Chapter 37

I wasn't sure what to expect. The faintly glowing lump of crystal went into her mouth, there was a somewhat theatrical 'gulp' noise as she (once again, though forgivable this time) swallowed without chewing, and just... waited for effect.

If this were a normal place, with normal rules, it would hit her stomach, the hellish environment we all imagined it to be would dissolve the stone, and what ever magic power inside would soak into her body. Monsters in Orario did it with magic stone (though they sometimes chewed first), and similar things happened like that on Earth. Hell, it's how potions worked!

But this wasn't a normal place, and that wasn't 'just' a magic item. It was the container for a soul, from a dragon, being eaten by another dragon.

"Its..." Tetsu started, one of her reptilian clawed fingers poking the crest of her rib cage, "tingly."

Then her eyes went wide, and her arms wrapped around her chest. With a groan, like the time she ate the one and only 'hot pepper' vegetable I'd found so far in this world, she swayed back and forth, stumbled a few steps, then flopped onto her chin as if she'd just... switched off.

"I... I hear him... a voice, his soul..." She growled, flopping onto her side, "it's talking... talking so much! Grrr!" She tried to push herself up, but one arm seemed to just not want to work with her. "NO! Only one person is allowed to put me on my back!"

The one arm she couldn't control seemed to be working a little too hard, trying to roll her over, to put her in the dreaded 'submissive' posture. But Tetsu wasn't having it. She kicked, lashed her tail, even chomped onto the stony ground to keep that one arm from pushing her over.

I could tell that my party, and I, wanted to step forward, to help somehow, to keep her errant arm from doing what ever it was it was trying to do. But Tetsu was keeping at least one of her eyes focused on me, even as she struggled and thrashed.

Then something in her body cracked. It was so close to the sound of a magic stone snapping that it made one of my ears twitch in reflexive disapproval. But it wasn't just once... More snaps, a long drawn out groan, a howl of pain as Tetsu seemed to get her body under control and get onto all fours...

And with a splitting of scales a scream and a spray of blood, two wings burst from her back.

I rushed towards her feeling a few stray drops of blood pelt off my face as I ran. Tetsu was breathing hard, her body limp, her new wings twitching fitfully. But her eyes were still open and tracking me as all of us slid to a halt near her.

"Tetsu? You okay?" I asked, "Say something?"

"Clive? Bandages?" Raphtalia asked, getting a quick 'gr' from Clive as a roll of cloth arched over Tetsu's prone form.

"ow." Tetsu said. "He said... I wasn't a proper dragon."

I frowned, "He?" I got a bit closer and wiggled myself so I could get her big head onto my lap. Partly for comfort, partly to hold her still while the rest of the party bandaged her new... limbs? Yeah... They were mostly fully formed 'bat wings', except they'd ripped out of her back like... I couldn't even think of another animal that grew parts of itself in its own body...

"yeah." Tetsu mumbled, her tongue flopping out of her mouth as I got all those hard to reach spots her less than dexterous claws couldn't get safely. "gaelion? Yeah, that's how you say it." A pause, "sleepy, tell story later... no... go away, it's your fault I'm sleepy... yeah that's the spot... zzz."

"Sir?" Raphtalia gave me a questioning look.

"I can only guess." I replied.

"Ake is approaching." Usa said, handing Kunshu yet another roll of bandages.

A second and a half later I heard him clanking his way over at a jog, "Sir!"

"Shh!" I waved a hand at him to hush him, "Sleeping dragon."

"Oh..." He paused, looked around, and... seemed to just give up on trying to figure it out on his own. But like any good soldier, he asked, "Everything under control?"

"Looks like it for now. If you could get the big stretcher from our wagon's undercarriage and bring it over though? Maybe calm the people down a little if you need to?"

For the sake of being quiet, he didn't click his metal boots together, "Yes sir."

"She sounds strange." Usa said, "Like there is another very small heartbeat next to her usual one."

"Well, when she wakes up, we'll figure it out. We may need to stay here a day or so to let her recover." I replied.

Yes, Tetsu's struggle had woken people up. But with the help of the knights on watch, there wasn't any panic. Lots of questioning looks, but no panic. Tetsu even helped! Well... Kinda. Even though she'd lost a lot of blood, grown two big wings (though... maybe not big enough to fly? Can never tell with weird world bending physics until they're tested!) and was being moved through the camp on a Tetsu sized stretcher...

