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“Ahem,” Emmet cleared his throat. By then he knew the signs of impending naked frolics well enough by now to know when to head them off at the pass.
Algra growled, a noise laced with anger and resonating with passion. Gregory’s lips shifted into an amused smile at her reaction to being interrupted during such an important smooch. So he decided to break it off and gave her butt a loving little pinch that always seemed to make her jump in his arms. He leaned in to her ear and whispered out of sight of the others.
“I love you, Algra.”
For a moment he thought he felt her shudder against him, and he squeezed her gently before turning back to regard Emmet and Talina.
“What is it, Emmet?” he asked.
“You seem to have forgotten the names of your parents. I think that is a revelation that requires further discussion.”
“You’re not wrong.” Gregory nodded.
“So, when did you notice you had forgotten?”
“Honestly? I’m not sure. I’ve been thinking a lot about getting home, but when I think about it then it’s more a plan of how to get there than it is thinking about actually being there. It’s only been in the last couple of weeks that I even realised I’d forgotten their names. I remember details about them, like trips they took me on and stuff they taught me. I can remember their faces and their voices. It’s just that every time I try to get something beyond “mum” or “dad” it’s like there’s this white noise where the name should be.”
“I see,” Emmet nodded and lifted his hand to his chin. “Is there a reason you didn’t tell us until now?”
“I guess that if I’m honest I kinda couldn’t believe it was happening. Like, it’s such a freakin’ small thing. Y’know? I recalled the names of everyone else I could think of and there wasn’t anything similar going on there. My classmates. My teachers. The neighbours. They’re all there.”
“What about other family members?” Talina asked.
“They were all I had. No aunts or uncles and both sets of grandparents died before I was born. No brothers or sisters either.” He shook his head.
“Isn’t that strange?” Emmet seemed baffled at the idea of such a small family. “Here families work farms, orcs have clans, and lineages are very important even to the commoners.”
“It’s not that strange where I’m from, no. I mean, it’s probably uncommon but not so much so that I was considered weird for it. I was weird for other reasons.” Gregory nodded with sage-like wisdom in speaking of his innate capacity for weirdness.
“Hm. It does seem a very small detail in the scope of things.”NôvelDrama.Org owns this.
“I was thinking it might be a side effect of the ring bringing me here? I mean, Jan put it on and it transported three people into another dimension. Freddie put it on and it made him explode with fire. I didn’t come into direct contact with the thing, but maybe it just zapped that particular memory. Like some kind of weird magical side effect? That might explain the fast healing and the crazy sex-drive too.”
“We’ve spoken with Janette about this, and she says that nothing like that is happening to her,” Algra said.
“Yeah, but it’s pretty clear that not everyone who gets effected by the ring gets effected in the same way. Right?” he asked; getting three silent nods in reply. “So maybe that’s just my thing. I mean, we can’t know any more about it right now but I figured that after the provings I could go look for someone who knows more about the subject. Maybe I could ask one of the orc shamans or something.”
“That wouldn’t be a good idea.” Talina interjected a little too quickly.
“Why not?”
Because one of the leaders of the shamans wants your head on a spike. Talina considered just blurting that out, but Emmet gave her a very sharp look that Gregory didn’t seem to notice.
“Because orc magic is based in nature,” she opted for speaking the truth. Just not the entire truth. “It focuses on harmony between the elements. I don’t know what in the dark realms that ring is, but it doesn’t seem very harmonious to me. The shamans might take offense if you try to push it on them. Human magic isn’t looked upon fondly around these parts.”
“Christ, is there anything human related that is looked upon fondly around here?”
“Well,” Talina happily went on, “I’ve heard rumours from quite a few orc women that a recent visitor to the camp has made them look very fondly on human co-”
“Okay then,” Emmet quickly butted in when it became clear where Talina’s explanation was headed. “The truth as I see it is that we can’t know anything until we have the ring, correct? So, I think just to be safe we should have Valise examine you. Then we should continue on as normal and focus on getting Gregory through the provings. Once we have the ring, and once Gregory is free and a proven orc, we will have more options open to us.”
“Check.” Gregory nodded. “I’ll work on my tusk-growing and nose breaking. I’ll be orced up in no time. Ow!” Gregory put his hand over his nose after Algra delivered a chiding smack to it. “See? See what I mean with the hitting?”
“I think that one was planted squarely in the ‘being and idiot’ category that she just mentioned,” Talina helpfully explained.
Gregory grinned back at her after rubbing his nose a little more. Algra had kindly decided not to break it. As with much of his face, she was pleased enough with its original composition that she didn’t feel the need to rearrange it for him.
“So you will submit to being examined by Valise?” Emmet asked.
Gregory sighed. “Well, if I have to get a thorough examination from a gorgeous blonde woman I guess I’ll just have to pluck up the-”
“He’ll do it.” Algra grunted. This time Gregory ducked the blow aimed for the back of his head. She smiled at that, pleased at the progress of his reflexes. So she smacked his ass instead, and gave it a squeeze for good measure.
“Hey! I’m not a side of beef, you know.” He laughed the words, and privately enjoyed the squeezing.
Emmet rolled his eyes and departed to get Valise. Talina watched as the butt-squeezing led to some heavy petting and didn’t seem to be in the mood to follow the old man. After a moment, Gregory noticed she’d stayed put and then managed to wrangle Algra’s hands from the ties on his pants before pointedly clearing his throat.
“Sorry, Talina. Was there something else?” he asked.
“Yes, master. Would it be alright if we spoke in private for a moment?”
Algra narrowed her eyes at the woman as if she might be about to receive a challenge.
“I’d just been keeping the one secret from Algra and I’ve just got it out into the open. So it’d be great if I didn’t have to have another so soon.”
“This is not a secret, master. It is advice that might aid you, and might hinder her.”