I sighed contentedly as I pushed my plate away from me. "I don't think I can eat another bite," I announced, looking over the feat that remained. "Seems a shame to let the rest of this go to waste, though. Maybe Z24 could grab some?"
August laughed softly at my naivety as she slowly shook her head. "I am certain she's already had her fill, so there's no need to fret over her missing a meal. However, I can clean this up in just a moment."
With that bold declaration, she swung her leg over the bench as she got to her feet and strode over to the far wall. A rather impressive-looking staff rested against it, and the torchlight glinted off its black metal surface. August snatched it off the wall, spun around, and with a triumphant smile, brought it down hard against the stone floor. The sharp rap echoed in the small kitchen, and I watched, wondering what she planned to do next. Much to my surprise and confusion, she stood there, staring at me with that smug grin as if she'd just pulled off some trick.
After several long, awkward moments, I decided to speak up. "Uh, was I supposed to be impressed? I've seen a staff before."
Her smug grin grew wider. "Turn around."
Part of me wanted to continue to stare at her, to defy her again, but my curiosity got the better of me. When I looked behind me, I was stunned to find everything had vanished. "Wha-" I gasped as I began frantically searching for the missing meal. "Where'd it go?" I reached out with my hands, waving them around where the food used to be. After that was unsuccessful, I checked under the table, around the room, and everywhere it could have conceivably gone in such a short amount of time. "How'd you…"
No.
There's no way.
…right?
"I did tell you I was an Unhulde, did I not?" she smugly stated as she strode back towards me. "'Tis a simple parlor trick, but…it seemed you needed convincing." Using her staff, she pushed my crutches over to me, and I numbly took them, still unable to believe what I had seen. Or didn't see.
For whatever reason, some part of me refused to be pushed around or intimidated by this woman, even if she can make things disappear at will. "Well, if it was simply some parlor trick, that doesn't make you some all-powerful 'Unholde', now does it?" I smirked as I awkwardly got to my feet.
Unexpectedly, her grin grew wider, almost as if she was proud of my defiance. "Yes," she agreed. "Perhaps a more fitting demonstration is in order?" She beckoned me towards the door and the hallway beyond. "This way."
For a second, I wondered if I'd overstepped my boundaries, or if my defiance had given her the excuse she needed to somehow punish me for my perceived insubordination. But I'd also noticed that every time I'd pushed back against her, she'd been rather pleased, almost proud of me. This August von Parseval was a truly mysterious woman, and part of me wondered if I would ever truly find out what she wanted.
As we made our way down the increasingly familiar hallways, we passed by a window. Now, we'd passed by many a window on our way to and from place to place, but this one was different. The rest had offered a view of the courtyard or other interior locations in the castle, but this one was looking outside the castle walls, giving me my first good glimpse of the outside. We were high up on a hill, or possibly a mountain, surrounded by a forest of trees, their verdant green giving way to the familiar orange, red, and yellow hues of autumn. Beyond the forest was a small harbor, with a pair of ships at anchor. The smaller one looked like either an oversized destroyer or a very small cruiser, but the second one was unmistakably an aircraft carrier. Even from a distance, I could see she bore the hallmarks of other Iron Blood carriers I'd seen. A bow that protrudes far ahead of the flight deck, the long, low island with the stack and crow's nest extending far above the rest of the structure, and the rather impressive amount of secondary guns. What was different about her, however, was the aircraft she carried.
Some looked to be the usual navalized BF-109s Graf Zeppelin was outfitted with, but the rest were much larger than what I would expect to see on a carrier's flight deck. They were almost as large as Hornet's B-25s, and I knew the strain it put on her to use them. Had the Iron Blood somehow managed to strengthen kansen to the point where they could use medium bombers on carriers? That was an unsettling thought on top of the other unsettling thoughts that August's very existence had brought up.
"Appreciating my beauty from afar, my familiar?" Her voice purred in my ear, sending a delightful shiver down my spine for a half-second before I practically jumped out of my skin.
"Jeez," I gasped as I tried to catch my breath, "A simple tap on the shoulder would have been sufficient…"
She pretended to give it some thought before she responded. "Mmm, true, but not as fun." Her smile was playful as she turned to follow where my gaze had been, to where her ship was moored. "Do you wish to see it for yourself?"
A chance to go aboard an Iron Blood warship and get a guided tour? I wasn't about to let an opportunity like this pass by. "I do," I nodded.
After a moment's thought, she nodded once and turned back to me. "Very well then," she smiled. "Once your leg is healed, I shall show you the wonders of Iron Blood technology."
