by Eric Vall
Haruhi recited the story from memory, and I listened as her voice deepened and changed for each character. The entire tale took about thirty minutes to tell, and as I listened, I knew for sure she was reciting the story word for word from the way her voice rose and fell in the way of speaking that was entirely different from her own. When she finished, the sage tilted her head at me and gave me an even wider smile.
“Would you like me to recite another one? That one was my favorite as a child, but I have so many others,” the librarian said as she took the last sip of her tea.
I looked across the table at her lovingly, and in one swift movement, I reached over to her and cupped her cheek. Her skin was soft and warm to the touch, and I knew if I stayed much longer, I’d melt into her as I had before. Haruhi’s rooms invited me with open arms, but since the danger had passed, I knew our time together was ending. I slowly rose to my feet and never broke the contact between us.
The sage followed suit, and I wrapped her in my arms for a few passing moments. I breathed her in and knew I wouldn’t see her for a long time until all of our business in Tintagal was finished. She smelled of fresh rain and eucalyptus, and I breathed it in deeply as I savored our last few moments together. Haruhi’s breathing hitched as she wrapped her arms tightly around my neck. I stroked her dark hair then my hands moved up to the fluffy fur of her ears and scratched behind them gently. A soft purr rolled up her throat, and her downy snow-white tail twitched behind her, but I pulled away first to look deeply in her eyes.
For a moment, I thought I saw tears welling there, but she blinked them away in an instant, sniffled once then burst out laughing. I inclined my head to her as my eyebrows knit in confusion, and she stared up at me with passionate sincerity.
“It feels as if I’m sending you off to war never to see you again when I know that’s not true at all,” the sage mumbled, and my fingers continued to pet the soft fur of her ears.
“Technically, I am going off to war with Tintagal, but I will be back. I can promise you that,” I told her as I pressed a tender kiss first to her cheek and then to her lips. “Just know that I will return for you, no matter what stands in my way.”
The librarian melted into me once more and pressed her body into mine. Our lips moved feverishly against each other, and I slipped away, transferred my essence away from Nekoka and back to Tintagal and my other four minions.
“Goodbye, Kazama,” Haruhi whispered as our lips parted, and my heart blossomed at her words, the only minion who knew me by my true name.
Time and space dissolved away from me, and I passed through them like treading water as I returned to my women. Seconds ticked by but the wear on my essence made it feel like hours. I wished for nothing else than to sleep and rest after the long night defeating the branch of the Holy Band that attacked Haruhi.
I pushed forward towards Tintagal. We would soon move on to Jemmets Landing and take down the man whom Annalise was originally arranged to marry. There was no doubt in my mind that Baudouin was an evil man and the person most likely creating the spirit women we’d encountered while sailing on the Riese. I wanted to reach him as soon as possible and suck the life out of him and take his land for my own.
My essence floated downward, and it slowly collided with my avatar. I opened my eyes, and they bulged with surprise as I turned to look where I had landed. My avatar was no longer in front of the fire inside of our tent but instead strapped into the saddle on the back of my Bantam. I turned my head wildly as the sun slowly began to rise and shed light over the dark land. Annalise rode her bird in the front, Rana and Carmedy flanked my bird, and Morrigan took up the back. The petite alchemist glanced at me then waved wildly as she noticed my open eyes.
“Master’s back!” the feline cried, and all heads turned to look back at me warmly.
“Welcome home, Master,” Morrigan called up to me, and I glanced down at my hands which had been tied to the reins of my Bantam then up to see how Rana and Carmedy used their birds almost like a wedge to keep mine in line and going in the same direction as the others.
“Where are we?” I croaked out through my avatar’s throat as I took in the passing scenery. I hadn’t thought I’d spent that much time with Haruhi, but apparently, it’d been all night and into the early hours of the morning.
“We decided to get a head start to Jemmets Landing before you woke up!” the alchemist cried cheerfully.
I turned my head to look behind us, and in between the trees that obscured my view, I could just barely make out the spiral of Euron’s castle in the distance behind us. I felt a twinge of sadness for a moment at the thought of leaving his corpse behind, but I quickly looked forward and brushed the momentary emotion away.
