Giving my hens a kiss on the beak and wishing Gilda the best at the clinic because I have no idea what goes on at those places since it's not an Urgent Care center or a hospital, and as I made my way to the front door, I saw that sitting on the table was a series of letters, most of which have been already ripped open and crump up, except for a single letter.

It was a pristine white letter emblazoned with a gold wax seal marked with the equestrian diarchy symbol, it was fairly large in size when compared to a normal letter, my guess is that they have to write with larger letters due to having hooves. Must be fucking hard to write with hooves or with your mouth, unless you are a unicorn then that magic is just the ultimate cheat code when it comes to doing tasks.

Picking up the envelope I give it a once over to make sure that it wasn't tampered with or opened, and with a satisfied smile I give it a nod before putting it back down.

'I'll give it a read once I am done checking on my pups and the ambassador and checking in with my king. I am sure it's just an apology letter from the lunar princess for blasting me when we first met.'

With a final checkup of my person by patting myself down and seeing if I am missing anything, other than my emergency dagger for any unsuspecting miscreants that may try their luck and robbing a minor lord, my symbol of my station is hanging securely on my side and my clothes are lavender fresh and ready to greet the day.

The walk to the Winking Badger Tavern didn't take me long to get there, the citizens of the capital greeted me kindly with a few being gruff about it, a few even thanked me for saving their relatives that were at Talon's End at the time. I bumped into Grandpa Gruff on the way to the tavern, he had a few choice words to say to me and most of it concerned with me keeping my eyes out for some of the griffon nobility around here.

Apparently, the nobles are planning something, and it may very well be targeting me specifically.

Good to know that there are still a few assholes out there that hate others for being different.

Upon entering the tavern, I saw that my diamond dogs have apparently taken up residence within it as I see them all gathered near the back of the building surrounding one of the long tables and they were all eating together. I guess they had some form of currency on them, and it was acceptable enough for them to afford a couple of rooms to use for their stay here.

Seeing my doggy entourage in the back I made my way over to them to inquire as to the location of our missing changeling friend as I did not see him at the table eating anything to blend in.

“Where is Moss?” I asked my diamond dog entourage as they were all busy enjoying their brunch of cooked manticore meat and bread chunks. Most of my dogs were happy with their room and that they were sleeping indoors instead of the cold ground or outside and that they were being treated nicely instead of with hatred or suspicion.

I guess it depends on their clan or if word hasn't arrived in the capital with what has happened in Talon's End, but seeing how several griffons greeted me and thanked me for my deeds then I can say for certain that word reached the capital. Or at the very least much of its citizens caught wind of it.

Rocky, much to my surprise, was the only dog who was able to put their food down and talk to me instead of talking to me with a mouth full of eviscerated meat and bread bits. After swallowing what he had in his mouth and a few gulps of something from his mug that he brought with him, the big dog spoke with a bit of a slowness to it.

“We left ‘em on the bed upstairs, room in the back of hall.” Rocky said as he went back and took another bite from his stick of manticore meat.

“Is he asleep?” I asked, eyebrow raised that he was left in a room without any supervision or checking in to see if he was still in the room.

“I think so? He became very fat last night when he came here. Looked like he ate small boulder.” Rocky said as he looked to his dogs, all of them now drinking their water, several of them nearly drowning themselves in the process with the other half having to smack them on the back to save them a dumb way to die.

“I see…” was all I could say as looked passed my dogs towards the stairs before returning my gaze to the team lead and gave him a nod. “Keep enjoying your rest, we’ll be here for now until the king sends me out or something else comes up.”

The burly beast gave me a happy nod and a bark of approval before returning to his pack, their happy barks and growls emanating from them fills the tavern alongside the din of griffons and few ponies chatter. With that all said and done I headed towards the staircase and went up with some haste in my sails, soon enough I arrived at room seven and knocked on the door with my knuckles.

