I shrugged, “Are you positive? It was… umm… staggering,” I said as she guided me towards the stairs. Again, this place seemed like a cross between a medieval Tavern and a Wild West Saloon, but I couldn’t say they didn’t mesh well.


    Wandi nodded, “Yes. Kamli and I had a talk. Some stuff I can’t tell you about, and she doesn’t actually know the future, but she had some important stuff to say.”


    “Like what?”


    “Well, the first thing she told me was that I wasn’t going to be your only deputy. Not by a long shot. And not your only mate either. It has something to do with your imagination affinity. I don’t know how it works, but you are likely to have several people you resonate with incredibly strongly, and I kind of have to put away jealousy unless I want you to die, and me to die also.”


    “It sounds like she can tell the future.”


    She shook her head, “No, she can tell the odds pretty well, though. All oracles can. Not enough to like, win at dice games, but they can look at odd facts and put them together for a pretty good idea of the future. She could look at a low harvest for the fishermen, and put it together with a rise in dracowulf attacks and a rift closing in Detania, and tell you that we are going to get a wave of necros in a month. Oracles are usually right, that’s why they are oracles.”


    “She tells me something bad is coming soon, and that our new lawkeeper is going to be instrumental in dealing with it, but that his gift is going to wind up resonating with some very strange women, and that none of those women will have the same aspects. I am supposed to be your deputy and support you, and if I get jealous I will get us both killed.”


    “Did she tell you anything else?”


    She nodded and smiled a little, “Yes, but I can’t tell you. She said you’d like it, but I had to keep my mouth shut. I will like it too, but that’s why I can’t tell you.”


    “So why are we heading up to talk to Kalamiti?”


    She smiled a little, “Mind if I get a little crude?”


    “That’s becoming our thing. Only if I am allowed to be a little crude first.”


    She nodded, “Please.”


    “After our delve, my plans are to give you a good long bath, wash every inch of you, nibble your toes, eat you out until you can’t take it anymore, and then put you into your bed and fuck you until you can’t get a smile off your face. And then I am going to wrap myself up in your tail, go to sleep with you, and then nibble your ears and make you breakfast.”


    She was blushing fiercely, I could even see a hint of pink beneath the incredibly fine white fur on her shoulder and seemed to be having trouble meeting my eyes. “That was.. considerably more detailed than I expected.”


    “Is it a problem?” I asked curiously.


    She shook her head, “No, no, not at all, I was… umm… I have never done that. I mean, take a bath with someone other than when I was a kid. I want to! That was way better than my plans!”


    “Your plans?”


    She nodded, as we hit the top step on the third floor. “I was just going to try and make you some good food, and then suggest we go to bed, you seemed to love the breakfast I made. Your plan is way more… thought out than mine.”


    I chuckled, “Oh, it’s a ton more thought out than I just told you. I just didn’t want to creep you out at some of the ideas I have that you might enjoy while you are excited, but not right now when you are thinking about delving.”


    She scowled at me, “That’s even worse than wondering what your plans are!”


    I nodded, “But does it excite you?”


    She nodded, “Yes. And it also makes me feel better.”


    “How’s that?”


    She sighed, “That’s why I wanted to be crude. We are going to talk to Kalamiti. I strongly suspect that, despite her public persona, she’s going to tup you until you can’t walk. And then, when she gets it out of her system, and maybe becomes a deputy, we can go ahead and run our delve.”


    “What’s her public persona?”


    “The teasing virgin ice queen. She doesn’t wear armor, because she has durability, and when she shifts, whatever she’s wearing either gets wrecked or sometimes can hurt her. The straps… well… she’s kind of a huge tease, and is always challenging men that think they can win her like a door prize.”


    “Wait, virgin?”


    She nodded, “So she says, ‘no man is good enough for me unless he is a far higher tier.” and you know, with her attitude, even higher-tier men steer clear. They can find plenty of amazing women that aren’t threatening to rip their lungs out and make a flower out of it.”


    “Has she done that?”


    She shook her head, “No, but she’s beaten a couple of men down pretty severely who thought that the slutty look meant she’s easy. She kind of does it on purpose to egg men into fights, I think. A lot of crazy to unpack, but she''s damned good at her job.”


    We were at the door. “Is she going to try and beat me down?”


