“I hear Mazken come as men as well as women,” Lena glared at the Commander of the Mazken guard at the palace in New Sheoth. “So why do we not have any men here, among the guard?”

“Men are inferior to women, My Lord,” the Commander replied with a thinly masked disdain. Although it was the decree of Prince Sheogorath that a mortal should take his place for a time, the Mazken didn’t have to like it, they just had to obey. “Mazken men are shorter and weaker than women, they are our servants, no more.”

“As you are my servant,” Lena pointed out and the Commander straightened her back.

“Yes, M’Lord.”

“Mazken men were created by Prince Sheogorath, the same as Mazken women,” Lena continued. “Are you suggesting his creations are imperfect?”

“Never, M’Lord!”

“Good,” Lena smiled and Haskill grinned behind the Commander’s back. This mortal Lord Sheogorath decidedly had the spark. “I wish to see men among the guards of this palace. Ask them, let’s see who responds. I want true volunteers. Go to it.”

The Commander clicked her heels, rolled her eyes and left.

“What does Your Lordship intend to do with the men, assuming any of them respond?” Haskill took out his notepad, ready to take Lena’s order. “What sort of duties should we assign them? They are weaker than women, just as the Commander had said.”

“That will depend on how many respond,” Lena mused. “If any. I don’t have high hopes…”

“Do you wish to request Aureal men as well?” Haskill raised his quill again.

“No, not them,” Lena shook her head vehemently. “They are worse than the women.” She didn’t clarify how they were worse, and Haskill didn’t ask.

The next day the Mazken Commander entered the throne room with one other guard walking right behind her – a male Mazken. She marched him up to Lena’s throne and took a step to the side.

“M’Lord, this is the Mazken male who answered your call. His name is Dylan. What duties do you wish to assign him?” The Commander said with a certain glee.

“Just the one?” Lena looked mildly disappointed.

“You ordered not to press,” the Commander nodded. “All the others preferred to continue serving the Mazken Order.”

“Alright,” Lena stood up and walked over to Dylan. He was taller than she, although shorter than the Mazken women in the room. He wore Mazken armour of dark metal that left his chest exposed, with a neckguard and pauldrons accentuating his physique. It was a most appealing design, Lena found. He was armed with a mace and a bow, the same as the guards.

“What made you answer my call, Dylan?” She asked.

“We’ve never had a call like that,” he answered in a guttural and slightly hoarse voice. “I am here to serve, My Lord.”

“Curiosity then,” Lena smiled. “Very well. We shall assign you to my quarters. OUTSIDE of my quarters!” She added with emphasis. “Together with one of the usual guards. There’s always a pair, you be one of them.”

The Commander, Dylan and Haskill all nodded, and the Mazken left.

“Will there be anything else, M’Lord?” Haskill was laughing inside, Lena could tell.

“What – do you think the women will be jealous?” She grinned.

“The post outside your quarters is the most prestigious one,” Haskill replied, no longer suppressing his grin. “I daresay they’ll be jealous! Especially if you call him inside… It’s not for nothing that they are known as Dark Seducers.”

“Yes, well, I can see why Prince Sheogorath wanted only women here, but I am not he.”

“Evidently!” Haskill coughed, his suppressed laughter finally getting the better of him. “And you banished the Aureals from your quarters… Lord Sheogorath should not be taking sides.”

“Well, this one does,” Lena grimaced. “The Aureals annoy me.”

“Will there be anything else?”

“Not today,” Lena got up from the throne. “I should get acquainted with the one man in the whole of Mazken Order.”

She walked to her quarters and found Dylan already at his post outside her door. She went in and put on her armour, the same iron breastplate and leather greaves with soft boots that she’d always worn. This set was better quality than before, but she refused anything heavy or bulky.

“Come with me,” she gestured to Dylan when she was ready. “Let’s take a walk through the Realm.”

“My Lord, would you be needing protection?” The other guard called after her, ready to follow.

“I shall summon you if we get overwhelmed,” Lena waved and she and Dylan left the palace.

It was not unusual for Lena to walk the roads of the Shivering Isles, there was always something to do, and she liked to get away from the palace. “Our Lord is looking out for us!” People would say when she took yet another errand for them. They were her people, she felt responsible for their lives, at least to a degree. No one knew how long Prince Sheogorath would be staying away, some said a year, other thought a generation, yet others predicted a century… As it was, five years had passed since Lena got her title, and there was no sign of the Prince returning as yet.

“We are just going to the Knotty Bramble to get some aquanostrum for Bernice,” Lena turned to Dylan when they left New Sheoth. “It’s just grummites this time, but they do get quite protective of their young down there,” she explained.

“If you wanted a bodyguard, why did you ask for a man, M’Lord?” Dylan ventured a question. “Our women are far superior.”

“And far more annoying,” Lena grimaced. “I didn’t want a bodyguard, I can usually manage by myself. I wanted a travel companion.”

“I don’t think I understand, M’Lord…”

“It’s Wolf,” Lena stopped to look at him. “I know you have to M’Lord me when we are at the palace, but when we are alone, please drop it. Just call me Wolf. As for the rest of it… you’ll figure it out as we go.”

Dylan gave her a look of incomprehension, but then nodded and smiled. This was one strange Lord Sheogorath… as only Lord Sheogorath could be! Were all mortals like that? It was the first one he was seeing up close… A woman, but nothing like the commanding Mazken women he was serving before… He wondered where it would lead, and was eager to follow.

