The morning light in the room stirred Tabitha from her sleep. She couldn't remember the last time she slept so well. In fact, this might have been the best night's sleep of her life.

Even now, only barely awake, Tabitha felt so relaxed, so comfortable, so warm…

Her eyes shot open as she pulled her head back, realizing just where she was.

"Good morning, Tabitha~." Kirche purred at her. She lay on her side, beautiful body in full view, enticing Tabitha to rest her head between her breasts once more.

The events of the night before quickly came back to her. She really did it. She slept with Kirche, her best friend. Over a year of desire was finally fulfilled when…

"Oh…" And just like that, reality came back to her. This girl in front of her wasn't Kirche. It was Aselith.

"That's…enough of that for now." Tabitha told him, pulling the covers over her own exposed body.

Aselith smiled. "As you wish." He slid to the other side of the bed and stood, allowing Tabitha to marvel at her best friend's body.

Tabitha didn't know how difficult it was for him to shapeshift like this, but she was impressed nonetheless. Every curve, every blemish, it was exactly as she saw Kirche. There were times Kirche brought her along to the girls' bath, despite her protests. Tabitha was able to see so much more of her friend, and thus knew the skill of Aselith's ability.

If only Kirche knew what sort of torture it was to see her like that. Despite the danger, there were times Tabitha wanted nothing more than hold her close and just say what she felt. She knew she couldn't. Her uncle would use Kirche without hesitation. Besides, Kirche wouldn't be interested. It was just a dream.

Now that Aselith was slowly changing back, she could see the dream melting away.

"How often?" He asked, his voice back to normal despite his form not being so.

"What?" Tabitha asked, just now turning her head away.

"How often should I do this for you?"

Was he seriously offering to do this again? Did doing this mean that little to him? Well, Tabitha supposed that was the case. He wasn't human, or even mortal.

He was essentially a semi-spiritual being with a physical form while on this plane. No blood, no organs, not even a brain. He didn't get tired or require rest, though he had a sense of boredom. His power was like a clock, according to him; he would function the same at 100% as he would at 1% power. That also meant his power wasn't unlimited, but he could regain it easily over time.

He had no parent, but he could participate in reproduction. The method was similar to how he attempted to heal Saito, but would go on through the act, possibly transferring over to the woman and empowering the unborn child. It was just a matter of how much was offered to him if he would go that far and spend that much time lying dormant in a person.

With all these differences, it was no wonder he could see his actions last night in such a detached way. It wasn't something they shared, it was something for Tabitha's benefit.

"…Every night." And yet, Tabitha wasn't about to turn it away. She wanted this. She wanted this so badly to be real. If it couldn't be, she would come here at night and accept the lie.

"Very well." Aselith responded. His hair was already turning darker.

Tabitha decided to ignore the transformation and prepare for her day. It would be just like any other. The only difference was using a dot wind spell to help remove the smell from last night's activities; just her own scent since, once more, Aselith wasn't human and didn't sweat. If these nights were going to continue, she might need to think of something else.

Maybe Aselith would pleasure her every night. Maybe she would just have him lay there while she held him close, or was held by him. So long as he looked like Kirche…

The pair left her room and made their way to the dining hall. Once they arrived, Tabitha saw the increase in animosity directed at Aselith. It was slow at first, but he was now considered an enemy to a portion of the male students. Since he was occupying Kirche's time, and she wasn't spending her evenings with any boys, it wasn't hard to imagine why.

"Oh, Aselith! Good morning!" The joyful greeting didn't come from who Tabitha expected it to.

"Good morning, Siesta." Aselith greeted the servant as they passed her.

"Friends?" Tabitha asked when they were far enough away.

"I suppose we are." Aselith shrugged.

Tabitha wondered what that could possibly mean.

"Tabby~! Aselith~!" A heavenly voice called out.

Tabitha quickly realized she wasn't ready for this. The moment she saw Kirche, she thought back to what she and Aselith did last night. Guilt over it began gnawing at her.

"Hello, Kirche." Aselith greeted her once they neared the table she occupied.

A bit delayed, but Tabitha nodded to her friend.

"Hmmm~." Kirche looked Tabitha over. "Something's different about you."

Panic gripped her. She prayed Kirche wouldn't put together what she did.

"I slept well." She quickly said.

"Hmmm~." Kirche looked at her skeptically. "Well, you do look more well-rested than normal, Tabby."

Crisis averted. This was going to be a long day.

Tabitha joined Kirche and listened to her friend. It was the same as it had been recently. She would brag about Tabitha's amazing familiar, how he could make any woman forgot about any man they might be trying to ignore. Such talks had recently gotten the attention of Montmorency, since she and Guiche were fighting over the latter's infidelity.

"Oh, great. There're no other places open?"

Tabitha looked to her side and spotted Louise and Saito.

"Aselith…" Saito greeted him, though he kept his head down.

"Hello, Saito." Aselith said back evenly. "Did you sleep well?"

"Sure." The response was lackluster.

Louise took a seat at the table, Saito numbly pushing the chair in for her.

"You're later than usual, Louise." Kirche smirked at her.

Louise glared right back. "My useless familiar didn't wake me up on time."

The comment got almost no reaction out of Saito. That was a bit strange. Usually, he would at least show annoyance. Now, nothing?

"He's hardly useless." Kirche pointed out. "He beat Guiche, didn't he? And you bought him that sword he has on his hip, right?"

"Hmph!" Louise turned her nose up. "He beat one overconfident noble, a dot mage. Nothing to let go to his head."

Normally correct, since even nobles could be taken by surprise and killed. Tabitha has had to do that in the past for her uncle. It was still aggravating to hear Louise dismiss her familiar in such a way. Maybe Aselith influencing Saito really would be a good thing.

Speaking of, Louise didn't bother to check on her familiar. Aselith had already maneuvered him away, leading him to the kitchen. Tabitha also noticed how the servant from before, Siesta, finished serving the plates she had and quickly made her way over to the kitchen door when she spotted the two going in.

Something was definitely going on there, and Tabitha wanted to know what.

Author's Notes:

Murder, Tabitha. Murder went on there.

This will be the last chapter of this fic for NaNoWriMo. I'm not entirely sure how often this will be updating in the future. It's got some followers and decent views, so I won't be abandoning it. I'm thinking this will update the same Sunday as Overlord of the Shield, since both of these fics have shorter chapter lengths (making them combined closer to a normal chapter of my other fics). So, one week I might update "Forging Legends", then maybe "The Right Man" the next two, then both "Overlord of the Shield" and this one the week after. It'll just depend on where my brain decides to focus that week.