Nano. RolePlay

Sorry? Navi had the decency to look surprised. What for? He certainly wasn't sorry. Expect maybe with regards to the person that found him. That he was very much sorry for. He could've led a life of luxury if he had been found by royalty.

He seemed genuinely puzzled by her apology, which puzzled Yeva in turn. "I was callous about what is probably a sensitive topic. It was not my intention to be, but it happened anyway, hence my apology."

What's a sensitive topic ? My birth ? Nah, think logically pea-brain ! Oh wait you're talking about my either dead parents or the ones that abandoned me. He laughed. That's not a sensitive topic at all. I couldn't care less. Imagine if I had been born in some backwater village between pigs and cows. No, no, I for one am very happy with how things turned out. Look ! He gestured at their environments. I'm not of age yet, but already have my own home. And I bet it's larger than whatever pigsty I could've had !

Though the other’s reaction was unexpected (very much so), Yeva could only be relieved that she had not rekindled some deeply buried trauma. "Viewed that way, I suppose things looked up for you, indeed." His ‘own home’ was little more than a glorified shed in her eyes, but she certainly was not going to point that out if he was happy with it.

Right! Navi agreed. Once his sandwich was finished, and Yeva was equally done with her meal, he showed her the bedroom, where she would be allowed to sleep until the ritual the next evening. Navi still had a few more things to prepare before he'd allow himself to close his eyes.

Fortunately for Yeva, her recent adventures had taken enough of a toll on her to let her fall asleep easily, even though she was in a strange room and lacked any nightclothes, which forced her to sleep in her day clothes. She was so tired that she did not even consider that it may not be the safest thing to do to entirely let her guard down in the home of a person who spoke about magical rituals and sacrifices as if they were the most normal thing in the world.

Sleep is for the weak. Navi simply needed a very long, relaxing, perfumed bath with an excellent read ("Why Rituals work better during the Full Moon (trust me)"). He did not particularly trust the author, but in this case it was better to ignore his teen instinct and not go against the instructions just for the sake of being rebellious.

Rise and shiiiine, he called the next morning right as the rooster crowed.

Rise, Yeva did, dutifully and eager to go back home — or at least she hoped that she would be going back home. The shining part was more difficult, after a night of fitful sleep in the clothes she had been wearing for over a day and a night by now. She fixed her hair as best as she could, unrumpled her dress as best as she could, and joined her host downstairs.

Granny came down looking like a street cat. If this was her best attempt at looking prim and proper, Navi gave her a C- at best. Should he have offered her clothes? His eyes went up and down her body once more — how improper! — but looking at her there is no way she would fit in even his largest robes. Are you hungry?

"I wouldn’t say no to a cup of tea." And, by the way, she had noticed his stare that spoke volumes about what she must be looking like. You didn’t spend decades in Moscow’s ballrooms and drawing rooms without learning to decipher much more subtle facial expressions.

Let's be honest: he hadn't been very subtle. Navi never felt like he needed to hide his opinion behind subtleties. He had high-quality standards and a doll-like appearance. It couldn't be helped if not everyone was able to reach the same heights. Fruity or herbal ? he inquired.

"Herbal will be perfect, thank you." So he was capable of being a gracious host after all. Hopefully after breakfast they could make some serious progress towards getting her on her way home, and hopefully ones she was back home, she would have some peace and quiet. The last thing she needed were exciting adventures — she’d had quite enough of those back when all she was trying to do was to raise her child.

Navi was confident in his tea brewing capabilities and of course presumed to have made the perfect cup of tea when he served old lady Yeva. Not too hot, not cold either. Perfection. Hard to achieve... except for one so talented as he. Alright, I will have to ask you some questions now, he said as soon as he sat down with his own cup, and you will most likely find them indelicate, but we have no use for embarrassment at this point. Not if you want the spell to go right.

Normally, Yeva would not be too fond of having to answer embarrassing questions. However, embarrassment had recently fallen to the bottom of her list of concerns (or rather: been supplanted by a host of newly-appeared ones). "Ask away." If all went well, she would be home by the next dawn. If all went well. (Spoiler alert: all would not go well.)

He dipped a feather into the inkwell he had set down on a corner of the table and readied himself to take notes on an empty piece of parchment paper. No sense in beating around the bush; it was best to get the most awkward questions out of the way first. First of all, do you still have your menses?

Well, at least that question was easily answered. It even made Yeva chuckle a little, because it proved the young man’s ignorance about certain feminine matters (he couldn’t possibly have underestimated her age). "No, not in decades." She may be blunt, but as he had pointed out, beating around the bush would bring them nowhere.

He wrote something down, not bothered about his lack of knowledge on the female body. It had never been a subject that interested him, despite his adolescence, and he was quite sure it never would too. Have you ever given birth to a child and was the firstborn sacrificed or used in a ritual of any shape or form?

What?! And there she thought that all his questions would be as mundane as his first one. Big mistake. "No! I mean, yes I have children, but no, none of them underwent any kind of sacrifice or ritual!" How dare you assume they have was not voiced, but strongly implied in her tone of voice. Well, strictly speaking, baptism and so on were rituals, but certainly not the ones this individual was thinking of.

Don't be offended. These are mundane questions. The teenager seemed jaded with his line of questioning, as if he was filling in a form for the hundredth time today. Do you take any prescribed potions or are you a frequent potion user? Charms and the like also count.

Mundane? Sacrificing one’s child was mundane? She really needed to get back home, and fast. The next questions were slightly less horrible, but no less strange. "No and no."