The next day was almost peaceful, even for Ren. A large portion of that near-peace came from Merlin conferring with Cú and then flitting off to 'escort' the wagons bearing supplies to the fortress. "I'm sure I can help them get here much faster," he told Tora, who was standing near Ren at the time.
After he'd waved and dematerialized, Tora had edged over to Ren. "Lady Ren… I'm confused. Why is Merlin reporting to me?"
"Because I asked him to leave me alone for a while and he's taking it very literally," Ren informed her tartly.
"Oh," said Tora thoughtfully. "My… my Servant—" she touched her chest, "—whispers to me that he's not to be trusted." Her cheeks flushed as she added, "Especially not with you."
"No," said Ren and changed the subject. "Would you and Cú help me do some weapon training today? You have a sword, right?"
Between the training Cú inflicted with Tora's help, cleaning out more of the fortress and keeping Flat and Astolfo from causing mischief, it wasn't exactly a day of relaxation. When Merlin didn't return by nightfall, what peace she had gained evaporated. They'd moved the bed up to one of the upper rooms so people weren't dining in her bedroom, and there she curled up on the mattress and tried to scold herself out of her misery. All she achieved was a restless, unhappy sleep full of incoherent nightmares.
The next morning Merlin appeared outside the fortress riding on the first of several wagons. The three wagons were loaded with foodstuffs, furniture, and lumber. The draft horses moved alertly, but the wagoneers all had a stunned, dreamy expression. When Merlin waved his staff and one of his reconstructed walls cracked open so the wagons could drive through to the courtyard, a formless rage churned within Ren that he'd caused her so much suffering over something he could resolve so easily.
"We'll keep the horses and the wagons," said Merlin cheerfully moments later as he supervised the unloading. "But I'll send the drivers to the village to recover. They worked very hard getting everything here!"
Ren gave him a sidelong look. Everybody but the littlest children had joined in the unloading, so Merlin had to be talking to her. She could hardly believe it.
"Thank you," she said distantly.
He winced. "Ren—"
Ren's fingers curled into a fist. "Don't." She started to move to the nearest wagon. The flurry of activity would take her mind off the magus soon enough. Yesterday had demonstrated that.
His voice soft, he said, "I'm sorry."
She stopped, her rigid back to him, waiting for anything else he might say. She didn't know what she expected, or even what she wanted, but she knew a blanket apology wasn't it. But as the silence behind her dragged on, her heart shivered and wilted and she braced her shoulders to go do productive work.
"You want more," he said, his voice flat and emotionless. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that once again everyday ordinary Merlin had been superceded by his inhuman side.
"Why did you do it?" she asked, her heart jumping into her throat.
Despite the brightness of the morning, his purple eyes seemed almost black. "I wanted you," he said calmly. "I still want you."
Heat kindled low in Ren's stomach as her stupid, treacherous body responded to his words. She tucked suddenly cold hands under her arms. "What are you sorry for, then?"
Merlin's brow furrowed, as if her question puzzled him. "Hurting you. That was exactly what I didn't want to do."
Ren's fingers dug into her tunic, and she lowered her eyes to hide the way they stung. Nothing she could think to say meant anything. Some of it was cruel and some of it was trite and all of it was useless. Finally, swallowing the lump in her throat, she said, "I can't talk about this right now. I'm going to summon another Servant soon. Go… go do what you have to make your mana faucet is turned up to max or whatever."
Glancing up, she saw he'd finally found an emotion he thought was appropriate to the situation. He watched her with a gentle, wry sympathy that made her want to leap on him and claw the mild expression off his face. Instead she whirled around, scanned the courtyard and shouted, "Astolfo! Help me move that giant cupboard thing on the last wagon!"
The giant cupboard turned out to be, well, a giant cupboard, complete with dishes held in place with leather straps. There were also several beds, packed flat and requiring assembly, chairs, additional futons, a good-sized table, two trunks full of what looked like sheets and tablecloths, another trunk fill of small household items like table clocks and writing supplies, a barrel of some kind of magic candle that made Ritsu's eyes light up, and a basket full of stuffed and wooden toys.
