Rita awoke peacefully for the first time in a long time, she couldn't remember the last time she had slept this well. She didn't think she'd slept this well ever.
She yawned loudly, which must have awoken her pink haired cuddle buddy. Estelle stirred, squirming a tad. Rita hugged her tighter.
Rita didn't want this to end. "I-I won't let you go."
Estelle giggled, "As much as I'd love to stay, I think we've gotta get up sometime today. It's almost noon."
Rita tolled out of bed, slowly standing up to stretch.
"Noon? I don't think I've ever slept this long."
Estelle got rolled off to the other side and began making the bed out of habit.
Rita looked to Estelle, "I have never slept that well..."
The princess looked at her, "Oh?" She asked, waiting for Rita to continue.
"I'm used to sleeping on edge during our journey, even at Inns," Rita explained, "Even in Aspio, I slept on a pile of books."
Estelle looked guilty, "Oh... at the castle I had a big bed that was designed specifically for my comfort... as a princess, I got everything I wanted... everything but freedom."
Rita got nervous, "So I guess that wasn't your best sleep then?"
Estelle walked over to her, "Rita... that was by far the best experience of my life."
Rita genuinely smiled, she felt comfortable enough to do that now, then she leaned in for a kiss. This one lasted a bit longer than their last.
The kiss was interrupted by the sound of Ba'ul landing, they needed to get dressed quickly to go out and meet whoever was on board.
They both turned and faced the other direction while they changed into their usual clothes. For some reason, Rita always changed into the same outfit, but today she opened her bag and looked at the other untouched outfits.
"My research robe, my school outfit, the stupid costume I got from the hot springs..." Rita whispered quietly to herself, she grabbed an outfit from the bottom that stood out.
She held it out in front of her, the outfit her mother had woven for her that she had never worn before. She adored the design, blastia formulas covered it. It seemed that even though Rita never knew her, she definitely knew Rita, but she never wore it because it was not ideal for combat.
Rita slipped it on, so much felt, she had never worn a dress before. Fluffy, feather like synthetic material ran around the one piece dress. The spaces in between were stretchable, comfortable, and fashionable.
Estelle turned around, stunned at her new look. "Rita I-" Estelle looked up and down, "I've never seen you in a dress before.
Rita looked at her, trying to judge for herself whether she liked it or not. "It's a little different, I almost feel like I'm on display even though I'm fully covered due to the lack of long pants and socks." Rita walked around, trying to get used to the slightly hindered movement, "I don't wear dresses because I'm always on edge, always ready for battle. But somehow I feel safe today."
Estelle hugged her, Rita lightly held her back. "I think you look beautiful."
Three knocks tapped on the door, it was Yuri and Judith.
Yuri's sarcastic, annoying voice seemed to resonate louder than it actually was.
"Hey, sometime today please."
Estelle grabbed Rita's hand, "What... what do we tell them...?"
Rita wiggled our of her grip, "Just- nothing for now. Now isn't really the time, we can figure it out later, just act natural."
Rita tried not to look embarrassed as she opened the door.
While Yuri remained in his lower quarter outfit, Judith now sported a more comfortable attire, as if her battle armor wasn't revealing enough. Incredibly tight shorts that were cut higher than Rita's underwear, with a top that was tight enough to leave almost nothing to the imagination yet somehow managed to bounce with every step.
They stopped as they entered Estelle and Rita's room, looking to Rita.
"My my," Judith started, "That is an interesting outfit."
Rita's face flushed again, she regretted wearing this.
"I could say the same about you." Rita Retaliated.
Judith touched her fingers to her lips, "Fair point."
Yuri turned to Estelle, "I suppose it's time for us to take you to Zaphias then?"
Estelle was undecided, everyone stared at her while she tried to come up with an answer.
She looked to Yuri, she knew that he and Judith didn't really care what she did.
Then she turned to Rita, visibly nervous.
If Rita believed in a god, she would definitely be praying right now. She thought she was doing a decent job of hiding her emotions, but she was wrong.
"I think..." Estelle started, "I want to sleep on it, it's such a big decision for me."
Yuri raised an eyebrow, something told Rita that he knew. He knew Estelle almost as well as she did.
Judith probably knew too, she just has a really good poker face.
"I suppose Yuri and I could spend the night here to let you come up with a decision." The tall, thin cut Krytian grinned.
"That's g-great..." Rita stuttered nervously.
They all walked around, exploring the newly expanded town. It was amazing the things that happened once the workers weren't being forced, instead being paid to work.
The town has grown at least ten times bigger, it was beginning to look like a mini Zaphias.
"I'm going to go check out the Blastia some more," Rita darted off.
