Thumbnail art by Lynxia Here
Chapter 1; Here
Chapter 2; Here
Chapter 3; Here

The intrigue deepens.
but still no more porn? WTF?

6 pages, enjoy.

--

It is early morning and the forests endless array of birds have begun to sing. Mimosa wakes peacefully to the cascade of song above the serene whisper of leaves above, another calm morning. Many things are letting themselves known from the outside world besides the pleasant cry of birds, sounds of other creatures, sounds of the village and furthermost sounds of the forest itself that do not come from any creature with fur, feathers or skin.
Will this be the day that yesterday should have been?

The graceful female shifts a little, finding that she is comfortably nestled in with the human male, laying with her back against him, his broad, scarred arm around her as they both lie on their sides. She is warm and feels safe, that was the idea she had with bringing him home last night. It seemed like a natural decision after the kiss, her first kiss. Her kind does not kiss, but she knew of it, yet again by all the fairytales she has heard from the elders or read in the few books she could find. The world has its norms, she was with a human, it went without much thought. She can still feel his lips when she thinks about it. Their sweet softness, no matter the jagged scar that runs down them.

Shifting a bit in his loose grip, she brushes up against him, hearing him murmur softly while she brushes her long, flowing tail over his leg. Apparently she woke him or at least begun pulling him from the cloud of sleep.
She stretches and shifts further while she feels his large hand rub over her shoulder, a warm touch on her already warm body and she smiles for herself. It seems her daring move was indeed a good one. He may be large enough to wrap her almost entirely in his arms, but he slept rather soundly and allowed her very comfortable rest in the small bed. Yesterday wasn't a a dream, as her last thought before falling asleep was the wonder if he would still be there in the morning. At the same time, just as yesterday was not a dream, the nightmarish parts are forgotten for the moment, his safe embrace and the calm dawning of a new day dissolving any dark thoughts on her mind.

He yawns and shifts lightly, having Mimosa looks up while leaning her head back into the pillow to find him looking back at her, hair hanging in a messy cascade around his face and his one-eyed, icy gaze fixed on her while a small smile plays on his scarred lips.
Good morning. She does not say it. Neither does he. Just because there are no words does not mean there cannot be perfectly worthy communication, as they have been proving for hours yesterday.
She smiles back for him as his sunny greeting goes so well with the atmosphere. She cannot really help but to just lay there for a bit, looking at him with her large eyes while he shifts further, apparently not either wanting to give up his comfortable position in the bed for anything in the outside world. They are as in a little bubble at the moment, their own little world.

But the rest of the world does not wait for such a bubble, it goes about its business in either case, no matter what two beings think of their to them exotic counterpart in a tiny bed in a large tree, somewhere in the deepest of forests.
And today, it seems that the world has decided to take twists and turn to assure that the two do not linger in the bed, do not linger in each other's shining eyes. Not for now.
A light rapping on the thick door downstairs, Mimosa's large ears perk up and she quickly sits up, looking away from the human man to look towards the curtain of dried leaves and vines, as if attempting to pierce through her entire home with her gaze, attempting to spot whoever knocks on her door. This, of course, is not possible.

After a moment, there is another knock, still calm but multiple knocks are made.
She glances to the nine-fingered man and he nods for her, go, go see whoever has business with you this early in the morning. He does not speak, but she understands. Furthering his support, he sits up in the bed, stretching lightly as she simply stands up, she is more awake than him anyway.
Muffled words in the Silvacoi tongue is heard outside and Mimosa now rushes to get some clothes on. She throws the light nightgown on the bed and half-on-half gets into the same clothes as yesterday while shuffling downstairs at a break-neck pace.

The human watches her go, something riled her up, words of theirs, he does not know what it could be but it did not sound threatening. Still, better safe than sorry. He steps into his boots before grasping his sheathed blade and heading downstairs, careful not to be seen. He guesses it is not her intention to reveal him to whatever uninvited guests are coming around to her door.
Mimosa sets herself in order as good as possible before laying her hands against the door, turning the key slowly, not opening the door just yet as she catches her breath, but makes enough noise with the lock to keep whoever is outside on the step.

