"Nai-to-me-ru?" Chiharu said.

"Nightmares," Maria repeated to her… actually, she didn't really have a title, did she? Ghirardeli was the steward and butler, and there was no head maid since the maids—save for Sadako and Lasciel—all answered to him, save for the cooks in the kitchen. Chiharu was just… senior. She had been the first to put herself forward, and she did what Maria asked of her, which was generally to help her protect the other women (and three men) and children, and keep them alive. Maria supposed she deserved some sort of official rank and recognition for that, even if only within the household. Something to think about.

"I know 'night', Lady Maria-dono, but not the rest," Chiharu said, bowing in apology. Thankfully, she knew now that she didn't need to beg forgiveness or anything like that.

Together, they both looked at the child standing off to one side for help. Imani was of Gerudo descent with her dark skin, vivid and curly red hair, and pointed nose, and very pretty, which was sadly to be expected given where Maria had rescued her from.

"Akumu," she said helpfully, providing the closest equivalent word in Ashinago.

Realization arose on Chiharu's face like a snake erupting from the neck stump of a severed head. "Ah," she repeated, and her face became… not thoughtful. Blank. It was disturbingly like the expression many of the women had worn when they had been first rescued. An instinctive denial of reality, a burying of hope so they would not be betrayed and pained when that hope proved false. A face of resigned endurance, seeking death. Trying to be strong in the only way they had left.

It pained her to be the one to give Chiharu that face.

"Let me rephrase," Maria said. "Instead of telling me who has been having nightmares, perhaps wit would be faster to tell me who hasn't."

For a moment, Chiharu's face went blank again, but this time it was the blankness of someone who'd accidentally rolled off her elevator of thought and fell into the bottomless pit below. "I… cannot say, Lady Maria-dono."

Maria nodded. "So, everyone is having nightmares." She'd been hoping otherwise, but it was probably to be expected.

"Not everyone, Lady Maria-dono," Chiharu said. "Some choose not to sleep."

"That's dangerous," Maria said mildly.

"It's better than sleeping, Lady Maria-dono," Chiahru said.

Imani nodded with the self-assurance of someone who had screaming nightmares.

Maria stared at the two of them. She sighed, and wondered how many of her children had learned not to make a sound or move when they were tormented by their dreams. "Do you still have nightmares, Imani?" she asked.

"Sometimes," the little Gerudo vai said. "But then I wake up and remember I'm here now." Abruptly, Imani stood up, walked around Maria's desk and wrapped her arms around Maria's stomach in a surprisingly strong grip. "I love you," she said.

Maria awkwardly put her arms around the girl, patting her on the back and feeling her shake. "I'm here," she said. She glanced at Chiharu, whose face was once more blank. "Chiharu, I believe I have been lapse on this matter long enough. How long has it been since you have gotten a good night's sleep? Please be honest."

Chiharu looked pained, but replied, "A long time, Lady Maria-dono," she said in a quiet, haunted voice.

Maria nodded. "Very well. Then tonight, we shall do something about it."


A Rafael Interlude

"Should I leave?" Rafael asked nervously. "I can leave, if anyone wants. I feel like I should leave."

When Maria had told him over dinner that she was going to try treating the nightmares of the rest of her wards, he'd thought she'd give them something to drink or… or… or throw Katarina at the problem somehow. Not invite three more women—well, a woman, a young woman and a little girl, sorry, vai—into their room. None of them reacted violently to men like that girl who made the ramen, what was her name… Renge! Not like Renge, but that didn't mean much. They still kept most men out of the house for a reason. It wouldn't be that much of a hardship. He still had his own room, after all, and despite him not having used it in months, his maid Lasciel had been diligently airing and replacing the sheets to keep it from being dusty. It seemed like the smart thing to do when Maria apparently intended to build on having her maid sleep with her to having more people sleep with her to try and comfort them in their sleep.

Chiharu, Maria's newly appointed stewardess, stood there in her sleeping Yukata, a young woman at her side. Rather, clutching very tightly to her side. From what Rafael could recall, Homura had once been shunned by the other Ashina women for having a name related to fire, which they considered an ill omen given the slaver Maria had rescued them from had been a Fire Magic wielder, or something like that. That had ceased, but the young woman was still wary and distant from all her countrywomen save Chiharu, who had taken care of her.

Next to them was Imani, wearing the oversized shirt that served as her nightgown, clutching at a pillow. The little vai looked both excited at the prospect of getting to sleep in Maria's room with her and nervous to be away from her familiar dormitory.

Maria was frowning and looked like she was seriously considering Rafael's suggestion, but before she could answer, Sadako spoke. "Rafael-san. Stay, onegai."

"Stay, please," Imani helpfully supplied.

Sadako glanced at her—well, the slit in her hair turned in the general direction of the gerudo vai—then nodded. "Rafael-san, stay please." She turned to the other two Ashina women and spoke in their tongue.

"Rafael-papa is a good man and kind," Imani translated. "You don't need to fear him. He won't touch you." Sadako hesitated, and continued. "Remember that not all men are vile. Trust the one that Maria-mama has chosen."

Chiharu and Homura looked at each other, and the younger woman nervously nodded. Chiharu turned to Rafael and to his embarrassment bowed, never mind it was just the regular sort of bow the Ashina women were in the habit of giving to acknowledge each other. "We will be in your care, Rafael-san."

