"I-Irisviel?!" I jump back and away from her bed, my face lighting up like a match and the tip of my nose still warm from where her lips were just a moment ago. "You were awake!" I grit my teeth in anger and feel my face grow even more flush as I recall the embarrassing things I said and did thinking she was asleep.
"I mean, what'd you expect Shirou? Anyone would wake up if they were lifted into your big, strong arms so boldly to be taken to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what! Ahnn, actually, what were you planning to do to your poor, defenseless mother on her own bed in the seclusion of your house away from the prying eyes and ears of the outside world so late at night had she not woken up? Hmmm?" I wanted to scream from all of the inappropriate and absurd things she was spouting out.
"J-Just what are you implying?! I didn't want you to catch a cold sleeping on the floor! Why can't you just accept a pure, innocent act of kindness without thinking up all those weird thoughts?! I'll just leave you on the floor to freeze next time!" I walk away as soon as I'm done, hoping to make her think the shouting and me stomping off would camouflage my embarrassment with anger.
"Shirou, wait!" I debate whether to turn around or not, but I went against my better judgement and turned to look at her; thinking maybe something's wrong or maybe she would apologize. Wrong. She turned the lamp next to her bed on and had scooted over in bed, pulling the corner of her covers down to unveil the spot next to her. "Why don't you come sleep with mommy tonight? If I'm going to be the main focus of all your free time from now on, you can start by reestablishing the skinship we lost from back when you were an obedient little boy-" I walked out of the room and slammed the sliding door shut while she talked. She prompted my humiliation even further with her suggestion, but I'm relieved at the same time to know she's alright and happy, indicated by her still mercilessly teasing me. I turn the illumination of my phone back to the hallway to find my way to my own room while I hear Irisviel whining and calling out my name.
After I finished getting ready and lied down on my futon, I start thinking about Irisviel and Sakura and how I wish Sakura would've stayed the night. How I regret not watching movies with the two. Even sleeping in the bed with Irisviel; for some reason, I really wanted to take her up on that offer. Not for any impure reasons, not for any ulterior moments, not really even because I wanted to spend time with my "mother" again; no, it's simply because I have a bad feeling, one I've been having ever since about a week ago when my nightmares returned. Whenever I wake up in the morning, whenever I leave the house, enter school, shoot my bow, and eventually lay down for bed again, the bad feeling in my gut is there. It's like the feeling of dread when you wait till the last minute to do a school assignment and are running out of time. I just want to stay close to Irisviel… to keep her safe… That's the last thing I thought before drifting off soundly to sleep.
When I wake up to my phone's alarm ringing, I look around my room groggily while wondering where I was, realizing I'd fallen asleep in my actual bedroom, not the shed, for once. I sit up straight and push the heavy blanket of the futon off of me while stretching out my arms and letting out a loud yawn. After standing up from the bed and walking to the door of my room, I realize I didn't have the nightmare last night. Huh. Maybe this is a sign of good things to come…
Breakfast would be meager again today, sadly, and would consist partially of leftovers from last night's dinner. After getting dressed and ready for school, I checked the fridge again only to see little change, other than the amount of junk food being slightly less and the leftovers from last night being within. I appreciate Sakura getting the stuff to make dinner, but she didn't really get anything other than that; not that it's her job. I had told Irsiviel to get some groceries yesterday. I stop worrying about it after remembering how big of a party-pooper I was last night and how I resolved to be a better son to Irisviel. I keep whisking the eggs and I eventually hear the front door slide open, indicating to me that Sakura had finally arrived.
We talked for a while about how we slept, and I mentioned I was sorry about being such a scrooge last night as I finished making breakfast and she set the table. Once everything was set, I went back to the kitchen to get some cups for the tea and I let my mind start to worry as Irisviel still hadn't joined us. I at first chalked it up to her just sleeping in, but she must've heard us talking after all this time. I place the cups down and glance out the doorway of the dining room and down the hallway while half-listening to whatever Sakura is saying. "Uh, sorry Sakura, I'll be right back, I'm just going to go check on Irisviel." I walk into the hallway and towards Irisviel's room without waiting for Sakura to respond. Calm down Shirou, she's probably just still asleep; she was up late last night crying because of you. That's true, but I can't recall a time Irisviel was ever late to breakfast in the morning.
