“Young girl, what are you doing here?"

  "Please spare him. What did he do?"

  "He stole clothes from a high-ranking elf."

  "He is just a slave like me. Please spare him. We have nothing." I bow my head as I beg.

  One of the soldiers clears his throat. "Gi—give us what you have for payment."

  "Is that your carriage and donkey over there? Maybe we can take that for payment." Another says.

  "They are my mistresses. Please, anything else."

  Footsteps retreat, making me raise my eyes. They are all headed to the carriage. I turn to check if Eros is still breathing, and he is. Just beaten badly.

  I run after the soldiers.

  "Hmm, this donkey may be worth something." One mutters.

  "Maybe add this snag." Another says.

  "No. Please. My mistress will kill me. This is the only transport we have."

  "You seem to have nothing to bargain with, human."

  Thinking fast, I go to the back of the carriage and take the bag of manure, knowing I am going to pay dearly for this. But meeting Eros has renewed my hope about going back home. And I can't let another human die in this goddess-forsaken realm. No one helped me, but I can be better for someone else, and maybe if we ever go back home, I would have made a friend here.

  The soldiers grin amongst themselves and they take the bag.

  "This is the good stuff. Let's go, boys."

  "If we see you or your human boy around here today, it won't just be his ribs we break. You understand, human girl?"

  I nod before bowing my head. "Thank you for your mercy."

  When they disappear around the corner, I run to Eros, finding him groaning in pain.

  "Easy. Let me help you." I help his heavy body up carefully, and I walk him to the carriage as he holds his ribs. I help him to the back, laying him down.

  "Thank you," is all he says before he closes his bruised eyes.

  We rush home and I help him to my room. I set him on my bed. After sending Samson back, and asking him to hurry before the mistress doesn't find him, he does as he's told.

  I warm the water in the kitchen. After, I rush to the garden for some herbs before going back to my patient. He goes right back to sleep when I lay him on my bed. If it was my old bed, he wouldn't have fit at all, but this one I got from the mistress a year ago, his tall form almost fits, albeit there isn't a space for a second person.

  Not that I am imagining sharing a bed with this stranger.

  When I finish grinding the herbs and some of the tree leaves, I head to the house to get the warm water and a basin. I clean his wounds and he groans when the warm towel opens his wounds. I clean him up and dress his wounds with the herbs, and I cover them with cloths. Some I rub on his face so his cuts won't scar. He should be fine in the morning.

  That's the great thing about fae plants, they work almost as great as magic and quicker than any herb we have available in Midgard.

  After I finish dressing his wounds, I rush out to the house to prepare for the following day's work, so the mistress has nothing to complain about.

  When I finish, I go back to my room, exhausted, and I prepare for myself on the floor. I sleep with Gary cuddled to my feet, and for the first time in six years, I don't have the dream.

  I am back on my favorite hill where I used to paint the scenery. The five-colored sun is out, and I paint it. The breeze whispers my name as it caresses my skin.

  I am right where I have to be.

  I feel...at peace.

  The Gremlin Keeper

  Thalia

  I am woken by tickles as Gary licks my feet and I jolt awake. The sun is out.

  Frack.

  I see the mountain of the man I brought home last night on my bed and I jump up.

  Frack.

  I wince a little. I'm not used to sleeping on the floor anymore. But minor discomfort is nothing when you are helping someone in need.

  I fold the blanket I slept on and then let Gary out to do his morning business. I near Eros, he is snoring lightly. It’s actually a cute sound. I wonder what he'll say when I tell him he snores like a little girl. I smile a little to myself before I decide to wake him.

  "Eros," my voice is low. I don't want to startle him. Maybe he's a puncher and I would die real death if those connected with my face.

  But he doesn't move. I think to poke him a little. That won't be inappropriate, right?

  But what if he's from one of those tribes in Midgard where unmarried women and men aren't even supposed to be in the same room as each other? What if he's offended? I decide to not test that theory and call at him once more.

  "Eros." My voice is louder and firmer this time and he stirs. I call him again and he opens his eyes and piercing green ones meet mine and my breath leaves my body. He smiles a slow smile and I am done for. I gasp, my lips parting involuntarily.

  "Morning, Thalia." He grins at me.

  I clear my throat and straighten, realizing I was looming over him inappropriately.

  "Um, it is morning. I—I seem to have overslept today. My apologies. My mistress is back and I need to check your bruises then h-help you to leave." I fluster at my words.

  Somehow the idea of him leaving sends something uncomfortable to my heart and even mind. It’s like everything in me doesn't want to part with him. But I move those strange feelings to the side as I wait for his permission to touch him.

  I notice something flash in his eyes. As if reflecting the same thing I feel to not want to part, but it is gone so quickly and replaced by a sad smile.

  "You can check." That is all he says.

  I move my hand and press on his injuries; he winces a bit, and that makes me smile.

  "Are you laughing at me?" his voice is deep and it sends excitement through me.

  "I didn't expect a big man like you to wince like a little girl." I tease him and he grabs my hand as I was removing the herb to see underneath. He doesn't wince when I press this time.

  "So you were lying to me, pretending you were hurt. Is it to trick me so I touch you some more?"

