Zelya & Aphrodi - Social Greetings

Having received a request to go to Sanctuary to oversee the transfer of a package, Zelya was roaming about the town since she was several days early and didn't feel like staying indoors. The start of her day from the time she arrived had been fairly strange since she was greeted by a small group of children who'd heard of her. One of them was a young girl who wanted to be just like her and eventually become the leader of her own guild. They found pleasure in playing with Zelya's ears and tail, marveling at how soft the fur was and wanting her to show them some of her magic. However, their fun would come to an end as the pseudo kitsune's ears shot straight up and began twitching as they locked onto a very familiar and unwelcome sound. "Hey, stop, thief!" the sound was that of guards nearby chasing a ruffian who decided to do something inadvisable and was now running for dear life. Zelya let the kids know that she'd be back when she could and began sprinting towards the sound of the commotion.

Moving quickly, Zelya leaped over a table that was being carried by two men before jumping through an opening in a jewelry merchant's stand, landing on her palm and transitioning to a forwards roll that she quickly recovered from and continued running at full speed. The route she was taking was one that she knew would be an intercept course, or at least hoped that it would be. Up ahead was three men carrying a large panel of glass, one of which being in the middle, and Zelya used her momentum and agility to drop to the ground, sliding for a few feet directly under it before pushing herself up and continuing the chase. She saw a small group of three guards passing the intersection and figured that she just barely missed the person they were chasing. She quickly turned the corner and began sprinting even faster, seeming to fly past the guard who were restricted by their heavy armor. The man running from them grabbed the corner of a cabbage stall and pulled it to the ground, spilling cabbages everywhere and earning a distressed cry of pain and horror from the owner "MY CABBAGES!!!!" Which only turned into crying when Zelya picked one up while running and threw it at the thief, hitting him in the head and making him fall face first into the ground, ending the chase. Zelya jogged over to him and placed her orange leather boot on his back, pressing him down while saying "Don't move." with a stern tone and a scowl on her face. The thief's lip and forehead were bleeding and he held his hands up in surrenderance, nodding to let Zelya know he was done. The guards caught up shortly after, all panting heavily from having to actually do something. One of them said "Thanks. You're... uhhh... You're that Zelya person, right?" to which the kitsune nodded and took her foot off the man. "I'll leave him with you." she said before walking off. After that, she'd decided to go to a nearby restaurant to relax a bit. Her order was a simple cup of coffee, extra creme, extra sugar with a slice of coconut cake on the side that was drizzled with chocolate. Many would say it was completely and utterly unhealthy, but Zelya liked sweet stuff.

Zelya had her fork raised with a piece of the chocolate drizzled coconut cake about to enter her mouth when she heard a fairly shy, female voice asking for her attention. She pulled the fork from her mouth with the piece of cake still attached, having never had a chance to bite down on it at all, and looked at the source of the interruption. It was a young looking, elf girl with white hair, and a dot between her eyes. Speaking of which, her eyes were rather large when compared to the rest of her face and had a very strange look to them. She asked if it was okay for her to sit with Zelya, to which the pseudo kitsune replied by gesturing to the seat across from her with the hand that wasn't holding a fork. While doing this, she said "By all means. I'd be happy to share a table with you!" in a friendly and warm tone.

Zelya looked at the woman and said "My name's Zelya, what's yours?" Not long after getting the girl's name, if she provided it, Zelya's ears would stick straight up and begin twitching around, locking onto the sound of someone approaching them. "Excuse me, miss Cisti?" the woman said in a very respectful tone. Zelya, who was getting ready to try and take the same bite of her cake as the first time when Lihua interrupted her, paused and put the piece of cake back down on the plate and asked "Yes? And please, just call me Zelya." in an equally respectful tone. The girl was fairly young, still a teen by her looks, so she wasn't anticipating any extreme requests. "Oh- Okay! Umm... I heard a lot about you. May I... Ummm..." the girls was looking at Zelya's ears when she began making her request, but knew it was such a strange one that she had a hard time asking it. Zelya leaned her head to the side and twitched her ears, letting her know it was fine for her to touch them. The girl put on a large smile and gently reached over and began rubbing the orange extensions, marveling at how soft the fur on them was. Zelya kept her head still while she did it and after a few short moments, the girl took her hand away and said "Thank you" to Zelya before going back to the table she came from. Zelya would then look at Lihua and ask "Would you like to touch them, too?" with a very friendly expression. If she did want to, Zelya would let her.