I make it to her door and stop, thinking I should knock before entering in case she wasn't decent. I raise my hand to knock, but as soon as I hear rough, scrubbing sounds in the room followed by sounds of Irisviel whimpering and sniffling, I open my hand and grab the side of the sliding door before slinging it open. "Irisviel?! What's wrong?" She's kneeling next to her small table with a washcloth in her left hand, scrubbing at the back of her right hand.
"Sh-Shirou? N-Nothing's wrong, I just *sniff* I just was cleaning my hands." Cleaning her hands? I walk over and sit next to her on the floor while holding my hand out, gesturing for her to hand me hers. She looks down at my hand with her slightly puffy, teary eyes for a moment before begrudgingly placing her own in it. I reach up with my other hand and remove her left one that still held the washcloth on top of her right before feeling my worriedness quickly melt and evaporate only to be replaced by rage. On top of her right hand is a speckled red marking that looked as though it's a freshly made bruise.
"Irisviel, where'd you get this?! Who did this to you? Was it that bastard from before?!" Irisviel looks into my enraged eyes with her own worried pair and rapidly shakes her head before pulling her hand away to rub her damp eyes with.
"Again with that, Shirou? No, no, it wasn't him; I haven't seen nor heard from him since then. This is just… I just smashed my hand in the drawer of my dresser this morning when I was pulling my clothes out. It really hurt, so I guess it brought tears to my eyes, but I'm ok now, I promise." I look over her face and glance back down at her red hand, wondering whether she was telling the truth or not. She just smiles back at me, still covering her hand with the washcloth. I lean in and pull her into a hug, holding her tightly, unsure of how else I can handle the situation.
"Alright Irisviel… breakfast is ready, by the way…" It sounded as though she was crying even more while her face was buried into my chest, but she stopped to answer me.
"It's ok Shirou, I think I want to lay down and get a bit more rest; I was up pretty late last night, remember? Just save mine and wrap it up in the fridge…" I eventually stop hugging her and stand back up to my feet to return to the dining room, walking past Sakura, who apparently came to see what the commotion was about, on my way. The front of my shirt on top of my chest clung to me because of the large wet spot Irisviel's tears made.
I stare up at the top of the apartment buildings while standing at the very last cross-section in the road before school. The sun sat just on the horizon, above the apartment roofs, and was veiled by clouds just enough so that it was safe to look at. The beautiful sight helped ease my worried psyche as I stood at the cross walk, alone. I told Sakura to go ahead when we reached this point so that I could clear my head. Was it really just her being clumsy? Did she really… do that herself? I would assume in any other family, with any other normal son, they'd take their mother's words at face value and leave it at that, but I have a reason to be skeptical. A few years ago, Irisviel had marks very similar to those on her body. At the time, she told me she was weak physically and that she bruises extremely easily, that it's no big deal she got bruises like that across her arms, legs, sometimes her face, while she was working at her part time job. Those were all lies.
She had been looking for a job for the longest time once we moved here, and there were nights even where we had no meal for dinner, so it seemed a miracle when she suddenly found a job as a nanny to a local businessman's children. At first it was just that, a nanny, but soon, unbeknownst to me, the man started making her come over even when he was home with his children and that's when she started returning home with the bruises. I was a kid then, but I wasn't an idiot; and when it came to Irisviel, I was especially cautious. So, about a week into her starting to return home with those bruises, she suddenly had to go work on the weekend. This was the point I was certain something was up, so I got the man's address from the slip he gave her when she first started working that had it and ran ahead of her and snuck into the man's house to hide and wait so when she arrived, I could see what happens. I'd hidden in the hollow of their grandfather clock in the living room after a lot of sneaking around, my child body then barely being able to fit, and when Irisviel finally arrived, she was met by the man at the doorway and was demanded to follow him upstairs. After they went up, I followed, and once they went into a room, I went up to the doorway and peaked through the keyhole to see what happens. Then he ordered Irisviel to strip.
