10th of Ash, 4621
It had been days since his last feeding. Arkash followed Fayeth's teachings, her warnings, and curbings, but without her blood to keep him going, he couldn't go more than a few days without wetting his palette with the lifeblood of a mortal. it showed in his everyday life, too. He was weak, sluggish, distracted. The thrum of beating hearts was loud in his ears, it made concentration on his daily tasks difficult.
They had noticed that one of their Halamire suddenly stopped reporting for duty, too. Agents had been about, collecting info on where and when she was last seen. They found nothing conclusive, no trace of her. Even so, he couldn't just take another one of them and hope for the best that no one would notice or care. If anything, the disappearance of another in such a short time would be a red light for a lot of people with eyes on the case. He had to find someone else to sate his bloodlust.
Alas, all Arkash really got to see in his daily duties was his fellow slaves and the Halamire that patrolled the halls. There was the occasional mage, but they didn't pay the likes of Arkash and Eira any mind. That was, all except one. A Sil'Norai of short silver hair, tan skin, and blue eyes. He typically wore some shade of blue for a robe, fine embroidery, and the like. While most paid them no mind, this one seemed to take a keen interest in Eira, he commanded her to follow him often, but only when he was without company. She'd be gone for some half-hour or so, then return to her station with Arkash without so much as a word.
The only reason he really took note of that mage was that he tried to gauge how his and Eira's friendship bloomed since he revealed his true form to her, and paid her more attention than he normally would. He found out a lot about her in the time that he quietly observed her. She was gentle with most surfaces while cleaning, choosing to let the water dissolve the filth to a point where it was easier to remove. She walked lightly, it was often hard to tell she was even going anywhere without listening for her pulse.
It did worry him, that someone he didn't fully trust knew one of his most crippling secrets, but that wasn't the entire cause of his interest in her; it was her deception. She was an unbelievably good liar, and treated him with indifference, even after he'd revealed his true form to her. With such natural skill in lying, pretending all wasn't as reality dictated, she stood out to him considerably. Even alone, she didn't speak to him much more than to answer questions he had about any given task.
Was it a lot to take in? Sure. It was a strange thing to discover that an otherwise normal-looking human was actually a reptilian murderous anarchist from some far-off kingdom, but what could he have said? She asked for the truth, and he gave it.
So, he scrubbed the floors in silence while he waited for his supervisor to return. It was tile this time. They had to clean the kitchen before dark, and he was almost done with the entire floor. next would be the surfaces and worktops. He loathed cleaning the oven because the grime often became charred and difficult to remove, so he'd left that for Eira to clean.
By the time he'd worked his water-wrinkled fingers to the bone, Eira returned with something of an accelerated heartbeat. He heard her before he saw her, and looked to the door as she stepped quickly into the room and swept in to reclaim her sponge and pale. It was obvious that she was rushing for whatever reason, but he didn't have time to worry about what. it would be time for them to return to their pens soon, and he had to rush to the laboratory to try and discover the Lord's combination code.
"...I'm half done with the counters and the floor is clean," he spoke to the other slave. "Do you mind if I...?"
Eira shook her head in response, she didn't turn to look at him.
As much as he willed himself to focus on the laboratory, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was definitely wrong. "...Are you okay?" he asked as a follow-up.
"Yes," she returned quickly. "Just go, you know we don't have time," she dismissed him with a wave.
Arkash pursed his lips, then turned to leave with a quick "thank you." It felt wrong to leave, something must have happened. But, Arkash wasn't there to make the life of a slave easier, he was there to learn Necromancy. And to learn necromancy, he had to crack that safe. "Focus," he told himself as he walked with a wide gait, but couldn't begin to think of how he'd break the combination code. By the time he'd arrived at the laboratory's complex door, his thoughts remained on the slave girl.
As he drew the ball of hardened blood from his pocket, he wondered what he could possibly do to help. it wasn't as though he knew what upset her, but he was convinced that she was somehow upset by something. Was it his tardiness with his chores? No, it couldn't have been. He'd done really well since yesterday... he thought. Should he go back? Confront her? She had told him to go rather quickly. Did she mean that?
Some internal debate started in his head; a conflict of sorts. On one hand, it wasn't up to him to fix the problems of weaklings that chose slavery over death. The entire reason he still subjected himself to the life of a slave was so that he could learn Necromancy, what he was about to do when he broke the safe open. But it could wait, couldn't it? His life wasn't too hard, he wasn't in any immediate danger or fear of starving... What was the harm if he returned to Eira and just went to the laboratory another time?
