Ghruz sat in the corner of the tavern, a few tables away from other patrons. Everyone in the tavern seemed to stay away from them, occasionally giving a cautious glance their way. It was after sundown when a few familiar faces walked in and the crowd went quiet.

Titania waved at Ghruz, her metal arm glowing brighter than usual. As she started off towards the orc, a crystalline hand stopped her.

The otherworlder stared her down. Clearing his throat.

“Titania, of the forest elves, has been gracious enough to pay for a free meal and a round of drinks for everyone here.” The tension in the air dissipated, and the crowd cheered, going back to their conversations.

Titania turns to address the crystalline man. “I do not remember saying I would buy dinner for everyone, Katti,” she pouted.

Kattiphea glared at her, and shook his head. “Oh, please. You can afford it, and you owe me. So you can feed my people for the evening,” he spoke sternly. Ghruz, listening in, found his voice almost impossibly smooth; it was unnerving.

Titania put a metallic finger to her lips, as in deep in thought. “Fine. Silviana dear, could you please pay the barmaid. I want to introduce Katti to Ghruz. They’ll get along marvelously!” She grabbed the otherworlder’s wrist before either of them could say anything further and rushed over to the orc.

“This is my good friend Katti. And Katti, this is my personal bodyguard, Ghruz. You two will be best of friends, I know it.” Titania beamed. Ghruz stood up and held their hand out to Kattiphea, who grabbed their hand.

On contact, images rushed to the orcs mind, memories that weren’t theirs. They saw a world devoid of plants and animals, instead filled with beautiful crystalline spires that reached into the sky. Between the buildings were roads with strange carriages that didn’t touch the ground, and were pulled by nothing.

Before they could be sucked in further, Kattiphea let go of the orcs hand and stood back.

“Sorry. Usually I wear gloves when I ‘interact’ with mortals, but someone pulled me from my home with little time to prepare.” Katti shot Titania a glare. “In any case, it is a pleasure. Titania has told me much about you,” he continued. “Almost too much. She doesn’t spare details.” He sighed, giving Titania a look of frustration.

“Uh, yeah, that sounds like her.” Ghruz responded sheepishly.

Kattiphea turned to Titania, “Okay, I’ve met your guard, may I return to my post? I have work to do.”

Titania nodded. “Yes. Thank you again, and I’ll look into that issue as soon as I am able. Tata, I hope to see you again soon.” Titania waved at Kattiphea as he walked off. Ghruz could hear him mutter in protest as he left.

“Don’t mind him,” the queen continued. “Katti’s actually very nice. He actually helped me get this.” She held out her arm with pride, flexing the claw. “It was made at his homeworld. Can’t really visit there, he tells me the air has a miasma that would kill me.”

Ghruz chuckled. Probably because he wants at least somewhere you won’t follow, they thought to themselves.”Yeah, that’s a shame.”

Both of them sat down in the booth, Titania’s expression shifting suddenly into concern. “Are you okay?” She asked softly.

Ghruz flexed their now corrupted hand, watching the cracks on it expand and close. “Hurts a little bit. Nothing I can’t handle,” they said reluctantly.

Titania held her right hand out, and Ghruz placed theirs in hers. The metallic hand chilled Ghruz on contact, but they let her observe. Titania tranced her other fingers up along the orc’s wrist, before suddenly flinching back.

“Oberon,” she muttered under her breath.

“Oberon?”

“Ah, never mind. I’m sure as soon as we get back to my kingdom, I will personally take you to our best enchanter. Xe will be able to sort this out. By the end of the week, you should be as good as new!” Titania crowed cheerfully, as she stood up. “Anyway, Ghruz, show me our rooms. I can’t wait to sleep in a bed like mortals do. We are going to have so much fun!”

Ghruz wasn’t sure how to take all this optimism, especially from somebody who’d died and came back not long ago. They nodded and led the queen upstairs, directing her to the ‘Honeymoon Suite’.

Titania looked around, disgust written in her face. “No, this won’t do. What is the point in travelling if you aren’t going to go for the whole experience?” she said as if it were an obvious fact. “I’m going to take this room. You and Silvi can have that one.” Before Ghruz could protest, she locked herself in one of the other rooms, making a suspicious amount of noise from within.

Ghruz lazily made their way down stairs, seeing Silviana chatting with the elvish soldiers, making a cupping gesture around her bust. The men burst into laughter and nodded.

“...yeah when she took off her shirt we were surprised too, though, you seem more eager than us, Silviana,” one of the men said.

“Oh, shut up, Tannyll. If you weren’t an ass you’d also want—” The men stopped laughing their eyes wide, Silvivana looked to her left to see a very amused Ghruz standing there with a smug grin on their face.

“Oh no, please continue, my dear Silvi.” Ghruz said with a smug grin. Silviana just stared, wide eyed, her mouth agape.

When they didn’t get a reply, they turned to the three men.

“Didn’t you hear? The barmaid gave both me and Silvi the hon—”

The orc stopped as a punch strong enough to make their armour sing in the tavern sent them to the ground, the elven woman glaring down at them.

Ghruz looked at the men and laughed before continuing, “The barmaid gave us the honeymoon suite.”

The elven men all broke into laughter, as Silviana sank in her seat. Ghruz got back up and sat down beside the flustered elf, resting their elbows on the rustic oak table.

“So what were you talking about before I got here?”

Tannyll leaned forward, “We were talking about your breast—” Silviana shot him a deathly glare, “Uh, your breastplate, the queen went all out on getting that for you.”

