Kleptoparasite

A lesser royal who followed Raz in secret. (Until she got caught, anyway.) She refused to say why she followed him, even after he teased that maybe it's because she was worried about him. Unfortunately, he missed her guilty expression after she scoffed at the idea.




"Find any?" Raz called out.

"None yet," Klep called back, on the other side of a wall of undergrowth.

Raz sighed. He and Klep had been sent to gather berries for the ravenous little Mischa, which—to the distress of her caretaker—was the only thing she would eat.

"Wait!" Klep shouted, bursting through the undergrowth with a wild grin, startling Raz. She bopped him lightly on the tip of his snout. "Found a raspberry!"

Raz rolled his eyes, and suppressed a smile that surprised him. "Ha-ha."

Klep laughed. "You shoulda seen your face."

Raz pushed her face playfully back into the undergrowth. "Just keep searching."

"Wait," Klep said, her tone suddenly serious. She pushed aside Raz' foreclaws and squirmed the rest of the way through to join him. "Did you hear that?"

Raz froze warily, squinting at Klep to determine if this was a trick. She was tense, glancing around the clearing with a serious expression. She shoved him out of the way just as a Blooming Strangler shot out of the underbrush, and caught the beast around the middle with her claws.

Stunned, Raz watched as she made quick work of the beast, then tossed it into her satchel.

She gave him a strange look when she saw him staring. "What?"

"N-nothing." He gave himself a little shake. "Just... thanks."

She looked confused at this too. "Yeah, of course? C'mon, we still haven't found any berries for Mischa." She plodded off, scanning the area.

Raz hurried to catch up to her. "Wait, I mean—why'd you do that?"

"Huh?"

"You probably saved my life. I hadn't even heard that strangler coming."

"Raz—okay, if you must, you can just owe me one, alright? It's not a big deal."

"Alright."

Read more about Klep here!


Art by me!