Chapter Ten: Bewilderment

Muta's home was a modest wood cabin that he had built himself. It was also still in the woods, a good half-day's walk from the closest village, which was just perfect for hiding a refugee.

Haru looked around as Muta bolted the door behind them, to keep out intruders. It didn't have a whole lot of furniture, just a wooden couch and bed. What Muta had focused his attention on was the cabinets, which were almost bulging with food. He looked at his little green companion while setting aside his fishing pole and food satchel.

"What you need is a nice hot meal, Chicky. A vegetable stew should do nicely." With that, he started rummaging around in the cupboards and pulling out various veggies. After deciding that they needed water, the fat brunette shouldered a pole with a bucket dangling from each side as he took down the bolt.

"Okay, Haru. This is what I need you to do. The only one that ever visits me is my best friend Toto, and sometimes his wife and kid. There's a chance that they'll come while I'm gone, but…" he stopped, trying to think of a nice way to put it. "… if he sees you, he might tell someone that will tell Mr. Hatachi, and we don't want that."

The small girl nodded her head in agreement. "Do you want me to bolt the door behind you?" she asked.

Muta shook his head. "If we did that, and Toto came, he'd think that I was in here and try to break in. What I need you to do is hide under my bed, and take a little nap. I won't be gone for very long, but Toto's the kind of person to burst into my home without warning. I've been trying to beat it into him that I don't like it when he does it, but he keeps doing it anyway. If you stay under my bed, then he won't see you."

Haru nodded, making the fat man smile affectionately and kiss her forehead. Her eyebrows went up, since no one had ever done that to her before.

"That's my girl," he said lovingly before going through the door. As it shut behind him, the green child looked around the cabin again. She would have loved to explore a bit, but decided to take a nap under the bed, like Muta suggested.

She crawled underneath the large bed until reaching the wall. The tiny brunette looked behind her, a little amazed at how far away the light was. She shrugged it off, and went to sleep.

Darkness didn't bother her much. Back in the circus, she was never bothered when left alone in the dark.

It was the light that had made her learn fear.

xxXxx

"Well, one or two of Lady Haru's earlier clients had grown up in orphanages, but she didn't care much for the details they gave her. She eventually started raiding orphanages, telling everyone there that if they came home with her, they would never be cold or hungry again. The owners always try to stop her, so she binds them to the wall and takes away their voices until five minutes after she leaves with her new charges. Lady Haru's picked up quite a number of kids that are much happier now, but then she noticed how the elderly were often tossed out of their homes for being useless, and started taking them in as well. They help where they can, and the shadow servants she calls up care for their physical needs. But she has never carried anyone off without their consent. She's very firm about that."

Baron nodded again, a bit perplexed. "What does she do with all those children?"

"Same thing she does with everyone else. She gives them a home, decent clothes, food on the table, and a job. Lady Haru hates idleness, so after a week of letting the children settle in, they can choose any line of work they want. If they're under the age of ten, then they can wait until they're old enough to work. Surprisingly, the children are willing to take jobs, since they have the power to choose what to do with the rest of their lives, and Lady Haru makes sure that they have enough time to play after work. Everyone benefits. Of course, many of them are a bit put out that Lord Muta won't let them learn how to fight from you."

Baron sighed. "I began learning when I was eight, so I may have to talk with Muta about this. There are other ways for children to help with warfare."

Tsuge grinned, and stretched out a bit. "Can we start again? We've got a ways to go."

"One more question. Before coming here, I met a fellow that everyone claims lost his voice to your Lady Haru permanently, and he seems to feel that she is the most terrifying thing on the planet. Would you care to explain this?"

The young man's eyes suddenly turned dark, and became filled with an unfathomable hatred. "Was his name Machida?"

"I believe so."

"Well, he better be terrified, after what he did."

"What did he do?" Baron pressed.

The young man began growling. "He betrayed Lady Haru's trust in the worst possible way. Lord Muta wanted to kill him, but Lady Haru wouldn't allow it. Machida was very lucky that he got off with a voice removal and lifelong banishment from her lands, because if he were to ever show his face here again, I doubt Lady Haru would be able to save him a second time."

"How did he betray her trust?" Baron asked, feeling a bit impatient.

The young man scowled, and got to his feet. "He got her to give him her heart, just so he could shatter it and make her more vulnerable to an assassination. If Lord Muta didn't walk in, Machida probably would have been able to kill her. Then, that very night, she gets the vision of the green-eyed man enslaving her. She hasn't been the same since."

"Enslaving her?!" Baron asked, outraged.

The dark youth nodded and gripped his stick once more. "Can we go back to the lesson? Like I said, we've got a ways to go, and none of us want Lady Haru to ever get hurt again."

Numbly, Baron got to his feet and resumed the lesson. His body was on autopilot while he corrected stances, and went through three more groups of students before Muta showed him to a comfortable room in the castle. His mind was racing with a thousand questions.

Why did Lady Haru care so much for complete strangers? Why did Machida hide his despicable acts? Why did she think that he intended to enslave her, of all things? Why on earth did all the other witches seem to think that he was going to kill her? What had been the vision, precisely?

He lay on the bed and thought about these questions. He stared up at the stone ceiling, and mentally traced the individual stones.

"For that matter, where is she now?" he mused out loud. Raiding another orphanage, perhaps? How would she transport the children, on her back?

His heart began to pound in excitement, thinking about riding on such an impressive dragon. Would she let him ride her, if he asked? Muta had said that she would probably give him whatever he wanted, in exchange for training her people.

He sighed once more, and slipped between the covers to fall asleep.

Well one thing was for sure. He needed to talk to this Lady Haru as soon as possible. If she was truly as good as his student had said, then he had absolutely no intention of slaying her, no matter what that mayor had told him.