In the freshly furnished great hall, while staring at the basket as the two youngest children knelt beside it, Tora said, "Most of this is my Lord's own campaign furniture. Not… not the toys, though. Why are those here?"
"For the children, I imagine," said Ren. "Didn't you plan on trusting him with your sister?"
"Yes, but…" Tora frowned, shaking her head. "I've never actually seen him interact with a child. He's… he's not very fond of frivolous things." Her cheeks turned pink. "He's very kind, though, so it only makes sense."
Feeling obscurely envious of Tora, Ren left her watching the children and went to gather her summoning team which today consisted of Merlin, Cú Chulainn, and Jack. But Jekyll, Astolfo and Flat all followed her down as well.
Ren surveyed the crowded summoning chamber. Ritsu's little corner nest had been moved to one of the upper rooms where two of the smaller beds had been placed for Ritsu and the kids to share. Now Flat lurked there.
She gave him a dark look, but before she could order him out, he said, "Please let me stay, Lady! Just this once!" He'd taken to calling her that yesterday after toying first with Master, very briefly trying Mommy, and lingering on Boss for a while.
Jekyll cleared his throat. "I think Flat may be able to give us useful insights on what's going on when you summon, Master."
Ren considered Jekyll. He'd also been avoiding her, ever since they'd pulled him to the surface the day before yesterday. She'd been too distracted to push, especially once she'd seen he was interacting normally with others. She didn't know what he remembered when Hyde was in control, but she suspected whatever it was had probably solidified his dislike of her.
But his steady gaze now gave no sign of that. He was earnest, serious and focused on being helpful. And if he wanted to help her, even now…
She sighed. "Can you keep him out of trouble?"
"Yes, Master," said Jekyll with a small bow, while Flat beamed.
Astolfo did a full on dance move. "You can't kick me out while letting them stay, Master. I'm much more useful if trouble comes through."
Ren threw her hands up in the air. "You're going to regret it if we all get squished." She turned to Merlin, who stood right beside Jack. "Are you ready?"
"Perfectly," he said, with a bright smile. He went to extract his sword from his staff but as he did she pulled the knife Cú had acquired for her the previous day out of the pocket of her tunic.
"Here. Use this. No Origin alteration, unlike your sword."
Merlin pursed his lips, accepting and inspecting the knife critically. It had a small, thin, double-edged blade the length of her hand and about as wide as two of her fingers at the base. Cú had spent some time sharpening it and scratching little runes into the blade before handing it to her and teaching her how to hold it to his throat or, as he put it, more vulnerable parts lower down.
"How very mundane," he said lighly. "I'll have to see if I can improve it for you later."
Steeling herself, Ren held out her hand. It wasn't the cut she feared, but Merlin's touch, and it hadn't been wasted dread. His gentle fingers as he took her hand unlocked memories she'd tried to bury in the flurry of chores.
I still want you.
She didn't know what to do with that. Even if she wanted him too, it wasn't enough.
"Serendipity?" he said, smiling, and she realized blood was leaking into her hand, cupped with Merlin's. "Go to work."
Ren glanced down at Jack, who gave her a wide hopeful smile that immediately refocused her on today's agenda. "Right."
She marched to the portal and concentrated a moment to organize her prayer. She'd keep it simple this time: exactly what Jack wanted, with one addendum for Ritsu, for whom they were all there.
Child.
Hero.
She flung a spray of crimson drops into the portal. In instant response, golden rays of light beamed out of the portal, silhouetting an even brighter silhouette. Ren squinted at the light, her mind already churning through drifts of barely verbalized story fragments. The silhouette was small, at least—
The golden light faded as the bright figure acquired detail. A young boy with golden hair and crimson eyes stood in front of Ren, his hands on his hips and a smile curving his mouth as he fearlessly met her gaze. She couldn't help an answering smile curving her mouth, but the lessons of the past lingered and she didn't wait before starting the traditional exchange.
