The Gentle Hero

A woman sat on her throne with a wine glass in her right hand as her elbow rested on the cushioned armrest. Inside the glass was an aged wine that was older than most adventurers in the city of Orario itself and a darker crimson than even blood.

She looked down over the Labyrinth City with a small smirk as she watched a very special soul run around Orario, it had hopped around and eventually ended up stopping by a rather important building in the city before suddenly running out which amused the woman even more than she was willing to admit. Though she was not surprised, she assumed that it was partly her fault he ran away after all.

Then she got to see a few new emotions that had been building up bubble over and finally get let loose, though it was only for a few minutes before the soul regained its proper self and carried on its way for the day.

"Ottar," the woman suddenly spoke, breaking the silence that she had enjoyed for hours with her glass of wine.

"Yes Goddess," the bulky adventurer, the only Level Seven adventurer in Orario replied as he performed a small professional bow. In his right hand was a bottle that was nearing empty but it did not bother him, they had dozens more in stock yet so a bottle here and there was of no concern to him. Though the business of his Goddess was not his to question, his only business was to do as she ordered and to please her.

She swirled her glass in a small circle after taking a sip, her signal to him that she wanted her glass to be refilled. He stepped forward and poured the wine until she nodded ever so slightly and he tilted the bottle back and took a step backwards returning to his place. He stood like a soldier waiting for orders as his Goddess took another sip and stood up rather suddenly, for the first time in hours.

"Do you have those papers for me?" she asked him, despite not being able to see her face at the moment as she was still watching over the city of Orario with the sun just setting in the background. He could tell that she was smirking.

"Yes Goddess, would you like to see them again?"

"Yes… yes I would. Can you bring them to me please?"

"Yes Goddess, just a moment." Ottar walked over to the side of the room, setting down the near empty bottle of wine with the soft sound of glass echoing off the tile for a moment as he picked up a small stack of papers that were slowly dwindling down to nothing.

He walked back over and with a bow, handed her the small stack of papers, she accepted them with her right hand as she passed her wine glass over to her left to free it for the papers. She turned to the left and walked around her throne towards a fireplace that was built into the far wall directly across from the back of her throne. She enjoyed some light reading with her glass of wine. She would take a sip, read a few lines, then toss the piece of paper into the fireplace before moving onto the next sheet in the stack.

Most of the papers were very similar, she had expected as much when she had ordered for them to be collected. But there were slight things on each sheet that differed and it was rather fun picking up on the slight nuances of the writer. She finished another page and tossed the paper into the roaring fire, watching delightfully as the sheet quickly turned to ashes. She took another sip from her glass and realized that she had just finished off her wine, which was slightly surprising. She did not think that she had spent so long reading, but she had been catching herself doing that more and more since she had first laid her violet eyes on him. If she did not keep track of the time she could catch herself spending several hours just daydreaming about what she would do with him once he was fully within her grasp. But she wanted to take her time, savour the taste and enjoy it for all it was worth.

That was the only thing stopping her from tossing the stack of papers and giggling to herself as they all burnt to nothing before her eyes, she wanted to really take her time. So she finished that page she was already halfway done reading before she had finished her wine, she tossed the paper to the flames once she had finished and turned back around handing Ottar the stack of papers that had gotten slightly thinner.

She sat back down in her throne and held up her empty wine glass, Ottar quickly made his way over to her and poured the remaining wine into her glass before he bowed and asked her if she would like him to fetch her another bottle. She declined as she took small sips from the glass as she watched the soul dashing through the streets as night drew closer. The wine helped her with two things, it helped her relax which was something that she found herself doing less and less. The second was the fact that the small stack of papers resting on her bookshelf and the ones that were still burning to nothing in her fireplace were not all the papers out there, some were just out of her reach and it annoyed her greatly.

She could take them if she really wanted to, she knew that Ottar would listen to her orders without question and so would the rest of her Familia. But she did not want to start a war yet and so she just let things be for the time being. She eventually finished her glass of wine right as the soul she was keeping her eye on was getting close to its destination.

She got up from her throne and placed the empty wine glass on a small metal tray that Ottar held out for her. She smiled as she turned her back to him and started to walk towards her private chambers. "I am not to be disturbed, I will be busy with important business," the woman said coldly as she walked through the set of large double doors that led to her private bedroom.

"Yes Goddess, I shall ensure that your orders are followed." Ottar said as he bowed in an almost perfect ninety degree bow.

She did not need to turn around to know that the Level Seven adventurer was bowing to her as she left the room to attend to some 'business' that she had for the night.