Not much to say here this time. Let the words speak for themselves. :)

Chapter 11

We both woke very early, gave our still sleeping Goddess a pat on the head for luck, and left for Soma Familia's main building.

Bell informed me of what he had discovered about them as we walked, making sure I at least had an idea of what we might be facing. Due to the popularity of Soma's wine, the main building and their joined warehouses actually had guard towers. The Familia members were usually too lazy to bother with them, more concerned with making money for another taste of their God's wine, but we were two people against how ever many people they had.

"I hope they co-operate." Bell said.

"Me too." I smiled slightly as we gave each other a fist bump, and simply walked up to the front door.

My eyes and ears told me one of the bigger buildings was meant for boiling liquid. A distillery or some such. With fragrant wood smoke and something fruity being carried by the morning breeze. The second of the bigger buildings was dark and quiet, making me think of a warehouse or the like, maybe living quarters. The smallest of the three, looking more like a three floor shop was where I heard the muffled clank of metal and swearing. It was here where we walked. Upon reaching the iron bound wooden door, I drew back my hand, and knocked.

The sounds of metal and swearing stopped all at once, and I heard footsteps approach the door. It was the sandy haired man who opened it.

He was about to say something rude, by the look in his face, but I talked over him, "We are here to negotiate for Lilly's release from the Soma Familia." I said clearly, making him blink.

"Oh look. It's the naked bitch and the little rabbit. Hey Zanis! You owe me. They're here." He turned around to speak to someone inside.

"So I do. Fine." The door opened and Zanis stood in front of us now, the sandy haired man backing up behind the taller man, "I thought I made myself clear. Lilly is ours. Lord Soma is far too busy to listen to some one who makes no money, and thus, Lilly will stay with our Familia until she does."

"Let me speak on her behalf." I replied, feeling the hair on my tail start to poof out in annoyance.

"No. Soma does not want to be disturbed by such... Riff raff." Zanis smiled darkly, "If you continue to bother us, we will consider it to be an aggressive act by your Familia."

"Aggressive such as your Familia mugging people, leaving people to die in the dungeon, and holding Familia members against their will." Bell spoke this time, his youthful sense of justice unable to hold back any longer.

Zanis surprised us both by quickly reaching out past me and slapping Bell sharply across the face. "You overstep your bounds Boy. You have n...urk..."

His words cut off as I took hold of his still outstretched right wrist with my right hand, and squeezed with all my strength. "Remember. You struck first." I said to him, hoping I could land a sucker punch before he reacted. I stepped back one step tugging him along and tried for a left hook into his ribs.

I knew he was level two. But the speed that he reacted, and the ease that he was able to brush off my punch was astounding. I managed to land my punch, slamming him into the wall next to the door, but it didn't even wind him. He tugged his arm back, my hand still holding his wrist, and returned the favour, slamming a fist into my gut.

I let go of his wrist on reflex, dropping to the ground like a sack and holding my middle. Behind me, Bell jumped at him and I could hear the ring of metal on metal. "I suppose a lesson is in order. I will deal with this one."

I was trying to get my breath back, when some one grabbed my hair and lifted me off my feet. The sandy haired one, and the three from before stood in front of me, while I dangled in the air over the steps of the front door.

"So, the bitch needs a lesson." He said smugly, "Just as pathetic as when we first met." He punched me in the gut again, but it didn't hurt nearly as much. "Maybe before we make you disappear into the dungeon, we can have some fun with you." He punched me again, but I had mostly recovered from Zanis's attack and was able to call on a little of my magic to toughen myself. The others behind him laughed as I heard Bell cry out in pain, and then look at me hungrily as Sandy reached for my chest and started to grope me.

Again, that feeling of disgust filled me at his touch. I turned my eyes down to him and focused on his jaw. My hands had been holding the hand in my hair, not just to stop him from twisting me around painfully, but to steady myself. Now that I was steady, I took his moment of distraction grabbed his wrist like I had with Zanis, and kicked forward as hard as I could. He was ready for it, letting go of my hair and dropping me to the step below. He wasn't, however, ready for his hand to not come free of my grip. Unbalanced, my foot connected with his chest and he fell forward as I stepped back.

