Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ My Naga Knight ❯ Chapter 17

Beldon crossed his arms over his chest, listening to Jin's begging to keep Dustin and the small clan he had within the boundaries of the graveyard. “Jin, I am not going to allow somebody I hardly even know into my nest let alone give him his own.”

 

“Beldon, please,” Jin begged, faltering his elfin ears. “Dustin isn't going to cause any problems.” He could tell Beldon wasn't going to listen at first as the alpha of the wind nest looked off to the side, avoiding Jin's gaze. “He means a lot to me. You have to understand that. He saved me from my brother, and I owe him a lot.”

 

The alpha was quiet for a little while, twisting his mouth to the side to think on it. He released an irritable sigh not wanting to lose Jin, but Beldon knew that he might if he didn't consider letting Dustin in. “Tell your friends to sleep elsewhere until I have come to a decision.” Beldon turned around on his scaly body to head back to his nest. “I need to talk to the Lord Drake about this in meditation.”

 

Jin knew that was as good an answer as he was going to get at that moment. “Thank you,” he said softly. “That is all I can ask for.” He watched as Beldon took his leave of the area they decided to meet up within. His heavy, serpent body crushed the leaves beneath him as he made his way back to Dustin to relay the news to him.

 

With Thane excused from his guard position in Kalrune, he made his way to the Cormac Farm upon his black, armored war stallion. The hooves of his horse beat against the dirt path before him as they made it up the hill and to the area belonging to the Cormac family. Thane's mind was set on the attack he endured at the village. Since when did serpent demons obtain magical powers to be able to bend nature to their will? This could be problematic…, Thane thought as he halted his steed just outside of the farm house. He made his way up the stairs, knocking on the front door. “Neda? Blythe? It is me, Thane.”

 

Lily continued the breakfast for the girls when she heard Thane knocking at the front door. Setting the pan down upon the clay oven, heated by the fire, she made her way carefully over to the door to allow Thane inside. “Thane, it is so good to hear from you,” said Lily with a smile. “My name is Lily, and I am here to help the girls just as you are. I am almost finished with breakfast. You will join us for this morning, won't you?”

 

“Ah, I see. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Thane Wilson.” Hearing her proposal about breakfast, he nodded. “That sounds wonderful. Thank you, Lily.” Thane entered the house, removing his helm and weapons to put off to the side. He sounded a little worried as he made it over to the dinning table. “How have things been around here? Those serpent demons haven't been trying anything, have they?”

 

Heading back over to the oven, Lily pulled the pot from where it was thinking that the eggs were well cooked by now. “No, everything has been just fine.” She creased her brow in worry at his tone, however. “But what about you, Thane? You sound a bit startled by something. Is everything alright?” Lily put the pancakes and bread on separate dishes before bringing them over to the table Thane was sitting at.

 

Thane knew that Lily was blind given her eyes' glossy look. He couldn't help but offer a slight smile at her ability to sense things so easily with her ears. “Not much gets by you, I see. You must have been blind since birth to have such great second sight.”

 

Lily nodded her head once at Thane as if to bow when she tilted her head downwards with a smile. “So I have been told.”

 

The knight took the iron gloves off of his hands, showing off the rather reddened mark on his wrist made by Jin's tail squeezing the area so hard. “Anyways, one of the serpent demons snuck into Kalrune last night. He tried to steal and kill some of the chickens, but I managed to catch him before he did any heavy damage to the livestock. I thought for sure Kale and I would be able to kill him, but another serpent demon came from behind…and he did the strangest thing.” Thane paused for a moment as he thought back on the roots reaching up from the group to entangle him and Kale, entrapping them both. “It was strange, Lily! It was as if this demon had control over the earth! Roots from underground obeyed his command in capturing Kale and I! I never in my life thought demons could do such a thing, let alone a serpent demon!”

 

Hearing of the snake demon that attacked Thane, Lily widened her blank eyes. Jin…! She panicked realizing that he ran into Thane of all knights there. Hearing of the unique ability one of them had made Lily act a little interested as she was unaware any of the demons had such abilities given the fact Jin and Touya never showered her or told her they had powers of the earth. “Well, I guess that means that they might be evolving.”

 

“That's bad news!” Thane panicked as his fists met with the table. “They are trouble as is without some of them having such powers. What are we going to do when they all start having such abilities?”