She resisted at first, but he just kept saying "Strip now, or go home and never come back." Eventually, she did just that. Then, she started crying. It took everything I had to not break down the door and rush in to smash the face in of that bastard, but I made myself wait to see how things progressed; to see if she let him go any further than that. He demanded for her to get on the bed while he stood up and began to unbuckle his belt. Irisviel screamed "no" at him and reached down to grab her scrub shirt and pants she had just removed, assumedly to quickly put on and run out of the place in. The fat bastard had other plans though. "Do you know who I am?!" he said. "You've been denying me all this time even though I could give you and that brat child anything you could ever want!" he exclaimed. Then, when he saw she was ignoring him and quickly covering her undergarment-clad body with her clothes, he grunted in frustration and stepped forward to her. "I tried making it worth your while, but if you won't accept my generosity, I'll take you here and now and give you nothing in return. I can do it, you know? Rape you. And I'd get off scot free; I have connections."
With that, he grabbed her arms and ripped them from her body, taking the clothes off with them. She screamed, loudly. He grunted in anger again and then said, "you bitch" before slapping her across the face and kneeing her in the stomach, causing her to groan out in pain and fall back onto the large, king-sized bed. After that, I don't really know what happened exactly. All I saw was red. Apparently, I beat the wooden door down, somehow forgetting how to use a handle, then jumped the man and beat and stomped and pummeled his body into the floor of his own bedroom while screaming obscenities like "you son of a bitch", "mother fucker", "piece of shit", etc. at him. I was a child, yes, but I was a child who'd been spending six years shooting a bow and working his body raw to its limits, every single day. Irisviel eventually got me off and calmed me down after I'd beaten the man into a bloody mess, within an inch of his own life. We left and Irisviel feared the repercussions of what would happen because of what I did.
Those repercussions never came. The "connections" that bastard talked about were apparently with the Yakuza, and when he went and whined to them about what happened and told them our names, he apparently had much, much worse things done to him than the pummeling I gave him. Up until then, I never really liked being "in good" with someone who was basically a member of a criminal syndicate, Miss Fujimura, but after that, I'd been thankful for both her and them ever since. Irisviel had chastised me thoroughly and was living in essentially terror after the ordeal, but once Taiga came and told her we had absolutely nothing to worry about, Irisviel, on that night, hugged me and cried against my shoulder all night long while constantly thanking and apologizing to me. I, of course, had no idea how to deal with it, but I handled it the only way I thought I could. She had gone through a week of sexual harassment, beatings for refusing his advances every time, and almost being raped just so that she could keep a roof over my head and food in my stomach; on top of saving my life back then, what else could I do than try to somewhat repay her the way I did?
And so, when morning came, and she had finally stopped sobbing, I lifted her face up to my own and told her this: "Irisviel, the day you have a reason to thank me or apologize to me for anything is the day pigs fly. I've done nothing worthy of either of those claims. As for work, you never have to lift your fingers to labor away again. I'll take care of it. I'll take care of everything. I can get more than enough money for food, the bills, any clothes you could ever want, and trips to go wherever in the world you want. So please… just let me do that!" After I said all that, it was my turn to cry into her shoulder that day; I wanted nothing more than for her to step down and let me take care of her so that she'd be safe. And so it was, once we were both done filling each other's shirts with tears, I started wearing the pants in the family and I added a job on top of my schooling and training.
I snap back into reality when a car speeds past me and nearly blows my scarf off of my shoulders. Jeez. What am I doing digging up horrible memories like that now? Regardless, after that whole experience, I should trust Irisviel when she says that she accidentally caused that bad red mark on her hand… She would tell me otherwise. I let the problem plague me no longer and try my hardest to cheer up while walking across the street to finally get to school before the first class starts.
Classes roll by normally as they always do, but I do take note of how I didn't see Rin throughout the first half of the day. I sit down with Issei in the Student Body office for lunch while wondering what she's up to today. "Something bothering you, Emiya?" I frown at him while he digs around in my lunch with his chopsticks.
"Not particularly, though, it's not like you'd care regardless; you're too busy picking out what you want from my lunch, I see." Issei groans in a whiny manner while picking out a few pieces of what he wants, ignoring my annoyed observance about it.
