erupts in the crowd as all eyes are being centered on me.

"But as you can see, she did not survive this encounter without severe injury. According to what her mother told me, she will most likely be able to walk again soon but it is unknown how long it will take for her burns to heal and how much, if any, scarring will be left after. I also want you to know that her wounds would have been completely avoided if we had come just a little earlier. Let her wounds leave us with a somber reminder of our own failure. And hope that God will forgive us for our sin of sloth."

"Hear hear!"

"Now squires, it is time to show your own prowess so that you may gain a lady to serve under."

"Yes, Sir!" The boys say in unison.

"Now pick a lot from this helmet and assign yourself in groups of two. We will do a combat demonstration first. This is not going to be like normal sparring. I want you to fight like your life depends on it."

They then draw their lots and form three pairs. First is a match between two guys my age. One of them uses a spear while the other is using a sword. When the match starts, the one with the sword instantly charges the spear guy, making him unable to use his range against him effectively and nullifying his advantage.
Wait… This seems…Familiar? Getting a sharp pain in my head I remember why, he's using the same type of tactics the redcap used on me.
I can feel both my breathing and heartbeat quicken as I try to ignore the thought but it keeps coming up again and again. I then close my eyes, hoping that it will help me calm down but that just makes the images worse so I open my eyes again only to be on the ground. My legs are gone, I'm in agony.

It is then that I hear it again behind me, "Blood, blood, plit plat, blood makes red, red means no dead. HAHAHAHA."

"No…No! You're not real! You…You're dead! OUCH!!! MY ARM!"

"Hahahaha me no dead, thanks to your red!" he says as he turns me over and pins me down, choking me.

"No…No! GO AWAY!" A black wave emanates from me when I say this, swallowing up everything in it until only darkness is left.

When I open my eyes, I'm lying in bed in an unfamiliar room. Hildi is sitting next to me reading, while AbBEE is cleaning. I'm feeling extremely hot.

"Hildi? What happened?"

"Oh thank goodness, you're awake. You collapsed during the beginning of the squire performance. I thought it was because you used too much mana earlier but you've been asleep for two days now. Did you use your eyes again when I didn't look at you or did something else happen?" Hildi asks me and then quickly tells AbBEE to go get some food.

"I…When I saw that boy fight it…It reminded me of the red cap I fought and…And… Before I knew it, I felt like I was back at that moment, getting dismembered. I just felt hopeless and alone and I screamed at him and a black wave made everything vanish. I think it might be related to the black goo I sometimes make. It seems to mostly happen when I'm sleeping or my mind is affected by something."

"Well, that might explain why your health so rapidly declined…You must have used a decent amount of mana to do that."

"It's fine…I'll just need some sleep and I'll be fine."

"No, what you need is proper food. Something I noticed when nursing you, was that you didn't have nearly the same reaction to drinking blood out of a cup than when drinking from the animal itself. That's why from now on you'll have to drink it from the source."

"But mom…I don't like hurting them."

"I know you don't but you're not in a condition to refuse. You can bring it in now AbBEE!"

Looking to my side, AbBEE is bringing in a bound deer in a cart, which Hildi easily picks up after growing an additional pair of arms and putting its neck towards my face. I try to resist the temptation due to the poor things whimpering but it also doesn't take long for hunger to take over as I bite it in the neck. I have been drinking bottled blood for so long that I nearly forgot how extreme it feels to drink from the source. I can feel my heartbeat and its heartbeat merging then, as if I'm stealing its life, I can feel my heart quicken at the same rate its heart slows down. But instead of giving me that high it usually gives me, it just feels like I finally drank some water after a long day in the heat. After finishing my meal, I look down at the deer only to see it completely shriveled up just like Boss' arm. But instead of disgust, all I can utter is, "Do we have more?"

"You just drank an entire deer and you still want more? You must have been starving! Unfortunately I don't have any more prepared right now. But I can get more tomorrow. How're you feeling now? Better? Worse?"

