Warmth. . .Comfort. This feels so good and relaxing. And no pain whatsoever. Am I dreaming? Am I finally dead? Have the sewers bested me, and I threw the towel? No. . .blue. . .there was something. . .someone blue-skinned down there with me. . .wait!
The heat returned into Evamal's limbs, and suddenly everything hurt again. She was definitely still alive. What happened last in her diffuse mindscape was by no means a hopeful fever-dream of getting rescued by a knight in shining armour. That happened. Still half-asleep, the Kobold started checking the situation. The first thing she discovered was, that she had a feeling again in her left arm she broke and further dislocated trying to shield herself from a fall down a vertical pipe. It felt warm and hurt like a bitch, but her arm got put back in place and into a bracer.
Seems as if the guy in blue was telling the truth about intending to save me. I have to tell him my sincere thanks for taking me in. Furthermore. . .what is this feeling of cleanliness? I nearly forgot how it feels like to be clean and. . .kinda healthy.
Evamal finally opened her eyes without moving a muscle. She didn't want to alert anybody and first check the situation. The first thing she saw was a strange-looking ceiling ventilator curling leisurely in the air. It took her a moment to recognize the style of the machinery; she saw such a style once before when she accompanied her queen as a personal butler on a visit to the royal palace of Northwatch's mad king. The traditional and quite antiquary steampunk style the humans of the north love so much.
Her eyes wandered further, now seeing a much more familiar architecture style decorating the remaining ceiling of the small room. Modern, but not as futuristic as it was the case in the country of Etherium. The whole scenery remembered her of a story Evamal's father once told her. A story dad himself was a part of. A few decades ago, when the Radiant attempted to achieve world peace but failed miserably, he built a sacred place for the sole purpose of being the new centre of the world, where all the world leaders sign a peace contract blessed by the mechanical pantheon of Etherium. The temple's architecture, Miriko told, tried to incorporate elements of all styles present in the world. A style he described to his daughter as the "most tasteless building, that ever got built".
A slight chuckle escaped Evamal's maw, remembering her at times quite goofy father. And the veil of silence vanished. A blue mountain suddenly began to move at the tail-end of the comfortable bed. The gentle face out of her dreams appearing in her vision. The merfolk, who she remembered calling himself Pale, was just as handsome as her memories depicted him. The play of a violet horned nose plate with those azure frills of his complimented those deep purple eyes of Pale lovingly. And these full ocean blue lips. . .a dream. Still kinda dizzy, a deep and dreamy sigh caught the merfolk's attention, who immediately blushed to realize who she was currently checking out. Then the same silky smooth voice got played by those full lips her latest dream was narrated by:
"I see you are finally awake, Rustfeet. I am so glad that you made it! Like for real. I was unable to even sleep until your status finally was stable.", the lilac scales covering Pale's palm softly caressed her cheek, and she discovered tears in the corner of his eyes, tears of joy.
What a lovable softy. Wait a second.
A jolt of electricity struck through the Kobold's body, realizing what he just said. She rose her voice as much as possible shouting:
"What do you mean with that!? I was dying? Was I dead? Am I ok now?", her voice died, "What has the doc found?"
Pale sat down next to Evamal gently caressing now her healthy hand. His voice was dull from past pain but shimmering of hope:
"We-we lost you not once but twice. We were lucky that my pal was an electromancer, so with our combined efforts, we were able to successfully bring you back. You took the medications necessary to treat the many illnesses in your body not very well; your essence was revolting against our attempts. Only with the help of my dear friend Aurine we were able to flatten the waves made by your soul. Her calming magical emotions convinced your subconsciousness to assist our attempts. Didn't know that Agitates even could do such a thing. Either way. . .you made it, and the doctor said you will undergo full recovery in a few weeks."
Evamal was shocked! She died and got revived? How lucky was she that this stranger happened to find her only moments before her demise? Tears started running down her face as she was thanking Pale in every known way for being her guardian angel saving her young and unspent life. Trying to not touch one of the treated wounds scattered across her tiny body Pale gave her a soft hug. The sweet smell of the ocean calmed her down, and her crying turned into a soft whimpering:
"I believe you must be hungry, Rustfeet. Should I call Talhia over to serve the bouillon currently cooking in our kitchen?"
"Please. I feel as if I haven't eaten a decent meal in six months. . .well technically that is true. . .sheesh."
A soft grin widened on Pale's face, and he picked up a phone from the night table calling an individual called Talhia to serve food.
Who could this Talhia be? The name sounds not very familiar. . .maybe a high elf? Either way, I am interested to see what kind of people reside in this airship city. I heard vague stories from my instructor when I told him about my escapist plans to escape the cruelty of the newly chosen Bronze Queen. That this is a place of wonders suitable for everybody seeking a new start in peace. He started then to admire the girls living here he met in his last visit. But remained silent when I asked for more details. Either way. I hear steps near the door of the room. There she comes.
The door opened, and a beautiful female wildcat appeared in the frame holding a huge tablet with two bowls full of steamy goodness. But one thing Evamal recognized immediately in shock. A single word got spoken by her:
"Naked!?"
The wildcat and Pale exchanged views shaking slowly their head. Pale came closer to her, speaking slowly and surely:
"Don't tell me you boarded our city without any knowledge of our lifestyle?"
