Yore had an entire spread of food laid out on the table in front of him and was just starting to wonder if he should go and check on Lucas and Fanner when finally they made their way down the stairs. The strange, eyeless grey creature followed them down.
“That damn thing was waiting outside the door,” Lucas told him as he pulled out a chair and sat down. “It scared Fanner again.”
“Take a seat,” Yore told Fanner before his hovering started to get awkward. “I’m surprised you’re not more scared of it, Fanner. I thought you’d lived a sheltered life, at least when it came to strange beasts.”
Fanner carefully considered the chairs available to him and ultimately sat down next to Yore, across from Lucas at the four person table. “You saved me when I ran away and you showed me the gryphons so—so I thought that if it was dangerous, you would know. If something in the water that looks like a little child can try to kill me or a person can do terrible things, then maybe something that looks like a monster can be harmless.”
Yore watched as the creature crept around the room and shoved peanut shells it found on the floor into its mouth. Yore was fairly sure he also saw it eat a coin. “I’m actually just trusting everyone else on this one. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“Seems completely harmless from what I’ve seen,” Lucas said. “Doesn’t have teeth. Has claws, but they seem to mostly be for climbing. It likes to scare people just by existing near them, but I’ve never seen it actually be threatening towards anyone.”
“What did Eltran call it? Cookie?”
“Oh, yeah. They call it Cookie to try to cockblock it from scaring people. It’s much harder to be scary when your name is Cookie.”
As if hearing its name — though it had no visible ears — the creature strolled over and casually stretched out on the floor behind Fanner. The most disconcerting thing about it was that it was difficult to determine what level of intellect it had. Was it essentially an animal, or did the human-like qualities of some of its features hint at something more?
It wasn’t that Yore felt threatened by it. The thing was smaller than him and showed no signs it had the ability to do him any real harm. If he were honest, he just didn’t want to unintentionally be rude to it if it did understand him.
Lucas looked at Fanner and nodded to the food as he grabbed a chicken leg and some potatoes for himself. “Eat.”
Fanner looked over the spread in front of them. Yore had gone all out. The satyrs had been generous, but they’d underestimated how much Yore ate by quite a bit. He’d been undereating for days so that there would be enough for Fanner and now he was ready to make up for it. They had an entire roast chicken, roast beef, potatoes, soup, pastries, and an apple cobbler.
Fanner tucked his hands in his lap and looked down. “I—I could have something else.”
“Really?” Lucas asked. “None of this looks good to you?”
“No, no!” Fanner said. “It all looks very nice. Too nice. I don’t deserve this.”
“Someone gives me food, I eat it. I’ve never worried about whether or not I deserve it. I’m not even sure what that really means.”
“You’ve both given me so much already. Yore spent days getting me here, even though I made trouble for him, and you gave me these clothes, Lucas. I feel bad taking more when I have nothing to offer in return. Nothing you want.”
Yore wondered if that last part was a dig at him for not letting Fanner touch his dick. Fanner seemed to believe that was all he was good for. Or, at least, that it was the only thing he was good for that he wanted to be good for. He seemed to fear the part of himself that had allowed him to escape and survive this long.
But maybe that was temporary. Danya had told Yore how much he’d struggled to come to terms with the fact that his greatest assets were things that would have gotten him killed as a slave, but he’d ended up having pride in his strength.
“I can eat a lot, Fanner, but there’s no way Lucas and I can finish this between us,” Yore told Fanner. “Please, help yourself.”
Fanner still didn’t make a move towards the food. “I—I could eat whatever’s left when you’re done.”
Yore took a slow breath in and let it out. He picked up one of the pastries and placed it on the plate in front of Fanner. “Eat that. They’re good.”
“Thank you,” Fanner murmured. He took a tiny bite of the pastry and a little smile overtook his face. “It is good. Sorry. I was just being difficult, wasn’t I? That isn’t something anyone wants.”
“Yup,” Lucas confirmed.
Yore shot him a scathing look. “You’re being asked to forget everything you’ve ever been taught. It’s not easy. We understand that.”
“I was also taught not to be difficult, though. There’s no excuse.”
“That’s the great thing about not being a slave,” Lucas said. “You don’t need an excuse to be difficult.”
“That’s true,” Yore said. “Lucas here is extremely difficult.”
“I’m extremely easy,” Lucas said around a mouthful of chicken. “Not that you'd know.”
“No, trust me, I know.”
“Hm.” Lucas turned to Fanner. “Could you go and ask the nice man at the bar for three of the house specials, please?”
“Oh, um, yes,” Fanner said, already getting up. “Do I, um. I don’t have any money.”
“He’ll put it on my tab,” Lucas assured him, and though Fanner still looked nervous, he nodded and headed towards the bar.
Yore watched Lucas watch Fanner leave. “So, what did you want him out of earshot for?”
Lucas made sure Fanner had reached the bar and then turned back to face Yore. “He told me whoever had him before this had hurt him to test his abilities. They tied him down while they did it. That’s why he freaked out and broke the rope.”
