Lament of the Lost

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Name: Korra Grey

Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 27
1st Array: Slave
Master: None
Sigils: 97 - ○○○○○○

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Weaves: 1st Array (6/6)

Eleaden Standard Language (General): ...18 → 19 glyphs - ⦿⦿
Indomitable Will (Slave):.................................... 111 glyphs - ⦿⦿⦿⦿
Thrifty Drinker (General):...................................... 3 glyphs - ⦿
Equilibrium (General):............................................ 7 glyphs - ⦿
Hunger Fortitude (General):................................. 5 glyphs - ⦿
Spatial Domain (General):......................... 10 → 11 glyphs - ⦿

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'I definitely need to make some changes.' I thought to myself as I took a quick glance at my Grid on my way back to the hustle and bustle of the street. The further usefulness of some of the weaves was more than questionable. But that required time I didn't have.

"Oh, Korra. You're out," Ria beamed. The little kitare was waiting patiently for me, sitting on the steps in front of Zuzum's bathhouse, reading what seemed to be a picture book. Lifting her head as soon as she noticed me, her eyes went immediately wide. "You look… is that Sage?"

"Yeah, she is."

"She's almost as beautiful as mom's tail."

The little guide's surprise was quite understandable. I myself couldn't believe my eyes when I saw how fluffy my tail had become after the bath and drying. The volume of its hair was simply unreal, making it look even bigger than I was. And Sage's colors were no less stunning. The fur on my lower back gradually changing to the hair of my tail was painted the same distinctive reddish hue on the top. Unlike the rest of the fur on my body, though, the colors were more alike to those of my hair, ranging from fairly dark to almost orange at the border with the white underside of my tail. Unfortunately, I didn't quite manage to fully clean the white hairs, so they retained a brownish tinge.

Regardless of that little beauty blemish and the fact that my tail wasn't even quite dry, the fluffiness of it was simply divine.

"May I… may I touch her?"

'Shit!'

I guess wishing she hadn't asked that was too much to hope for. Not that the little kitare could be blamed. Even I had to hold back not to hug Sage to my chest. It hurt all the more, though, that I had to deny my little guide her wish.

"Sorry, Ria - Sage, she might hurt you."

"What? Why?"

The hurt in her voice cut deep.

"There's..." I said, glancing around and dropping to a whisper as that uneasy feeling at the back of my neck returned and with even more bite than before. "... there's poison in Sage's hair - a dangerous one. Actually, if you ever smell apples, tell me immediately. Do you understand, Ria?"

I wasn't quite sure what I would do if she got a whiff of my poison, but what I did know was that having the blood of another, so to speak, especially of a small child like her, on my hands would crush me - regardless of my weaves and the number of glyphs on them. I simply wouldn't be able to live with that guilt.

'Maybe buying an antidote wouldn't be a bad idea.'

Although the eight silver coins left in my spatial storage didn't give me confidence that it was something I could afford.

'Learning to control it, then?'

There had to be a way to stop the poison from leaking out of the pores of my tail skin.

"Apples?"

'Oh, fuck me!'

The little kitare's eyes shone with even deeper curiosity than before.

"Y-yes, apples. And no, Ria. I'm serious; you could die."

"Really." My little guide startled, her eyes never leaving my tail swaying gently behind me. "But she looks so soft. Can't you make her not dangerous?"

"Sorry, I don't know how."

"Oh," Ria sighed crestfallen, only to have her eyes light up the next moment. "What about the fitchkin? They can make their tails stink, very badly."

"Isn't that the opposite of...?"

"They say it's like farting, so maybe try holding your farts."

Sometimes, you just had to envy the children’s innocence. Everything in their world seemed not so complicated, not dangerous, and not awkward. Nevertheless, thinking back to when I was a beast, gut-wrenching as it was, I had to admit that releasing the cloud of poison felt similar to farting. The buildup, the tension, the relief of letting go.

"I can… I can try."

"Yay," the little kitare squealed with joy. I, on the other hand, a little awkwardly, tried to bring the feeling of holding farts to my tail.

'Bloody fucking...'

It didn't happen on the first nor the second try, but when the strange tension of holding my farts spread through my tail, it beat in awareness, even that nasty feeling at the back of my neck. It just wasn't right - or at least, that was my first thought, even the second. After all, I was holding back farts, I mean poison, with my tail - ridiculous. Yet, for whatever reason, the silly, childish idea seemed to work.

• You were poisoned

'Ah, of course.'

Stopping my skin pores, or whatever was the culprit, from releasing the poison was one thing; airing it out of the fluff of my tail was another.

"So...?"

"You'll have to be patient for a bit longer, Ria. It's still there, but..." I paused to give the little guide a bit of a tease. "...great idea. Seems to be working."

"It is? How long, then?"

"I don't actually know. Until it's safe."

"Hmm..."

"You know what, Ria? Why don't you take me to see the Labyrinth Square? Everyone seems to be talking about it, and maybe by the time we get there..."

"Oh, OH, all right! This way," the little kitare beamed as if remembering her job. With renewed energy, she took off into the streets, me with a wet towel in my hand, a backpack on my back, and the sick feeling of being watched in her wake.

"What kind of place is it, anyway? The square, I mean."

"Amazing, you'll see."

'That little rascal!'

She wanted to tease me back, huh? I guess I deserved it. Too many questions plagued my mind to keep my mouth shut, though.

"Why is it called Labyrinth Square?"

"Because of the entrance to the Labyrinth."

"Okay… and the Labyrinth is?"

This time, instead of switching to her backward walk, Ria stopped straight in her tracks, eyes wide. "You don't know about the Labyrinth, Korra?"

Obviously, I should.

"N-no..."

"Tails!" Ria gasped, cursing even, it seemed, while pressing Lia to her chest. "How can you not know?”

"B-because I'm not from around here."

"But I thought everyone knew about labyrinths."

'There's more than one?'

Thankfully, before I opened my mouth and made an even bigger fool of myself in the eyes of the little kitare, I remembered Scoresby talking about Castiana as one of the Labyrinth Cities.

"I… I had a very bad master." Still not something I found easy to talk about, but necessary to mention for her to understand. And she did.

"Oh, you were a slave?"

'Wait...what? Didn't she see… shit, I'm so stupid.'

How could I not see it when it was right in front of my eyes the whole time. Ria was [Young Kitare]. That was what I saw when I looked at her, what the Lattice showed me. Why only that? Because that was all there was to Ria - in the cold runic eyes of the Lattice at least. Ria didn't have an array. Not the eye-opening part. Sad as it was, I did see a few people in the cellar without an array. Given their youthful appearance it didn't take much to figure they were too young to have one. What hadn't crossed my mind all this time, though, was that they, like Ria, were too young to have the Grid or access to the Lattice through the Grid Forge; she didn't see what I was forced to be.

"Yes. And a bit worse… I have a Slave Array, Ria."

Her eyes watered, and she clutched Lia tighter to her chest. "That's..."

"Don't worry. It's okay, now." A lie, but there was no need for anyone else to suffer because of that deranged asshole.

"R-really?"

"Um-hmm."

"Then… then what do you want me to tell you about the labyrinths, Korra?"

Despite the chills biting harder down my spine, to see her renewed vigor brought a smile to my lips. "Anything you can tell me, I guess."