Zelya's tail was gentle waving as her ears were being touched and gently scratched. She closed her eyes and let herself enjoy the pampering, not giving any objections at all. Suddenly, the rubbing and scratching stopped and Zelya opened her eyes with a slightly sad look, blinking in confusion but not speaking to tell her to keep going.

As the girl with strange eyes pulled out a note pad, Zelya's ears stood up and twitched a bit. Her eyes formed a curious look while blinking a couple times. She'd been interviewed several times before when she was appointed as the head of Solar Phoenix, but that time, it was by people who looked like actual reporters and researchers. People who were wearing lab coats and somewhat fancy attire, but Lihua wasn't wearing the same professional attire that those people were. She looked cute, in a completely professional manner of speaking; but, her cloak was hiding her outfit entirely, or at least, hiding the vast majority of it.

The woman stated that she didn't want steal too much of Zelya's time and apologized in advance before asking a question that quite a few others had asked before. She said that Zelya being alive should have been impossible, and commented that the Kitsune race was completely extinct. Zelya replied by giving Lihua a very warm smile and saying "I've actually got nothing to do for the next couple days. And as for the Kitsune race... as far as I know, The Kitsune are dead- all of them. I've never once met one, nor have I ever heard of someone finding one." afterwards, she said "I was born completely human, with human parents, in a human village." Zelya's tone was calm through the last bit and once she finished saying it. She took a bite from her cake before asking "Do you wish to know how I became this way?" with a curious look about her.

If Lihua said that she did want to know, Zelya would finish her cake and set a small, gold coin with the High King's seal on it on the table. The coin was more than enough to pay for the slice of cake she had, as well as another five or six full-sized cakes of the same kind, so the waitress who served her and Lihua would be looking forward to a very nice tip. With that, she would stand up and tell Lihua to walk with her. "You can take your drink with you, if you'd like." she would add. If Lihua didn't want to know, Zelya would order another slice of cake and wait for her to ask another question, if she had any.

Assuming that Lihua had said she wanted to know about Zelya, and she had followed her out of the restaurant, Zelya would keep a reasonable pace- not too fast, not too slow. While walking, she would ask "So, Lihua, why did you want to know about me? I've had people ask before, but they never brought up the fact that Kitsune's are extinct." If she told Zelya about how she was doing research on the extinct races, Zelya would nod in acknowledgement of it.

Zelya would lead Lihua to a large chapel and begin ascending the steps to the top of the bell tower. She would sit on the ledge, facing the rest of Sanctuary and looking out over the vast lands around it with a content expression. She pointed out to the northeast, saying "I was born in a village somewhere in that direction, near the Gates of Ozulon. Back then, I looked human and my hair was brown. My mom and dad didn't treat me all that well, they had a great deal of preference for my elder brother. I was bad at reading and writing, math, alchemy- everything. My parents hated how hard it was to teach me even the simplest of things, and it really showed. I got beat a lot, and my brother always made me do his chores. Mom would make me do them when he started complaining about me standing up to him. Dad didn't care who did them, so long as they got done. The others in my village didn't get involved and most of them avoided me to avoid causing trouble with my parents."