  He doesn't respond, but grins wide, revealing all his perfect straight and very clean teeth. I make quick work of checking his bruises and most of them have been healed by the herbs. I take a cloth, dip it in water and wipe the rest off, including his face. I don't know why, but it feels right taking care of this stranger like this. Again, I push those strange feelings out and I straighten.

  I have to walk him out now.

  "My mistress will be awake any moment. I'll get you out at the back before she sees you."

  He rises from the bed and stands in his full length. His presence fills the tiny space so much I can feel him everywhere. I have never met anyone who was so... friendly but with an underlying foreboding person. I can't put my finger on it, but there's so much more to him.

  I realize I have been staring too long when he moves and he opens the door for me. Inwardly scolding myself for my strange behavior, I step outside. He follows me and I take him through the back entrance.

  "I don't have a place to stay. Do you know anyone who has a job? Maybe around here?" He asks.

  "No. But if you don't find any work or a place to stay by sundown, you can come back here and I'll give you a blanket. There is a cave I often use for painting in the mountain you can use as shelter for the night."

  "That is very generous of you, Thalia." He gives me a sincere smile and I give him one back.

  "Human!" The mistresses voice booms from the direction of the house. No doubt angry I haven't brought her morning herbs. I jump before I smile apologetically.

  "I have to go." I retreat from him, and he doesn't move. "Good luck!" I run back to the house.

  I find the mistress on the chair outside petting a black cat. A new addition. She must have brought that with her last night.

  "Bring me my herbs then give me some manure for the new baby." She coos over the cat who rewards her with a lazy purr.

  I remember the manure I gave away yesterday saving Eros from the soldiers. Now there is no more manure for the plants and animals.

  She will surely kill me.

  I run back to the house to warm some water for her herbs. I notice that wood is running out, and I'll need to run to get some today before we run out.

  When I finish, I bring her herbs and I find her in the same place still cooing over her new companion. I see Gary's sad face as he tries to lick her feet, but she pays him no mind.

  Poor Gary.

  "Now get me some manure. Hurry before my baby starves. He hasn't eaten since yesterday."

  The cat purrs under her touch. Her hand glows as she uses her magic to soothe and give the cat more pleasure. The purr turns into a low, pleased growl and she beams.

  "Why are you still standing here? Eon wants to have breakfast. Isn’t that right, Eon?"

  I knit my hands together as my heart hammers in my chest thinking of the punishment I'm about to endure.

  "I'm sorry, mistress, but we don't have any manure," I say in a voice as low as a whisper.

  The fury in her gaze heats my face, but I don't dare raise my eyes to her. Gary moves from her feet and comes to mine.

  "What do you mean we don't have any? I gave you a bag yesterday."

  I think of lying and telling her we got robbed on our way back. That would surely get me off the hook a little. Then she would ask why I didn't tell her. But I choose the idiot’s way; the truth.

  "I... soldiers took it from me."

  She knits her eyebrows in confusion. I see the questions on her face. "It was payment for a life. A friend I made at the parade. I'm so sorry, mistress."

  She rises quickly and the fury in her gaze is worse than I thought. I bow immediately before she strikes me.

  "You gave away my manure for a creature’s life?"

  "I'm sorry." I tremble on my knees.

  "Who is this creature, do I know them?"

  I shake my head, holding my burning tears back with blinks. Gary licks my hand trying to get me to pick him up so he can try to soothe me by licking my face. I can't allow him to soothe me in front of her. She will just punish me more.

  "H-his name is Eros and he's a wanderer like me from Midgard. He had no home."

  "Where is he now? Because the both of you owe me for this manure."

  I open my mouth to reply but a voice shuts me up.

  "I'm here, mistress." Eros's gentle but stern voice comes from behind me and instead of making me feel better, I feel worse. Now she's going to punish him too. I push to my feet and stand in front of him. She looks between us and she narrows her eyes to slits at us, her skin turning a darker shade of brown.

  "So, Eros from Midgard, your life was paid for by my manure. Do you have a master?"

  "No, ma'am." He answers.

  "You will work for me until I see fit that the debt is paid. A year working here to repay my product."

  He doesn't respond, but I'm not sure he needs to answer; her word here is law. She comes closer to him and draws a rune on his arm like she did me all those years ago, binding him to the contract. She steps back once she is finished and gives us both a disgusted once over before she shakes her head.

  "I brought more manure last night as a gift from the mister of Bunr village. Get it for my Eon," then she focuses her gaze on Eros. "And you, come and I will show you what you will be doing."

  Eros follows her to the back of the house, but he gives me a wink before he turns the corner.

  I pick Gary up and head to the carrier and pull out the bag of manure.

  By the time I finish feeding the animals and cleaning the house, the sun is high. The mistress and Eros haven't been seen in the compound all morning. When I finish bathing myself, I go back to the house to bake some steamed bread for lunch.

  I am outside washing some of the mistress’s clothes when I hear their voices at the back of the house. I rise to swipe the sweat off my forehead when they come into view. Eros looks like he has just been in a cage fight with angry cats. I want to laugh.

