Natasha the Halve

We followed the man through the palace and up to the top floor. After turning on an empty hallway, we stopped in front of an excessively decorated set of double doors.

One side was gold and the other was silver. A beautiful H was carved at the center with a golden half on the silver door, and a silver half on the golden door. It was the exact same symbol that was stamped on the letters Nilenna and Miraztor wrote me, as well as Elena's proof of ownership of Halven items.

Pretty on the nose, I observed. So they have a special room for my species? Talk about preferential treatment.

The man stood next to the door and bowed, “Your Excellency. I sincerely hope the room is up to standards. There is an enchantment that requires five hundred E'er to open. This is a safety measure of sorts to prevent interruption and unwanted visitors.”

Don't almost everyone past level five hundred total have... I see, I stared at him for a second before letting out a sigh, then placed my hands on the doors and injected the required amount of E'er.

I heard a click and the doors opened.

The interior was too lavish for my humble self. The amount of golden and silver decorations were a little much in my opinion.

The man straightened up and continued, “Dinner will be served in around an hour. Does Your Excellency prefer to attend with Their Majesties or have someone deliver it here?”

“Here, please,” I replied instantly.

Having lunch with the Queen had been too exhausting on my mind. I wanted a relaxed dinner if I was given the choice.

He nodded, “Very well. I shall inform the staff.” He bowed again, “Have a pleasant night, Your Excellency.”

“Same to you,” I replied and walked into the room.

Lapia curtsied to the man and said her farewells, then walked into the room after me.

I closed the door and let out a very long sigh, then stored my armor and changed to a comfy hoodie with sweatpants.

Lapia chuckled, “It'll be like this every time you meet Royalty.”

I sighed, “Yeah, fuck-”

“Wait,” she interrupted me with a cheeky smirk. “Activate the sound-proof enchantment. It's your room after all.”

I bit my tongue and focused on the walls of the room, then expelled a hundred points of E'er while thinking of silence.

The E'er in the room shifted and I felt the annoying feedback in the form of a tingle in my ears.

“Fuck that,” I shook my head and walked to a silver table, then sat down and rubbed my face. “I understand where it comes from but I can't help but be put off by it.”

Lapia giggled and sat next to me on the table, “That's your new reality. Take your time to get used to it.”

I looked at my girlfriend and felt a little concern grow inside me. I knew she didn't see me as a being to worship and admire but the thought remained.

She produced a thin book and began writing things down.

I pushed my weird newfound insecurity aside and went for the healthy approach. That is, to talk about it. “Do you see me as a higher being as well?” I asked, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

She looked up at me and arched an eyebrow, “I have a very good dirty joke as a response.” She smiled and continued, “I don't see you like that. There are many views on Halves, and mine is that you are a normal person that has a more concrete purpose in life than the rest of us.”

“How come you think like that?” I reached back to my hair and undid the braid.

She scowled, “I taught Desseyr. I can't see Halves as higher beings after that. Don't get me wrong, you are by definition but that part of my life opened my eyes to the fact some just aren't that clever at first. I don't mean to say he's an idiot but it was like teaching a child.” She let out a sigh and furrowed her brows, “I'm just glad he learned enough to function as an adult.”

“So your understanding changed because of that meeting?” I summarized, trying to understand better. "Does that happen often?"

She nodded, “But it's not like that for everyone. You could say that the most notorious difference is between those who have met a Halve and those who haven't. Meeting one has three probable outcomes.” She raised a hand and extended a finger, “Those that see how necessary your species is and end up worshiping you. They bow and show their respect with preferential treatment and such. Most Royalties belong here. They carry the name of a Halve and make sure to never forget the one who permitted their country to be founded. It was Lumin Dakor for Lumin Kingdom.”

I leaned back on the chair. While I didn't expect and impromptu lesson of social studies, I listened with utmost interest.

She extended another finger, “Next is those that understand that you are not that different from a normal person from a interperstonal perspective. They are usually friendly or apathetic but treat you no different than they would a stranger. You could say I stand here. Since we are free of the burden of seeing you as a being above us, it's possible for friendship and love to bloom. We can stand as equals in our interactions and daily life and grow together as people. There are also others who don't really care about it that much simply because it's none of their business and they will never be involved with you, so they don't give it much attention. The coach driver that took us across Riverfield that one time won't go back home and sing praises. Most likely they will go on with their day while being polite.”

“Mmm...” I rubbed my chin in thought.

She extended yet another finger, “Finally, those that fail to see the need of having Halves around. Maybe they were on the receiving end of a Halve's task and developed a rejection to your species because of this. My theory is that the group that is 'hunting' you belongs here but I don't have any evidence to back it up. Those that suffer 'injustice' or 'unfairness' as result of their own actions usually spin the narrative to look like victims and blame Halves.”