Knotty Bramble presented the usual challenge that was not to be taken lightly. “They are just grummites!” Dylan thought, but soon learned that grummites had ranks, they had scouts, warriors, mages, deathdealers and outright savage protectors, their weapons were sharp and their poisons rather debilitating… It wasn’t a walk in the park. But eventually he and Lena got some aquanostrum, as well as a bag full of grummite eggs. They went to a nearby camp to roast the eggs and rest up.

“What does this water do?” Dylan was sniffing the aquanostrum. “Seems like regular water to me.”

“With some grummite droppings, yes,” Lena grinned. “But Sickly Bernice believes it is saving her life, one sip a day. And so I fetch it for her when it runs out.”

“What is wrong with Sickly Bernice?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Lena turned over the eggs. “But she thinks she is terminally ill. Well, we all are in a way, we all have to die some day… We, mortals, that is.” She looked up at Dylan but he was still confused.

“So why are you going to all this trouble to bring her the cure that does nothing at all?”

“I didn’t say it did nothing,” Lena objected. “It makes Bernice happy. It makes her enjoy her life, in her own way. It makes her feel like somebody cares… It’s important. It’s worth braving the grummites from time to time.” She fished the eggs out of the fire and sliced them open. “Here, have a roasted egg,” she handed one to Dylan. “It’s food, if you can believe it. It’s what people here eat… And now that you’re stuck in the Realm with me, you need to eat as well.”

“Stuck in the Realm…” Dylan repeated, cautiously biting off a small chunk of the egg. “You won’t banish me then? How am I to recover my health?”

“You eat and sleep, like mortals,” she smiled. “I could not banish you even if I wanted. I don’t have the power. I guess the women didn’t tell you that.”

“They didn’t,” Dylan took another bite of the egg. “But… well, never mind,” he smiled. “I’ll figure it out somehow. Eat and sleep… what a notion…”

The night was clear and the stars shone in all their splendour. Lena stretched out on a bedroll and prepared to go to sleep.

“You know how to sleep, right?” She suddenly looked up at Dylan who was watching the stars. “You lie down and close your eyes… Your tiredness should do the rest.”

“Yeah, I know how to sleep,” he smiled. “Although it’s true that I rarely had to. You sleep. I think I feel better already because someone seems to care for me…”

…

Their travels took them all over the Shivering Isles. Dylan regarded Mania with mistrust at first, but soon realised that apart from the bright colours, it was no different from Dementia. He met many people inhabiting the Isles, and found them all to be different… much more different from each other than the Mazken between themselves. “Mortals don’t make sense,” he would watch them in fascination.

“This one likes peace and quiet, yet this one runs around all day… That one likes wine, yet that other one declares it the ultimate evil… What is true, then?” He would shake his head.

“It is matter of taste, of perception,” Lena would smile. “Mortals are all different… That’s what they have in common. That, and the fact the we all have to die one day, of course.”

As months went by, Dylan started getting used to mortals and their strange ways. They were a part of His Lord’s Realm, as much as the trees and the grummites that His Lord had created, as much as the Mazken themselves, in fact. He was still trying to figure out why Lena requested a male to travel the land with her, as so far he could not see any particular reason. “A Mazken woman would have been a lot more effective,” he kept thinking whenever he got a serious wound. “A woman, with her superior strength would have blocked that attack…” But there again, as time went on, his skills improved and he learned to block and parry a lot better. Not being able to regenerate through banishing into Oblivion also played a part. He had to be careful not to get hurt too much.

One day instead of staying at a campsite, Lena decided to stay at an inn. They entered the room, it had one double bed. Dylan thought that perhaps this was the reason why Lena had requested a male.

“Are we to share a bed?” He asked in his guttural voice, removing his armour. “I am here to serve.”

Lena was half way removing her own breastplate, and only turned around a few moments later. She’d never seen Dylan so completely devoid of his armour.

“I don’t want you to serve,” she shook her head.

“But you asked for a male…” Dylan was confused. “I wish to give you pleasure. Am I not to your taste?”

“You are, that’s not it,” Lena came close to him. “They say no one can refuse a Dark Seducer,” she smiled. “They may be right… I am not refusing… but I am questioning your motives. I don’t want to be a chore or a duty.”

“But that’s what men are for… is it not? To serve, one way or the other.”

“Did your women tell you that?” Lena frowned. “And you wonder why I asked for a man? It is such arrogance that annoys me most! To serve one way or the other, indeed!”

Lena was angry. She stomped around the room, clenching her fists. Dylan watched in bewilderment. Then suddenly Lena removed the rest of her armour and clothing and stood in front of him.

“Look at me,” she said. “Look at this withered body. No one can desire one like this, I least of all. If I want service, I can get it against honest payment, for not for a moment will I believe that you actually want to make love to me.”

She looked sad and angry at the same time, disheartened and powerless, not what the ruler of the land should be like. She snorted one more time and sat on the bed, looking away.

“I see,” Dylan said after a while. “It’s not that you specifically wanted a man, it’s just that you didn’t want a woman… such as one of ours, at least… Are mortal women the same? You said they were all different.”

“Some mortal women are much the same, some are different, and most are just as annoying,” Lena smiled at him through her sadness. “I’ve been betrayed by women a lot… far more than by men. I cannot stand the constant chatter, the gossip, the intrigue… there are exceptions, of course, but on the whole, for me a man is a safer choice. And that’s why I asked for a man.”