Konoka brought in audience after audience each week. And each week, Setsuna would watch from the wings. On the fourth week, Konoka was wearing an outfit that didn't leave much for the imagination. A tailored red coat with gold shoulder-pads and lapels and lingerie. That's right, lingerie. Ayaka had convinced her to wear nothing but lingerie under that jacket after the second week. Sales had pretty much tripled after that. Konoka didn't seem to mind. As Setsuna watched her blow kisses to the cheering audience, a radiant smile on her face and nothing but warmth and love in her eyes, Setsuna's eyes flicked down to her legs. She swallowed. Konoka had such nice legs. When Konoka's eyes fell on her, catching her Setsuna turned away touching the bracelet she wore on her wrist sub-consciously. She still remembered Konoka's tender smile, the pure affection in her voice. Could Konoka do nothing more than love? After watching her for so long Setsuna was beginning to think so. Maybe she wasn't a succubus. Wolf whistles rang through the air.
"Again! Again!"
"Do you have a boyfriend?!"
Setsuna's eye twitched. Boyfriend? Setsuna glanced at Konoka, raising an eyebrow at her. She just laughed, bowing to the audience and flourished her hand. Setsuna settled down. The lights dimmed, causing the stage to fall into darkness. Setsuna spied Konoka quickly climbing down the ladder, hands and feet moving like lightning and gracefully jumped from the steps onto the ground just as Ayaka climbed out from under the stage using a trap-door. Yuuna and Makie were both lining up the lights for the fireworks that would reveal Ayaka. Silence as the audience waited with baited breath. Bright fire roared down the stage cutting across the middle to meet in the centre in a massive ear-splitting explosion. The lights flipped back on, bathing the arena in hues of blue and green. A pillar of earth rose from the middle, Ayaka standing on it with her arms spread out wide and a dazzling smile full of white teeth plastered over her face.
"Welcome to the White Wing Palace!" Ayaka declared, drawing herself up to her full height.
Setsuna looked for Konoka. She was standing near Yuuna who was controlling the lights via the runes inscribed into the wall. She had a ball of flame in her hand which lit up her face in a warm glow, illuminating it. Setsuna smiled. She looked so excited.
"So...you still haven't figured out your feelings for her?" A familiar voice boomed.
Setsuna jumped, spinning around. Jack was standing there, grinning.
"Aren't you supposed to be in the bar or something?" Setsuna mumbled.
"Guess that's a no huh," Jack laughed.
Setsuna ignored him, turning back to the show. She spied Konoka at the other end of the corridor. If anything could have looked anymore beautiful right now-
"She's raking in the cash," Jack said.
He was lighting up a cigarette made from ghostly substance.
"Why are you still here?!" Setsuna cried out, exasperated.
"Yue called," He chuckled. "Something about finding out why you're the way you are. Y'know, with the magic."
Setsuna perked up. Yue had found something? Setsuna stood up. Jack blew a puff of smoke out, looking up at the ceiling.
"You gonna show your face tonight?"
Setsuna looked at him, confused.
"The little missus over there thinks you're bailing on her," Jack chuckled.
Setsuna felt her heart sink. Dinner. That's right. She hadn't eaten with her since she'd came. Only that one time with breakfast. Setsuna looked up as the crowd roared. She could pick out Konoka's cheering. Konoka really did have the warmest eyes Setsuna had ever seen.
"Wait. Are you telling me to go to dinner or go see Yue?" Setsuna said, turning to Jack.
But he had disappeared. Fuming, Setsuna drew some runes in the air for teleportation.
"Missing out on dinner again?"
Setsuna glanced up at Nodoka unabashedly from the couch. The bard was rifling through some parchment scrolls that she had written the names of patrons that were regular customers to the palace. She also had a list of who the casuals would be that would come to the palace for work soon. Setsuna was going to get Al to let them go with pay when he came back from his business venture on the outside. She had a feeling that some of them would get hurt since Haruna and the twins seemed to be extremely energetic with the recent arrival of Konoka.
"Because I don't want to," Setsuna said. "And besides, it's not just me and Konoka. It's everyone's dinner...that Haruna conjures."