  "He will be the new gremlin feeder since you couldn't do that." She gives him a once over before I see a ghost of a smirk on her lips. "They like him." She adds before she leaves both of us and heads inside.

  "I have business in the town. Prepare my clothes, I'll be going in an hour." She says over her shoulder before she disappears into the house.

  My eyes come back to Eros and I take in his appearance.

  "They tried to bite you, didn't they?"

  He chuckles. "They did indeed."

  "I went there once and, uh, let’s just say I couldn't work for a few days." I grimace at the memory.

  He frowns. "What did they do to you?"

  "Wear me out. The big one, Hairy, jumped and splashed in the water I had brought to help them drink. He knocked the container over and rolled in it and he grew twice his size and I had to fight with him. Took me two hours to get him under control."

  Eros laughs, a full, hearty sound. "At least they didn’t bite you." He shows me his underarm I hadn't seen, and I step closer and touch the bleeding area. The cut isn't deep.

  "I still have some of the herbs in my room. You can apply some and you'll be good as new tomorrow."

  He nods and turns on his heel. I hang the clothes I had finished rinsing and I head back to the house to iron the mistress’s clothes before I make her lunch from the steamed bread and leaves.

  When she leaves, I call Eros, who was working the garden to come in the house and we eat over hilarious stories he tells me. After food, he goes back to his duties and I go back to mine.

  It is nice having a friendly face here and someone to talk to other than the animals. A human who can understand my feelings. Plus, he isn't bad at all to look at.

  Not bad at all.

  Shedding Vidar

  Eros

  The past few weeks have been challenging. To be that close to her without claiming her. But it has also been worth it. Watching her without her guard erected. Watching her work as diligently as she does, watching her care for things and take care of the animals, and watching her smile.

  Her smile lights my whole world. I find myself thinking of new ways every day just to see that expression from her.

  I may be living in dirt with the lowest of the creatures, but I am the happiest I've ever been.

  Shedding my persona of Vidar, the avenging god, has been liberating. I don't have to be anything here or anyone, I can just be.

  This mundane existence has brought me a great deal of satisfaction.

  It eats at me that soon I will have to uproot her from this life and take her to her version of a nightmare.

  Although she hasn't told me the truth about how she got here, I can tell she trusts Eros. He is a safe space for her. It breaks my heart that I have to lie to her, but I just want a few more moments with her open to me.

  I may have lied about my identity, but the side of me I have shown her is real; it's who I am inside.

  Although this human shell is weaker than my own, it isn't completely useless. I can carry heavy things, and I can make life easier for her around the compound.

  And even though I hate that my queen has to work as a dirt-eating slave girl, I can't exert my vengeance on her mistress just yet. She will be sorry when I reveal my true face and she realizes what she has made her queen do.

  But today isn't that day.

  I get in my shoes. Today is the day I get Thalia more ingredients for her paint and a new easel. The one she has been using looks like it’s a hundred years old and has passed tens of owners; it is steadied by a stone, otherwise, it wobbles.

  We aren't making any money at the compound, but I am accompanying the mistress to the town today and I will sneak and get her store-bought paints and a new easel. Nothing expensive, just functional. I love watching her paint. She always looks happiest.

  Following her to the mountaintop to paint has become one of my favorite things to do. Everything about her breathes new life to me.

  She doesn't even know it, but she has repaired my sad soul. I have never known sleep more peaceful, more beautiful than since I got here. That very first night she let me sleep in her bed, I pretended to be sleeping and waited for her to sleep then I watched her resting for hours until sleep took me too. Waking up to her looming over me, after seeing her in my dreams had been the best sight I'd ever seen. I had thought I'd wake up again to watch her some more before dawn, but turns out she is an early riser.

  In my shabby shack next to her room, I have the best sleep. Even though my soul longs to have her in my arms, but having her this close is the best next option.

  She is so kind, so giving and so innocent. I want to curse the Gods for giving her to me as my soulmate. A soul that beautiful didn't deserve a brute like me. She deserved more. Better.

  And although I can never change who I am, I vow to myself that I will be better to her. I will try to treat her with all the gentleness she deserves.

  I push the thoughts of me telling her who I really am out of my head because I know when that happens, nothing will ever be the same again and I can never have these moments back.

  She does hate me. Vidar. She hates me so much she won't even talk about me at all. She always shuts down when anything about the god's parade or any of the gods is mentioned. And she hates me most. The monster who ripped her whole life from her and condemned her to a life of slavery.

  I don't doubt she would spit on my statue if she had the chance and no one was looking. Even though it makes me sad, it strangely also makes me happy. At least my queen isn't a walk over. She won't let things as trivial as soul ties deter her from hating the cruel god she is fated to.

  "Eros, I don't have all day!" the mistress calls from the front of the house, snatching me from my thoughts.

  Thalia comes out and she flashes an exasperated look my way. I chuckle lightly. My queen has gotten more and more comfortable with Eros. Things she would often keep to herself she shows me.

  "I'll bring you a tart," I whisper as she goes past me and she turns and smiles an excited smile. I wink at her and turn to go to the slave-driving mistress who will be very sorry one of these days for commanding a god.