“So what do you think?” Nei asked Hannah.

  Hannah looked up from nibbling on a piece of cheese. Both Nei and Jain were eagerly looking at Hannah. “It’s good cheese,” Hannah answered, not really sure why they would be curious about that. Cheese had been a common staple of lunches for the staff, and though at first Hannah had been excited about eating cheese again she had been eating for over a week now. If they were so eager to know what her thoughts on the cheese was, why wouldn’t they have asked in the days before?

  “Not the cheese,” Nei said, “the beastkin.”

  “His name’s Damian. I ran into him and Mr. Williams in the hall not too long ago,” Jain expined. Jain and Hannah hadn’t talked a lot in the past week and Hannah was a little surprised that she was readily joining in on this conversation.

  Hannah asked “What about him?”

  “What did you think?” Nei asked again.

  It wasn’t helpful that Nei wasn’t being more specific, but Hannah did sort of understand what Nei was trying to ask. “I haven’t seen a snow leopard in a long time, so I suppose that was a little intriguing.”

  “So he’s a snow leopard,” Jain said more to herself than Hannah or Nei.

  “Is that a rare breed of beastkin?” Nei most certainly looked more intrigued now.

  The word ‘breed’ soured Hannah’s mood a little bit. Amongst kin one would just say ‘kind’ in reference to one’s animalistic counterpart. Breeds made it sound like they were animals rather than people. Hannah had even heard of there being kinds of sve owners called breeders and she was really thankful she had never encountered those kinds of humans. Maybe even a little thankful that she wasn’t a rarer kind of kin. It almost soured her opinion of Nei a little too, but Hannah realized that breed was probably what Nei was taught to call it. Could she correct her though? As a kin it wasn’t her pce to correct a human, but Rayne’s constant instance that Hannah was just as equal as any of the human staff came to mind.

  Hannah’s chest felt tight as she fought to say, “Kind.” Hannah was amazed that the word came out of her.

  “What?”

  “Kind of kin, not breed.”

  “Oh, okay. Well, is he a rare kind?”

  It was that easy? Hannah was a little shocked. Nei seemed completely unbothered by Hannah’s correction. From the looks of it neither was Jain. They were both just clearly eager to hear Hannah’s answer. “Yes. Snow leopards come from the Hindare Mountain Range, specifically the northwestern territories bordering on Treysia. I was from the lownds just south of that area, and even then I’ve only ever seen a dozen or so in my life. None since being taken.”

  “So really rare,” Nei said with a little awe.

  “Isn’t a leopard a kind of big cat?” Hannah nodded her response to Jain, a little surprised the human knew that much. “I thought a big cat beastkin would be taller. He also has round ears, not pointed.”

  “Snow leopards are smaller than one would expect from a rger feline kind. Also big cats in general don’t have pointed ears like smaller varieties. They don’t even have slit shaped irises either.”

  “Huh. He did just have normal looking blue eyes.”

  Nei opened her mouth to say something, but clearly held herself back before looking uncomfortable. Both Jain and Hannah took notice, but neither said anything. Finally after just long enough for Nei’s cheeks to turn a little red she asked, “Are they rare because beastkin can only have children with their own kind of beastkin?”

  That wasn’t quite the direction Hannah had thought this was going to go in, but Hannah was happy Nei was asking rather than assuming. “Kin can have children with any kind of kin. Normally the child will just take after one of the parents in their kind, and some kinds are more likely to be born than others. The snow leopard kind isn’t really dominant in birth rates so that’s why they can be really rare.” That appeared to be news to both of the maids.

  “But there can be children that are a mix?”

  “Some closer kinds can have hybrids. Some canines can mix kinds, which is where kin resembling more domesticated dogs come from. The same for feline kin. Though all that appears to be vastly more common in the Empire than back home in Everlial.” It was true. At least half of all kin she had seen in the empire were more resembnt of domesticated animals rather than wild counterparts.

  “I didn’t know that,” Jain said.

  “Is there a way to tell what the child will likely be?”

  Hannah shrugged. “A witch could probably tell you, but it's not really something kin care about. Maybe some rare kinds do, but at least where I came from nobody really cared.” Again there was a tightness in Hannah’s chest. They all knew she had a fiancée and Rayne had said she would never be punished for talking about Eine. Hannah wasn’t pnning on revealing her fiancée to be a woman, but she could talk a little about her. “My fiancée and I had talked about having children at some point in the future, but even so whether our children would be wolf or fox never came up.”

  “You really wouldn’t care?”

  “No,” Hannah answered with full honesty.

  Jain then asked, “Were both your parents foxes?”

  Hannah shook her head. “My dad is a bear kin.”

  “Really?!” Nei asked with wide eyes. “A bear made you?! But you’re so small.”

  He was a very rge man. One who could pick her up with one arm and wrap her completely in a hug with ease. She missed those massive warm hugs he was so good at giving. “Oh, you meant the people who created me,” Hannah said, realizing the confusion, which was probably her own fault in this instance. “At least one of them was a fox, but I wouldn’t know more than that. I was adopted by my dad when I was only a few months old.”

  “Okay. That makes a little more sense,” Jain said.

  “What about your mom? Is she also a bear?” Nei asked.

