What felt like a pleasant few hours past, though may have been less than an hour as there had yet to be anyone else around still. Reluctantly, Ione decided she should man the front desk in the event of anyone coming to book rooms for an upcoming festival. I had offered to help, but Ione instead requested I go change the sheets to her bed instead, which was probably a good idea while nobody would be around to make comments.
At the last bit of the second flight of stairs, I could not help but notice a shaking in my knees as struggled to maintain my stride. It was as though my legs were having a hard time supporting my weight as I ascended. I dismissed the issue as just being exhausted as I rounded around towards Ione's room when I heard some voices outside. The giggling voices of TNA made it clear that Jon and his wives had returned, and with them the loss of a chance to stealthily replace Ione's sheets.
I had decided to wait at the top of the stairs to see if the newlyweds would go to their room to give me a chance to complete the task, but instead there seemed to be some conversation between the group and Ione. The inn had much flowing water throughout the interior, so overhearing the conversation over the ambient noise was not gonna happen. I was just about to head back down and join in on the conversation when I caught Ione's voice. "Please do not tell Ryan. He should hear it from Silvia when she is ready."
Whatever was being discussed, me listening in on it would probably be a bad thing. I turned away from the stairs and made my way to Ione's room as I pondered on ways to kill some time. A glance around the room filled with natural light helped drive home just how long Ione had been absent from this place. Looking on the floor, very clear tracks of human footprints and what I could only assume were Ione's talon prints danced their way to the bed. Moving around some more, I noticed the shelfs of Ione's childhood possessions. Some stuffed animals, dolls of monster girls and some rather idealized dolls of human men. They were all covered with dust to the point discerning their original colors was difficult, not to mention that the fabrics making them up were all dilapidated from the progression of time and likely hungry moths. I could see some spots from when Ione had brushed her hand or wing around, likely when she first returned to this room. The only thing that was clearly moved was a small box with signs of dust being wiped away. Curious, I picked up the box up to find a small turn key on the back. And inside was a bunch of small intricate mechanics, a music box.
Turning the key, the gears wound and the box began to produce noise. Though be it from the dust or rust from the years, the instrument bare was able to produce whatever the original song was. The thought that I should probably not be going through Ione's stuff without her permission came to mind as I absentmindedly pulled open one of the drawers to a dresser. Inside were many tatters of what looked to be a child's wardrobe worn down as well. As I looked around the room again, I noticed only the sheets seemed fresh and out of place. Besides my own and Ione's tracks, there was nothing to show someone ever being in this room recently but the room itself did not seem to have any actual damage. All the wood was still fine and barely any creaking when walking around. The door's hinges did not squeak much either. There was a lot of dust, but was this really nearly a decade's worth?
It was then the extremely long lifespan of the average mamono occured to me. How a decade was not a large fraction of a lifetime. How long has this room actually been left to delapidate, or rather how long did they maintain this room in hopes of Ione's return before it became too hard?
I had seen Ione talk with her father, the cat girl and the scorpion woman. But I had not seen them really celebrate Ione's return yet. At least it did not happen anywhere I would have been able to notice. The cat girl and lamia seemed to be continuing as business as usual, but something still did not feel right. It was as though they were avoiding something and keeping themselves busy with their work.
My train of thought was interrupted as I could hear the voices downstairs getting louder again. This time it was merry shouting, 'That's even worse!' Now would probably be a good time to take the sheets. With that thought I gathered up the bedsheets and exited the room, stopping only to look at the dusty room once more.
Once down the stairs, I heard Ione booking the crew for the festival in a few weeks. Seemed like this would not be the last time I would get to see them. "So you heading out now?"
"Yep, we're all heading out now. If you have anything you want to say, do it now." Felisha answered, eager to get things moving as usual.
"That's right Big Brofriend!" one of the imps, Ina, shouted. "This is you last chance for you and Big Bro to confess your love for each other!"
"We're short on time, so if you want to take him right here and now just go for it!" Tiki added with a shout. "As his wives we give you permission."
"Come on Big Bro." Sis as she tried to push John over. "Don't you have anything you want to say?"
John gave a silent sigh as he began. "Well, it's been fun. It was nice to have someone from the other world I could talk with. But I have a huge debt to pay, wives to satisfy, and children to support in the near future. I have a lot of work ahead of me. But it seems we will be back in 2 and a half weeks so maybe I will catch you then if you are still around."
