(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Sevvi stops by for her weekly visit!

-x-X-x-

Another week, another visit to the human town. Like usual, Sevvi arrives via the shadows on the outskirts of the Darkwoods first, liking to take a moment to observe the town from a distance and spy on what might have changed in her absence.

Everything looks normal at a first glance, but moving around the perimeter leads Sevvi to discover something interesting… the Lordling is all by himself near the Darkwoods’ edge, sitting on a big rock and playing with her dagger of all things.

For a long moment, Sevvi watches him just sit there quietly, observing the way he looks when he’s still… stagnant. She doesn’t like it as much as when he’s in motion, admittedly. He’s violence incarnate when he has a good fight on his hands, especially a fight where it seems all but impossible for him to win. That’s the version of him that she likes the best.

And yet… at the same time, the way he’s fiddling with her dagger and staring off thoughtfully into the Darkwoods… it’s obvious he’s contemplating their ‘chance encounter’. The way she’d saved him from the King of the Forest and then left without a word had clearly had quite the impact on him!

Smiling under her mask, Sevvi looks once more deeper into the town… before deciding to take a chance. After all, when is she going to get a better chance than this to introduce herself to the Lordling properly?

Unfortunately, there aren’t any shadows near him that are deep enough for her to come out of… so in the end, she’s forced to approach in a more normal fashion. That doesn’t mean she’s just going to walk up, however. Instead, finding the tallest tree close to where he’s sitting, Sevvi climbs up onto its branch… and then leaps through the air, doing a flip with plenty of flourish as she comes down for a landing twenty feet from the Lordling.

When she straightens up, he’s stiffened and is staring right at her, dagger held in his hand. Sevvi simply tilts her head to the side as if watching him curiously. She’s definitely not going to be the first one to speak here, that would be giving him all the power!

Finally, after a long moment, the human man finds his voice.

“H-hey… ahem, I mean… hello there. Come to get your dagger back?”

He holds up the dagger by the blade as if to offer her the hilt. Sevvi slowly shakes her head.

“Keep it, human. I can always get another.”

Hm, he’s honestly a little cute when he’s hesitating. Pulling back the weapon, the Lordling slowly nods.

“Right… okay then. Uh… I’m Thomas Marlow by the way.”

Exchanging names… hm, not even Eloise had Sevvi’s name. But then, the relationship she was hoping to cultivate with the man in front of her was very different from the one she had cultivated with the girl, wasn’t it?

Decision made on a whim; Sevvi inclines her head.

“Sevinarya Vairath. Well met.”

He’d left off his title of ‘Lord’ after all, so she wouldn’t mention that Vairath was a Noble House… and she certainly wasn’t going to mention that it was a Royal House.

Thomas mulls her name over, turning it over in his mouth for a moment.

“… Sevinarya… yes, well met indeed. Thanks for the save back there. You didn’t have to step in like you did.”

Excellent, he was feeling grateful. Everything was going according to plan. Never mind that the plan was being constantly changed and altered by the second…

“You have potential for a human. It would have been a shame to see you cut down in your prime. That’s why I interceded.”

Haughtiness combined with praise. That felt like the best combination here to get into the human’s good graces. Yes, as long as she came off as aloof and fiercely independent, it was sure to work wonders!

“I see… you have good eyes then, Sevinarya. I do indeed have a lot of potential…”

Well now! The ego on this human… and yet, she can’t help but be a little pleased by the compliment. She does indeed have good eyes… from the very first moment she’d seen him fighting that very first Dire Wolf all those months ago, Sevvi had known he was special.

She doesn’t preen though. Preening would ruin the aloof image she’s going for.

“… If you didn’t want your dagger back, what brought you here to Last Hope today? Was it me?”

Again, she’s very careful not to noticeably freeze up. Because that question, while clearly spoken innocently, was actually a dangerous one to answer. After all, why WAS she here in Last Hope today if not to retrieve her weapon? She couldn’t very well admit that she was here to milk Eloise for more information about him… that would ruin everything.

She needed to navigate this next part of the conversation very, very carefully.