She does know who it is though, a person she would rather not talk to at the moment, but what he said must be addressed before he goes about assuming things or whatnot.
Mimosa puts on her best smile as she opens the door, blinking slowly at the light from outside. The trees may block out most of the sun but after going through the dark room inside, she still has to get used to the shining outside.
The male outside measures her up with his gaze, then sniffs the air lightly.
“Sleeping late as always, I see”
He is a stern-looking male of the same kind as Mimosa, a Silvacoi, fair folk of the deep woods. His horns are many and long, his mane is greying and there are many colourful glass and clay beads set in both his hair and beard. He is the youngest of the elders, a hot-headed man that do not play around with anything, ever.

Holding up a slashed piece of leather, he looks to Mimosa with a distrusting look on his face as she simply leans in the rounded doorway with a smile on her face without answering his accusation of sleeping too long when the sun just rose over the snowy peaks in the far distance.
He does not seem to mind her silence and simply continues his so far one-sided conversation.
“This is your belt, is it not?”
Mimosa examines the leather, it is. She was wearing it yesterday. Why does he have to snoop around in such? He does not seem worried about her health, simply by the fact that something is up for him to poke his nose into.
“One of them, yes”
Mimosa speaks softly, realizing that her words might sound a bit impudent and so doing her best to soften the verbal blow by simply trying to act both oblivious and fair.

“How come it was found out in the forest, looking like this? We had this whole alarm about what could have happened, I-”
He is about to speak more, but Mimosa silences him by speaking herself, rather loud and still with her oblivious tone and look.
“Oh, Winram, I must have lost it when I was out surveying the land, perhaps it got caught in a branch and ripped, you know how I get when I make my way through the undergrowth”
The belt does not look anywhere possibly fragile enough to get ripped by a twig, but Winram is not allowed to inspect it further before Mimosa has managed to snatch it from his hand and put it away inside the door.
“I'm so terribly sorry for the alarm, I'm glad you all are so sweet to raise one in the first place”

The nine-fingered man watches from the shadows inside the home-tree, hiding as well as he can in the steep stair that leads to the bedroom. What is going on? He clearly sees the belt, so someone found that, now they wonder if she is all right? If they want to come in here and have a look around, things could get difficult. Then again, why? He hasn't done anything wrong and the fact that she both speaks the language and has accepted his presence as good as she does must mean their kind have seen and probably dealt with humans before.

Still, she seem so nervous, perhaps this man is some sort of magistrate, a lawman. Someone who would cause a ruckus and someone you would not want to get on the bad side of. She is dealing with him the best she can and the nine-fingered man is not going to interfere. Not unless he is needed to.
Winram tilts his head to the side as he does his best to look inside the home and shop, even as Mimosa is covering most of the doorway.
“You have an odd air about you, you seem nervous and you smell of...”
He sniffs again, still lightly in the air before her, apparently finding out enough just by doing such. Still, he remains silent for a moment, not finding the right word for the scent.
“Well, in either case, there's something wicked about, I would like everyone to keep their eyes and ears peeled and report to me about whatever strange creatures may be afoot”

Mimosa huffs lightly, as if about to laugh but does not utter a sound of laughter, she knows how he gets, he has theories about everything and anyone. But this time, he might just be right, she has a human in her home and yesterday she had a run-in with lizard-men.
She freezes up, the thought about the lizard-men, what they did and where her belt would be found. They were dead. Corpses do not move. Is Winram testing her? Did he actually see the two dead lizards, found her belt and is now milking her for information? No, that is not like him, the two dead monsters must not have been there when he found the belt. Or the belt was moved. Very bothersome questions in her head now, she just wants this elder to leave so she can talk to the scarred human. She is scared again and she needs him to wash it away.

“I will let you know if I see or hear anything”
She speaks rushed words now, she does not care if the elder gets suspicious, he has presented his business, she has answered, he will leave. He must leave.
“We will speak later”
Winram speaks his last words and bows lightly while Mimosa nods to him, finally, he is leaving and without further fuss. There is a risk he will be back in a few moments with more elders or some of his closest followers. A risk she is willing to take right now, she wants to explain all this to the nine-fingered man and present the problem. A problem bigger than she could imagine when she had a run-down of things in her mind yesterday on the way home.

