Little Feet - p4

They stepped inside the parlor of the inn, Tisha heading for the stairs, head bowed thoughtfully. Alone once more, she set to scrubbing quickly. There really was a lot to be done. At need, she called on Burman to move things for her, admiring his body as he did so and not meeting his eyes as she blushed after. Evening twilight came as Tisha finished scrubbing the last of the stairs and sat back with a sigh. "No more cleaning tonight," she said, rising wearily and taking the dirty water out to dispose of. "I will return shortly," she called out to Burman, heading for the river with soap and a towel. It would feel heavenly to sit soaking up to the neck in hot water, she thought wistfully. Soaking until her fur doubled in thickness... That image made her giggle giddily, and she recalled that breakfast was the last time she'd eaten.

Tisha returned feeling a bit recovered after her bath, hanging the towel to dry in her room and setting the clean laundry also in her room before bringing a comb and her scissors out and following the sound of hammering. "Burman, do you have time for me to trim your hair tonight?"

"Yes, if you believe it will be helpful as you say it will." the Orc said, agreeably. "I will judge when you finish."

She had him sit in a chair and carefully combed his hair out, gently smoothing away the tangles before trimming away the broken ends. Tisha left as much of the length as possible, then combed through his hair to see that enough was trimmed away. Satisfied, she brushed away the trimmed bits from his garment and stepped back. "There." The comb and scissors placed on the edge of the scrubbed table, she fetched a broom to clean up the shorn ends.

"Thank you for your attention to detail, Tisha," he said. "It is very useful."

"It is part of our agreement, is it not? To do the best possible to increase chances of success for all of us." She dismissed it as hardly worth mentioning, although her ears flicked with pleasure at his compliment. The girl hoped that something could be done about dinner for the group, for she'd not made time to hunt down meat for the table with all her cleaning. Not that skipping a single meal would hurt her, and she'd be tired enough to sleep through the grumbling of her stomach as well.

"I think such business arrangements are good ideas. Back stabbing only leads to mutual profit loss, my vixen friend." Burman tried very hard to keep their relationship on a friendly, businesslike level. She glanced at him curiously, but said nothing more as she put away the dishes she'd washed earlier that were now dry, and set about organizing things to better suit herself, as the kitchen now belonged to her. He went to check over things, looking for any other improvements or ideas he could implement.

One of the other Orcs arrived while she tidied up the kitchen. He looked at her with hunger she'd seen from him before. "You are alone here?" he questioned. This evening she was not wearing a scarf atop her head, leaving her long black hair free to ripple down her back in a flowing mass.

Tisha frowned slightly. "Burman is here." She did not like the way he looked at her so, and reminded herself that unless Burman was sleeping under this roof, she would not stay here alone while the other Orcs were here. Perhaps later she would not mind him looking at her so, but at this moment... it made her uneasy.

"But he is not in this room," Ruvan told her. "I know what you want; you know you will not get it from him."

"Burman is honorable, and has given me his word," Tisha stated firmly. "Do not push on this matter. It may be that my answer is different later, but for now it is no."

"Your mouth says no, but your body says yes," he said, hungry for companionship. "I would pay good money for you. Money you could use for other things...."

Her chin lifted a little as she regarded him coolly. As far as she could see, he had done nothing towards achieving their mutual goals. She slammed the pot she held down loudly on the counter. "My body does not rule me, Ruvan. And I have spent the entire day working very hard towards impressing this investor. Please tell me what you have done towards this, that I should lay at your feet, begging to be used like any brainless fool you may have used in the past?"

"Preferably you should recognize a good thing when offered it," he said, growing angry.

She cocked her head to one side, wondering if that meant he'd done nothing at all. "Ruvan, you are missing my point. This is not 'never', this is 'not now'. I have worked very hard =all= day, harder than I would usually work in several days. It would hardly be satisfying," Tisha stated coaxingly, looking demur. And likely would be all for his pleasure and none for herself.

"I will pay now," he said. "For the contract to be serviced later. I wish to reserve my place before you graduate to more important ones," Ruvan said with extreme seriousness.

"And what sum do you offer?" Tisha inquired, keeping what Burman had offered in mind.

He described a rather fair number... not generous, but competitive. "I will tell of your services to other males."

"As long as Foxes never hear of it," she stated firmly. "Should they hear of it, I will have to move far away to not suffer for loose words," the girl told him sternly. "Foxes are not like Orcs in several ways, and they would be quite distressed for me and furious with the Orcs in question." She hoped very much that the threat of never again touching her might work to curb his tongue. "Be certain that is also passed on should you speak of this agreement with others."

He looked at her. "Then our contract is agreed? No one dares to break an Orc contract. Perhaps you will offer a preview of things to come?" He moved closer again.