“How long will it take us to get there?” Rana asked as she batted her curly hair from her eyes and then pulled her coat tighter around her against the cold wind.
“A day or two,” I told them as I did the quick calculations in my head from what Amos and Adam had told us a few days prior. “Could we possibly stop and untie me? I want to be able to use my hands for the rest of our journey.”
We stopped our birds near a small crop of trees, and Carmedy slid off her bird and skipped over to me. Her paws moved quickly as they undid the knots around my fists, and I thanked her with a broad smile when she finished. Rana hopped off her bird and slid down into the shade of one of the small trees, leaned back, then gasped loudly.
“Look!” the redhead pointed upward in the green leaves, and my eyes found what she meant. Nestled high in the branches and lush leaves were round fuzzy orange fruit. “Peaches! Man, oh man!”
I chuckled to myself as the fox spryly launched herself into the air and batted at the fruit, but she was too short to reach. Rana landed down on the ground with a loud crash, then stared up at the waving branches and grumbled under her breath. In one swift movement, I slid off my Bantam and reached up into the branches for the fruit she had her eye on. I twisted it off then held it out to her in my palm, and the fox took it eagerly. Rana bit into it and juice dripped from her mouth as her eyes rolled skyward at the taste.
“Oh wow, these are so good. Come on, let’s all sit down and have some. I’m tired of eating roots and dried meat.” The fox laughed as she motioned the rest of us over. Annalise and Morrigan nodded to each other then slid off the backs of their own birds.
I reached back up into the branches, and Carmedy stood next to me and caught the peaches as they dropped. The feline collected them in the fabric of her skirt, counted out ten, and then handed two to each of us. We all dug in happily as we sat in the shade of the trees.
The plains of Tintagal rolled out before us like a patchwork of different shades and hues of green, and it was all beautiful to me. The air was fresh and warmer than usual as my women stretched out beside me. Carmedy’s peaches disappeared into her mouth in an instant, and soon her emerald eyes traveled upwards towards the bobbing fruits. The feline glanced at me a few times then looked away with a meaningful expression.
I chuckled lightly, hopped to my feet and picked three more for the cat, but her mouth opened in protest as I handed them over. I rolled my eyes good naturedly at her behavior and then handed over two more. The alchemist purred happily in response as she tucked into the juicy fruits. We ate until we were completely full, and we lay together in the soft grass in the mid morning sunlight as the clouds passed overhead.
“How was Haruhi?” Annalise asked, and I smirked at her.
“Is she our sister now? Please, oh please, tell me Haruhi is our sister!” Carmedy cried as she pawed at me.
“We will know if she is when she does.” I smiled as I scratched behind one of Carmedy’s silky black ears like I had the librarian’s earlier in the morning.
“That’s not a straight answer, Master,” Rana said through a mouthful of peach. Juice dripped down to her chin, but she hastily wiped it away as her cheeks burned crimson. “Either she is, or she isn’t. Come on, don’t be coy, tell us!”
&nb
sp; I looked at each of them, and their eyes met mine excitedly. All of my four minions liked Haruhi, had liked her from the moment they’d met her. The librarian was intelligent, quick-witted, and most of all, kind to each of them. To top it all off, she was exceptionally well-versed in the gods and goddesses of our world. I already knew that Carmedy wanted Haruhi to be part of our tight-knit family, but I wanted to make sure the rest of my women wanted the same thing.
“I already know how I feel on the subject, but I’d like to know what all of you think before I make a final decision,” I stated firmly as I looked into each of their faces seriously. “If something about Haruhi doesn’t feel right, I would like to think you’d tell me and now is your chance. I will take all of your thoughts and feelings into consideration. I don’t want to do something that will end up hurting one of you or all of us in the end. I was lucky enough to find all of you at the same time, and you accepted me for who I am, and to be honest, this is just as much of a new experience to me as it is to you.”
