WhirlwindBrushMethod/TLTD001

Xulah sucked gently on the tip of his index finger. He had been negligent in trimming the hairs there for several months. Left untended, they had grown long and luxurient, taking the shape of a flower bud as tongue and saliva brought conformity. Xulah's mistress had already complained about shedding, worried that a strand might land in the soup bowl of a prominent visitor.

That would not happen. Xulah would spend most of tomorrow with scissors and razor, his friends and enemies. They made him acceptable, but denied him himself.

The fingers and toes were the hardest, and so were left for last or generally avoided as long as possible. Xulah had even gotten into the habit of wearing shoes and gloves, horrid as they were, so that his master and mistress would not notice his disobedience. The prospect of shaving in between his toes was incredibly unappealing. But it had gotten to the point where it was impossible to hide his heritage. He was Anathema-spawn and, if he wanted to continue living in the Realm and not be thrown to the mercy of his savage kin, there were certain sacrifices that had to be made.

After all, hadn't his master, Tepet Drekal of Tilis, risked quite a bit to bring him back from the barbarian lands of the North, where the Legions of his own House were destroyed? There weren't many households who would look kindly on an Anathema-spawn, much less one rescued from certain death during the chaos and slaughter of a full retreat. Rumors claimed that Master Drekal had mistaken Xulah for a human child, lost in the Wyld Lands, and was later too full of pride and compassion to reverse his actions and kill the baby. The master never spoke of those days, when he spoke at all, but Xulah preferred to think that his salvation was not an error.

Of course, House Tepet, decimated as it was, could still not allow such a dishonorable act to go unpunished. When Drekal refused to turn over the Anathema's child for destruction, he was discharged from his military post and sent into an early retirement. The master turned his attention to politics, taking a patrician's place in the Deliberative, but rarely participating in the endless discussions and arguments. When he did choose to speak, however, people listened.

Especially Xulah. The master had made it clear that he did not blame the servant for his fall from good grace. Still, Xulah was expected to keep busy, assist with running the household, and work continually on what the master dubbed "self-improvement," which included shaving regularly. Xulah suspected that the master took more interest in his "advancement" than the work of the Deliberative. Tepet Drekal believed that Xulah could civilize himself, proving, in essence, that the master was not in error when he snatched the baby from the mouth of death. Xulah, for his part, did his best to win his lord's favor.

Except when it came to toes and fingers.