“Makes sense,” Yore said. “What I can’t make sense of is why Fanner has all these things going on with his abilities. With Danya, it was the combination of a Companion and a Soldier giving him the best of both worlds and a few little extras, but Fanner is clearly full Companion. At least if I’m understanding how the genetics works on that golden hair of his.”
“It’s a recessive gene. Both parents wouldn’t have to be full Companion, but yeah. It is the much more likely option.”
“I know it’s not unheard of for mages not to fit perfectly into whatever mold they were bred for. We’ve seen it many times before. It’s rarer with these sorts of expensive Companions, though, and they both seem to be pretty extreme examples. I can’t help feeling like there’s something more going on here than we’re aware of.”
“Oh, yeah, for sure. I get the feeling Fanner’s being very careful about what he tells us. But that’s fine. It makes sense. We’re basically strangers to him at this point. I’m assuming that he’ll tell Danya everything once we reunite them.”
“Mm, I agree. Hopefully Danya can sort whatever’s—”
The creature on the floor suddenly pushed itself to its feet and chittered loudly. It was facing in the direction of the bar.
Fanner was at the bar, standing very still, a dwarf’s hand on his ass.
Yore and Lucas got up at the same time, but Yore’s longer stride got him to the bar first. He took hold of the dwarf’s wrist and firmly but gently removed his hand.
The dwarf looked up, shocked and confused, and then his eyes widened when Lucas came up beside them. He looked between Lucas and Fanner and in that moment they all realised what had happened. Well, except maybe Fanner, who had turned around and pressed himself back against the bar and just looked confused.
The dwarf held his hands up. “Shit, I’m sorry. I thought you were Lucas. You have pants just like those, don’t you Lucas?”
“I gave him some of my clothes,” Lucas told him.
“I really am sorry. What’s your name?”
Fanner’s gaze flicked to Yore for a moment and then he murmured, “Fanner.”
“My name’s Berron. Listen, is there any way I can make this right? I don’t want you thinking this is the kind of place people are going to be grabbing at you like that without asking. We don’t take these sorts of things lightly.”
“Oh, um…” Fanner looked to Yore for help, but Yore wasn’t sure what he wanted. “Um, no. It’s okay. I’m a Companion, so—” Fanner made a face like he wasn’t quite sure that had been the right answer.
“He’s a recently escaped slave,” Yore explained. “I think he might be struggling with the idea that he’s now in charge of who gets to touch him and how.”
“Oh…” Berron said, his expression melting into something that was more sad than anything. “I hope I didn’t make you feel like that wasn’t the case, Fanner.”
Something brushed Yore’s leg and he looked down. The creature had flattened itself against the floor and was crawling between them to be closer to Fanner.
“Ah, seems like Cookie likes you,” Berron observed. “Guess you’re feeling a lot of emotions right now.”
“I suppose so,” Fanner said. “And it’s okay, I’m not upset. I was just confused and a little startled.”
Lucas put a hand on Berron’s shoulder and turned him back towards the bar. “I’ll order the drinks we sent him to get and you can pay for them so you can stop feeling guilty, Berron. You can go back to the table with Yore, Fanner.”
Yore headed back towards the table and Fanner followed him with Cookie close at his heels.
“Are you actually okay?” Yore asked as soon as they were seated back at the table again.
Fanner nodded. “A Companion can’t be so easily upset by such things. I mean, usually we wouldn’t be touched like that by anyone but our masters, but it’s okay. It happens.”
“It shouldn’t happen. Not anywhere, but especially not here.”
Fanner was silent for a long moment. “I’m sorry that I touched you. I thought you wanted me to, but you didn’t, and that was far worse than what Berron did. And more intentional.”
“It’s okay. It didn’t upset me. You should ask first in the future, but I don’t blame you for the misunderstanding. You were just scared and confused.”
“I won’t do it again.” Fanner nibbled a corner of the pastry, but he seemed distracted. “I won’t really have a master where you’re taking me, will I? Or… how does that work?”
“Of course not. You’re not a slave. Only slaves have masters.”
“Maybe…” Fanner pressed his lips together in thought. “I was never very good at being a slave, but… I am attractive, aren’t I?”
“Yes, you’re very attractive.”
Fanner nodded seriously. “So maybe I could still be useful. Maybe there will be some people who would want me for that.”
“We already have one resident whore and that’s Hamish,” Lucas said as he returned to the table clutching three cups. He placed one down in front of each of them. “But that’s more of a hobby for him. Having sex with people as a way to be useful isn’t great.”
“I know it’s not very useful, but even for a Companion I’m not that good at much else and I don’t want to do anything with, like…” he grabbed hold of the collar of his shirt and twisted it in his hand, “energy stuff.”
“You don’t have to be useful, but I think wanting to be is a very natural drive,” Yore said. “Just remember that there’s no rush. Live your life, talk to people, and help out where you can. You’ll soon figure out what you’re good at and what you’re interested in. You’ve been forced into this very narrow box, and I’m not just talking about magic. Humans have no magic and they find all kinds of different ways to contribute and have purpose.”
Cookie rested her head on the table next to Fanner and Fanner placed a hand on the top of her head, grimacing slightly at the feeling of her clammy skin.
“Yes,” Fanner said. “I think I’d like to have purpose.”
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