My name is Morloth, I am a warrior. My veins are more familiar with adrenaline than the slow pace of the average person. I had been fighting since I reached the age to join the battlefield. I desperately needed to get away from that, I was sick of seeing the sight of blood running across her fingertips. My nightmares were enough. So, when my father had mentioned that the head of the Shulaya family was looking for a bodyguard for his daughter, I leapt at the chance. A nice quiet assignment looking after the family wizard. Sounded easy enough, and the pay was incredible. The first time I laid eyes on her I took in as much detail as I could, I would need to be able to recognize her in an instant. Raven locks tied back in a ponytail, eyes the color of the ocean during a storm, pale blue skin decorated with navy tattoos, and almost a foot taller than me. Looking at her gave me a feeling in the back of my head that I pushed away.

Keep it together. Focus.

Easier said than done. I sighed as I took a couple more seconds to gather my strength to slide out of bed. I slipped on my lighter armor, black leather with a grey and purple shirt and black pants. Scabbard tied to my waist with my sword in it and my shield strapped across my back. I pushed open the door and was greeted by something very large and fluffy sitting right outside.

“Ms. Shulaya?” I called, “I think your owlbear is blocking my way.”

“Balalaika move,” she called down the stairs from above.

The owlbear huffed before lumbering off to a plush bed next to one of couches.

“Sorry about her, she’s just curious,” Gae Lia said, descending the stairs wearing a black tunic with bell sleeves and floral stitched pants. A ghostly hand carried a tray with a pot of coffee and two plates of eggs with toast.

“You didn’t have to cook Ms. Shulaya,” I said surprised.

“I know, but I like doing it. I hardly ever get the chance to cook for others,” she placed the tray down on the coffee table. “Also, please, no need to be so formal. You can call me Gae Lia.”

“I’m not sure how much I can abide by the lack of formality.”

“Was it written into your contract to call me ‘Ms. Shulaya’?”

“No, not exactly-”

“Then I don’t see any real harm, we’re going to be working together for the foreseeable future. I can understand if you want to keep your name private for the time being, if anyone understands the power of names it would be myself,” Gae Lia remarked as she poured coffee into two of the mugs she brought down. “Would you like any cream or sugar?”

“I, um, just some cream thank you… Gae Lia.”

Gae Lia beamed at that. Gods above her smile is radiant.

Focus dumbass. You’re supposed to be protecting her, not getting all mushy just cause she’s pretty, wait where had that come from-

“Aren’t you going to sit down?”

I blinked and realized I had been just standing right out her door just staring at Gae Lia. I nodded and awkwardly sat down across from her. A ghostly hand lifted a plate and placed it in my lap.

“So, your deal is magic, yes?”

“Yes, I’m currently the family's only wizard… you’re a Paladin, right? Don’t your lot usually have some magic?”

“We do, and while I know how to use it, I’m a lot more comfortable wielding a sword and shield over anything else. I feel more in control.”

“See,” Gae Lia paused to drink some coffee. “That’s exactly how I feel about using my magic. I can wield the universe around me and control what it does.”

“That sounds terrifying.”

“Sometimes it is, like this one time when I was on a mission. We were infiltrating a boat filled with the lackeys of this guy and we were eavesdropping. Eventually we made our way off the boat, rather quickly ‘cause my friend Rodolfo set off an explosion… but in the aftermath we ended up in a fire fight and our friend Toriko got shot twice. My friends stabilized him while I took the lackeys down. But the raw energy I felt sending spell after spell at them was exhilarating,” I watched as she described this story. Her hands gesturing to indicate her friends’ heights, their actions, the explosion, and her wielding the magic itself. She made it seem so alive as she told it. “I haven’t gotten to use any of those sorts of spells in months.”

She went quiet and seemed to be lost in thought after that. I took that as an opportunity to go ahead and eat my eggs. We sat in silence for a bit, the only sound that could be heard was the chewing of my eggs. Which I soon became quite self-conscious of, so I tried to break the silence, “you said missions? How often do you get sent on these?”