"And that's why you came straight to us instead of eating something first?" Nodoka asked, a gentle smile on her face.
"That was Jack's fault," Setsuna grumbled. "Giving me nonsensical options."
Nodoka and Yue exchanged knowing looks with one another.
"I think you were meant to go see her," Nodoka said.
Setsuna sank back into the couch, staring past her at the wall in thought. Was she really that dense to not have known?
"I think Konoka will forgive you," Yue said in her usual calm voice.
That didn't really make Setsuna feel any better. She picked up one of the stack of books she'd pulled out from the bookshelf when she first came and flipped open to a random page. It showed a picture of a tall woman dressed in beige brown fur with a wolf's tail attached to the base of her spine. Her arms and legs were bare, showing tough, lean muscle. She was smiling, sitting cross-legged in a meditation pose on a cloud. She had two pointy ears on top of her head and a calm, serene expression that seemed to jump from the pages. The Goddess of the Wilds, it read at the top of the page. Setsuna thumbed through the pages, marvelling. There were over 10 pages on this goddess, written in detail about things like her relationship with the other goddesses and gods, what her favourite appearance was, what her powers were and what weakened her. Setsuna turned the book over, curious. It read Goddesses of the Arcane and Earth: Volume 1. Setsuna looked over at Nodoka, wondering where she had gotten information about goddesses.
"Setsuna," Yue said, her voice cutting through the air calmly and sharply.
Setsuna looked over at her questioningly.
"I've got something."
"What is it?"
"Well...it's a curious thing you see. I've deduced that you were born from magic in some way or another. What happened after that point is anyone's guess. You probably became a normal demon. Anyway, the point is because your roots were in magic and Konoka is magic as gypsies are, it caused you to react abnormally when you came into contact with the emotions. The reason why you reacted so strongly to love was because it is one of the core tenants of gypsy magic. Konoka's presence just amplified the emotion to the extreme so that you were feeling it to that extent."
Setsuna considered. She said, "Then why didn't Konoka feel anything?"
"That's the mystery," Yue chuckled. "I'm still working on that one. You see...the important question now is who made you?"
Setsuna straightened, feeling a shiver run down her spine.
"There are only two beings in this world that can create sustainable life from magic, the magicians and gypsies," Yue mused.
"Magicians you mean sorcerers like Evangeline?" Setsuna asked.
"Indeed," Yue nodded.
"What about conjurers?" Nodoka spoke up. "Or alchemists like you?"
Yue smiled at her wryly, "Conjurers don't have the ability to create living, breathing creatures that would age normally. They would detoriate and die within a very short span of time and alchemists haven't discovered that essence that would create a believable sentient human being, much less a demon like Setsuna."
"So how are you going to figure out who made Setsuna?" Nodoka said.
"I'm not sure yet. When Nekane and Al come back I'll talk to them first as they're the most reliable sources when it comes to gypsies," Yue murmured.
Setsuna looked down at the Goddess of the Wilds. Maybe a goddess created her. Setsuna shook her head, chuckling to herself. Ridiculous. Goddesses didn't exist. They were fairytales. She'd been hanging around Konoka too much. Setsuna closed the book, getting up from the couch.
"Can I lend this to Konoka? She likes this kind of stuff," Setsuna said, glancing at Nodoka.
"Of course," Nodoka said.
"Thanks," Setsuna said. "I promise she won't take as long to return this one as the last one."
Nodoka just smiled at her gently. Setsuna headed for the window, opening it and climbed onto it. She dove out, wings snapping from her shoulders in mid flight to catch the updraft. She could feel the wind blowing through her feathers, caressing them in smooth, velvet strokes. It felt good. She pushed her powerful wings, once, twice, three times and soon she was soaring towards the forest. She slowed down when she came closer, spreading her wings out to the fullest and veered to the right, gliding down through a gap in between the canopy. Setsuna was looking for food. There was one thing she didn't tell Konoka though the others knew about it. As a demon, she needed to eat meat every once in a while. Fish were her preferred choice. She flared, using her toes to land on a branch of a tree that was next to the river and hook them around the branch. She peered at the river, looking for the flash of moving scales winding underneath the water. She glimpsed a shimmer of silvery-blue and vaulted from the branch, nails turning into lethal talons. Plunging them into the water she caught the fish with them and pushed upwards with a powerful downstroke of her wings. She glimpsed something large, tawny brown and feathered zooming towards her out of the corner of her eye. Icarus!