And that was how Rafael found himself in bed with four women and a little girl, wondering when his life had gotten weird.

Ah, right, when he'd fallen in love with Maria over a mutual distaste of Katarina Claes, back when he'd been possessed.

Thankfully, Maria had decided NOT to go naked this time, opting to wear the vegetable sleepwear. Sadako's one eye had looked both disappointed and hiding a guilty secret.

Maria was sitting sideways at the head of the bed, a pillow at her back as Chiharu and Homura used her thigh to lay their heads. Her fingers were stroking their hair as she hummed an unfamiliar lullaby. The two lay on their side, Chiharu spooning the smaller Homura, with Sadako lying curled up next to them, her hand on Maria's calf, as if to reassure herself her lady was there.

Rafael found himself lying down a bit closer to the edge of his usual side of the bed, Imani using his head as a pillow as she wrapped her arms and legs around the pillow she'd carried. He wasn't humming anything because he didn't know enough to follow Maria's song, so he settled for stroking Imani's hair too.

This was his life now. Un-ironically helping beautiful women who were in love with his fiancée try not to have nightmares by letting them sleep with her, while he comforted a girl born on a distant continent because his red hair reminded her of her father, who'd been killed when she'd been much, much younger and taken from home to be sold.

Not for the first time, he tried to find it in himself to just be a little annoyed at being inconvenienced like this, to try and regard these women as hindrances and obstacles to be with Maria… and he couldn't. They were too much like him to hate. Maria had saved them, so they had grown to love her, had wanted to be by her side for as long as they could. She made them feel safe. Warm.

Home.

He wasn't going to be so crass to try to keep her for himself. Not when he of all people understood exactly how important she was to them.

Rafael blinked as he felt a foot rubbing against his own. In the dark, it felt… warm. It stroked him from toe to ankle, and then was gone.

He fell asleep puzzled.


He woke up in the middle of the night to hear Maria quietly comforting one of the women next to him. There were no cries, no scream, no thrashing. Just a subtle shaking of the bed as whoever it was shivered as Maria bent down and whispered comfortingly in her ear.

Rafael closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, trying to give the woman a little dignity.

On his stomach, he felt Imani rise up.

He felt the bed sink and move and bounce as she navigated it in the dark by feel. And then he heard, in a soft, but clear voice, not whispering, but merely quiet, "It's all right. It's all right. Daijoubu. Honto ni daijoubu. Zenzen daijoubu, You're safe. Mama's here. Papa's here. Auntie Chiharu's here. Aunti Sadako's here. There aren't any bad men. Mama killed all the bad men. Mama killed the baddest man…"

Over and over, Imani repeated that, part assurance, part prayer, part nursery rhyme.

Rafael didn't know what he was supposed to do.

A small hand in the dark. It touched his elbow, wen up his bicep before deciding it was going the wrong way and went back down. It reached his wrist and could go any further, and so attended to pull at him. Rafael gently took the little hand in his.

The little hand help his and pulled it towards the center of the bed, towards where the shaking woman —but not crying, they couldn't be heard to cry—lay. Rafael felt the little hand put another hand in his. It was shaking violently, trying to curl in into claws, and felt the nails digging into his palm. Only the gentle touch of the little hand kept him from pulling back.

He felt a little hand put another hand on his. Then another hand on the hand he was holding. A third. Then two little hands held all their hands together.

"We're here, Homura-sis," Imani said. "You're safe. So sleep. We're all here to keep the bad men away."

The shaking didn't stop, but the grip slackened, then wrapped around his hand and held it fiercely.

"Sleep. It's all right. We love you and we're here…"

Rafael fell asleep holding a stranger's hand, trying to let them know he was there for them, for all the good he could do.


When Rafael woke up, it was to find his arm had gone numb because a little girl had used it as a pillow instead of the perfectly suitable pillow she'd wrapped her legs around, his fiancée had fallen on him in her sleep and her side was pressing on his face as her face lay dangerous close to his bonfire, and someone was still holding tightly to his hand.

He briefly wondered if this was an improvement over mornings spent waking up thinking of hatred and vengeance and misplaced anger having to smile at a woman he hated with all his being, and decided it was no contest.

As he wondered how he was supposed to rouse Maria, or at least move her sufficiently far before he had an embarrassing morning praise the sun, he felt the bed shift slightly, and then feet padding on the floor. Something brushed over his foot, and he felt a pillow gently placed in front of Maria's face and press down lightly.

"Good morning, Rafael-sama," Sadako's voice said as she stepped into view, hands folded in front of her, still wearing her sleeping yukata. "I wake Lady Maria-dono?"

"Um, please? Onegai?" he said, hoping he was using that one correctly.

Sadako nodded—well, her curtain of hair swayed like she nodded—and gently shook Maria. "Lady Maria-dono? Good morning."

In response, Maria shifted, moved her arm, felt the pillow front of her and shifted to lay her head on in, bouncing on Rafael's chest in the process. Then shook her hear a few times to move the hard spot on the pillow out from under her head.

He could only see one eye, but he got the feeling Sadako was amused.

Rafael sighed and settled for pushing Light Magic into his arm to try to get feeling back into it. "The one time she doesn't wake up before me…" he muttered.

As feeling came back to his arm, he realized the hand he held no longer shook, and there was only deep, even, peaceful breathing.

He supposed that counted as a success.