Chapter 23 - Regrets, I've Had a Few

After around an hour, he suddenly stopped and turned to look at us. "Alright, this is as far as I'll lead you. I'm not going anywhere near those harpies, so keep taking this path and eventually you'll reach their village, less than an hour." He shrugged. "That's it really."

"Okay, we can make it from here. Thank you for the help and uh sorry." Luka briefly bowed his head.

"Yeah, thanks." I thanked him as well, though I didn't bow. If the Queen didn't get me to, some random yahoo isn't either.

"Yeah, yeah, you're welcome." he started walking away. "Good luck with those harpies and remember to watch the sky."

We keep traveling the path and, true to his word, we eventually reached Harpy Village. We saw it from a distance, building literally popping out of the foliage as the forest began to thin out.

***

The harpy's village was quite a sight to behold. It felt like something out of a video game crossed with a children's playground. The majority of the buildings were tree houses built around and ontop of very wide and sturdy looking trees. There were walkways, rope bridges, and platforms all around and above us, with staircases or ramps spiralling around the trunk of the tree to reach it. There were regular houses on the ground as well, but they were far less numerous than the ones up on platforms.

There wasn't really any roads, so much as well worn paths between various buildings and ramps. We were getting a few glances from curious onlookers, but much like in Happiness Village, nobody tried to approach us. It was… strange seeing so many monsters in one place. I had been inside the beehive, but it was neatly divided up into individual rooms and I never saw more than a few together at any given time.

Here though, we were surrounded by harpies. They were everywhere, flying above our heads, milling about on any of the various platforms, or even walking around on the ground. I saw a surprising number of humans as well, even including more than a few females.

"Sunny turned herself in for this!" Moonbeam shouted a bit too loudly, causing nearby onlookers to stare at us. "This place is a dump! Those men should have been thanking us for trying to take them away from this!"

"Moonbeam, shut up."

In spite of that though, the village didn't seem that populated, even compared to Happiness Village…

I vaguely remembered that one of the harpy guards that came to Happiness with the queen had mentioned something about how most of the population was actually under five years old. It was the reason why they had Sunny helping to look after the baby chicks in the first place.

It was only a short while after entering the village when an armoured harpy flew down and landed a few yards away from us. Luka reflexively reached for his sword, but stopped when she smiled and casually walked up to us.

"Hello sir," she greeted us, looking specifically at me, "It's good to see you're still in good health."

She was wearing a mail vest over top of what looked like a padded shirt, with padding along her feather thighs and a belt filled with pouches on her waist. Atop her head was a steel cap held in place by leather straps underneath her chin, the feather tufts on the side of her being left uncovered. I wasn't sure if it was just feathers, or possibly ears simply covered in feathers, though considering she had several piercings in both tufts I was leaning towards the latter possibility.

I could vaguely recall that I'd seen her before. "Uh, thank you. I'm assuming you were with the queen when she came to Happiness, yes?"

"Indeed I was sir." She nodded. "I was the one who was keeping Sunny in line while you spoke to her."

"Ah yes," I nodded as well, "I thought you looked familiar. Uh, this is Luka," I motioned to him, who gave her an awkward wave, "Luka this is… a harpy guard whose name I never got."

"That's fine sir, I wasn't there to make pleasantries. In fact, I'm on duty at the moment."

"Oh, good, that saves us a lot of trouble." I pointed to the annoying mini dark elf in my pocket. "This is Moonbeam, she's Sunny's sister, and we're here to turn her in for attempted murder."

"What?!" The annoying dark elf shouted. "You were serious about turning me in?!"

We all turned to stare at her, Luka and I in annoyance while the harpy guard looked perplexed.

"Why would you think that?" He asked.

"I-I thought we worked out a deal!" She threw her arms up. "I cooperated with you, then you help me free Sunny and become our slaves! We'd get big guy on little guy action and you might have gotten some sister stuff in return!"

Luka and I shared a look of complete confusion and I was the first to speak, though after repeatedly opening and closing my mouth. "Why would you ever think that?"