Estelle ran past Rita, "I am going to go visit the Knight's headquarters, I think they'll welcome me."
Yuri and Judith watched the two run off like two children.
"Is it just me, or do those two seem... different?" Yuri asked his perceptive ally.
"Oh, somethings definitely going on. Rita never wears dresses." Judith seemed almost stumped, the fact that she didn't know precisely what was going on was confusing to them both.
Judith placed her hand on Yuri's shoulder, teasing him with a wonderful angle. "I'll talk to Estellise, you can speak to the angry mage."
Yuri smirked, he might be the only one who could stay cool under the pressure of Judith's temptations.
Judith ran off, still carrying her spear, which looked awkward compared to everyone else's weapons.
Yuri walked calmly toward the Blastia, the excited young mage still managing to find interest in a piece of rock that hadn't been active for a long time.
He tapped her on the shoulder, which she kinda responded with an instinctive draw of her scarf, which had been rendered useless as a weapon.
"D- Don't sneak you on me like that!" She yelled at him.
Yuri took a step back, "Relax, I was just coming over to say hi."
Rita calmed down, "I'm sorry, just a little on edge. Hi."
"So what have you and Estelle been up to?"
Rita's body lightly tensed up, confirming that something happened between her and Estelle. Although what, he couldn't say.
"We've just been hanging around the City, she is still a princess after all." Rita's answer was a clever recovery, her ability to lie had vastly improved on the road.
Yuri dug a little deeper, "Did you two have a fight of sorts?"
Rita's body was unchanged, so either she was a perfect liar, or he had stumbled off trail.
"No, we've been having a great time actually..."
Another piece to the puzzle.
"So what was so great about it?"
He scratched the surface, she was beginning to sweat, but she still stood in the face of danger.
"The Inn just had the same room that Estelle had healed me in after the accident... and where we took care of the baby and Estelle told me we should adopt it and raise it together if we didn't find the mom."
Even Yuri was surprised by that comment.
"She said that?" He asked her, his eyes slightly widened.
Rita looked very worried now, Yuri was close, but his friend was so scared that he wasn't sure he wanted to know what was up enough to sacrifice her well being.
He cleared his throat and reclaimed his typical attitude, "Well I'm glad you both had fun, it's a shame we will be parting after today."
Yuri walked away, widening his eyes with his back turned, he wondered how Judith would react.
Estelle was a much worse liar, and Judith was better at this. He was certain that she would find out whatever it is they were hiding.
•••
Judith walked into the Knight's HQ with little to no trouble, but guards stopped her at the final door.
"Citizens are not permitted beyond this point", the higher ranking knights told her, with a slight waver in his voice, no doubt due to her outfit.
"Oh, I'm just going in to visit a friend. That's ok, right?"
You could almost feel the sweat coming off of the knights.
"Fine, but leave the spear outside."
Judith smiles and bowed to the knights, teasing them with a look down her blouse. She then gave her spear to the knight and walked in.
Estelle sat there, conversing with her own opponent to the throne, Löder. It looked very serious.
They both looked up, "Judith!" Estelle looked incredibly guilty, but not nearly as guilty as Judith planned to make her.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Judith told them, even though she didn't really care.
"Actually, we were just finishing up here," Löder told her before turning to Estelle. The two bowed to each other, "It was a pleasure, Lady Estellise."
Estelle walked out, closely followed by Judith. Oddly enough, the princess seemed to be avoiding a one on one conversation with her, maybe because she had something to hide.
"Hey Estelle, can I ask you a question?"
Judith has successfully trapped the princess into a conversation.
"Of course.!" The perky little healer forced a smile.
"What's up with you and Rita?"
Estelle turned bright red.
"Well we just have been exploring the town..."
Judith leaned in, trying to put more pressure on Estelle's already fragile lies.
"I...heal...she...Blastia...kissed her..." Estelle finally slipped up.
The news was big enough to crack Judith's legendary poker face.
"She kissed you?" Judith asked.
Estelle gave in, "I kissed her."
"Oh? It seems our princess gathered a little courageous. When did you know you liked girls?"
"I don't like girls... I just like Rita..."
Judith listened on, not being in much of a mood to tease, the Princess rambled on about her way of life and the way she made her feel safe.
-"Is that weird? Should I have kept this a secret?"
Judith thought of the best response to comfort the anxious child.
"The heart wants what the heart wants. If you're in love with each other then keeping it a secret or not is your decision."
Estelle exhaled with relief before asking a different question.
"Do you think I should go back to the capital?"
This question Judith had no answer to, so she just told the truth.
"I can't answer that for you, I think whatever you decide will be best."