My face fell as I realized she'd just played me. "Ah, very funny," I scowled. "My leg's going to take over a month to heal, so I'll be gone by then."
For a moment, she looked genuinely hurt and an eyebrow raised as she peered at me. "'Twas not a jest," she countered. "Not now, nor before, when I said your leg would be healed within a week."
I couldn't take much more of this madness. "I understand you think you're serious," I began slowly, "But there's just no way a broken leg can heal in a week. Everything in medical science says-"
"I'm not talking about medical science," she curtly cuts me off. "I speak of something older than that, more powerful than mere science: magic."
I stared at her for a minute, trying to judge if she was putting me on or just insane. I could see that she truly believed in what she was saying, and in the end, I decided this wasn't an argument I was going to win. And who knows, maybe she has found some sort of rapid healing treatment but she just won't call it science because she's just a little bit crazy. "Right," I sighed in resignation. "Show me this magic healing spell."
"Right this way," she smiled and gestured towards the open doorway just ahead of us. As I hobbled inside, I felt like I'd stepped into some movie set. The shelves and tables around the small room were filled with glass jars and beakers, some filled with strange, luminous liquids, others filled with bits of animals or vegetation. Roots and other tubers hung from the ceiling, and books lined shelf after shelf. And in the middle sat a massive cauldron just like you'd expect in a witch's hut, already bubbling away. Once we were both inside, August shut the door behind us and set her staff against the wall in the corner. "Impressed?"
"A little…" I offered as I continued to look around. "Really nailed the attention to detail."
She let the pointed comment slide with another condescending smile as she began plucking various ingredients and jars from the shelves. "I suppose there is naught but one way to convince you, and that is for you to experience it firsthand…" She eyed me up and down, a mischievous, almost evil look flashing in those violet eyes for a second. "There are other ways to convince you, but I believe healing you would be the best course for all involved." She stared at me for a while before she shook her head. "No, you would not react well to being forced into something against your will."
"No, I would not," I emphatically agreed, giving her a stern look.
A small, wicked smile crossed her face. "Besides, your capitulation will be made all the sweeter when it's of your own volition."
"Gee, thanks."
Her smile grew as she began tossing things into the bubbling cauldron one at a time, slowly stirring the liquid as she assessed its effects. I saw roots, crushed herbs, a couple of frog's legs, and I'm pretty sure an eye, although I've really never asked her to make sure. Once they were all mixed in to her satisfaction, she took several of the glass jars of glowing liquid and began pouring them in. The reaction was immediate, and the brew went from a gentle bubbling to a roiling boil before the surface of the water was obscured in a dense fog that spilled over the cauldron's lip and down the sides. I took an involuntary half-step back at the sudden change, wondering what sort of concoction she'd managed to make. As she slowly stirred, she began to chant, and despite how softly she spoke, the words practically thundered off the walls.
With this potion I brew,
Healing for my familiar true
Rapid may his recovery be,
So that he may stand beside me
There was one final pulse of light from the cauldron when she finished her incantation, and everything went eerily still. August peered down at the still-boiling liquid, waving the fog away to get a better look. She gave a satisfied nod as she grabbed a wooden cup and ladled some of the mixture into it. There, it continued to boil and fog over as she held it out to me with a reassuring smile. "Come, dear William. Partake of this and be healed."
Understandably, I wasn't terribly eager to drink that. "Uhhhh…I think I'm good," I demurred.
Her giggle did little to reassure me. "Come now," she teased, "Surely you're brave enough to drink a little potion? Besides, aren't you the one who wanted to see more than some 'parlor trick'?"
She'd made her point, and with a resigned sigh, I took the proffered cup from her hand and slowly lifted it to my lips. Much to my surprise, it was surprisingly cool to the touch rather than the boiling heat I'd been expecting. The smell was rather tropical and faintly sweet, as well, again, something I'd not been prepared for. I swirled it around before I took my first tentative sip. It was cool, and somewhat refreshing with a relatively fruity taste I couldn't quite place. The constant bubbling made it somewhat interesting to drink, as I could feel the bubbles in my mouth and all the way down my throat, but I managed to get the rest of it down in a single gulp. "Not bad," I stated as I handed back the empty cup, "So what happens-"
I stop mid-sentence as I feel a warmth begin to suffuse me, spreading through my body before gathering in my left leg. I glanced down, almost expecting to see it glowing, and was slightly disappointed when it wasn't. "Oh. Well, that was…interesting."
