Fish
The Church of the Holy Maiden was usually a peaceful place. All of the Sisters and Priests that lived there were quiet no matter what the chore was, their strict discipline keeping them in line Such was the case on this Saturday morning. Several of the girls were busy scrubbing the yellow stoned tiles and sweeping the long red carpet in the receiving hall. A few others had gone to the library to study and take advantage of the quiet atmosphere. Still more were in the dining room eating corn muffins for a late breakfast. It was no different than any other day…until the loud crash was heard from the back kitchen.
One of the girls who had been eating was 16-year-old Prier. She'd been sitting at the table with her 12-year-old brother, Culotte, and discussing the results of their latest mission. But the instant that the crash hit her ears, the girl jumped up like a chipmunk and rushed to the kitchen with her magenta hair flowing behind her. The red haired boy was left behind, blinking his brown eyes in confusion.
"Those brats!" yelled Prier, "How in the Goddess's name did they get out of their room?"
She rushed through the wooden doors, and found a mess that made her bedroom, which was always a disaster area, look like the royal palace's auditorium. The flour had been tossed from its tins and was now spilled all across the once yellow stones of the floor. Some gravy now flowed freely down the side of the light silvery metal sides of the stoves. Food had been removed from the pantry; a box of cereal here, the rice over near the wall, mashed potatoes lying by the counter. And standing in the middle of the mess, Prier could see two tiny tan bear cubs covered in both flour and the gravy.
"I knew it was you two. Cub Prince! Cub Princess! Get over here now so I can clean you and this room up before anybody else finds out," called the teenager. The one with the torn ear, Cub Prince, sneaked forward first. His sister, Cub Princess, followed shortly after, recognizing Prier's nervousness.
Prier knew that she had to make things look alright again. However, Culotte had seen her rush off towards the kitchen, as had the other Sisters in the mess hall. If she came waltzing out with her two bear cubs, clean or not clean, they'd know that something was up. Culotte would suspect her even if he didn't see the two ursines alongside his sister; the boy knew her too well and always figured out when she was hiding something from him. But how would she do all of this on her own and still get away safely?
The teenager muttered, "No time to think about that now; I've got to clean this mess up."
S...S
An hour later, the entire kitchen was flour and gravy free, and the boxes were put away. The only thing left to do was to wash up the bear cubs. But now she had to think of how to get out of the kitchen without alerting someone else to the mess. It still perplexed Prier as to how nobody realized it sooner.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her. In her nervous stupor, Prier turned around with rapid movements that seemed as if she had attacked wings on her feet. She slammed whoever it was with a karate chop across the stomach, knocking him into the wall near the door. Then, looking at her victim, the girl blushed. It was Croix, her closest friend in La Pucelle. The blow had knocked his glasses half-off so it hung on his right ear and fell diagonally towards his chin. It was one of the few times Prier had seen even one of his blue eyes uncovered. Croix clutched the back of his head and ran his fingers through his rust colored hair. "That hurt Prier. And after all I did to keep people out of the kitchen to save your skin."
"That's why nobody came in!" exclaimed Prier, "What in the world did you do, Croix?"
"Well, when the crash sounded, I knew it was the cubs getting into mischief. Since I had Bear Socks with me, eating a small piece of my steak, I let him loose in the mess hall. Luckily, he was fed and didn't steal anything. All he did was wander around and try to play games with half of the girls. They all assumed he accidentally knocked something over while playing with somebody else. Anyway, I think we should get the twins fed before they start more trouble. Plus, we've got to make sure they're washed up."
Prier replied, "Sorry for knocking you over then. I thought there was someone sneaking up on me and didn't find it funny. But how are we going to…that's it! We'll take them fishing at the lake! They can take a swim and wash off, while you and I get them food. And maybe they'll catch some on their own."
With that, she and Croix left the kitchen to get their supplies. Luckily, after all this time, everyone had taken their leave of the dinning room to go about their daily responsibilities. So nobody saw two humans with a duo of cubs splashed with flour and gravy leaving the kitchen. Prier was able to sneak up to the dorms, get some fishing poles out of Croix's room, and come back down without being caught and questioned by anyone; especially Alouette or her brother. Afterwards, she met him, the cubs, and Bear Socks at the entrance to the church. Then, the group of five headed towards the lake to go fishing.
S...S
The lake itself was a marvel of aesthetic beauty. It stood in the center of a small forest glade with an open area of grassland underneath. Its waters were shiny sapphires that seemed to dance with the help of the light and the wind. It was enchanting, a wonder that many humans couldn't understand.