“Hey, Moss, it’s Ian, you okay in there?” I asked as I wondered if he was feeling ill from over feeding on emotions or if he actually got sick from something he encountered while we were in the forest.

All I heard in response to my knocking and question was a low groan and a belch.

And by belch I mean it was something out of an all-you-can-eat contest followed by a soda chaser, that shit was horrifying and loud, and I was impressed by it. And disturbed cause now I am honestly wondering if he ate someone and was now working hard to destroy the evidence.

“Now Moss-“ I started as I jiggled the doorknob and found it to be unlocked, so I took a few steps back and away from the door as I cracked my neck and looked at the door.

It looks like I get to say the one line from an old tv show I used to watch when I was a kid.

“I am respecting your privacy by knocking but by asserting my authority as your friend by coming in anyway!” I shouted as rushed the door and opened it and saw a grisly sight.

It was Moss, bloated like a morbidly obese fat man at a Walmart riding a mobility cart, laying on the bed, groaning and belching up puddles of pink ooze that is dripping onto the floor in an even larger pool of pink slime. And to top it all off, he was not in his disguise anymore.

Behold! Moss! The fattest changeling on the planet and quite possibly the most fed changeling in existence! This massive bulk of black, bloated chitin and bugmeat was immobilized and was currently unable to do anything but make sounds and spew pink ooze.

I don't know if I should be proud of him reaching this state or disgusted by him for being so gods damned fat

Like seriously man, eat a salad.

As I stood there at the door looking at my chonky friend lay there in a comatose-like state, I watch as I see him just wiggling his hooves trying to signal me something l quickly hurry in and shut the door behind me before moving in front of his face.

Just like the rest of his body his face is also bloated but not as badly as the rest of him, and his eyes, my god, his eyes have a pinkish hue almost akin to the yellow eyes of someone with jaundice and there is pink slime coming out of his mouth with two smaller streams from his nose, just what the fuck is going in with him?

“Hey, buddy talk to me. Are you okay?” I said while I placed a hand on his face, giving it a bit of a rub while my other snapped my fingers to try and get his attention.

The finger snapping did little as he just gurgled and weakly turned his gaze to look at me, his expression slowly morphed from its glazed-over look to a smile as he let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you.” Moss said as he leaned his head into my hand as I kept rubbing his cheek, my thumbs moving along in small circles along the jawline.

Raising an eyebrow in confusion for the ‘thanks’ I just look down at the bloated drone not really knowing why I am being thanked. If it was thanks for the petting, then none is needed since griffons and ponies seemingly enjoy it and I guess changelings as well now.

“Uh, not to be rude but why are you thanking me?”

“For feeding me all of yesterday…I have never been fed such a banquet in such a long time.” The bloated changeling gurgled out as he let out a groan of contentment before letting out a whine of discomfort.

Looking over his bloated bulk I can only shake my head. If this was a human than they’d be starring on ‘My 600-pound life’ and be dead within the same episode because they refused to change themselves for the better.

“Yeah, well, no problem man, happy to help.” I said as I reached out and poked the pudgy bug in the belly and watched it ripple and wobble before settling down. A part of me really, really, really wanted to just mash my face into that pudge and motorboat it and watch the ripples move outward.

‘It’s like a god damn waterbed but without the water or the bed.’

“Hey…I need you to do me a huge favor.” Moss said as he struggled to move, even more so when he tried to lift his head to look at me.

“I am not feeding you nor jerking you off.” I said without any sign of hesitation on my behalf, this was straight up something only two guy friends would ever say to each other whenever the words 'I need you to do me a favor'.

“Not that kind of favor!” And like that a wave of relief washed over me that it wasn't something that would have broken the bro-code between us.

“Oh…oh thank god.” I said as let out a sigh of relief, “What'cha need?”

“Can you get me a couple of jars and maybe a bucket?” Moss said weakly as I watched him struggle to roll over onto his stomach as he wobbled back and forth almost like a pillbug lying on its back.

