- A Safe Place

It took us a few extra minutes with the slower pace we were walking, but I soon seen our destination. I for one was glad that Maggie stayed open late but it was almost time for them to close. So the glow of the restaurant was a welcome sight to me in the flying snow, but to my companion however...

“Nulya!" She cried out when she realized where our destination was, she started to squirm, trying to free herself from my embrace.

“Hey!" I pulled her close and hugged her even tighter. “Its alright!" I say over the wind as I started rub her head attempting to calm her down. “Its alright. You're safe." At this point, it had never occurred to me that she might not understand English, or Sol Common as other races called it. “Nothing bad will happen to you. I promise, you're safe with me." Apparently, my attempts to calm her down had worked, as she stopped struggling and just stayed there against me.

“S-safe?" It was barely a whisper, but I just heard her meek voice. I loosen our embrace enough so I could look down into her eyes. “S-s-safe... P-promise? N-no bad?"

“Yes." I wasn't sure if I seen tears forming in her eyes or if it was just a trick of the light, but I gave her my best smiles.“I promise, I won't let anything bad happen to you." I heard her sniffle as she pushed against me in another hug.

“Sesillu..."

“You're welcome."

A gust of wind spurs me to break our embrace and guide her back to the safety of the Pavilion's Kitchen, Maggie's and Clark's diner. A chime announces our arrival as we entered.

“Hi, welcome to... Calvin? What are you doing back so soon?"

“Helping someone that I had bumped into recently." Maggie gave me a confused look until I moved my companion into view. Next thing I heard was a gasp.

“Oh My Gods Above!" Maggie quickly made her way to us as she sized up my companion. “You poor thing. Come, I know just what to get you." Maggie took the girl's hand and pulled her to the counter, she gave me a confused look from under her hood as Maggie made her sit down on a stool. I gave her a reassuring smile as I sat down next to her. I could hear Maggie in the kitchen“Hey Vin, get one of the fish fillets and grill it. What? I don't care, start it back up! No, just the grill. Don't worry about the deep fryer, just the grill. Trust me, the fish will be enough for now." I watched as Maggie came back out and made a cup of hot cocoa and set it down in front of my 'new friend.'

The girl was skeptical at first, glancing between me and Maggie. I gave her shoulder a light squeeze as Maggie just nodded with her trademark smile. Slowly she started undo the makeshift scarf and pull back her hood so I could finally see what laid underneath. I would surmise that her fur was a light cream color, if not almost white, if it wasn't stained by dirt and other things that I could only guess at. A layer of blond hair with what looked like reddish pink highlights spilled out if the hood when she pulled it far enough down. Even with the layers of dirt and being in desperate need of grooming, I still thought she was rather pretty. She slowly brought up the cup to her lips and slowly took a sip of the beverage. A content murr let us know that she liked it.

“So dear," Maggie started “What's your name?" She looked at Maggie over the cup with a confused stair. “Uhmm..." Maggie tried again, only this time in what I would surmised as broken Caushae.

“Xlilith..."

“Xlilith?" She nodded.

Maggie pointed to herself, “Maggie," she patted my shoulder from over the counter “Calvin."

“M-mah-gie... Calvin..."

Maggie gave me a knowing look, which I was partly oblivious as to why she did at the time.

“Order!" Came a shout from the Kitchen. Xlilith's eyes grew the size of saucers as I could see that she was ready to bolt right out the door. In my want to help her I had forgotten the reason why we had bumped into each other.

Instead of placing the fillet on the window like normal, Vin instead came out if the kitchen with the plate in hand. When his eyes locked with Xlilith's, I recognized the flash of anger in his eyes as he nearly dropped the plate of fish.

“KRUUT'IR!" He barked as his ears pinned back and his lips pulled into a snarl, exposing his fangs. “Kruut'ir bitca! You No Belong Here!" Vin started his way around the counter and came at Xlilith. Xlilith was ready to run for the door if it wasn't for the fact that Vin would of intercepted her that much quicker. I stood up and block his way, or as much as a human could against a towering Lycan.

WHACK!