"No...people told me this is a miraculous place, where your wildest dreams come true. A visit worth every second spent on board."
The naked wildcat broke out in loud laughter only to immediately revert into calmness:
"Oh, sweetheart. Poor, innocent Kobold. So Pale's assumptions were right. You have no idea what Gemenskap even is. Ok. . .how do I put it. These peeps vaguely talking to you about their experiences surely were referring to their adventures in the Moondistrict. Ever heard of Red-Light districts? You are currently in one of them. No, you are in the biggest and best organized in the world. What you land dwellers call deviant pleasures is normality for us."
The grey cat sat down on the other side of the bed, her yellow eyes shimmering in amusement. As Evamal was currently unable to hold or even eat a bouillon, Talhia offered to be her hand directing the spoon. It was hard for her to concentrate her eyes drawn to look at the cat's fully exposed boobs. The feliken began to purr softly:
"Look all you want, darling."
"I don-"
Oh, you do. I feel your shy stare comforting my lovely hills.", she chuckled and fed Evamal a spoon-full of the broth.
Evamal's tastebuds exploded, experiencing the familiar taste of Nemthian kitchen. Melting in distant memories of her home country, she audibly sighed a grin of satisfaction appearing under her green snout. Pale chuckled happily:
"I told you, Tal, that she will love tasting something familiar. Nothing is better than getting welcomed by the kitchen you grew up with."
"Wait, wait, wait.", Evamal nervously gulped down the bouillon, "How do you know? You told me to preserve my anonymity, Pale."
"Seriously?", Pale shook his head, "You have worn a torn butler outfit with a stitching style traditionally utilized by Nemthi. Quite popular and beloved wares to be sold in the Stardistrict due to its high quality and hand-crafted tradition. And due to your honestly quite young age and it being work attire, I believe it was not an imported outfit. But don't worry... nobody but Talhia and I saw you in the sad remains of that outfit."
Evamal was unsure if she should be offended by her stupidity to have worn such clearly deductable clothes when boarding the ship or ashamed. But she was thankful for them keeping her identity a secret. She signalled the naked and honestly breathtakingly sexy looking feline to prepare her another spoon-full and then remained silent, eating every last droplet of the heavenly meal.
After swallowing the last bite, she looked over to Pale despite her eyes getting drawn again to the cat's nips.
I should have suspected such a thing. Why was I such a numbskull? Everybody refused to talk about the ship everybody was excited to see before my 17th birthday. After turning mature, they dropped hints my innocent brain filed under simple admiration of the mobile city of wonders. So this is a glorified place for living out lewd thoughts and dreams? Could be worse, honestly.
"So, Pale...I suspect you will get me back to Nemthi when the next chance occurs. . .am I right?"
Pale and Talhia shared once again a long moment of silence before he answered her in his soft and comforting tongue:
"Why should we? Unless you want to return to where you are from, we won't force you to anything at all. Gemenskap got founded by his holiness Vapor to be a safe haven for those unhappy with their life. Be it because of their sexuality, cultural oppression or whatever. We welcome those with open arms offering a second chance to those ready to start anew. So don't worry Rustfeet, just live here as long as you like until you are ready to spread your wings giving Gemenskap a chance. Until then my girls and I will tell you everything you should be aware of when diving into our life."
Talhia bowed down to Evamal's cheek, giving her a sudden kiss whispering:
"Trust me, Lil sweetheart. You will love this place. So if you need anything to satisfy your curiosity, give me a call. I will gladly introduce you to our wa-"
The cat suddenly backed away hastily licking her maw: "What the?-"
Evamal gave Talhia an apologizing, but a slightly angry glare from the side boring it into her greyly speckled fur:
"I apologize for the dry maw, Talhia. . .right? But I tend to dry out those who surprise me with sudden unexpected movements. Please ask the next time beforehand. I would appreciate that."
The cogs within the feliken's brain visibly turned, trying to find out what Evamal just did:
"Dried out? Don't tell me you are a Madicer? Right?. . .I honestly should have already suspected it. Why else has this room the perfect air humidity to support a lizard's sleep? I was already wondering. Moisture control. . .what a useful ability for a coldblooded Kobold."
"You're right with that assumption. Anyway."
Evamal tried to sit up a bit, and with the help of the gentleman merfolk, she eventually succeeded. She felt overwhelmed but honestly quite curious regarding what she heard from these two. She chuckled:
"Pale. . .Talhia. I am in your debt. Thanks to you I survived the last days and I definitely will repay you the aid in some way. I am honestly quite surprised by what I heard now of Gemenskap, but it does make sense somehow. I am scared but at the same time honestly curious regarding how different you claim the life up here to be. And no, I don't wanna return to my former life. Everything turned south after. . .that. . .happened. But that is a thing for another time.
Pale, I feel honoured to have met you, that you searched for me, a stranger and absolute fool. Thank you."
With the last words said, Pale prepared the upcoming doses of her medication. They exchanged a soft smile with a bit more passion than necessary, and Evamal teasingly blinked her eye at the blue gentleman. Then the cocktail kicked in, sending her back into a calm sleep. Her dream was full of a certain merfolk smiling and laughing. And she smiled.