Estelle nodded, "Thank you Judith", she said as she bowed to her.
Estelle ran off in the direction of the Inn, "I'm going to change into evening clothes!"
•••
Rita hectically burst into the Inn without warning, a half naked Estelle hastily wrapped a blanket around herself.
"Oh my god Estelle I'm so- I'm so sorry." Rita averted her gaze, her face completely flushed and her mind racing a mile a minute.
"Rita! Shut the door!" Estelle shouted.
Rita regained control of her mind, "Right."
Estelle sighed, "Rita we've seen each other naked hundreds of times and it's never been a big deal. I was worried about other people walking by, not you."
Rita sighed, "Yeah I know I know, I don't know why I freaked out." Rita's eyes were still tightly shut.
"Rita you can open your eyes."
Rita slowly opened her eyes to see a fully clothed princess.
"Rita, why did you freak out? You've seen me like that before and you've never given it a second thought. We all camped together, we've all seen each other. I mean with the exception of Raven we make him blindfold himself and we take turns watching him and..." Estelle got off topic.
Rita interrupted, "I freaked out because we're like, in a relationship..." She worried it was too soon to use that word, "-type...situation"
"I figured any clothes off encounters would be... something else."
Estelle's breath hitched, "Like what...?"
Rita rubbed the back of her head, her face couldn't get pinker. "It's for girlfriends and people that are dating and stuff..."
"We can date, Rita. If you want to make it official we can start calling each other as girlfriends and stuff like that."
Rita relaxed, and she had a sudden lust in her eyes that was returned by her now official girlfriend.
She pulled her in for a passionate kiss, which Estelle resisted at first out of shock, but began to accept. They fell back onto the bed without breaking their lips as things began to get even more heated.
•••
Yuri found Judith at the edge of the town as usual, her gaze into the distance indicated that she was in the middle of a conversation with Ba'ul.
Yuri walked up next to her, "You've been wearing that outfit recently, what's up with that?"
Judith turned to look at him, "Now that we aren't fighting as much, I can dress in smaller outfits to mess with everyone's heads."
Yuri nodded his head, "That's a surprising amount of transparency coming from you, what's up?"
"I'm just in a truth telling mood because of Estelle." Judith addressed the topic that Yuri was really there for.
"Oh yeah," Yuri started, "I talked to Rita about her and Estelle. I didn't quite get the specifics, but I think they had a fight of some sorts"
Judith stopped him, "Yuri, I talked to Estelle. She kissed Rita and now they're in love."
Yuri was blindsided, like he had been hit in the face. "That's... weird." He scrunched his face.
"What?" Judith asked defensively, "Is there something wrong with girls dating?"
Yuri shook his head, "No no, it's just I knew Rita had a thing for Estelle, but I always pictured Estelle with her eyes on Flynn."
Judith cocked her head too, "Even I had no idea."
"I'll admit, they do seem perfect for each other. It seems like everything has worked out nicely."
Yuri spied Löder walking toward him, a tall, well built man with two blades attached to either side of his belt followed closely.
"Hey Löder, you're looking well", Yuri greeted.
Löder bowed, as was the style of a Noble. "As are you, I would like to formally express my gratitude to you, Estelle, and the rest of Brave Vesperia for destroying the Adephagos. The world owes you a debt it could never pay back."
Yuri motioned for him to exit his bow, "You can repay us by keeping the empire clean, keeping Flynn as commandant should do the trick."
Yuri places his hand on Löder's shoulder, but it was quickly slapped away by the muscular man that was constantly following him, who was now grasping one of his swords.
Löder blocked him with his hand, "Relax, he's a very good friend."
Yuri backed off, shaking his hand out from the pain. He looked over and saw Judith with her spear ready.
"Hey what's your problem?" The man stood their quietly.
"You have my deepest apologies," Löder told him, "This is my appointed bodyguard, Dorik."
"A pleasure to meet you, Dorik." Yuri said sarcastically.
"The choice to have a bodyguard was not mine, the council felt it was necessary, and appointed him until the election." Löder sounded somewhat hollow.
"I will be departing for the capital after I speak to Lady Estellise." Löder told them.
Judith spoke, "What do you want with Estelle?"
"That's classified infor-" Löder started, but sighed. "I didn't tell you this, but I am going to be stepping out of the running and allow lady Estellise to become emperor."
Yuri and Judith gasped.
"When you see her, tell her I will be at the dining hall in the Royal quarter until sunset. You and anyone else you decide to bring are welcome to come, free of charge.
Löder walked away.
Yuri and Judith looked at each other, "Let's go find Rita and Estelle, there is a lot to discuss." Judith said as they made their way back to the Inn.