"You-you agreed to it!" She pointed an accusatory finger at Luka, then turned to look up and point at me. "I talked about my plan, one of you mumbled and nobody said no, so I thought we were all on board!"

"No, we weren't." Luka replied.

"Wha-no! You were going to join us and also paint me like a snow elf before I got big again!"

"You read entirely into a conversation that only you had." I said, placing my hand on my pocket to pin her against my leg. I was worried about her suddenly trying to jump out and run away.

She struggled against my hand and hit me with her tiny, tiny hands, even trying to bite me. It didn't really work since I had my armoured glove on.

I turned to the harpy. "So, should I just hand her off to you right here and now?"

"It'd probably be best if you followed me, sir. In case you're needed."

"Oh okay." I glanced at Luka and he shrugged.

She led us to some tree with several buildings in it that seemed to be only accessible to those who could fly, since there wasn't any stairs or ladders leading up to it. Turning to face me, she raised up and extended a foot. "If you could sir."

"Sure." I gently pulled up the still struggling dark elf and placed her in the guard's talons.

"Come on! Don't do this!" She pleaded with me, but Luka and I looked on impassively… until she started ranting about the things she'd do to us or vice versa. Then we were all extremely uncomfortable, though the guard was blushing… and so was I.

"Please stay here sir, and I, or another guard, will be back shortly." She pushed off the ground with one foot and quickly disappeared into one of the buildings.

"I guess all we can do now is play the waiting game." I said to Luka after the guard left. "It feels… good to put her away, though it is a bit anti-climatic, probably for the best." I shrugged.

"Yeah," he nodded, "I like being able to solve problems without resorting to violence. It feels more heroic."

I nodded as well and we lulled into a silence as we waited for her to return.

***

It wasn't too long before the same harpy flew down and landed in front of us, sans Moonbeam. "How long is she going to be sealed for?"

Luka shrugged and looked to me. The downside of seeming like I knew what I was talking about; people look at you and expect you to know what you're talking about.

"It shouldn't be too long, I think, somewhere between a few hours to a day or two." I tried not to sound too uncertain. "Though I don't know exactly how long. It really depends on how strong she was and how long it takes her to build back up her energy, so since she went down in one hit I'm kind of running on the assumption that she can unseal herself after a day or maybe even less than that."

She proceed what I had said and nodded. "Alright. Do you know what will happen when the seal breaks?"

"She'll return to normal, but I don't know beyond that." I shrugged sheepishly. "Alice, the woman with white hair who was with us, knows more about it, but she left to deal with something. I only know the bare basics and it's rather lacking at that."

"That's alright sir." She smiled at me. "We had suspected that's how the seal worked, and wanted to confirm that. There's no need to worry about the details."

"What's going to happen to Moonbeam?" I asked.

"She'll be imprisoned for the time being and face trial at a later date. In fact I've been instructed to get your opinion on how she should be punished."

"Why would they want to know that?" Luka asked.

I sighed in annoyance. "Because the queen evidently still thinks I'm nobility or something like that, and apparently harpy justice doesn't believe in stuff like rule of law or precedents."

The Queen's comments made it seem like she thought I was more than that. I wonder if I should act like everyone else when we meet with royalty in the future and just bow… Nah, I'm too stubborn to do that.

"But you're not." He sounded confused why they would think that.

"Of course he's not." She winked in an exaggerated manner. "Still, I've been told to get his input on the matter." Her smile turned sadistic. "If it's out of line to say, sir, I'd recommend hanging. The gallow hasn't been set up in years and it would be a shame to let our craftsmen get out of practice."

"No!" I shout back in response. "I mean, Moonbeam is way worse than her sister. She even told us that while she had been hiding out at Enrika she often hid by the road to see if there was anyone travelling alone that she could abduct, and that she had been planning on breaking Sunny out of here-"

"You're not helping her case." She rudely interjected.

I held up my hand to forestall any further comments. "Look! The point is, I still don't want anyone killed on my behalf, though I'm not going to argue that she should be treated as silently as Sunny. From what I can tell, Moonbeam is the idiot schemer who's behind everything the two of them did. So, uh…" I paused to collect my thoughts. If she was a more dangerous monster, like a roper, I might have argued for death, but she was a dark elf. Ditzy personality aside, she was dangerous to herself and others around her, and I hadn't forgotten that. "Luka," I turned to him, "What do you think?"