"Come on Shirou, you always let me have some. You make the best lunches ever, no contest. I'd give you my entire lunch for just a bit of yours!" He exclaims all of this so ecstatically, but realistically, he'd hesitantly share any of his at all…
"Whatever… and no, nothing is bothering me really, I was just wondering where Rin is today is all." Issei audibly chokes on whatever he's eating and quickly grabs his cup of tea before chugging it down to clear his throat.
"*cough* Y-You what?! Why do you care where that she-devil is?!" I look at him in annoyance at his casual use of the harsh nickname.
"I don't care, Issei. It was just an observation I made. As late as she is to school, she hardly ever misses any." Issei wipes the corner of his mouth with his napkin and takes another sip of his tea, seemingly not buying my explanation.
"Emiya, you've heard my grievances about her a thousand times, but still, I highly advise you to not associate with her. As for where she is, I have no clue at all. She's probably out somewhere kicking puppies and drinking bottled baby tears." He laughs a bit at his own twisted little joke and I continue looking at him in disappointment.
"Issei… you should really shape up considering the line of work you're going into at Ryuudou temple…"
After lunch, I attend my afternoon classes and then school finally lets out. I walk out and onto the front of the school yard before turning to my right and looking behind my shoulder at the archery range. You said it yourself Shirou… Yes, from now on it's about her, not archery. For the first time, I'm going to skip practice. For the first time, I'm not going to shoot my bow today.
When I arrive home, I get the hell scared out of me by the astonished "WHA-" from the dining room and then the rapid footsteps and sudden tackle of Irisviel into me as she makes the both of us crash down on the floor. She grins happily as though she's a child who was just handed a mountain of candy while she nuzzles up into me and lets out an occasional, quiet "yay" or "it's Shirou". Even though she's pressing all of her weight down on top of me and my head is uncomfortably bent and pressed against the front door while my back is to the cold, hardwood floor, I can't help but laugh and return the hug.
"I'm home, Irisviel…" As soon as I say this, she quickly sits up from me with a worried look.
"Wait, today's… you have archery practice! Did you forget? It's still early so you can-"
"No, Irisviel, did you forget what I said?" She tilts her head and looks down at me in confusion and I feel my face heat up from embarrassment when I realize I'm going to have to say it again. "Jeez… I-I said it's… you first from now on, not archery." She laughs and smiles at me warmly which oddly contradicts her mischievous eyes.
"I know, Shirou, I just wanted you to say it again. I just can't believe you remembered that promise… much less that you were serious." I'm slightly agitated she made me say it again, but seeing how happy it makes her, I decide to let it slide. It was then I realize the position we were in; me laying down on the floor with Irisviel sitting right on top of my crotch as though she was straddling me. I then realize she finally changed her clothes; she changed from the nightgown she wore all day yesterday to one of my long-sleeved t-shirts. Just the t-shirt. All she has on other than that baggy t-shirt, that's far too big for her, is her undergarments, indicated to me by the strap of her bra on her left shoulder, which is out in the open because of the shoulder of the t-shirt drooping down onto the arm, and her panties which are in clear view from her sitting position.
"Irisviel! Wh-What are you wearing?" She looks down at my t-shirt with a face of honest, innocent confusion.
"You told me I needed to hurry and change out of my pajamas?" Hearing her answer made me realize two things. One: there's no hope for her when it comes to changing clothes. Two: nothing I say, literally nothing, will steer this conversation to an answer for why she chose to wear my shirt or to convincing her to take it off.
After a bunch of arguing and struggling, I removed Irisviel from on top of me and made my way to my bedroom to change into something more comfortable. Once I changed, I made my way to Irisviel's room and as soon as I enter, I see her nightgown sprawled across her table, on top of her little stack of movies. I sigh disappointedly at her sloppiness and brush the nightgown off and next to the stack of movies so that I can grab them and take them into the dining room with me.
Once I enter the dining room, I see Irisviel sprawled out on the floor, watching the tv as it plays… children's cartoons. I almost take a step in before looking lower on Irisviel's body and seeing the hem of the back of my t-shirt she's wearing is stuck in the waistline of her black, lacy panties, revealing her panty-clad rear end to the whole world. I retrace my steps back into her bedroom after realizing how dangerous that is and I grab her blanket from her bed to take back with me. In one swift motion, I jump into the room and toss the blanket on top of her body. She sits up straight, now looking like a ghost from being covered with the blanket while letting out an "EEP!" "Sh-Shirou!? Are you there? Why'd you throw a blanket on me?" I quickly think of a reason while setting the movies down on top of the television.
