Soul of a Human

Elly was woken by her parents going at it and groaned in annoyance. She could understand their desire because they hadn't seen each other for over two weeks, but did they have to be so enthusiastic about it? She turned around, clamping her pillow around her ears to muffle the sounds, but that was for naught. Her mother was especially spirited tonight, and her father would not waste the enthusiasm.

Now that Elly's sleep was so rudely interrupted, she felt thirsty and got up. Sneaking down to the common room wrapped into her blanket, keeping out the cold, she got herself a mug of water and grumbled. Elly then noticed the loud snoring from the previous storage, which was now the guest room, and shrugged. With a few quick steps, she came over and quietly opened the door, sneaking in. The "prank" she had in her mind made her smile. She wanted to sit down in the dark room and startle the boy.

°Really now? I thought she didn't like my boy. Hey Mor, get up! You got a visitor.° The human squashed those plans.

"What do you want?" Mor asked groggily, and Elly shrieked in surprise.

"I heard you snore! How are you awake now? I was quiet!" She hissed.

"I'm a light sleeper." Mor lied.

Elly looked at him unbelieving, though, in the darkness, Mor couldn't see the skepticism.

"Then how can you sleep with all the ruckus going on?" She questioned.

"I'm also good at ignoring things." Mor added, taking a second to understand what Elly meant by "ruckus".

The girl sighed and sat down on the foot part of Mor's mattress while Mor watched her. Then, with a tired groan, he sat up, stretching his arms and massaging his neck.

"Why did you come here?" He asked again.

"Listening to my parents got me in the mood, and you're the only man close." She said, fixating Mor with the gaze of a hungry cat.

°Wait what?° The human asked.

"Wait, what?" Mor shared the sentiment out loud.

Elly let the blanket drop, revealing the light shirt clinging to her body underneath, and gracefully crawled closer, an enticing smirk on her face. Mor reacted in shock, scrambling back and hitting his head on a leftover storage shelf.

"Wait, wait, wait!" He stammered. "Don't you have someone?"

"It's fine." She purred, following after the boy. "We Ice-kin women are known to be promiscuous, and it's not like I'm in a relationship with him."

"But!" Mor protested.

"I want to know how spending the night with a Soul is." Elly breathed, slowly caressing Mor's leg through the blanket.

Mor flinched back, hitting his head again and grunting with pain.

"Could it be?" She asked, with evident hunger in her eyes. "I would be your first?"

The sensual way her tongue wandered over her lips, and her chest, almost dropping out of the thin piece of cloth, got close to robbing Mor of his reasonings. His body had long reacted, but his mind still hung to the last bit of reason.

"I don't want to!" He suddenly shouted, pushing Elly away.

Instead of being enraged, the girl started trembling, and even though Mor didn't want to go that far with her, on the account that Soul-kin chose a partner for life, except for very rare exceptions, he felt bad for making her cry. Then Elly broke out in laughter, confusing Mor for a second until he realized she had pranked him.

"That was not funny." He pouted, setting the unusually silent human off. "You don't make jokes with that!"

It took a while for Elly to calm down while the human was still laughing.

"You should have seen your face." She said, giggling. "Pure panic, simply perfect."

Mor crossed his arms before his chest and stared at the girl.

"Great. You had your fun. Now leave." He ordered.

"No, this was punishment for ruining my first prank." Elly declined. "I will leave once you have answered my questions."

"You took it too far, and you are not a noble. I don't have to be careful around you. Leave." Mor stood his ground.

°I didn't know you had such a side in you.° The human said.

°Dealing with the other girls changed my outlook on some things.° Mor answered.

°Not bad, you're becoming a real man now.° The human chuckled.

°I can't let myself be pushed around all the time.° Mor added.

"Come on!" Elly pleaded. "As long as my parents are getting on with it, I can't sleep!"

"Not my problem," Mor stated coldly.

"Please?" She asked.

"No." He answered.

"What would I need to offer you to change your mind?" She made a last attempt.

