Nursery

A week of plainly lying around and watching others work, huh? I don't like this. I absolutely detest sitting around like this. If not for these shackles, I would simply run away and start working, but those are quite sturdy. Breaking them was possible for sure, but neither do I want to injure my hand for it, nor do I want to get scolded by Cecilia again. My first attempt to leave was punished by these shackles, from a slightly blushing Cecilia.

The blushing wasn't exclusively Cecilia though. Several elves and humans already visited and stumbled back outside right as they saw the shackles. Nope. No idea why they are reacting like that. Laying around like this does have its good side aswell, shows after a few hours of waiting.

Suddenly a faint smell of bread and grizma soup reached my nose. I was used to the smell of bread, but grizma soup was something insanely rare even in human households. It was a mixture of expensive meat, seasoning and a weird thing that smells really bad. Garlic was the widespread name, but after some research it shows that the taste differs quite a bit, favoring highly skilled cooks in a certain way. Only trained cooks were able to name the differences and use them in a soup or a meal. Which is why most households never ate it. A shame, to be honest.

The soup was by far my favorite food - due to the taste, but also for the rather good nutrition in it. Whoever made this went all out, I had no idea where someone around here would even find the ingredients! Seriously, grizma fruit was only found by hunters and farmers occasionally. Exceptionally talented hunters are able to find them consequently, but that's about it. Unbelievable that I was the one to receive such a feast and what a surprise that Cecilia was able to cook that.

Ce:" Isn't that grizma soup?!"

Cia:" Yeah! It sure is, I thought it might speed up your recovery."

Ce:" Where did you find the ingredients though? I doubt grizma can be found anywhere here!"

Cia:" Well, I grew up in a mountain range rather far from the capital. But grizma is by no means 'rare'!"

Ce:" It sells for gold coins in the capital!"

Cia:" Wha... Our village would've been rich if we knew! We had entire fields growing it, every sunday we had a meal with grizma!"

Ce:" Can I have high expectations for that soup then?"

Cecilia doesn't answer but puts the bowl on my provisional desk.

Ce:" Umm, you know.... The shackles? I can't eat like that."

Cia:" Oh right..."

Instead of opening them, Cecilia picks the bowl back up and starts to feed me. She fills a spoon with soup, blows on it a bit to cool it then feeds it to me. It was a bit embarrassing, but honestly... It was a nice feeling. Aside from the shackles of course. The soup was incredibly good, but it didn't seem to end either. It felt like an eternity of eating it. Not complaining here, of course.

After I... we finished the soup, Cecilia began to talk again. With a bright red face and wide open eyes.

Cia:" How was it?"

Ce:" It was even better than from the cooks in the castle! Where did you learn to cook like that?! Your teacher must be incredible!"

Cia:" I taught myself though..."

Ce:" Like I said, absolutely incredible..."

Once again a moment began to feel like an eternity. We stared at each other, back and forth we focused both eyes of the significant other. I don't know if it was a slow movement, or a rash one - but we both leaned in and kissed. This time, I was injured beforehand, so everything went fine. With my one slightly opened eye, I was able to see Servve and Laurin peeking from the tents entrance, so I slowly stop the kiss. A shame that they had to come now, but what will I do!

Ce:" Laurin, Servve come in already."

Cia:" Huh?"

Ce:" These guys were peeking, so I wonder why they won't come in now..."

S:" Sorry, Laurin here wanted to thank you for saving him as soon as he could. I tried stopping him, but after he started robbing on the ground I gave up and helped him"

L:" Sure, make it look like my fault... But way more important. Thank you Cecil. Who knows what would've happened to leprechauns as a race if you didn't come."

Ce:" Aren't there only two guys left? I think I was too late."

L:" No. You saved around one hundred of our kind, some were buried under the others corpses and managed to survive. But even if they didn't, Tohrin and I weren't two guys in the first place"

Ce:" ... What."

L:" Tohrin is female! I thought you knew after you send her to pick herbs back at our home..."

Ce:"...."

What. The. Fuck. How could Tohrin be a girl?! I saw him... her smite two elves with one swing! Even demons weren't able to do that easily! Was leprechaun society that much more equal?!