“Oh, I've only been on a few. And I have not been on any in the last three months. it is part of the reason that they hired you, the last mission did not go very well there…there was some casualties. So, Otet thought it would be best to make sure I was safe. I have my magic; I am fairly competent in a fight. But studying magic for 10 years has had its toll, some people would regard me as ‘fragile’. Those people are dicks. What really happens, is that my body focuses so much energy into magic that it becomes less capable of protecting me. So, I'm more likely to get hurt in a fight then some of my friends, my friend Jaden is the heir to the Winterhill family. she needs protection also, but her husband acts as her bodyguard. My friend Rodolfo was the heir to the Genovese family. But after our last mission he left formal duties in the families, he has instead ventured into private business.”

She paused and drained the last of her coffee mug. “Anyways, this is our first full day working together. I guess I should show you my usual routine, or at least one of them. I think it's fairly simple.” She stood up, folded some of the eggs into her toast, and started eating that as she ascended the stairs with the tray floating behind her. “Are you ready to go when I get down?”

“Yes, Ms. Sh-, I mean Gae Lia. Can I at least call you Ms. Shulaya when were in front of other members of your family or staff? I don't know how they would feel about me being so informal with you so quickly,” I looked as she came back down the steps, this time with a metal pipe strapped across her back. “May I also ask what the pipe is for?”

“Oh, right, this is my staff I use it to channel my magic.”

“Aren’t those usually made of wood?” I stared quizzically at her as we began to walk out the front door of her wing.

“Yes, but there's no rule saying they have to be. This way I can also use it to bash somebody over the head if I run out of spells, it's also enchanted so I can blast spells through it like shooting a shotgun.”

“What the hell is a shotgun?”

…

I had to admit, she is really good. I stood off to the sideline, keeping a close eye on her as she was training in one of the magic proof training rooms in the estate. She warmed up with some simple magic measures in her opinion at least; an acidic blast that melted a training dummy in seconds, and a blast of purplish poison that seeped into the fabric of the training dummy. She claimed to have another simple spell in her repertoire, but that it only worked on living beings. I realized very quickly I did not want to get on her bad side.

“Now, I feel like I can test out that new spell. I really recommend you pulling out your shield, this spells a variation of one of the most powerful damage spells in existence. And this is my first time casting it,” she said holding out her arm with her pointer finger extended and her other arm gripping one of her forceps.

She aimed it in the opposite direction of me, I watched as a bright blue streak began forming around her pointer finger. It seemed to grow exponentially in a matter of seconds, before having a tendril extend and began forming a much larger circle three feet in front of her. It turned into a ball of firey ice. The ball rapidly grew, before shooting out from her and blasting a hole in the cushioning on the wall. I watched as a grin grew on her face, she glanced over at me.

“Did you see that! Oh, that's even cooler than fireball, ha, get it? Cooler,” she chuckled as I groaned.

“Oh, gods you like puns,” I ran my hands down my face dragging my skin as I sighed. “You like the most annoying form of humor.”

“I think you mean the best form of humor.”

“I really don't.”

“I promised them to help you realize your mistakes and appreciate puns,” she said shaking out her hands and jumping a little bit. “Now, I’ve got to practice some other stuff; it's been a very long time since I've been able to do magic properly.”

We spent the next several hours with her wielding magic and blasting various test dummies, walls, and even the ceiling at one point. She promised me, that the damage was not permanent and would be reversed by the time we came back.

“Zauvith has a weird control over the house. He won't tell me how he does it, but in this house, he can control almost anything,” she said wiping her face with a towel to get off the sweat. “Now come on, let's go grab some lunch. I want to show you one of my favorite restaurants.”

…

I found myself sitting in a cafe looking at a menu, everyone kind of staring at us slightly. I understood why, Gae Lia how to be the tallest person here by a good chunk. And I was very clearly the only orc probably within this section of the city right now. Most of the patrons of this cafe seem to be Dragonborns, Tieflings, and the odd humans. I had my back to the wall so I could clearly see everyone around us, while I should have been looking at the menu, at least in her opinion, I was more focused on doing my job.

Very soon after arriving, a Silver Dragonborn waiter came over and after giving us water to drink, asked us what we would like. Gae Lia was very quick to jump on that.