“Why do you need jars and a bucket?!” I asked as I was now taking an interest in his request, but if it was for something... unpleasant then I am just gonna leave him hanging.

“I need them so I can expel the *eerp* excess emotions I fed on so that they can be stored away and so that I can return to a more agreeable form that isn’t restricted to this bed!” Moss snapped at me before burping again as a few scant droplets of pink flew out of his mouth and onto the floor.

“By the Weave why is your mind always leaning towards sexual acts and carnal thoughts?” Moss said in an angry and exasperated tone, I guess I was starting to get on his nerves with my responses.

“Dude I just got laid last night to two extremely horny hens who rode me till I felt like a dried-up raisin. I am lucky that my pelvis is still intact and not a shattered mess.” I said as I patted my junk with my left hand, wincing ever so slightly as it still sort of stings from being the abuse they went through. Maybe there is some lingering damage there that needs to be addressed.

Rolling his eyes as what I said he just makes the hoof motions for me to give him something and with my own eye roll I searched through his room for anything he can use as a jar or a bucket.

Lucky for him that this room actually did have a bucket and several empty jars labeled grape and strawberry jelly and a lone peanut butter jar. I didn’t even know that this world even had this stuff, but now knowing that it does it now means I can have a normal lunch once more!

Just as soon as I can find out where the stores are that sells some jelly and peanut butter.

Wrapping my arms around the jars I proceeded to dump them into the bucket before grabbing said wooden object and dumped it in front of Moss.

“There you go, now I’ll you leave you to it.” I said as took a step back to leave but a dark grey hoof rose up to stop me.

“Thank you, but can you stay for a moment? I may need some help sitting up and getting a grasp on these jars.” Moss said with a bit of embarrassment in his tone, I guess he is now regretting his feasting from last night.

“Ugh, fine, I’ll help you out, but just this one time! Got it Moss.” I said with a hint of a shudder, not knowing what this ‘help’ will entail on my behalf.

“Oh thank the Weave! I was worried that I would have had to coerce or bribe you to assist me with this.”

“Don’t push your luck Moss, just… tell me what I need to do.” My face was turning a slight shade of green as I feared what I had to do.

“Oh, yeah, that, all you will to do is hold me upright and steady while I discharge the excess emotions into the jars.” Moss said as he covered his mouth as another burp ripped through him.

My god it’s like someone that drank way too much soda and is now just one mentos away from exploding.

‘Now there is a thought for future use… I’ll just store that thought for later.’

With a bit of a tired sigh on my end and an excited smile on his and, I climbed onto the bed, got behind the big chungus of a changeling and helped him get into a sitting position as he grabbed one of the jars.

“All set back here…do your…thing.” I really hope that this isn’t a sexual thing for changelings.

"Alright, just keep me upright while I carefully discharge the excess emotions into these jars. Now, normally I would need a second changeling for this or be a trained harvester to do it myself, but since I have neither then you will do for now." Moss said as he then placed his muzzle on the jar held between his hooves and immediately started to disgorge pink slime into it.

The process I am watching unfold before me is a bit unsettling and disgusting to be perfectly honest with everyone.

It's like...how do I compare this exactly? Imagine this if you will, there is Moss, sitting in front of me while I am holding him up so he doesn't topple over because of his bloated mass, and Moss is muzzle deep into the jar, and he starts making that sound that cats make when they are about to cough up a hairball, but instead of a hairball it is at least a quart or two of pink slime that smells strangely of strawberries being blasted out like a firehose.

There you go, you have more information than necessary and is now cursed with that knowledge for the rest of your lives or until you force yourself to forget by drowning yourself in liquid stupid.

For the better part of two hours and some change I simply sat there holding a fat changeling while he unloaded his gooey pink cargo into several glass jars and a bucket, and for the most part it could have been a lot worse. Gazing at these jars filled with what Moss calls 'unrefined love gel' and it really does look like strawberry jam and I am afraid that it might taste like it as well.

