It took Fa'Lina only a few minutes to reach the village. "How quaint," she muttered when she saw the small houses. "Less than forty families, by the looks of it, and they somehow managed to pick up a stray Cubi. What are the odds?"
"Fewobia might have been wrong," Kifo whispered to her from its spot on her shoulder. "Maybe the rumor was just started by some drunk wanderers."
"I doubt it," Fa'Lina replied, walking past the first houses. "The rumors sounded pretty specific, especially the bit about a second set of wings. Few people come up with something like that on their own."
"If you say so..." Kifo muttered.
Fa'Lina ignored the doubt in the Warp-Aci's voice and approached one of the villagers, a badger. She idly scanned his emotions, detecting uneasiness, mild fear and just a bit of attraction. "Good afternoon! Could you possibly show me the way to the home of the Callempia family?" she asked, getting straight to the point.
The badger frowned briefly. "Callempia... should've known," he muttered and frowned, glancing up at her headwings.
I knew it, Fa'Lina thought. He knows about the headwings, so the rumors were most likely true!
Still, the badger didn't seem to be afraid of Fa'Lina, most likely not knowing that headwings were an exclusive feature of the Cubi race. "See that house over there? The one next to the small shop? That's the one you're looking for."
"Thank you kindly!" she said and started walking the short distance to the house.
"He didn't sound overly happy about you wanting to see the family," Kifo observed. "You should maybe hurry before the first rumors make the round."
Fa'Lina nodded. "Possibly. But I couldn't sense paranoia or hatred, so I think we won't get pitchfork treatment already." She knocked at the door and waited.
"I'm coming... one moment..." A red-furred vixen opened the door. "What can I do for-" Her eyes widened when she noticed the headwings, and Fa'Lina did not even have to scan her emotions to detect the waves of rage and hatred. "You!" the vixen hissed. "YOU! You did this, didn't you? You did this to our son! You fu-" Her rant was cut short when Fa'Lina held the vulpine muzzle closed with her left hand. The vixen struggled briefly, but quickly realized that Fa'Lina was too strong for her.
The Succubus quickly pushed the Mrs. Callempia inside and closed the door behind them. Still holding the vixen's muzzle shut, she bowed down to her. "No, I did not do anything to your son," she whispered. "But I think I do know what is happening to him. Now... I will let go, and you won't scream or complain, okay?" The vixen nodded slowly. "Very good," Fa'Lina said and removed her hand.
"Wh-What... what is happening to my son?" Mrs. Callempia asked timidly, clearly impressed by the strength of her unexpected guest.
"If my guess is correct, he is growing up. It's just not the sort of growing up you had expected. You see-"
Before Fa'Lina could finish her explanation, another red-furred fox entered the room. "I heard the knock, who was-" he started to ask before he noticed the white-furred poodle.
"Whatever you want to say right now... don't say it," Fa'Lina quickly cut him off when she noticed his expression. "You are Mr. Callempia, I presume?" Neither of them seems to be a Cubi, from what I can detect.
The fox opened and closed his mouth, obviously trying to figure out what would happen if he disobeyed Fa'Lina's request. In the end, his rational side got the upper hand. "Yes... yes, that is correct. And who are you?"
"My name is Fa'Lina," the Cubi answered, "and I heard... things about your son. May I talk to him? It's quite possible that I know what's going on, but I need to see him in order to make sure I'm correct."
The two foxes exchanged worried glances. "I... don't know," the father finally replied. "Maybe we should wait. We sent somebody to the next town to get a more experienced doctor... he should arrive in a few days or so..."
The Succubus clenched her fists. "Your son is just growing up! It's perfectly normal, trust me. This is no sickness." she hissed. Quite on the contrary, actually. Should I tell them that he will most likely out-live everybody in this village? No... that would just freak them out even more... She sighed and shook her head. "Listen. I know you are worried about your son. But in the best case, your doctor will not know what is going on with your son."
"And in the worst case?" Mrs. Callempia asked quietly, looking at the floor.
Fa'Lina hesitated briefly. "The worst case... I guess that the worst case would be that your son kills the doctor by accident, goes on an instinct-driven killing spree and is finally killed by a group of adventurers," she finally replied, watching the vixen pale. "Please let me see him. Once I verified my assumptions, we can talk about the details."
In the end, the father was the first to nod. "He... he's upstairs. Door to the right after the stairs."
Finally. Fa'Lina quickly went to the stairs, trying not to smile. Okay, relax. Now comes the harder part. You got to tell some poor kid that his midlife crisis just got massively delayed.
"Dense parents," Kifo muttered in an apparent attempt to get some attention.
"How so?" the Cubi asked, slowing down a bit on her way up.
"All this talk about unusual things going on, and neither of them asks about the black, long-tailed creature with the faint purple aura which is sitting on your shoulder."
Fa'Lina snickered. "Aw, unhappy that you're not the weirdest sight in town?" she joked. "Relax, though. Maybe their son will throw a fit about you."
"What's his name, anyway?" Kifo suddenly asked, causing Fa'Lina to freeze. The Warp-Aci gave her a look. "Let me get this straight. You're a mindreader AND you spent a few eons talking about that guy, and you still don't know his name? What are you going to tell him? 'Hello, I don't know who you are, but I do know what you are! Wanna trade information?' or something like that? I mean, sheesh, that's got to be the lame-UMPH!"
Crap, Fa'Lina thought, paying no attention to the Warp-Aci, which was trying frantically to free itself from her grip. Kifo is right, asking for the name should have been a no-brainer. Now what? Mindreading? It's tempting, but I want to go into this with as little bias as possible. Reading the mind of his mother may very well affect my judgment later on... Besides, I'm no big fan of mindreading... sometimes it just feel better to do things the old-fashioned way. I guess I'll have to go in unprepared, as much as I hate to do it. "Let's just get it over with," she told herself and went upstairs.