°Sleep with you?° The human offered, giggling.

°I won't "sleep" with her! This is not how Soul-kin relationships work!° Mor chided the human.

"Leave. I'm tired. If you want to talk, then tomorrow. I had a rough few days." Mor shut her down again.

"I'm sorry," Elly said, standing up and grabbing her blanket.

"It's fine," Mor said, and he got up as well, ushering the girl out of his makeshift quarters and closing the door behind her.

Elly sighed but smiled because their guest was better than she had thought. All the expressions he had shown her were interesting, but everything he said had an underlying sadness.

Still, her prank had gone very well, making her giggle a little at the memory of the boy's shocked expressions. Elly was sure she would have been able to overpower the Soul-kin if he wanted to act on the "invitation" because, without magic, Soul-kin were weaklings. As far as she understood, magic needed a great deal of concentration. Meaning her enticing body would have kept the Soul-boy from using any.

Mor simply went back to sleep, and instead of his usual nightmares, this dream was very pleasant. He would never tell out loud, but in this case, he had to be thankful to the Ice-kin girl.

Mor was called to breakfast the next morning by a very happy Lize and noticed the other household members. Gorn looked tired but satisfied, while Elly seemed simply tired. Though the girl gave Mor some strange look, he couldn't interpret. The breakfast was savory and, again, very meat-heavy, making Mor wish for some veggies other than the root vegetables common in Ice-kin cooking.

"I want to ask you something, Mor," Gorn said, taking up the talk. "Why don't you stay with us longer? I want to train you as a taunter."

"What's a taunter?" Mor asked.

"Right, you wouldn't know," Gorn said. "It's a role in our hunting parties, with similar duties as guardians. Think of it as a mix between guardian and striker."

"Dear, he doesn't have any idea what you're talking about," Lize said softly.

"Ah… Well, the gist of it is I want to train you." Gorn decided to sweat the small stuff.

"What!?" Elly asked, surprised. "But he's a Soul-kin! You declined the other boys who had shown interest."

"I know, but those have their own fathers. I would insult them if I would train their kids." Gron said. "But he doesn't have those limitations."

"Thank you for the offer, but I want to get home. I need to finish school, but then I had promised to come back and visit Snow… argh… Lize." Mor declined.

"You can keep calling me Snow. I don't mind," Lize said, but Mor shook his head at the offer. He wanted to do it right.

"Too bad," Gron said. "Then what do you want to do while you're stuck here?"

"Helping wherever I can, like the chief told me," Mor answered with a shrug.

"How about I show you around the village first?" Elly offered helpfully, getting confused looks from everyone.

"What?" She asked.

"I thought you didn't like Mor," Lize stated.

"Well, it was strange to have him appear so suddenly, but we talked last night while you prevented me from sleeping. And I might have been rude, so I want to make that up to him." Elly confessed. "I think he's a nice guy."

"Thank you," Mor said, dumbfounded.

"Glad to hear that." Gorn nodded. "He might be a Soul, but he learned fast how to conduct himself in our village and is taking the other bits of advice to heart. If you bring me a future husband like him, I would have no protests."

Elly saw a chance to get back at her parents for interrupting her sleep and grabbed Mor's hand, pulling him off his stool and towards the door.

"Then maybe I will make him my future husband! Anyway, we're off." She shouted and left with Mor.

"That was a joke, right?" Mor and Gorn asked the respective present woman after the front door fell closed again.

Mor got a laughing "Of course." as an answer, and Elly let go of his hand. At this revelation, Mor was visibly relieved because having to deal with more pushy and aggressive girls wasn't something he wanted right now.

Conversely, Gorn only got a "Who knows?" from his wife and was worried. As interesting and well-behaved as the Soul-kin was, he wanted a true Ice-kin warrior as his son-in-law. Lize had her own opinions on the matter. Her daughter is free to choose who she wants, and if it's a strange Soul, then she wouldn't interfere, but knowing her husband's views on those things might not be so easy.