Ghruz glanced down at their plate mail and nodded. “Yeah, honestly, back in my village we just used iron. But this is something else. I almost feel weightless in it.”

“Yes, that’s because the queen personally imbues our armour with her magic,” said the man to the left. Ghruz thought about it, how many soldiers did she have under her command? That sounded like an awful lot of work.

“What magic can she do?” Ghruz inquired.

“Well, she seems to prefer wind, but Cyran here has seen her use pyromania magic before, and we have all seen her use… something else. She speaks in a language we don’t understand and these circles open up. I’ve seen some odd things come from them. That being said, she has ruled our kingdom longer than any elf has been alive. So I don’t know if anyone knows what she can really do,” said Tannyll as he waved over one of the waitresses.

“I see,” Ghruz said pensively. The waitress placed down a mug of ale in front of everyone, before Ghruz snapped back into reality. “Ah, no thanks, could I get some water instead?”

“Don’t you drink, Ghruz?” asked Cyran before taking a swig of his ale.

“Orcs don’t drink alcohol. It dulls the mind, and the Scourge could attack at any moment.” Ghruz said plainly.

“Yeah, but the Scourge isn’t here. It would be idiotic to attack Wellspring, you saw the walls,” said Paeral.

“Not the point.”

The three men nodded and cheered before downing their drinks.

“I might actually sleep,” Ghruz continued. “It’s late and we need to leave early. So you should sleep soon too.”

Tannyll laughed. “You sound more like a mother than a warrior. Men are more suited for it anyway,” he added.

Ghruz raised an eyebrow. “All orcs are warriors. Would you like a demonstration?” Gruz said, flexing their rippling shoulders. Tannyll paused and shook his head.

“Ah no, sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. You already proved yourself yesterday.” Tannyll sighed, giving the orc an apologetic look. “Sorry about that. Titania discussed it with us; we were being foolish.”

Ghruz nodded. “I’ll be glad of the day when I don’t need to keep forgiving fools.” The orc sighed and turned on their heel, before Silviana stopped them.

“Actually I’ll turn in too. I need to budget after our lady’s generosity tonight. You three, don’t drink too much. I’m looking at you, Paeral!” She glared right at him knowingly, but Paeral waved her off dismissively with a grin.

“Sure, and have a fun evening with your—” he started, before Silviana glared at him.

“If you want to wake up tomorrow - or ever - you won’t finish that sentence,” she hissed. Paeral gulped and turned back to his drink.

As they went up the wooden stairs, Silviana spoke up. “Which room is ours?” The orc replied with a sigh, and pointed at the room Titania had claimed.

“It was that one, but Titania said something about ‘the mortal experience,’ and locked herself in there. So now we’re sharing the big one — unless you’d rather share it with the three downstairs.”

Silviana rolled her eyes and pushed past the orc. The room that greeted them felt out of place even for the high class tavern. The windows were draped with deep blue curtains lined with golden stitching, the bed was large and plush, and a massive wooden table carved with intricate patterns that had Ghruz wondering how they got it up here.

“I’ll sleep on the floor. I still have my bed roll,” Ghruz offered.

Silviana threw herself facedown on the bed with a groan. She said something completely muffled by the blankets.

“I can’t hear you, Silviana.”

The elf rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. “No. It will be fine. I’ll take this side and you can take the other,” she grumbled.

“I thought you needed to budget,” Ghruz smiled, and began to strip their platemail off, placing the pieces on the large table.

“It feels like it’s been months since I slept on a real bed,” Silviana sighed happily. “Budgeting can wait.”

“It’s been three weeks!” Ghruz laughed. The orc was used to bed rolls, it had been what they lived on for years.

“Yes, well - not all of us are used to sleeping on the ground, Ghruz. Some of us prefer the finer things in life.”

Ghruz chortled at the elf, pulling their rough top, folding it and gently placing it beside their armour. They turned to see Silviana undressing them with her eyes, Ghruz offered them a smirk, watching her turn red.

Silviana quickly looked away, sleeping her heels off and sliding under the covers. Ghruz got into the other side of the bed, their back facing her. “Goodnight, Silvi.”

“I will end you.”

“Uh-huh. Third time’s the charm.”

———————————————————————————

“What do you want, Sopherael?” Ghruz said as they beat away on a totem with their fists. Each forceful strike chipped away at the wooden pole, their knuckles bloody and splintered.

“I want you to be my bond mate, Lailah,” said Sopherael as they launched a powerful strike into the totem, breaking the top of the totem clean off. “We are both strong and have lived long. We would make for powerful mates.”

Ghruz stood away, dousing their bloody knuckles in a nearby bucket of water. “Sure, but why me? Ambrias is far stronger than me, and Dannalesk is very wise, especially for their age.”

Sopherael tenderly grazed Ghruz’s cheek with their fingers. “Because the others are intimidated by their chief. But more importantly, because I have fought more battles against the human Scourge side-by-side with you than I have with any other. Do I have to say it, Lailah?”

Ghruz softly grabbed the chief’s hand and pushed it into their cheek, smirking. “Yes, you do.”

“I love you. In the decades I’ve known you, no one in our clan has proven to be more strong, wise, and of course...” Sopherael pushed in for a kiss, receiving one in return, their tusks gently clicking against one another. “...a great kisser.”

“I love you too. The Scourge will stand no chance as long as we are together.”

A loud horn rumbled through the plains, and the orcish village started to move quickly into action around the pair of orcs.

“The humans are already trying to stop us. Lailah, let's show them the force of our bond.” Sopherael said with an eager grin.

“They won’t know what hit them.”