"Perhaps you would like to see I have something to cook, to give us strength," she replied demurely, turning a little away from him. "Breakfast was my last meal, many hours ago." Tisha sighed, poking the empty pot on the counter, listening to the hollow ringing of its metal. Normally by this time she would be up to her pretty ears in cooking food, setting it before hungry friends and neighbors wanting to enjoy the end of their day and her culinary efforts. And she realized the blow to her ego that she had nothing prepared for others to eat today. She =always= had food ready, she was =always= ready to serve them a drink while they waited. Tisha bit her lip, feeling that somehow, in spite of all she'd done to prepare this place that she'd fallen short of measure... failing to be ready in all respects. Tisha realized her thoughts were wandering, and brought them back to Ruvan. "I promise that I will honor our bargain after the investor leaves. There is so much to be done before he arrives..." Tisha sighed, weariness causing her shoulders to slump. "Forgive me, but I am tired and would not wish to be less than my best for your money."

Ruvan knew that an Orc female would not care about being her best for a paying customer, but then a female Orc would be all sullen glares and giving the minimum of cooperation she could get away with, often with sharp, bitter words for the one paying to have her. Would it be different with a vixen who did care? The room they were in was certainly a lot cleaner than what he'd seen of it the night prior. Not that it had been caked in grime; mostly what he'd seen was dust on every surface. From the look of this room alone, Tisha took her part of preparing for the investor very seriously.

She swayed with exhaustion, and turned to brace her backside against the counter behind her, eyes unfocused. Seeing him so much closer, Tisha blinked at Ruvan blankly for a long moment. What did he want? A taste of things to come? A half step that was more stagger than anything else, and Tisha fetched up against him. She wanted to sleep badly. Small hands rested on his chest as her trembling legs held her up for an instant longer. "Ruvan...?" she whispered in a high, almost childish tone, head spinning as her knees buckled. His arms went around her without thought, and the girl sighed, one cheek pressed against him between her hands and nestling closer weakly. "Ruvan..." This time his name was a soft sigh as the little vixen went boneless in his grasp.



When Tisha awoke, she was on the bed, Burman standing over her. "Do you wish me to leave so that you may put your clothes back on?" he asked, calmly. "I have seen everything not hidden by your fur... unfortunately." She looked up at him, dazed and uncertain and feeling rather weak. "What happened...?"

"Apparently," he said, neutrally, "Ruvan opted to sample your merchandise while you were unconscious. You will stay in this bed and rest, or I will tie you to the bed to do the same," he said.

Tisha looked upset, curling up in the bed and weakly searching for a blanket to cover herself with. "I thought... I thought he agreed to wait..." She looked at the door nervously, then up at him. "Will you stay with me, after you've spoken with the others? I..." Flushing with embarrassment, she looked away. "I don't want him to be my first," she said tearfully, feeling very helpless as her body trembled with fatigue.

"He did not succeed in violating you; we stopped him."

The girl looked up at him, grateful tears running down her cheeks silently. "I did not mean to cause trouble," she whispered, drawing the blanket over herself. A thought struck her, and she shivered. "Do I still have to have sex with him later? He said... said that 'no one breaks a deal with an Orc...'"

"We discussed turning him over to the proper authorities. Are there such things here? It is a crime in the Orclands right now to touch a female who does not wish to be."

"Not in this village," Tisha replied, chilled by the thought she might still have to bed Ruvan. "There is in the Trade City, with the Orc governor..."

"What would foxes see as the best thing we could do? Send for him, for the Queen? A vixen judging his fate for violating the law would look good..."

She looked at Burman, confused in her weariness. "What do you mean?"

"How do Foxes handle people who break the law?" he asked curiously.

"I don't know," the girl replied wearily, laying her head down and going completely limp once more. "Who wants others to be unhappy or angry with them...?" Burman still hadn't promised to stay, keeping her safe. Another tear slid down her cheek, but she didn't ask him again. She was just feeling... weak, vulnerable after Ruvan's attempt that she didn't even recall.

"I will write and send a letter to the Queen," he said. "I will set up a bedroll on the floor and sleep by the door to guard you. The Queen's palace is not too far from here... a message could reach her in less than a day."

He fully intended to convince the Queen to show up so they could gain the trust of Foxes.

Even if it sacrificed Ruvan. They'd made an agreement.

Tisha turned her head slowly, opening her golden eyes and looking at him as if he were the most wonderful male ever born. "Thank you," she whispered, deeply grateful.

"I must compose and send this letter. One of the smart things that the Governor did was to create better messages between parts of your land." He'd set up the trading village as a central point, and messengers went to and from there every day...

The vixen fell asleep, trusting that Burman would take care of things, that tomorrow would be better.

It was midafternoon before Tisha woke next, driven to wakefulness by her achingly empty middle. She looked about her room, wondering if Burman was still there. Orcs slept mostly durning the day, but he'd spoken before of not getting much sleep until after the investor arrived...

She heard the sound of moaning from an adjoining room. When she went to investigate, she found Ruvan hanging from a ceiling support beam, arms and legs bound. It did not look painful, only humiliating.

She frowned at him, but said nothing as she left. As long as he couldn't sneak up on her, she could live with him tied from the ceiling so close at hand. The vixen gathered more laundry to wash, and paused in the kitchen, hoping that some sort of food was there for her to work with for meals now.