He seemed a bit surprised to suddenly be put on the spot, but recovered quickly. "Oh, she's already sealed and can't cause trouble, so killing her would be wrong." He shot a glance at Angel Halo on his hip.

The harpy scoffed at his remark, though she didn't say anything. I supposed a war veteran didn't want to get into a discussion on the morality of killing with a hero. I didn't blame her.

"Somehow I knew you'd say something like that. So, imprisonment for several years I guess. You're asking for my opinion, not for me to pass the sentence myself, so I don't know beyond that."

She frowned for a moment, then shook her head. "Very well sir, if that's all that you have to say-"

"I'm fairly certain it is." I interjected.

"Then I believe that is everything." She crouched to push off the ground, her wings raised up, before she suddenly stopped. "Oh I almost forgot." She tood back up and managed to pull a note out from a pouch on her belt using her foot, and passed it to me. "It's from Her Majesty, and she recommends you keep whatever's written on that to yourself."

The way she said that it was clear it was more than a recommendation.

"Oh, of course." I reached and took the note from her dexterous talons, and pocketed it. It was paper, though definitely not the modern kind. I wondered where they got it from, since I hadn't seen any workshops or mills in the area, and figured they must have gotten it from somewhere else.

Ah, the petty concerns of logistics. I will never cease to concern myself with thee.

"Now then, I believe that is actually everything this time. It was good to see you again sir." She nodded at me and then Luka. "If either of you ever grow tired of traveling, there are plenty of harpies who would be more than glad to settle down with you." With that, she took off before either of us could respond.

"Well," I started, glancing up at where she went and then back at Luka, "I guess that's that… definitely feels underwhelming, but I ain't complaining."

"Do you think we'll be able to handle future situations like that?" He sounded slightly optimistic.

"No, unfortunately not, but," I held up my finger, "We can hope and try to when the opportunity presents itself… Obviously not when it's a danger to ourselves though. That's what's so great about Angel Halo, you can use violence to solve a problem without actually killing anyone."

"Don't sound so enthusiastic about that."

"Hey, I'm just trying to be optimistic." I grinned as I started walked vaguely in the direction of Happiness Village. "So, I think that takes care of all these little 'side quests' we've been doing."

"Yeah, we can start going north to Iliasport, and then from there San Ilia."

"Ah, yes, you wanted to meet with the P- King and receive his blessing or wisdom or something of that sort." I nearly stopped myself from saying Pope. "It's what all the heroes are doing, at least the ones who bother to actually leave the continent instead of sticking around Iliasburg and abusing their discount for the rest of their life… or stealing from people." I shook my head, and mumbled. "I still can't believe they can actually do that."

He shook his head as well, then fixed me an accusatory stare. "Hey, you're the one who wanted to abuse the hero discount and joked about stealing stuff."

"Yes I did, but I never did it. The latter that is." I added as an afterthought. "You'd have to be crazy not to use that discount."

As we walked out of the village, we passed a curious sight, it was a large pen around a tree with a net over top of it wrapped around the trunk. The inside of which was filled with simple wooden jungle gyms, for lack of a better term, that made it look like a playground inside a big tent. Inside of it though, were dozens upon dozens of adorable harpy chicks, all running around flapping their tiny wings and climbing on anything they could reach. They all looked really young, probably somewhere around three or so if I would hazard a guess.

"Oooh, look at their liddle feathers! They look so soft and fluffy! Luka, Luka, look at them!" I pointed to a nearby group. "Awww, look at their tiny claws!"

So, I all but ran over to the pen's fencing and immediately began cooing over how cute they were. There were a few of the chicks who scattered at my rapid approach, but a few seemed awed and curious by the giant, i.e. me, more than three times their teeny tiny size. "Aw Luka, look how cute they are!" All rational thought went out the window when in the presence of such cuteness.

I wanted to pet them, but they were kids so that would be weird.

