Chapter 21: Chapter 20- The Small Idiot

With the sun shining through her window, Torie opened her eyes. Things seemed dimmer than before. Raising from her bed, she felt the blanket fall from her, and heard something strange. Looking down, she saw a discolored blur on her blurry night robes. Reaching down, she discovered a leaf. It must have gotten stuck when she was returning from last night. Sliding out of bed, she moved towards the brightest point on her wall, and opened the locked window. Letting the leaf fall outside, she sighed. Looking towards the rising sun, she struggled to see the trees and mountains silhouetted against it. Unsure of how long she stood there, she heard a knock at her door.

 

"Lady Haywood." The familiar voice of Zen called out.

"Yes, I'm awake." Torie replied.

 

From behind, she heard the door open, along with Zen muttering an apology.

 

"Is something wrong?" Torie asked, turning to face her.

"My lady…" Zen hesitated. "Please call for ranger Washington to return lady Abigail."

"He is her father." Torie said. "If he wishes to spend time with her, who am I to refuse?"

"Please." Zen said. "You have been skipping dinner lately. Each day you're more tired than the last and everyone here is worried for your health."

 

Frowning slightly, Torie internally sighed. Her meals were irregular due to her leaving to see Etrius, with her being tired also being a result of it. As for her health, there was no secret that her vision was failing, and that it's deterioration was happening faster than expected. From their point of view, this was because her child was taken away by the newly arrived ranger. Though given what she needed to do to convince everyone that she had a secret child with Etrius, some minor hiccups were expected.

Thinking about it, this was a good opportunity. If Etrius were to be invited, all the servants could see their good relationship and Etrius' image among the staff might improve. Not only that, but they may even be able to have dinner as a family without rushing it. She could even see it as a break from work.

 

"I suppose it couldn't hurt…" Torie muttered.

 

Pausing, she glanced at Zen who was scarcely more than black and white blurs.

 

"Very well. Send word to Washington that I wish to see him and Abigail sometime after lunch. I’ll leave the specific time to you." She said.

"Of course." Zen said, relieved.

"Oh, and have the dining hall prepared." She said. "If possible, I would like the three of us to have dinner together."

"We will be prepared." Zen said.

“And have some flowers prepared. Lavender if we have them.” She said.

“Of course.”

“And have some dress clothes for Abigail. Or at the very least a bib. Do we have any bibs?”

“We have some in the kitchen.”

“Good, and we do have wooden utensils for her right?”

“Yes.”

“What about her chair? It won’t break on us, will it? Is it even clean?”

“Yes.”

“And what of the meal? What should we feed her?”

“Lady Haywood.” Zen said.

“Huh?” She asked, turning towards her.

“Everything will be prepared. Please take the time to relax.” Zen said.

“Yes but-” She started.

 

Zen clapped her hands, catching Torie off guard. Seeing that she had her attention, Zen continued.

 

“Things have calmed down and the most important work has already been completed.” Zen explained. “Today you are going to take a break.”

“I hadn’t suspected that today would be the day I would receive orders.” Torie chuckled.

“Yes.” Zen said. “Feel free to sleep in, or take a long bath. The kitchen is ready at any time, and should you wish to visit town, we can have the carriage ready in a few minutes.”

“Well in that case, I think I might ask to sleep in today.” She said. “Please wake me two hours before Washington arrives, and have the bath ready.”

“Of course.” She nodded. “Have a good nap.”

“I will, thank you.” She smiled.

Being held close to something warm, my small body began to stir. Just coming into consciousness, I kept my eyes closed. From the orientation I was in, and the arm that supported me, I realized that I was being held by the one commonly referred to as “Darling”. Though, to be honest, I did not know if that was his name. I had once heard him refer to himself as “Etrius” though that may have been a joke. This Darling, or Etrius, was my “dad”. As for the only other human I had met since awakening, that was my “mother” or “Love”, though Darling had called her “Serious”. Whoever they may be, they were my new parents.