 

“Thane,” Lily began with a soft tone, “please, serpent demons only attack whenever they are hungry or their nest is assaulted. The only reason that one demon attacked the chickens was because he was hungry no doubt. He didn't mean any harm to you or your friend.” She tilted her head to the side. “Did either of the demons attack and or injure you any?”

 

He found it a bit odd that Lily was willing to defend such beasts, but Thane said nothing about it at the moment, shrugging at her question. “Well…no, not really. The one trying to eat the chickens just grabbed onto my wrist with his tail and forced me to drop my sword. I was expecting him to attack me by suffocating me or something along those lines.”

 

“And what of the other?” Lily wondered as he was hinting that there were two.

 

“The other one used the roots of the earth to just bind us for awhile.” Thane realized what she was getting at and sighed irritably at how correct she was. “Okay, so they didn't attack us. They just wanted the chickens, but we need those birds ourselves!”

 

Lily sucked in her lower lip, shifting her eyes downwards at the table she could feel beneath her hands. “Thane, demons are primitive creatures at best. They cannot cook and the Goddess didn't bless us with an understanding nature to the point we would allow them to come in and trade with us for such food. If we were as such, I am sure stuff like this wouldn't happen as often.”

 

The knight was confused as he shook his head at Lily. “Where do you find most of this stuff? Are you a rare demon lover?”

 

The blind Lily sighed, looking off at nothing in particular before moving towards the stairs. “My father studied these demons when he was alive. They are not here to cause problems for humans.” Her hand met with the wooden staircase railing. She bowed her head a bit before gazing over at where Thane was possibly sitting. “I just wish some people could see that.”

 

Thane didn't say anything to that as Lily took her leave of the dinning room to fetch the girls for breakfast. Being a knight who slew such beasts for entering into the village boundaries regardless of why, he couldn't wrap his mind around what Lily had to say to him. Thane merely shrugged, rolling his eyes a bit as he pulled a few pancakes onto his plate.

 

“Blythe, Neda?” Lily called as she made it to the top of the staircase. She didn't bother moving much further than that seeing as she still didn't know her way around the upper part of the house yet. “It is time for breakfast.”

 

Hearing the call, Blythe soon made her way out of the bedroom to enter into the upper, curved hallway. She was out of her pajamas and looking rather nice in her white dress with black trim at the bottom of her skirt. “We will be there soon, Lily. Let me try to get Neda out of bed now. She fell back asleep for the moment.”

 

Lily nodded. “Please, see that you do. We cannot have her starving today.” Turning around, she grabbed back onto the railing to help herself steadily down the steps back to the living and dinning room.

 

Blythe went back into the bedroom, leaving the door opened as she made it to Neda's bedside. “Neda, it is time to eat,” she relayed to her sleeping sister. Neda tried to push Blythe away with an irritable moan. Moving out of the way of her younger sister's tiny arm, she continued to shake Neda. “Please, you must eat something today.”

 

“Go away,” Neda mumbled against the covers of her bed.

 

A sigh escaped from Blythe's lips. “If you eat something, I will stop bothering you.” She had gotten tired of seeing Neda day by day refusing to eat only to have her sleep more and more to the point her small frame got even smaller.

 

With that being said, Neda threw the covers off of her body. “Fine, whatever it takes to make you leave me alone.” She was getting fed up with everybody pressuring her to eat lately and to stay awake. Neda had little desire to do anything. She just wanted to sleep her life away. Her bare feet hitting the floorboards, Neda made it out of their bedroom and down the staircase in her pajamas to find Thane apparently joining them for the morning. “Oh, I see Thane's here…”

 

Thane could hear how unenthusiastic she was about his presence. He could only offer her a smile for a greeting. “I am sorry that I bother you so much, Neda. You know I do not mean to.”

 

Neda slightly rolled her eyes as she made it to the bottom of the stairs. Her bare foot hitting the last step stepped upon something rather fine feeling causing her to jerk her foot back quickly wondering what was there. Her eyes caught sight of a red scale there upon the stair step. “Hey, it is another one of those things.” It was the first time she had ever sounded so cheery before. Neda reached down to pluck the scale from where it was glistening in the sunlight to gaze at it closer.

