Saigo woke up to his own internal alarm clock, embedded deep within his subconscious. He lay with his eyes open for a few seconds, listening to his body. The familiar room, the familiar semi-darkness behind the heavy curtains.
He rose from the bed and began a quick, years-honed routine a series of smooth but powerful movements designed to get his blood flowing and stretch every muscle. His location never bothered him. Only afterwards, approaching the washstand, did he realize with surprise: his body barely ached.
This made him pause by the large, ornately framed mirror, carefully studying his reflection. He turned sideways, ran his fingers over the skin where just yesterday a terrible, mortal wound had gaped. Not a trace remained. Not even a scar. The skin was smooth and clean, as if nothing had happened.
'The local healers don't eat their bread for nothing,' he thought with a measure of professional respect. Such masters, unfortunately, weren't even found within the walls of Saint-Bas. And immediately, a practical thought followed: 'Ah, how such people would make our work easier...'
But he was pulled from his reflections by more pressing needs. The need for action. His memory helpfully supplied the image of that strange opponent the Unknown, as Saigo had privately dubbed him.
He had fought a lot, and killed even more. Trolls, orcs, elves, giants, and a dozen other races of all kinds and sizes had passed through his blood-soaked hands. But he had never encountered anyone like the Unknown before. This fact evoked in him a slight apprehension, mixed with pure professional curiosity.
Logic suggested a simple path: if he didn't know something, others might. The most obvious source of knowledge was the library. He mentally patted himself on the back for this decision and, clinging to the faint hope that Katarina would keep her word about his free movement, reached for the silver bell.
The ring was clear and loud. The door opened almost instantly, and a maid hurried in, but with unexpected grace. It wasn't Mona.
Before him stood a girl with severe, almost sharp features, high cheekbones, and silky hair the color of a raven's wing, pulled into a tight, short bun. But what struck him most were her eyes a bright, piercing ripe amber color, and... her ears. Pointed, elegant, clearly defined as if by an artist's hand.
'An elf,' Saigo instantly determined. 'And, judging by the shape and angle, not a half-breed.'
The maid tactfully waited for a pause, allowing him to finish examining her appearance, and only when sure he had taken it all in, asked in an even, melodious voice, with a light, barely perceptible lilt: "What is your wish, sir?"
"We're going to the library today," Saigo replied.
…
The streets of the capital swiftly passed by the window of the ornately decorated carriage assigned to his "modest" person. The guard had been increased after recent events now, besides the two silent statues, they were accompanied by six more riders living ones, in the sense an ordinary person would understand. 'Better,' Saigo noted mentally. 'It'll be noticeably easier to slip away from live ones, if needed.' He thought, but quickly concluded that now was not the time…
Deciding to change his train of thought, his gaze slid to his companion.
The elf sat with a perfectly straight back, hands folded on her knees, her gaze fixed on a point somewhere above his head.
But Saigo sensed she was not Mona. His inner instinct, forged by years of danger, smoldered like a hot coal.
She was strong, and most disturbingly he felt not a drop of magic in her. Not a single trace, and he had been taught to pick out mages from a crowd at a glance.
Her "purity" was unnatural but, if his instinct was to be believed, she was a monster.
"What's your name?" he broke the silence.
"Nuria," she replied, lowering her amber gaze upon him. Her voice was calm and melodious, as if none of this concerned her at all.
"What are you doing here?"
She averted her eyes for a moment. "I don't understand the essence of the question."
"Let me rephrase. You are an elf, a pure-blooded one at that, and your kind rarely leaves the bounds of your kingdom. And I thought you considered humans to be garbage."
Nuria nodded with icy directness. "That is correct. But we, like you, are individuals. I wished to experience the world in all its colors."
"And being a maid is part of that experience?"
"Yes. Katarina is... more than just a human. Her personality is... extremely interesting to me."
"I see. So you're just amusing yourself," Saigo concluded.
Nuria nodded again, without a hint of embarrassment. The conversation died down only to flare up again, but this time at the girl's initiative. "Sir, may I ask a question?"
"Go ahead."
"Don't you think you are playing games a little too much?"
Now it was Saigo who didn't fully understand his interlocutor.
"Let me rephrase," she repeated his own words. "Katarina very much wants to be your partner, but you, for a reason unclear to me, refuse her, making her look extremely unappealing."
Saigo just smirked. 'How could I forget... Elves have problems expressing emotions. Or so it seems to us humans from our perspective. After all, few can tell what's going on in the head of a creature that lives for tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of years.'
"In that case, let me give you an example. Imagine I were to pounce on you right now and, ignoring your wishes, take you by force. How would you feel?"
Nuria thought, bringing an elegant finger to her chin. The pause lasted about thirty seconds. Saigo was slightly shaken by impatience his explanation was as simple as it could be. 'What is she even thinking about?'
"I agree," she finally declared.
"What?!" he couldn't help but exclaim, but she had already begun unbuttoning her maid's dress.
"What are you doing?" Saigo hissed coldly through his teeth.
Nuria froze for a second, her hands leaving the fabric, and asked with genuine surprise: "You yourself proposed intercourse."
"That wasn't a proposal! I said it to help you understand the topic we were discussing!"
"I understood that," she replied, and her eyes held genuine bewilderment. "But do you not desire me?"
"What in the mother's..." He wasn't planning to watch his language, and the girl hastily interrupted him. "I thought human males were ready for anything for the sake of intercourse. Or am I phenotypically unsatisfactory to you?"
"It's not that. Many are, yes, but don't equate humans with cockroaches, which are numberless. What bothers me about your proposal is, why would you want to? I assume Katarina somehow forced you…"
The elf hesitated slightly, fiddling with her dress sleeve, and, tilting her head slightly, said: "I simply wished to experience what it is like to be with a male. And..."
Saigo interrupted her, asking the only question that came to his mind: "How old are you?"
She raised her head, her amber eyes meeting his gaze, full of calm confidence. "One thousand, one hundred, and eighty-seven." Nuria answered without a hint of embarrassment, oblivious to his shock.
Saigo fell silent and leaned back against the divan's cushions. In this situation, he had absolutely nothing to add.