Prejudice

With their friendship now solidified, Kye hoisted the spear under his arm onto his shoulder. He looked at Nadiya and smiled before motioning with his free hand to the path she walked down to reach the clearing,

"I've finished my training so we should go back. You being out in the open works against me trying to keep you safe."

Nadiya tilted her head at this.

"Trying to keep me safe? You think my assailants could track me here?"

"I know not of what they are capable of. I would rather play it safe by keeping you indoors mostly while I prepare some traps and lures to keep them away from us. With any luck, it will be unnecessary but I don't like taking chances."

"Okay, I'll stay indoors until you think it's safe. Thank you for going through all this."

"Anything for a friend, right?"

Kye nodded to her and walked off down the path with Nadiya following closely behind. Hakos was glaring at Kye from the doorframe as they returned. He walked briskly over to them and grabbed Kye's arm roughly.

"Where did you take her brat!? What did you do to her?!"

Kye ripped his arm free and grabbed Hakos's collar, dragging his face down so he could stare him in the eyes.

"Let me make something clear. It is by my goodwill that your friend is alive and you're not running through the forest from your pursuers and the local wildlife. You do not get to strut yourself around my domicile acting like you're hot shit when without me, you'd be dead. Reign in that attitude and you can stay here until my father comes to take you back to your clan, if not, pack your things and get out of here."

Kye let him go by pushing him back and Hakos fell on his backside. Kye simply glared at him before walking through the door. Nadiya shook her head and offered her hand to help Hakos up.

"If your attitude is going to be a problem Hakos, tell me and I will make sure you won't do anything but guard duties for the rest of your service."

"But my lady-!"

"No buts! Kye saved us and is trying to help us and your attitude is not helping anything! If you cannot positively talk then do not speak!"

Hakos' face contorted into a grimace.

"Why are you standing up for a human! They are uncivilised animals!"

"Then why is it that I find Kye's behaviour so much better than yours? Hmm? If you cannot leave your prejudices behind, perhaps it would be better if you were assigned to the guards instead of the knights where your disgusting behaviour would be more accepted."

Hakos was fuming, his face twisted into a frustrated scowl. He couldn't believe that Nadiya was taking the side of some random human they had recently met compared to him who had been her friend since childhood.

"Besides, he is my friend. I will not have my guards speak ill of my friend."

"Friend!? What qualifications does he possess that make him qualified to be your friend?!"

Nadiya frowned.

"I do not need your acceptance to make friends with people. Besides, he is the heir of the Runewalker family that owns this territory. If that isn't qualification enough for you, then I don't know what could be enough."

Nadiya briskly passed Hakos before stopping just in the door frame.

"I will not tolerate this rudeness Hakos. I will bring this up with Captain Celena once we return home."

She then entered the cabin and shut the door behind her. Hakos balled his hands into fists and glared at the door. He would not sit back and watch as Nadiya befriended that human and he would do all in his power to stop them from getting close to one another. Nadiya was his childhood friend, a girl he had loved for many years and now a human of all things was threatening his position. Not if he had anything to say about it.

Nadiya breathed a heavy sigh after closing the door and looked at Kye who was cleaning his spear. He looked up from his task and gave an apologetic look.

"He mad?"

"Very. His family is one of the radical traditionalist noble families in our clan. Their opinions on other races are not high. They want to see an elven boom, where our culture reigns dominant across the continent. The majority of the elven noble families have embraced living alongside other cultures so they will never be in charge but many elves are still taught that we are a superior race in school."

"Seems like it's more deeply rooted than a few families pushing the belief then. Do many elves grow up with that superiority complex?"

"Unfortunately, yes. It's something we've tried time and time again to root out but it is persistent."

"Well, you can't change hearts and minds in a day. I'm sure if you interact with the other races you'll see we aren't all bad."

Nadiya gave a smile at Kye's remark.

"Yes, I certainly hope exposure to other races will soften the dogma they push until it fades away into obscurity. I had spent a little of my life in Runia because of my father and have found humans to be quite welcoming of other races."

"Well, we're a lot more tolerant than most, that's for sure. Though there are some fairly hardcore human supremacist territories in the kingdoms, the Alioth Kingdom declared The Church of Humanity a heresy so their beliefs are outlawed. I just wouldn't expect the same kind of treatment in other kingdoms as yet."

"So the Alioth Kingdom is tolerant of other races?"

"Yeah, we even have some nobility with mixed blood, it's not all that uncommon to see these days at least. Women of the other races are pretty attractive on the whole so I see the appeal. From a human perspective at least."

Nadiya raised an eyebrow and smirked a little.

"So you find me attractive then?"

"Yeah, you're very pretty Nadiya. I doubt you'd find many that would disagree with me either."

Nadiya smiled and a faint blush rose in her cheeks. She didn't respond and just sat down on the couch, keeping a moderate distance between herself and Kye. Thelos was awake and smirked at their exchange. Kye wasn't very expressive on his face but from his words, Thelos knew he was attracted to her. It was something instinctual between men, males don't offer empty words when they have dispositions like Kye.

'That's nice. It'd be nice if the two remained friends after this. The young lad might be a stabilising force in her soon-to-be hectic life.'

Thelos then drifted back off to sleep as Kye cleaned his weapon and Nadiya continued to chat with him. Though it was peaceful now, that peace would be shattered soon.