Jackal Boyfriend: Abasi (special preview)

I furrow my brow. “I thought-” I turn and look at him as his eyes go a bit wide. “He told me he worked with leather.”

“I also said I was out of practice,” Abasi sighs. “As of late, I’ve used my skills stitching up other hides, if you catch my drift.”

I screw my mouth up into a small pout. “I thought Susilo was the medic?” 

“Oh, he is! But he’s terrible with a needle, so whenever there is something particularly heinous, it’s my job to mend the tear.” Abasi takes a big gulp from his stein. 

“I’ve seen his work though,” Yasa tries to clean up her mess. “I mean, they still use the saddles he made. They’re really quite breaktaking. He has talent.”

Abasi scoffs, curling his lip. “Stop throwing honey on me. I told her I had to think about the job offer. I may not be able to make things breathtaking anymore.”

Yasa clicks her tongue. “Oh come now, talent is talent. May just take some practice to get back into shape like anything.”

“Sorry about that.” Embery comes back with plates, serving us at the table. “It’s busy tonight.” He bends down to kiss Yasa. “It’ll die down soon and I’ll come back.” He rushes back through to the front of the stand. 

“You know, Tysh’s parents own that sheep farm just beyond the mill.” Yasa says as we begin to eat. 

“Is thats o?” Abasi glances over at me. “Has that always been the famly business?”

I shake my head. “It was sort of ust luck. When my parents first came here after exiling from Culuweth, a sheep and a couple of chickens was all we could afford at the time. My mother knew how to spin yarn, so it sort of grew from there.”

A strange look crosses his face. “Oh, so you didn’t grow up in Culuweth.”

“My parents thought it was becoming too dangerous there. They didn’t like Bethsabe, so they took everything they had and sold it in order to escape. I barely remember the trip, but I grew up mostly here in Obresh.”

“Back in those days, I thought it was illegal for Gnolls to live outside Culuweth,” he murmurs. 

For ages, due to the Gnoll slavers, many kingdoms in the empire had made it illegal for Gnolls to maintain residence or become civilians. Obresh was one of the few that tolerated us. 

I nod and let out a heavy sigh. “It’s one of the reasons it took so much money for us to escape. We had to be smuggled really.”

“I’m sorry,” Abasi quickly chimes. “I didn’t mean to bring up any bad blood. I know it’s only recently Gnolls have started to step out of Bethsabe’s shadow. I mean, I grew up rather secluded from the world so-” He stops himself and frowns. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok,” I say softly. “Obresh was a good place to grow up. The Orcs were always nice to us, maybe a bit wary at first, but I was never treated horribly or anything. My parents knew we could find a better life here than in Culuweth, and we did! They started their farm and I worked for Queen Imani before I started traveling with Kisska.”