The caretakers inside the playpen were amused by my reaction, and I even heard a few chuckles above me. Looking up, I saw a couple guards perched on higher branches, standing watch over the chicks.

I heard Luka come up beside me, and saw him in my peripheral vision. "Yeah, they are pretty cute."

We stood there for a few minutes, before I noticed the chicks swarming around one person in particular who stood out amongst the harpies. It was Sunny, still wearing her green outfit, crouched down and entertaining the swarm of chicks with some silly faces.

"Huh, I guess she's really enjoying herself." I mumbled under my breath.

They seemed to be absolutely enthralled by her, judging by how many were trying to grab her attention compared to the harpies in there.

"What? Did you say something?" Luka asked.

"Hey, look over there." I motioned to her. "That's Sunny, who is without a doubt much nicer and way more well adjusted than her sister… even in spite of shooting me with a poisoned arrow."

"And they're okay with her being around their children?" He looked bemused to see her crowded around by chicks.

"It's funny, but I asked the exact same thing." I responded, thinking the sight of her was actually kind of cute. "Turns out that good behaviour and a lot of regret went a long way in her favour."

She looked up and noticed our presence, carefully standing she's managed to get the harpies hanging off of her to let go and pried herself away from them. It was mostly successful, with a few trailing behind her and flapping their wings while jumping up to get her attention.

She stopped a few yards away from us, looking tense and fidgeting on the spot, the chicks ignorant of her discomfort as they kept jumping around her. "So uh, I take it you found Sis."

"Yep, and she's still alive, and even uninjured." I casually responded. "They asked for my opinion on how what her sentence should be, like they did with you, and I said imprisonment. So, there's probably no need to worry about her."

"I uh, also spoke on her behalf and said that killing her would be wrong." Luka vouched for me, then frowned a bit. "Even though she… uh, said a lot of things that made me think otherwise."

Tension left her body as she let out a sigh of relief and slouched her shoulders, and half mumbled. "Oh thank goodness. She didn't manage to get herself killed."

"Lord knows she tried." I dryly remarked.

She took a breath to collect herself and perked up a bit. Crouching down, she motioned for the chicks to gather around her, and didn't mind when a couple jumped up onto her back. "Alright children, I need you to go bother Sophia while I speak with William."

One of the chicks frantically waved her wings above her head while hopping up and down. "Oh! Oh, Sunny! Is he your husband?"

Aw, that's just adorably innocent.

She blushed at the question, but shook her head. "No, he's a fri… acquaintance of mine. Now run along." She shooed them away, and they complied with great reluctance. Standing back up, she turned back towards us. "I'm glad to hear that. She has a bad… tendency of getting herself into trouble."

"To be it lightly." Luka quietly stated.

"And I have a bad habit of following her." She shook her head. "I put too much trust in her sometimes, but she's my sister."

"Well, you went your own way after what happened and all things considered, it seems to be working out for you."

"It is," she smiled and nodded, "I love playing with the chicks. They're so cute and adorable."

"Yeah they are, though they're still children." I shrugged. "I can handle pets, but I don't know if I could deal with dozens of children scampering over me. I doubt I could ever handle a kid."

Plus there's the fact that I don't want kids, ever. They're too much responsibility, I get stressed out just thinking about being having to take care of another person that is that dependent on me to live.

"Yet you're eager to sleep with every monster we meet." He rolled his eyes commented under his breath, sounding more exasperated than mad.

Sunny's expression slowly fell. "Did you know turning into a dark elf leaves you infertile?"

"Uh yeah, vaguely." I was a little confused by her sudden non sequitur. "Why?"

She cast her eyes downwards and looked away, sighing before speaking. "I didn't."

"Oh…" I stayed silent, unsure what to say after hearing that.

Even Luka got the implications of what she said, and we all stood there for a few seconds, immersed in the sound of silence. "Uh, anyway," Sunny awkwardly spoke up, "I'm glad Sis is alive. Despite everything she's done, and probably will do, she's still family. After me and her became dark elves, she was the only family I had left." She chuckled mirthlessly and shook her head. "Our own mother disowned us after we became literal degenerates."