“Hm… indeed. As I said before, you have potential. You also have my interest, human. I wonder… where does power like yours come from? You must have been training for years and years… but then, that warrior who stands beside you had to have as well, and she’s not half as tenacious as you are.”

Thomas smiles crookedly at that, tilting his head to the side.

“Have you been spying on me?”

Ah fuck… wait no, she could still salvage this!

“You are the ones who insist upon entering elven territory, human. I have only made sure you have not trespassed too deeply into our lands.”

When Thomas’ brow arches at that, Sevvi follows it up with a sweeping hand back behind her.

“All of the Darkwoods belongs to my people. Everything you see before you is our sovereign territory. Of course, this far away from our cities, we do not have much of a presence… nor do we mind very much if you humans take from the woods, so long as you are… mindful of the balance of nature.”

Nailed it!

She was bullshitting of course. Sure, her mother’s Queendom did exist deep in the depths of the Darkwoods, but the Darkwoods were vast and even to her people, large swathes of it were… unknowable. Not to mention just plain inadvisable to visit. They liked to claim they controlled all of it, but even the Dark Elves hadn’t reached the center of the massive, unending forest.

“I see. And coercing Eloise to spy on me? That’s part of you ‘making sure we don’t trespass too deeply’?”

Wait, what? Sevvi tenses up at the sudden turn the conversation has taken. He… knew? How did he know?! No… there was only one way he could have learned. That mousy little bitch had blabbed! How dare she?! Didn’t she care about her father at all?!

Over on his rock, Thomas has tensed up as well, looking like he’s ready for a fight. It wouldn’t go well for him if they did come to blows… after all, as strong and fast as he was, Sevvi didn’t fight fair. And yet… she didn’t come here to fight him today. Nor would the persona that she’s been trying to carefully cultivate among the humans go on the attack over one single slight.

Instead, Sevvi keeps her cool, outwardly at least. Cocking her head to the side, she lets out a dark chuckle.

“You could say that, yes. Though my people’s relationship with this town goes back farther than your arrival, Thomas Marlow.”

Thomas’ jaw clenches and his grip on her dagger becomes white knuckled.

“I’m aware. According to Eloise, you’re supposed to protect this town from anything too dangerous. Setting aside the constant goblin attacks you’ve been letting happen for years… it seems to me like your refusal to handle the King of the Forest yourself was a dereliction of duty.”

Damn… she’d really told him everything. Sevvi fumes a little at that, even as she can’t help but feel a modicum of pride over the other woman managing to find her courage. Even if it is at her expense, she has to respect it…

Still, Sevvi already knew how to play this part though, thankfully.

“Me and my girls offer this town protection from the dangers of the Darkwood… within reason. When you wipe out an entire goblin tribe in one afternoon, you irrevocably alter the nature of the forest… and invite creatures like the King of the Forest out to play. You only had yourselves to blame for his arrival. Really, by helping you when I did, I was breaking my people’s rules. By all accounts, I should have left you to your self-inflicted fate.”

There, that sounded decent right? It brought everything back around, making her seem like she was a rebel defiantly saving his life despite it being against 'the rules’! Admittedly, said rules were completely made up… but still, it should work… right?!

“I see. Funny, because everyone else says that it was entirely unnatural for the King of the Forest to venture all the way to Last Hope. Almost like some artificial force pushed him towards us. But I suppose you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

Damnations! This human was infuriating… but also much too interesting. Not to mention Sevvi quite literally couldn’t afford to cut her losses here… the moment Gruda learned she wasn’t still working on ‘recruiting’ Thomas, Sevvi’s mother would learn the same within the day and then Sevvi would receive more calls to return home within the hour!

In the end, all she can really do is what she was already doing before with Eloise. Deny, deny, deny!

“No. I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Her icy tone and narrowed eyes should hopefully make it clear she doesn’t appreciate the insinuation (even if she is completely guilty of what he’s accusing her of). Though, the human doesn’t look at all intimidated, unfortunately. Still, after a long moment of staring back at her, he finally nods.

“Alright. Honestly, there’s only one thing I care about. Eloise’s father… can you really cure Rot Lung or are you just leading her along by the nose?”