“So…this love goo…I take it back at your home there is someone that processes this stuff so it’s actually edible?” I asked Moss as I looked at the jars that are currently filled to the brim with gelatinous ooze of the pink variety.

“Uh yeah? I mean this stuff can be consumed as it currently is but since it is mixed with several different emotions of varying degrees of potency it will for the most part be more akin to a meal with little nutritional value for a surface like yourself.” Moss said as he placed another jar beside the others, his horn glowing an ethereal green as he levitated the jar.

“I see, and I take it that the separation process is a lengthy one since it’s all mixed up?”

“It sure is, usually there would be a team of changelings who would go after specific emotions in the batch and pull it away before storing it off in a different room. Back in the capital we had an entire wing of the palace sectioned off just for emotion storage alone!”

Looking at the numerous filled jars I saw that while pink was the dominant color present, I did see little flecks of green, red, blue, orange, yellow and numerous other colors I could barely recognize.

“I take it for the negative emotions you just flush them away?” I asked my little bug friend as I was curious about what they do with what I considered to be something bad and wasteful.

“Oh no, those have an actual use.” Moss said immediately as he turned to look at me for a moment before returning to his jars.

“Such as?”

“Interrogation of a foreign changeling or a snooping griffon or minotaur.” That brought an eyebrow raise from me, was not expecting that for an answer.

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. You see, when you feed negative emotions to someling it will naturally make them experience that emotion, but if you give them just enough it will also drain them of their love reserves as the new emotion is taking over that supply and replacing it with itself.”

“That sounds like it could backfire horribly.” I said as I started to think on a few possible ways this could end in disaster.

“Oh, it can backfire, that is why we always have an expert on emotional connection to keep the subject under constant scrutiny and control, can’t have the subject expire or try to harm themselves or the interrogators.”

As soon as Moss filled up the bucket with his disgorged raw love he was for the most part back to his old self with the exception that he now had the pony equivalent of a beer gut, and it shows. Moss looks a bit like a roly-poly if he was on his side and curled up, and I couldn't help but laugh at that thought and naturally Moss gave me a look of indignation and embarrassment as he was still being held by me and my hands were playing with his fat as if they were bongo drums.

"You know you can stop holding me still, I am not going to fall over now." Moss said with a grumble as I kept playing his gut like a drumset.

"Yeah, I know, but this is fun and a way of getting even with you." I said with a bit of a grin as he just looks away from me with a huff.

"I hate you."

"No you don't."

"How do you know?"

"I know you don't hate me cause if you did you would have gotten up and left the room already."

I heard Moss grumble under his breath as he simply sat there in my arms, letting me play with that fat potbelly of his. Now, I know what you are all thinking, a little too close and comfortable for a bromance, right?

I am not gonna do anything with him, just having my bit of fun as the favor for helping a bro like their guts out while holding their hair back.

Except instead of regurgitated assorted liquor and tasty snacks, it was emotions of a wide variety but mainly love.

But seeing it all still doesn’t sit well with me and it was still pretty gross to behold as I wasn’t expecting it to take two hours to discharge what amounts to several jars and a bucket full of booger-like vomit.

After what felt like another couple of minutes pass with me playing Moss’s pot belly like a drum and said changeling grumbling and slightly buzzing in mixed annoyance and contentment, we both finally had enough as he belched and looked away in embarrassment as he was passively feeding on me and the friendship we have.

“I think I am done for now, and that we should return downstairs so that your hounds do not worry that I have done something to you.” Moss says as he wiggles out from my grip and hobbles off the bed and onto the wooden floor.

The floorboards creek a bit from his pudgy weight as he flares his horn an ethereal green as his disguise appears once more.

“Yeah, you’re right, and besides we still have some business to take care of later.” I said as I hopped off the bed, the floor creaked and protested at me for my heavier weight bearing down on it.

“Later? But you are here now, and we can easily approach your king and deliver the letter you are carrying to him and inform him of the agreement between my queen and you. Why is there a need to delay such a trip?” Moss said with a look of confusion on his face.