 

Lily turned around to face where she could hear Neda's voice wondering what got her so happy all of a sudden. “What is it you have there? What have you found?” The blind woman made her way over to Neda to outstretch her hand for the item. “Mind if I feel of it?”

 

Neda reluctantly handed over the scale to Lily. “I have found several more around the farm. I planned on making a necklace out of them, because they look pretty.” She watched as Lily ran her finger over the front and back of the item in interest. “I haven't gone into the market place though to find what I need to string them together.”

 

She recognized the dry texture of it and could only smile a bit to herself. “Tell me, what color is it?”

 

“It is red,” Neda answered as she heard Blythe making her way down the steps behind her.

 

Lily knew who it might belong to as she handed it over to Neda once more. “Red—I will have to remember that.” She could hear Blythe had managed to make it down the steps as well. Turning around, she picked up her dress a bit out of her way. “Let's eat breakfast for now. Blythe, maybe afterwards you can take your sister into the market for me to get a few things.” Lily made it to her seat at the dinning room table to eat as well. “Forgiving me for asking this of you both, but I just came back from there, and I am too tired to go back being up all night. I would ask Thane, but being on the night watch, I am sure he could use some sleep as well.”

 

Blythe sat down in between Thane and Neda, catching the nod from the young knight as he was going to be ready for sleep once he finished eating his breakfast. “No, no, that is not a problem.” She opened her napkin and placed it in her lap. “Please, it is the least I can do for all you both have done for Neda and me.”

 

“By the way, the carpenters should have your barn finished in two weeks,” Thane said as he moved his eggs around before scooping some up on his fork. “By then your animals can have their bed space back.”

 

“That is wonderful,” Blythe praised as she looked at the young knight. She didn't realize she was practically admiring him with her eyes until Blythe caught Thane looking at her inquisitively. Snapping quickly out of her trance, she looked down at her plate to start picking at her pancakes. “Umm, I cannot thank you enough for what you've done.”

 

Thane smiled down at Blythe. “Do not worry about it for now, Blythe,” he said softly. “I am sure later on when everything is back to normal, I can think of a way to have you repay me.”

 

Neda was left clueless in the entire conversation but not Lily. She could hint what was being said between the two making her smile during the chewing of her food. “It is wonderful you've done so much for them, Thane. You are an extraordinary knight.” Her glass chimed a bit as she took a sip from it. “I have no doubt things will be just fine with you here.” Lily brought her napkin to her lips to wipe them before pulling from the table. “You usually take the sofa, right, Thane?” She heard the knight release a confused hum at her question. “You know, when you sleep here?”

 

“Oh, yes, I usually do, but if you want to take it, that is fine by me,” Thane insisted, running his fingers through his blond hair. “I can sleep in one of the chairs.”

 

Blythe brought the side of her finger to her lips to think on where Thane could sleep comfortably. She knew Neda wasn't going to take kindly to it, but Thane had been so gracious to them and it was the least she could offer. “Well, why don't you take our parent's bedroom for the time being?”

 

“Blythe!” Neda exclaimed, dropping her fork from the shock of hearing her say such a thing.

 

Regardless of her sister's outburst, she continued. “I am sure with you helping us so much and for free, our parents wouldn't mind at all if you did.” Blythe looked over at Neda finally with a raise of her brow to show that she wanted her younger sister to put into consideration what she just said. “Please, Neda,” she whispered between the two of them. “It is an empty room that either one of them could use. We'd be lost without them.”

 

Neda was silent as was everyone else at that moment. Thane managed to find his voice as he too finished with his meal, pulling from the table. “Thank you so much, Blythe, but I am sure if anybody should take the bed, Lily should.”

 

Lily washed the dishes in her possession at the sink. Thinking about Thane taking the sofa worried her a bit as Jin could only get her attention on the bottom floor. “That is very kind of you, Thane, but please, you take the bed. The sofa isn't so bad,” she assured everyone.

 

Thane found it a bit odd that she was willing to sleep on the sofa on the bottom floor instead of taking the bed upstairs, but he allowed her to do it. “Alright, if that is okay with you then.” He offered his dishes to Lily before stretching in his heavy armor with a yawn. “I am going to go ahead and go to bed for the morning. If you need me, let me know.”

 

She felt the dirty plates next to her while moving her fingers about the counter top. “Sleep well, Thane.” Taking the dishcloth and wiping the dishes clean, Lily turned slightly to look over at the table best she could. “When you're finished, give me your plates. I will clean them up and go to sleep myself.”