But I still didn't let go. With a twist I forced him further off balance and he fell face first to the cobbles. I didn't posture, I didn't threaten. I simply held his arm straight back, put my foot on his back, and twisted very hard. With a wet snap, both his elbow and shoulder dislocated and his wrist broke.

I looked back to Bell and Zanis, seeing that the taller man was in much better shape than Bell. "Switch!" I yelled at him, leaving the three at the door in the dust as I kicked off towards Zanis's back.

Zanis snorted in contempt as he turned and dodged my charging punch, slapping my back with the flat of his free hand and sending me to the ground in an uncontrolled forward slide. I saw Bell's feet hop away, then heard them dash towards the door as I slapped my hands against the ground to pop me into the air and back on my feet. Lunoire's lessons on using my enhanced strength to do this sort of thing saved my life, as I saw Zanis's sword, a double edged longsword, wedged into the surface of a cobblestone where I had just been laying.

"Oh, maybe you will be more entertaining." He rubbed his wrist, the one I had grabbed, with his free hand. "I believe I owe you for touching me."

I didn't answer. Instead of talking, I took a deep breath. This man was certainly more powerful than me. But after fighting with Ryuu and Lunoire, I knew he wasn't more skilled. I edged forward with small light footed hops, hoping to lure him into striking. His weapon had reach, but I could use that extra time to parry. He had strength, but all I needed to do was tap the tip of his blade to sap all of that power away from his strikes.

"Oh, you're much smarter than I thought." He said after a few exchanges, my remaining arm guard actually smoking from blocking his last thrust. "You know you can't win." He thrust again, then again, suddenly flicking the tip of his blade across.

I drew back out of range, holding my cheek, then looking at the blood on my palm.

"I have all day to cut you to pieces you know." He mocked.

Still I said nothing, using every breath he used taunting, to feed another breath to the slowly building fire inside of me. He came at me next, and I used every trick I had learned fighting Ryuu to keep myself from getting stabbed. Now, each time I blocked or slipped aside, he would add a little flourish to his strike and give me yet another cut. I was able to keep anything vital away from his blade, but at this rate I would simply bleed out before giving up. I looked over Zanis's shoulder , spotting Bell fighting against one of the others, though he had three bodies around him on the ground.

"Don't." Zanis said, stepping forward and nearly stabbing me in the eye. "Look." He stabbed again, just over my shoulder then brought his blade down, cutting the top of my shoulder badly, "Aw..."

I had grabbed the blade. "Shut..." I felt him try and tug the sword free, but my grip was unbreakable, immovable. "Up." I slammed my other hand into his ribs again.

This time, he wasn't ready. This time, I had used my magic and anger to fuel the strike. His sword cut a bit more into my shoulder, but he let it go as my strike sent him rolling across the road and into a wall. I took hold of his sword and watched him stand back up, coughing and spitting a red glob onto the ground. I looked him in the eye, lifted his sword and brought it down on my arm guard. His face went into a rage as his weapon shattered against it.

"We want to speak to Lord Soma." I repeated, tossing the sword hilt aside.

I heard Bell's opponent gurgle and fall to the floor. I glanced over to see his last dance partner curled up into a ball, holding his groin.

"Even with what ever trick you just used..." He said, pulling out a dagger from under his coat. "I'll simply burn you to ashes!"

The blade of the dagger suddenly glowed red hot, and with a sweep of his arm, Zanis launched a roaring ball of fire at me. I felt time slow down, as the fireball seemed to grow bigger and bigger, until I felt my breath being sucked away by the heat.

My breath was literally stolen from me as something crashed into my side, and I brought to the ground roughly. I think I screamed, smelling burnt hair and fabric, feeling my shoulder protest, my hip scrape itself raw. I heard laughter above it all.

Opening an eye, I spotted a patch of white hair and felt a heavy weight against my body. Bell had thrown himself into me. I could see that nearly his entire back was smoking. "Bell?" I coughed, using my good hand to shake him.

His shoulder felt like pie crust. But he coughed once and nodded against my chest. "You're *cough* safe."