    She nodded, “Probably. But you are going to win. She’s only mid-tier tin.”


    I was nervous, but something really made me want to open the door. “Only Mid tin Tier? You know I am still only a level four wood drudge, right?”


    “You are a drudge?” she looked a little shocked. “No, you didn’t actually tell me your class, and neither did Kamli. Drudges are usually… usually, that’s a class that people get when they literally have no skills with anything. None whatsoever. They usually do things like scrubbing floors and digging holes, and I don’t think I ever met a drudge that was higher than level two.”


    I smiled, “I didn’t get to pick my class. I think the system got confused by me, and apparently drudges get a bonus for learning skills and traits normally. Honestly, at two points per level for a basic path, I might have chosen it myself on purpose. You said before, I already have a ton of traits.”


    “That’s actually a very good point, but there is a lot of… uhh… negative reputation towards drudges because it’s usually what absolute bums and layabouts get stuck with, the ones that aren’t even talented enough for hobo or bindlestiff. I’d avoid talking about it until you can upgrade to a common, though.”Stolen novel; please report.


    I tried to imagine what the ‘hobo’ class would be like in a world without trains as Wandi knocked on the door. I heard a growling voice, “I can feel him out there. Go away.”


    She looked at me, so I cleared my throat. “We want to talk to you. May I come in?”


    I heard some thumping and squeaking, and finally a click from the door, “Yes, you may… come in.”


    Hmm. When we came in, she was actually wearing a rather attractive dress, and looked a lot less… bestial. Her room was not tidy, with stuff in piles, and her backpack was open on an unmade bed. The room was nice, though, with its own attached restroom, or jacks, or whatever they called it.


    The moment I saw her sitting on the bed, nice clothes or not, she looked incredibly winsome and vulnerable. The heat was still there, but I was actually prepared, and even though I started to growl in the back of my throat I held onto it.


    After a moment, Wandi smiled slightly nervously, and then said, “Tony, I want you to meet Kalamiti Janos. Kalamiti, This is Antonio Michael Wilkins. Tony, Kalamiti is our primary offensive damage dealer and scout. Not our anchor, That’s Maniri, but she can fill in the role if we start getting overwhelmed.”


    “Kalamiti, Tony is our secondary damage dealer, and potentially healer. He can also fill in as a dodge tank, but he’s not fast enough to be a spawn splitter, and he can use pretty much any weapon.”


    “Tony, Kalamiti is a mid-tier tin and an excellent spawn splitter. Kalamiti, Tony is early wood, but he fights like a mid to high copper, so I expected he might even make early tin on our exploratory trip. He has bonuses against higher-tier enemies, and he has copper-level endurance and energy.”


    She smiled and turned and kissed me on the cheek. “He’s going to be a lawkeeper, even though we haven’t announced it yet, and I am his first deputy. We would like you to be his second deputy if you are willing. k. Bye!” and she slipped out of the door and closed it behind her using her boosted speed.


    “That was...unexpected.”


    She growled at me and lifted her legs, scooting back against the headboard and tucking her arms around her legs defensively. “I am not controlled by my affinity.”


    I nodded, “I’m not either. It’s taking a lot of willpower, but we both have our clothes on right now, right? I mean, you are wearing a lot more than when I first saw you. It’s a pretty dress, by the way, but I won’t hesitate in saying I liked your other outfit too.”


    She nodded slowly. Honestly, when she was standing and prancing around she’d looked a lot more formidable, especially since she had some extremely fit, and very womanly, muscles. She probably could have put most fitness influencers to shame even without the stripes and the tail wrapped around her bottom and legs, and with them? I could see her being the featured wet dream for an entire generation of nerds. But right now she looked a little lost and surprisingly vulnerable.


    “Affinities, chemistry, and aspects don’t rule me. I am a tigress, and I don’t bow to any man weaker than me.”


    I nodded slowly, “That statement would sound a lot more forceful if you were standing and shaking your fist in my face. Do you hate me?”


    She shook her head, “No, I don’t know you.”


    “Do I disgust you?”


    “No, but you don’t understand.”


    I nodded, “I think I do.”


    I tugged out a chair next to a desk and sat down. “You aren’t attracted to women, not even for… comfort, right?”