Well she was still Tetsu. She was having a 'someone is scratching that spot I can't reach' dream and twitching one of her hind legs weakly while her tail did a small happy swish. I could practically see it on peoples faces. 'Strange thing happened, but the Lucky Dragon is still alive and happy'.

Hopefully, a good night's sleep and a big breakfast would speed her recovery. We still had places to be, and as helpful as Ake was, my demi-human population wasn't safe until it was behind a wall someplace.

I woke up when Tetsu yawned wide enough to engulf most of my torso, then stop short of actually biting down on me. I'd fallen asleep with her head still in my lap, but between then and now, she'd turned her head from having her chin across my thighs, to her cheek.

One 'usual morning yawn' later, and I was double checking my Status screen to see if I was losing HP without feeling it. Slowly, I wiggled back a little to get my body out from between her rows of teeth, then closed her mouth. "Tetsu?" I asked.

"itchy..." She mumbled, "yeah... that spot... boss always knows..."

Well, it still sounded like her, even if she seemed to be having a conversation in her head last night. "If you get your head off my lap, I can make food." I said into the thin spot behind her closed eye where her 'ear' was.

"hm... but..." She paused, "still your fault... stupid noise... heehee yeah... boss makes the best foods..."

Okay, now she was talking to herself again.

However, I still needed to make breakfast. But! I was an expert in cuddle evasion, able to extract myself from seven children and two lovers at the same time! Moments later, Tetsu's big dragon head was resting on my Black Dog fur cape, and I was by the nearest campfire doing my morning stretches while waiting for the big cauldron on it to start boiling.

"So..." I looked up at Tetsu's dragon face seriously, "You're sure you're okay? Nothing wrong? Nothing hurts?"

"Um..." Like the rest of my party, she wasn't 'allowed' to lie. But, as far as I could remember, she'd never once tried to. Her hesitation however wasn't her trying to think up a lie though. She was doing 'the check'. A couple tail swishes, a walking circle in place (mindful of people around her), a full body stretch similar to that of a cat (except she could probably fit most of a lion in her mouth), and lastly, her new wings. "ow... Well... ow... It's not a sharp pain? Very sore. Feels like I slept on it too long." A pause, "Oh... and I have this voice in my head! Gr! So noisy! I know what it... oh... um..."

She took a moment to scratch her nose, and actually stopped me from taking over and helping her. Just like Spot would move his head out of a good ear scroofle so he could think better. "Can he hear and see everything you do?" I asked.

A pause, "Mostly?" Another pause, "Since I'm being so stubborn it's like he's underwater? How does that work? And who are you calling stubborn!"

Yes. This seemed to be Tetsu's new 'reality'. Aside from the new wings, apparent muscle stiffness from growing them, and the voice in her head, she was just like she usually was. But, I was familiar with people possessed by talking dragon souls.

"Well. I'd like you to let him hear this. Calm down." I reached out and put my palms on either side of Tetsu's upper jaw, taking a half step closer and pushing her head down while I did so. It was a little more difficult with my horns, but we touched foreheads while I hugged her to me. "Gaelion. My name is Kodori Haruhime. Tetsu is a precious friend, valued party member, and I will do anything I can to keep her safe from the things we can't simply beat up. If you hurt her, or get out of hand. I will pull your soul back out of her body, and lock it into a block of snowflake obsidian. I will then put that obsidian down a mine shaft, so you will spend the rest of eternity in the dark, alone, in a container that will feel like broken glass."

I made sure to say this in my best serious voice, while giving Tetsu's cheeks gentle scratches and rubs.

Tetsu, or rather, her body, went absolutely still. All I could feel, through my very sensitive horns, was her heartbeat. She wasn't even breathing.

Then a voice that wasn't hers spoke, a little deeper and without that energetic edge to it she always had (unless she didn't wanna). "I understand." Then, Tetsu started to breath again, "Why do you have a noble dragon under the Slave Curse? You call her friend, but treat her as a servant, a beast of burden."

I backed up, so I could look Tetsu in the eyes (but I still held her head), "Power. With the Curse, I can help her grow stronger, faster. And we all have a place in the party. We all fight. We all do chores. We all cook-"

Tetsu's real voice interrupted, "Except me... I keep eating things before they're done. ow."