"Degenerates?" Luka asked aloud.

"Oh, uh, when an elf turns into a dark elf the process is called degeneracy. It's not exactly a nice term to put it lightly." I uncomfortably informed him.

"Yeah, it's exactly how it sounds." She noddded. "I wasn't sure about it, but Sis eventually talked me into it. We'd gain power and make our, uh, intentions towards men clear."

"Ah." I nodded in understanding. I guess she wanted to take advantage of dark elves' reputation. "So, I guess you've been traveling together for a while."

"Yeah," she sighed wistfully, "We had a lot of fun adventures, but… her ideas and plans kept getting us into trouble. I kept going along with them because…" She paused for a couple seconds and shook her head. "I don't know. I never realized how bad she could get, until we uh, ran into you."

"Is that the worse thing she's ever done?" Luka asked.

"No- I… don't want to talk about it." She slouched and just seemed drained. "I want to move forward with my life. I'm going to finish my sentence and then… stick around here. I've got a long time to figure it out."

Damn it, I just want to hug her.

"Hey Sunny, I said this before, but it feels like it deserves to be reiterated. I… forgive you for what happened." I did it before, but after the encounter with Sylvia I felt like it needed to be said again. It would be hypocritical of me to extend the olive branch to her and not to Sunny. "Just don't go back to letting Moonbeam determine your future. I don't think she's going to change any time soon."

Well, re-extend I guess in the latter case, but the point still stands. The scar on my arm from her arrow is barely visible, while my neck was still purple. It was barely covered by the cloth collar of my armoured shirt.

The corners of her mouth tugged up as she slowly smiled at me. "Thanks, I don't plan on getting wrapped up in whatever Moonbeam does ever again. This is a fresh start for me and I'm not going to let it go to waste."

"That's good to hear." I found myself smiling back at her. "Well Sunny, surprisingly enough it was nice running into you. It feels like there's some closure now."

"Yeah, it does." She nodded back. "I actually saw you enter the village earlier but I was… too nervous to call out. So, I'm glad you noticed this playpen before you left."

I couldn't help but wonder how things would have turned out if we met under different circumstances… I get emotionally drawn into other people's lives too easily. I hear a bit about their life and suddenly I'm entirely invested in their well being.

"Me too."

"Keep up the good work Sunny." Luka gave her a thumbs up, then scratched the back of his head. "And uh, you're much nicer than your sister."

"Thanks, it's not that hard to do." She looked down at her feet and back up at us. "I guess uh, you should be on your way, can't waste the rest of the day talking to me."

"We probably should, though I wouldn't call it wasting." I adjusted the strap of my backpack. "Like I said, it was nice."

"It was." She smiled again, and I noticed just how golden her eyes were. Her irises really were like two shimmering orbs of gold.

"Well," I clapped my hands, "I suck with goodbyes, always drag them on too long, so I'll say this. Goodbye, and I wish you the best of luck."

With that we said our goodbyes and parted ways. As we began walking away, I glanced over my shoulder to get one final look at Sunny. She went back to the chicks, who greeted her return with open wings and swarmed over her in a mass of adorable feathers. She really seemed to have a way with them if they liked her that much.

It's strange, seeing that made me feel… at peace.

"You know what Luka?" I absentmindedly asked him.

"What?" He replied, obviously waiting for me to continue.

"I'm glad we did this ourselves."

He didn't immediately respond, instead staying silent for a few moments. "I am too."

"Once we get back to Iliasburg, we can finally start making progress again. We spend one final night at the inn and then go north to the coast." I felt nervous but excited at the prospect. I wasn't sure how we'd cross the channel or strait between Iliasport and Port Natalia, or deal with Alma Elma, but I was confident in Luka's ability.

Heh, I feel like Katara from Last Airbender, putting all my faith on Luka to save the world.

The buildings of the village we soon behind us as we made our way back to Happiness Village. We didn't plan on stopping for another visit, so the moment we reached it we'd be hitting the road back to Iliasburg. There'd be no more back tracking, only moving forward.

I stole a final glance at Harpy Village off in the distance and hoped they'd survive the coming months.