Shaking his head, Ash knew his thoughts had been right about her.
After all, he’d been in the same situation she was in when he beat his ex-girlfriend. He’d viewed her differently after that.
Even when she’d called him on it, he hadn’t been able to correct his viewpoint quickly enough.
And she’d left him for it. Left him and moved on.
In retrospect, it was all so obvious to Ash. At the time, he’d been blind to it all.
Jia lifted a hand and her Essence began to swirl in front of her.
Then a wall of stone exploded up from the ground. At the same time, trees grew up into wooden barricades, branches shattering through the wall.
A half second later, a wall of fire and metal came to life.
Four walls of elemental Essence had sprung up between Jia and Ash.
“This is over,” Mei said, turning her eyes away from the walls. Moving up next to Ash, she took his arm in her own and began escorting him away from the courtyard. “Leave the brute to herself; we should prepare for our trip back.”
Yue, Tala, and Moira closed in on Ash as well. Unable to resist them, and honestly not really caring anymore, Ash let the four women corral him. In short order, they had him leaving the courtyard.
“She spent all that time thinking of ways to beat you,” Mei said with a frown. “Instead of all the ways she could have improved you or herself.”
“She doesn’t get it,” Yue added. “Oh! I bought a fun little board game I saw two older men playing. After I gave them their medication, I asked if I could purchase it from them. They said they didn’t need it anymore.
“Could we play it? Might be fun.”
Tala nodded once, her ears bobbing. “Let’s do that. It sounds like fun. I’ve been working on some dice I’d like to show you all as well.”
And just like that, Jia was dropped from the conversation. The five of them headed into a room to relax and enjoy themselves.
***
In the following days, it was obvious everyone had decided that Jia was no longer “one of us” and treated her with courtesy, but no warmth.
She’d gone from comrade and strategic leader to little more than someone who gave them the plan to carry out.
They treated her cordially.
And ignored any and every attempt she made to draw them into conversation.
The surprising part was even Gen had noticed. Except that not only had he noticed, he had visibly taken a side.
Ash’s.
Jia was being ostracized.
It feels a lot like when we had someone working part time back home. They were on the team, but not really.
They weren’t there for the long haul. The day-after-day workload.
“Yes, it does appear as if Jia has worn out her welcome in a singular act. She got what she wanted for the most part, and everything that went with it,” Locke added. “To be fair, you warned her off. Practically had a siren going off like it was an air raid.
“She chose to ignore it and pushed and pushed.”
Ash could only nod as he continued deeper into the woods away from their campsite.
He was on a mission.
A mission to dispose of the rotting corpse in his storage ring. With any luck, he could drop the body and be gone before he even got a whiff of it.
He had to do it far enough into the woods that the animals would hopefully take care of it, but close enough that it looked like the man had been dragged off the road.
Stopping in a dimly lit field, Ash sighed and leaned his head back. As he looked up at the star-filled sky, Ash wondered.
“Do you think those stars only exist in this veil?
“Perhaps a veil is a boundary only on this planet, yet in the universe it might be something more like normal,” Ash mused. “Or is it much the same, and each planet has its own veils.
“Veils within veils within veils.”
“Those are planets?” asked a subdued voice.
Glancing to his side, Ash found Jia standing there, staring up at the sky.
“Yeah. Each star is actually either a planet or a sun. The much more terrifying aspect is that these are only the ones we can see.
“If we had the right equipment, you’d be able to see that there is literally an untold number of planets out there,” Ash said, turning his head back to the night sky.
“With so many planets… should not all of existence be filled with life?”
“One would think so. On my old world, perhaps a planet we’re looking at right now, we often wondered about that. Where were other signs of life, and why hadn’t they come looking for us. To contact us.
“It’s an interesting thought experiment,” Ash said. It’d been a while since he’d considered anything outside of what existed in this veil. “Though I don’t think this veil will ever reach the level of scientific mastery to reach the stars at the same level.
“Perhaps someone will simply become strong enough to survive in the vacuum of space, but that seems like a one off.”
Looking to the field as he finished talking, Ash started to sort through his storage ring to find the elderly man’s corpse.
He had other places he’d rather be right now.
“You were right,” Jia said into the sudden silence.
“Huh?” Ash mumbled, looking to Jia.
“You were right. It was a moment that would change everything. I did not listen to you,” Jia said, her eyes unfocused and staring into the middle distance. “I was so caught up in the idea that you were trying to spare me from losing, that I never considered you were speaking to either end of the fight.”
Ash didn’t say anything.
There was nothing to say.
“And in that final moment, when I opened my mouth and said what I did, I only did exactly what you said would happen,” Jia said. “And now I suffer for my hubris and lack of understanding.”
Looking back to the field in front of him, Ash considered dumping the corpse and leaving.
“I do not know how to fix it,” Jia said.
Good luck with that.
“To be fair, she can’t fix it without someone in particular forgiving her. Visibly. Until such a thing happens, she will be a pariah.
