Ashfall: City of Shade (UNDER EDITING)

Chapter 5 | The Dinner

ENOCH

"Thank you, Cephine."

She pats Greta's blanket. Her regal honey-colored eyes meet mine as she turns away from the sleeping krexbin.

The limpnut squeaks, watching the two of us from its golden jeweled cage. The very object is quite valuable. Not as valuable as Greta's new clout bed. I don't know how Adler managed to get a hold of one.

Cephine has a look around the small space composing Greta's room. The hospice keepers bought her some new plants. Unfortunately, there are no windows so I don't think they will live long in here.

"She's healing much faster on it," I mumble out loud. "Do you know how much he paid for it?"

"Fifty years worth of our city's taxes. Such furniture items are quite rarities. It was originally made for noyk, but my dear had the sides crafted down to be level as a normal bed."

"Why isn't she staying in the palace?"

"Family issues...she isn't of the family."

My father's wife sets down a potted plant.

"Oh. Do you truly intend to marry her?"

"I'm not certain."

Greta sits up, she looks around the room while rubbing her eyes.

"Did I miss dinner?" she asks.

Cephine waits by the door.

"No, we're here to take you to my father's temple. Adler's hosting it over there. We can go in the courtyard afterward too if you want."

Greta smiles brightly while opening the cage beside me. She picks up the blue limpnut. It crawls up her arm. When it reaches the top of her shoulder, it curls up into a ball.

She pets its body and then clips its solid gold chained leash on.

Cephine lets Greta walk ahead first. Adler told me yesterday she had woken while he took a turn staying the night at the hospice. He must have given her all these presents and introduced Cephine while I was at the palace.

Greta's hair has always been thin and wiry. I didn't notice how many patches of thinning hair she has on the back of her head though as she walks ahead of me. Or could it just be bedhead? She hasn't combed it.

What does she think of when she sees other healthy women?

"Greta, aren't you forgetting your shoes, dear?" Cephine calls after her.

"My god doesn't mind if I don't wear them," She gasps as the limpnut wakens, "Oh!" It leaps down from her shoulder and onto the ground. The tiny little animal races forward, earning a glare from one of the hospice keepers as we walk by. "Calm down, Fluff. Slow down," Greta orders the untamed desert rat.

Essentially, that is what a limpnut equates to. I wonder why Adler thought it would be a good gift for her. It does not have the capacity to be trained.

By the time we make it to the temple, Adler has already made the night. His fire pit is burning brightly and lightens the entirety of the open space of his temple. Torches line the columns for extra lightening. My advisors remain on the outside of the room talking amongst themselves and our guards.

Adler sits on his almighty chair. I thought he told me has going to get rid of it when I came to rule.

"Hello, my high achieved son," he acknowledges me while standing up from his chair. He holds his hand out, gesturing for me to take a seat on the old stone throne. "Have a seat. It is yours now, after all."

"Mine?" I scoff. "I don't want your temple, Adler."

Greta's limpnut runs between us. Its gold leash drags behind it on the floor. He watches, bemused, as Greta hops over it, keeping it in place with her body forming the barrier beyond the path of escape.

The creature makes a round of squeaks before leaping out from under her where it lands on my tunic.

"Come back!" she yells. Her voice softens as she looks up at me seeing her pet jumping on the end of my white tunic. Little paw prints remain as she lifts it off with both hands. "Sorry, Enoch."

"It's okay!" I assure her.

The limpnut returns to her shoulder. She looks next at my father.

"Hi, Adler."

"Hello," he greets quietly. He frowns down at the creature when it dodges his attempt to pet it with a defiant shriek if I knew any better. "Fluff, is it?"

Greta nods, her teeth appearing a little grey as she tries to hide her shy smile. A beautiful pink tints her cheeks as she backs away from his scowl. Some of her hair remains fallen over her flushed face. The limpnut stands on its haunches when Adler picks up a grape from a server by his side and feeds it.

Her face lights up. "It likes them!"

"It's just going to make it want more-" I begin to say.

The desert rat proceeds to jump on the server's plate. Adler picks it up by pinching the fur of its neck and swiftly moves its fatty body back into Greta's waiting hands.

He surprises me when he looks my way.

"Why don't you go play with it outside?" he suggests.

Greta wipes at the dark maroon staining her lips. Wine? How much has she to drink? Looking tipsy, she stumbles back ramming right into the chest of Brometheous.

Brommy steadies her by the shoulder.

He waves at Adler making a face when the limpnut bites at his tunic. My father offers a stiff smile as he watches Brommy walk off with her. The fairly young war advisor hands Greta more grapes for the animal. He takes her by the arm making jokes of something in her ear and sending her into a fit of giggles.

Has he always been so friendly with her?

Adler wipes at a strange long rope of green from behind his tunic. A shell hangs from its end. It swings across his tunic as he goes to approach them. He stops short though, rubbing beneath the collar of his tunic as they make it underneath the veranda outside his temple.

His new wife's voice raises our attention.

"There you two are."

☁️