“I’d like to get an order of your Chow Mein, with some dumplings for the table please. Ms. Macabre, what would you like?”

“Um, could I get the sweet and sour pork?”

The waiter quickly wrote down our orders, bowed slightly, and quickly scurried off.

“I promise you're going to like it, my friend Toriko told me about this place. First time after trying it I was hooked. It is very hard to get Dragonborn cuisine anywhere on this tier, at least unless you know where to look. And usually, it's a crap imitation done by humans, and those are never as good. I like to change it up sometimes from my family's traditional food, you can only eat so much cabbage,” she took a sip of her water. “Do you have any questions for me? We haven't really gotten a chance to talk very much. And I know next to nothing about you.”

“There's not really a lot to know. I was a soldier, till I wasn't. I heard about the job opportunity, so I took it, the story is not all that interesting,” I rubbed my hand along the back of my neck. I was suddenly sheepish because of how intently she was staring at me.

“I'm of the opinion, that every story…every person's story is worth telling. Every life is unique, and I feel like everyone should be proud of that. I certainly know my story is unconventional, I'd love for it to be simple as yours claims to be. But I severely doubt you are as simple of a person as you think you are.”

I blushed; she was so sincere. It was jarring, emotions are foreign to me. Most of the time they are to be suppressed unless they are anger for righteous fury in battle.  I laughed awkwardly and glanced over her shoulder. Focusing on my job. When I looked back at her, she quickly glanced away. Seeming not to want to be caught staring. I probably look like an idiot, or an asshole.

“I understand what you're saying,” I finally spoke after a couple of minutes of silence. “But compared to what I've heard so far from you, I'm boring as hell.”

“How can being a soldier be boring?’

“Well, that part's not boring. It's quite the opposite of boring actually, adrenaline is a constant, blood is everywhere. But it's repetitive, the boringness itself doesn't come from the actions or the environment, it comes from the reputation of that environment and those situations every single day. I guess it's less boring, and more exhausting than anything,” I paused because the waiter brought out a plate of little wrapped packages that look kind of squishy. They came with a dark blackish brown sauce. I picked one up with my hands and examined it closely. “What is this?” 

She looked caught off guard, having been enraptured in what I was saying. “Um, that's a dumpling, at least the dragonborn variation of one. It's filled with meat and sometimes some vegetables, wrapped in a special dough and usually steamed or fried. The sauce is soy sauce it's very salty but it's delicious.”

I tried a bite; it was so juicy and delicious. I dipped it in the soy sauce next, it added a nice tang to it. I groaned; it was so good. I glanced at her and saw her face flushed purple. I blushed, gods why had I groaned?

“S-sorry! It was just so good,” I laughed awkwardly.

“It’s fine! It just caught me off guard,” Gae Lia chuckled glancing past me. “Oh, here comes the rest of our food!”

The waiter placed down our plates, and we dug in, all of it was so delicious. I kept glancing around as we ate, looking for any possible threats. None appeared, but I soon realized this place seemed to be popular for couples. In one corner I saw a Dragonborn and a Halfling talking excitedly, both blushing slightly. A couple of tables over from us I saw a large half-orc man and a much smaller Triton guy arguing but also holding hands. In another corner very tucked away I saw a Dragonborn couple, Gold and Blue, nestled together. I looked at Gae Lia, taking a drink, and blushed. I wondered if people thought we were a couple.

I doubt it, she’s way out of my league.

I blinked, startled at my own thoughts.

She’s my boss’s daughter, and it’s my job to protect her not kiss those unbelievably soft looking lips, her tattoo curls just perfectly to touch the very bottom of it-

“Ms. Macabre?” I blinked again and looked at her. She had just handed the waiter a small stack of coins. “Are you ready to go? I still want to stop by the gelato shop.”

“Right, of course,” I stood up and let her lead the way shaking my head to get those thoughts out of my head. I couldn’t afford to let them grow. Nothing good has ever come from me developing a crush on someone.

She smiled at me, and grabbed my hand leading the way. She excitedly talked about something, but I couldn’t hear her. All I could hear was the pounding of my heart and feel my palm warm against hers.

I’m screwed.