“I would imagine that’s why she followed you out into the dead of night. Now isn’t it?” Locke said. “Chosen One.”
Locke wasn’t wrong, and unless Ash did something, it’d only get worse. To the point that Jia would leave.
She had been the only one who had comforted him in his distress, in his time of need.
He was being a poor friend.
I’m committing the same mistake from the other way around this time. Have I learned nothing?
“Personally, I forgive you.
“Beyond that, give it time,” Ash said. “Be your normal self tomorrow. Try to engage in conversation. It’ll take time for them to trust you again, I think. But we’ll work—”
Jia was suddenly hugging him tightly. Her face was pressed into his neck.
“Thank you, Ash,” she said, sobbing lightly. “I did not realize what I was risking in forcing you. You were right.”
Sighing, Ash wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her.
“I know. But that’s how this works, right? A relationship is give and take,” Ash said. “You were there for me when I needed you. Gave me all that you could without holding back.
“Fights happen. Just… try not to do something like this again, ok?”
“Mm,” she murmured.
Then she surprised him by kissing him. Before he could respond, or even process what had happened, she flew away into the woods.
“That works,” Locke said.
Thirty-Three
The weary band trudged through the gates of the sect. Trooping through in the early hours of the morning, they looked more like a bunch of waterlogged sacks of cloth than people.
It’d been raining since the previous day, and they’d decided to press on
rather than find shelter.
Mostly because they’d heard several strange conversations on the trip back.
Apparently, the start date for the group combat tournament had been moved up. Instead of having more time to prepare for it and learn to fight as a unit, they might only have a few hours.
If what they’d overheard was accurate, the tournament would begin today. If Gen hadn’t planned ahead for his compatriot to sign them up regardless of anything, it would be unlikely they’d even be able to participate.
“Rotten scoundrels,” Gen complained, his cane tapping with each step. “Dirty filthy mobsters.”
“He seems particularly unnerved,” Jia said, walking beside Ash.
“Yeah. Definitely so. Not much we can do, I suppose. I say we all collapse and sleep for a few hours before the tournament,” Ash said. “What do you think, Jia?”
Since the night in the woods, Ash had been pushing for her involvement in conversations and group decisions.
He engaged her directly and pulled her into almost every subject he thought he could. Trying to get her back to what they all used to be. Before she didn’t know what she wanted anymore.
“She still doesn’t. At least, not really.
“To be fair, I don’t quite understand it myself. It seems like she wants to prove herself by beating you. But I’m not sure if it’s beating you, as in Ash, or you as in a Fated One, Chosen One,” Locke said.
I suppose there isn’t much of a difference, is there?
“Sure there is. One she wants to make her man; the other she wants to defeat. The question is, why does she want to beat you? My own guess, although I’m still new to this culture, is that it has to do with her family,” Locke hypothesized.
Certainly not a terrible idea, now is it? She said her family was from the middle realm. That means they’re relatively powerful. For her to come down here and slum it, as it were, means she’s not just in hiding but possibly disowned.
“…agree. Sleep would be ideal, considering it is likely we will be in combat today,” Jia said, her eyes moving to his own.
“Great. Sounds like a plan. Let’s just do that then. I’m not even sure Gen will notice us breaking off, so let’s just head home,” Ash said.
As one, the group looked to Gen. He was still muttering to himself as he clacked his way deeper into the sect.
Turning onto a path that would lead them back to their homes, Ash and company moved through the rain.
“I hate the rain,” Tala said, her Rabbit ears curled forward. “It makes my fur coarse and springy.”
“You take baths though, don’t you?” Yue asked.
“Of course I do. I brush my fur out for that, though, and I’m very careful about it. The rain gives no credence to my desires,” Tala said, her mouth in an annoyed frown.
“Take a bath… hmph. Thinks I’m some sort of monster?” she mumbled almost under her breath.
Being right next to her, Ash could actually hear her, though he doubted anyone else could.
Smiling to himself, he shook his head. Tala was the same as ever, but the sharpness of her personality was expected now.
A quirk.
Something that made her—her.
“Should we all be so blessed that you’ll be brushing yourself for us?” Ash asked. “Grant everyone at the tournament a good view of your fur in its luxurious state?”
There were some chuckles around him at the prod, and Tala eyed him.
Several seconds passed before she realized there was no heat or malice behind his words, and she smirked at him.
“If only they were so lucky. They’re not worthy enough to gaze upon me at my best,” Tala said finally.
Even she’s starting to realize it.
“Well, not everyone can be as shabbily supreme as myself. I look best in a moth-eaten robe in the back of a crowd.
“Where no one can see me—which means I look my best,” Ash said, turning down the street that would lead them to houses one through ten.
“I like the view from behind,” Moira said.
“As do I,” Mei chimed in. “Though it’s equally amusing to compliment him when you can see his face. He blushes.”
Tala sniffed, her smirk growing in a wide smile. “This is your comeuppance for mocking my greatness.”