 

Blythe and Neda both nodded to themselves. “Yes, Lily,” said the older sister on both their behalf.

 

Touya leaned against one of the towering trees scattered about the woodlands behind Kalrune back at the cemetery nesting site. He tapped the tip of his serpent tail back and forth upon the cold ground. “Quite the predicament you're in now, Jin.” He watched as the wind serpent paced back and forth before him. “If Beldon doesn't consider Dustin as one of them and allow him to keep his alpha title, what will you do then?”

 

Jin grabbed onto his wild red hair, shaking his head with a groan. “I don't know…I don't want to leave behind Dustin and you, but I can't leave behind Silver either given she is holding eggs inside of her now.” He looked up through the forest canopy to watch the sun gradually peak through to the darkened land below. “Silver is probably still waiting for me to return. I better go to her.”

 

“I guess I'll go hang out with Dustin for now,” Touya sighed as he was seeing less of his friend lately. “He doesn't want me near the ice nest. The alpha wants to fight with me anyways for the title every time I pass by. I have no interest in caring for my own nest.”

 

The wind demon chuckled a bit. “That is probably because of your ice powers. You should offer it up to a female of their nest to just get your ice powers to them. That is all Beldon really wants from me.”

 

Touya scrunched up his nose while bringing up his tail to use it to cup his chin. “Don't you feel used in that aspect?”

 

Jin looked over his shoulder at Touya with a sly smile. “You don't feel so used when ladies want to have your children. I am sure once Silver has her babies, I will be asked to spread that around.” The crimson scales flexed a bit as Jin stretched. “I am tired. I've been up all night.”

 

“Sleep well then, Jin.” Touya slithered over towards Jin with his arms out to embrace the wind demon gently. He rested his nose against his friend's chest, closing his eyes a moment to take in his scent. “Just choose wisely. We've been together for so long. I don't want you to leave.”

 

The muscular arms of Jin made their way around Touya to embrace him in return. “Careful, Touya,” he chuckled. “If anybody catches you the ladies might assume we're together.”

 

Touya's face broke into quick irritation causing him to punch Jin on his injured side when he pulled back from the embrace. He heard Jin let out a long, painful moan upon him doing so. “You were asking for it, you idiot! Apparently you still have your mind on sex! Let me know when you've finally focused on something else.” With that said, Touya headed back to the temporary nesting area Dustin had for the moment.

 

“Well, he sure can punch for one so small,” Jin said to himself breathlessly, holding onto his side. He made his way back to the shack, opening up the door to find Silver waiting nervously upon the musty bed covers. “I am sorry I left like that, Silver.”

 

Silver uncoiled her body and hurried back over to Jin to hold onto him tightly, closing her eyes as she nuzzled into his chest. “Things have gotten so crazy suddenly,” she whimpered. “You seem so stressed and tired. I am worried about you.” Silver reached up to touch his cheek, caressing it eagerly.

 

Jin took Silver's hand, holding it tightly to kiss. He helped her open her hand to start kissing each finger to taste of her flesh. “I promise I will be okay, Silver. I've been up all night, and I am exhausted from it.” Leaning forwards, he kissed her pallid cheek. “Do you need anymore food to sate you before I sleep?”

 

The female serpent demon held onto Jin gently, resting her scaly cheek upon his chest. “No, I am fine. I just want to be next to you for awhile.” Silver headed over to the bed with Jin at her side. “I just really wish I knew what was wrong with you.”

 

The bed creaked as both serpent demons made their way on top of it. Jin's crimson scales moved slowly on top of the covers before wrapping about Silver's tail in a warm, loving embrace. “I wish I could tell you, Silver, but…I don't know.” He didn't want to tell her that he didn't trust her. Jin did realize, however, that Silver was getting quite worried every time he took off without a word. “If I tell you, will you promise me you won't tell a single soul about this? If you do, I might get thrown out of this nest and either killed or sent into exile.”

 

From the sound of his voice, Silver could tell he was serious and worried about sharing what it was he was about to say. “What-what is it?”