"My name is Serendipity." She studied him closely: surprisingly casual clothing, no obvious weapon, no scars, no marks.
"Hi, Serendipity," said the boy cheerfully. "Do you know who I am? I really hope so. This place looks pretty interesting."
Ren narrowed her eyes, before glancing over her shoulder at where Flat bounced on his toes with his hands conspicuously behind his back. Jekyll had his hand on Flat's shoulder, his brow as furrowed as Ren's own as he stared at the young boy.
"Mommy?" said Jack, her eyes shining.
"Come on," said the young boy encouragingly. "You can do it! I'm cheering for you!" But although her mind raced, she couldn't find a match anywhere in what you knew until he added, "Do I have to say it to give you a clue? I'd rather not, you know. I mean, why be that mean? But…"
Ren blinked and then peered closer as the boy shaped a word silently. The careless arrogance of his bright smile combined with his glittering eyes… no. No.
"You've got it!" he said. "Just say it."
Her throat was suddenly dry, and she cleared it before saying carefully, "Uh… you're Gilgamesh."
As lilac light flared around the two of them, the boy said, "Well done! Call me Gil."
Jack scrambled past Ren to grab the child Gilgamesh by his shirt. "Hi! You're my new baby brother! You have to play with me when we're not killing things."
Gil's smile was soft as he looked down at the smaller girl. He patted her on the head as he said, "Definitely, big sister. But just one minute, okay? We're not quite done here yet."
"No…" said Merlin, his voice distant. "No, we're not. You're a freebie, King of Heroes?"
Cupping a hand to one ear as he glanced back at the portal, Gil said, "There's definitely somebody else coming. Maybe who Miss Serendipity really wanted?"
"What?" said Ren, startled, because she knew that Gil was exactly who she'd prayed for. But as she met Gil's sparkling eyes, she realized with foreboding that he knew that too. "I—"
"Shh," said Gil. "Let's see who it is." He reached back into the portal, his arm vanishing into the field of blue. When he pulled his hand back again he held a blue cloth that he drew after him as he stepped past Ren. He murmured, "Good luck," and dropped the cloth.
The portal glowed in a far less dazzling fashion than it had with Gil, and then another Servant stepped through. The blue fabric Gil had held was part to a knotted mantle he wore over green armor. He had a sword at each hip, and short black hair with a single lock falling over his forehead. He was breathtakingly handsome, especially when he smiled at her.
"Servant, Saber," he said, his gorgeous brown eyes never leaving her own. "And I see there's an additional rule here before I can cal you Master. Do you know it?"
In a reverent voice, Ren said, "I'm Serendipity, and you're Diarmuid Ua Duibhne." There was a pause, in which lilac light did not flare around them, and Ren blinked. "Am I wrong?"
"No, no." He stepped forward, holding out his hand, and took her own, smiling at her again. "You're my Master. Thank you for recognizing me."
"But…" Ren looked around. Jekyll's eyes were crimson again, and his hand on Flat's shoulder seemed to be causing Flat some pain that Astolfo was trying to mitigate. Cú was watching Gil with narrow-eyed suspicion. And Merlin was staring very hard at Diarmuid, as if something displeased him.
"Just a bit of a delay as the magic recharges, I bet," said Gil airily, while staring at Merlin. "If it takes too long, I'll do something else!"
Merlin seemed to wake from his trance. "Well done, Serendipity. Two for the price of one." Lilac light flared around Diarmuid and Ren, and she glanced back at her newest, and by far most handsome Servant.
A little shyly, she pulled her hand away from his. "You're welcome here, Diarmuid. And you too, Gil. I'll explain what's going on—"
"Petals!" shouted Hyde, pushing Flat aside finally. "I am going to kill you."