Seeing that Kat and Lily had finished with their questions for now, March stopped eating the large amount of food she'd gathered to ask, "Oditr, would you consider yourself strong?"
Oditr looked March up and down before frowning at the question. "That's… difficult to say. A lot of the time I wonder the same thing. In terms of pure power then yes, I AM strong. I'm on the upper end of tier four and it's assumed by just about everyone I'll break into tier five before the century is over…
"But I regularly wonder if that matters. I know Thyme. I've met Ulf. I'm nothing compared to those two monsters. Then there's Auctifer and Titania. I'm not entirely certain if they're Rank 5 or not, but I know they're both a good deal stronger then me if we're using Rank as a measure of power.
"So I'm in the odd position of being very strong compared to most. Standing head and shoulders about almost the entire dwarven population… and then I'm related to almost all of the dwarves more powerful than me. I'm friends with Thyme, as I already said. So… regularly I wonder if I should be trying harder. Forcing myself to train so that I can equal them in power…
"But I don't have the time. I'm a queen. I have shit to do, and when I'm not dealing with politics? The last thing I really want is to force myself to train. I have hobbies you know! I wish I had more time for them then I do, but I accepted the throne as my parents' only child. God I wish I could pass this shit off to my cousins sometimes, but most of them don't have the talent to grow strong, and the two that do? They don't have the temperament for politics.
"Of course… if you asked Thyme if I was strong they'd go on and talk some nonsense about how I'm currently the youngest ruler that's still considered worthy of the name. That I've managed to overcome being a dwarf that doesn't like alcohol. That I've done great things in my time as queen. That part of my power is politics, and another is my mind…
"That being said? Am I strong? Perhaps March. Perhaps I am. I am objectively stronger than most… but quite regularly I feel weak. I cannot show this to the world, and I do not admit things like this often. Perhaps it is the atmosphere, or just that I feel so safe talking about this because you are not connected to my kingdom, and you ask this, not as a spy, but as someone seeking strength,"
Oditr let out a long sigh and took a long swig of her juice. Downing it in one motion before tapping the cup and mumbling "Refill" before sighing again and looking at March. "I think, when you are pursuing strength, you must first ask yourself 'what kind' and then 'what am I willing to pay'? There is a dark kind of strength that is easy to find… but it weakens you in other areas, and perhaps the price you would force others to pay for it would be too high."
March did her best to bow, though it was hard. The chair wasn't far from the table and March had a large frame. Still, Oditr appreciated the gesture for what it was. Marigold, on the other hand, thought things had gotten way too serious. "So… like, have you ever had sex?"
Oditr choked on the juice she was drinking. Oditr kept coughing for a bit as Kat oved her tail over to Oditr and started to rub circles there. Hopefully it'd help. Eventually, Oditr sucked in a deep breath and the coughing stopped. "Good gods. Of course you'd ask that sort of question Marigold. Not much of a surprise from Auctifer's daughter I suppose… though the real wonder is if you're related to Titania," said Oditr, voice still a touch raspy.
Oditr paused for a moment after that and seemed to consider the question. "Right… to answer your question… dammit why am I answering this question?"
"Because your silence would give me the answer?" said Marigold with a grin.
"Oh right. Auctifer's daughter," said Oditr with a nod. "Fine, I have. Exactly twice. Neither were particularly enjoyable experiences for me and I decided it just wasn't something I was interested in. Not that I had much interest before… but well, I wasn't exactly getting any younger and I'd remembered Titania's warning about how much harder having… relations is after you get to Rank 4. So I thought I'd try. It was… really not worth it,"
"Are you asexual?" asked Lily.
"Possibly?" said Odtir with a shrug. "I can find people attractive perfectly fine. I know what I like, and if I had to pick someone for marriage or something I certainly COULD do that… but sex? Eh not sure I could force myself to go along with it for long. I'm not sure if there's something more medically wrong or my libido is just so low that it's impossible to find myself in the mood,"
Oditr was blushing as she shook some thoughts out of her head. "Ok, there you've had your question answered Marigold, and I will be taking no more of that kind. No 'who was your first kiss' no details about my two encounters. I'm in a good mood, but I do not want to be interrogated about my non-existent love life? Ok?"
Marigold shrugged and then took to lean back on March's arm. March just rolled her eyes and said nothing. *Huh. Not quite what I was expecting. I was curious to chat with someone else who is asexual but apparently that's not the case? I'm still a bit lost myself.*
[Yeah so am I. I mean, her explanation makes sense I guess… whatever, it's not our place to pry.]
"I suppose if we're all asking Oditr somewhat embarrassing questions I will as well," said Burnice after a few moments.
Oditr groaned and said, "You know I'll have awkward questions for you all… once I can think of them,"
"I found that acceptable," said Burnice. "Now, my question is… is it true that despite not liking alcohol you actually have one of the highest tolerances for it in the kingdom?"
Oditr shrugged and said, "Well I can't be sure about the whole kingdom but I do know it's considered very high and at least amongst my family it's the highest. Which is really annoying. Do you know how many times I've heard my cousins complain that I have the best and worst ability to enjoy alcohol? They all seem to think I really pissed someone off in my previous life,"
Burgandy tapped the table a few times as she paused in her eating of her salad to think up a question. While this was happening Kat and Lily started to actually grab some food of their own. Kat wasn't all that hungry, and Lily might've snuck a snack in before the meal so she wasn't either. Still, it would be rude not to have anything. Kat was grabbing little bits of everything to try it all out while Lily just grabbed a good-looking slice of meat. March certainly seemed to enjoy it.
"How friendly are you with the other leaders? It's not terribly embarrassing of a question but I'm somewhat curious. It was odd seeing you just… roll around on the ground with Auctifer, and you've mentioned Titania gave you advice so… how does that work?" asked Burgandy.
Oditr sighed, "It actually IS a bit embarrassing to admit… but I've sort of become the little sister of the group. Which is annoying. I'm over a century old dammit! Nearly two! Which, yes I admit it a lot younger then Titania and Auctifer… and everyone just pretends Ulf is still the human king but I don't always enjoy the position.
"I mean, it's useful, don't get me wrong. The others aren't so hard on me when it's time for political games and there advice over the years has been unbelievably helpful… but sometimes it just feels infantilising. I've been running a damn country for decades! I don't need that much help.
"Oh and Ulf treats me more like a granddaughter… which is somehow less annoying then the rest? Maybe it's because I know if he wanted to he could sneeze and wipe my kingdom off the map? Maybe it's just because he really does feel like a grandpa and never makes it into a joke… I don't know.
"But yeah… we're… I don't know that you can call us friends. Because despite us all being royalty we're not all that equal at the moment. I do hope it will get better in the future but I'm just not sure. Though at least I don't get as much shit as the beastkin representatives or the humans. I almost feel bad for those guys sometimes,"
New novel chapt𝒆rs are published on free(w)ebnovel(.)com