From Famine to cooking

[Sei Ryu]

At the entrance of Famine sat Walja.

"Oh, great is the pain
I feel in my chest
I came here in vain
longing for the best

So cold is this place
this hall of the death
And I though my boldness
would gain their respect

We are the same kin
but my blood is too weak
to them it's my sin
I am cattle and freak

They'd invite me for dinner
and long for my blood
like a rose in the winter
I d wither with cold

*sigh*".

She failed to be accepted by the vampires. Her condition between living and undead, she doesn't feel like belonging to one side or the other.

From inside the dungeon comes crawling a man, wearing black and golden plate armor. He is exhausted, weak, and barely alive.

"Sir, just what were you doing in there? Did you have a death wish or something?" she said as she approached him. "Do not speak, let me fix you up." She waves her hands and chants some words of power, restoring some health back to the man. "My name is Walja, what is your name, sir?". The man, still on the floor, utters some words: "Swind... Northwhile". He looks at her, and even though he is weak, her fangs catch his attention.

"Are you making fun of me? You are one of them!", said the retired praetorian, his eyes filled with hatred. "Well yes, I am one of them, and I am not, at the same time. They rejected me because they find me... too warm..." she said, hoping to get some pity in the armored man. "I don't want your help! I founded the Vesper Militia to eradicate your kind! Begone!" he said, getting agitated. "You are so stubborn, sir! I can help you recover, with some food and good care, you will be back in shape and ready to defend your town very soon!"

"All you want from me is easy food! You would rather have me weakened and dependant so you can feed from me!" said Swind. "Of course not, sir! Come here, I will bring you to your home... where do you live?" she says as she starts dragging him. After a heated discussion under the sun of Compassion desert, Walja gets Swind to accept her help.

She finally brings him to the Northwhile Keep, where she quickly sets up a small area for kitchen and cooks something for Swind. "Are you trying to poison me?!" complains Swine after tasting the food. "Oh sir, you are so mean... that's why I like the dead better, they don't complain, sometimes don't even speak!". Swind looks at her, "And that's how I will end up with your so called food! And that horrible noise you call music sounds like you wish to drag me to the grave!! And your poetry is worse! You are so pathetic and self-loathing it makes me sick!". Walja sits on the stairs and thinks to herself: "If I take good care of him, he will like me some day... he has suffered so much, and I will be the one to ease his pain and suffering, then... maybe then... *sigh*"

"Aren't you going to take that off the oven?! I don't want to eat char! No, wait, char would be better than what you just gave me to eat!" says Swind Northwhile from his bed. "It's not even done yet! You will love my sausage pizza!" says Walja enthusiastically, while Swind rolls his eyes.