Aidan

The Realms

Unknown Date

Sunset

Starchaser village, Mistvale Highlands

After feeding him a meal of fried meat and tubers, Brighid gathered her bathing supplies and led Aidan by the hand out of the village. Her hair was pulled back to expose the mark Aidan left on her neck, and she kept her chin lifted proudly, even defiantly. For his part, Aidan wrapped himself up in the blanket again and tried not to let the stares and mutters of those they passed bother him. A few centaurs waved at or gave a polite greeting to Brighid, but the ones who were kindest to him were those who ignored him entirely.

For the most part, the villagers gave the pair a wide berth, but once they passed out of sight of the guards, three young male centaurs cantered up, blocking Brighid and Aidan's path to the river. Brighid's face hardened when she saw them, and she whispered to Aidan, "The Council has not yet ruled on whether you will be inducted into the tribe, so right now, your legal rights are very much a grey area. No matter what, you must not allow them to goad you into attacking. I am your Companion; let me deal with them. This is at least as much about me as you, anyway."

She stepped in front of Aidan and spoke loudly, her voice carrying to the trio and beyond. "What do you want, Neifion? If it is an apology for darkening an otherwise bright day, I will listen, but otherwise, kindly remove yourself from my presence." Aidan took the time while Brighid talked to look the three over.

The one in the center—Neifion, he assumed—was maybe an inch or two taller than Brighid, but not as broad across the shoulders or as well-muscled. His hair and fur were black, and his skin only lightly tanned. Hunter or junior warrior, I'd bet; spends some time outdoors, but no hard labor or strenuous military training. His two minions were of similar build, but shorter; one had black hair with a brown coat, the other brown hair and splotchy white and brown fur.

Neifion sneered at Brighid and reared back on his hind legs, pawing the air melodramatically. "What I really want is for you to come over here and [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords], but today I will settle for you standing aside while we deal with that piece of trash behind you." His friends cheered him on, calling out slurs and insults.

"Oh, Neifion," Brighid laughed, "you could not handle [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords]" Brighid let that sink in for a moment, and just as the cocky young male opened his mouth to reply, she continued, "As for Aidan? Not to worry, Neifion, Cadwaladr, Brys; I will protect you from the fierce little human, there is no need to be scared."

Neifion snarled and began to advance towards the pair, his cronies following half a step behind. Aidan could see Brighid's muscles tense up under her fur. The male centaur called out again as he approached, voice seething with hatred. "Maybe we will just do a bit of both, what do you say, boys? Brys, you and I can [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords] the frigid bitch here, and Cad, you can make the runt [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords] for you before you finish him off." The three centaurs spread out further and began to circle around Brighid. She turns to keep her eyes on Neifion, but Aidan could see her long ears twitching and swiveling to track the hoofbeats of the others. He shifted to watch behind her, moving to keep his place at her side as she turned.

"Tell me, Brighid, [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords]?" Neifion sniffed the air and exclaimed, "You have! I can smell [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords] coming from you! You are too good for us, but you let the human [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords] you? Now I have even more reasons to kill the bastard." He switched to Northern Trade-tongue, then called out to Aidan, "How was she? I can smell [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords] and see your mark on her neck. How about a trade? You stand aside and let us have [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords] with her, and we give you an escort down to the river and back, make sure no one else messes with you?"

Aidan snorted and responded in Highlands Gallic, "Is your brain entirely in that tiny [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords] you waved at us earlier? I already heard what you plan to do with me. I've got a counter-offer for you: you all want to [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords] with Brighid, right? I can't blame you, she's the hottest woman I've ever seen. Problem is, she doesn't have the right equipment [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords], I can verify that. I'm sure she'd be happy to let me be her proxy, though; what do you say [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords]?" He paused for a heartbeat, then added with a thoughtful tone, "Or maybe I'm not big enough? I wouldn't want to disappoint you. I'm sure we can find a horse somewhere [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords], if that's more your style."

Neifion shouted in rage, and Aidan could hear his hooves strike the earth as he started to charge them. Even as he sunk down into a crouch and prepared to dodge out of the way of the nearest crony, though, he heard a short, piercing whistle, and two blurs of dark fur leaped from the underbrush. One struck the centaur under the front knees while the other, just a half-second after the first, rammed into the side of his body. The first hit unbalanced him and caused him to stumble, and the second turned his stumble into a sideways fall. Before he had a chance to catch his breath, there was a pair of wolves perched on top of him, growling. Aidan spun to help Brighid with the others, but they were similarly disabled and guarded.

Brighid relaxed from her fighting posture and called out, "Took you long enough." Aidan wasn't sure who she was talking to until Anwn emerged from a patch of bushes. He had no idea how he missed seeing a centaur in shrubs that barely came to the tops of her legs, but he neither saw nor heard her approach.