  Hannah shook her head. “I never had a mom.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry…”

  “Why?” Hannah asked.

  “B-because…” Nei looked confused as to why Hannah would ask that. “Because you don’t have a mom…”

  “That’s not a bad thing.” Humans most certainly had different ideas of what a family should look like, but was only having one parent really seen as a bad thing? Not having a mom didn’t mean she didn’t get loved the same as if she had one. Her dad loved her with all of his heart. He was an amazing parent. “My dad was more than enough. He was the best parent I could have ever asked for.”

  The maids clearly struggled with what to say next, but before the silence got too awkward Hannah could hear Mr. Williams from down the hall. Immediately her ears shot up as she eagerly looked to the doorway. Jain looked at her confused as to why Hannah would be suddenly looking at the empty door, but Nei had become accustomed to Hannah knowing someone was coming well before she could tell.

  “Is he coming?” Nei asked and Hannah just nodded. The fox also missed the excited look the maid shared between them.

  “Now to the staff dining hall,” Mr. Williams said, guiding Damien into the room. Hannah and the others all stood up at Mr. Williams’s arrival, as per custom, and he gave them all a gentle nod of acknowledgement.

  As Jain pointed out earlier Damian was a little shorter than most human men, but with kin size could vary so greatly. Now upon closer inspection Hannah could see his bright blue eyes as they scanned over the scene before him. His eyes then lingered on Hannah longer than anything else, even going so far as to stare at the piece of cheese she still held in her hand.

  “Our breakfasts and dinners are scheduled for seven fifteen both in the morning and night,” Mr. Williams continued. “Lunch however is not a scheduled meal. Ms. Vera will bring out food around one and you are free to come and eat as you please, as long as it doesn’t interfere with work of course.” Mr. Williams turned back to the women. “As you can see a few members of our staff are currently taking their lunch. You met Jain earlier.” Damian gave Jain a polite bow. “This is Hannah, our librarian and teacher for the estate, and this is Nei, another of our maids.”

  Damian turned to Nei and bowed while saying, “Miss Hannah.” He turned to Hannah before giving a gentle nod and saying, “Nei.”

  There was a very awkward second of silence before Mr. Williams spoke up. “Ah, there seems to be a little confusion.” Stewart reached out and gestured to Hannah. “This is Hannah.” He gestured to Nei. “And this is Nei.”

  The confusion Damian felt at Mr. Williams' words was clear to all. To the humans it was the expression on his face that gave him away. To Hannah, however, it was the fact that Damian’s ears twitched as his tail dropped lower to the ground that expressed his inner feelings. His eyes gnced over at Hannah and she could see the concern in his eyes. He was worried he was being tricked and looking to her for help. Hannah had most certainly been in Damian’s position many times during the past seven years. Hoping it would help him Hannah smiled and gave him a gentle nod.

  “M-my apologies,” Damian said, giving a deeper bow aimed at both Hannah and Nei. “Miss Nei,” he said looking at Nei. His eyes turned back to Hannah and lingered for a second longer than was needed, clearly looking at the ce colr around her neck. His ears did that gentle twitch before he said, “Miss Hannah. I am sorry for the confusion.”

  “It’s alright,” Nei said.

  Hannah felt her tail wag gently as she said in Everlian, “Nothing to worry about. I know most kin would find my position shocking.”

  The room fell silent as all, including Damian looked at Hannah with confusion. It took a second before Damian looked around at the humans, trying to take cue from them in this situation. In turn they all looked at him a little expectantly. His eyes turned back to Hannah. “I-I’m sorry, I’ve never heard that nguage before.”

  The wag in Hannah’s tail instantly stopped as her ears folded back. A pit grew in her stomach as it suddenly felt hard to breathe. He didn’t speak Everlian… “That’s my fault. I shouldn’t have assumed,” Hannah answered in Treysian. Maybe he came from a part of the mountains far more isoted and closer to the treysian border. It wasn’t unusual for some kin from right on the border with Treysia to grow up speaking that as their first nguage.

  Now the snow leopard looked really uncomfortable. “I still don’t understand.”

  “O-oh.” Hannah felt her eyes starting to get a little misty and quickly she looked down at the cheese still in her hand. “I’m sorry. I had assumed you would a-also be from Everlial.”

  Damian shook his head, even though Hannah couldn’t see it. “I am from the Empire. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of Everlial before.”

  “It’s where kin come from,” Hannah quietly said. “Snow leopards come from the mountains just to the north of my hometown there.” Overwhelming feelings were taking hold deep inside of Hannah, and as she had told Rayne the other day when she had such feelings she couldn’t let them out around people. She knew everyone was looking at her, she could feel their eyes on her. Trying to hide those emotions, she forced herself to look up, but that was a mistake. Her vision was so clearly obscured by tears and it just confirmed that everyone’s eye were on her.

  Clearly unsure and uncomfortable, Damian said, “I thought we came from Dewath.”

  That was the breaking point for Hannah. “P-please exc-excuse me.” The tears were dripping down her face and the sobs were clearly peaking through into her words already. Before anyone could say anything, or maybe before Hannah could register than anyone said anything, she was rushing out of the room.

  Trinidia