I gave her a Karate Chop of Justice. "She pulls our wagon because she can. And when the day is done, she sleeps inside it, or not, as she pleases. If she ever wanted to stop, or leave my side, I'd let her, and simply buy some lesser beasts. But part of helping her grow, was to make her more than equal to the task. I give all of my party the proper tools for the task at hand."

Again Tetsu spoke, "I still haven't gotten that back rub yet..." She protected her forehead from another chop, "But we've been busy."

The other voice spoke, "I will limit myself to being... a passenger... for as long as I can."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"She ate the remains of my soul. Over time, our minds will blend together. Do not mistake this for one taking the other over, it is more... an alloy of our beings." Tetsu's hand came up in a warding motion, "If you do not wish this, there would be no other way but to remove me forcibly, though, if it is possible, I'd ask for something more comfortable than what you have planned."

"How long?"

"Years? Decades? Maybe lifetimes? Provided we... 'get along'... I may one day be just a whisper in her ear. I know what you did, and had you not washed the darkness off of my remains, I may have been a raving beast inside her mind until her own body dealt with the tainted remains of what I had been reduced to."

It sounded like a true 'possession', except by being the 'owner' of the body, and already having a well established personality, Tetsu had the advantage. "In that case." I said, "Try and get along." I stepped around Tetsu's head and hugged her neck, "If you're good to travel, then I'll get the camp ready to go now."

Tetsu's normal voice spoke, "Well... I wouldn't mind a little more food? But yeah! My legs are just fine!" A pause, "Oh... Um... Will I still fit the harness? I don't feel like I've gained weight, but..." She looked back, her head and neck wrapping around me a little in her own version of a hug, while her wings twitched a little, "These better be useful later!" She growled to herself.

"We'll make sure it fits comfortably." I said, "Just gotta find Ake."

That night, after very few problems (more like 'niggles' than actual problems) I had a whole new appreciation for Eina and the Guild. Sure, I was the Captain of the three (small) Familia alliance back home, and could, and had, done the paperwork taxes and logistics for them many times. I'd since passed most of those duties on to others, since they'd learned or volunteered for the role and took it.

But now that I had a dozen knights, a half dozen party members, a heap of 'experts' in various things, and a small village worth of people...

Most of them couldn't read, yet, I still had a heap of paperwork! HOW?! We were literally going in a nearly straight line, from one place to another!

Anyhow...

During 'quiet time' before bed (or if you'd rather call it 'self improvement time', that would be more accurate), I was finally 'caught'.

Elder Ragnarok and I were doing a slow kata together. With me following her. The form was similar to Tai-chi, so similar in fact I made several mistakes as my muscle memory started to take over as I got into 'the zone' of a nearly meditative state of motion.

The others, save Kunshu, who was actually reading a book in the lamp light we had to let the Elder see (she was still only human), were off doing other things, leaving us alone save for the Empress Bee.

"They don't seem to know. Why hide it?" She asked as her form went from 'tiger' to 'crane'.

"What in particular?" I asked, already getting that tingle through my tail.

"Hips don't lie." She said, performing a little hop from one leg to the other, spinning exactly 90 degrees and landing in a 'mantis' crouch.

Yup, she knew.

I followed her motion, hop, crouch, hook the hands down, fingertips braced by the thumbs to support them for a piercing jab. "When I arrived, my body had become that of a child. I saw the looks the King and his council were giving me. I noticed there were almost no ladies in his throne room when he talked to the four of us the first time. The head priest and wizard were male."

"I had no idea Aulty-boy had moved so fast..." she mused, pouncing from mantis to tiger, fingers hooked into claws, her old hands still looking like they had cable for tendons, her fingertips blunted by decades of practice. "A child you say?"

I lowered my voice just a little, just in case Usa had his ears pointed in this direction (though, the camp was a hundred metres away). "Every world has its rules. My body was full grown back home, but it was still eight years old."

"But you said you had children. A wife..." She gave me the 'wise grandma' look (the same in four out of four worlds), "Now, unless the people of your world mate like mushrooms..."

