https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png Thomas didn't flinch or even really react to Zilrud's account of what had happened to him in Lorien. For one thing, it was not surprising. When people had the ability to abuse power, some of them would, and a Nameless orkhai, far from everything he knew or understood...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png Thomas had been sizing up how, exactly, he was going to do as Zilrud bade him when the orkhai interrupted his thoughts with another question. "Well now, Zilrud. I can either cut a tree or answer that question, but not both." He knew which one the orkhai would prefer,...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png Thomas noted with some displeasure that the robe, already stained with food and dirt and sweat, now had sap on it, too. It needed to go in the laundry, and he was going to have be firm with Zilrud on the idea that the man needed to change his damn clothes sometimes t...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png Thomas found the company of his orkhai guest, Zilrud, bracing. He wasn't pleasant, or easy, but he was interesting, and sharp, and unpredictable. To Wendell's general consternation, Thomas spent much of his free time with the ork, taking meals with the man and walkin...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png For a minute, as the big orkhai's face neared his own, Thomas thought he was about to be kissed. What transpired instead was almost more intimate, and it made his face flush while his blood ran cold. This was no easygoing man. he was taciturn, but not stupid. This ri...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png Thomas was enjoying watching his guest enjoy himself. He had eaten, perhaps to excess, and drank quite a bit, and seemed to be relaxing. A heavy muscular green arm was draped around the back of Thomas' chair in a gesture of companionship that was not lost on the huma...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png Thomas was enthralled. His guest was teaching him something, which meant it was either something important enough to him that it was worth making an effort, or or vital enough to his culture, that using silverware offended him. "If you insist," he said with a smile, ...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png Thomas, a keen observer of behavior even in the most adverse circumstances, did not miss the shiftsi n the orkhai's demeanor. His dismissal of the Griscian orkhai Thomas mentioned, his disgust with both Lorien and Daravin, and his comment that he'd been brought here ...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png Thomas hadn't intended to look. It felt indecent to do so without an invitation. He would have felt the same even before he'd become a toff. One of the only things one could afford someone else was privacy, if they wanted it. The orkhai, it seemed, did not want it. T...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png Thomas hadn't expected the orkhai to get up, let alone to bear weight on his newly healed leg. At some point, his mind would catch up to the man's endurance and sheer stubbornness, but not so early in their acquaintance. So he was to dine with an orkhai dressed in ra...