"Drink a potion, hurry..." I said, pushing him off of me and getting to my feet, watching as Zanis looked at his red glowing dagger, then to us. I quickly grabbed a potion of my own, accidentally swallowing the little cork in my rush to drink it. "Bell, don't move. I will protect you."

Zanis laughed as he heard me say that. "Protect him? How! I will burn you to ashes and show your precious Lilly the remains!" He raised the dagger again.

I took a step forward, "I will not bend, I will not break." I said, pulling the flames from my own magic, to ready it against the oncoming fire, "I will be a wall for the home my Goddess has given me!"

Again I watched, eyes squinted, arms crossed in front of me, as Zanis's fireball got closer, and bigger, hotter and brighter. I finished my chant, yelling it in defiance at the incoming inferno. "Skin of Stone!"

Again, I screamed until the heat from the fire devoured the air around me. I felt my skin heat up, blister, then blacken. I closed my eyes to keep them from burning in the heat. My ears, flattened to my skull, felt like some one was chewing on them.

Then my skin felt suddenly cold. The early morning air rushing in to fill the void left by the heat of the fire. Distantly, I thought I could hear something shattering like glass. I tried opening my eyes, but couldn't.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed. But my next sensation was something that tasted like cherries being poured into my mouth. My throat wasn't working, but who ever had poured it into my mouth plugged my nose and tilted my head back. I tried coughing as some of the liquid went down the wrong way, but couldn't.

"That's... A surprise." I heard a rough voice say. "You might want to look away lad." The voice said again, and I felt something wet and icy touch my chest. I heard some one vomit, and that same voice say, "If yer gonna be sick, go help with the fire." I heard some one leave the room.

"Miss Kodori?" I heard Bell's voice in my ear. "Can you hear me?"

"Maybe she can, maybe she can't." The rough voice replied for me, more liquid being poured down my throat, though this time I managed to swallow on my own. I felt the distant tingle of it healing me. "But she probably can't move much. Tch... Boy, over there, get that blanket."

"Humph." I heard some one else say. "Why are you bothering to help Chandra?" It sounded like Zanis, though it also sounded like he was speaking through some missing teeth.

"Because, you" contrary to popular belief, I hadn't learned all the bad words first, but I knew the tone of some one else swearing, no matter the language, "have been running the guild into the ground, and it was about time some one put you in your place. I don't get paid enough to deal with your shit, and now, all of the Soma Familia brewers, you know, the ones who do all the actual work, are going to tell the guild you were the one who nearly set the rest of the block on fire." I felt another splash of cold over my chest and then my hips, "Now, shut up a'fore I knock out the rest of your teeth."

I manged to open one eye just enough to see a dimly lit ceiling. "Miss Kodori!" I spotted a bit of Bell's unmistakeable white hair. "Mr. Chandra!"

"Oh, awake then." I heard the sound of shuffling feet, and a weather beaten bearded face popped into view. "Just relax. No women about, or I'd have one of them doing this. After the potions do their work, you're going to need one mighty big scrubbing. I'm just making sure you're healing under all the..." He stumbled on his words a moment, "Well, it was bad."

I tried to say something, but managed only a slightly more forceful wheeze. I watched as a big hand moved a wet cloth to my lips and cold water dribbled into my mouth. A moment later, it felt like some one was brushing plaster off of my cheeks. My mouth could move again. "is...k." I said. "ell."

Bell's face popped into view, "Yes Miss Kodori?"

"illy." I replied, "go." I watched his face as he showed his uncertainty, "is...k." I repeated.

"Go lad." the other, Chandra, said, "She could use a friend. Upstairs, down the hall, small room at the end."

"Traitor." Zanis mumbled, spitting.

Chandra waited until Bell's footsteps were gone, "Zanis, you are lucky he didn't kill you." I felt more brushing against my neck arms and shoulders, "These potions are from your private reserve, just so you know."

I felt a little more liquid enter my mouth, and went back to sleep.

Again I woke, this time to just cool water filling my mouth. The hand on my chin was smaller this time though. I thought I heard crying as well. I tried opening an eye, then had to shut it again as the light in the room was much brighter this time. I tried to say something, but only managed a mumble.

