Fell Champions

Otter scoured the house as well as she could, but ultimately didn’t find Liaru. She was about to give up entirely when she remembered the one place – the most logical of all – had gone unchecked. 

She rapped on the door to Liaru’s house, nestled away from most of the building complex in its own little copse of trees and greenery. There was the sound of something being rattled about, and then the door flew open, and the excited face of Kaya greeted her.

And then Kaya seemed to realized she’d forgotten her blindfold again, and her face went mortified. She blushed fiercely, turned away, mumbling apologies as she reached for it, where it must’ve been pegged up next to the door, and tried to fumble it on.

“No need for that,” Otter said. “I don’t care what colour your eyes are, and I’m not making you wear that silly thing in your own home.”

Otter wasn’t sure if it was possible for Kaya’s face to go any redder, but it was definitely brighter than her coppery hair. 

“Uhm, if you say so,” she said. “Come in, I guess.”

“One thing first. Need to collect the set, since I did it to your wife earlier.”

“Uh?”

Otter poked Kaya on the nose. “Boop.”

Kaya rubbed at her face and turned away. “What was that for?”

“Marking my territory, probably. I don’t give it much thought. I see a nose in need of booping, it gets the boop.” Otter walked into the room, and gave a quick glance around. “So, where’s the wife?”

“Oh, Liaru’s probably in the market at this time of day, purchasing things the house needs. She manages the finances and keeps things running.”

Was there anything Liaru didn’t do for Rua? “Is that one of the things I’m supposed to be helping with?”

Kaya gave her a confused look. “No?”

“Well, what am I supposed to be doing around here? She made some kind of comment that I have duties or something in light of the fact that I’m Rua’s pelanoa, and she isn’t around right now.”

“Oh! That. Yes. Uhm. Here, sit down. Do you really not know this?”

Otter seated herself at the small kitchen table. “I wasn’t born on the Islands. I don’t know a whole lot about Silayan culture.”

Kaya winced. “Don’t let Sureya find out about that. Someone who might as well be a foreigner running Seat Hyleah? She won’t be pleased.”

“Oh, that ship’s already sailed, I think. She already knows I’m not from here. And we already don’t get along.”

“What? Why not?”

“Oh, I think she’s a backwards bigot who was probably abusive to Rua and kind of want to punch her in the nose. I’ll bet she’s also probably half the reason Juala turned out the way she was, but I’m really just guessing there. I’ve got a Spidey sense about that kind of thing, though.”

“A Spidey… sense?”

“Yeah, like a tingle for bullshit. Helps me dodge out of the way of goblins and rhinos. Do seem to keep walking straight into an octopus lady, though.”

Kaya made a confused noise. Otter sighed. Truly, it was lonely not having anyone around who could appreciate her pop culture references. Even Sami was useless in that regard. Where were Vex and Everett when you needed them?

“Anyway, c’mon, duties, what do I gotta do, and how much of it can I skip?”

“It’s mostly ceremonial stuff,” Kaya said. “You can’t vote on any policy decisions or anything like that, but it’s not exactly a secret Rua herself didn’t have that power despite being a Seat. You’re expected to attend events, greet captains who return from Oloawei, supervise new Wave–”

“Wait, what’s ‘Oloawei?’”

“How do you not know what Oloawei is?”

“Just assume I know dick all about Silayan culture, you’d pretty much be accurate.”

“Oh. Well. When harvests don’t go well, or when the population gets too unruly, or if the stars demand it–”

“Wait, we’re listening to celestial bodies now?”

“How else do you expect to sail safely anywhere?”

“Okay, that’s fair.”

“Stop interrupting.” Kaya pouted a bit. She had a good pout. “Oloawei is… hmm. There’s no easy way to put this. It means adventure season.”

“Adventure season?” Okay, that sounded cool.

“Yes. When all the Silayan warriors go out and adventure. You know, go out and find the treasures others hoard, liberate wealth from other nations, and bring back the bounty to the Islands.”

“That sounds less like adventuring and more like raiding. Are there a lot of fires and murder of random civilians during these ‘adventures?’”

Kaya stuttered, “Well, I mean, there is the customary arson, it’s all part of the experience, but those on Oloawei only fight those who fight back. Killing noncombatants is punishable by luashawei–”

“What’s ‘luashawei,’ actually, no, wait, I don’t want to know. This is sounding more and more like you guys are just tropical vikings, but without the beards and weird boys using it as an excuse to cosplay white supremacy. Wait, oh my sweet hammering Perun, you guys are all weird about other races and eye colours, holy shit you’re tropical vikings.”

“‘They,’” Kaya gently corrected. “As you can see, I’m not Silayan.”

“Yeah, how’d that happen anyway?”

Kaya retreated a little into herself. “My parents left me when the Occupation ended. The fighting happened so fast, their soldiers were forced back, and they couldn’t get to me. It’s not a unique story. A lot of children were left at schools when the first big push happened. There were a lot of orphans that day, or children that were abandoned. I think… I think the lucky ones were those who weren’t left behind, but whose parents were killed trying to get to them. At least they know their parents cared about them.”

“Holy shit, I’m so sorry.”

Otter took Kaya’s hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. 

