The Vote

"Thank you, Sir," Faye says.

"You are welcome," I say and offer her a hand to stand. She grabs it and pulls herself up.

I go around and unlock the shackles on all the other girls. Astra shows up beside the cage and examines the situation.

"Oh, my," Astra says, "first a gold coin, now you saved their girls? The elves of Alventyr are soon going to find someone else to worship."

"I wouldn't mind taking up that job," I say. I mean, they already do that. Wait until they find out about Lohikaarmi.

"A gold coin? What do you mean a gold coin?" Nasha joins in on the conversation.

"Mr. Saint here donated a gold coin to Alventyr because he didn't know how much it was worth," Astra says.

She could have put that a better way, but the effect still gets across.

"A gold coin!" Nasha exclaims. The other girls are now catching on to what's happening.

"You donated a gold coin to our village?" Faye asks.

Wow, is it really that easy to make people like me?

"Yep, I sure did," I say.

"That's… that's incredible!" Nasha holds my hand and says.

"Yeah! Our farms can double in size!" Another girl says.

These girls' smiles are beautiful. I didn't give any one of them money personally, but they all feel genuinely happy for their own village. Only if we had this kind of mentality back on Earth, things wouldn't have ended this way.

"What is your name, Sir?" Nasha asks.

"Kris, Kris Kaplan."

"Are you from the Holy Capital?"

"No, but that's where I was going before coming across you guys."

"I'm sorry, did you say you are heading for the capital?" Faye suddenly cuts in.

"Yeah."

Does this path lead anywhere else? If so, I might be screwed since I don't know the directions.

"I see," Faye says. Her eyes suddenly darken a little as she sits back down.

Did I say something wrong? Oh well, these girls are fine now. I don't know why, but it feels nice meeting Faye again. It's time for them to go back to their village.

"Um, does anyone here know how to drive a carriage?" I ask.

"Yes, Sir. We all do," Nasha says.

"Great. One of you can drive yourselves back, and you will get a free horse and cage out of it. Does this… happen a lot in Alventyr?" I ask.

"No, not really," Nasha says, "but it's not never. Other elven villages have it much worse, we are lucky because we are so far away from the capital."

You call this lucky?

"Oh well, in that case, take care then," I say and begin to head out of the cage, "Nasha, do you want to drive?"

"Sure," she says.

The two of us walk past the now quiet Faye and step down from the cage. One of Faye's friends beside her leans over and asks if she is okay. She doesn't respond. Is it because of something I said?

I walk Nasha over to the driver's seat and help her get up, I then hand her the reins and the whip.

"Take care," I say.

"You, too. Come back to visit sometime." Nasha waves.

"Alright." I wave back.

Astra and I step back from the carriage, and a second before Nasha is about to give the horse a tap, Faye jumps up from the floor.

"Wait!" She calls out and grabs onto the bars of the cage.

The other girls shift their eyes to her.

"Is there something wrong, Faye?" Nasha turns around and asks.

"Yes," Faye says while staring into my eyes, "Mr. Sir Kris Kaplan-"

"Just Kris is fine," I say with a chuckle.

"Um, okay, Kris, I am sorry for asking, but…"

"But what?"

Faye closes her eyes and takes a deep breath as if getting ready for a literal leap of faith.

"C-Can you take me with you?!" She blurts out.

"What?"

This can't be French Braid and Laces all over again.

"Faye?" The girls beside her ask.

"Why do you want to leave?"

"I-" Faye begins to speak, but she doesn't know the rest of her sentence. She walks to the door and jumps down from the cage.

"Please," Faye says and jogs toward me, "Let me come with you. There might never be a chance like this."

"A chance like what?" I ask.

"There will never be another human visitor as trustworthy and nice as you, Kris. You are the only one I can follow to the Holy Capital!" She exclaims and picks up my hands.

Her skin is smooth and soft. The water in her gaze makes me want to believe everything this girl says.

"Why do you want to go to the Holy Capital so much?"

I can feel her amber eyes staring into my soul.

"I want to end it," she says.

"End what?"

"The discrimination! I know you are not one of them, Kris, but there are so many humans out there who see us as below them. That's why my father…" she drifts off, "Anyway, I've had enough!"

The surrounding becomes silent. I don't know what to say. Discrimination, huh? A problem we've also once had back on Earth, for a long, long time, too.

"S-Sorry, was I being too rude?" Faye asks.

"No, no, it's fine, but what is your plan? Just march in and demand equality?"

Faye looks at the ground and says, "I-I don't know, but I do know that if I don't take advantage of this opportunity, I won't even get a chance to think about it."

"Can't you just go to the Holy Capital by yourself?"

"Well, this is what happens when humans catch us alone in the woods," Faye says and gestures toward the slave trader's carriage.

"So, can I please come with you, Kris? I will do anything! I can pray, I can hunt, I can cook, I can…." She mumbles something that I can't hear and averts her gaze.

"I-It's fine, you don't need to offer yourself up like that. Let me think about it for a second," I say.

"Oh, okay."

I let go of her hand and turn to Lohikaarmi and Astra. Faye backs up to her friends and starts talking to them. It seems to be their first time hearing this, as well.

"What is up with that?" I whisper to my crew, "All of a sudden, we have an elf who wants to join us."

"She seems nice," Astra says, not completely interested in the situation.

"But that's not a particularly hard thing to come by, is it? Almost everyone in Alventyr is nice."

"True."

"If I may speak, Master," Lohikaarmi says, "I believe the ability to heal may be crucial."

"That might be right, but how much combat do you think we will get into once we arrive in the capital city?"

"A lot," Astra says.

"What do you mean a lot?"

"Like, a lot. The people there are obsessed with killing ogres. If you want a job, you will have to take a part in that."

"Ogres? Why ogres?"

"Because they are the reincarnation of the damned souls that don't make it up to heaven."

They're what? The bombs this little girl casually drops sometimes.

"Okay, I'd like to hear about that some other time, but the consensus right now is yea?"

"Sure," Astra says.

"Yes, Master."

Somewhere deep inside me, I am a little happy with how that vote turned out.

"Okay, I'm also fine with it. Faye seems like a genuine girl with admirable goals. Having someone with us who actually knows something about this world can't be all bad."

"Hey, I'm right here," Astra says.

"Yes, you are."

I turn around to Faye and her friends. She locks her eyes with mine and leans in, waiting for an answer.