Devilish Uncertainty Ch. 01

Ten minutes later, she was on the streets of Lek, Maruk and his brother left behind to fix their airship. She breathed a sigh of relief, and sat down on the edge of one of the roads, her head in her hands. She knew that the dangerous part was over. She'd made it, all she really needed to do now was drag herself across the finish line to. She'd get there, but she just... needed a moment to gather her thoughts. Well, to gather her thoughts and to actually come up with a plan or a destination.

"You alright there?" a thin, flutey voice asked her. She looked up at a short, stocky Astral elf. She had a basket full of fruit hanging off one arm and a young child holding on to her other hand..

"I, uhh..." She stared at the woman blankly for a few moments. "No. No I'm not."

"I figured as much. Is it your Husband? Boyfriend?" She sounded sad, but also practiced and familiar in a strange way.

Daliyah looked up at her, a tad confused. "Is... what my husband?"

"You've got a nasty looking black eye there, honey. Did he hit you?"

Daliyah put her hand up to her face. She must have lost the illusion covering that up. When had that happened? Had Maruk noticed, and just not cared, or had it slipped from her just very recently? She had no way of knowing, and it was too late to do anything about it now. "Not my husband, but... something like that."

The woman sighed softly. It was a distressed noise, one of empathy and compassion, and Daliyah wasn't sure how she was supposed to react to it. "I know it's hard to get away, sometimes, but... Maybe you should get out of the city, for a little? I'm sure the Rakshasa Embassy would help you, if it's that bad."

Daliyah blinked with her one good eye. She hadn't realized that there was an embassy here. "Would they... help me?" she asked.

"Doesn't hurt to ask. You know, we're going in that direction right now, you can tag along if you want."

"That would... That'd be nice, thank you." Daliyah smiled in relief, and rose to her feet. She felt the subtle nagging of the illusion she was still wearing, the magic demanding that she maintain it. It was annoying, and she honestly just wanted to be able to walk around naked without people bothering her, but she knew that wouldn't happen.

"What's your name?" The girl asked her as they started walking through the city. She was walking backwards, her arm twisted so that she could still hold her mother's hand and look at Daliyah who was lagging behind the two of them.

"Daliyah," she answered with a small smile, not really sure what else to do. She'd never interacted with a child before.

"Pretty! Kitties have the prettiest names!" The girl giggled excitedly, giving Daliyah a huge smile.

"Sweetie, they're Rakshasa, don't call them kitties, they don't like that. Sorry, miss, she's young and doesnt know better." The woman gave her an apologetic look and offered her a smile.

"It's... no problem?" Daliyah blinked. She'd been called cat, kitty, pussy, kitten, and all sorts of things pretty much all her life and never thought twice about it. Rakshasa didn't like being called these things? She wondered if maybe she should care, too.

Less than ten minutes later, the woman had pointed her at a building down the street, and led her daughter inside their house. It looked like a miniature palace, a tall building made out of gray stone that filled her with a sense of unplaceable nostalgia.

The guard at the door was of course another Rakshasa, like her. He was a little bit taller than her, with spotty, dark orange colours. He was reclining against the wall, his body relaxed. When she got a little nearer his eyes flickered towards her, a curious expression in them. She didn't quite get within ten meters of him before his nostrils flared, and his eyebrows shot up in alarm.

"Hey!" He shouted, bolting up into a straight posture. A quartet of phantasmal swords sprung into existence next to him and fanned out around him, pointing at her threateningly. Daliyah stopped in her tracks, raising her hands in an act of de-escalation. "Drop the illusions before you take even one more step towards the door," he instructed.

Daliyah was a bit surprised, but it made sense. Kitty had always had a bit of an odd scent about her after she'd started putting illusions on her bands. With a shrug, she dropped her own illusions, letting herself stand naked in the streets, still wearing the bands and collar of a slave. The guard's eyes went wide, and the weapons faltered a little bit, their tips pointing down towards the ground.

"I.. wha..." He spluttered, blushing and looking away. "This some kind of joke? Who set you up to... what's that collar?" He snuck several glances at her as he spoke.

"I'm an escaped slave. Can you help me?" She asked, ignoring the question, since the answer was pretty obvious.

"Oh. Yeah, sure, come here, we'll get you some clothes." He waved her forward, his face still a bright crimson colour as he opened the door and yelled at someone inside to bring a set of clothes. She approached, and he let her inside where another Rakshasa in the same uniform held out a cloak for her.

