39 Monster - Part 3

They spent the rest of the day after lunch training and trying to find out what Lera's limits were. Other than physical combat, her magic was uncontested. They knew some standard spells. Like a small flame for lighting fires in the wilderness or fresh water. Most of their efforts were in for tournament style combat, they all yearned to be adventurers. Going out in the world, fighting monsters, finding treasures, but they always lacked someone for ranged combat. It was tough for others to get close to them. It was mainly due to Ayanni's background and the siblings' aggressive personalities. Though they were mostly for show. To keep people away and their group close knit.

Of course having someone like Lera wasn't ideal, but Paroppe heard how she had called herself a monster. Those words hurt her as much as the speaker. Sure Lera didn't outwardly express many emotions, but that blank stare was enough to see that pain.

---

The monster followed the group back home for the night. It wasn't as physically tiring as mentally. It knew that, but it wanted to be in pain. It hurt two children. It deserved more for hurting its family. At that thought its face contorted in pain before vanishing.

"I'm a monster…"

It mumbled over and over again. By the time they reached the home, the monster stopped its thoughts of the bad things it had done. Blocking the guilt it felt. Right now it needed to follow its master, so it did.

They entered the home and split up. The monster followed its master to get cleaned up while Jev and Ayanni cooked the food they bought on their way home. As the monster followed its master, they grabbed some clean clothing from her bags and went to the bathroom.

"Let's clean each other up before going to the bath."

As its master… Paroppe turned around and cleaned them both up.

"Lera come over… Did you… Did you just clean me?" The monster nodded. "Actually that is convenient, but I still like the feeling of a warm bath. Can you make warm water in the bath?" The next moment water appeared in the bath with steam rising off it. "Lera you're amazing you know that. I don't even have to wait… we don't have to wait for the water to fill up." She turned towards the monster. "Lera take your clothes off and get in the tub. I'll turn around while you…" She turned towards the small wave by the displaced water and a naked monster. "Seriously…"

---

"Lera are you ok?"

Paroppe wanted to ask Lera about it earlier, but since they were alone it was better. Of course talking about something serious like this, wasn't fun. Once she saw Lera nod, she turned back towards the water. They were back to back so it was easy to sense the movement.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She noticed that Lera didn't do anything, so she thought about being specific. Before she was going to ask, she stopped. Lera did seem fragile to her and pushing might be a really bad idea. For now she moved on to something less serious. "How old are you Lera?"

---

The monster had to think about that. It just became Lera, so how old was Lera? One day? Less? Or in total the monster had been alive. In its original world it was twenty and then it spent a couple years in the beginning with its family… then ten years had passed for it. Or could it be the time that since it made the universe? No, the monster was always there. It hurt others and destroyed lives. A selfish child that only took and never gave back. Took a family, took their love, their life…

"Thirty-five?"

It wasn't sure if that was the right number, but it decided that it was the easiest answer.

"You look so young. Are you an elf by chance?" The monster shook its head. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but what are you? Wait… Don't say monster." The monster did nothing. "You are troublesome, you know that." The monster nodded. "That wasn't a question… Ugh."

---

The monster didn't sleep even at the command of its… Paroppe. It couldn't because if it did, it might feel 'good'. It didn't deserve that. Listening to commands is what it wants… shook its head… needs to do. The monster sat up on the floor and nodded its head. It needed to listen to someone else.

It ran its hand over the fabric that it was laying on. It was soft, like the chairs it had in its lair. The soft couch there had a mold of the monsters' current form. It lied back down facing the ceiling watching the rays of light peeking through the window. The dust particles in the air were blown away by the air blown by the monster.

---

Paroppe had woken up and silently watched Lera sit up. She was nodding for whatever reason. Then she lied back down and started blowing air from her mouth. She didn't know why Lera did it, but it was the most adorable thing. Well it might have been like that if she wasn't so old. Twenty years older than her and Lera was acting like a child.

Paroppe's mood dropped. Something was wrong, but it might be wrong to keep Lera around. She really only had a day to find out about her. Why did she care? Because she clearly could see that Lera had gone through something horrible? Pity then? Why did she even trust Lera? After all Ayanni could be right. She could be a spy or someone with an ulterior motive. Biding her time to attack. Paroppe disagreed with that last thought. Lera wasn't like that.

'Why do I care so much for her?'

Watching Lera ask for death had been horrible. So it has to be a pity then right?

"Lera…" She watched the playful woman stop blowing the air and turn her head with that blank stare, "What do you like? It can be anything. A color, food, or place. Anything."

"Stars."

