Chapter 730: Chapter 730 I feel Like We Did this Before?
After that the discussion continued but Kat didn’t really participate all that much. They went into the details but Kat couldn’t see them as anything other than excessive. Thyme’s challenges were unique by design and trying to plan for the likely non-existent next time didn’t really seem worth it. Especially when it was likely they’d all be stronger in the unlikely event it did actually come around again.
Lily made a few attempts to get at the paper book but it was easy to fend her off... physically at least. The mental pleadings were harder to ignore but Kat just sent back retaliatory feelings of love and affection, something Lily had no defence against either. In the end, Lily decided to pretend to sulk. The feelings of joy and love that continued to radiate across the link were ‘clearly’ false, Lily was pouting, and wasn’t happy with Kat at all.
Of course, pretending to sulk didn’t last long either because the Memphis kitten was rather tired. Lily ended up falling asleep long before the discussion was over. It meant Kat could start messing around with her demonic fire. She’d been rather... confined with that bracelet on. Her energy hadn’t been used properly and she was very willing to rectify that. So Kat was messing with two rotating plumes of fire keeping them spinning around her hand while Green napped and the others discussed tactics.
Finally that was over and Gareth called for everyone to hop back on the carriage. *Hmm... should I just head off now? No... I’ll wait till it’s time for everyone to go to sleep. I feel like leaving in the middle of the day would be... weird maybe?.* In the end, Kat hopped on top of the carriage roof again, Lily nestled carefully against her stomach with her tail curled around herself and Lily. Nixilei once again joined Kat on the roof before it began moving.
Nixilei sat across from Kat with a soft smile, seemingly waiting for a question or conversation topic. Kat decided it was only polite to give it to the fae. “So... why go for such a sharp knife?” asked Kat.
“Despite the question you’re asking, there are actually quite a few reasons not to get a knife as sharp as the one I received,” said Nixilei easily, “though to answer the question you actually asked... a knife has always been a holdout weapon for me. I’m trained in them, but in ideal circumstances I shouldn’t be using a knife at all. Martial arts is similar, but it’s good for humanoid opponents and dealing with brawls. I don’t want to be that stereotypical weakling mage.
“If someone tries to punch me in the face, I want to be able to dodge and slam my fist into their nose. Martial arts also helps with my spy work. Teaches you how to move properly. Never mind I’m letting myself get side tracked. What I’m saying is, is that once my knife comes out something has probably gone wrong. I’m still going to keep my current knife for things I don’t necessarily want to kill... but for most situations my new, much sharper knife, will be perfect.
.....
“It’s for cutting things. The blade is sharp and the enchantments are layered piercing and slicing enchantments to help cut through tougher materials and not catch on anything. This knew knife... it is for killing things Kat. It’s a good holdout weapon and easy to conceal and it’s for stabbing things I’m not wanting to deal with,”
“Right...” said Kat carefully. *It really does drive home that she’s a spy. As much as she is an adventurer. Her friends aren’t. They fight monsters and whatever else they would normally do on a quest. Nixilei though... this almost feels like her hobby. Spending time with Green, playing at the group healer. She’s a deadly individual. So I guess the knife makes more sense then anything else.*
“Want to ask my about my reward?” offered Kat somewhat jokingly.
“I don’t think anyone would even need to ask to know how that one came about,” said Nixilei with a grin, “you’d do anything for the little kitten and she’s a paper mage. I know you well enough to see you don’t really need things, and want even less,”
“Yeah...” said Kat, “Growing up in an orphanage you get used to it,” Nixilei nodded so Kat continued, “the biggest difference between us though... is that I was the oldest kid in mine for a LONG time. I’d also been there since I was... two I think?” Kat noted that particular part of her memory was rather fuzzy these days, like a lot of her human memories were. “So long before I was the oldest, I took the title as the longest resident. I’ve only just recently left too. A few months really,”
“I can see how that could be isolating, and lead you towards using minimal resources. I had to learn that as part of my training, not as a state of being,” said Nixilei. Kat just shrugged. “Do you... if you um... if you don’t mind... do you miss your parents?”
Kat glanced down at Lily, letting her hands run through Lily’s fur for a few moments to give what she was about to say the right weight and tone. “No. I don’t. It’s... I can’t really understand what it was like for you... but I never knew my parents, and I found out rather early on they were dead. I didn’t have a home to go back to, or well, the orphanage WAS and in a quite a few ways, still IS my home.
“Other kids... they were a bit older, old enough to really know their parents, understand what they were missing. They were always clamouring to be adopted, to get a chance to leave the orphanage. Oh some were sad to see their friends go, but it was quite strange for me. Gramps was my family, he ran the orphanage. I never felt the need to leave. It was a comfortable place.
“I didn’t really get jealous of the things other people had either. It might be because a lot of the other kids... while they could be happy and run around playing every afternoon... I was the one comforting them a lot of the time. Helping them cry it all out with someone who wasn’t Gramps. They saw him as an old man, and I mean... he IS an old man, but they never saw him as family. At least I was a peer you know?
“So I guess... I saw quite a few kids who weren’t happy like I was, and I tried to help out where I could. When I was old enough to ask about parents it was more an academic curiosity, and finding out they were dead was mostly just a fact not some crippling realisation. I don’t know if I can ever understand how you felt learning the truth about your parents, because mine are dead, and they aren’t much more to me then names,”
Nixilei took in that information and digested it as best she could. It certainly did answer some questions about Kat, but in the end Kat was right, she couldn’t understand what that meant. “I’m not really sure if I’d prefer that. I mean... no I don’t know. My parents... as horrible as they are... well I at least KNOW them. I have closure that... well I guess you do as well but I’m not sure I would be able to have that same closure.
“I feel like if I found out my parents were dead, I’d think it was some big conspiracy or something and search for exactly what happened to them. Probably take a few false turns and still not really accept that they were completely dead just because it was the way of things. My parents were scum, but I know they’re scum. I saw with my own two eyes they were scum. There was a bit of denial of course... but the resemblance and the information all lined up,”
“We both got great little sister’s out of it though,” said Kat trying to lighten things up.
Nixilei glanced down at her feet, clearly picturing Green dozing underneath them inside the carriage. A smile on her face Nixilei nodded, “I suppose I did. Tell me about yours?”
“Well, her name is Sylvie. She’s similar to you in quite a few ways actually. Frightfully intelligent and mature for a child of her age. She’s still a kid of course, but that feels like a rare event rather then the norm. She likes to play games of skill and memory. Chess is a good one, or pairs if it’s one of the other young kids. The fact she goes easy on them is another odd note. She’ll still beat them in whatever game, but she likes to somewhat match her opponent in games. Taking the extra effort to make sure it isn’t the curb stomp it is in truth,” explained Kat.
Nixilei showed a fanged smile, “Tell me more,”
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