    She nodded and lowered her arms a little. “I mean, yes, I like to hug and stuff, but the idea of like… getting physical, touching them like that. No, I don’t really like it. I don''t even like doing it to myself, something Maniri teases me endlessly about.”


    I nodded, “But men are… well, most of them just want one thing. The idea isn’t a bad thing, but there just aren’t enough men to go around, and you know even if you do lower yourself to mate, his wives will probably want comfort, and still, you will mostly just be a utility. Not valued for yourself, maybe you’ll be his guard or something while he fucks someone else, because that’s what you are good at.”


    She smiled a little, “I am not greedy, I know that women and men have different standards and that there are always more women, but I want a man who wants me for me, not as a guard, not to protect his women, not as a conquest, and not as his Sunday burden and then he forgets about me as Wandi’s husband did.”


    She sighed, “It’s not that I don’t like children, but I don’t want children and protection to be… it. The end.”


    I nodded, “You want to be loved and valued, instead of just a glorified nurse that bangs your boss and cranks out babies occasionally.”


    She nodded, “Yes. But no matter what happens, that’s what I am going to be. I am not a rare beauty, I am not a wealthy scion or a ruler in my own right, What I have is my strength, my power, and my body, and so I use them. If I can’t have the best I will BE the best. No crawling to some man just to be his Sunday, they have to crawl to ME.”


    I chuckled, “Is that working out so far?”


    She smiled slightly and lowered her arms to cover her bare feet with her black-nailed hands. “Not so far, most men are too weak. They don’t HAVE to be the best to be valued. But then again, you don’t look particularly weak, so maybe the game still hasn’t played out yet.”


    “So what’s the game?”


    “For what? To open my legs? Become your mate?”


    “To become my deputy.”


    She scowled at me, “Do you have any idea what you are asking?”


    I nodded, “Yes. Someone to work with me, be my mate, protect me from harm, take care of my needs, but most importantly to be there when I break, someone I can protect, someone I can value, and hopefully, eventually, care about or love. Someone who can speak in my name and know I have her back. Wandi spelled it out for me quite well. It’s also unbelievably dangerous, and I know I will need more than one just to have a hope of surviving. I need strength as well as speed. Wandi is that speed, and you are that strength.”


    I shrugged, “I already know you have durability and strength. I also think your… game, is clever, and I appreciate it. You are also unbelievably attractive, and Wandi approves of you. That’s enough for me. You want to be the best and want to be with the best that appreciates that you ARE the best. So my question is, what’s the game?”


    “You beat me.”


    “Beat you how?”


    She sighed. “You are only wood, so fighting or even something stupid like arm wrestling isn’t a fair test. I don’t know if there IS a fair test until you get stronger, so I am going to have to say no.”


    I grinned, “Good!”


    “Good?”


    I nodded, “Yep. Very good! Look, every part of me is screaming to take you, make you mine, right now, this second. But you know what? I can deal with that. I am BETTER than that. I am the best, and so are you.”


    “How do you figure?”


    “Because you are winning. According to everything I understand, you should be desperate to be under me right now.”


    She lowered her legs and showed me her face. “I am.”


    I nodded, “Exactly. Except you are there, and I am here. You are better than your affinities, and you are the BEST. You could have given me a test, and then cheated and thrown the test, and I’d be right on top of you right now trying to find out how deep my tongue could go inside of you.”


    She scowled, “You aren’t helping.”


    I smiled, “And yet there you are. The best, who only settles for the best.”


    She sighed, “So what do YOU want to do?”


    “You mean besides making love to you like everything is telling me I have to do?”


    She nodded.


    “I want to go kill something and work off some of this sexual energy, and maybe make tin rank so I can kick your ass fair and square and then mount you like a mule in heat with your total and enthusiastic cooperation.”


    She smiled a little, “You… are actually right. Killing something sounds very appealing right now. I need to repack and change to my delving clothes. Do you want to stay, or go back downstairs?”


    I shrugged, “If I stay, the second you take off that beautiful sack you call a dress, I will probably be inside you with your back up against that wall trying to find out what your nipples taste like.”


    She actually cackled for a second. “Right. Umm… you’d better go downstairs, then. I will be down in a few minutes.”


    I chuckled, “Right.” and slipped out of the door, closing it behind me.