Chapter 9: An Obsession With Colorful Pillows

Ellis was quiet for the rest of the ceremony. She was led back to a strange room. She had to admit that she was tired of these strange rooms.

Considering the situation, she went to sleep in a large, circular depression in the room lined with pillows of all sizes and colors. She had to say that it was well decorated and looked cozy. When she opened her eyes, she had to wonder why it was so easy for her to sleep. She stretched her body and rolled over onto her stomach. She peered over the edge of the depression and saw Logan sitting on the floor with his back against the wall on the other side of the room. 

Ellis ducked down immediately, not wanting him to see her alone. Without the presence of another person in the room, Ellis wasn't sure how to interact with him. It just seemed so... foreign to her. 

"I won't hurt you," he said. His voice was husky and deep, quite pleasing to hear. She wondered if this was the little chip in her brain making his voice sound this way. She really had to figure out if it was the voice actor for the translation or Logan's own voice. "You do not need to fear me."

It wasn't exactly fear she was feeling. She felt a sense of fascination for this creature in front of her but also the fear of offending him and dying. 

The sadness in his voice made her poke her head out again. 

"You are perfectly safe. Nin is right outside the door. You can go out and check if you wish." Ellis gulped and nodded. She propped herself up and walked out of the door. The door opened on its own, much like in a mall and she peered out to see Nin kneeling by the door, so motionless that Ellis thought she was a statue. 

Ellis nodded and came back, taking her place back in the small depression yet again. The room was some polished and carved material of sort, a strange sunset color throughout it. It was beautiful, looking like those exotic landscapes you could see in photographs. The ceiling had indecipherable symbols carved around the top.

Ellis couldn't read it but she knew it was Zothean. There wasn't much furniture in the room, just the depression in the ground and a low table like they had sat on in the dining. 

The abundance of cushions really made her curious though. And the lack of windows. She had to ask about that. It felt more suffocating when there were no visible sources of light or way of escape. 

"I have a present for you," Logan whispered, his tone soft and approachable. 

Ellis felt her heart stutter as she imagined another severed tail being presented to her. 

"Uh... is Ronald okay?" she asked. Missing body parts couldn't be good for their health, right?

Logan looked guilty. "He is well. I apologize for shocking you. You are unused to our practices and I didn't take that into consideration. For my people, the tail of a vanquished enemy is considered a sought-after gift."

"I..." she trailed off, unable to say anything else. 

"Laurel told me that you may use humor to cope with the changes. I will be frank with you, I don't understand human humor or conversational nuances. But I will learn."

Ellis wanted to frown. She had been introduced as a shrew. Not that she minded, but this man seemed to be okay with this side of her so she could continue with her defense mechanism, she supposed. It was better to let her personality known in the first couple of hours so that no one suffered from it later on.

She covered her face in embarrassment. "Please look at me." She complied, taking his sadness into consideration. He seemed to be a victim of this whole process as well. Unable to choose someone he actually likes and taking a woman from another planet as his wife for the betterment of his people. She wasn't for the monarchy, but she could understand that he was facing hardships, as well. "No one thinks poorly of you." He paused. "I need to see your face to know what you are feeling. Please don't hide from me." He pleaded. 

She couldn't protest. It was kind of him to try and accommodate her. She would have to make the best of the situation, that's all.

"Would you like to see a present? I think it will be to your liking."

"Yes," she said politely. She could act like a Gothic queen and faint if she didn't like it. Pretend she didn't remember. 

"I've been told humans enjoy being entertained through literature and moving... pictures?" he sounded confused. 

"Yes, they do." She wondered what sort of literature and movies there would be in this world. 

He held out a flat black tablet much like the one Nadia had. "You will find many books on this. Fiction, non-fiction, and legal books, too. I had Nadia fill this with all sorts of books and moving pictures so that you can feel better here."

Ellis scrambled to the edge and was going to climb out of the depression when she tripped over a stupid pillow. Logan came to her rescue, catching her in time so that she didn't faceplant into the ground. He steadied her on her feet and gave her the tablet. After she took it, he backed away carefully so that he didn't startle her and returned to his spot on the floor. 

Ellis felt slightly conflicted. Well, if he was trying so hard to appease her and make her comfortable, she would give him some face respect and show him that she wasn't repulsed by her. 

It was grievous that she acted that way in the beginning. It went against her ideals. She had to accept who he was. Escaping didn't look very promising right now, so she would make the best of the situation. 

She went over to him and sat down. Though there was some space between them, Logan looked delighted. His tail flicked on the floor where it lay beside him. Ellis realized that it was easy to read his body language. He was just an overgrown cat.

"Thank you for this," she courtesied. She fiddled with the tablet and found a way to power it on. "This is a very nice gift." When the tablet opened, she scrolled through it and found a reserve of books. Hundreds of thousands of books ranging from ancient scripts she couldn't read to books and movies that were from thousands of years from her time on Earth.