Zelya turned and rested her back on one of the support pillars on the sides of the ledge she was sitting on and resting a bent knee of the ledge while letting the other one dangle. "When I was old enough to be tired of it, I think I was ten... or close to it, I left. I didn't take anything with me except the clothes on my back, climbed out a window, and ran as far as possible. To be more accurate, I was too dumb to think of bringing anything. It wasn't long before I found myself at the mercy of wolves, I still remember their snarls, teeth, and the look in their eyes. They attacked me, took out large chunks of my arm while I tried to run away. I was able to escape by climbing a tree, but I'd cut my hands and feet up along the way. The wolves didn't leave me alone. They stayed at the bottom of the tree and waited while I starved. The only thing I had to drink was rain whenever it fell, and I ended up staying up there for almost a month. My wounds got infected and I eventually lost consciousness and fell, but the wolves didn't eat me- probably because of the infections. I don't know how long I was asleep for; but, when I woke up, my head was resting on someone's legs and she was looking down on me with the kindest expression I'd ever seen. My wounds were gone and I didn't feel hungry at all. It was the first time I'd ever met Neala, and I started looking for her after that."

"After that, I spent my time trying to find Neala to thank her, and ask her if I could be one of her followers, so I'd never be alone. While surviving in the wilds, I learned a lot of things, including which plants were terrible for eating. I found myself being able to light fires without using any tools, and at one point, accidentally set the forest in flames. Normally, people begin to show signs of having magic at a much younger age, even the 'late bloomers' were younger than I was. After more time, and after I began learning to control it, I came across a giant tree-man that talked. He told me that he was the one who gave me magic, so that I could survive. It was much later before I found out who he was..."

"After a longer time, I came across one of Cary's shrines; but, it had been messed up really bad. I took time to clean it, removing the blood-writing on the walls and all the broken stuff. After that, Neala had showed up again and we talked. Afterwards, she gave me a blessing that made it so I could use magic to carry out her work. Un... fortunately... it was in conflict with Duir's blessing, which we found out when I began changing form. Oh, right, I almost forgot... that tree-man was Duir, evidently. Ever since then, I've had the body of a Kitsune." If Lihua had asked if Zelya had ever considered having a child, or if she ever actually had one, Zelya would say that she has no desire to have children, and that she was much too young for it.

Zelya had pondered the fact that Lihua had felt like her ancestor's actions were the cause for the death of so many different species. She was silent for a few moments after the elf girl had said she could ask about her eyes, which she had noticed Zelya staring at, but the pseudo kitsune was still thinking about the elf's guilt. It was true that an elf was indirectly the cause for the extinction of so many, but he or she didn't know what would occur. They hadn't counted on the Fae being hunted to near extinction, and certainly didn't see one of the gods stopping it with such great force. In the end, the ending of the Fae's hunting was the Goddess Aura's doing, and not the elf's.

For the few moments that Zelya was quiet, she had a very focused look on her face. It would be obvious that she was thinking deeply on something, and out of nowhere, she would look at Lihua and say "I'd imagine that many people stare at your eyes. They're quite different from other elves, and any other species, really." Zelya turned on the ledge and faced Lihua with her tail waving happily behind her. "I think they look pretty cute. It's obvious that there's some form of magic to them; though, I'm not sure what magic that is. If you don't mind telling me about it, I'd like to understand them better."

If Lihua explained her eyes and how they worked, Zelya would nod and thank her. If she didn't feel like giving an in-depth explanation, she would accept whatever she was told. If Lihua didn't want to say anything at all about her eyes, Zelya would say that she wouldn't pressure her into it. Afterwards, Zelya would ask "How exactly do you plan on bringing back those races? Has your research given any results that could do such a thing?" If Lihua said that her research didn't provide anything, Zelya would say "I think I know someone who may be able to help, but we won't be able to see her for a while since I have business in this town."