“Ah, yeah,” I nodded. “I read a book about us being the 'true tyrants' or some nonsense.”

Lapia winced, “The Halven Fallacy?”

I tilted my head, “Pokora mentioned people read it at school. What do you think about it?”

“Yeeeaaah,” she sighed. “It's pretty much a tantrum. Besides, it's extremely old. Those were different times.”

“Makes sense,” I nodded. “How about people who never meet Halves? Would that be more of a word of mouth perspective?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” she nodded and leaned on the table with a warm smile. “Alyssa had never met one before you, for example. Her education coming from the Church may be a large influence in her view. Yolin is similar, but she's drawn by the potential fun she may have with you rather than anything else as we've clearly seen.”

I chuckled, “Yeah. Yolin is pretty chill.”

“So yeah,” she shrugged. “There are many views regarding your species. When you take history into consideration you can find the reason as to why. After Filestra banned war, your species became widely popular.”

I scoffed, “With good reason. War is shit.” I reached for her head and caressed her hair, “You know a lot, Lapia. Thank you for explaining things to me.”

She smirked, “That's the responsibility of the one who took your virginity.”

I rolled my eyes and ruffled her hair, “You cheeky Elf.”

She laughed and straightened up, then went back to writing on the notebook.

I looked at her.

Her green eyes went over the paper after the quill. How she bit her lips when she thought every once in a while. Her head bobbing when she came across something in her mind and her pinkish lips formed a smile before writing more.

Her long ears twitched every so often and her delicate fingers fixed locks of hair behind them. Despite being so absorbed on her writing, she glanced my way a few times and gave me a warm smile that pulled at my heartstrings.

The woman was a well of knowledge and had the patience to teach me things children probably already knew. She had the skills to make sure I understood things and knew of ways to keep me from growing frustrated when I didn't understand how E'er worked.

Her fangs peeked between her lips every time she took a breath or a smile formed on her face and I found myself staring at her while my heartbeat picked speed at the same time as a calming feeling made me feel like I was wrapped in a warm blanket during winter.

Her dirty jokes added to her character which I found to be incredibly attractive.

Love is an amazing feeling. It's incredible when one shares it with a single person. Words fall short when one shares it with multiple.

Slowly, a feeling of dread overcame me as I remembered something.

“Lapia!” I exclaimed, covering my mouth.

She whipped her head in my direction with wide eyes, “What?! Do you feel a threat or something?”

I stood up and covered my face with both hands, “We didn't tell the others we'd be spending the night at the palace!”

She brought a hand to her forehead and sighed, “You scared me, woman!”

I groaned, “Alyssa's going to worry!”

She brought her hand down and her eyes relaxed. She gave me a nod and held her chin, “Okay. You'll send staying and I'll send overnight through the bond to Alyssa. Then, I'll send Royal and you send Palace to Yolin. How does that sound?”

I nodded in relief, “Sounds perfect. Let's send it right away.”

'Stayin', I sent Alyssa then gave Lapia a nod.

She returned the nod.

'Palace', I sent to Yolin and nodded again.

We both sighed and then giggled.

'Have', Alyssa's deep voice entered my mind.

'Love', Yolin's soothing voice entered my mind next.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion and I turned to Lapia.

She had a similar expression.

“I got Have and Love,” I explained.

“Fun and Much for me,” she tilted her head.

“Ah!” I nodded. “Have fun, much love?”

Lapia smiled, “Much fun, have love?”

I laughed, “Have much, love fun?”

Lapia fought back a smile, “Love have, fun much?”

We both laughed at the silly combinations.

“That's a weird order of sending the messages,” I chuckled and sat back down.

Lapia shrugged, “Maybe they're having sex?”

“Nice,” I smiled at the juicy mental image of the two doing the naughty. “Maybe. It's a likely explanation.”

We looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds and my heartbeat increased the longer the staring content lasted.

Lapia gave me a cheeky smirk, “Do you want to? To fill me to the brim?”

My eyebrows went up and I covered my eyes, then let out a sigh, “Lapia. There is this thing called being subtle that I don't think you're using to your advantage.”

She laughed, “Yeah, my bad. I'm still horny from earlier.”

“Go to the bathroom and chill for a minute,” I shook my head. “Food is going to arrive in a while.”

Lapia's eyes squinted and she stood up, then slowly made her way to the bathroom door while looking at me, “I'm getting some of that tonight, Natasha.”

I nodded, “You will. Be a bit romantic about it, Lapia.”

She winked at me and entered the bathroom.

Right then, a knock came from the door.

I focused on the walls and deactivated the sound-proof enchantment by sending another wave of E'er.

“Your Excellency, I have brought you dinner,” a female voice called.

I stood up and went to open the door.

There, Agnes stood behind a staff person pushing a trolley.

Fucking hell, I groaned in my mind while giving them a smile.