"Here, wear this for now. What's your name?" The other one asked her, a soft expression on her face.

"Daliyah. Daliyah Talla." She answered, not hesitating for a second. The two security officers frowned at her, and then gave each other a worried look.

"...Talla?" The first one repeated.

"Yes?" Daliyah asked, confused.

"I... err... I'm gonna go find the ambassador. You find... Miss Talla someplace to stay, alright?" The second officer gave her a long look, and then took off at a brisk trot.

She was taken to a little bedroom that was one of the nicest rooms she'd ever seen. Not as big as Master's or Momma Rugana's rooms, but it was tastefully decorated, clean, and tidy. Most importantly, there were no gods damned animal pelts on the wall.

The officer who'd come with her gave her a change of clothes, and while he didn't leave her alone, he did turn his back so that she could change. Daliyah couldn't care less about people seeing her naked, but she didn't make a fuss about it and went about putting the clothes on. It was actually a rather difficult task, she hadn't worn clothes since she was a kitten, and the soft fabric felt oppressive and restrictive against her skin. The pants she got on just fine, but she struggled with the tunic and eventually growled at it in frustration, turning to her escort for help.

"Can you show me how this works?" She asked, annoyed.

The officer turned, a little startled, and let out a tiny, breathy chuckle. "Uhh... You've got your head in the arm... here, let me help." He came over to her and twisted the garment a little, and it slid on smoothly. Daliyah squirmed from within the confines of the cloth; it still felt uncomfortable and oppressive.

"Thank you. It's been over a century since I wore clothes," she said with a sigh, running her hands over the fabric in a vain attempt to get it to feel 'right.'

"Century?" What's that?" He asked, frowning in confusion.

Daliyah frowned back at him for a moment, before something stirred in her memory. Kitty had been like that too, she was always confused at how days and years and, just how time in general seemed to work. She'd always assumed it was just because Kitty was a little bit of a ditz but maybe there was more to it.

"It's one hundred years," She answered, giving him a small smile, trying not to be patronizing. She wondered about that. Should she try not to be patronizing? How was she supposed to act around these people? What would they expect of her?

Recognition sparked in his eyes when she used the word 'years'. "Oh! PriMat time. Is that where you were being held? We measure in Celestial Cycles here."

Celestial Cycles. That did sound vaguely familiar to her, actually. Before she could answer, a knock came at the door, and her escort turned sharply towards it. He bid the person outside to come in, and the door opened, revealing the other security officer and another Rakshasa female. Daliyah's eyes widened when she saw the person who had to be the 'Ambassador.' She was dressed exquisitely in a long green dress with the sides split at her hips. It hugged her subtle chest closely, and had two short sleeves leaving most of her arms bare with a jeweled silver armlet on display. Her colours were pure, snowy white, and her eyes were a striking jade green that she recognized. She looked like a taller, curvier, more mature version of Kitty.

"Goddess' Mercy," She hissed softly when she saw Daliyah, her eyes snapping to the heavy iron collar on her neck. She stepped past the security guard and walked right up to Daliyah. She placed her hand delicately on the back of her neck and looked at the collar, an expression halfway between fury and mortification on her face. "Is that locked? Turn around for me, dear." Daliyah was a little stunned, but did what the woman asked. The Ambassador tugged a little on the collar from behind, and let out an annoyed 'tsk' when it didn't budge. "Thais, go into town and find a blacksmith who can break this lock and get this thing off of her."

"Yes, Ambassador," The first security officer bowed to the regal woman. "She has bands on her arms and legs too, I saw them when she, erm... when she got here. I'll let them know we need those off too?"

The woman frowned at the officer, and then placed her hand on Daliyah's wrist, running her fingers up the length of the shirt until she encountered the remnants of the magic-suppressing band. She let out an annoyed grunt when she felt it. "Yes, these are coming off, too." She scowled at the offending piece of metal. "These are the magic suppressing kind, yes?" she asked, looking Daliyah in the eye.

"Used to be. They're just metal now, the runes are... We got rid of them. It's why I'm alive." Daliyah looked down at the bands as she spoke. She'd been in such a hurry to proceed with her 'next step' that she hadn't thought about it that way. Kitty had saved her life.

The woman sighed, and rubbed her spot just above the bridge of her nose with her thumb. Daliyah smiled a little, she'd seen Kitty do that a few times. "Fucking slavers, honestly. What was your name? Where are you from?"

"My name is Daliyah. I don't know where I'm from."