Paroppe wasn't expecting that, but that was a nice response. She watches Lera squirm uncomfortably after saying that. It was like some automatic fact that she didn't have control over her answer. She giggled watching Lera.

"Let's get ready and then we can wake the others up."

---

The monster ate the food it was given. It tasted fine, but felt it needed a couple spices for it to taste great. Though it remained quiet without mentioning that. It listened to Jev as he started to speak.

"Paroppe what are you going to do?"

"About what?"

He pointed towards the monster. "Her. Are you going to 'keep' her? Saying it like that even makes me feel disgusted, but I'm serious."

"I'm not going to throw her out on the street." She glared at Ayanni as he was about to speak. "No."

"I didn't say that. If you drop her off at the guard or hospital they can take care of her." Jev then continued to explain his reasoning. "You know as much as me that they are as likely to throw her out. With the Light Festival coming up, there's going to be so many people showing up they'll have so much to worry about." Jev paused for a moment. "And if you wait, there is even less chance for her to get the help she needs."

"Before you decide, I want a question answered." Ayanni looked towards the monster. "Do you know what a tech pad is?" The monster didn't answer. "Can you tell her to answer me?"

"Seriously! Fine. Lera answer him."

"Yes."

"You got your answer. Jev I know, but she's not a problem. I can handle this… situation."

"So then what does Lera think about that? Did you ask her?"

"No, but I don't think she… Lera do you want to stay with me?" The monster didn't answer because it doesn't want anything. "Lera are you ok with staying with me?" The monster nodded after taking another bite of food. "She's fine with it."

"Doesn't 'that' seem like a problem? You have to command her to do stuff and something simple like that is too much for her. What if you accidently say something that gets you or one of us hurt?"

"I don't think that will be a problem. Lera could you go into my room and stay there until I ask you to come back?" The monster walked to Paroppe's room. It wanted to teleport, but it learned that wasn't what she had meant.

---

"That is just too weird sis."

"I know, but I think she's making progress. Anyway I didn't tell you last night, but remember yesterday at the training area?" They both nodded. "Well since she was a magic user I thought she could go on an adventure with us…"

"I'm not leaving the city alone with an unknown like her."

"Ayanni has a point. We don't know her and since she can't act without your commands what happens if you aren't specific with what you say and she runs off alone?"

"We can talk about that later." She glared back at them as her brother glared back with his fire like eyes. "Anyway… I asked her if she had killed someone and then she broke down. I don't know what happened, but I don't think she would hurt anyone." Then Paroppe mumbled the next part, though the rest at the table still heard her. "Other than herself…"

"That's what I'm talking about. She isn't right in the head and needs help. Neither of us can do that. She's like a couple years older than us. Do you think you can take care of her?"

"Actually she's thirty-five. Okay, I know that makes it worse. Don't give me that look. Plus you saw her magic. It was impressive."

"Magic doesn't make any of this situation better."

"Seriously!"

"I think we should keep her around."

The siblings stared at Ayanni.

"What made you change your mind? Because I have never seen you once in your life change your mind like that and we've been friends for all of my life." Jev didn't understand his best friend.

"Don't get me wrong Ayanni, I'm happy to have someone agree with me. Coming from you though feels weird. What do you want to get out of this?" There was something wrong and Paroppe knew Ayanni enough that this isn't like him.

"She said she knows what a tech pad is. I want to know more and if she leaves I cannot find that out. I also won't take some 'extreme' measures. Hey I feel bad for what I would have… ok I did do to him. Right now Lera isn't in the right state of mind to answer. Once she is, I want to know everything."

"Why do you want to know that?" Paroppe couldn't understand why he changed his mind.

"I told you both already that a tech pad is what the Counsel uses. It was given to my great-grandfather and grandpa. My father told stories that someone gave it to them and their friends. He never told me who, but if I wanted to find out I had to join the Counsel. I still do, because it's an amazing creation. It can save information, take pictures, and video. Essentially keep memories. It has pictures of my family and I want to one day look at them. Don't you think it would be a cool idea if everyone had one?"

"So your father tricked you into taking your mother's position on the Counsel?" It had taken Jev a moment to say that.

"Of course he wouldn't do that."

"Alright, so we can take care of her for now."

"We? You're going to help me?"

"Can't have my big sister doing all the work. Mother would kill me if she found out."

"What about you Ayanni? Are you going to help?" She stared at him actually hoping he said yes.

"Sure. I need to make sure my information is safe." The siblings glared at him. "Well I'm not heartless. She is a person not some tool." He locked eyes with the siblings, making sure there were no misunderstandings for any of them.

