Claire wanted to drive the last day before they arrived at their first destination. She needed to take her mind off Jasmine for the day, give her time to think about what she could do to help. It was nice to have Lily beside her, because the alchemist was in the same state. Both were silently contemplating how best to help their lover.
Also, Claire was thinking about how to handle their first mission. How would she look at goblins the same after meeting Firewater and his kinsmen? She felt like she'd see the admiral captain's face with every goblin she slew. She missed the goblin, surprisingly. He had so much more personality than she would have assumed. She just hoped that she wouldn't hesitate when fighting these goblins.
Claire sighed. They still had roughly six hours of traveling left, then they'd be at the village. She glanced at Lily, who was deep in thought herself.
"I hope fighting is a good distraction for her," Claire sighed again. She knew exactly what Lily was thinking about. "Maybe distract her long enough to slip up or be forgotten."
"We can only hope," Lily frowned. She was thinking of all the potential reasons Jasmine could be stressed or upset. "It reminds me of when she was younger. How she'd act on one of her mothers' birthdays. Distant and fake feeling."
"Really?" Claire blinked. She hadn't thought too much about the reason, since she didn't have any clues. "Is one coming up?"
Lily shook her head. "One is in the spring, and the other is midsummer. So no…"
"Anything else you can think of?" Claire asked. She pulled the alchemist into her arms, letting her rest her head on Claire's shoulder. "She never told me these things."
Lily shook her head. "No. Um, she only really told me about her mothers. And finding her birth mother as a slave."
"Is that date close?" Claire asked in a whisper.
"No, that was in the spring," Lily sighed. "Which is why it's been bugging me. The behaviors are the same, but we aren't close to any dates that'd set her off. Plus, she didn't act like this earlier this year. She was too focused on training you."
"Could be something she just never told you," Claire exhaled. She clung to Lily tightly in reassurance. "Like with Marcellus."
"Maybe," Lily whispered back. "Then I'd have absolutely no clue, and it's been bugging me."
"And the waiting is killing you, right?" Claire asked.
Lily nodded. "I just want to help, but she's not letting me."
Claire took a deep breath. She watched the road for a moment to think. "I do too."
"Gods," Lily wrapped her arms around Claire's waist. "I hoped she'd gotten past this bad habit… I mean, we are lovers and all, now."
"Yeah, me too," Claire sighed. "I thought her telling me about her mothers would be the start of her opening up more. But that was one conversation…"
"Took me 10 years of being her best friend to hear that," Lily forced a laugh. "But enough of that topic. It's depressing."
Claire nodded. She tightened her grip on the alchemist and whispered, "Any other topic you want to discuss?"
"Mmm," Lily bit her lip. "I'd like to go back to our conversation about the Tyrant. I have a bit more I want to talk about."
"Oh?" Claire tilted her head. "Anything important?"
"Maybe? Hard to tell, really." Lily scrunched her eyebrow. "He was a veterinarian before He was a hero. His parents ran a clinic for animals and monsters. At the time, there wasn't a major distinction between the two."
"Really?" Claire tilted her head. Her eyes remained on the road as she digested what Lily said. "So monsters were like animals?"
"I believe so," Lily whispered. She recalled the information from the book about the last heroes. "There was no mention of the rancid smell or intelligence beyond animals. One excerpt talked about trolls…"
Lily pulled away from Claire and turned her attention to Lily. "These trolls couldn't speak. They could only grunt or make noises and were solitary creatures, nothing like the trolls today. They were actually docile!"
"What?" Claire blinked. "They didn't attack people?"
"No!" Lily exclaimed. "They were even vegetarians. Their diet was entirely made up of leaves and berries."
That baffled Claire to the point she couldn't even think. Lily rummaged through her bag and found the book containing all the propaganda from the Tyrant's time. She sifted through the pages for what she was looking for. She found the recreation of His family clinic.
"See, they have teeth closer to our back teeth, the molars." Lily pointed to the smiling troll. She pushed up her glasses and continued, "No jagged teeth to pierce flesh. They don't even have the pointy canine teeth like us. This poster was about taking care of one's teeth health."
Claire looked at Lily's mouth, where she was pointing to her third tooth from the middle. Then she glanced at the preserved painting, where He was standing beside a troll. It was still jarring to see him so thin and small. Then there was the troll. It didn't have patchy hair or hate-filled eyes. Its fur or hair was thick and brown, and its smile seemed so friendly. Not like the smile of that other one.
She shivered upon remembering its smile, "That's… interesting. What changed?"
Lily shook her head. "I don't know. This is the only record I could find with trolls being herbivores. I thought they always hunted humans and animals for food."
"Could be another punishment from the Gods," Claire glanced back at the road. "You know, like His curse."
Lily nodded. "That could be it. Turn His previous passion into a plague on mankind sounds poetic enough for the Gods."
"Could be," Claire took a deep breath. "At what point is the punishment too much, though?"
"Mmm," Lily pursed her lips. "The Gods are… I think the best word might be petty. Or maybe insecure? We don't usually punish the daughter for the mother's crime, but they did. Their power was threatened, and they made sure it was never threatened again."
"Maybe extra is a better word for them," Claire giggled. Her own Goddess seemed to always be a bit out there. "But I see what you mean. I didn't even connect His passion for monsters to the monsters of today. What got you thinking about it?"
"Mostly rereading these books," Lily closed the book and placed it back into her bag. "I think it's interesting to know what civilization was like back then. Did you know men were the head of the house and were primarily combatants of His era? Like women weren't uncommon on the battlefield, but most of the fighters were men. I just find that so interesting."
"I did know that," Claire nodded. She, too, thought it was interesting when she learned about it in the past. "Um, it makes a bit more sense when you think about it. Like if we had equal numbers of men and women, women would need 9 months to carry a child and men… just need to cum once."
"Right!" Lily perked up. "That was all over the propaganda in the book. "Protect your mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters against the demons" was a very common slogan at the time."
"It feels so weird to think about," Claire chuckled. She watched the road as she spoke and wrapped her arm back around Lily's waist. "It's hard to even comprehend that men were more like Firewater back then. Taller than us with facial hair. I didn't even know humans could grow facial hair like giants."
"Well, technically, we do have hair on our faces. They just are near see-through and help block our pores," Lily started. She got comfortable in Claire's grip again. "But nothing like Firewater. You couldn't even see his chin or jawline."
"It was jarring," Claire mumbled. "Like uncanny."
"It was," Lily sighed. "Must have been worse for Jaz. Seeing the Lord of the Dead in the flesh."
"Yeah," Claire swallowed. They took a moment to think about their companion and her reaction to the goblin man. Then, to her current issue. "Wonder why he looks like him so much."
"Oh, right," Lily smiled. "He was said to be a demigod back when he was a human. That was also on his posters. So he could be Marcellus's son."
Claire blinked. Heroes were one thing, but demigods were an entirely different taboo. There hadn't been a demigod since long before the Tyrant. Well, from what they know of history at least. "I thought they swore off mating with mortals."
"They did, yes," Lily nodded. "But when has that ever stopped them?"