Zelya had began kicking her feet slowly while leaning backwards over the ledge and saying "Hmmm..." as though she were actually thinking of a price to charge. She leaned forward with a friendly smile, her tail waving behind her and said "Missions are always logged as an official request with the guild, and I don't process paperwork unless I'm in my office." Zelya gave Lihua a playful wink and added "So this one's going to have to be a freebie." She slid forward, getting off the ledge and standing up to begin stretching. "Like I said..." she paused and stopped stretching.

Zelya turned around and rested her palms on the ledge while looking out over the town. "I've got some business here. In a couple of days, I'll be at a meeting in that building over there." Zelya pointed at a large, government building not far away. "We'll be discussing trade routes and renegotiating prices between here and Tartaros. It'll be pretty boring, but if you come with me, we'll be able to leave as soon as it's over."

If Lihua decided to avoid the meeting, Zelya would meet her at the edge of the town at sundown, on the day she finished the meeting. If Lihua decided to attend the meeting with her, she would be forced to sit through a group of old men trying to get Zelya to lower Tartaros' taxes for the town selling its goods in their city. Zelya would sit with a stern, unchanging expression through the entire meeting and deny each and every attempt at it.

They tried to get Zelya to reduce the cost of goods being sold to the town, making it so they got the cheapest goods, and even be quite aggressive with it. They were hoping that they could pressure the woman into agreeing to their terms, which ultimately failed. Zelya had even countered their request by threatening to have the price increased by five percent, which made the old men yield.

One of the men had called Zelya an arrogant, bastardized version of an extinct race of whores. If she was present and tried to speak up, Zelya would hold her hand up to signal Lihua to hold her tongue, and say to the man in a cold, emotionless tone "You do understand that such words have no effect on me, yes? Bear in mind, your status as a noble doesn't make you immune to the consequences of disrespecting the High King's associates. I can have your land confiscated, loved ones evicted, and throw you in jail for that comment." The meeting had ultimately resulted in Zelya having that one particular noble arrested, which she did without a single shred of remorse or joy in her expression. After she had him taken away, the rest of the wealthy men in the room understood that they no longer had control over the government.

Previously, they could pay off the High King's negotiators. Doing this had earned the city significantly reduced prices, the second lowest taxes of any city, and a few extra perks. But, it was the first time that the High King had sent the guild leader of Solar Phoenix as his representative. Zelya had the authority to take their land, the money to pay their servants to maintain it, the power to fight any mercenaries and assassins they sent after her, an entire guild to fight groups too large for her alone, and the backing of the entirety of Tartaros and its armies for anything too large for the guild. Zelya had the upper hand in the negotiations, nothing to gain that she didn't already have, and if the city revoked any of their current trades it would result in them losing profit and a different city taking their place.

At the end of the seven hour meeting, the group of nobles had only managed to obtain a single additional trade route between their estates and Tartaros, that also ran through Sanctuary. This meant that it would take more time for their profit to get back to them, there was increased chances of bandits, and they had to pay Sanctuary as well as Tartaros for being able to sell goods in their cities. Ultimately, each noble was going to make very little profit from their goods, and one of the nobles had lost his title entirely. By the time he'd make it home, armed guards would have forced his family out, all because of his hubris and sharp tongue.

Regardless of which path Lihua had taken, once inside the carriage, Zelya would be waiting with another coconut cake that had a chocolate drizzle. She'd hand Lihua a plate with a glass cover and say "I ordered a small snack for after the meeting, I got one for you, as well." She would also have a cup of the hot chocolate that Lihua was drinking when they first met and say "And something to wash it down." with her standard, friendly smile. If Lihua was with Zelya the whole time, she would've noticed the pseudo kitsune talking to a courier earlier and ordering the snack. Zelya would explain "We're heading to one of Cary's shrines to meet an old friend of mine. I'm not sure if she'll be there, but it's worth checking." If Lihua had asked if she was trying to summon the Goddess of Death, Cary, Zelya would reply by saying "Of course not. I haven't the slightest idea of how to do that in the first place." If Lihua had any questions, the two or three hour ride would be the best time to ask them.