With a sigh on my behalf and the shake of the head from me again, I had to explain my reasons to the chunky changeling.

“Moss, buddy, pal, friend, do you recall what we went through on our journey here?” I asked the bug pony this question because I want him to recall everything and put the pieces together himself, for him to put on the metaphorical big boy pants and grow a braincell or two.

“Yes Ian, I remember. It was a boring trip that ended with us dealing with you being somewhat sick and a random bugbear attack.” Moss says this as he started to move the filled jars to his travel pack and ever so gently inserted them inside, making sure that they are securely put away and not going to break in the event the pack is violently struck or slammed against something.

"And you remember what happened last night?" Cause I sure as hell do, and still do, and will forever do remember last night for the rest of my life.

"Yes, you mated with your two wives while I was watching through the keyhole to your bedchambers and the resulting mating spree has fed me to maximum capacity."

"Yeah, I did... wait... you were watching me!?" I nearly shouted in both a mixture of indignant anger and shock, as I did not know that my friend was watching me lay some pipe and apparently was feeding him the entire time. If looks could kill than the glare I was sending his way would have definitely reduced him to atoms.

I honestly thought he was just skulking around the capital feeding off of whatever emotions were lingering in the area.

"Well, yes, but not immediately!" Moss said as he started to panic, clearly was not expecting my sudden shift from being bored and droll to righteous indignation and fury!

"I had to tell your pack to go to the tavern to wait for you and once they were gone, I simply followed after you into your abode and locked the front door behind me as I did not want anyone interfering in the mating process between you and your wives and my feeding procedure didn't need to be known by anyling poking their noses where it doesn't belong." Moss said as he finished packing away his jars, giving a nod to them all the while I was still glaring a hole through the back of his head.

Pinching the bridge of my nose in exasperation and disbelief at Moss’s behavior and action I simply shake my head before walking up to him and whack him upside the head.

The changeling recoiled back and away from me as he let out a startled cry of shock from the hit and a whimper from being hit by his friend as he quickly scuttled away from me.

“What was that for!?” Moss shouted as he rubbed the soot where I struck him.

“For watching me fuck Gilda and Greta! We don’t do that shit here Moss! You don’t watch other people fuck in their homes ever! Unless they give you permission to do so, and that is a colossal if because I highly doubt there are any voyers in this city.” I said this while still pinching my nose, I swear it’s like basic common sense and common courtesy doesn’t exist to changelings.

Or maybe such things are viewed differently to them, whatever it is he should have at least went with my dogs to keep an eye on them! He saw briefly the state of my friends before they dragged me inside my house, that should’ve been a dead giveaway that we were going to need some privacy.

With a sigh I head to the door before turning to look at Moss who was still standing away from me and was hovering over his pack, protecting it from me.

“I am sorry if I have overstepped your boundaries, Ian, but what you did is considered a bountiful harvest for me and I could not help myself.” Moss said with a bit of a whimper, rising ever so slightly from his pack after seeing and sensing that I wasn’t going to do anything aggressive towards him.

“I know Moss, I know, and I am sorry that I hit you but from now on don’t do that anymore.” I said as I grabbed the doorknob and unlocked it.

“For now just stay up here, when I calm down and unwind we will be going over some ground rules on what you can and cannot do up here on the surface. I don’t know how long you lot have been stuck underground or what ideas you have but the surface has changed immensely since you all last saw it.” And with that said I stepped out and closed the door behind me before heading down the hallway and made my way downstairs and headed straight for the bar.

I want this memory as blurry and as unrecognizable by the time he is done cause if I have to remember this somewhere down the future I may just punch him for making me remember.

“Give me the hardest drink you got.” I asked the bartender at the counter, an older griffon who looked like he hadn’t seen a good comb n brush in a long time, and he was busy cleaning out a wooden tankard and watching the diamond dogs in their corner of the tavern.