"Family name? I can find out where you're from with that."

"Talla." Daliyah answered without hesitation, and realized immediately afterwards that using Kitty's last name here might not exactly work out the way it had with Captain Maruk.

The woman looked at her, frowning silently for several moments and studying Daliyah's expression like there was some kind of hidden meaning there that was waiting to be deciphered "Are you... joking?" She finally asked, her voice clearly not finding any humour in the situation.

"No, it's my friend's name, I decided to use it. I just answered without thinking." Daliyah shrugged, her expression neutral. There was so much information here in this exchange. So much nuance and hidden meaning but she didn't know what to do with any of it.

Daliyah's answer didn't seem to clear up the woman's questions, she just frowned deeper and looked even more confused. "...Allow me to introduce myself, I am Lady Talvizsa Talla. I am the Ambassador of the Unified Rakshasa Families, here in Lek."

"Oh. Do you have a daughter, or maybe a niece? Maybe she's my friend, Kitty." Daliyah smiled a little, pleasantly surprised to have stumbled across a member of Kitty's family. She wondered why Kitty never told her that she was from an important family.

Talvizsa let out the longest, most exasperated sigh Daliyah had ever heard. She walked over to a nearby chair, and slumped down into it, grumbling to herself and rubbing that spot above the bridge of her nose. Her left ear twitched. "Lamiran, find someone to bring me some alcohol," she said with a sigh, and the other guard in the room nodded wordlessly and left the two of them alone. She spoke after a long pause with a sense of finality in her voice that said that she knew what the answer was. "I have a son who probably told you he's a girl. Looks like me, but with little black stripes in his colours?"

"Yeah, that's her." Daliyah frowned. If Kitty had told her mother she was a girl, why was she acting this way?

"Kitty. Is that what he told you his name was? Goddess above, what is wrong with that boy. Where is he?" She was starting to sound a little upset now, and was glaring at Daliyah past the hand on her forehead.

"Well, Kitty is what her Owner named her. I haven't seen her for a while, but she was in the Singing Spears' capital in the Fifty Clans." Daliyah kept her calm as she answered, but she was beginning to suspect that Kitty didn't talk much about her Mother not because she didn't remember, but because of... well, this.

Talvizsa's arm snapped down to her side, and her eyes went wide. "Owner!? He's... an Orc's slave?"

"Last I saw her, she was," Daliyah frowned a little at Talvizsa's insistence on calling Kitty 'he.' She doubted that she'd make a lot of progress if she picked a fight over it, but she knew how much it bothered Kitty to be called that.

"That Devil, he told us that he'd been grabbed by Orcs... Fuck." Talvizsa groaned, closing her eyes. "Unbelievable..." she muttered.

Daliyah went over to the bed and sat down, spending several moments fiddling with the clothes that were being weird and bunching up in places. She waited patiently for Talvizsa to continue her thought process, or to end the conversation. She knew better than to interrupt people like Talvizsa when they were like this. Don't upset the Masters or the Mistresses when they're muttering to themselves. She realized what she was doing, as Talvizsa was finishing gathering up her thoughts. She didn't like it. Those were Dellie's thoughts. Dellie's survival techniques. Fuck that, Dellie was gone and Daliyah would die before she let herself become Dellie again.

"Daliyah, I'm going to need to go talk to some people. Can I ask you to keep this detail about my son between us?" Talvizsa finally spoke, looking over at her, a resigned, drained expression on her face.

"What're you gonna do about her?" Daliyah asked. Her voice and her hands trembled a little. She was angry. What was she supposed to do with anger? What was the best way to put it to use?

"I have no idea. The family has moved on without he- without him. Felida rose to the occasion and she's been incredibly capable. But, I can't just pretend everything's okay, if Lin'qa is... ugh." Talvizsa had a gloomy expression, like she'd just been given bad news. It didn't make any sense to Daliyah, she'd just been told her child was alive.

"...Her name is Lin'qa?" Daliyah asked.

Talvizsa looked over at her with a tiny frown. "Do you really have to indulge him with that nonsense about being a girl? It's not good for him, you know."

Finally, Daliyah frowned right back at Talvizsa. "The Orcess who owns her thinks she knows what's good for her, too. I knew them both pretty well." Momma Rugana, Daliyah almost called her that, but she managed to stop herself before she called her that. She was just Rugana, though, and what right did she have to own Lin'qa? This was all so confusing, Daliyah wasn't sure what to make of it all.