 

Jin grunted as he shifted slightly, bringing Silver closer to his chest. “My old nest and I were looking for another place to live, because the last place we lived at got burned down by a fire I accidentally caused. Anyways, during the fire, I tried to pull the human mother and father out in time, but I was unable to. The fire killed them both.” His eyes shifted back and forth as he was forced to think back on that night. “I had the mother die in my arms, and she made me promise that I would watch over their two little girls. I have been running back to that farm to try and do so with a blind human who knows that I am a serpent demon and is fine with that fact.”

 

“Bless the serpent Lord…!” Silver exclaimed almost breathlessly, placing her hand upon her heart. “You've been watching over two young bipedal kits?” None of the serpent demons were sure what the human children were called. Some assumed they heard the word `kits' some times when referred to them. “I cannot believe they haven't tried to kill you…!”

 

“I think they are called `kids' just as we call ours, but you were close.” Jin too was a bit surprised he hadn't been spotted and skinned on the spot. “Well, I only go at night to check on them. The blind woman is watching over them for me, but I try to help when I can.” He felt so bad at that moment. Jin rested his chin upon Silver's hair. “I am sorry to have my attention split like this. I didn't expect everything to come falling down on top of me.”

 

Silver closed her eyes, feeling his chin upon her head. “Everything will get better, Jin,” she assured her current mate. “It just has to.”

 

Jin held Silver a bit closer, rubbing her back with a tender smile. “I know it will, love. I know it will.” The wind serpent closed his eyes as he was unable to stay awake much longer. Silver wasn't too keen on sleeping as she had during the night, but regardless, she stayed close to Jin to make sure he would get the sleep he desired.

 

Back at the Cormac Farm, Neda headed upstairs wearily with the red scale in her hand. She made her way to her messy bed and sat down upon the covers to examine the scale a bit closer, still baffled as to what it could be. Neda placed it on the nightstand before rolling back into bed even though she found it difficult to do so with her monthly issue irritating her stomach.

 

Blythe finished the bread she was given for breakfast while making it up the stairs to head around the corner to join Neda as well. She pushed the cracked door open further to see Neda was content to go right back to bed again making her sigh inwardly. Closing the door quietly behind her, she put the list down on the nightstand that consisted of items she wrote down that Lily wanted from the market. “So, why don't you get ready, Neda, so we can head down to the market place?”

 

“You go,” Neda mumbled against her pillow. “I don't want to. I am tired.”

 

“You're always tired, Neda,” Blythe sighed, moving the covers off of her sister. “All we have to do is go down to the market. Keep in mind, some of these items are for your…female problems.”

 

Neda sat upright in bed. “Lily told you about that?” She was embarrassed. Her face was starting to blush over from the thought of Lily sharing the news with anybody.

 

“Neda, it is nothing to be ashamed of. With your birthday tomorrow, it was to be expected by…mom….” Blythe paused a moment when she remembered her mother telling her this, what seemed like just yesterday. Pearl was giddy about it as her second daughter would be the next to become a woman. She seemed so happy when talking to Blythe about it. Their mother wanted to break the news to Neda, but was unable to before her untimely death. The room at that moment went silent, making Blythe a bit uncomfortable considering Neda's condition. “Anyways, why don't you get dressed and come with me?”

 

“You're not going to let me sleep, are you?” Neda griped slightly.

 

“No, because you've slept enough.” Blythe pulled the covers off of her younger sister. “Now come. You are wasting time just lying there bleeding everywhere when we could be taking care of that problem.”

 

Neda brought her legs over the side of the bed, sighing heavily in irritation at being forced to move from the one spot she found the most relaxation lately. She caught sight of the shimmering, red scale on her nightstand thinking about the necklace she had planned on making anyways. Neda pulled the rest from her nightstand drawer to place within her small, brown pouch she often kept around her waist whenever out of the house.

 

 

 

 

The same nightmare plagued Jin's mind as he slept throughout the morning and into the afternoon. The fires of destructive raging through his mind caused him to sweat and start trembling against Silver's body. The vibrations caused the serpent female to look up at the pain-stricken wind demon with worry. “Jin?” She called softly, shaking him awake best she could. “Jin, wake up.”

 

Jin seemed to just get worse off the more Silver tried to call to him. He could hear Silver clearly, but her cries just blended in with the screaming he could hear from the serpent female he took as a mate in the raging fires. Not able to take the sight plaguing his mind, Jin's eyes flew open finally while he emitted a hasty breath. “S-Silver…!” He exclaimed breathlessly realizing she was okay. “I am-I am so sorry.” Jin placed his hand to his face, hiding his embarrassment in being caught in such a way.