“But sir it’s only early midday? Why so soon with the hard drinking?” The bartender said as he finished cleaning the tankard in his talons before reaching out for another one underneath the bar.

“Hardest. Drink.” I growled out as I really wanted something that can make me forget what I saw, heard and what has happened upstairs.

“Yes sir, sorry sir.” The bartender said with raised talons in a placating manner, realizing that the noble before him wasn’t in a good mood if he was asking for the good stuff this early.

And it was true, I wanted the good shit cause I wanted to forget and focus on the good stuff that happened yesterday and this morning.

I didn’t have to wait long for my driving to arrive, as soon as it was placed before me I grabbed it and took a hearty gulp from it before following it up with draining it as if I was dying from dehydration.

Drinking the good stuff this early? Whatever the bug did must’ve really crawled under your skin to get you this worked up.

Once I heard Eris whispering into my ears I let out a sigh knowing that my wayward benefactor is sitting right beside me, and although she is nothing more than an illusion that she is putting out for me to see so that our interactions are more natural would appease me.

That and everyone else can’t see her and that whenever I talk to her nobody else would notice my mouth moving or hear my voice.

It works but today isn’t one of those days that it does.

“What do you want Eris?”

Sheesh what crawled up your butt today?

“A literal love bug did. He said that he was watching me, Gilda and Greta last night through the door while we were bumping uglies.”

Ah, a voeyer bug, haven’t seen one of those in a long time. He must’ve seen something spicy that he liked if he stayed to watch the whole thing!

Letting out a sigh I just shake my head at what the chaos spirit said before taking a gulp from my tankard.

Not a fan of having an audience watch you act?

“Not one bit.”

Bah! You’re no fun!

“I am not supposed to be fun, I am supposed to be me and right now, current me wants to unwind and relax and try to forget the things I have seen and done over the past month, and heard within the hour.” I said just as I took another mighty gulp from the tankard, draining it to its halfway point.

…I think I see where this is going.

You are dealing with the stress of your station, the actions that you went through with at Talons End, and the choices you made during the battle that resulted in the lives lost on both the dogs side and yours.

Dealing with the fact that you have ended lives, hostile though those dogs were, you still didn’t want to do it because you saw within them your own dog staring you in the face. And then there are those you killed back in that manor all those months ago, griffons whom you butchered because they stole something precious to you.

Taking lives is never easy Ian, for both mortals and gods alike because we all believe that we can change them for the better and live peacefully together.

Except for Maar, that bastard just wants everyone and everything to die.

“That we can agree on…” I mumbled out as I looked deep into my tankard, seeing a brownish reflection of myself within it looking right back at me.

Heavy is the responsibility that sits upon your brow, young human. A knight of the griffon realms is a major responsibility, even in the old times when they were at their peak they had the responsibility of protecting their lands and their charges. Not much has changed over the millennia other than there are even less knights now and that being one sets you on the path of nobility but that is an entirely different can of worms.

And to be in charge of an entire colony of diamond dogs who are barely literate will not be an easy thing to change for the better and also have little grasp on foreign concepts and rules. They will not be happy with any changes you make for them but if you want them to live better lives you will have to be their hate-sink for a while until they can see that your changes are making their lives easier in the long run.

You want to be able to live your life as you see fit, but you are unable to because of the mounting tasks and responsibilities that have been assigned to you. The only path forward is to endure through these trials and persevere through them. That or go crazy from it and be put out of your misery.

“Ain’t that the truth…”

Ian, what you need is someone to talk to. Someone to vent all this out, cause if you don’t you may snap at the wrong person or moment and it may end very badly for you.

“Yeah, but who? I don’t think Gilda or Greta would be able to handle it let alone my pups, they may think I am a weak alpha and try to take over.” I asked my spectral friend as I finished my ale off before signaling for another.

Maybe try that one archon you met at your knighting ceremony? What was his name again… eh I bet you can figure it out. That is what those in the priestly business do right, confess your sins or troubles and they try to help you through them?