"I feel…Great actually! Look Hildi! I can move my arms around without any problems now! I can also move my fingers normally again!"

"That's great! How about your legs?"

"I…Still can't feel them."

"Well, I guess a deer isn't a miracle cure but I'm still glad it progressed your healing again! If we keep this up then we might be able to heal you within a few weeks."

"Yeah! I can't wait to be able to walk again!"

"I'll be looking forward to that as well. Now that you have eaten, do you think you have the energy to have your bandages changed?"

"Yeah…If we must do it, now is probably a good time…"

After I say that, AbBEE carefully puts me in my wheelchair and we leave the room. It's only then that I remember that this place is the new manor we moved in. Moving past what looks like multiple landscape paintings, we come upon the grand staircase of the manor.

Hildi picks me up and carries me downstairs, while AbBEE carries the wheel chair. But instead of waiting and putting me back in my wheelchair, Hildi just keeps walking, carrying me further towards another staircase that leads to a basement.

"Uhm…Is the bath in the basement Hildi?"

"Yeah, I made sure it's nice and big but it uses some magical items, so I didn't want it out in the open."

Down the stairs, we come into what looks like a small storage room.
Hildi then walks up to a wall and says, "Here Sammy, try pressing these bricks in, in this order."

Doing as she says, the wall opens, revealing a hallway behind it.

"Woah, this is just like back in the sewers with the safe house!"

"Yep, the entire house is full with secret passages like this."

"Wait, really!? That's so cool!"

"Tiahaha, I'm glad you like it."

"Woah…Is that what your laugh sounds like?"

"Huh? Does it sound weird?"

"No it sounds super cute! I just never heard you laugh before!"

She smiles, pinches my cheek and says, "Well, I'm glad that my first laugh in a while was thanks to you being adorable."

"So, is there a reason then that you don't laugh often?"

Avoiding my eyes, she gets a bit of a sour expression on her face, "Ah…Well, you see Sammy, when you're an assassin, you need to learn how to have your emotions stay on the inside. When you're on a job, you can't just let them slip and endanger your mission and so, after some time, keeping your emotions inside turns into a habit you do even when you're not on the job. In a way, I'm probably very boring to be around but I'm a lot more interesting on the inside even if I don't show it."

Somewhat ashamed, I avoid her face and say, "To be honest… I'm also not very good at showing who I truly am inside. At least I think so…Especially recently, it feels hard to tell who I really am. But one thing I can say for sure is that the longer I am around you, the more I feel safe to find out who I really am. And I want you to know that you can feel safe around me too. I love you mommy."

After I say this Hildi stops walking. But she isn't saying anything.
Did I maybe say too much? I hope she doesn't feel weirded by what I-
Tap…Tap, Tap
Feeling drops of water fall on me, I look up. It looks like Hildi is desperately trying to hold back tears but they keep flowing anyways. It is only when our eyes meet that her cool facade breaks and she starts sobbing.

"I love you too Sammy! I love you so much that I don't know what to do with all these emotions most of the time! Ever since you got hurt I've been feeling so guilty everyday and when that bastard Human merchant spoke ill of you I wanted to torture and eviscerate him as an example for anyone watching. I'm so extremely happy to have you as my daughter that I want to go around bragging to anyone I know but I can't do that without putting you in danger…It frustrates me so much that you can't have a normal childhood because of all these horrible things happening to you and I can't do much to help! I'm a failure as a parent…"

I'm not sure if it's because of what she said or how sincere she sounded when doing so but listening to her makes me bawl my eyes out as well.

"It's okay! You already do so much for me that I feel like I'm taking advantage of you! No one has ever gone as far for me as you have. You have shown me more love in these last few weeks than my parents ever did in my last fourteen years! You love me even if I don't do anything for you, you don't beat me when I do things wrong and you say I'm allowed to be however I want. You're a great mother and you're for sure the best mother I have ever had!"

She pushes me closer to her and answers, "Oh Sammy…I'm so glad you're my daughter."

I put my arms around her and smile through my tears, "I'm glad you're my mom too."