Author's Note

So here's the thing guys

This was gonna be longer, but I decided to cut it off here and include what was planned in the next chapter. Why? As some of you know, I broke my arm last week and it is going to be immobilized for a good while. I won't be able to write as quickly as I could with both arms. Also, most of this week is going to be spent recovering from the surgery, so I won't be writing at all during my recovery. So I decided, instead of making you guys wait yet another week for another chapter, I figured I'd release one now to hold y'all over in this uncertain time.

And that brings me to another thing. Updates are going to be MUCH slower now that I only have one hand to type with. Until my cast and sling come off, updates will not have a schedule anymore and will be a lot more sporadic. Which sucks, but it is what it is.

Hope you enjoy, I certainly try my absolute hardest to make this story entertaining. Marnie is always a fun character to write, even if she's only been in two chapters now.

Ok, Ch. 15: Tea

Ch.15: Tea

Goodness, it had been too long since she had force-marched herself up a mountain this far. She really needed to lay off her Daddy's burgers.

Marnie trudged up the gravely dirt incline that led up Canterlot mountain with a heavy breath. Her paws strained themselves against the path, kicking up dust and pebbles and messing her pristinely groomed hair with dirt.

But thankfully, this torturous march would be at its end soon, for her objective for walking this far in the first place came into view as she braved the last incline. Standing in front of her was the house of James, the strange human who she had met earlier in the year. The house itself was basic, common in its materials, but pleasant in its design, giving her a gentle, warm feeling about the place. The dark walnut wood contrasted nicely against the backdrop of the abrasive, coarse mountain rock and reminded her of home.

Something peculiar she noticed about his home was his unusual disregard for shaking the leaves of his trees around his property, as she would expect of an Equestrian during the mid-October fall. Why, as she was coming up here, every pony was busy about the city, running to and fro, shaking or bucking the leaves down and collecting them, all in their effort to prepare for autumn.

But not him. He seemed content to let his trees work at their own time, allowing the wind to lazily blow them off when they were ready. Marnie smiled at this. It was comforting to know that she wasn't the only one who didn't fit in around here, who didn't immediately assimilate the Equestrian's customs into their lives.

But she wasn't here to see the house. And the person she was here to find was sitting quietly in his rocking chair on his porch whittling away at a slab of wood.

He noticed her movement and stopped his whittling, "Well strap me up and call me a piñata. Marnie! It's good to see you again!" The lean gentleman stood up from his chair and walked down the steps to greet her properly.

"Hi James. It's good to see you again as well," she held out her talons to shake his hand which he gladly took, "I'm sorry it took so long for me to come see you. You know how business can be."

"Oh I'm sure of it. My invitation didn't come with an expiration date, ya know. Why, you could have shown up in a Uranium-238 half life and it still woulda been fine," he chuckled with an infectious smile.

Marnie gave him a confused smile and a raise of her eyebrow, "Uh, what is that?"

"What's what?"

"That 'Urineium' you were talking about," she clarified, still quite confuzzled.

"Um, you-, another time. Point is it's a really REALLY long time," he chuckled again and beckoned to the door, "Please, come on in. Get you out of the cold."

It wasn't very cold at all. In fact, she thought it was quite cozy outside, her fur providing ample insulation. But then again, he wasn't like her. He was quite furless, his white, pale skin easily seen with her incredibly good eyes. He wore a jacket around himself and his cheeks were rosy from the outdoors.

She stepped across the threshold into the foyer of the house and followed James to the kitchen.

Greeting her was a smooth, granite island countertop that lay in the middle of the room, laden with various books, papers, cookbooks, and other things of the academic sort. Each were stacked or laid out neatly in their own little section of the island, displaying an order to the chaos.

Surrounding the island was another granite countertop, this one holding dark brown, wooden cupboards and cabinets. The granite shone brightly in the light peaking in through the partially opened window, the polish work immaculately done.

"Please, have a seat. I'll put some tea on for us. What kind do you like?" James warmly asked.

"Um," she replied softly, "I've never tried tea before."

James stopped abruptly and turned his head around, giving her a confused look, "Wait, you've never had tea? Not even like, a cheap black tea? Not once?"

She shrugged, her feathers ruffling and scratching behind her, "I didn't have the opportunity to growing up."

The man resumed preparing the tea, picking out a blend for her to try out, "Well, where did you grow up?"

And there it was, the most loaded, baggage-laden question she'd been asked. Painful memories briefly, if only for a split-second, flashed before her eyes, her home burning, the worried, desperate look on her dad's face, HIS forces moving in.

James noticed her discomfort immediately and became concerned, "Hey, if you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to."

Marnie shook away the memories and raised her hand in apology, "Thank you, I appreciate it, but I'll tell you some of it."

She adjusted herself in her seat as James watched the near-boiling water in his pot, "You ever heard of the Griffon Empire?"

"In passing from Luna, but not much in detail. I only know that they aren't really around anymore," he stirred the pot with a wooden spoon, trying to occupy himself as he waited for it to boil more.

"She's right. I come from there, or, what's left of it. I lived in the plains a few miles away from Griffonstone, the capital. Daddy and I were cooks and farmers, growing wheat and barley on the side," she explained.

"What happened to you mom?" the water was at a clean boil, the plume of steam erupting up and condensing on the drywall ceiling.

"She left my dad when I was young. Didn't want to spend the rest of her days as a farmer. Told him she wanted to do something with her life and not be stuck as some common peasant. Well, I said good riddance. Didn't need her then, don't need her now," she huffed, her frustration and hurt shown clearly to James.

