I'm Having An Old Friend For Dinner

Naria decided not to tell anyone what she had said to Allen. It was so horrible. She had become an honest-to-goodness bitch. And she could not forget it.

When she saw Hitomi, she congratulated the Earth woman on her engagement.

"There's nothing to congratulate me about. Van has always been in my heart, even though my heart may have been led astray once in a while."

All of a sudden, Hitomi's eyes shot open with horror, as she seemed to have a vision. Not a dream, but a vision. Naria was perplexed as Hitomi began screaming at Van to get out of there.

Allen was the first to respond. He held the Earth woman back as Naria stood there, frozen with confusion.

"Hitomi, you've got to stop…Hitomi, please…as much as we'd like to dislike her—" Allen said as she looked at Naria, "she's your future indirect in-law."

"IT'S DILANDAU! GET VAN OUT OF HERE!"

"Stop it, Hitomi," someone said. "After all, she is family, and blood is better than bullshit."

Naria turned, to find Folken, who was 256 shades of white and dressed to the nines, appearing at the doorway.

"I've decided to face my fears, the torturer of my soul from the past year or so," Folken said, and then turned to Naria and greeted her.
"Hello, my dear," Folken said.

"We meet again, Folken Lacour de Fanel."

Folken became infuriated at Naria's disrespect.

"And what gives you the audacity to call me by my full name, and not my proper title?"

"The fact I am now the general of the Zaibach Militia and the Leopard Militia, thus forming the new Zaibach Vengeance Army!"

"I saved your life, gave your life meaning, and provided you with food, clothing, a place to sleep, and this is how you repay me? I'll show you what I do to those who are so bold as to disrespect me, you overconfident whelp!"

Folken partly-drew his blade before someone grasped his wrist to stop him.

"Don't do it Folken. As rude as she may sound, she's family. Sometimes you have to love family members, even though they may seem ignorant to you."

Eriya looked at the enraged man with a sad look in her eyes.

"It's true," Sgt. Fernsaarin said. "I have an annoying brother. Sometimes I want to kick the crap out of him. But I still care about him because he's family."

"Very well," Folken said, as he sheathed his sword. "But you should watch your tongue next time, General."

"I'll think about doing that."

Celena stood up on a chair and grabbed everyone's attention.

"I think dinner is served."

*   *   *

            There were a few bottles of wine imported from Asturia, and there was a barrel of imported ale from Freid. Hitomi had managed to get a grip on herself to eat with everyone else, including Naria.

Hitomi had to yell at Van several times to get him to order the palace chefs to allow her to cook the meal. She decided that because she was cooking for a large crowd, she might have to cook something other than her famous curried chicken.

She decided on lasagna. Something she learned to cook in her international cooking class, really. She had a hard time finding the ingredients, so Hitomi had crossed her fingers and hoped for a good reaction.

There was. Everyone kept complimenting Hitomi for her culinary expertise. If there was one thing Hitomi could do, is that she could cook. She was good at that. And she never followed the recipes fully anyway.

"Hitomi, this is food is delicious," Allen said. "But did you have to use so many seasonings?"

"I prefer to flavor my food rather than make it bland. It works out much better. Don't you agree, Van?"

"Who, me? Uh, I mean yeah, Hitomi."

"You weren't even listening!" she said as she pulled out a paper fan and whacked him with it.

All the men except for Van laughed at that.

But secretly, Van was relieved that Folken was back to being himself again.

"Van, did you invite the Heavenly Knights of Asturia to the wedding as I asked?" Allen said.

"I did. And Beighn Doralford, your commander, said that they would be there."

"Beighn Doralford is the commander? Ohhh, no."

"What's wrong, Allen?"

"Beighn is mad at me for stealing Marlene from him."

"And this affects you how?"

"He's been trying to find a way to get even with me ever since then."

"What do you think he's going to try to do?"
"I don't know. But what ever it is, it's not good. Dilandau isn't the only evil, scheming person on this planet."

Allen clapped his hand over his mouth, because one mention of Dilandau's name could bring out the psychopath forth from Naria. Allen was terrified.

Naria looked at Allen with her eyebrow raised. Then she began to speak.

"You'd better be careful whom you talk about at the dinner table, Schezar," she said.

Allen huffed in relief, knowing that Naria was still with them.

"Especially when that person is right here," she growled at him, eyes narrowing to slits.

His eyes were as big as the plates they were eating on, and his face was about as white as the tablecloth. His mouth was now open, and he was staring in horror.

"You know, invading Naria's body was the best move I ever made. It got me close to those I wanted to kill, and I got to kill some people through means I wouldn't have even thought of killing people with before."

Van stood up. He had enough.

"Then why not do it, Dilandau? Why not right now, take that bread knife and make me a cannibalistic shish-kabob?"

Naria cackled with insanity, then stopped.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? Kill you the way you want me to."

Van seemed unfazed.

"Well, I'm going to do it at a time that suits me, Van, and not what's convenient for you. As for Naria, I pity her, because she will probably be locked away for the rest of her nine lives, for assassinating the king of Fanelia. And if that ever happens, when I awake again in her body, I will force her to kill herself through any means necessary. Now wouldn't that be an unhappy ending to the miserable little catwoman's life?"

Eriya grabbed Naria/Dilandau by her collar and slammed her against the wall, swiping her dagger, and holding it to the catwoman's throat.

"Leave…my…sister's…body…now! Or…I'll…kill…you!"

"And what then, my dear? I'll invade your body as well, and maybe take advantage of that."

Naria/Dilandau reversed Eriya's hold on her, made her drop the dagger, and pulled a wheel-lock pistol on her, aimed at her temple.

"Make any moves, and I've no qualms about splattering Eriya's brains all over that delicious meal that bitch from the Phantom Moon worked so hard to make."

Folken was outraged. It took Allen, Van, and Sgt. Fernsaarin to hold him back.

"You ungrateful little brat. I gave you command over the Dragonslayers, and you repay me like this? I'll have your very existence eradicated from Gaea!"

"You're out of your league, you one-armed gimp," Naria/Dilandau said. "Come, Eriya, I believe that we have business to discuss."

Naria/Dilandau dragged Eriya off, only to leave the group speechless.

Then Hitomi thought of something to defuse the situation.

"Who wants Italian ice?"