"It took the blood of three Gods, alchemy that had been recorded by a forth, and the usual acts involved." I lowered my voice again, "I am mother of three, father of four." I followed her into the next motion, from tiger to something similar to drunken fist. "One of the conditions, however, is something this world seems to lack... a full moon."

She was REALLY flexible for someone her age, able to do short tumbles, a backflip/kick to the chin, and a forward roll into a spit that led to a groin punch. "Poor girl. She'll be disappointed I'm sure."

"She'll have to get permission from my wife before any of that happens." I said seriously, "And no, I don't think I could get away with it, even literal worlds apart. "Of course, it also wouldn't be the first time she's given permission."

She stumbled as she went from drunken fist to something similar to karate, the toes of her foot catching on the ground, "What?!"

"I believe the motion is like this." I said, sliding my front foot forward smoothly, "Though, my teacher placed his hands like so."

"Cheeky brat." She glared at me, but recovered and copied my stance. "Fine, you lead now. And if I don't die of suspense by tomorrow night, I might show you a little of what you're missing."

"You honour me, Sensei." I said with my best 'cheeky brat' smile, something I thought I'd forgotten how to do.

It was going... too well.

I mean, all through the next day of 'just a little better than a walking pace' marching towards Van's territory, there were still quite a few little problems. Niggles if you will. Sore feet. Various cuts and bruises. Some lingering sickness. A broken wagon wheel...

But those were all 'internal' problems. Expected within the bounds of what was going on.

The weird feeling came from no external problems. Motoyasu's former red haired harlot wasn't chasing after us with a bunch of knights. Ren hadn't shown up for a duel. Itsuki hadn't started firing at us from a tree. The monsters were manageable (oh, and the average level had gone up again, from 5 to 6).

I was thankful, but I was also getting that feeling.

"We should be there... latest noon tomorrow." Ake said during the 'after dinner report'. "Do you think Lord Van will allow us to stable there for a day?"

"After helping us? He'd probably let you retire on his lands." I said, only half joking, "Though... You do know that helping me will probably end your career so long as the Queen is away."

He looked only a tiny bit pained by my words, "Perhaps my knights and I can stay there until she returns then."

Melty spoke up as she collected bowls, "Mother would likely promote you for your service." She said to Ake, "At the very least, she would allow you to choose your posting."

For someone of his age, Ake was a pretty serious person. But the Queen's Daughter's words made him sparkle at the thought. "Truly? I would ask to continue as I have been then. The work you have us do is meaningful."

"I like you Ake." I said with a nod, "Duty. That's what should drive a fighting man or woman."

"Bah, duty is so boring." Elder Ragnarok said, "But, you're not wrong."

"Any other news?" I asked, feeling my horns tingle as I pulled water from the air to fill a basin. "I know I shouldn't borrow trouble, but this feels too easy."

"Nothing comes to mind Sir." Ake said, "Though, one of the younger Demi-humans seems to have a bit of talent for magic? One of my two mages found out just after breakfast today."

"Encourage that if you can." I nodded, "Raphtalia? Feel like teaching some more?"

"I was already going to." She smiled, "We're moving on almost as soon as we get there, right?"

"I would like to, yes." I nodded, "As much as we could use a bit of a rest..." I sighed, "We have work to do."

The rest of the party gave an understanding nod, but I could tell, could feel, that we were all starting to fray a little.

"After we get to Van's territory and get people behind a wall..." I started, but Usa (surprisingly!) spoke up.

"Ah... Wouldn't it be better to wait until..." He said, "After we're out of Melromarc."

Once again, I was faced with a determined look (but no dramatic poses). "It would be better." I said, "Do you want to try the dragon before, or after breakfast then?"

That night, just as Elder Ragnarok and I were warming up for... whatever she was going to teach... she started with, "So, I've seen you manipulate water, air, and earth."

"I can summon fire, of a sort, but it has no effect on the living." I replied, a puff of foxfire appearing at the end of my tail, "My first teacher for this kind of thing tested me. Void, air, water, earth. In that order. Except..." I sighed, "The rules of this world have taken so much from me."

Her hand snaked out and grabbed the little ball of purple/gold fire, then hastily let it go, "Ah! It's freezing!" She shook out her hand.

"I'm immune to fire." I said, "Ask my party, they've seen me work metal with my bare hands. And sometimes..."