Closing the door and locking it carefully, she slumps down with her back against it, just like yesterday, only this time, her scarred human companion is there to kneel beside her.
“What happened?”
She looks to him after listening to his words, a short, simple question. Looking for her own words for a bit, she looks to him with a rather troubled expression.
“They found my belt, he said nothing of dead lizards”
The one-eyed man looks thoughtful for a moment, then nods slowly.
“There are more lizard-men, I have watched their movements for weeks”
He makes gestures with his hands as he speaks, but it does not really clarify much for Mimosa. She does seem to understand his basic concept, but it does not really connect to the problem at hand.

He sees her look confused and smiles softly for her before letting more words escape his lips.
“They would have taken their own dead, perhaps even buried them”
Mimosa nods, she understands the words, it easily makes what he is talking about more coherent. So that gives a quick, good explanation to what happened to the corpses of her cursed assailants, but it does not clear up much else.
“I fear...”
She pauses while looking into his eye, she fears many things, but what exactly to tell him now, so that he can save her some more, make things better?
“I fear that there will be more trouble”
A rather broad statement, but at the same time a very rational one, trouble came knocking after all.
What will they do now, just knowing that things are about to turn dark will not solve the situation, but it is a start.

He does not know what to say to calm her, but his presence already seem well enough with gathering her thoughts around something. She looks to him as he already has his eye fixed on her, kneeling by her side.
She had hoped that she took difficult decisions enough not to have to make more, but it seems that has been her share of the problems of late.
His hand on the side of her head, a serious look on his face and his other hand held out open before her, she soon manages to make a decision or two. Taking his hand, she stands up with his help and then takes a deep breath before speaking yet again.
“We have to talk to them, the elders, they have to know...”

She looks to him in what would best be described as sudden desperation as she speaks of what could sound like a suggestion of rash action but he simply nods for her, he will trust in her judgement, she is the one in the middle of the problem, she is the one that will stand for whatever happens now. He does not want to have her feel alone about it, he does not want any weights on her mind. Not any more. She has weights enough.
“I will not allow any hostile action towards you”
Mimosa tilts her head to the side and smiles while placing a hand against his bare chest, looking down for a bit. He is so dreamy, still, the slayer of a king, standing up to her against whoever and what ever. All he misses is the shining armour and the white steed. She soon looks up again, brushing up closer against him, looking calmer as she feels his arm slip around her to hold her.

“We are a peaceful people... they will not harm me”
She speaks the words slowly, silently, but loud enough not to whisper, then lets her forehead rest against his chest with her ears drooping slightly as her hand glides downwards, stopping at the brim of his pants, hooking behind the rough fabrics.
He nods slowly, mostly to himself while slowly stroking her back with his four-fingered hand, the other still holding his sheathed blade. He will not push or rush her, if it was up to him, he would think of a good plan to leave this place. But that is how he is, she obviously has a steady home here and he does not know how these creatures do it, but if she was human, it would be odd for a lone girl to have a home alone like this. Did she have a mate, was she left alone after a tragedy? She looks so young, he guesses that she was never involved at such a level, but for the moment, why is he even considering such thoughts? There are so many other things to keep in mind, so many other things he should be solving. Somehow.

“By your lead”
He speaks the words slowly, still stroking her back, watching her long tail sway a bit absent-minded. They were both not ready for this even though they have both been in the troubles since yesterday. They were too caught up in each other.
“And whenever you feel ready”
Mimosa shifts a little, letting the side of her head rest against his chest, listening to his strong heart beating at a calm pace, not wanting this moment to end any time soon even though she knows it must. It must end so that another may begin, a first step on the road to anywhere, a first part of the solution to a problem no one grasps.
Not even the elders, not even the forest itself.

Mimosa slowly turns her head, upwards, lifting her gaze to look at that beautiful yet horribly mangled face of the man that has made her nightmare into a dream and her normal day into an odd mess.
“Mimosa... is my name”
She finally lets him know her name, perhaps not the opportune moment, but this one is as good as any in the current situation. He does not seem displeased at all. A neat, simple name he can remember.
Smiling for her, he stops the stroking of her back with a slow nod.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Lady Mimosa, my name is Cayden”
He falls silent, but only for a moment, letting her take in the long sentence and his name without troubling her with something like a family name, not knowing if her kind would care for such a thing. He hardly cares for it himself, no matter if he did respect his relatives.