He decided to not push the subject, not wanting to open up old scars, "How was growing up with your dad?"

"Wonderful, he was a good griffon. Dad had a real kindness to him that just, oozed out of him wherever he went. Wasn't greedy like the city dwellers, wasn't a cheat, helped his neighbors, and showed great care for our animals. He set a great example for me, how a growing young hen should conduct herself," she smiled at the memory of her father.

He noticed that she was speaking in the past tense about her father, "What happened to him?"

"Civil war. Kithro the Merciless thought he could do better on the throne and challenged our Emperor. The war was long, hard, and brutal. It took my home... and my father from me," she paused at the end, allowing herself a moment before continuing, "I managed to escape from the Usurper's army, fleeing my home with only my clothes, my father's sword, a few photos, and whatever money I could scrounge before they got there. The war wasn't going well for the Empire, and I knew if I stayed, I'd likely end up raped and stabbed. So, I fled to Equestria, headed north along the coast and walked across the bridge. Soon enough, I came here and I've lived here ever since."

James was quiet, his eyes scanning her gently, "Damn, that's, that's terrible. And I guess, the Griffons never recovered?"

"No, last I heard, Griffonstone is in ruin and the flock are starving," she grasped onto her cup, softly steaming away its heat, and peered into the tea tepidly, "So this is tea? Doesn't look very quenching."

He shrugged, gently sitting down in his own chair with a piping hot cup of tea as well, "Well, I wouldn't say it's meant to quench thirst, more to be enjoyed. And besides, looks can be deceiving, as I'm sure you're well aware of."

She glanced at him again for but a second, catching his comment, before sipping from the warm cup in her hands, "It's a little bland," she quipped, but took another sip again, "But at the same time, pleasant."

James chuckled, stirring in a cube of sugar into his own tea and tapping the rim of the cup with his spoon, "I'm glad you like it. Though, I won't claim to be the best tea maker out there. I'm sure the Brits I worked with would be appalled that I served you such a cup. Celly has always been the tea master of this household, through and through."

"Nonsense, James. It's lovely," she took another sip and smiled warmly, "It's like a glass of whiskey on a cold winter's night."

"Interesting way of putting it," he smiled, drinking some of his tea. He set the cup down and folded his hands, "Do you think you'll ever go back?"

She sighed, a small frown replacing her pleasant grin, "I want to; I really do. I miss my people, my nation, my culture. I don't know if I belong with the ponies. They've made that much clear enough to me with the way they are around me. But, my country is in shambles. It isn't safe to go back, and I don't know if it will be again in my lifetime."

She chuckled, not in mirth but as if realizing something, "It's funny. I always looked down on ponies for their ways, their timid demeanors, and their constant, just, cutesy happiness to them. But now here I am, a refugee from a dying empire who fled to them for help. I suppose I'm just getting what I deserve."

"No one deserves to lose their home, livelihood, and their family. I doubt that your forced removal from your homeland was any sort of cosmic punishment. Bad things happen at random to people. It's just a fact of life, an unfortunate one at that," he sipped his tea stoically, shifting his seat over a little to better focus on his guest.

"And how would you know?" she asked.

"Oh, you could say I've been around the block a few times," he suggested, with a grandfatherly, wise smile.

She didn't really know how to feel about that, not to mention her curiosity of what James meant by his last sentence. But, she elected to let it be for now and switch the topic to a less painful one.

"So, you said you want to know where I get my product from?" queried Marnie, stretching out her talons underneath the table.

"In a way yes. I've been dying to get my hands on some cow and chicken, but no one sells them in Canterlot. Just ain't that kind of town I'm afraid," he shook his head.

"Couple 'o Griffin refugee sellers out West can get me some good cow stock, but the journey can be long. Don't head out there too often, so I've been hunting out in the Whitetail Woods. Packed to the brim with good venison and game and always turns up something since these Equestrian's don't hunt."

"Well, if you wouldn't mind, I'd love to accompany you on one of these trips the next time you go. It's hard to find any game up here aside from the billygoats and mountain rams. Can't say they look too appetizing," he chuckled, glancing out at the mountain rock just past his grassy backyard.

"Sure. I'm curious to see how you hunt, human. You don't look all that intimidating, no offense," she eyed up his lean, slim figure and lack of claws with a mild smugness.

"Oh, Marnie, the more you come to know me, you'll find that I'm just full of surprises," he countered.

A pleasant silence fell upon the two of them once more, neither one really knowing what to say at the moment.

"So, how are you with cooking fish?" James asked.

"Fillet, frying, boiling, grilling, searing, you name it, I can do it," she blazoned with confidence and pride in her skills.

A creaking of wood on wood flicked her ear as the man got up from his chair, adjusting his jacket around his chest, "Well, let's go fishing then. You down?"

She also got up, her own chair creaking much like his, "Course. What are we fishing for?"

"Should be some salmon still jumping upstream around this time of year, though we missed the best time to net 'em. I think most of them should be up by a little pond a bit up the mountain. Should be spawning right now, easy pickings," he handed her a metal bucket to hold their catch. He began to walk into another room, a storage room or something similar, and grabbed his fishing rods and baits.

Soon they found themselves starting up another path towards their mountain pond. James looked like he had no problem with the incline at all, whereas Marnie started to huff once more. Like an idiot, she remembered her wings, chastising herself silently for her blunder.

"So, Marnie, there's a holiday coming up, a human one, sometime after Nightmare NIght. One where a person of your skills is greatly appreciated. I wanted to know if you would want to help me out with it," he inquired of her.

She smiled slyly, "What did you have in mind?"