[Leela] Chapter 3: Setting Out

[Ella]

Leela Steading

The serious look that she had been keeping up while talking to Efrit gave way to yet another small smile.

"Okay, then. I will talk to Lord Ghorat about agreeing to let you and your goblins come back to Roshandan, but you have to do something for me first." She told Efrit before turning to Zavan. "Zavan, I think I trust him enough for you to release him now. I would prefer if he were fully clothed before we continue this discussion, assuming clothes are to be had."

[Throndir]

"My clothes? I always bring spares." Efrit said grinning as the obsidian bindings came off of him.

The ifrit stretched, and seemed to do a quick round of stretches. Thankfully, Zavan's mosaics were still in effect. After that was done he nonchalantly went over to one of the huts. The goblins were still huddling away from the potential fight, but once they had seen that things were starting to calm down, they had begun popping their heads out.

"Everything's all right little fellas..." He disappeared for a few moments, but eventually came out with a stack of clothing. Wearing them, you realized they looked exactly the same as his previous set of clothing.

He winked.

"I get hot pretty often."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

While Leela was glad that Efrit had spare clothes, she was not glad that he decided to stretch out while still naked. Her faint smile quickly turned back to its usual frown and she looked away, a faint blush coming back to her cheeks even though Zavan's mosaics were still censoring Efrit's private parts. She was not sure if he really did feel like he needed to stretch after that short time of being unable to move or if he was trying to show off his body, but she did not care to ask.

She heard him telling the goblins that everything was alright as he passed by them and was glad that, although they were ugly little things, he did seem to care about them enough to make sure they were okay.

"I think we need to find you some fireproof clothing if you need to replace your clothes that often." She replied, looking away in an attempt to hide the blush that she was sure was still there.

"Anyways, now that you are dressed and we have come to an agreement," Leela started, "let's finish our discussion. After everyone left, the humans decided to come back and attack, killing some who had remained. Perhaps you were here for some of this. Ashaki decided to take matters into her own hands and went to talk to the humans. But she has not come back, nor have we heard anything from her or the humans as of yet."

"I was summoned to rescue Ashaki, should the humans be keeping her against her will. My goal is to settle things peacefully, in a way that we might be able to get the humans to work with us, if in nothing else but to at least to agree not to attack Roshandan or its inhabitants anymore and hopefully to enter into trade. If things go well, perhaps they would even be willing to form an alliance with us to protect Roshandan from other demon lords who might try to take over the domain. If things do not go well... well, I have a plan B. We came to the goblin village to see if they had any horses or other animals to take us past the border, as just the sight of Roadmarech or any of his subjects is sure to provoke an attack from the humans. I want my initial party to be as non-threatening in appearance as possible so that they will at least hear me out. But I also do not want to walk into something that could be a trap. Roadmarech as agreed to take us to the border, and I asked Zavan to come along in case things go wrong and they decide to attack Roshandan again."

"The thing is..." She looked at Zavan, then back to Efrit, "Zavan's been defending the borders from the humans for a while now, so they most likely know him by sight. Even if they don't, he looks different enough from humans that I'm sure they would be on guard from the start. We have cloaks for the imps that I have brought along, but -given the way that they are- I do not think having them at my side when I approach the humans is the best thing. I was thinking it would be best to have them hiding nearby so that they can teleport to me in case of an emergency."

"So, long story short, I want you to come with me when I approach the humans. That means that you would need to keep your firey self under control and pretend to be as human as you can." She finally finished her explanation before adding, "If you help me and we are able to bring Ashaki back safely, I will be sure to tell Ghorat that you helped rescue Ashaki and should be accepted back as a general."

[Throndir]

"Me, passing off as a human? Well, I suppose as long as I don't get all hot and bothered..."

"A pretty sharp plan, Zavan would stick out like a sore-thumb. And knowing how Lord Ghorat is with Ashaki... Yes... This will do nicely."

"Well, alright then Princess Leela Steading of the great country of America, summoned hero of the Domain of Roshandan, rider of the Azure Shadows. I Efrit will personally bring you to the human settlement, rescue the lady Ashaki, and gain back my position as a demon general."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

When he seemed to emphasize getting 'hot and bothered' again, Leela decided he was doing it on purpose. He had most definitely noticed her blush and was rubbing it in. She tried to ignore it, knowing full well that the blush would not go away unless he stopped. She wondered briefly if she was making a mistake, but decided that as long as he did not try anything, she would just have to suffer it for now.

"Rephrase that and we're settled. You will go with me to the human settlement and assist me in rescuing Ashaki by following my orders. I am in charge of this rescue mission."

With that settled, Leela turned to the goblins. "Now that that surprise has been handled, I need to talk to whichever one of you is in charge of this village."

[Throndir]

"Rephrasing it? Alright... When I strip down for a beautiful lady such as yourself." His eyes had a hint of mischief to them.

A goblin made his way to the front, he was a rather thick and muscular goblin, and had short white hair. He was almost human-like, being the same height as what you would expect from a regular human.

"That would be me. Ragkur the Mighty."

The goblin seemed to be flexing randomly.

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"Technically, you already did. So you can skip that part and go straight into doing what I asked you." She felt her face burning up. She would not be surprised if it was as red as the gem on her necktie at this rate. Something needed to be done about that mouth of his.

Leela stared at the goblin now flexing and introducing himself. At this point in her day, she would rather deal with the shenanigans of the imps than have had to deal with anything that had happened since she had arrived at the goblin village. At least she did not find the goblin's flexing to be nearly as embarrassing as Efrit apparently flirtatious attitude and she felt her face finally going back to normal.

"Ragkur, how much of what I told Efrit about my mission did you hear?"

[Throndir]

"Uhh... Let... me... think..."

Ragkur instead flexed. He finally responded a full solid minute later.

He looked straight into your eye.

"All of it."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

Leela stared at the goblin leader as she waited for him to give his answer. Clearly, he was either so enthralled with his physic that he had a hard time thinking about other things or he was just plain stupid. She would tell Efrit to teach them more intellectual things than just buffing up and fighting after they talked to Ghorat about him being accepted back.

"Good. So you heard that I am in need of horses for my mission. Do you have any that I could borrow? Camels, donkeys, cattle, or other such ride-able creatures are acceptable as long as they are something the humans would keep themselves."

[Throndir]

"Hmm..."

He started to flex again.

"Do you like my muscles?" He flashed a toothy grin.

[Ella]

Leela Steading

Leela stared at the goblin leader for a minute, then turned to look at the crowd of goblins. "Who here is second in command?" Clearly, this guy had not been chosen for his brains.

[Throndir]

Another goblin some distance away staring at the two of you raised his hand.

"I am! I am!" The goblin strode over to you. "I am Plunk!"

Spoiler

"The wise." He prompted tripped on a rock and fell flat on his face.

[close]

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"Great. Have you an answer for my request of your village?" She did not want to get her hopes up with this one.

[Throndir]

"Wait... what?" Plunk had a blank face, he looked completely confused and lost.

It was at this point that Efrit started laughing.

"Cute, aren't they?"

[Ella]

Leela Steading

Sighing in frustration, Leela ignored Efrit's comment and repeated her words in as simple an explanation as she could think of. "Does your village have any horses, camels, donkeys, cows, or other such creatures that can be ridden and that also look like animals that humans would keep that I can borrow for my mission."