Vin had stopped in his tracks as he grabbed his head as both me and Xlilith looked on in amazement. Vin turned around and stared in disbelief at his attacker. Maggie stood behind him holding an old fashion wooden spoon and a look on her face that could turn milk.

“What Do?" he said almost innocently.

“You know DAMN well what you did Vin'corda." Maggie said as she stared down the 7 ish foot wolf, which in my eyes was an impressive feat given her stature of just being over 5 and a half foot tall.

“I just getting rid of kruut'ir. Kruut'ir bitca no belong here..."

WHACK!

“You do NOT dictate who can and cannot be here, I DO."

In all honesty, I've only seen Maggie like this once. It was just after I had arrived and was the first time I had stumbled upon the Pavilion's Kitchen. She smacked three patrons over the head because they had started to verbally harass a couple that had walked in a Caushae and an Almedha. The two was glad when Maggie stepped in and told the group to apologies and leave in her own less than subtle way. Was also when I seen and met Clark, her husband, who stood by laughing as he watched his wife beat 3 men with her wooden spoon.

Now Maggie was making a grown Lycan cower in fear.

“But..." his voice gave off a very confused tone. “Kruut'ir..."

“Does not exists in this building." Maggie didn't budge.

Vin finally gave a defeated sigh as he threw the plate on the counter and left to go back into the kitten.

“And Don't forget to clean the GREASE Traps!" Maggie yelled after him, eliciting a groan from the alien wolf man. Maggie then turned to Xlilith with her smile back on her face. “ Ailaes sweetie." she says as she sets out silverware and then took the cup to refill it.

Glad that the situation was over, I sat back next to Xlilith and slid the grilled fish fillet in front of her. I could see the hunger in her eyes as she stared at the plate, but yet she didn't move to eat. “Hey," I said to gain her attention and took her hand in mine. “This is for you."

“For... Me?"

I nodded and placed her hand on the silverware. “Yes." She did seem to have knowledge of table etiquette as, despite moving fast to devour the fish, still took the time to use the fork and took smaller bites than I had expected her to take.

After running a few errands, Maggie came back as Xlilith was finishing the fillet. “So, does she have a place to stay?"

I shook my head no, “Not that I'm aware of, I honestly had to pull her out of a trash tarp to bring her here." Maggie frown as she asked Xlilith the same question.

“Nulya..."

“Tlick ... That's no good." Maggie left again as Xlilith took another sip of her cocoa. After a minute, Maggie came back with a data pad and was going through the info stored on it. “Well hun, I do have some good news for you. I do have a room open that you can use." Xlilith looked at her confused for a moment before Maggie repeated what she said in Caushae.

Xlilith's eyes grew wide. “Udah?" Maggie smiled and nodded yes. Xlilith nearly jumped over the counter and hugged Maggie “Sesillu!" She turned to me with a smile on her face, first one I've seen her have since I've met her, and gave me a hug too. “Sesillu yema."

After the initial shock of her hug, I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a gentle squeeze. “Welcome." I said as I held her. She buried her head into my chest and nuzzled against me.

“Awww, its a Kodak moment."

My face turned a bright red from the comment. The slang was really old, but even after a few hundred years, it started to resurface now and again. I pulled away from her as she looked on and Maggie placed a hand on her shoulders. I started to walk to the door to make my way home when a furry hand grabbed mine.

I looked back to see Xlilith looking at me confused. “Wait... You safe. Promised." Her voice sounded hurt that I was leaving.

I turned back to face her, holding her hand in mine as I gave it a soft rub. “It is safe here, Maggie will be able to take care of you better than I can. I would stay, but I need to go to my home." I'm not sure of what I was thinking at the time but I placed a hand against her fuzzy cheek. “I promise that I will check in with you as much as I'm able. Okay?" I wasn't sure as to how much she actually understood me, but it seemed like she interpreted my Sol Common-English better than Maggie's.

Xlilith nuzzled into my hand. “You... Promise?"

“Yes. I promise." Xlilith pulled me into another hug before letting me go. I walked to the exit, but before I open door I looked back and gave a little wave. She gave me a wave of her own and I couldn't help but smile as I opened the door and made my way outside. While the walk was colder, it didn't bother me as much as usual as I walked the street with a smile.