I took a deep breath, then let it out, the air frosting as it left my nose and mouth. "Neat trick, but not very useful." She waved her hand under my nose to scatter the wispy air.

"Want me to try?" I asked with another 'cheeky brat' smile, feeling my body warming up on its own for a fight. "I thought you were going to teach me though?"

And I was suddenly on my back. The first thought in my mind? I'd deserved that.

I saw it coming, felt it as her hands gripped my collar, her ankle clip mine, and all that momentum transferring smoothly along my body until I was flat to the ground, the Shield digging into my shoulder blades uncomfortably. But my new body couldn't keep up with my old awareness.

"What was that?" She asked, frowning at me, "You're too slow to talk like that to me."

I did a neat kip-up, landing on my feet and spinning a neat 180 to face her again. I felt a rush of emotions that were so... unusual. "Try that again." I said before I could think about something better to say.

Now I was laying face down, my jaw stinging, and the last second catching up to me again. The shorter woman had simply slid forward and socked me across the face. Again, I had started to move in response, but my body couldn't keep up with my reflexes.

This time I put my palms flat to the ground, pushed up, curled my legs under me and stood. I didn't rub my jaw, as much as I wanted to, and faced her down as I...

"Well. I know what I'm going to teach you." She said seriously.

A half hour later, I once again spoke before thinking. "You aren't being fair!"

I had my arm behind me, her hand on my shoulder, and the searing pain of my arm at the brink of dislocation. "Fair?" She asked calmly, "When did that ever matter? Will the monsters be fair? That Vassal Weapon holder from the Wave? The King?" She let my wrist go and gave me a little push to get my face into the dirt again. "I thought you wanted to win!"

Someplace in the back of my mind, I knew she was taunting me. But the thought of her doing so made me so... angry. "I do want to win." I growled, "But you don't understand!"

"Then make me understand." She said, hands behind her back, "You've got skill, you've got talent, but why are you still losing to an old woman who's nearly a hundred years old, hmm?"

"You... you have no idea..." I had to try really hard to just... stop. To relax. To get to my feet slowly and not raise my hands into any of dozens of fighting stances. "I was strong enough to shatter steel with my fists. Move faster than the sound of a whip. Lift a house. Throw a person across the Castle town from outside the wall and have them pass over the over the other wall."

I couldn't help it. Tears burned from my eyes as I looked past her, visualizing home. "A god of War taught me my basics. Endless monster hunting, gods who played with mortals in a sick game of entertainment, organizing a city to throw off over a decade of shadowy tyranny, travelling through three different worlds..."

I reached back to take the Shield off my back, "Then, I come here. I lose my age, the power I earned in service of my Goddess, and even the ability to talk to Her and my family. The first words I hear when I arrived were 'save our world', and not even a week later I'm being thrown into a slaver's cage by the same damn people."

I scrubbed my sleeve over my face just so I could look her in the eyes, "So yes, I want to win. I want to win, because I want to get home. I want to win, because it will piss off the people who are trying to stop me from even helping."

Her passive gaze made me so angry, but it was returning to the cold familiar anger, something I could hold on to and use, instead of let loose and have it use me. "I don't need a lesson in humility." I said quietly, "And the only reason you're beating me, is because you are using your level advantage against me. Your numbers are so much higher than mine, that I cannot keep up." I started to raise my hands again, "Tell me I'm wrong? Oh, I know you've been soft on me, even my defence stat isn't high enough to stop you from hurting me. But if you weren't moving three times faster than me..."

"Are you done?" She asked me flatly, "I don't have time to teach a crybaby who blames everything on everything but themselves."

"You don't believe me." I stated.

"No. I don't." She shrugged, "Oh, I know you're from another world. The old legends speak clearly on that. But all the other stuff? Do you even have children? Each story you tell becomes more far fetched than the last." She waved a hand dismissively at me, like shooing a fly away. "Talent and skill, but all talk."

I put the Shield on my back again, "If you ever feel like repaying the life debt you owe me, let me know. I don't care if you think this is some kind of test. If you're trying to push me to some limit to get me to 'surpass myself' or something. To beat me up and humiliate me until... what? You know, I don't care."

"Kid..."

I turned on her, and felt every fibre of my being explode in anger. Ice coated the ground, her clothes and hair were covered in frost, and it started to snow in the immediate vicinity.