August practically beamed, although the smile was short-lived as I began to test my injured limb. "Not yet," she quickly cautioned, darting to my side. "You must give the magic time to take effect. For now, it is time to rest."
While I was still on the fence about this, I decided to let her take the lead. If this magic was real, after all, she would be the expert. "If you say so," I relented. "But I'm not going back to sleep. Done enough of that already. Do you have a library in the castle? Or somewhere I could get some fresh air?"
Her violet eyes study me for a few moments before she answered. "I do not think the stairs are navigable for you yet, but I do have a modest library where you can rest and read. This way."
Modest was an understatement. The library was two stories tall, lit by sconces and a roaring fire, and interspersed with tables, chairs, and several very comfortable-looking couches. "This is modest?" I softly asked as I stared at the row upon row of books.
"Indeed," August confirmed with a straight face. "There is much to learn, and this is but a fraction of it enclosed within these walls. Nevertheless, I'm sure there is something here that will catch your eye."
In that, we were in complete agreement. "I'm sure," I absently replied as I hobbled over to one of the shelves and began perusing the leather-bound volumes. "What about you?" I asked, glancing back at her. "Anything, in particular, you'd like to read?"
She smiled warmly and shook her head, "Not at present. And while I am intrigued to know what you will choose, I am afraid I have a prior engagement that I must attend to. I shall be back shortly to check on you, but should you require aid…" She held out a small disc with a dragon's head emblazoned on it. "Simply press this and I or Z24 will rush to your side." I looked down at the disc for a moment before taking it from her hand and slipping it into the pocket of my robe. "If that will be all…?"
I looked at her, then back at the books. While I was curious as to who she was seeing, I gathered if she didn't tell me upfront, she was deliberately leaving their name out of it for one reason or another. "I think I'll be good for a while."
"Then I will see you shortly." With that, she smiled once more, turned, and left, leaving me alone in the library.
I watched her go for a moment before I returned to the bookshelf. Despite their ancient, leather-bound appearance, many of the books seemed to be about relatively modern topics. One, in particular, caught my eye, a book with the silhouette of one of the large bombers that I saw on August's deck. I pulled it off the shelf and glanced at the title. "The BF-110" it simply stated. Well, at least I'd have an idea of what she could throw at us in the future, I thought as I hobbled over to the couch and settled in for a long read…
August coolly watched her guest sip her coffee, waiting for her to address the elephant in the room. She didn't have to wait long.
"So how long will he be here for?" Graf Zeppelin asked unceremoniously.
"A month," August replied, eying the other Iron Blood carrier up and down.
Graf nodded slowly as she looked around the hall as if she expected to find him lurking in one of its corners. "And do you plan on sharing him with the rest of us, or keeping him all for yourself?"
The corners of August's mouth turned up in a playful smile at Zeppelin's choice of words. "And how should I share him, hmmm? Perhaps you find yourself in need of a chess partner?"
"I already have someone for that," the white-haired woman snapped, perhaps too defensively. "I meant getting him out of this castle, allowing him to speak to the other kansen of the Iron Blood."
"If he wishes," August shrugged. "But unless he asks, I plan on keeping him here until the Azur Lane is ready to come and collect him. I have long sought a familiar, and I think he would fit the role quite nicely."
A snowy eyebrow raised up as Graf peered at her companion. "Why him? What makes him so special?"
August took a sip of her coffee before answering and made a mental note to send a thank you card to Mainz-this was an excellent blend. "Two words: 'not yet'."
Graf's confusion only grew with the cryptic answer. "I'm afraid I'll need a few more words to explain than that, August."
"When I found him," she explained, "He was almost dead. In fact, had I been a few minutes, perhaps even a few seconds late in my arrival, he would have been too far gone to save. His mind was rapidly slipping away, when I first arrived, he gave no sign that he noticed my presence, nor that of my dragon. Instead, he kept repeating two words over and over again: 'not yet'. He had to have known he was beyond rescue, beyond hope, and yet, even as his own mortality loomed over him, he stood in defiance against it."
As Graf's confusion gave way to understanding, she nodded approvingly. "A brave man to defy fate even as it tries to claim him. It is futile, and foolish, of course, but to watch him struggle would be most entertaining. I see what you mean. Very well, then," Graf smiled and raised her coffee cup to August in salute, "I wish you the best of luck, August von Parseval."
August merely smiled and tapped her cup against Graf's. "Vielen Danke."
A/N-A book? On the BF-110? Could this be foreshadowing? (More like fiveshadowing am I right?) Until next time, fair winds and following seas!