Setsuna spun. Icarus had swooped in, snatching the fish from her talons. There was a shredding noise. Setsuna's heart sank. The book was in tatters.
"Hey!" Setsuna cried.
Icarus hit the ground hard, claws ploughing furrows into the earth. The fish was half mutilated by the time the griffon regained his balance. He swivelled his head a full 90 degrees, fierce eyes wide.
Oh hey Master, didn't know it was you.
Setsuna looked at him suspiciously.
Come on you look like an eagle with those wings and your claws.
Setsuna glided down on the edge of the river, throwing the griffon a dark look and said, "I don't believe you."
Icarus just blinked at her innocently. Setsuna turned to the river and set what was left of the book down. She stuck her hands into the flowing water. It was freezing. Her fingers turned numb immediately. Nodoka was going to kill her. The book was beyond repair. Icarus was tearing into the fish, ripping it apart with his beak and gobbling the pieces down whole.
What's that?
"A book that you destroyed," Setsuna muttered.
The chewing stopped. Icarus was looking at the book, a piece of fish meat dangling from his beak.
Sorry.
He sounded sincere enough. Setsuna sighed, "It's okay. I'll just tell Nodoka a fox did it."
Icarus seemed to smile or maybe it was the way he angled his head. He made a cawing noise which Setsuna heard as a laugh inside her head.
You know, you're actually cool sis.
Setsuna felt something touch her palms. She wrapped her fingers around it immediately, feeling soft slick scales. There was a lot of flopping. Setsuna jerked the fish out. It was a large salmon. Setsuna threw it onto the ground where it wriggled wildly before falling still. Setsuna raised a hand, nails sharp and slashed the fish in one swift, lethal move. It fell apart into five slices.
"You want some?" She said, looking at the griffon.
Nah it's cool. I ate some before you came anyway. I was just having fun.
He was preening his feathers with his beak. Setsuna picked up a piece of fish, burning it with fire she conjured to make it smoked and threw it into her mouth. After a moment of silence Setsuna said, "So what were you doing out here anyway?"
Chilling. What are you doing out here? I thought you'd be hooking up with Konoka. Y'know, romancing her.
Setsuna thought she heard Icarus snigger when he said romancing. She shot him a dirty look, "That's wrong. "
You've already kissed her
"I was drunk and she kissed me."
Icarus laughed in her head.
Sure and you weren't doing anything the other night with Konoka?
Setsuna scowled at him, expression growing dark, "How do you know about that?"
Jack.
"Jack is a lying, alcoholic drunkard," Setsuna snorted. "You can't trust anything he tells you, especially when it comes to people's love lives."
So you WEREN'T lying together holding hands and she didn't give you a bracelet as a sign of friendship?"
Setsuna turned away from him moodily, taking a piece of fish and ripped out the spine.
You know, she likes you. She's liked people before but no one as much as you. Give her a shot. It'll give me a break from hearing her talk about you all the time. I think my ears are going to fall off.
Setsuna's ears perked up. Konoka talked about her?
So what's with the book?
Setsuna looked at the remains. It was torn into pieces, unsalvagable.
"Nothing," Setsuna muttered.
She shuffled to the river, scooping water into cupped hands to drink from it. Inside, she felt a tiny silver of happiness. Konoka liked her. A scream suddenly pierced the air. Icarus' head whipped upwards. Setsuna choked.
Eyes watering, she swallowed and gasped, "That was Konoka!"
Icarus leapt into the air in a flurry of feathers. Setsuna shielded her face as the force of the wind almost knocked her off her feet then vaulted after Icarus.
A.N:
Busy. Life. Dunno when this is going to get updated again. Hopefully next month but probably much later. Many apologies.