Late Daily Thursday Short: Kyo 3

Do not fear God-like enemies.

Fear pig-headed teammates.

                                                                                                 Silver Legion Mantra

Kyo woke up right as the group arrived at Talos the Butcher’s shop. It was a delicious place stocked with cuts of meat hanging from the rafters. There was even a rare glass case enchanted to keep things cool while displaying glistening slabs of perfect-cut steaks. The lord of this beautiful place was the massive giant Cat Tribesman known as Talos. He had to keep the area around his counter free of hanging food because he was tall.

Talos the Butcher looked at the people accompanying Kyo and asked her the unique question, “Little kitten, what color are the flowers today?”

Kyo was thrilled the secret question made everyone in Sene’s group look confused. “Green! Green!” she responded with a brilliant smile. Talos relaxed his heavy grip on a rather large cleaver and nodded at Sene. The older female read something into the conversation and seemed to lose the anger from visiting Mr. Gretchen.

Like before, a small bubble of shadows enveloped Talos after Sene came close enough. Kyo watched the shadow bubble ripple with strange sparkles like soap water in the hot sun. The discussion between the two adults dragged on long enough that it was pretty late by the time the bubble popped.

Kyo had spent the time efficiently by introducing the two handmaidens to the glory of butchery. Talos treated his craft as Art and genuinely enthusiastically pursued the perfect display of glorious bloody slices. It only took a few minutes to enthrall the two handmaidens accompanying her. She drenched them in the knowledge gained over two years working with Talos.

I don’t need to mention that it was mostly me learning cool things while drooling at delicious food. Kyo thought as she expounded on the glory of red.

By the time the adults had finished chatting, Kyo had noticed a somewhat glazed look in both of the other girls' eyes. They must have been genuinely impressed by her incredible knowledge of meat!

Kyo wanted to continue, but her tiny frame was lifted over the counter until she was face to face with Talos. The older male cat seemed to look her over intensely before nodding. He placed her on the counter and gave her a small plate with a half-steak piece of meat. As she started eating the fresh bloody offering from heaven, Talos spoke with Sene over the counter. Kyo’s eyes switched between each adult as they spoke.

“I’ll have the shop closed and all inventory liquidated by the end of the day,” Talos said with a resigned sigh. “I can’t let the little munchkin be abducted without ensuring her safety.”

“The Lion welcomes all talented employees,” Sene said with a smile that seemed rather smug.

“I’ll expect a workspace next to wherever she’s going to be squirreled away,” Talos said with another deep sigh. He seemed to be stressed about something. Kyo hoped whatever it was got taken care of soon.

“That won’t be a problem,” Sene replied demurely.

“If any bounty hunters show up….” Talos said with a bit of hesitation.

“The city lord won’t care if a few over-enthusiastic idiots vanish. With the projected level of profits buying off the right people won’t be hard at all.” Sene said as her smug smile transformed entirely into a smirk.

“How certain are you she has a Patron,” Talos said.

“One hundred percent confirmed by the Lion,” Sene said with a broad, sinister grin.

“Munchkin, what’s the name of your Patron?” Talos asked, looking directly at Kyo.

“Kudzu!” Kyo said as she created three delicious meat buns to fill herself up fully. The breaded buns also helped clean off the red sauce from Talos’s cut.

“Kudzu? Are you sure? Perhaps they have another name?” Talos said, looking intent.

Do you have another name? Kyo asked curiously.

Yes. Speaking it now will complicate issues. Thus, I won’t tell you! Kudzu said utilizing the mental connection between Patron and Pacted.

Mean. Kyo replied.

You'll thank me in a few hundred years. Kudzu responded before closing the connection.