~Discovery~

Another day’a barely scrapin’ by. Most’a th’ less scrupulous types got ‘emselves ousted from th’ temple knights after archbishop Thordan went an’ got himself killed, an’ with ‘em went th’coin I’d lift from their pockets. All’at to say, I’d had t’focus on my smithin’ more an’ more jus’ t’stay afloat lately.

Money’d gotten tight enough that I’d even been roamin’ th’ ice wastes west’a th’ city jus’ t’ try an’ save some coin by findin’ scraps’a material to melt down. So that’s where I was, yeah? Wand’rin’ ‘round, diggin’ through th’ snow and rock in hopes that there’d be any dregs’a usable material underneath. As I was siftin’ through a kinna big rock pile, I saw a weird-lookin’ gauntlet pokin’ up from ‘neath th’ rubble.

I yanked on it as ‘ard as I could, but it didn’t wanna come loose, maybe I’d found a full suit’a armor? That’d be good. I cleared away more’a th’rocks pinnin’ everythin’ underneath, ‘til ‘ventually, I noticed some flesh at th’ end of th’gauntlet. I cleared off a few more stones, an’ it looked like th’ gauntlet was attached to an arm, not bein’ worn on an arm. I scrambled t’get rid of th’rest of th’ rubble, an’ ‘neath it all was th’ body of some odd woman.

She kinna looked like a Miqo’te, but ‘er tail was bigger’n any I’d seen on a catfolk, she ‘ad oddly triangular ears, ‘er legs ‘ad red fur all over ‘em from th’ thigh down, and what flesh’a ‘ers was exposed ‘ad these queer-lookin’ dull-red markings all over. Didn’t ‘ear ‘er breathin’ or ‘er ‘eart beatin’, but I did faintly feel some aether radiatin’ off’a ‘er body.

Doubt she’s alive, but it’d take a fool t’not bring ‘er back t’th’city.

So that’s jus’ what I did. City chirurgeons’d probably toss th’ body if she turned out t’be dead an’ that’d be a waste, so I’d draped my spare coat over ‘er and lugged ‘er back to my own place. Did get a few weird looks on th’ way back, not that I cared.

I tossed ‘er onta th’ bed in my guest room t’ give ‘er a proper look over. Definitely not breathin’, an’ definitely no ‘eartbeat. Though, despite that, an’ ‘er body bein’ ice cold, she did ‘ave a pulse.

Those markings all over ‘er were shallow grooves, an’ she ‘ad some light bruises an’ cuts all over th’ surface of ‘er flesh, but I didn’t feel any broken bones or anythin’. Torso was good, legs were good, an’ th’ joints on ‘er arms an’ ‘ands moved smooth enough.

I flipped ‘er over to check out ‘er back, an’ I saw some kinna narrow, deeper grooves makin’ a little square on th’ back of ‘er neck. I felt around ‘em until I got a fingernail under one side an’ flipped th’ square’a flesh up. ‘Neath it was a small recess in ‘er body with a little black metal panel at th’ bottom. On th’ left of th’ panel was somethin’ that looked like a port, with a little icon of a lightnin’ bolt above it. Right side ‘ad four glassy-lookin’ bars with a red droplet symbol above ‘em. One’a th’ bars ‘ad th’ tiniest sliver’a red light at th’ end of it.

That meant to represent blood or somethin’? Iunno…

Th’lightnin’ side I ‘ad a better guess about. Knew I ‘ad some lightnin’ crystals in my storeroom, so I went off an’ grabbed a few to bring back. Right, then, I sat ‘er up ‘gainst th’ headboard an’ grabbed one’a th’ crystals. Held it close to that port on th’back’a ‘er neck an’ tried to coax th’ aether outta it. Sure‘nough, aether started flowin’ from th’ crystal inta her body. ‘Course, jus’ th’ one crystal wasn’t enough to do anythin’, so I picked up another.

Took a few of ‘em, but ‘ventually, th’ lines on ‘er body flashed dim purple for a moment an’ I felt some real thin bits’a aether wrappin’ ‘round me. Finally gettin’ somewhere. I backed off a little, an’ th’ woman started movin’ a bit. She grabbed one’a my arms an’ brought it close to ‘er face, then…

She opened ‘er mouth wide, an’ drove a razor-sharp fang inta my arm, hard enough to pierce my scales an’ draw blood. I was too stunned to react, so she jus’ kept drinkin’ my blood like ‘er life depended on it. Few more seconds passed ‘fore I finally came t’ my senses an’ pushed ‘er off’a my arm with my other one ‘fore leapin’ back and usin’ some low-grade healin’ magicks to close up th’ wound jus’ enough to stop th’ bleedin’.

Gah, that’s gonna leave a mark.

Woman on my bed gave a dead-eyed stare straight forward for a bit. Now that ‘er eyes were open, I could see that their irises were a glassy white, an’ it looked like they were completely glazed over with cataracts.

Few more seconds, an’ th’ woman’s markings went bright red ‘fore fading down to a more subtle glow. Looked like she finally came to ‘er senses too. Wiped some’a th’ blood offa ‘er mouth an’ started starin’ straight at her ‘ands.

Yer kiddin’, right? Did I say that out loud? Nah, couldn’t’ve.

Jus’ as I thought that, she turned to look straight at me—er, well, she was really only lookin’ in my general direction—an’ opened ‘er mouth as if she was gonna say somethin’, but she didn’t– couldn’t make any noise. Well anyway, th’look on ‘er face made it seem like she was afraid. But ‘fraid of what? She’s th’one who bit me. Though…as I was lookin’ at ‘er, my mind did wander a bit…

If ye ignore th’ bloodstains ‘round her mouth, she’s actually pretty cute. Gah, what kinna nonsense was I thinkin’?

Ah, but I’m nothin’ more’n a fool.

…Eh? You’re still here? Go on then, I ain’t got anythin’ more t’say right now.