“I never said you weren’t great, you big, beautiful bunny. I only asked if you would be giving them the full Tala effect,” Ash said. Then he waved a hand at the three houses of the others. “Alright. Everyone crash out. Supposedly, the tournament opening is at noon. I’ll make sure everyone is up and moving.”
The tension that had been gathering around them on the trip back—starting with Jia’s ill-advised match—crept back up on them now.
No one was really sure what to think of Jia right now. Despite Ash’s best intentions, it was clear no one was willing to immediately forgive her.
Which also meant no one really trusted her, and that would be important for a group battle.
This was probably the worst possible situation for going into such a tournament.
Yue, Mei, and Jia peeled off from the group, heading to their homes.
Moira, Ash, and Tala kept walking. Their house, of course, was at the end of the street.
Getting to the front door, Ash immediately pushed it open and held it aside for Tala and Moira to troop in.
“Drop your clothes at the back door. We’ll get them cleaned and dried later,” Ash said, closing the door behind him. He immediately started to undress and unload his pack. “I’ll take the packs into the ring, so just hand them my way.”
“You want me to strip?” Tala asked, her fingers toying with the hem of her tunic.
“Yeah, I do. I don’t want massive puddles of water in the house,” Ash said, working himself out of his clothes.
Moira handed him her pack and clothes, and then she spread her wings out.
Tala huffed and then proceeded to do the same.
Thinking better of it, Ash just stored the packs and the clothes directly in his ring. “Never mind. I’ll just put it all in there. Alright. Going to go hit the sack, see you soon.”
Ash ran his hands through his hair as he padded naked to his room.
“I assume you want an alarm set like previously?”
Yes, please.
When he shut the thick, heavy curtains he’d put up in front of his window, his room dropped into pitch blackness. There was nothing he could see at all.
Pulling out a pair of pants from his storage ring, Ash hopped into them and then crawled into his bed.
Before he even settled into his sheets, the door to his bedroom opened and then closed again.
“I appreciate the thought, Moira. But I’m just spent,” Ash said, not even opening his eyes.
“It’s not Moira,” Tala said. “And… I’m not here for that. I wanted to talk to you for a few minutes. If that’s ok?”
“Huh? Uh… alright. Sorry,” Ash said, sitting up in his bed. Blinking a few times, he rubbed at his heavy eyes. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to talk to you about… well… me. The abilities you gave me. Your plans for me.
“What I should expect,” Tala said. Her voice drifted closer and closer as she spoke. Then she sat down on the edge of his bed, the bed frame creaking softly.
“Ok? I’m not quite sure what you want to talk about, though. We’ve already had this discussion, remember?” Ash said. Rubbing at his eyes with one hand he opened them once he’d ground the grit out from the corners.
He could just barely see the outline of Tala’s shoulders and ears.
“That’s not untrue… I guess… I need—” Tala’s head tilted one way and then the other. Then it slowly dipped down, the silhouette of her ears drooping low. “I need reassurance.
“I’m not half as confident as I would like to believe I am. Or as I’d like others to believe I am.”
Not… entirely unexpected. Though I never thought she’d admit it.
Rea
ching out with his right hand, Ash found the top of her head. As gently as he could, he began to pet her, letting his fingers smooth her hair back.
She flinched for a split second, but then she pushed her head up into his hand.
“I know you didn’t want this life. I know you didn’t ask for it. Nor did you get much of a choice or a chance,” Ash said. Carefully, he moved his fingers along the base of her stiff ears, working at the delicate fur there. “And when I chose for you, I picked what I felt was the best option. I didn’t think you’d survive if I left you there. I honestly believed you’d be taken by someone with much worse intentions, or just killed.
“And if I took you back without marking you as mine, someone would have taken you from me. I did what I thought was best, even if it was still awful.”
Tala’s ears twitched at the attention, and she only nodded her head.
“I know. The situation I was in was not… It wasn’t good. But what’s done is done. You haven’t told me what you expect of me.
“What you want from me,” Tala said. “You gave me so many abilities. So many ways to fight and to actually win, that I’m a bit confused.”
Ash considered her words, dragging his thumb along the edge of her ear.
“That’s fair. My needs of you are very simple. Fight with me. Help me. That’s it.”
“That’s… truly it? You don’t have any other desires or wishes of me?” Tala asked.
“Well, that’s all I’m willing to ask you to do. Anything beyond that would be more of a conversation than anything else,” Ash said. “Not an expectation.”
“I understand. I’m going to go to bed now,” Tala said, standing up.
“Great. I’ll see you in the morning,” Ash said, lying back down with a yawn.
Tala left his room without another word.
***
Bleary eyed and feeling the lack of sleep, Ash glared up at the noon-day sun above them.
The tournament had indeed been shifted up.
Considerably.
To the point that it was fairly obvious there were even practitioners from the Deng camp who weren’t ready for this.
Right now, everything was proceeding as expected. They were taking roll call for everyone there and moving ahead.
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