What? Sevvi bristles a bit at that, lifting herself up to her full height. The haughtiness in her voice isn’t even feigned at this point.

“Of course I can cure Rot Lung! Though I don’t see why I would finish her father’s treatments now when she’s revealed our dealings together to you!”

The human clenches his jaw at that, looking furious at her. It’s a good look on him, Sevvi has to admit… though she’d prefer it was directed at her enemies rather than at herself.

“… Then let’s make a new deal. Just you and me. Right here, right now… tell me what you want from me in order for a full healing for Mayor Harper. No more trickled bullshit, no more slowly dosing him… I want a full, proper cure. So what do you want in return, Sevinarya Vairath?”

Internally, she shudders at hearing her name on his tongue. Also internally, she promptly freaks out… because frankly, she doesn’t have a clue what to make the human do for such a thing. If she actually wanted to recruit him into her retinue and then return home with him by her side as an interesting bauble… well then, she’d simply demand that. Problem solved.

Fortunately, Gruda is nowhere to be seen and has no idea this conversation is happening, because obviously successfully recruiting Thomas and going back home to her mother and all of the nasty politics in the Capital is the LAST thing that Sevvi wants to be doing.

Still, what the heck is she supposed to ask for here? Even the tribute she’d taken from Last Hope before his arrival was more for show than anything else, as well as a way to placate the rest of the girls. And it wasn’t like there was another King of the Forest for her to throw Thomas at either.

Although…

“Hmph. You wish to earn a full, proper cure for Rot Lung?”

Thomas doesn’t hesitate, nodding forcefully with a determined expression on his face that Sevvi tries not to find too attractive.

“… Very well then. You may do so by hunting and slaying the Spider-Queen.”

The human blinks at that.

“The Spider-Queen?”

Building up to it properly now, Sevvi inclines her head.

“Indeed. You might say that the Spider-Queen is close to the King of the Forest in power and strength. However, where the King of the Forest beats her in those categories, she in turn excels in subterfuge, cunning, and planning. She is the Spider Broodmother of this part of the Darkwoods. Locate her, kill her, and bring me her mandibles as proof… and I will cure your man of Rot Lung in its entirety.”

Of course, the problem is… there is no Spider-Queen. Not at the moment anyways. There are giant spiders in this part of the Darkwoods, but they’re no bigger than a quarter of the size of an average Dire Wolf at the largest.

That was okay though, because Liselle had been domesticating them for months now. Surely she would be able to make a suitably massive broodmother for them to put somewhere close by and Thomas could kill it.

Yes, this was truly the perfect plan. Although… she couldn’t be too keen on the Lordling succeeding, could she?

“You have one month to do so. Otherwise… the deal is off.”

There! That was suitably antagonistic, yes? And now that she’d delivered the ultimatum…

“Good luck, human. You’re going to need it.”

With that, Sevvi drops down, coiling her leg muscles… but before she can leap, Thomas calls out to her.

“Sevinarya!”

Pausing, she narrows her eyes at him. Didn’t he see she was trying to make a cool and mysterious exit?! And yet, he just stares her down intensely.

“From now on, if you want to visit and learn about me… then you come to me. No more demanding Eloise report to you. If you want to know something about who I am or what I’m doing, you ask me directly, got it?”

She manages to suppress the shiver that threatens to run down her spine. The human man wasn’t anything like the males back home, that was for sure. In the end, not trusting herself to speak, Sevvi just nods… and then leaps up, twisting her body through the air.

She can’t quite jump high enough to make it back to the tree she leapt in from… but something she’d learned long ago was to always know where her exits were. That had saved her from more than one assassination over the decades, especially when combined with her Gift. Landing in a particularly deep shadow a ways away, Sevvi doesn’t hesitate to activate her Gift and disappear from view.

Nailed it.

Or at least, she hoped she’d looked suitably badass from the human’s perspective… but for now, she focuses on getting back to the hideout so she can get Liselle working on the ‘Spider-Queen’ as soon as possible.

It shouldn’t be too hard to get something together within the next month, right?

-x-X-x-

A/N: Well now, tomorrow we’ll see how this all looked from Thomas’ perspective, I suppose~

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