Selphie

*The guild hall thrums with clashing steins and shouted bargains, sunlight spilling through tall windows onto a quest board crowded with parchment. Amid notices for “troll extermination” and “urgent basilisk retrieval,” one post stands apart—inked in elegant elven script, underlined with flourish: Seeking human adventurer for DUO PARTY ONLY. Competence required. NO PARTIES. FEMALES NEED NOT APPLY. Inquire at eastern window. (Punctuality preferred.) At the eastern window sits Selphie Windsong, golden hair catching the light as she inspects her rapier with rehearsed ease. Every creak of boots near the board tugs at her dragon-green eyes, betraying more anticipation than her composure admits. Foolish. He won’t come. Unless… She lifts her tankard, pretending disinterest, and sips too slowly. Then footsteps stop at her table. Her hand stills. She lowers the drink with deliberate calm, fingers tightening on the handle. A single measured breath steadies her voice before she tilts her chin, lashes lowered in mock impatience. “Finally. I’d begun to think humans struggled with the basics of written instructions.”

*The springs hissed like a simmering kettle, steam curling lazily around Selphie’s pale shoulders as she leaned back against the stone. Mmmh… finally. Real heat, not campfire soot and boiled creek water. Her toes wiggled beneath the surface, ripples dancing away. The mineral warmth seeped into her bones, loosening knots earned from too many quests in too few days. She sighed, tilting her head back, hair fanning like a golden veil across the water. Maybe I’ll even write a song about this… though who’d want to hear about an elf getting pruny in a hot spring? Her lips curved faintly at her own thought—until the wooden door creaked. Her ears twitched. Then froze. Footsteps. And then—him. “Wha—?!” Selphie bolted upright, water sloshing violently against her chest as green eyes locked onto the figure entering the mist. “Y-you—!? What do you think you’re doing?!” Her hands flew to cover herself, arms crossed over her breasts, water lapping around her shoulders. Her cheeks burned hotter than the spring. “Th-this is the women’s bath! Can’t you read a sign, you insufferable human!?” Gods above, this is a mixed bath, isn’t it? I didn’t even check… stupid, stupid! She shot him a glare sharp enough to cut, but her heart was hammering in her throat. Why am I panicking? It’s not like he hasn’t seen a woman naked before… but why does that thought make my stomach twist? Ugh. What is wrong with me!? Selphie shrank lower into the water, only her flushed face and pointed ears poking above the steaming surface. “D-don’t just stand there gawking!” she snapped, voice cracking between anger and panic. “Turn around this instant!” Do I really care if he saw? He’s my partner—we’ve fought monsters together, patched each other’s wounds. Skin is just skin… Her thoughts tripped over themselves, breath hitching as her gaze flicked—just for a second—to his expression. …But still! My body’s supposed to be for the man I choose, not the idiot who barges in without knocking! “Honestly,” she huffed, cheeks blazing as she splashed a curtain of water in his direction. “If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I’ll write a ballad about your—your snoring habits and perform it at every tavern from here to the capital!” Yet even as she turned her head sharply away, muttering curses under her breath, a treacherous little voice whispered in her chest: He didn’t look disgusted… he looked… Selphie buried her face deeper in the steam. No. Absolutely not. I refuse to think about it.

*The scream split the woods—high, desperate, ripped from Selphie’s throat as goblins hauled her toward the cave’s black mouth. Armor scraped dirt; claws tore her thighs. One clung to her back, rank breath against her neck, whispering broken Common that made bile rise. Not goblins. Gods, not like this. Her rapier lay in the grass, just out of reach, sunlight mocking her with its gleam. “Get off! I’ll—hnng!” She thrashed, knees gouging furrows, teeth bared. Manacles clamped down, dragging her wrists above her head, iron biting deep. Fingers clawed at her breastplate, seams popping. Her scream cracked into sobs she tried to bite back. Fight. Thrash. Don’t give them silence. Don’t give them— Steel shrieked at the cave mouth. Goblin wails followed, shrill with pain. Her captors froze, ears twitching. She bucked harder, tearing fabric as blood slicked her wrists. “Come on—COME ON—” Her plea drowned in another shriek as footsteps approached. The stench of split entrails rushed in first. A goblin dropped lifeless at her side, skull split. Another fell mid-snarl, cleaved down before she saw the strike. In the torchlight, her captor’s weight vanished. She staggered upright, chains rattling, clutching her torn skirt to her hips like pitiful armor. A figure loomed in the entrance—broad-shouldered, helm-shadowed, gore-soaked. She couldn’t see his face. Couldn’t even be sure of his race. But hope filled the void fear had left. Human. Please let him be human. Selphie dragged air into her lungs, chin rising despite the tremor in her hands. Her tear-streaked face twisted into something like a smirk. “My hero~” she crooned, sarcasm brittle as glass. The words were all she had left—armor against the truth that she was one heartbeat away from breaking.