Looking at the sky, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sun's rays warming my cold body. It caressed my skin, and I could feel the first hints of warmth tickling me through my armor. What was left of the stone wall I was sitting on was doing its best to rob me of that heat, but my ass was already numb, so I didn't care.

Minutes, maybe hours, passed as I ignored everything happening around me. Then a voice broke through my first moments of forced bliss since… I was in the medico ward.

Mood crashing to the dark depths of hell, I opened my eyes and focused on the one talking. "—ays to come and join her," said a beastkin in a polite but professionally demanding tone.

As I stood, the woman — and the tails, ears, and claws aside, she was a woman — appeared to be a fox beastkin like Kanieta. Though she had two tails and was a different color, her shoulder-length hair and tails were gray with white streaks running through them before turning all white at the tails' tips. While her clothes were tight enough to hug her figure, there were so many layers of cloth that seeing anything but the general outline of what lay beneath was impossible. There were plenty of hints, but teasing hints were all there were… Which suits her.

I followed the swaying hips until they stopped, and I had to walk up next to them. Eyes moving past the gray beastkin, I saw Kanieta walking away from a group of older, scarred beastkin men and women. Just from looking at how they moved and constantly scanned the area, I could tell they were strong warriors. If the deference those around them gave as they passed or issued orders was any judge, they were also respected or at least feared. Which usually goes hand in hand with competence… Stupidly overpowered abilities and competent leadership. Fuck.

Giving a slight nod to the woman, I acknowledged Kanieta, even if I didn't want to. She was someone of status among her people, after all. Certain professional standards had to be upheld if her plan was going to work, and I wasn't going to be the one to undermine them.

If there was one thing I know about people of power, it was to never disrespect them… especially when you are surrounded by their bloodthirsty subordinates. Behind a closed door or at the top of a cliff, where you could shout insults at them while alone before one side disappears, well, that was an entirely different matter.

Even with my… most sincere and flamboyant greeting, there were still some growls of annoyance and creaking of wood and leather as the nearby beastkin squeezed the hilts of their weapons. Not that I cared. I was still of half a mind to try and kill her. Or see how far I could push their hospitality until they killed me just to spite them.

I was, if only for a moment, important to them. Who else would they find that would be able to relay a message to the legion and have it be as trusted as me? I doubted they would find another living among all the prisoners in his cluster fuck. And that wasn't mentioning all of my recent achievements, adding weight to my words… Then again, they could just grab a random legionary, and their word would probably mean more as I was an elf. Still, fuck'em.

She killed Bark… I thought, causing a spike of pain in my heart. Maybe not directly, but it was her fault all the same. Anyone can tell she is in command. I squinted my eyes as I glared at her, a flare of anger steadily rising within me, making me reconsider if I could kill her and get away.

But if what she said is true, Bark would rather die than be the cause of so much death. She didn't like to see anything in pain, so a war on her behalf would be… I forced myself to relax as my body had unconsciously prepared itself to lunge forward. Sighing, I flexed my hands, telling myself that Bark wouldn't want me to wallow. The thoughts didn't help as much as I would have wished.

Anger still smoldered inside of me, but it was tamped down by even more regret and grief. Everything was intermingled. I didn't know where to start with processing it or even if I should.

Not to mention I was just too damn tired while being positive that this wasn't the time or place to look into those feelings. Even a narcissist would have to admit there were bigger things than one person's emotions going on. I shoved the thoughts away and did my… duty. Why am I always putting duty before everything?

As Kanieta and the two burly beastkins behind her stopped before me, I saluted her fist to the chest and even went so far as to give her a slight bow. "Ohh, Ancestor! You're a stunning picture of beauty and elegance. To be in your presence is a gift in itself. This unworthy one is humbled to stand before you and be given this most important of tasks, which came directly from your seductive lips," I proclaimed as Kanieta opened her mouth to speak.

I heard a snort of amusement to my side and looked over in time to see the gray fox lady smooth her face back into indifference, but her eyes danced with teasing mockery as they looked at Kanieta. Around me, louder growls sounded after a silence settled over the area.

It wasn't an awkward silence. I knew those quite well. No, this was the silence of subordinates waiting to see if they should be offended on their leader's behalf. An offense that usually took the form of physical intervention.

The growls and grunts of anger from the dozens of beastkins watching the spectacle grew louder as Kanieta said nothing. It got to the point a tiny shiver of fear ran down my spine as I realized I might have gone too far.

"Quiet!" Kanieta shouted, cutting off the growing noise of the on-lookers. "If I take offense to something, I will handle it myself!" at her words, she threw a look at me, her eyes filled with the knowledge of what she almost let happen, and then looked at a vaguely familiar large bear of a beastkin, who was so massive he coul— …Oh. Duh. The bearkin's fur looked weird, as it was slightly singed and was sticking up in random places.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I didn't even do it…" He grumbled, fingering a patch of charred fur, but thanks to the beastkin's size, his grumble was so loud I could hear it ten feet away.

"But you let it happen!" Kanieta snapped with righteous indignation before quickly changing her tone to innocence, "Besides, you act like I caused a bolt of lightning to hit you." She was the picture of virtue for a second before softly adding, throwing another look at me, "And I have other plans for you."

The hair on my arms stood on end, and my instincts told me I needed to run to escape the coming storm. I stepped to the side and noticed that I wasn't the target of the boiling rage. It was the… now suspiciously taciturn… maid? What is she… Now that I looked, she was too perfect.