Prier quickly learned that fishing was difficult. She lost count of the number of times she'd pulled up nothing after a few minutes in the water. Croix, on the other hand, was quite successful in his technique. He often got a bite after only a few seconds. Each silvery fish was tossed out of the water, pulled off the hook, and thrown into a bucket that they'd kept nearby to hold it in. With each catch, the young man would grin with satisfaction while his friend tightened her grip on her rod.
At the same time, Cub Prince and Cub Princess were drying off on the shore near Bear Socks. The three had jumped into the lake the second they'd arrived, grabbed the first fish they could find with their mouths, and charged back on land to eat it. The three bears were slowly devouring the sweet meat, savoring every bite as if they were human; this has no doubt come around as a result of living among the members of La Pucelle. They paid no heed to the bucket where Croix was tossing his catches, he'd planned to give them more if they began eyeing it anyway, nor to Prier's frustrated brows.
The girl suddenly tossed down her pole. "This sucks! I can't catch a darn thing with this!"
"Calm down Prier," Croix stated, "How about I give you a hand? First off, you can't keep moving the rod around that quickly, it'll scare the fish. Slower movements might attract it, but those fast ones are libel to make them flee in terror. And you've got to show some patience towards catching them as well. Just because you haven't caught it in the first five seconds, doesn't mean it's not out there."
He went behind her and pulled her into his arms so he might also grip her fishing pole, a deep red blush beginning to cover both of their faces. Then, the two of them cast it together. Though Prier was impatient from the very start, Croix's firm grip prevented her from jerking the pole around. With that, they began to wait it out. Prier tried to look back once, but the firmness of his grasp prevented much.
A minute later, the line began to lurch. Knowing that Prier would want to do this on her own, her companion wisely stepped away so she could jump to her feet and begin pulling back, initiating a tug of war with her fishy opponent. It tried to pull her as best as it could while she dug her feet into the grassy lake shore. With the might usually reserved for a rampaging Demon, Prier thrust every muscle in her arms towards the task of reeling in her catch. She swung them backwards, and the fish flew up into the air and danced down towards the ground below. The creature landed near her feet, and was still.
"Take that you stupid fish! I've finally got one!" Prier exclaimed cheerfully. Then, she looked over at her partner; the redness had yet to disappear from his cheeks as well as hers, but she didn't see her own face and couldn't think of it. The girl whispered, "Thanks for the help Croix."
He felt his body begin to get even hotter. "Don't mention it Prier. Now we both caught one."
"You're right," she added, "Let's pack up and go home." With a nod to the trio of bears, Prier grabbed the bucket and her fishing pole, while Croix grabbed his pole and the tackle box. The animals could see their partners leaving and headed out to follow. Their fish were gone, however they knew that Prier was carrying the extras in the metal bucket at her side; they would get some more for supper after returning to the church. But, being trained monsters with no way to comprehend human society, they were blissfully unaware of what was transpiring inside the minds of the duo of human exorcists.
'I was touching her. Goddess, that felt good. I mean, I might be getting hotter by the minute and probably look redder than Culotte's hair, but it was worth it. This girl, she makes me feel so calm, so serene. What is the spell that she's been weaving over me since we met?' Croix thought.
Meanwhile, Prier too was wrestling with her thoughts. She mused, 'If he touches me again, I am so going to slug him. Who does that man think he is, grabbing onto an innocent girl such as myself. But, when I stop to think about it, that didn't feel too bad. If it were any other guy, he'd be halfway to the moon by now. However, with Croix, I don't want to punish him for touching me. In fact, if it wouldn't ruin my reputation as a tough warrior woman who doesn't need a man's caress, I'd ask him to do it again. There is no way I'm going to throw away my pride for a little pleasure; I have to maintain my strength in Mom and Dad's memory. They need to see that their daughter can take care of herself and her brother.'
They passed in silence, fear and pride keeping their mouths shut and their minds blocked. Love, though it would bring them joy, was kept from their grasps by their own stubbornness. The two fought back thoughts on wonder, and pain from keeping their secrets. To both of them, it did not matter. It would be some time before they could open up and express themselves openly.
Teefa's Last Words...
Now about the chapter. This idea started out as a simple fishing trip. But after I decided to make a sequel to the bear story, I altered it. The thought of Prier fishing with Croix and ending up snuggling with him was just too good to pass up.