"The more south one would travel, they would find that the noble houses of the southern kingdoms are truly ancient, dating back to the earliest days of the most Holy Human Empire. Because of their venerable history, many great nobles were birth searching for power, longevity or fame. One of the most common achievements which achieved by all three was the possession of an elven noble in their household and given that the elves are second to none in terms of beauty it is not worth staining the paper to write what shame on collective human honour and purity the old nobles committed. For this, the north will be always more virtuous than the decadent and debauched south which is ruled by the off-springs of the great despoilers.

Extract from "The Chronicles of Niuran" written in the year 996 shortly after the great elven aggression on the human frontier east of the river Vitas.

 

 

---

 

 

 

"What were you talking about." A dangerously cute voice asked the two returning older-looking undead. 

 

"Nothing too interesting." Iris scooped up a small bit of white fluffy cream from the corner of Kia's mouth. "A bit too sweet." The extremely sweet cream melted in her mouth, most likely made from white sugar whose weight was measured in gold.

 

"Hey!" The girl's words trailed into a hiss directed at the elf's hand which reached with curiosity for the remaining treats left on the mostly empty plate.

 

"Are they all that sweet?" Iris asked the girl, having to content herself with the small bit of cream that she had managed to steal. Her mind started to wonder about the cost of the small silvery tray in front of her and if Umbria was not bankrupting herself to be able to feed the adorable petite undead.

 

"No," Kia replied, she began to point at the treats beside her. "This one is sweet, this one taste's like earth fruit you made but different, this one is like earthfruit you bought but different and this one taste like the berries in a small human house." 

 

"I don't think those are actual flavours..." I must introduce her to more flavours. Iris thought.

 

  The mage in front of her grabbed a brown cookie with a black-brown chunk of something on top with two hands and took small bites resembling a small pale squirrel while doing it. When the cookie disappeared in Kia's mouth she began to frown at the simple-looking ring on Iris's hand.

 

"...Y-you give me five rings." Iris frowned as the mage rudely demanded their overly generous host to give her the repeater rings, clearly forgetting Umbria's name in the process.

 

"Kia."

 

"yes?" The rude undead visibly shrank under the elf's gaze.

 

"Harbinger there is no need for this." Umbria unhelpfully handed the demanded rings to the girl. "I am always happy to serve."

 

"At least say thank you."

 

"There is no need for this, Master." The visibly troubled woman cast a bewildered look at the elf as she bowed low to the necromancer.

 

"Thank you." The ashamed girl hid the rings in her inventory before hiding her face in the folds of Iris's shirt, silently asking for forgiveness from the wrong person in the elf's mind.

 

"It's okay, I am not angry at you." The risen ran her hand through the silky onyx hair of the overreacting undead.

 

"Master, I will take my leave if you allow." Umbria asked her Great Master for permission to leave which she gave. Unmissable to the elf was the door which the bloodsucker disappeared into.

 

  Iris and Kia stood still in the grass of the decorative garden with the gardeners not even paying a speck of attention to them. The elf rocked from side to side as she enjoyed the soothing feeling coming from the girl with the sounds of the city around them being  pushed into the background.

 

"You really like my hands, don't you?" Iris asked the girl tracing her slender finger on the ridges of her palm.

 

"It's rough," Kia replied with a word which failed to clarify her interest in the elf's hand. "I like it."

 

  The risen ran her fingers on her palm, feeling a perfectly smooth skin under her fingertips. She didn't understand how could the texture of her hand can be described as "rough" but she abandoned the question leaving the girl to have her own fun.

 

"You want to go take a bath instead of just standing here?" Iris finally proposed.

 

"Mmmm." Kia gave an enthusiastic nod in return.

 

  Iris lead Kia inside the mansion heading towards the large bath complex, when they walked through the long corridor where their room was Iris saw a maid standing perfectly still in front of their door. The oldest-looking maid they saw around her late thirties gave the two a deep bow which made the two undead adventurers awkward, her brown eyes widened a little as the two walked passed her. Iris explained they will take a short bath which caused the woman to give an understanding nod.

 

  It took a prolonged moment before Iris and Kia reached the bath where they undressed. They wandered around the oversized complex stumbling into a bath with summer water which smelled like a field of flowers in the summer.

The two sank into the comfortably warm water allowing the water to soak their pale bodies. Iris found a bar of yellowish soap and began to cover Kia with a thin layer of it.

 It was common knowledge to clean yourself at least once every three days from where the once slave came from. But she was sure this little ritual was common across Niuran, she would assume no one fancied getting eaten by ghouls because they smelled like a corpse.

 

"Stand up." The risen ordered Kia, she took even greater care to clean every crevice and cranny of the girl dripping with water in front of her which she was sure she already did as Kia's outstanding body was always left spotless.

 

"Can I go back?" The necromancer slightly shivered in discomfort, mostly from the desire to go back to the warm water than from the cold air.

 

"Once I clean you." The hoplite replied making sure the soap soaked deep into her silky hair instead of being uselessly left on the surface.

 

"But I can do it myself." The mage announced before disappearing under the water. Splashing water on the elf.

 

"You little~" Iris reached to tickle the girl causing great bubbles of air to escape toward the surface. "Havens!" She quickly pulled Kia from under the water in a panic.

 

  The petite girl spitted out the crystal clear water like a city square fountain while casting a puzzled look toward the elf.

 

"Sorry, I forgot." Iris could only convey to explain her sudden action. Somehow she had forgotten that the delicate girl was an undead. "?!" 

 

"Hehe!" Kia giggled a little as she splashed the embarrassed elf with water.

 

"You-" The undead who masqueraded herself as an ordinary elf tried to open her mouth before being splashed again with water.

 

  The two began to fight, with water spilling over the edge of the pool. Each hit brought neither side closer to the end of the fierce conflict with Kia dipping under and out of the water's surface attacking the tall elf from all angles.

 

"Got you." The risen said before she caught the petite mage dragging them both under the water. Their eyes met underwater and they both shared a smile which couldn't be replicated by a living being before Iris pushed herself off the wall using her long legs and kissing her saviour on the forehead.

 

"Ohhh." Kia's lamenting voice travelled through the water as the risen resurfaced.

 

"I just have to quickly wash and then we leave." Iris explained.

 

"But why do we have to leave?" The disappointed mage asked.

 

"I just want to? Can't I enjoy myself a bit?" The elf responded to the undead beside her. Stopping herself from teasing the pouting girl as she rushed to clean herself. "Thank you." She thanked her companion, who had grabbed a sponge and began to scrub her skin with little to much force.