"I uh… wanted to watch those movies you had now. If we don't start now, we're going to be up all night watching them. And I thought it'd be more fun if we used the blanket to cover ourselves with instead of the heater…" She doesn't answer for a moment while I walk over and into the small kitchen to find the popcorn. Then she yanks the cover off of her to reveal her big grin once more.
"Yep! That's a great idea!"
It doesn't take me long to figure out why she thought my "idea" was such a good one. As soon as I shut the blinds, turned off the lights, and started the first movie, the western, she began scooting closer and closer to me under the blankets. I responded each time by scooting away and she would respond by pouting and then scooting closer. Eventually, we scooted away to where we were almost to the other side of the room away from our seats next to the table and we couldn't see the tv. I groan in frustration and scooch back over with her to where we're both once again sitting with our backs against the table and facing the tv. Not wanting to go through that again, this time when she scoots to sit right next to me beneath the covers, I don't fight it. She whispers out "yay" and takes this as a sign that it's ok before wrapping both her arms around my right one and leaning her head onto my shoulder. Does she know this is how couples sit together? Jeez…
Once the first movie ends, I thank the heavens for it. The movie was so bad that it's laughable. Which is exactly what Irisviel and I did the whole time; laugh. In that respect, I guess it was pretty enjoyable. I stand up to put the next movie in and check my cellphone while I do so. I notice it's almost the time when Sakura would prepare dinner, but I assumed we wouldn't be having that tonight considering how full we were getting off popcorn. I then realize Sakura still isn't here yet. As soon as I think this, my phone lights up in my hand, saying I'm getting a call from Sakura. I answer it and lift it up to my ear. "Hello? Sakura? Where are you at?" She doesn't answer for a moment.
"I… I'm not going to be joining you and Miss Emiya for dinner tonight senpai, I'm sorry." I hear the sadness in her voice and instantly think something's wrong.
"Sakura, what's wrong? Is everything ok? Shinji didn't touch you again did he?"
"N-No, senpai! I just can't come over tonight, I have to spend time with my real family too… I'll see you first thing tomorrow morning, I promise." Before I can even say anything, I hear the click and beeping of her having hung up. I snap my phone shut and sigh, feeling as though something really did happen.
"Shirou? Is everything ok?" I look down at Irisviel who looks just as worried, if not more so, than me.
"I don't know… I could go over there, but she already told me to stay out of it." I wanted to help her, I really did, but it's hard to help someone who doesn't ask for it. The results of it will be random and usually much more different than you'd expect. And I honestly doubt Shinji would even look at her the wrong way after how badly I slapped him up that last time.
The horror movie was marginally better than the western. The best part about it was that it was actually good in the aspect of its genre; it was pretty scary. The worst part about it was that every time something even slightly scary would happen, Irisviel would cling closer and tighter to me until eventually at the end of the movie, she was almost in my lap with her face buried into my side beneath my arm, no longer even watching the movie, while whimpering and jumping at any loud noise that came from the tv. I pry her off of me after a bit of struggling and realize it's getting dark outside while I take the next movie out of its case. "Hey… Shirou…" I look over at Irisviel calling out to me in a much more serious tone than usual to see her staring at the tv that's paused on the movie's credits.
"Yes? What's wrong?" She answers me without breaking her stare from the tv.
"Tomorrow night I was thinking… we go on a little road trip. I actually did a little packing today for your suitcase and I'll finish both it and mine tomorrow." What? A road trip?
"Why would we do that? I'm not saying I'm against it, but it seems pretty random and on such short notice. Where would we even go to?" She shakes her head slightly while still refraining from looking at me and instead vying for the tv.