"Miss Kodori..." It was Lilly's voice, "Lilly is sorry!" A tiny head rested against my arm. I felt something, a blanket, over my entire body now, making me think I'd been mostly cleaned at least.

With a twitch, I tried to move my arm, and instead managed to push Lilly away. Reflexively, I closed my hand on the first thing that brushed it, and heard a squeak of surprise. For all she could carry, Lilly was like a feather. I felt my arm wake up a little more, and I gave a gentle tug on what ever bit of fabric I was holding. "s'ok." I mumbled, slowly flailing my arm about and hugging her head to my side. With her warmth against me, my body started waking up in earnest. I was probably naked under the sheet, and bald. "where?"

She sobbed a little against my side, so I rubbed her back and asked again. She finally answered, "Still at the Soma Familia home. Master Bell is talking to the guild. Zanis was taken away. Mister Chandra is talking to the guild too. Master Bell freed Lilly, then asked me to come here to help."

I nodded, then mumbled, "help sit..."

She helped me sit up, and gave me a damp cloth to get the last of the soot in my eyes off. Cautiously, I ran a hand over my head, feeling only the beginnings of hair on it. Potions only replaced living tissue after all. My ears were thankfully still there, though similarly peach fuzzy. My tail, oddly, was simply sooty. I wondered if it was because it was directly behind me, literally, that the fire hadn't burnt it. "more water?"

Lilly handed me a mug and I took a mouthful, gargling it in my mouth weakly, nearly choking on it, but managing to get a little more of the burnt feeling out of my throat. "Thank you." I pet her head, noticing that she didn't have ears. "Hey.." I ruffled her hair until she started to protest.

"Lilly has magic too..." She mumbled, "To disguise Lilly. Lilly can look like anyone about the same size. Lilly's magic is called Cinder-ella."

I hugged her again, and looked around the room. Bits of what looked like my armour were on a desk in the corner, the leather gone and some of the metal partially melted. "Now I really do need new armour." I said, putting my hand on Lilly's shoulder, "Help me stand?"

She did her best to help me stand, and looked up at me, "Now what is Miss Kodori going to do?"

I looked down at myself, down each arm, my hands, legs, hips, everywhere my eyes could reach with a bit of twisting. I was filthy. Covered in soot, water, potion, and dead skin. Even after Lilly cleaned me up, I was still a mess. I was also naked and bald. The latter annoying me far more than the former. My life in the city so far had been a long string of wardrobe destruction, but my hair was something I actually liked, even from my old life.

"What I came here to do." I folded up the blanket and wrapped it around myself, not caring that it was also covered in some of the remnants of my burnt skin and what ever else. "Come on, you." I held a hand out to her, and started walking, leaning on everything I could on the way.

To my surprise, I found my favourite guild employee Eina on the third floor, talking to Chandra. Now that I could see him clearly, my initial care taker was a dwarf, dressed in a tough looking overall and purple stained shirt. Both of them stopped talking as I reached the top of the stairs.

"Kodori!" Eina spotted me and both her and the dwarf came over to help Lilly. "You shouldn't be moving! Even after all those potions, you need your rest!"

"Lady is right." Chandra said, walking off a moment and coming back with a chair. "Surprised you aren't dead, and more so that you can move."

I sat in the chair, unable to resist the others gently pushing at me. I put my hand on Chandra's head and gave the rough hair a pat. "Thank you, first." I said, "But, work to do. I will talk to Lord Soma."

"So will I." Eina added, making Chandra frown, "The Soma Familia has broken many of the laws keeping the Familia's in line. They must be answered for."

"I know, I know." Chandra replied, "Really lady, I do. Zanis ran roughshod over most of the Familia since he took the captain's spot. But that's not the issue. Soma just..." He sighed, "Look. I joined the Familia because I like to brew. But I still bathe, eat, sleep, and rut like a normal person. Lord Soma... Doesn't care. You can talk to him, but I doubt you'll get more than a 'some one else deal with it' from him."

"Apathy. I can deal with that. Lilly? Come on. Help me over there." I turned to Eina, putting a hand on her shoulder and holding on for support until I got steady again. My body felt like I had just come off a bad fever. "Please, get Bell?"

