A Certain Inn
After consulting with the elders and describing the smell of Xellma to the council, they voted that Mira needed to inform the Ashe family of the events she experienced in the Far Frozen North. Princess Syndra's crimes were great, but it was decided that the Moonfall Prince would choose her punishment.
As Mira traversed the rivers and lakes of Karand, slowly making her way south, she wondered what kind of person Verka Ashe would be. You could only learn so much from reading about someone, and the libraries of home were rather sparse on so-called foreign born rusalki like the Ashe royal family. The mitigating factor of being the daughter of the Moonfall Prince did mean she had more written about her than most. Mostly they described the horrific experiments she constantly approved by one of the most strikingly evil military units on Karand, the Imperial Chemical Weapons Division.
The stories she heard of what they did bothered her, but what she experienced from the Elves was even worse. If it wasn't for that demon, she would have died for certain. As she passed through the forests of the Dragontail Mountains, she came across an Inn near a lake. The council had advised her to steer clear of any humans outside of the Ashen Empire, but something about this Inn felt different. For reasons she couldn't quite explain, she found herself standing in front of the door. She was so focused on the door, she didn't hear the human walk up behind her until he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Nervous?" He asked, causing her to practically jump and scramble to get away from him.
"Stay back!" She shouted in rusalki, causing him some surprise as well. She backed up against the wall of the inn, and exposed her teeth, hissing. "I'll kill you!"
"Please calm. Not enemy, friend." The man responded in broken rusalki, holding up his hands. "Not harm. Inn safe. Wait here."
The man disappeared into the Inn and for the moment, Mira was left alone. As she was contemplating what to do, the man reappeared with an overweight middle-aged man, who whispered a word to the other man, who then returned inside.
"He tells me you shouted in rusalki at him." The fat man said to her in perfect rusalki, a large smile on his face. "You're not the first one to visit my Inn, but it's still a rare sight."
"W-who are you?" Mira asked, still suspicious.
"Just call me the Innkeeper. My Inn is quite safe, everyone is welcome here. You must be hungry if you've ended up at my door, though." He said, still smiling. "Why don't you come inside?"
"You're not human." Mira said, sniffing at him. "Smell wrong. Even wronger than the demon I met."
"Well spotted." He replied, his smile dropping. "How about you don't ask any questions about who I am, and in return I feed you?"
"You speak rusalki, so you must know our diet. How would you do that in an inn full of surface dwellers?" Mira asked, still suspicious.
"How about you come inside and find out?" He asked with a wink. "Come on."
Mira decided to follow the rotund man, despite her misgivings. Stepping inside, she could feel the stares of the other patrons upon her, and noticed it got quieter for a moment. Just as she was about to say something the conversation resumed as if she was never there. Fighting the urge to immediately ask what just happened, she instead followed him through a doorway that had a sign above it. She couldn't read any of the surface race languages, but she recognised the scratching on the door frame. All that was written was safe, and that reassured her.
"So, a teenage rusalki." The Innkeeper said, turning to look closer at Mira now that they were alone. "What are you doing so far from home?"
"I-I have to go see Princess Verka Ashe. In Lichfield." Mira said, stammering.
"Oh?" The Innkeeper asked as he shut the door. "What business does a teenager have with that psycho?"
Mira shook her head. "I can't say."
"Hmmm. Well, you should be safe enough in the Empire." He replied, pulling back a curtain at the far end of the wall. "Take your pick."
Mira's jaw dropped at the scene. A dozen people all tied up and struggling, looking at her with fear in her eyes. She glanced at the Innkeeper, and he nodded.
"Well, I am hungry." Mira whispered, as she approached a human man. Taking note of the large pool on one side of the room, with lightning speed she grabbed the man and plunged him beneath the water.
The Innkeeper smiled for a moment, before turning away. He knew they liked their privacy when they ate, and he wasn't about to start looking now. The noises were certainly intriguing to say the least, but he figured if he ever actually wanted to watch he could just ask someone like Verka. After some minutes, he heard the tell tale noise of bones being piled, and turned around to see Mira tidying up.
"Not that I care, but who are these people?" Mira asked, gesturing at the others as the Innkeeper pulled the curtain closed.
"People who... won't be missed." He answered vaguely. "Don't you worry about them. Would you like a room to stay the night?"
"I still don't trust you." Mira said, regarding him with suspicion. "But yes."
"You'll come around." He said with a wink. "Shall we?"
He opened the door to the room they were in, and Mira ventured back out into the rest of the Inn. The Innkeeper winked at her as he stepped back behind his counter, and Mira took it to mean that she needed to occupy herself for the moment. Choosing to avoid elves, she noticed a group of demons near the fireplace, and to her surprise one of them was the one who rescued her.
Xellma grinned when she saw Mira looking around. It seemed like exactly what she predicted came to pass, and so she stuck up and arm and waved at Mira, who waved back and started coming over. Quickly turning to the other demons, she spoke quickly.
"Alright boys, you treat her nice. She only speaks Rusalki, so I don't want any of you speaking anything else in front of her, got it?" Xellma said, looking around at the 3 other demons sitting with her. They all nodded eagerly, not wanting to anger the Demon Queen. "Good."
"Umm... hello." Mira said quietly as she approached.
"It's good to see you again, dear." Xellma answered, smiling and gesturing for Mira to sit. "Boys, why don't you introduce yourselves?"
"D-do they speak Rusalki too?" Mira asked, stuttering slightly.
"My dear, demons know every language." One of them said, showing off his fangs. "Name's Thazzax."
"Algraxith." A very tall one with tentacles for hair and a single large eye said.
"Ozzix. Pleased to make your acquaintance." Said one Mira's size. His hands were claws and he reminded Mira of a crab.
"And I'm Xorgan." The fourth one said. He looked eerily familiar to Mira, like a mockery of a rusalka.
"You look a lot like a rusalka, Xorgan." Mira said quietly.
"Because I was one." He said, leaning forward.
"No secrets about Hell, you lot." Xellma said quite forcefully. "Sorry Mira, that's a conversation for when you're dead."
"So Mira, Queen Xellma tells us she rescued you from the elves." Thazzax said, moving the conversation along before Mira could dwell on what Xellma had said.
Mira nodded. The experience had been a terrifying one and she had thought for sure she was going to die in that cell before Xellma had discovered her. "Yes."
"Your Highness, why are we still helping the elves then?" Ozzix asked, clacking his claws together. "We should be exterminating them if they've offended you."
"Patience, my dear." Xellma said, waving her hand dismissively. "I discussed this with Royal Void, and she asked we continue, with a few changes."
"Who's Royal Void?" Mira squeaked out, trying to stay part of the conversation despite her nervousness. The five demons all turned to look at her, before the others looked at Xellma.
"She is..." Xellma began, and sighed wistfully. "Our mother. Lady Vordea, the Goddess of Chaos and creation."
"The Great Destroyer?" Mira asked, her eyes wide.
"Don't worry, your species is beyond her reach." Algraxith said, blinking his eye slowly.
"Unless you die on Karand, you're beyond my reach too, I'm sorry to say." Xellma admitted, winking.