 

Silver reached up to touch Jin's hand upon his features only to withdraw her hand back a few times not sure if she should given how startled he seemed. “Jin, are you okay?” She asked softly, tenderly gripping onto his wrist at last to pull his hand away. “Oh my, you're burning up!”

 

“No, no, I am fine,” he insisted with a wave of his hand. “I am just startled. I will calm back down in a moment.”

 

“Do you need something to drink?” Silver asked. She could see the sweat still glistening on the serpent demon. “Bless you, Jin; you're dripping in sweat…! What happened?”

 

Jin could see she was worried. He placed his hand on her slightly swollen stomach to remind her of the eggs she was forming inside of her body. “I am sorry, Silver. It was just a nightmare.” He scratched the back of his head with a hum in thought. “It was so vivid though, so I got really scared.” Jin could see Silver was eager to hear what it was about, but he didn't want to frighten her any further. “It isn't important.” Looking over his shoulder, he saw that the sun was setting. “I better head back to the farm.” Pushing himself up off of the musty bed, Jin flinched as his bruised rib bone wasn't healed yet, and he was overdoing it lately with traveling back and forth.

 

Silver heard the painful hiss the wind serpent emitted making her grab tightly onto his upper arms. “Jin, you can't go!”

 

“Silver, please…!”

 

“No!” Silver demanded this time, digging her nails into his arms in attempts to tranquilize him.

 

Female serpent demons' venom was always weaker than males. Jin could tell what she was trying to do. He looked down at her angrily as he knew it wasn't within the female's position to say what the male could and couldn't do. Jin grabbed onto her hands to pull them from his body. ”Silver, stop it! You should know better!” He scolded.

 

She closed her eyes tightly knowing she was in trouble for her outburst. “I am sorry, but I don't want you to get hurt! Please,” she begged near tears, holding onto his shoulders tightly to bury her face into his chest. “You are injured, Jin. Can't you ask somebody to go to those girls on your behalf?”

 

“The only other demon I can ask is Touya, and he isn't going to go there by himself.” Jin knew Touya was capable of handling himself, but he had to admit that he didn't like the thought of him going up there alone. Pearl wanted him to watch over her daughters. “Silver, I am sorry about this. I truly am, but I have to help Lily with something I was asked to do.”

 

Not sure what to say, Silver was silent for a moment before thinking of a solution. “Fine then, I am coming with you.”

 

“Silver!”

 

“Please, Jin, I want to come with you!” She begged, furrowing her brow in sadness at the thought of him declining this offer. “I hardly see you, and you're supposed to be the father of my babies.” Silver held onto Jin not wishing to let him go. “You promised you'd help me through this. You promised me that…”

 

Jin sighed as he gently gripped onto Silver's shoulders. “Alright, fine, but you have to promise me you'll do as I say without question, okay?” He could tell that the young demon was nervous about stepping foot outside of the nest's boundaries once more. “I will protect you, Silver. Now, let's get going.”

 

Silver slid down from the bed they were upon carefully, following behind Jin as he escorted her out of the shack and into the woodlands to make it past the nests belonging to the giant serpent clan in the Kalrune graveyard and towards the Cormac Farm.

 

With Lily having slept most of the day, she found herself wide awake throughout most of the night waiting for Jin to stop by again in case he decided to do so. She was running her fingers over the special bump, coded writing her father managed to put together for Lily when growing up dealing with his documents on the wolf and serpent demons. Her fingers slid over each carefully placed bump to make out the words. As she did so, a subtle knock came upon the window within the kitchen area. Lily turned her head slightly before getting to her feet, placing the book down on the table before the sofa she was upon. Making it to the window, she searched for the lock to unlatch it to open it. “Jin, is that you?” She asked.

 

Jin's ears moved forwards slightly at his name being called by Lily. He was slightly hid in the bushes incase it wasn't she who answered. “Lily, is everything clear?” Jin asked still remaining slightly hidden in the brush from the neck down. Seeing her nod, he looked over his shoulder at Silver who didn't want to come any closer than the woodlands surrounding half of the farm land. He motioned for her to come on over.

 

Lily could hear him murmuring something in demonic under his breath. “Is somebody with you?”