Well, that is all for now, try not to beat yourself up over this. It isn’t your fault and nobody is blaming you for it. You just need to learn on how to let things go and just go with the flow of things, that is how I deal with my problems.

“Until the problem becomes glaring impossible to ignore.” I rebutted back and Eris immediately went silent.

Yeah…until it does…

And then it was quiet, it was just me alone with my thoughts and it was just the way I liked it.

That is, that is the way it should be when I am deep in thought and I tune out the world, but now though, it is a different type of quiet.

Lifting my head up I looked around and I saw that everyone was looking at me. The tavern was silent as a graveyard, and every single occupant was looking in my direction, a few were outright staring at me while the rest were just shooting glances my way all the while whispering in hushed tones.

The bartender of the tavern came over to me and placed another mug before me and leaned forward a bit.

“Not to be rude or anything my lord, but I think the hard stuff was a little too strong for you.” He said as he took the tankard from me and put it aside before placing a smaller cup filled with water in its place.

I looked down at the water given to me and took a swig from it before looking back at the bartender, confusion on my face.

"What do you mean? I only drank half of it, and I don't feel all that bad, a little tingly and buzzed for my efforts but not shitfaced drunk or slurring my speech to the point that you will need a drunk translator." Sure, I was buzzed at the moment but come on now, I am not that drunk! Well, not yet at least.

The bartender shook his head negatively once more before leaning a little closer to me, my guess he had something secretive to say to me and that I best heed it, which I did because I want to know just what exactly he had to say that he couldn't say aloud for all to hear.

"My lord, I don't mean to be poking my beak where it doesn't belong, but you were talking to yourself, and it wasn't in any griffon tongue nor gryphon aspect...let alone any known language in the world." He said as he kept his voice low as to not alert those still in the building, which of course earned us even more attention as quite a few slightly scooted closer to listen in on what was being said by both of us.

"What do you mean?"

"Sir, it sounded like you were speaking in a low, guttural tongues of long forgotten beings, even now it feels like you were trying to cast some damnable invocation or curse upon someone who has wronged you deeply." The uneased look on the bartender showed that he wasn't fibbing nor lying to get a rise out of me, apparently, I was indeed speaking in what amounts to the black tongue of Mordor, and it scared the crap out of everyone in the tavern.

Which means that word of this event will spread far and wide here in the capital along with to whatever rural hamlet or township that any travelers will go towards to share rumors be they real or fake.

And that also means that the king will hear about this and demand answers...

Ah fuck me.

With a heavy sigh of annoyance in that I may have created more problems for me to deal with in the future and that my apparent chats with Eris may have been heard by others may also bring about unwanted questions from those who have authority over me and demand answers that I cannot give away.

Here is hoping that they accept my response that it is just me speaking in curses and swears in a different dialect of the human language so as to not out Eris. I highly doubt that my king would be happy to know that I am helping and getting assistance from a being that is currently in prison.

Paying my tab and telling my diamond dogs to stay at the tavern and to not cause any trouble, I head out and started to walk through the capital, my head downcast and gaze on the street, mind deep in thought.

I need a quiet place to think this through, somewhere where nobody would bother a lone man who needed some time for himself.

As I walked through the capital from the lower districts of the working class and the merchant quarters, I eventually found myself in the Cloud District where the nobles lived alongside the church and its clergy of holy birds and lions, and from within this district I found myself in the most unlikely of places that I was expecting to find on this colossal mountain tree city.

'A pleasure garden? A place to just...stroll through without a care in the world? How the hell have I never noticed this whenever I had to walk to the castle? It's got marble brickwork and gilded silver fences! And is that a fucking water fountain in the center of it!?'

It is safe to say that I have found my new place to zen out when things are getting bad for me.

I just hope that now I can find someone to talk to lest my darker thoughts and memories eat me from the inside out.

Author's Note

Been working and tweaking this one for a while, here ya go and have at it.