"I had to wait for them to commit to an attack, you know the laws as well as I, Brighid." The Councillor's voice is cool and dispassionate. She looked at the three male centaurs with disgust. "Aidan was overly generous to you three idiots; as tiny as your [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords] are, I think your brains might be even tinier. The oldest insult in the Realms is the one that set you off? Really?" She shook her head. "And you attacked a protected guest within earshot of both the village and the river?" She whistled softly, signaling the wolves to release their quarry. "Get up, the lot of you. Since you worthless thugs are, unfortunately, hunters, I do not even need to consult the others for your punishment. Unless one of you wishes to appeal it up the chain? No? Finally! A glimmer of intelligence." Anwn turned her attention back to Brighid and said, "The Council meets at first moonrise. I expect you both to be there on time." Without another word, she walked up the trail towards the village, snarling wolves herding her three prisoners along with her.

Aidan watched the Councilwoman for a moment, then whispered as softly as he could to Brighid, "Damn. Remind me not to make Anwn genuinely angry at me."

"As much as I dislike her on a personal level, she is a member of the Council for a reason," Brighid responded. "She is very, very good at what she does. Anyway, enough about her. I have changed my mind; I do not feel up to the communal bathing area." She looked at Aidan for approval. "I know a place where the river feeds a little pool, though. It is farther, but we will still have plenty of time to get back home and properly groomed and attired. We will also have a chance to speak in private."

At his nod, she led him off the main path and onto what might, perhaps, charitably be called a game trail. After about ten minutes of pushing through bushes and hoping there weren't any ticks in the Realms, the underbrush parted to reveal a crystal-clear pool with a rocky bottom. It was about ten yards across and roughly circular, and just barely attached to the river by a thin stream of water at either end. If this were ancient Greece, there'd be a Naiad here who would either fall in love with me or curse me for disturbing her home. Or both. The Greeks were weird. Out loud, he said, "This is beautiful, Brighid. Thank you for bringing me here."

A wadded-up shirt hit him on the side of the face. "Hey, what was—" Aidan started to say, turning to face his lover, and he caught just a glimpse of her bare [content censored by Royal Road's advertising overlords] and the mischievous grin above them before she shoved him backward into the pond. He hit with a loud splash and sank almost to the bottom before he got his feet under him and surged upright; the water came up to the tops of his shoulders. Looking around, he spotted Brighid stepping into a shallower part of the pond. "You could have at least waited until I got out of this blanket before you pushed me in!" He called over to her as he quickly unwrapped it from his body and tossed it up onto the shore.

"Are you joking?" Brighid laughed. "You were covered in mud when I brought you back home. I might need to burn that blanket to get it fully clean; a little water will not hurt anything."

Aidan pushed off the bottom and half-swam, half-jumped closer to the redhead. "Pushing me in like that was a dirty trick, you know. Back on Earth, there's only one possible response to such a betrayal." So saying, he pulled one arm back and spun it forward, slapping the surface of the water at high speed, causing a miniature tsunami that engulfed Brighid's head and torso as she entered the deeper section of the pool. She squealed and laughed and charged at him, but Aidan ducked under the water and pushed off the bottom again, dodging to the side. He popped back to the surface behind her and fired off another watery attack. She continued to lunge after him, but he was able to use his superior mobility in the deep water to dodge and counterattack until Brighid was thoroughly soaked from head to hoof and finally raised her hands in surrender.

"Alright, alright," she laughed, "I give up! You win!"

"And don't you forget it!" He laughed along with her.

Brighid reached out for his hand and tugged him over to the shallows, then knelt down and held out the scrubbing brush to him. "Wash my back? We need to talk about a few things—what happened on the way here, the Council meeting, and the future."

Aidan took the brush and started scrubbing. "What's to say about what just happened? We met some bullies, they got caught being bullies by the principle, they're in detention now, the end. Don't worry, I didn't take anything they said as more than hot air and jealousy."

"I am not entirely sure what all of that meant," Brighid replied, "but I do understand that you are not taking it seriously. If Neifion had found you alone, he would have done all he threatened, and very few of my people would have cared to stop him. Aidan, even if the Council performs the rite tonight and you become a Starchaser, most of the village will still see you as an outsider, or even an invader. Oooh, yes, keep scrubbing there." She interrupted her lecture to squirm a bit and push up against the brush as Aidan found a particularly itchy spot. "I know that you come from a different world, without other species, but you should know that to the humans in the Realms, we beastfolk are treated terribly. Dwarves and Elves are tolerated, if barely, but anyone with animal features is an animal to them. We are so defensive about our territory, especially where humans are concerned, because it is so rare for a stranger to enter our lands with anything but evil intent. It will take time for my people—our people, I hope—to learn that you are not like what they expect, and until they do, you can expect a lot of hostility. I am sorry."

Brighid sounded so sad that Aidan took a momentary break from scrubbing. He walked over in front of her and enfolded her in his arms, stroking her hair gently. "It's okay, my love. You do not need to apologize for your tribe. With the situation as you describe, I can't blame anyone who is mistrustful of me. I'll just have to work harder to show them that I don't mean them any harm and don't think they're any less worthwhile than I am." Brighid hugged him back, holding him tightly against her for long moments before releasing him with a giggle.

"Keep that thing to yourself and get back to work!"