"You're treating me like the king! Like a child! Like someone who hasn't spent the last eight years of her life saving the god damned world before coming here IN HER SPARE TIME." I yelled at her, then turned away again, holding my head to try and ease the throbbing in my skull, "I don't have time to play games. I don't have time to get thrown around pointlessly while my tormentor calls it a 'lesson'."

I couldn't sleep that night. Even with how tired I felt, every time I closed my eyes all I could see was red, and all I could feel were my horns. If I were back home, I could ask for help. Get some warm milk? Borrow Hestia's pillow? Have Hestia use me as a pillow? Cuddle the children? Sleep on the roof? Cuddle the children, on the roof with Hestia using me as a pillow!

But no. I had none of that here. I hadn't even had time to remake the Tarot of Haruhime. Every effort to bring her memory to mind was met with a red haze of anger at my most recent 'lesson', then how much of a failure the other heroes were, the king, his red headed hell spawn, all but a dozen knights, Idol...

I rolled out of bed, got out of the wagon, and went to find Tetsu. She wasn't warm and fuzzy, but she would appreciate me for just existing in this stupid backwards godless world.

"My pillow keeps moving." Tetsu mumbled as her huge dragon arms cuddled me. Of course to her I was basically an indestructible pillow. "Bad pillow."

But I suffered through it. Why? Because it was honest suffering. It was fair. I had rested my back against her side as she lay on some soft grass in her dragon form, and in return was used as a pillow. Fair, balanced, cause, effect. It also made me feel needed. I liked that.

Sadly, if anything was going to get done, I had to escape and get to doing them. I didn't feel better, not really, but being used as a squeeze toy felt like it had tipped a cosmic balance someplace a tiny bit in the right direction.

It took a moment, but once again, I left my Black Dog cape in her arms while I escaped her grip.

I got about four steps before Kunshu landed beside me in a near silent buzz of wings and tap of feet. As usual, hell, it was reflex by now, I greeted her by raising my hand and playing my fingers over her fuzzy antenna. But she stopped me. Instead, she took hold of my hand and leaned towards me. Her questing antenna tickled my ears, and her forehead felt cool on mine. It was something we'd all done to her, mostly to show approval for something or other she'd done that was 'new'. Like making bread for the first time, or learning to read and write (even though speaking was impossible for her and her writing was just as bad as mine).

"Thank you." I said. "Want to help me get breakfast started?"

It felt like that one time I'd been in the dimensional gap, and Bikou bit my ear so he could talk to me in that airless dimension.

"always help you." The voice made my horns itch, and my ears feel like there was static playing over them, but the words were clear. "hunted. found pain flowers."

She leaned away from me, and I could almost feel a vibration of self satisfaction from her as she tugged at my sleeve with a middle arm, and gave me a headpat with an upper arm. She didn't let go as I followed her, though she changed arms from middle to upper, just so we could both walk properly.

Next to an already steaming cauldron were a dozen skinned usapil, a dozen fish that had been impaled on sticks and were already mostly cooked, and a pile of flowers that were instrumental in helping Raphtalia and I get over our brief yet intense growing pains.

Not only that, inside the steaming pot were a bunch of vegetables, already at temperature and just waiting for the meat. Of course, Usa couldn't eat it with meat, so Kunshu had made the base, just how I would before adding the correct meat for each of the party members.

I stood there for a moment, and only moved again when Kunshu gave me another headpat. "Suppose we just need to wake people up." I picked up the flowers and fed them into the Shield, getting the potion making function started on numbing cream. "I..."

Except Kunshu was already heading back to our wagon to wake people up.

I felt a little stirring of my Kitsune nature, and tried to think up a way to reward such service to me.

Almost exactly as Ake had predicted, we were within sight of Van's territory, or at least, some of the farms around it just a little before noon. I stopped at the crest of the hill, stepping to the side as the line of people continued trudging past. They were all tired, but hope and fresh air had given them the strength to keep going. Even so, it was really just in time. Some of the demi-humans were old, or infirm in some way, and this much effort so soon after their release was... Well, it was almost over at least.

"Sir!" I turned to see Raphtalia as she moved away from a bunch of her old friends from her old home.

I waited until she got next to me, and we both watched the column continue past, "Almost there." I said, feeling my lips attempt a smile. "Any problems?"

