127 Divinity (1/2)

”Ya what now?” Azhar looked taken aback. He gestured to the beastwomen. ”Just cause' I know about em' don't mean I personally get along with em'. Specially' the Serpi. They only live up north. Ain't ever seen one before, just know of stories bout em' from a few travellin' Feli that settled west.”

”Still, you know more than all of us. Plus, you've got soul reading to your advantage,” said Li. ”Just try and talk to them. If things go well, great, if not, we can work from there.”

”Aight, guess I'll try,” said Azhar with a deferential nod.

”Good.” Li then said to everyone else, ”It's good that you all left your weapons out, but the armor might still be a little intimidating. I'm not going to ask you to remove it, but just keep a friendly posture.”

After receiving agreeing nods from everyone, Li said, ”Here goes,” while waving his hands, healing the beastwomen from their sleep status.

The beastwomen roused from their slumber bit by bit. The Feli took her furred and clawed hand, curling it into a paw like shape as she rubbed her eyes. The Serpi was slower to move, her forked tongue flitting out lazily as her body started to warm her cold blood for action.

But when their senses came to them, the women immediately scrambled backwards until their backs hit the farthest wall of the cottage with strong thuds. They were obviously panicked, their claws and fangs bared, but as they scanned their surroundings, seeing so many people around them, they did not lunge out aggressively.

When their eyes met each other, they shifted away, evidently not liking the other as well.

”Work your magic,” said Li as he lightly slapped Azhar's back, edging him forwards.

Azhar raised his hands in a non-threatening gesture as he inched forwards. He made sure to keep his eyes wide and focused on the beastwomen's eyes. As his eyes met the Feli's, a flash of recognition came between them, and he noticed this.

He spoke to her. ”Yer from the plains tribe, ain't ya? Can tell from yer golden mane. It's real full, too. Musta' gone through a lotta' fights.”

Li noted that the Feli's golden hair, though not a mane in the strictest sense, grew so wildly and thickly from her head that when it gathered around her neck, it did almost seem like a mane.

”Plainsman,” said the Feli as she eyed Azhar's dark skin in recognition. ”What you do here, with all the pink men?”

Unlike when she had lashed out at Li, the Feli was attempting to talk in the common human tongue, though it was evident she did not have the greatest grasp over the language. A good sign. It meant that she considered Azhar worth the effort to try and communicate with.

”Helpin' you,” said Azhar. He waved to everyone in the room. ”They're all good people. Like the caravan traders that come with gifts and food, y'know? We wanna' help you like that.”

”Don't trust trader.” The Feli narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she crossed her arms, covering herself up. ”Trader offer food. Trader takes me.”

”A trader kidnapped you?” Azhar cocked his head. ”That ain't a mane grown outta' doin' nothin'. You've killed plenty to grow it out like that. Ain't a regular ol' trader gonna' do anythin' to ya.”

”No regular.” The Feli waved her hands and wriggled her fingers, imitating casting magic. ”Pink men use strange magic. Like her kind.”

The Feli jutted a claw out to the Serpi who glared at the Feli in response. But aside from that, the Serpi did not say anything, instead flitting her eyes from side to side, eyeing the situation before her. Her ghostly pale face held a concentrated expression upon it, quite similar to the kind that Sylvie made when she was planning.

”Well, there ain't no strange magic here,” said Azhar. ”Just us and our honest words, swear on my heart.”

”On your heart? You swear?”

Azhar put a fist to his chest and nodded. ”Yeah, on my heart. Ya can feel free to tear it out and gobble it up as a snack if my words ain't true.”

”I can trust plainsman oath.” Feli glanced over at everyone else, her narrowed eyes oozing suspicion. ”But pink men always break oath. Word means nothing to them. Cannot trust them, do not know why you are with them.”

”I'm with em' cause' they're gonna' help you. Might be hard to believe, but ya can still trust me, yeah?” said Azhar.

”Plainsmen never break word,” agreed the Feli. It was evident that the beastwoman highly valued the worth of an oath, and Li figured that it was a common trait across her whole culture and species.

”Then I guarantee so long as yer with me, there ain't nothin' that's gonna' happen to ya,” said Azhar. ”We're way outta' the hinterlands, right in a city, so it's gonna' be real hard for ya to run yer way out. Stay with me, listen to my words, and I'll have ya back home, okay?”

”Run? No.” The Feli hissed, offended at the suggestion. ”Trader take sister also. I find her. Kill traders. Then go home.”

”Trust me, all of us are gonna' help ya with that,” said Azhar. ”I swear it.”

”You make oaths very quick.”

”Not cause' I don't take em' seriously, but cause' I'm absolutely confident that everyone here is gonna' help you.” Azhar pointed to Jeanne and Sylvie. ”Them there are my own family. My sisters.” He motioned to Launcelot and his posse. ”Don't like the way he look, but he's fought together with me before.” He shifted his finger to Li, Old Thane, and Tia. ”And thems the ones that found ya in the first place.”

”Hm. I will listen. But you swear already on heart. To make me believe, you must swear more.”