Talvizsa was quiet for a moment, before she let out a sigh, looking away from Daliyah. "Alright, whatever. I'll come by to talk later. Someone will drop off some food, and we'll get a blacksmith to get those irons off you as soon as we can. Get some rest, dear."

After she left, Daliyah smiled a little, laying down on the bed. "Lin'qa..." she murmured to herself as she stared up at the ceiling. She'd known that Kitty couldn't have been her real name, but she'd never thought about it past that.

"Nice to meet you, Lin'qa. I'm Daliyah."

***

Lin'qa felt bad to be doing this behind Laniwyn's back. She hadn't told her friend anything about what her real intentions were. She hadn't even really meant to travel to Lek with her, but when she'd told her she was going, she'd just... come along. Laniwyn had said that she needed a change of scenery herself, and that Lin'qa needed someone to keep an eye on her. Well, she was here, doing this, so maybe she was right about that last part.

The Tenth Hell was closed, and would be for another hour or two. As her hand touched the black metal door, she paused, and her gaze wandered. She could see the roof of the estate she'd spend all of ten minutes in, all those years ago. Her family wasn't there anymore. She'd asked where the Rakshasa embassy was, and found out that her family had bought some land on the other side of the city. Still, it was disquieting to see,like a ghost from her past.

She pushed the door open quietly, and slipped inside. It smelled... clean inside. She'd never noticed that, the first time she'd been in here. Part of her wondered if Go'a and his crew would be watching the building. They'd snatch her back up again, like she was in a time loop. It Wouldn't be so bad, if they sold her back to Momma. She could have another forty years with her, that way. But Momma was gone, and Go'a probably was too.

We're closed. Come back in an hour," The fiery voice rumbled from behind the bar.

"I know. I saw the sign." Lin'qa spoke softly as she closed the door behind her and approached the bar. She got close, but not so close that the big Devil wouldn't be able to see her; the bar was taller than she was, after all.

Zhrek'ahalle swivelled, his crimson eyes going wide. "You...! You're..." He moved with a speed and grace that seemed like it should be impossible for a being of his size, rounding the bar and kneeling down before her. "Meph's tit. that night. The ambush. I tried to contact your family about the kidnapping but they refused to listen to me."

"Yeah, I kind of figured. Bet mother was convinced that I just ran away, huh?" Lin'qa sighed softly. It felt weird to call Talvizsa her mother. She hadn't thought of the woman that way in almost four decades. Three and a half celestial cycles. She was going to have to stop thinking in PriMat time. They didn't measure time in days and years here. They used... a sensible calendar... She felt a tear running down her cheek when she remembered all the arguments she'd had with Momma over that stupid calendar.

"She did. I tried to save you. Took one of the brutes apart but they hit me with envenomed crossbow quarrels and scattered. I was sick for weeks." Zhrek'ahalle sighed, sounding like he was reliving his failure.

"I know," Lin'qa smiled and rested her hand on the massive Devil's knee. The rough leathery skin barely felt like living tissue under her fingertips. "I came here to thank you. And to apologize for not paying my tab."

Zhrek'ahalle snorted, two little plumes of flame darting towards her face but dissipating before she even felt the heat. "You've been a captive this entire time? I think we can consider your tab settled, little cat. I am glad you escaped. Your fate has been a thorn in my heart for a long time."

"I didn't escape. Momma died, and they let me go free. Said it's what she would have wanted, and I think they're right." Lin'qa sniffled sadly. She still missed Rugana terribly, and the short time since her passing was nowhere near enough time for the hole in her life to heal.

"Hmm... 'tis only natural to grow accustomed to one's captors, little kitten. Do not feel bad, it is a survival mechanism. Are you going to the Palace? I insist on escorting you there if so." He sounded a little off-put by her confession, but she didn't care. She wouldn't be ashamed of the time she'd spent at Momma's side.

"No. My sister set up the whole thing. Tipped off the kidnappers. She's been stealing the family's property and selling it for herself. I want to take her down but I can't just go back to my family and snap my fingers. She's spent the last four celestial cycles cementing herself as the family heir. I've supposedly spent that time gallivanting around the PriMat or something." She felt a dark pit of determination grow in her stomach as she spoke. It felt so odd to be doing this. To be taking direction in her life, guiding herself on a path. She didn't even know if this was the path she wanted, but it was the only thing she had. There was nothing else in her life, now that Momma was gone. "Do you know any Devils who would be willing to accept an exchange of services? I need a shapeshifter."