“It’s fine. It’s been ten years. And if it hadn’t happened, I never would’ve met Liaru. Her family took me in, at her insistence. I was on the streets, just a ‘blind’ beggar.”

“Well, that was nice of her.”

“Hardly,” Kaya said with a small smile. “We were both young teens at the time. She took one look at me, and decided I was ‘the one.’ She was more motivated by her libido than she was out of the goodness of her heart.”

“Liaru? Motivated by libido? I barely know her, but that seems wildly out of character for her.”

Kaya covered a laugh, her cheeks heating. “Oh, how little you know my wife.”

“Well, I’d like to get to know her more, but I don’t think she likes me much.”

“Oh, that’s because of the Lists. She hasn’t been able to get on them, and–”

The door banged open, and Liaru, her arms laden down with a series of straw baskets, stepped in. Normally poised, it was kind of amusing to see her stumbling under the weight of whatever she was carrying. Still, Otter was a guest, so she stood and began taking parcels from the Master Servant. 

“What are you doing here?” Liara said coldly as soon as her burdens were relieved.

“Helping? Where do you want these?”

Liaru sighed, and then looked to her wife. Kaya shrugged and said, “She seems to want to help.”

“I can see that. Fine. Put them on the table. I need to divvy up what’s mine, and what goes to the house.”

“What’s yours?” Otter said, a hint of amusement in her tone. “Have you been embezzling house funds for your own nefarious ends?”

“Yes, but only in the sense that I like actually having spices in my house, and I do enough work for three people that I increased my rate of pay appropriately.”

That sounded a little too defensive. But also like she had a good point.

Otter placed her baskets on the kitchen table, and both Liaru and Kaya began to go through them. It looked mostly like food, with the odd sundry like soap or lye. 

Otter was about to offer to help, when her menu blurted out a warning of an incoming call. Her heart sank right into her stomach, and then began beating hard.

She tapped the message, and was relieved to see Rua’s face.

“Uh, excuse me for a moment,” Otter said to Kaya. “I need to take a call.”

Liaru gave her an inquisitive look, but Otter was in no mood to elaborate. She quickly exited the cottage, closing the door behind her.

“Are you okay?” Otter blurted once she was away from prying ears. 

“Hello to you, too,” Rua said. She looked annoyed. Otter hoped it wasn’t with her. “Kir has finally left me alone for longer than a few minutes. She’s been very… clingy.”

The view behind Rua was outdoors. No trees, though. Was that a wall behind her? Made of logs, not coral. No paint. Otter filed that information away for later.

“What happened? Why are you with her?”

“Her Pact…” Rua stumbled, and then breathed in. “She’s forbidden me from speaking about certain specific things. To protect her secrets, which explains why we had no idea how her Pact worked.”

Past tense. Meaning, Rua now knew how it worked. And was being prohibited from explaining. Magical reinforcement of rules. Otter smirked. As if magic could stop her from doing the one thing she was best at. 

 “What were you doing prior to having to follow Kir around?”

Something in Rua’s eyes twinkled. “I was fighting her.”

“Just like others who’ve fallen sway under her Pact, from what you told me before. Let me guess. You lost?”

Oh, Rua’s expression went right back to annoyed. But she also didn’t say anything. So, that lined up with the theory Otter had been working on in her head. Fight Kir, she ended up controlling you. Powerful, but on its own, kind of useless. But Rua had said there was a secondary ability to the Pact.

“Were you able to hurt her?”

“Once,” Rua said. “And barely, at that.”

“What did you do that let you hurt her?”

No response. Yeah, okay, that made sense.

Otter thought about it more, and then said, “Would I be able to hurt her?”

Rua snorted out a laugh. “No.”

Okay, she could work with that response. 

“Is it something specific about me that would make me unable to hurt her?”

“Yes.”

“Can you elaborate?” Silence. “Can you think of anyone who can… Wait. Her face. When we went to see Sureya, it was all bruised. She’d said her father had done that. Okay. Her dad can hurt her. You can’t. I can’t. Gender? Hmm. Family relation? Or he knows a weakness, and took advantage of it. Or something else I’m not thinking about. I’ll figure it out. I’m already coming up with a plan.”

“You? A plan? No, don’t tell me. Kir might think to ask me. She’s already forbidden me from trying to escape, but otherwise hasn’t tried to restrict my freedom too much.”

“I’m still annoyed with her,” Otter said. “How are you doing, though? Are you okay?”

Otter could feel her through the link, could feel the anger, the chafing at her bonds, but also that she hadn’t been harmed. Still, she needed to hear it.

“I’m… I’m fine, I think. Kir genuinely thinks by having taken me, she’s doing me a favour. She thinks she’s protecting me. I’m furious with her, but… is it weird that I still love her?”

“Nah, love’s dumb. Sami literally killed me, and I still love the shit out of her. Not to turn it into a competition, but I think my situation is more messed up.”

“Sami’s not your sister.”

“Technically, Kir isn’t yours. She’s not even your adopted sister. It’s just a title. Doesn’t count.”

“She seems to think we’re sisters.”

“Oh, she doesn’t know what she wants,” Otter scoffed. “I have a plan. Well, a few plans. But you’ll like this one. Here’s what I want you to do.”

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