There was several fresh deer carcasses that had been stripped, hanging over a large metal tub to drain out the blood.

Delighted, she swiftly cut several thin strips and fried them up, wanting something quick to start her day with. Eating swiftly as she'd cooked the meat, she rushed to finished the rest of the laundry and hang it out to dry. On her return, she tied up ropes to trees near the inn for the rugs to be draped over for beating. Back inside, she happily began working on the meat to have something ready for dinner for everyone. A whole roasted deer was more than she could manage to set up on her own; she checked all the other rooms quietly, looking for Burman or one of the others to help her with it. She rather thought they wouldn't mind being woken up briefly for such a reward later.

Burman entered, holding a letter. "I have received this; our investor is in the trading village and will be coming to us soon."

"Soon? Do we have time to roast a deer?" she asked anxiously. "I was looking for someone to help me put it on a spit..."

"Soon as in two days," he said. "He has business there. Apparently he is behind in his plans, and sent this along to tell us. I will help you roast the deer."

She smiled, relieved. "Wonderful! I did wish to have something special for our first meal in the inn, and wished to know if I could make a roast as desirable to Orcs as my pies were." Tisha looked at the hanging deer again. "Would it be permitted to trade part of one for fresh berries? I could bake some fruit pies too, if I could find supplies to make them with." The vixen blushed a bit, but worked hard to be casual, as if last night had not ended with that encounter with Ruvan.

He nodded. "Some Orcs enjoy desserts," he commented. "But... we caught extra deer in case it was needful, or we wished to dry them for long-term storage."

"I know how to dry them in tasty ways," she offered. "But we don't have everything needed for that, and I haven't the time to do so just now." Tisha wasn't certain how much the others could be counted on to help with such things, and with Burman working so hard to make the building ready, she didn't want to impose more on his good nature.

"It is a long term investment... Tisha," he said. "Drying food. But if we have no time... the Queen or her representative may also show up."

"Yes... giving us more people to feed," she stated thoughtfully. "What about trading one of them to Nenald for some of his ale? It's not often that he has deer to serve." And that would give them some sort of beverage to drink other than water. She glanced at the Orc curiously. "How much ale do you think you can trade it for?"

"I will see... I was once a merchant," he said. "Many years ago I would buy and sell many things. Haggling is an Orc tradition."

Smiling happily, she placed a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you, Burman! Perhaps you may suggest a trade with my cousin for his ale in the future. He will be losing some business as it is. If I were to make ale too... it would destroy him, and cause resentment. I can train him a new cook, to sweeten the deal," she offered, wanting Burman to have all he needed to keep her cousin from resenting the Orcs as much as possible. Nearly bouncing, she unhooked the spit so Burman could easily put the deer on.

"I would wish to know... if this village grows due to our commerce... would the Foxes dislike this? Do they like it small?"

This was an interesting question, one she considered as he placed the deer on the spit. Her gaze followed his every motion, enjoying the play of muscles beneath his skin. "I do not know. Things do need to change, however." She sighed. "There are too many who do not know how to grow food, people who are artisans and craft masters who cannot do the work they are most skilled at because they would starve if they did that rather than try to bring food from the earth."

"Orcs know commerce, for all you may not like about us... soon you will have big cities as we do," he promised. "Hopefully... better ones," he admitted, thinking of the downsides...

Fixing the spit back into place, Tisha set about spicing the meat. She could find some tubers to fill our her own meal, for meat alone did not satisfy her desires. No one else would be forced to eat anything else, however, and the Orcs were certainly well able to provide food for the table. "You are not one of the hunters?" she asked curiously. Pamdul and Venak were the others she'd not spent time with, and she certainly hoped they would not treat her as Ruval had attempted to.

"I have never learned, before I was incarcerated. I had never even been above the ground. Few Orcs outside of the military leave the safety of the everlasting night..." he told her. "The others... were military prisoners, former soldiers. Soldiers are taught to hunt..."

Tisha nodded, continuing to work on the roast. It would be a very different experience for him, having been sent to a work farm to raise crops. "There. That will do for now." The fire was laid; she lit it and set a special water-wheel in motion to keep the spit turning slowly. "This will cook itself for a time, leaving me free to work on other things."

"Someday, we may be able to afford an Orc-made stove for you... if things work out. Have you ever seen one?"

"No," Tisha told him, looking at Burman curiously. "Can you cook a whole deer in one?"

"If it is a large one... yes. They come in many sizes."

She tried to imagine an enclosed space large enough to cook a whole deer and failed. "I have more cleaning to do," she offered, rising from the hearth and giving Burman a passing smile. The vixen swept up her bucket to fill from the pump Burman had managed to fix in the kitchen at some point. Armed with water, pleasant smelling soaps and other cleaning tools, she set to work in one of the empty rooms. The one housing Ruvan could wait until after he was gone, even if that meant waiting to do it until after the investor left, too.