I could almost feel the glare she was giving me, the same glare so familiar on my friends faces when they knew I was avoiding a problem. Like sleeping. "I should be asking you that." She said, "Usa heard a little of you and Elder Elrasla arguing, and she's been avoiding us all day so far."

"I asked for her help, for training, and she treated me like I treated Motoyasu. All I learned was how the dirt tasted and that she really has no idea how to teach someone like me." I said, "She also called me a liar, and told me that none of my past was true." I didn't look at her as I spoke, my eyes sweeping over what I could see of Van's territory for some kind of problem. "I understand that giving out secret skills is not something you should do lightly. I know all kinds of them myself, not that I can use most of them right now..."

She said nothing, but instead hugged my arm. If I were Issei, I'd have started emitting pink haze. If I were Bell, before he and Ais really started dating, I'd have become a stuttering idiot. "We're worried about you. You said you can eat curses, but ever since you made the tree, and your horns grew..."

Count on a swordsman to be direct.

"No. I'm not okay." I admitted, just as directly. "You know the first dungeon rule."

"To make it home, is to win."

"If this keeps up. If I eat one too many curses... I might make it home, but it won't really be me anymore. 'To never attack me in anger'. One of the only three limits I have on you. Well, her lesson was making me too angry to think of her as a teacher." I sighed. "Thank you, but let go. We have work to do."

She pouted, puffing up her cheeks like she did when I first fed her the horribly bitter medicine to help cure her lungs. But she let go. "Do you think we're ready?"

I put a hand on her shoulder, "I'm tired of losing Raphtalia." I saw her eyes harden, just like they did every time we went into combat. "But, we will plan our escape before we plan our attack. See if Ake's scout has come back yet. I'm going to check on the wagon with the sick."

After handing out a bit more medicine to 'the sick' (who weren't really ill, but were old, had crippled legs, or some other complication that required they ride in a wagon for the entire journey), one of Ake's knights found me. This one was a short dog demi-human with droopy ears and a kind of timid energy about them. Like they REALLY wanted to be your friend, but were a little to shy to just ask 'can I be your friend?'

"Sir Hero?" They called out as I got one last thank you from an elderly man with a twisted leg, "I have a report."

This one also had a short staff with a crystal ball on the end, making them one of the two mages in Ake's lineup. "Let's hear it then." I said, resisting the urge to play with what looked like golden retriever ears under their cape's hood.

"Lord Van asked me to give you this." A hand went under the cape and returned with a rolled up parchment, "Ah... Can you read Sir?"

"I can... mostly." I nodded, noting the wax seal, "Lets see..." I thumbed off the wax, "Aha, there's the problem." I noted the slight forward shift in the scout's ears, "Find Ake, and have all his knights take up rear guard. It seems there's a small force of knights already there, investigating Rabier's disappearance." I read the letter again, just to be sure, "I don't want any of them leaving." I handed the letter back, "Have him read it too, just so he's clear on it. And if you see Lady Melty, tell her I'm looking for her."

"Sir!" And they took off running.

A few minutes later, Melty's filolial stomped up to me. Melty herself was on its back, looking concerned. "You aren't planning on..."

"You've heard then."

"Yes."

"Our destination must remain secret as long as possible." I said, "If you can convince them your father is wrong, good. If not, then they can't be allowed to get word out."

"At least you're willing to try diplomacy..." She sighed, "Will I be..." She paused, "Do you think I am ready to help you?"

"You were an incredible help before." I said, "We'll plan better this time."

She nodded, "If you wish my advice... You may want to go just a little further north, to Siltvelt?"

"No. Your disappearance will be noticed by now, and your sister will think of that. I mean, yes, we could go there. But if we do it from this side of Melromarc's border... well, you don't want me killing knights."

She went a little pale, but nodded, then looked thoughtful, "Hm, if we instead head to Siltvelt after Zeltobe..."

"Let it be known, Melty Q Melromarc. I like you. You're smart, thoughtful, and can think and breath at the same time." I smiled a little as she tried to hide her blush with a 'humph' and looking away, "Care to help me plan how to deal with Van's guests?"

"Of course, though, we should gather the party before venturing forth."

Notes!

... gonna go roll around in some sparkles to cheer up now.

Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!

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