She nodded to me, gave the dwarf a dirty look, then went downstairs. "Miss Kodori doesn't have to do this. Lilly doesn't..."

"Miss Kodori," I said, cutting her off quietly, "Wants to do this. Then go home and shower. A lot."

She giggled despite the situation, and worked the latch on the last door in the hallway. My nose, still a little numb from probably getting melted off my face, perked up at the fresh smell of soil and grapes coming from the room beyond. The room itself was small, but filled with perfectly tended potted plants with vines of grapes strung over latticework. Aside from one east facing window, the room was lit by lamps, and a massive sunroof. I also noticed the sun was well over the wall, making it a little before noon.

"I said, I didn't want to be bothered." A quiet listless voice said as we entered, floorboards creaking slightly under our weight. "Who are you?"

He was almost as tall as I was, with long messy black hair with bangs that nearly covered his eyes. His clothes, a dirt spotted white smock and pants, were functional but plain. "Lord Soma, Lilly would like to leave your Familia." I said, trying very hard to be as polite as I could. I gave Lilly a pat on the back to push her ahead of me, so that Soma could look at her clearly.

He simply shrugged, "Like any spoiled child who wants to run away when they don't get what they want." He sighed, "You children are all the same." He turned away and started tending to a vine of grapes.

"I remember you." He continued, tracing a finger under a leaf, sniffing at a nearby grape, then pruning it with a small set of shears. "Your mother and father, so desperate for another taste of my wine, offering you to me, and then never returning from the dungeon." Snip, "Only lusting after another drop of my creation, not appreciating what went into making it." Snip, "You had your taste of it before." Snip, "But now you want to leave because you haven't gotten another." He snipped one last bit off the vine, and tossed the handful of clippings into a pot of soil in the corner of the room.

"Lilly doesn't want your wine." She said in return, making Soma pause in his work. "All it ever brought Lilly was pain. From Lilly's parents, from the Familia, Lilly just wants to leave."

Bell chose that moment to enter, though he stopped at the doorway first, looked inside, then quietly joined Lilly and I, putting a hand on her other shoulder.

"Oh?" Soma said, turning around, looking at the three of us now. "If that is the case. Prove it. Prove that you are not just another foolish child, lusting after my masterwork, like all the others." He stepped over to the only window in the room and picked up a clear glass bottle from the sill. I had to squint to make sure, but the liquid inside was almost perfectly clear. Had I not seen it slosh around with the motion of him picking it up, I'd have thought it empty. With equal care, he took a stone cup from a shelf and poured a little of the liquid into it. "Go ahead. If you don't want any more after this, then I will let you go."

Before Lilly accepted the offered cup, I felt her start to tremble. It was as if she was experiencing her own personal earthquake, her tiny body was shivering so badly. Bell must have noticed too, because we both gave her little shoulders a squeeze. "Lilly." I said, "Be strong, we aren't going anywhere."

We both gave her a little nudge forward, and let go of her. I put my hand on Bell's shoulder and leaned on him. With one last look at us, Lilly accepted the cup, and downed its contents.

Bell and I watched, as she started shivering again, falling to her knees, then her side, curling up into a ball and moaning. I honestly thought she had just drank a cup of heroine or some thing, her reaction was so strong. I was about to step forward, but Soma looked at me, his dead black eyes boring into mine.

On the floor, she laughed, cried, giggled, and then relaxed, uncurling and laying on her back, eyes looking up at the ceiling emptily. No spark of awareness in them. He chest rose and fell, but nothing else.

"And so, another foolish child..." He stopped, as Lilly started sobbing again, quietly, reaching a hand out and gripping the bottom of his pant leg feebly.

"Please." Her voice sounded like she had been with me in the fire, "Let Lilly go? Lilly has friends now. Miss Kodori, Master Bell, they tried so hard for Lilly."

I felt a tear slide down my face, making Bell look up at me when it hit his shoulder. Even like that, she clawed her way back, to pay a debt of friendship. Soma was equally shocked, looking at the tiny hand clutching his pant leg weakly. He knelt down, and very gently detached her hand and held it. "Very well."

