As the crowd gathered, one very wealthy - looking one ran forward, grabbed the hellkin swiftly and slapped him on the back of the head. "Dammmit Skip, I told you not to go out without me, you're supposed to carry my medicines!"
A whisper in the ear soon followed of... "follow me, my friend, I'll get you safely out of here, just play along."
Then to the crowd the wealthy one shouted coldly. "Don't worry, you won't see my servant without escort again." -- Anon Guest
The blow didn't even connect. The rich one must have used some minor spellwork to create the sound of the slap. That, more than anything, convinced Esmorzar that this plush person. Might just be on her side. Besides, one against one gave her better odds than one against a mob.
So Esmorzar bowed and scraped and answered to 'Skip' and m'lady'd her saviour. All the way to a surprisingly staid hostel with humble decor and staff who had apparently seen everything. Or were paid not to make a fuss at a dirty Hellkin wandering their halls. The plush lady lead Esmorzar to a plain room that was still miles better than any hole that she had sheltered in.
Her ladyship's first question was not, "Who are you?" nor, "What are you doing in this town?" but, "Have you eaten today?"
She spoke before realising she was answering the wrong questions. "I call myself Esmorzar and I'm just-- Wait. What?"
"Have you eaten today? My uncle always said it's the best question to ask someone down on their luck."
"I pay with coin or deeds, not my body," said Esmorzar. "If you're going to whip me for that, start now."
"Don't worry about paying," said her ladyship. "I'm not expecting anything of the sort."
"I'm not a theiving Teufel. I pay my debts."
"Understood. I'll probably need a bodyguard if things keep going this way. Does that suit?"
"It'll do," she allowed. "And no, I haven't eaten in a couple of days."
Her ladyship handed Esmozar a menu. "Order anything you like." She pointedly did not lock the door nor block Esmozar's way. "I'm using the name Merrilee at the moment. Do you know what an erforschungzeit is?"
"The only Teutonian I know is 'teufel' and 'auf weidersehn'."
"I'll take that as a 'no'." Merrilee maintained a respectful distance. Calm and collected. "My uncle speaks it fluently and he coined the term. Boiled down to its essentials, a noble spends some time among the common throng without their titles or entourages to protect them from consequences. The idea being that they see the world as it truly is and gain an impression of what needs repairing."
"Oh, so I'm your charity case. I'm here to plump up your ego because you saved one Hellkin from the mob. So now you're officially a good person."
"I'll let you think that," smiled Merrilee. "At least until you meet some of my cousins, my uncle, or one of my sisters. I'm not doing this for my ego. I'm doing this because injustice needs to be deflated, and this was what I could do at the time."
Esmorzar ordered the most expensive items on the menu. Stared Merrilee down as she relayed it. Merrilee didn't even flinch.
"There's a saying about extracting justice in pain," said Merrilee. "I won't repeat it owing to the frequent accusations against the devilborn."
Interesting. Most plush people would be outraged. "All right," Esmorzar allowed. "You're not the usual snooty bitch sort. What's the deal?"
"You teach me what's going wrong in your world... and I show you it doesn't have to stay that way." She offered her hand.
"Deal."
[Photo by Marios Gkortsilas on Unsplash]
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