As for how I was in the body of my larval stage, had parents, or was even alive, I didn’t know. The last thing I remembered before my body was blown to bits, was things becoming darker. At first I assumed that it was simply because I was about to die as one of my captors once taught me about death. For humans, they became cold and everything turned dark. Or that is at least what they thought what happened. Considering that I just died, they must have been correct.

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Though after that, I woke up confused. My surroundings were odd. I was outside, wrapped in something warm. How long has it been since I was outside? Trees surrounded me, and the human that I now knew as “dad” was looking down on me. Is this what happens after someone dies? They wake up in the forest as a larva? Though confused, I was happy that I was now alive and away from my captors and those other people who meant harm to me. As happy as I was, I very quickly noticed that I still had a body that was not human. If I wanted to live with humans, I needed to look like them and although I had a lifetime of experience with this body, some small part of me wished that I had the body of a human spawn.

That not so small wish of mine, however, was soon granted. Dad was not like other humans. He had some sort of method that I did not fully understand to create a way for me to take on the appearance of a human spawn. When it first happened, I was more confused than scared. Was all it took some sort of necklace? My skin turned to an odd color. My legs felt heavier and weaker and my two secondary arms were not simply hidden, but completely gone. Though I hate to admit it, I had almost fallen over as I was used to them keeping up right when dad carried me. When I tried to swing my tail, it was unresponsive. And sounds. Sounds were different and they came into my head from different locations as my antennae were missing.

The one thing that I had been most surprised about was my missing secondary mouth. Chewing had become impossible as my primary mouth had no teeth. How did a human spawn eat if it had no teeth? Luckily for me, my parents didn’t force me to eat in that form. If I remember correctly, there was something called a bottle that a human spawn, which I now knew were called “babies” drank their meals through until they could eat solid foods.

As I was thinking about this, my thoughts were soon interrupted from the familiar smell of cooking meat. Given that my secondary, clawed hands were holding onto the shirt of dad, I was likely not far from the food. Slowly opening my eyes, I saw the… I knew that I was being held by dad in the kitchen.

 

“Good morning, sleepy head.” Dad said.

“Muu.” I said, as that one one of the few things I was able to say.

“Breakfast is almost ready, so be patient.” He said.

“Mu.” I replied.

 

As dad was cooking, I once more looked around the room. This room, though a bit smaller than my previous home, seemed much more comfortable. The walls seemed to be made out of a nice colored wood instead of some white stone or metal. It was nice. Though I didn’t know what everything in the room was called, I recognized the furniture and even knew about the stove. Though to be honest, I wasn’t so sure why there was an open fire in the room. Since it was getting colder it helped keep the place warm, and since dad mentioned winter, it made some sort of sense.

Looking out the small window, I saw the trees outside. I didn’t know where exactly I was, I had assumed that we were living just outside of a town in the forest as mom often came home late at night. I wished that mom would stay around longer. When she was here, she would play with me and make me laugh. Dad also played with me, but not as often as mom. Though dad always carried me and keeps me warm and cooked food for the three of us.

As dad made breakfast, I let my mind wonder, though not for long as we relocated to the table with a large plate in front of us. I of course was sitting on dad’s lap with the food in front of us. Looking at it, my mouth started to water. Back in my previous life, after I was captured, my meals were often blocks of dark pink things. To be honest, I didn’t know what exactly it was. Whenever it was feeding time, part of the wall by the door opened up with the slab of whatever sitting on a foam tray. It didn’t taste bad, but having that every day very quickly got old. Sometimes I would even eat the tray just for some variety.

As dad blew on the food to cool it, my secondary mouth involuntarily left my mouth. Dad didn’t seem to care about this but mom would gently scold me when it happened. Realizing what I was doing, I quickly closed my mouth, though it soon opened again. Eating small portions at a time, I enjoyed the food. Dad pet my head and I shook my antenna in joy.

