Chapter 27: A visit

 Andiel heard a knock on the door, and went to answer it. Before him was Orion, in his changed form. He looked uncertain, and the elf let the Fey in without a word. 

"Are you hungry, thirsty, cold?" Andiel asked, and Orion shook his head. 

"Baliel found a job," in only a day, the elf had done what the lord had not managed to do. No one wanted a translator who couldn't back up his knowledge with certificates. And his form had not been all that well filled. 

"Well, that is good," Andiel said, as he led the Fey to the living room. The two sat on the couch, and Andiel looked deeply into the eyes of the other man. The potion had not changed them. They were the same startling green they have always been. Now, they looked torn. "What is the problem?"

 "He knows who I am. He offered to make sure I don't end up on the streets for the reminder of the week," Orion said, as he ran a hand through his hair. "I haven't spent a single night out on the streets. I have slept in a warm room, in a bed that was soft enough for me to sleep in until the first rays of the sun. Yet, I feel like..."

"You can't bear it?" Andiel suggested, and the lord nodded. "If you'd like, I will reverse the potion's effect. You already know what it is like. There is no need for you to torture yourself further." 

"If I let you take off the potion, then I will be a coward," Orion said, but he was considering it. 

"Think about it that way, my lord. Every second you spent as a beggar, is another second the real beggars of Brukleon spent out there, in the cold. You must understand. It was not my son's intention to see you suffer, but to understand," Andiel finished, and then went to his office. He came back with an antidote. "Drink." 

"Can I speak with Darius first?" Orion asked, and Andiel nodded. The elf walked up the stairs and disappeared. Orion looked around. The house was obviously upper middle class.

As expected of a healer who didn't do cosmetic surgeries. Had Andiel lifted the saggy breasts of noblewomen, or filled their faces with mana, so their wrinkles wouldn't be easy to spot, then he would be living in a manor. 

That made Orion admire the elf all that more. For, it meant that he wanted to truly help. 

Perhaps I will make a public fund for the homeless and the poor of Brukleon? Get them health insurance? The taxpayers will go up in arms, but...

Orion's thoughts were interrupted by steps coming down the stairs. He looked up, and saw a sleepy Darius trailing behind his father. The boy was adorable, and his tail wagged, when he was happy. His ears twitched, too.

 Orion couldn't understand the general stigma against demons. They were just a different species. Personally, the Fey blamed the many travelers who made it in and out of the human world and came back to Brukleon with new prejudices. 

"You wanted to speak to me, my lord?" Darius asked, and he yawned. His fangs came into view, and he closed his mouth with an adorable movement. 

"Your father has offered for me to get back my look," Orion said, and Darius nodded. 

"Well, there is one thing you have to understand, my lord. No beggar would ever choose to stay a beggar. You know what it is like — now. There is no shame in bowing out," Darius took the vial with the antidote potion, and went to the Fey. "Please, drink." 

Orion took the vial, and drank it dry. He touched his wings first. They were just as silky and whole as they had been before the potion. Then, his hands went to his face. Not a blemish to be felt, no warts in sight. 

"Now, I will have to come back home, and change things," Orion stood, and then walked to the door. "But I won't forget what I have learned. Or Baliel. He will remain my friend, and I will get to know the rest of the more unfortunate people of my town." 

"Visit us again," Orion turned, to see that the boy's tail was wagging. The lord smiled and waved, and he was off. Going back to his manor, he entered through the front gates. 

"My lord, were you attacked?" A maid asked, to Orion's shame, he didn't know her name. Even though she had been working for him for more than one hundred years. 

"No, I... I suppose that is a secret. Prepare me clothes, and have a bath drawn. Make plenty of coffee, I will be pulling an all-nighter," Orion walked pass the woman, and went in the direction of his room.

 His servants stopped to stare at him, as he passed them. They all had questions for him, but he didn't have time for their worry. After all, the time that he took to answer questions, could be used to make new laws. Or, better the existing ones. 

An address for registering in the Unemployment Office? Well, not in his town! He supposed that the single copper coin had to stay. After all, the office employed its own staff. He could get them more funding, but still, a single copper coin was a hard day of work. 

A day when someone will have to choose between bread and registering. 

Orion shook his head. He had allowed himself to think like a lord again. About taxes and revenue, and not about the homeless. Had the past two days taught him nothing? No, no tax.

If someone wanted to work in his town, then all they had to do was show up in the Unemployment Office. Even if that led to an inflow of homeless from other towns, he won't go back on his decision.

He knew that he could do good for the people of Brukleon. If he got the fame of the lord who took the homeless and gave them a home, then so be it.