"I don't know yet. I was thinking we'd just drive and go through some different popular towns. Anyways, we'll be ready to go as soon as you get home from school tomorrow. I'll explain all the details to Sakura tomorrow morning for you." She's already talking like it's decided; end of discussion. I feel like something is wrong for her to suddenly want to do this. It sounds like this "road trip" is just us skipping town. I'll just do as she says though… I don't want to stir up anything I don't have to. But…
"Can I at least know how long we're going to be gone?"
"It depends. It probably won't take too long, so I'd say about a week or so."
After the weird discussion, we started the third and last movie, the romance. It was short-lived though, as Irisviel fell asleep only about 20 minutes into the movie. I gently push her off of my side and stand up to put away all the movies and popcorn while chuckling at how badly she wanted to watch all these movies and yet she fell asleep during them right after nighttime hit. Once everything was put up, I lift Irisviel up to bring her to her bed, being extra careful not to wake her this time, and tuck her in once she's in. Soon I find myself back in the dining room, wondering what to do. I look down at my phone and see it's only just before 8:00 and I realize how much time I have. I soon unknowingly find myself walking through the hallways and to the backdoors of the house that lead out into our backyard.
Once I'm inside my shed, I laugh at my fleeting resolve while gently plucking at the tight string of my longbow. "First day without shooting a bow" huh? I guess that was conditional because I was doing it solely to have time for Irisviel and then she up and went to sleep on me, but still, I can't believe I don't have more self-restraint than this. I lift the heavy bow up and take one step out of the shed, not bringing my three quivers with me; only my bow and my one lucky arrow. I stare out into the dark yard that's not even slightly illuminated from the moon or stars, as they're covered with dark clouds tonight. Just one. One shot. Just a shot. Just this one shot. I continue looking at the direction of the dark yard the target is located somewhere in and I lift up my bow and nock my single, lucky arrow. I look out into the total darkness and realize it won't make a difference, so I close my eyes too. I pull back the string and then, I fire. I keep my eyes closed until I hear the flying arrow collide into whatever it hit and sheathe itself inside of it. I lower the bow and walk back into the shed. Now we wait until tomorrow morning, and see if the superstition is still true…
After returning the longbow to its rack, I walk over to the cloth blanket with my project lied out across it. I decide I'll work on it after giving it no attention at all in the past week. This special project, the one I've been working on for the past month now, is what came of events that transpired in these past four years. Not too long after the fiasco with that businessman who employed Irisviel, I took my archery even more seriously since I had less time thanks to my job. During that time, I learned from a friend of Taiga's who came to teach a short lesson to the archery club how to make my own simple bow if I was ever stranded in the wild. That simple lesson he taught to the class is where it started. It took me little time to master making the simple bow he showed us, but it wasn't enough. I wanted to learn how to make my own, quality bow fit for taking down the biggest and strongest of game. After begging Taiga, she got me in touch with the man who taught us that lesson and he agreed to be my teacher. It took a long time, but I learned to make my own longbow. In fact, the longbow I've been shooting with at home is one I made myself. It could've ended there, but I wanted him to take it a step further and teach me how to make what I consider the most visually appealing bow, the recurve. Both he and Taiga were extremely against it, as it took many professionals a long time to make recurve bows that are perfectly balanced and able to shoot correctly. Even the man who taught me how to construct the survival bow and the longbow, a man who'd been a woodworker for over 40 years, still messed up recurve bows every now and then. It took time, lots and lots of time, but after nagging him and Taiga long enough, he finally agreed to teach me. That was his biggest mistake.
The man assumed I would give up after a while; after seeing how complicated and intricate the process is. Sure, it's not hard to put the pieces of a recurve bow together, but it's beyond hard to make those pieces themselves. Even more so if one's making them by hand out of wood. Yes, he thought I would give up quickly, but he underestimated my determination. Every weekend for that entire year, I would go to his woodworking shop, buy the wooden materials I needed from him, then spend almost the entire day practicing. After a while, my dedication became apparent, and he too devoted himself to my goal of learning to craft my own bow. Over the course of a year, through his guidance and my perseverance, I added mastery over crafting a recurve to my arsenal of bows. He offered me a job as his apprentice, but I refused, as I'd already begun steadily working for another associate of Taiga's. Where it felt like my thirst had finally been sated, it was truly only just beginning. I could make the bows, but soon I wanted to not just make a bow, but the bow. I wanted to make the best bow to ever be crafted; my bow. It was then I became a national criminal.