I could only give a short pity laugh as I responded, I certainly did not envy the man. "Well, best of luck with all three of those things. The ride here was certainly interesting. I don't think I'll be going anywhere at this point, so let's talk when you visit next. I know alot about anime and stuff."
"You know, we talked a bit about team four star but not a lot about anime in general. Maybe we can fix that next time we meet." That was true, in fact I think I interacted with Veronica and TNA more than anyone else of John's group. "Of course by then I will have my daughters so I probably won't have time for it." John paused to give a nervous laugh of his own. "But in the meantime, be sure to talk with your companions. I'm sure you still have plenty to talk about."
"Yeah…" I replied as I took a glance in Ione and Silvia's directions before turning towards the washroom. "Well I should take this to the laundry before I do anything else." I had a lot of things to think about, and then there was things to come as well.
"Is that it? No passionate embrace?" Nip asked.
"No throwing each other to the floor and just fucking going at it?" Sara asked further.
I could hear John and TNa going back and forth all the while while I placed the dirty sheets with the others to be washed later. Near some baskets of what looked like familiar folded clothes I noticed a small box on the bench next to it. Picking the box up, I found that the other present I had bought at the Moon Bazaar inside. The anklet I had made for Ione. I set the box back down and went back to the group. When I spotted Silvia she was fidgeting with the choker's pendant. "Do you like it?" I asked as I waved a hand to bring Ione over. As the harpy approached I continued, "I got them for you two back at the Moon Bazaar, but never found the chance to give them to you." Silvia gave a small nod as Ione looked at the anklet.
"It is very pretty." Ione replied as she was about to accept the gift before stopping and shot me a mischievous smirk. Instead of accepting the anklet, Ione took a seat next to Silvia on the couch and raised her leg. "Could you put it on for me? I do not think my wings are dexterous enough to do it myself."
I could feel all eyes on me as I was trapped with little option. After all the ship's crew still were mad that I had taken so long to notice Ione's feelings for me. And so I knelt down and fastened the anklet to her leg. Ione's teasing expression had melted into a softer one as she shifted her legs as if to examine the jewelry, though I could see that her gaze was centered on me still. Between the flash from under her robe and the embarrassing situation to the recent thoughts I came to realize in her room earlier, I ended up turning my gaze to the side.
"Yesh, everyone is so hot and heavy." Veronica commented. "Can we go now?"
"What's the matter? Did you see something you shouldn't have?" Felisha teased, reminding me the Dhampire had walked in on Ione and I.
"I saw nothing!" Veronica shouted too quickly to be convincing. Veronica did not seem like one to gossip, but was probably easy to being lead to spilling the beans.
"Alright, alright, let's just get back to the ship so you can get back to 'seeing nothing' with Jonathan and his wives." Felisha teased, to which Veronica just turned red from a mix of embarrassment and frustration. "We good to go?"
"The ship is ready to board." Riona answered with a salute. "We will be able to depart whenever you give the order."
"Good." Felisha then turned to John. "Last chance to turn back."
"I've made up my mind, I'll see this trip through to the end." John confidently answered.
"That's what I like to hear." Felisha smirked. "No regrets now, you hear? Alright people, we got a schedule to keep. Sooner we leave the sooner we can get back." With that, they left.
Their voices soon faded and I was left alone with Silvia and Ione. I quickly came to realize. Exactly how long has it been since I was alone with these girls for more than a few hours. And even now, soon Ione's family will return from whatever errands they were on. I begun to wonder if I could convince the two of them to the idea of some time with just us, only to realize once more how long Ione had not seen her family before recently. Which led me to asking the harpy a question. "Hey, Ione."
"Hm?" Ione responded, it seemed she was more interested in the anklet than the departure of John and the crew.
"I don't want to sound rude, but well I… I mean…" How does one ask a kidnapped girl if the amount of joy shown upon her return by her family is appropriate. "You are finally home, I was kinda expecting them to be a bit more excited."
Ione seemed to ponder on my words a bit as she pieced together what I was getting at, "Ah, I spoke with Saphira, Tora, Aunt Barbara and father about you and some other stuff. Like the things that happened on our way here. I didn't want to drag the others into all the emotional stuff and asked if we could do the celebration stuff they wanted after everyone else got back from their vacations. I can't wait to properly introduce to everyone." Ione gleeful expression seemed to dispel whatever concerns I had been having. The awkward feeling must have been because the others were trying to do what Ione had asked of them despite her return.