Walking the World, ch. 1: An Encounter

Rhea came home from her daily tasks pale and shaky when she normally normally had the energy to cook dinner for herself and her boyfriend. Even her rabbit ears, usually quite straight, seemed to quiver atop her head.

Said boyfriend, Khiro, just about launched himself off the bed where he was lounging when he got an eyeful of her. "What happened?" he asked, knowing better than to ask if she was alright, his catlike tail twitching behind him.

At first, he got no response, merely Rhea looking down and biting her lip. When she opened her mouth, it was like she had to push the words out. "There was someone," she said at last. "Someone from my..."

"Your village?" Khiro didn't doubt that there were more exiles from Rhea's home, but she shook her head. "Westerlee?" Granted, a whole continent didn't quite narrow down the identity of the person who'd left her so shaken, but the people responsible for her exile had eyes in many places.

"One of the people who were at my capture." The words shot out of Rhea's mouth, as though they'd hurt if they lingered too long.

Khiro found himself unable to form more than a simple "oh" at first, but then the concerned barrage came out. "Which one was it? Did they try to hurt you? Did they upset you?"

A wan smile spread across Rhea's face as she inferred from his tone that Khiro would go wild in fighting this person if they so much as brushed against her. "Khiro, hon, I don't think you could take her," she said. "She's a Khotiesh like you, but when we fought, there was something... feral in the way she went after me. She probably would have actually killed me if not for her comrades."

"And if not for Medleya's blessing," Khiro murmured, his eyes narrowing. "What did she do to you?"

"Not much," Rhea said. "I saw her while I was in the market, and my blood ran cold. I didn't know what to do or say. She saw me, and she burst out laughing. It was unsettling."

"If that was all, it sounds like we were lucky she didn't do more," Khiro said. "Do you want me to do any kind of investigation or make sure the Adventurer's guild knows about her?"

"They can't do anything about her. If they do, that's it, Felsheim's agents have ground to kill me per the terms of my exile." Rhea sighed so hard she may as well have deflated. "All I want right now is your best spicy mac n' cheese. Please?"

"Consider it done." Khiro hadn't even finished saying the words before he'd scuttled off the kitchen of the inn suite right behind Rhea, rummaging around for the right pans and utensils. "Go get comfy, okay?"

Rhea only nodded before going off to change into more comfortable clothes. "Mind if we have dinner in bed?" she asked as she was disrobing.

"Not at all," Khiro called over. "I'll do anything you want me to, so please relax, okay?"

"You're too good to me," Rhea said. "I know you love getting to spoil me back, but you'd better eat some mac n' cheese too."

"If you feed me, I definitely will!"

The exchanges tapered off as Khiro got to cooking, only picking up when he came to the bed with two heaping plates of mac n' cheese. "I might have gone a bit overboard."

"It's okay, hon." Rhea leaned over to give her beloved a small but tender kiss. "I appreciate it."

Khiro reached over to ruffle Rhea's hair once he'd set the plates down. "I never get to do this 'cause you're so much taller," he said with a chuckle.

"We'll eat and we'll get comfy and you can rub my head all you want," Rhea said. "I'm just trying so hard not to think about anything right now."

"It's okay. I'm here, and I won't let the kind of wacko who laughs at people in public get to you." Khiro slid into bed next to Rhea, grabbed the TV remote, and turned on the kitchen channel, where a game show challenging chefs to defeat a famous culinary star in a cooking battle was playing. "Do what you need to do. Do you want me to feed you?"

Rhea gave a weak giggle. "Nah, I can feed myself at least."

Khiro then arched an eyebrow. "Do you want to feed me?"

This time Rhea laughed with a bit more energy. "We'll see about that later. I've still got some chocolate if you really want it."

"If you're giving it to me, I always do."

The conversation faded into the night from there as the two lovers enjoyed the security of each other's presence. It was almost enough to chase away the lingering anxiety, at least for the rest of the night. Rhea ended up dropping off to sleep leaning on Khiro, and he tucked her in before drifting off himself.