 

“You really do like meat, don’t you?” Dad asked with a laugh.

“Mu!” I agreed with my mouth still full.

 

Dad pet my head again. Dad’s food was tasty and when he fed me, I never burned my mouths. Though I hate to admit it, in my previous life when I was allowed to have warm or even hot food, I often burned my mouths. As we ate, I looked at the wooden spoon. It looked weird. Dad was holding it, but to be honest, I wasn’t sure how. I looked up at dad and felt him look down at me. He looked… Blinking a few times, my eyes returned to the spoon. More importantly the food in it.

Some time after breakfast, dad bathed me in a wooden tub filled with warm water. It was relaxing and it felt nice to be wiped down with a soft sponge. Though as always, he was careful when washing my head. Aside from my eyes, my antenna were sensitive to the soap he used. It probably helped that I didn't have much in the way of hair yet. Whenever he was washing what little hair I had, I would move my antennae out of the way and he would clean them with a damp cloth. Once they were dried I would brush them using the hairs below my claws on my secondary arms.

Once dried, he clothed me in some clothing that he had modified to fit my arms and tail. Today I didn’t bite at the clothes and earned another head pat from dad. Dad was warm. Sitting on the table, on a soft blanket, I used my two secondary arms to keep myself stable. Dad left the room, though not for long. He went into the bedroom, never leaving my sight. After a moment, he returned with the necklace that made me look like a human baby. I frowned slightly. Though I knew that I needed to look like a human baby, I didn’t exactly like it.

Though my current body was weaker than my old body, I could still somewhat move and was even working on crawling. Though when I was a human baby, my movements were even more limited. Not only that, but my mind seemed to slow down. I frowned and dad seemed to take notice.

 

“I know you don't like it but you’re going to have to wear it.” Dad said. “Someone’s coming.”

“Mu?” I asked.

 

Someone was coming? Like mom? No, if it was mom he would have just said it. Who was coming here? I turned my head to look out the window, but all I saw was the trees. I moved my antenna in hopes of hearing something, but had no luck. Dejected, I let them droop.

 

“Now now, no need to feel sad.” Dad said.

“Mu…” I agreed.

 

This body of mine was still in its larval stage and was still very limited in what it could do. Seeing that I wasn't resisting, he carefully placed the necklace on me. Like last time, there was a slight chill before my body changed. As it did, dad supported me so I didn’t fall over. Dad was warm.

Dad gently laid me down on the blanket as I was no longer able to sit up by myself and walked back into the bedroom. After a moment, and with the sounds of things moving, he returned with the gray robes he usually wore. Instead of returning directly to me, he moved to the open fire and threw a log into the open fire. As he did that, I saw something move in the corner of my eye. I turned my head, but I wasn’t fast enough to see what it was. All I saw was a shadowy corner of the room.

No longer able to sit up, I turned my head with difficulty towards dad who was opening the door. In his hands, he held some sort of long tool with a curved blade on it. Was that a weapon? Unable to even ask, I watched the door close behind dad. Left alone, I decided to practice crawling. In the middle of my practice I heard voices outside. One of them I knew was dad’s but I didn’t recognize the other one.

 

“Ah- Lady Washington!” The unfamiliar voice called out.

“Drop the formalities.” Dad said.

“Please stop sneaking up on me like that.” He said.

“I’m just standing here.” Dad said.

“Well, you have mail.” He said. “An urgent one from the lord.”

“Oh fun. You think I’m in trouble?” Dad asked.

“I don’t see why you would be. Did you do anything?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Well, good luck with whatever it is. Until next time Sir.”

“Again with the formalities.” Dad said.

 

Washington huh? So was that his name? My name? My name is Abigail, or as my dad calls me, Abby. Though much like my parents I hold a few titles. Those being “Child”, “Mama’s Baby”, and “Small Idiot”. I don’t agree with that last one.