Uninvited Guest

"Hey! Did you hear me?"

Poltas was poked by two tiny hands on his shoulder.

'Maybe I should have run when I had the chance.'

He turned to face Lorun, the pixie he had accidentally gotten fired from the warehouse.

"Pretending not to know me, how shameless after all you did!"

The voice was loud enough to attract the attention of bystanders.

"What did I do? And we really are not as familiar with each other as you are pretending to be."

"Hmph. You are the reason that so many of us were laid off, you think you can shirk responsibility like this. Well think again!"

"..."

Her repetitive words didn't deserve a response. Poltas waited for her to continue, but she just angrily stared at him.

'Does she want me to pick a fight with her or what.'

A few minutes passed in a standstill. Even the people who had been attracted by the noise, lost interest and left. Taking this as a sign Poltas also turned to leave.

"Where do you think you're going?!"

"To a place without flies buzzing next to me."

"Y..you!!"

Lorun was angered to death by this response. She hated it when people would regard her as a bug. In the past she avenged herself by creating problems in their material supplies, but now she no longer worked at the warehouse. The number of people who were displeased with her had been mocking her for more than a week now.

Upset by this, she decided to go confront the person who caused her this misery. But her plan ended there. She had no idea what to do after confronting him. So she simply stared at him in hopes that something would happen. Yet instead of repenting, Poltas had insulted her as well.

"Is it fun for you to harm people like this?"

"Harm? I did not harm anyone, I merely advised someone how to run their business, whatever happened next has nothing to do with me."

"So who's fault is it then?"

"Yours of course. You didn't work properly and lost your job. I don't think there is anything more to it."

"I have been employed there for 6 years now, if I didn't work well, they would have fired me sooner."

"Are you asking me or telling me? Because I cannot answer why they made this decision now and not in the past."

The answer did not appease Lorun who promptly stomped off. Poltas was not sure why this situation came to be or what its ending signified. He resumed his journey back home and called it a day.

When Aren came to know of Lorun's stunt, he decided to use this opportunity to employ Poltas again.

Since his summoning, Poltas had switched to a better sleeping schedule. Still the earliest he could wake up was at 8 am.

"Wake up little bird, you have a guest."

The voice was pleasant but unappealing to Poltas' ears. No one likes to be disturbed when sleeping and same was the case with him.

'Leave me alone.' Poltas thought in the haze.

"Come on, wake up. I have to go out, I can't leave strangers in the house."

"..."

"Do you want me to send away your guest?"

"Hmmmmmm…"

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"Ymnnnnnnnn…"

"Yes or no Poltas."

"Ymmmmnn yeah."

The intruding voice disappeared and his meaningless dream became peaceful again.

Outside the cottage Brandial regretfully told Aren of Poltas' unavailability.

"She seems to be deeply asleep. I'm afraid you can't meet her right now."

"That's alright. Is it okay if I wait here?"

"I think it's better if you come back later to see her, not sure when she'll be up and I'm leaving as well."

"Do you think I could see her in the afternoon?"

"She is usually awake by then, yea."

"Thank you, I will drop by later then."

Poltas woke up with back pain and an urgency to use the toilet. He was not used to being a woman. So far it had not interfered with his life too much, but he feared that this might not remain true for long.

It had been very awkward when Brandial had given him the cloth pads for his special days.

Thinking of Brandial, he was sure she said something to him in his sleep, but he couldn't recall what it was. His train of thought was interrupted by a knocking sound at the front door.

'Should I pretend no-ones home…?'

Several minutes passed by but the knocking did not cease. Partially curious and partially worried he might neglect something important, Poltas opened the front door.

"Good afternoon…oh."

"You don't seem very happy to see me, Miss Poltas."

Aren's words sounded passive aggressive but his smile was quite playful.

"No. Nothing like that. I was just not expecting to see you."

"You must be a really heavy sleeper to not recall anything, hahaha."

Poltas was already peeved by having to see Aren again, hearing this made him wonder if he had done something silly while asleep as well.

"You came to see me sleep?"

"That sounds a bit… I did come to visit you earlier today, but the Keeper told me you were occupied with other things."

It was just the activity of sleeping, but when Aren said that it seemed a lot more embarrassing.

Poltas considered shutting the door in Aren's face but the quest in his weblet restrained him.

'I need to approach him sooner or later, might as well get done with this.'

Aren took the invitation and sauntered into the house as if it was his own.