#goblin server

Bifu sits under a pool of his lamp’s warm yellow light as his new housemates’ snoring echoes faintly throughout the darkened home. Living under a roof or in the same place for a while wasn’t unusual, but sharing his space with others his age was a new experience. It was not in Bifu’s nature to realize that he was strange. No one was unkind to him-quite the opposite in fact-but he could occasionally hear them wonder about him upstairs or in the next room over, and he in turn wondered why. Bifu could tell from Khai’s build that the Xaela was an accomplished fighter, much like himself, and sometimes Aylon was able to hear things that even Bifu couldn’t.

Bifu scans the text spread out before him once more before taking in the gallant illustration emblazoned on the opposite page. Inked onto the vellum were two knights, fated to seek justice on separate paths. It had been simple enough to pick through the tomes stacked in Jude’s quarters at the Sandsea until he found the one with the familiar picture. It had even been simple to walk out of the Riskbreakers’ headquarters with the tome, not that Bifu had any reason to believe he was doing anything wrong. If it wasn’t ok, Lady Ashelia would have said so.

Jude’s stories, loves to share. Had Jude not read the story aloud to him before, Bifu wouldn’t have had the idea to borrow the book to begin with. He was, however, beginning to think a simple sparring match with Jude would have been less exhausting.

Gale flutters from her regular perch atop Bifu’s head and comes to a rest upon her cushion at the foot of the Midlander-sized bed.

Bifu looks upon himself for a few moments through his familiar’s gaze. His head didn’t feel any lighter for her absence. The shadows under his eyes had returned. He wondered for how many bells he had been trying to work through his illiteracy in that first night alone. Probably too many to feel rested by dawn as he was accustomed to. He could hear Aylon shifting slightly in her sleep in the girls’ adjacent room, and he was fairly certain his old senses would have been enough to make out Khai’s distressed muttering from across the boys’ room, though it would probably be wise to let him slumber through the nightmare.

With a light sigh, Bifu lowers his head back to the storybook. He could always nap throughout the day, though it was never his preferred method. Softly, so as not to disturb anyone, he once more found his place in the sea of words and began to sound out the letters as he had tried before.