I gave Bell a push to go help Lilly, and leaned against the wall to support myself. Lilly hugged Bell tightly, making Soma smile slightly at the sight. He turned to me, and looked at the bottle in his hand. I held up a hand before he could ask and said, "I much prefer berry wine, or sake." That made him frown, so I added, "I'm sure you could make some if you tried."

His face returned to the listless neutrality of before, but he said, "I have learned much today. A little more won't hurt... Chandra? Let the guild representative in."

I don't really remember getting home. My body was exhausted from my use of magic, getting burned and being magically healed. Potions didn't restore blood, just healed the body. Lilly had stayed behind with Eina, mostly as a witness against Zanis, and Bell and I had been let go, but told to stay at home until the guild talked to us.

I was honestly perfectly happy with that. Even with Hestia panicking over Bell and I, and just how badly we had both been hurt. I hadn't gotten a chance to look until Soma's room, but he had lost a good deal of the clothes off his back. I had lost much more, and our Goddess was absolutely horrified at the loss of my hair. More so than even I was.

"Maybe Nazza will have something for it?" Bell tried, "Please calm down, I don't think she can breath."

For all my stats, I couldn't resist my Goddess's over protective hugs. She suddenly let go, and I almost fell over. Bell caught me, and used that moment to deflect any further lecturing by saying something like "We are all tired, let's just rest for today."

Hestia told Bell to do some chores, before she dragged me into the shower room. I didn't even try to argue that I could at least shower myself, lest she get even more angry with me than she already was. As she scrubbed, and the water running off me got cleaner and cleaner, I heard her crying softly above me, as I sat at the bottom of the little shower stall. Slowly, I got to my knees in front of her, mostly so I could look at her face unobstructed, "Please don't cry?" I said, feeling her hands rub at my fuzzy scalp.

"I worry so much." She said with a sniffle, "You go out and come home. Each time you get hurt. And today..." She hugged my head, "I was so worried when I saw the fire. I know risk is part of what being an adventurer is, but..."

Still feeling weak, I reached around and hugged my Goddess. "Before, I never believed in any sort of divinity." Slowly, I let go, and held on to her shoulders to help me stand, "I couldn't believe in a being that was supposed to be all loving, and all powerful, who let all the pain and suffering in the world happen." This time, I hugged her, reaching behind her to turn the water off. "But then, I come here. Where the Gods and Goddesses give us the power to fix those problems for ourselves. Not everyone does. But Bell and I. We do." I gave her a towel, and got my own, "And today, we fixed a problem. You might worry, and that is okay." I smiled at her, "But when we come home, at the end of the day, know, that we were out there, for you. Trying to fix a problem. Okay?"

"Okay." She mumbled, still looking for all the world like a child, unsure of what to do with herself.

"Good."

I wasn't present at the ceremony to transfer Lilly from Soma to Hestia Familia. But I heard it was a pretty boring affair. Instead, on threat of being tied to the bed with just enough rope to reach the bathroom, I was told I was to stay indoors and rest. Considering I was now down to one pair of boxers for a wardrobe, unless I wanted to go out wearing Bell's shirt, or my grey robe, my only clothing option was a torn up uniform for the Hostess of Fertility. So, I spent about half of the next day, laying on the couch, in my grey robe and boxers, reading a book Hestia had laying about. Now that I thought about it, this was my first truly idle day. No dungeon, no morning exercises (Hestia had refused to let me go) no one to rescue. It actually made me a little nervous. I couldn't put my finger on why, but it did.

Thankfully, before I started thinking about leaving and going outside to do something, the door opened, admitting Bell, who quickly found some where else to look, due to me wearing my robe and underwear and nothing else. Hestia, who gave me a wave, a smile, and a pat on the head for not leaving.

And Lilly. Who entered our home, as if for the first time, as if the floor was made of eggshell.

"Welcome home, Lilly." I greeted her, not waving, to keep my robe from opening.

She looked at the three of us, smiling brightly even as her eyes teared up. "I'm home." She said, before coming to us for a group hug.

Authors notes.

I hope, dear readers I was not too graphic with my words this day. Being a burn victim is on my top ten of things to never be, and the scene itself gave me a little pause. Lilly is now part of the merry band, and thus it is time to move on.