Mimosa feels her heart fluttering again, as before, the moment is saved by her bold move, knowing his name makes her feel better already, something to treasure and keep, something to call if she ever needs him. She tries the name on her lips silently for herself while staying as close as she can to him, her eyes flicking back and forth from his face and chest while her hooves taps the floor almost a bit restless. She is invigorated, perhaps all the stupid problems will be solved after all.
The nine-fingered man smiles for her still, apparently also he feeling better about a name he will not speak often, they get along just fine without many words between them all the time. It has worked out so far and he wants it to stay that way. He cannot help but to repeat the name for himself, just as he can hear her do but his ways are more careful, he does not speak it, just think it. Word it inside his mind.

Finally, Mimosa seems strengthened enough with his presence after the draining encounter with the elder, she almost forgot she was in the middle of a pleasant morning.
Grasping for Cayden's four-fingered hand, she tugs him along and puts a spring in her step to make her way over to the stair yet again, calling him upstairs without words, soon having him sit on the bed yet again as she looks herself over. She is glad she did not look indecent before the elder after dressing in a rushed manner.

The human just sits on the bed, admiring her exotic shapes with a small smile on his lips, what now, they cannot go back to bed, can they? No, that does not seem to be the plan. Mimosa leans forward to stroke her four slender, ink-stained fingers against his cheek while holding her other hand up as some manner of sign for him to stay where he is, then shoots off with her lithe grace behind the curtain of leaves and vines again, downstairs and to where ever she has her scattered food supplies. Any manner of breakfast should complete the good feeling she managed to bring to herself after the latest beat-down.

Swinging by the worktable and throwing a quick stir in a few ink-pots, she hums a tune to herself, lifting both her own heart and the man upstairs, indirectly letting him know that things are just fine for the moment.
He licks his lips slowly, uncertainty is part of his everyday life, but suddenly he has something to lose. Her. In whatever way or however she may see it or take on it, he does not want to be parted from her but he has a nagging feeling that if presented before the elders, he will be commanded away from this village, in their eyes, what is the difference of him and any lizard-man?

Still smiling softly, he rubs his thumb over the rough leather of the sheathe of his weapon, a gleaming blade of steel that has tasted the lifeblood of many beings, many monsters and evil men. A thought comes to mind, if he has to defend himself against these forest-dwellers, could he bear the heart to fight them? They are small and peaceful, even the elder male did not look like much of a threat to a full-grown human armed with steel. No, if it comes to that, he will have to do what he can not to harm the people of this village. Hopefully such a resolution will not be his undoing.

The dark thoughts that are seeping into his other rather sunny mind are cleared once again as Mimosa re-appears into the small bedroom, this time bearing a wooden tray, a brace of large mugs filled with some manner of liquid and the same crusty bread as last night. He does not mind, any meal is a good meal, besides, she seems rather satisfied with presenting this, it has to be good.
Mimosa holds out the tray with a sweet smile and nods to him, the things are arranged in such a simple manner that he can see they are meant for the two of them, a mug of sweet-smelling juice and the lump of bread.

Quickly discarding the tray against the wall once Cayden has taken what he is offered, Mimosa sits down besides him with her own mug and bread, showing him to dip the dried bread into the juice before eating. The nine-fingered man is not late with following her lead, just like he said he would earlier. He meant for more troublesome tasks, but this is a good enough start.
Taking a large bite without giving it a second thought, he chews and swallows before smiling and nodding to her. Pleasant taste and a good use of drying bread, the juice tastes of herbs and mixed fruits, things the forest have to offer all together in one mug. Quietly contemplating that these creatures are oddly similar to humans in many ways besides their appearance. Surely a good thing, makes it easier for them to interact.

The two finish their early meal in silence, sitting close to one another with the birds singing in the leaves above and the sounds of the village getting more and more busy out there.
Any walk through the village will be trouble, they both know it, only one of them fears it.
Once he has completely emptied the mug and his bread is all gone, Cayden begins to look around for his things, shirt and belts at least. Clinging into his shirt while Mimosa gathers the things she just brought upstairs, he soon accompanies her downstairs to be with her every step on the way.

She makes herself ready in just moments, she does not need many things. Soon her key turns in the door again, opening it, closing it, then hanging the rough metal object around her neck on the leather string. She looks around, taking a deep breath while seeking herself close to the scarred human. She does not fear the glances of others, she does not fear whatever questions she will get or any whispering behind her back. What she fears is the judgement of the elders.

To be continued.