It's an act! I mentally shouted, my scrutiny of the woman rising at the realization. I watched the vixen whether Kanieta's rage as if it didn't exist. No, like she had felt it many times before and was unfazed. With everyone's attention focused on the gray foxkin — who I no longer wanted to be next to — I shuffled to the side a few more steps, putting some distance between us.

"Yeah," the bear agreed, in mock belief and understanding, "The only bolt that missed the Tirad struck me. Right, makes sense…"

"Hush," Kanieta said, waving off his, in my opinion, reasonable suspicion and anger.

Blinking, I looked past Kanieta as something strange caught my attention, "What happened to your tail?" I blurted out. Instead of a rich red tail with a white tip, the white was all gone, like it was cut off. I even saw what might be the flesh of the last few inches of her bald tail.

I hadn't noticed before, as I was focused on her story. And now that I thought about it, her tails were surprisingly… still. The whole time we talked, they remained nearly motionless. Not that I knew her long enough to be a judge if that was weird.

Beastkin society was not something I knew about. I have, however, lived with and interacted with women my whole life. Bringing up how bad they currently looked or, worse yet, that they had a bad hair day was not something that went over well… the few times I had done it.

Mentioning a beastwoman's patchy tail seemed to go along those same lines. The stiffening of Kanieta's shoulders and how everyone was now either looking away to hide their smirks or gazing at me with expressions of horror-filled interest and, most of all, the snort of juvenile joy from the gray vixen next to me told me it was the correct assumption.

Opening my mouth to backtrack, Kanieta turned and smiled at me. It was cold, chilling, really, and the sympathy she had in her eyes when she found me next to the medico ward was gone.

"Oh? Is there something wrong with one of my tails?" I kept my mouth clamped shut. The question was a damn trap, and everyone knew it. "I'm sorry that while enacting my strategy to undermine the Crescent Moon Faction and taking a fortress that hasn't fallen since its founding a millennia ago, I couldn't protect my tail from getting singed. That's such a failure on my part. Oh, how can I even get out of bed in the morning without dying? And thank you so much for feeling the need to point it out to me in front of everyone, as I am just incapable of noticing it myself." No one said anything as Kanieta sucked in a breath of air after her rant, the silence becoming more awkward by the second. Not that someone would be stupid enough to tal—

"Well… you didn't notice for almost ten minutes." The maid said finally in a dry, indifferent tone. "Who knows what you will notice on your own or need to have pointed out to you."

"Is it my fault your fire only burns what you want, so I didn't feel the heat?" Kanieta snapped back.

"My fire?" The untrustworthy maid said, feigning shock, "Who said it was mine? Who knows how many traps and spells were cast last night and throughout the forest?" Kanieta just continued to look at the other fox with a flat expression. "…And if it was mine, I would only retaliate after an unprovoked attack."

Kanieta turned to me with a huff and flip of her fiery hair, making her hair land so it would block the other beastkin from her line of sight. At that moment, the gray fox stuck her tongue out and made a mocking face, which caused me to burst out with a small, sharp laugh. I saw Kanieta track my eyes and squint at me in annoyance before moving on without saying anything.

As if none of the last few minutes had happened, Kanieta straightened her back, and an almost noble air formed around her… Though it was somewhat undermined in my eyes, not that anyone around me was looking surprised at recent events. "Do you remember our message, Scout Green? Why the Kin have done what we have?" She waited a moment after I nodded before asking, "Will you deliver the message?"

I considered what she asked. Seconds ticked by, but I had already decided. I would do my duty… like always. I was just making her sweat.

Finally, I answered, "Yes."

"Good," Kanieta said, breaking out into a smile that lit up her face. "Then, if you would be so kind." she gestured down the street with her arm, and the wall of beastkins stepped apart, creating a path for me.

Walking down the street, I moved through the immediate gathering of beastkins. Minutes passed as I continued my relaxed stroll, finally arriving at the back ranks of another formation of beastkins blocking the street.

"Move your asses, fur brains!" Shouted a deep voice. Like a wind blowing through the grass, the beastkin parted. As I walked into their ranks, it closed behind me after a few steps, creating a little bubble for me. As I passed them, the beastkin gave me sidelong looks, but few were filled with rage or scorn. Most had looks of curiosity. Step after step, I passed through the ranks of beastkin until suddenly, I was standing in the open.

Ten yards of space now stood between me and those legionaries captured in the battle. Hundreds, maybe even a couple thousand, of exhausted and wounded men filled the street. But even now, they stood firm, with those in the best shape standing at the edges, protecting those in the center. None had weapons, as the beastkin had clearly taken them, but they were still alive and still ready to fight.

Closing the space between us, I casually looked to the roofs of the adjacent buildings and alleys, seeing more beastkin standing guard. They silently stood, eyes locked on me as I moved. Stopping a body length from the line of legionaries warily watching me, I turned to a centurion I saw in the line and smiled. "You and your men are lucky, Centurion. The beastkins are going to let us go to deliver a message and a political statement."

"…Crows, take us," He said in despair and disbelief after only a moment of silence, "the savages have learned politics? How will we be able to kill the cretins now?" As he voiced the word politics, it was filled with so much venom that it sounded like the curse it was, but the statement caused a ripple of laughter to flow through the ranks as they released some of the stress their impending deaths had caused.

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