---

"Now Lera I can't keep giving you my clothes. I have some money saved up in the bank. We're going there before heading for the shops around town."

The blank stare had changed into a small genuine smile. The eyes really showed all of the emotion that was felt by the monster. So it followed Paroppe north towards the center of the city and into the bank. Like other buildings in the center of Suul, a grand white stone wall inlaid with golden strips to highlight the edges. Extravagant and necessary for people to understand where the buildings touch the roads. In the bright sunshine, it makes it difficult to see where the edges are, if not for the gold.

The monster walked into the building. It was darker than outside, but still bright enough to see and do business. The monster watched as one of the employee's walked over towards them.

"How may I… I'm sorry that I didn't see you were here Kear. Please follow me so we can get a private room ready for you. I will let Barrian know that you have arrived. Please follow me."

Paroppe and the monster stayed put, but Paroppe turned her head from the employee to the monster looking for answers.

"Is there a problem?" The employee asked, looking nervous.

"Ah… not a problem. We'll follow you." Paroppe kept looking back at the monster. She got closer to the monster and whispered into her ear. "Is your name Kear?" The monster shook its head. "Do you know what's going on?" The monster nodded towards Paroppe. "Tell me what's going on, please."

"We are following him."

"Seriously!" Which she whisper-shouted out loud attracting the attention from others in the bank and the employee they were following. "It's all good. Don't mind me." She tried to hide her embarrassment by moving her face away from everyone.

Once inside the private room, they were asked to sit. The monster tried following the employee back out as it was supposed to follow him, but it was quickly stopped by Paroppe. They were alone and waiting so the monster listened to Paroppe.

"What do we do? Did they mistake you for someone else or did they mean you? Lera did you ever go by Kear in the past?" The monster nodded. "Okay, good. Since they lead us in here, you must be important right?" The monster shook its head. "Seriously?! Well that is what you think. I just have to go with the flow or should we leave?" The monster didn't answer because it didn't know what to do.

The door swings open and a tall and muscular man with grey hair and matching mustache walk in. He had a monocle on his left eye that he looked at the monster and Paroppe with.

"I apologize that I didn't get here earlier. I know you've said that it's nothing to worry about, but I like to think that way so I can strive for something better. Anyways it's nice to see you again. I hope Warphem is doing well?"

There was nothing said by the monster other than the small smile on its face from earlier. Paroppe on the other hand was stunned.

"Warphem from Herbs, Production and Transporting?" The monster nodded as that was who he was and who Barrian was talking about.

"I apologize. We haven't met before. I'm Barrian the owner of the fine place here. I don't want to boast about how wonderful this bank is, but I take pride in my work and business." He said it all with a genuine smile. Something the monster had seen previously on the man.

"P-Paroppe… That's my name."

"You don't have to be nervous." He turned towards Kear. "Another assistant?"

Still reeling from the shock earlier and confusion over the situation, Paroppe quickly spoke up once she noticed the silence.

"Ah! Yes, I'm her assistant. Helping her out when I can. I'm helping you out boss?"

The monster nodded and watched Paroppe laughing nervously. She tried to stop herself, but everything was catching up with her. Barrian spoke up to defuse Paroppe and her small breakdown.

"So what can I do for you today Kear?"

---

No one was speaking and Paroppe tried to calm herself down to take in everything. Kear, Barrian, Warphem? Too many people. She needed to calm down. They were people and backgrounds didn't matter. So what was going on. She was now 'Kear's Assistant' and they were at a bank. So money…

"Could we get the check how much is deposited for Kear's personal account? Right boss?"

She needed to ask Lera… Kear so she would nod and Barrian could let her handle everything.

---

"Of course. I will get that for you. Tea and sweets will arrive shortly. Yergal has been trying new recipes, I hope you don't mind trying them out?"

"We would love to try them!"

He smiled brightly before heading out. Paroppe took the deepest breath of her life.

"I have many questions. First you know Warphem? Of HPT?" The monster nodded. "You also know Barrian personally?" With a question like that, the obvious response for the monster was to nod. "Quick question. Who is Yergal? Barrian seemed too happy for us to try those sweets."

"His husband."

"Oh, then I guess that makes sense. Are you ok with what is going on?" The monster didn't do anything. It only acted on commands. It didn't want anything. Or maybe it did. It shut that thought down quickly. "Hrm… How about this, can I look at how much money you have?" The monster nodded to that. "Can I take money out? I'm going to use it to buy your stuff only. I won't steal any of it." The monster never really cared about money, so it didn't care if Paroppe took any.

"One more thing Lera, when they bring the tea and sweets in. Eat and drink some of it and put a smile on your face."