I didn't just want the best woods for my bow, I wanted woods that had meaning behind them. So, I decided to kill two birds with one stone; I'd take Irisviel on vacation with the money I saved from my job, just like I promised, and I'd gather the wood to make the perfect bow. It was also during these travels I became an infamous criminal. The first place I took Irisviel to was Nottinghamshire, about two years ago. For the first three days and nights, it was just that; a vacation. On the fourth night, however, the night before the morning we'd leave, I snuck out and made my way to the public landmark that is famous in the legend of Robin Hood, the bowmen thief. It was the place where he and his band would sleep every night: The Major Oak. I sawed through one of the large branches and carved the center heartwood out of the giant limb that fell to the ground. I took it back to the hotel we were staying at, packaged it, and mailed it to our home under a different name with no return address. We left on our plane long before authorities realized it wasn't nature that caused the branch to snap and fall, but instead a person who desecrated the tree.
It was a while before I had enough money saved up again to take Irisviel on "vacation" again; it was actually only about three months ago when we went. This time, it would be Perthshire in Scotland that I'd take her to. It was far more beautiful than Nottinghamshire and Irisviel loved it much more as well. It felt like an actual vacation and we even visited some of the renowned places across the land, such as the Birnam Wood and Dunsinae Hill that were made famous by the inclusion in Shakespeare's tragedy play Macbeth. It felt like an actual vacation, that is, until I had to do my dirty work. It was a bit harder to sneak into this public landmark and get what I needed, but I managed. The landmark in question is one of the oldest trees around and is considered by many the oldest in Britain and is most renowned for apparently being the tree that Pontius Pilate, the one who was forced to reluctantly send Christ to his crucifixion, grew up playing under every day; The Fortingall Yew. It was much harder to excavate some firm hardwood from the tree like I did with the Major Oak since it was much older, but I eventually found some long, solid sections of heartwood in the oddly-shaped, split tree. I felt far guiltier when harvesting from this tree than I did the Major Oak, because while I just cut the wood from a thick branch on the oak, I needed longer pieces from the yew and its branches were too thin and scraggly, so I had to harvest it from the trunk. That, paired with the fact the tree was already very old and was already very lacking on firm wood in its structural support, means whatever lifespan the tree had before my interference has probably been cut severely. I followed the same pattern I did with the oak wood and I packaged it and mailed it home; different name, no return address.
A few weeks later after we returned home, and I had a pile of raw, wooden materials ready to be made into a bow. To Irisviel it looked like I just had even more wood to add to my already abundant supply in the shed, but to me it was as though I now had gold and diamonds in my possession. It was around this time people connected the desecration of this tree to the Major Oak and the "Timber Pillager" became a popular term used to identify the thief. Even though there wasn't really any evidence to connect the two incidents, the idea became so popular in such a short time that it stuck and a bunch of absurd myths about him being some mystical being even began circulating. It was really odd to me to think about how my crimes which I felt so much guilt and regret over were being romanticized by others.
I reflect on the bizarre sequence of events that led to my possession of the sections of wood that lay out before me now. I return my focus to the pieces and frown in discontent, remembering why I put off fooling with it for the past week. The thing I feared when I first carved out the wood; it looks like it's just too old to be made into a proper bow. Even if I were to properly treat the wood and reinforce the back of the limbs with sturdier wood, it's performance wouldn't be peak, and it wouldn't last very long before it snapped or deteriorated too much to be drawn properly. I didn't want to accept it when I first dug it out because it would mean that I damaged those historical trees for no reason, and I don't want to accept it now while I'm trying to work with the wood and make the pieces, but I feel the more I work, the sooner I'll have to face the music and accept I did something horrible and have no justification for doing so in the end. Even so, I grab my sheet of sand paper and start to wipe down and rub into shape the limbs I'm attempting to make for the bow from the sections of yew wood. If only I was a better craftsman… a weapon smith… I lay on my side and carefully rub the long piece of wood while I grow weary and my pace at which I brush the sheet across it slows down. Or maybe if there was just an easier way to… reinforce the… wood.