 

“Eh, yes, the woman I am taking care of.” Jin looked back over to see Silver was still hesitant to make it over. “Silver,” he said in demonic, “it is okay. Come over here.”

 

Silver started to inch forwards, looking to the left and right cautiously before making her way over towards Jin. She could tell the human woman was blind, but it didn't ease her fear of being so close to a human being. Staying close to the ground, Silver watched Lily closely.

 

“She is a little shy,” Jin explained as he took Lily's hand to guide it towards Silver. He helped Lily touch the foreign serpent demon's cheek. Lily touched Silver's face tenderly, feeling the placement of her scales to guess the age of her mentally. “Can we come on in?”

 

“Sure, come on in. It is safe,” Lily assured them as she stepped aside, allowing them to slide over the windowsill inside of the house.

 

Jin could see that Silver was hesitant to even move inside of the building upon making his way to the kitchen. He watched as she peeked inside of the house to smell of the foreign and familiar odors that made her jerk her head back out the window. “She smells the knight,” he announced to Lily, making his way over to her to speak in demonic once more as that was her primary language. “Silver, it is okay. The knight is on guard duty back at the human village. He won't hurt you.” When he saw her threatening to buckle, he tilted her chin upwards with his finger. “You know I wouldn't lead you to harm.”

 

“Does she not know any English words?” Lily asked Jin with a tilt of her head.

 

“Eh, some serpent demons know English and some know only a few words. Silver's nest doesn't know that many,” Jin explained. “How is everything here? Are the girls doing okay?”

 

“First of all, answer me this one question: what color are your scales, Jin?” Lily wondered almost randomly. She wanted to make sure that the scale Neda picked up was his and not somebody else's.

 

Jin found the question to be out of left field, but he answered anyways. “My main scales are red while my underbelly is pinkish in color. Why do you ask?”

 

Lily smiled. “Some of your scales are coming off. Neda has found a few, and she is making a necklace out of them. You must be getting close to shedding your skin soon.” Thinking about the other serpent demon in the room who was pregnant, she stared off past the two as she wasn't sure where they were standing at the moment. “Does your friend need anything to eat? I have some eggs she can have.”

 

“Silver,” Jin began once more in demonic, “do you want something to eat?”

 

Silver fidgeted nervously looking between the two. “That would be nice.”

 

“She is hungry, Lily,” Jin answered with a nod. He watched as the woman headed for the cabinets to pull out some of the eggs she was keeping for the redhead serpent demon in case he wanted any. He could tell Silver was still frightened given her position. “It is okay. Lily isn't going to hurt you at all.”

 

Silver was finding it hard to relax as she made her way closer to Jin's side. “Umm, how is it you know how to speak in their tongue?”

 

“My nests have always been around farmlands or human villages,” he explained. “Thanks to living around the humans for so many years, I picked up on their language. Also, Dustin knew the language long before myself, and he taught me some of it in order for me to protect myself.”

 

“We were never allowed to learn their tongue,” Silver admitted, rubbing her upper arm. “We only pick up on some of their words, but even when we do, we're not allowed to use them.”

 

Lily got the eggs together. Bending down a bit with them all in a basket, she offered them to the two. “Here you go, sweetie. Go ahead and take them.”

 

Silver pushed herself up on her serpent half slightly to look at the eggs presented to her. She rolled her forked tongue forward to make sure nothing was abnormal about them before accepting the basket from Lily. She made haste over to one of the furniture items to coil up there to eat what she was given.

 

“Jin, there is something I need to ask of you.” Lily rested against the dinning room table with her hand upon her chest. “Tomorrow is Neda's birthday, and it would be wonderful if you could help me.”

 

“But-Lily…! I don't know anything about…what is a birthday?” Jin wondered with a tilt of his head.

 

“A birthday is a celebration of one's birth,” she explained, tapping her fingers against the wooden top of the table. “It is usually celebrated with gifts and cake. Neda's will be tomorrow, and I need your help to put together something seeing as Thane is back at Kalrune Village.”

 

Jin tapped his chin in thought. “Hmm, I guess I can try to do something for her. But I thought at this time, most of the places in your human market are closed.”

 

“They usually are,” Lily sighed remembering that little fact. “However there are some that stay up only at night till 6:00 AM. Shall we go to the market and find something for her?”