"Whatever," Kifo muttered and followed its Mistress.
"How do I look?" Fa'Lina asked her Warp-Aci, straightening her fuchsia-colored dress in front of the door.
"Bossy," came the immediate reply. "But I guess it's as good as it gets unless you shapeshift..."
Why do I get all the quirky Warp-Aci? Fa'Lina asked herself, making a mental note to send Kifo off to behavior training after this mission. "Fine, whatever," she muttered and knocked at the door.
"...yes?" The voice was low and filled with resignation. Fa'Lina of course had expected something like this, but it still made her sigh.
"May I come in?" she asked, trying to sound cheerful.
There was a long pause. "Who is it?" the voice finally asked, curiosity pushing away resignation for a brief moment.
"My name is Fa'Lina. And I think I know what you are going through."
She could hear him chuckle. "No, I honestly don't think you do. But sure... come in if you like."
Here goes nothing... Fa'Lina opened the door and stepped into the room. "Huh," was her first reaction. Saying that the room was plain would have been an euphemism. No pictures, no decoration... heck, even the wallpaper is just boring old grey. How can anybody live here? She shook her head and focused on the lone figure sitting on the bed. The winged fox was facing away from her, looking at a wall. His arms were wrapped around his knees. Okay, I think it's certain that he was adopted, she thought, noticing his fur and hair colors. While his parents had a classic red fur color, their son's fur was colored in a very dark shade of grey, just a bit away from being completely black. His dark green hair was into a short ponytail. Not dyed, either, considering that his wings have the same color scheme, she observed, taking note of the feathered, almost black wings with the dark green flight feathers. And feathers are almost impossible to dye.
"So... you are the weird dog that gave me my freak wings?" The fox's voice was neutral, and Fa'Lina could not sense direct rage or anger in his emotions, despite the harsh words.
"No, I'm the weird dog who doesn't even know your name. And what makes you think I gave you your wings?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"I'm Kitzi. Kitzi Callempia. And my parents told me... they say that you are responsible for this and that you will now charge them money to cure me."
Fa'Lina blinked. "When did they-... oh... of course, I see." She nodded quickly. He's reading their minds as we speak... most likely without even knowing what he's doing. "Your parents are worried about you. They are worried because... because you can hear them even though they are downstairs."
The fox shook his head, still not facing her. "They don't know I can hear them. Otherwise they wouldn't say all the things they do."
"Oh? Like what?"
"They say that I'm not their real son. That I... that they adopted me."
It doesn't take a mindreader to figure that one out, Fa'Lina thought. "You didn't know that before?"
"How should I? They never told me..." Before Fa'Lina could answer that question, Kitzi spoke again. "Anyway, I doubt you came here to discuss my parents. So... just do whatever you want to do, cure me and ask my parents for the money."
Fa'Lina opened and closed her mouth. This is why I don't read minds unless it's important. It makes you way too biased. "I'm not here to sell anything," she said. "I'm here to talk about you. This may be hard to accept, but the things that happened to you are completely natural."
"Heh. Sure thing. Natural." Kitzi chuckled grimly. "What kind of freak race grows extra wings and starts hearing voices?"
"The Cubi race," Fa'Lina replied evenly.
"...come again?" the fox asked, not having expected a serious answer to that question.
"You are an Incubus. A member of the Cubi race. The headwings are completely normal, and the voices you hear are the thoughts of your parents. You are reading their minds without even realizing it." There was a long pause as Kitzi apparently tried to wrap his mind around the concept of belonging to another race. Even though it's hard to tell since he won't even look at me.
"Wait," Kitzi suddenly said, and Fa'Lina could hear him snickering softly. "I can't hear your thoughts. Does that mean that there's nothing to read in your mind?"
"I kinda like the kid," Kifo whispered into Fa'Lina's ear, ignoring her angry expression.
"No, it means that my mind is shielded against this sort of idle mindreading," Fa'Lina said slowly, trying not to growl.
There was a pause again as Kitzi pondered about that. "Who are you?" he finally asked, his voice sounding serious again. "You seem to be fairly skilled and well-informed."
"I am called Fa'Lina. And like you, I'm a member of the Cubi race. A Succubus, to be precise."
"You are?" Kitzi asked, sounding surprised. "Does that mean you got wings on your head, too?"
"Why certainly," Fa'Lina told him and smirked. "And you know, you could just turn around and take a look for yourself." Her smile faded when she felt a brief wave of anger and sadness coming from the young Incubus.
"No, Fa'Lina... I really don't think so," Kitzi whispered and slowly turned around on the bed. He got to his feet and approached her.
I'm missing something here. There is something wrong with all of this... the way he moves, the way he acts... his emotions... Fa'Lina frowned. Then it hit her. His eyes. They're not focused on anything... She shook her head in disbelief.
"I have some trouble taking a look at you... or anything else, actually," Kitzi told her and shrugged apologetically.
"Dear God... you're blind." Fa'Lina didn't even bother to phrase it as a question.
"You kinda suck at this whole mindreading stuff, don't you?" the fox asked and smirked. "Because even I can hear my parents thinking that word in every other sentence about me."
---
Author's Notes:
- Oh, look! We finally meet the protagonist!
- I really enjoy writing verbal exchanges like the one between Kitzi and Fa'Lina.
- A big problem of this chapter is that most characters have tons of mood swings. Especially Kitzi's parents, even though, to be fair, they are kinda torn between their paranoia and the promise of answers. But I guess that's one of the side effects of meeting Fa'Lina. ;) Okay, seriously, this will get better in the next chapters, I promise.
- I'm actually more or less up to par with the wordcount right now, not too bad...