While he argued with himself, he pressed the ball of blood to the X-Shaped keyway, then used his blood shaping abilities to extend the material into the locking mechanism. He began to poke at the pins, prodding and pushing until they clicked into place while he applied pressure to the tumbler.
It was too late anyway, he thought. Eira had to finish up the kitchen before they retired, or they wouldn't be allowed table scraps. Given how hungry he was, he really didn't want to miss out on those leftovers. Real food did nothing long term for his blood sickness, but the momentary reprieve was still better than nothing. Wasn't that more reason to return and help her? If their food relied upon the completion of the kitchen work? No, it didn't. The other slaves had to do their part too; if they slacked, they'd all be starved anyway.
He had before him a prime opportunity to crack the lord's safe and use necromancy tools for himself, what was he waiting for? But then again, was there a guarantee that he could crack the safe? He stopped the manipulation of blood in his hand and clenched his fist tight around the handle. With a curl to his nose, not unlike a snarl, he growled and withdrew the blood key from the keyway before he returned it to its normal shape. The lock clicked back into place as though it had never been disturbed, and he pocketed the tool in his baggy burlap pants.
A frustrated sigh left him before he turned to the stairway, and began to run up the flight. Quickly, he rushed back to the kitchens through a series of halls, then slowed before his footfalls came in range of her hearing. He stopped right before the bend that would expose him and listened closely. One beating heart in the background to quiet sobbing, the occasional shaky sigh that yielded some pathetic sniffle. It was Eira, he could tell from the weight of her footfalls, the light press of her washcloth, and the little effort used while cleaning.
He knew not why, but the sound of her quiet crying, while she believed herself to be alone, weighed heavier in his heart than a chorus of wails would have. He sighed through his nose, then quietly walked into the kitchen. She had her back to him, hands on the dormant stove. Her sobbing slowed a little, and Arkash paused. She hadn't noticed him, she just needed to breathe between her crying, it seemed. Had she composed herself? He gave a few more moments pause, then reached out and took her shoulder as gently as he could. The slight girl jumped and turned to slap his arm off of her.
Arkash stepped back as he found the teary fury in her eyes. "Derek!" She called with a crack in her voice.
"Eira?!" He called at a similar pitch, but with a tone of confusion.
"Are you fucking kidding me?! You didn't clean the oven again, you know I hATE THAT!!" She growled and threw a hammer fist straight into his shoulder. He barely budged, but still flinched. Arkash continued to back into the counter as she advanced. He'd never seen her this angry, or any sort of emotional. She wasn't particularly expressive, he could only imagine how strongly she felt. "You're a fucking assHOLE!"
"I'm sorry, I forgot!" he pleaded with a lie. He also hated cleaning the oven.
"Well you ALWAYS forget!" she snapped. "And you always run off and shove your work on me so you can play doctor in that fucking LAB!!" She scoffed, then shook her head as she looked away.
Arkash winced. "Eira..."
"...What?"
"...I'm sorry. Let me clean the oven," he sighed, then stepped around her. He took his rough rag and pressed it to the grime while she stood in silence, but before he began to work, he began to explain himself. "...I didn't mean to make you cry, I'm just lazy."
The other slave was quiet in wake of his statement, only to shake her head. Arkash turned to look at her as she next spoke. "I wasn't crying, and it's not about the oven."
Arkash nodded, though he didn't believe the first part. "...What's it about then?" He asked as he turned to the stove and started scrubbing, only to pause when she didn't answer. His gaze returned to her while she looked at him, a mixture of perturbation and pain in her features. It both frightened and upset him that he couldn't tell if her expression was directed at him.
"...Nothing new," she answered with a shake of her head, then turned away from the Rathor. "I don't want to talk about it..." She spoke as she wiped at her cheek.
Her rejection of his question didn't feel solid in his mind. If anything, there was something of an invitation there, as if she'd confide in him if he chased her. Thankfully, Arkash was always up for a good chase. "...What if I tell you my real name?" he offered with the beginnings of a smile. "I'll tell you my secret in exchange for yours, is that fair?"
The slave stared at him for a moment, and for the first time in Arkash's company, she smiled. Her cheeks shined with the wetness of her tears, and her eyes reddened a little from her crying, but she still smiled. Arkash counted it. "...I'll think about it," she decided. "Let's just finish the kitchen."