The petite feline was the first to speak as I suspected she would, and she clapped her paws together in excitement as she chanted into the blue sky, “Haru-hi! Haru-hi! That’s one vote from me!”
I stifled my laughter and kept my face straight as I turned my attention to Rana. The fox-woman thought about it for a moment as she chewed another peach. Her bright blue eyes were heavy on the lush grass surrounding us, then she leveled her gaze on me suddenly.
“Haruhi is wicked smart and did you see how fast she could run back in Machstein? I’d gladly accept her as my sister,” the fox said assuredly.
I bowed my head to her as I accepted her answer then moved my eyes to Morrigan.
The elven woman spoke softly to her ravens, and the birds answered back silently as they bobbed their heads in unison. A light breeze lifted her colorless hair off her shoulders, and her dark eyes met mine in the bright morning sunlight. We regarded each other for a moment, and I feared the worst.
After all, my pale lover had a huge heart but struggled to open up to anyone, especially strangers. Though she’d said that she liked Haruhi in the past, this was an entirely new situation that she’d never been in before. The elf had only known the life we’d lived up to this point with the three women she already knew and had opened her heart to them long ago, and I wasn’t sure if she’d be able to do it a fourth time with Haruhi.
“I have my reservations,” the elf started then stopped as all faces watching dropped in disappointment. Morrigan thought over her words then opened her mouth once more to speak. “My reservations are arbitrary, things I already know I shouldn’t worry about because Master will provide. Things like money, shelter, food, but he’s taken care of us this entire time, and I shouldn't worry if we add one more person to our fold. I’ve looked into Haruhi and seen things that most people do not possess. She holds a heart of gold within her chest, and Fea and Macha agree that her soul is the purest we’ve ever seen. I… we, Fea, Macha and I, would like to have her join us and be our fifth sister.”
I looked at Morrigan approvingly then turned my attention towards Annalise, and as with the elf, her face was thoughtful and her chocolate brown eyes were downcast as she tugged at the grass around her boots.
I waited for her and gave her all the time she needed to think, when suddenly, she raised her face to mine almost defiantly. I stared back with a serious expression, and the High Queen studied my face and features for a long moment. I was her husband and master, and I knew that the swordswoman would never dare lie to me as I looked into her honest eyes.
“Haruhi knows a lot of the gods and deities that we don’t,” Annalise stated in a serious tone as she mulled over her thoughts. “She’d be a good asset to our team. It’d be nice to have a sage when all of us know jack-shit about gods, their powers, or where they came from.” She raised a gauntleted finger. “Now, for my personal feelings, when we first met Haruhi, she was quite abrasive if any of you can remember--”
“But she had a good reason! That shopkeeper guy tried to kiss her!” Carmedy exclaimed as she cut the swordswoman off.
“As I was saying...” the High Queen said pointedly as she moved her eyes sternly to the feline, and Carmedy dropped her shoulders with a sigh. “If any of you can remember, Haruhi was quite abrasive when we first met her. She ran straight into Master and tried to hit him when he attempted to steady her. Do I fault her for that? No, because in the same situation, I would have been just as distressed and might have done the same.”
“See? It’s not Haru’s fault.” the alchemist grumbled.
Annalise rolled her eyes then ruffled the feline’s black hair affectionately as she sighed.
“Even when we cornered her in the Purple Conch, she was still just as harsh as she was in the street--” she went on, only to be cut off by Rana, who raised a single finger into the air to interject.
“Okay, but to be fair, we were five people she didn’t know, and we were chasing her down a street like a bunch of kidnappers,” the fox said with a shrug of her shoulders. “She had every right to be a little freaked out and not exactly nice to us when we caught up to her in that bar.”
The High Queen’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets in irritation, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if she didn’t blow up at the others. I felt as if I should intervene to organize the discussion, but I didn’t have to.
“Please stop interrupting Annalise,” Morrigan said in a cold tone as she lay a delicate hand on my first wife’s shoulder comfortingly. “I believe if you do it once more, she may explode.”
The redhead snickered once then fell silent, and Carmedy looked to Annalise with her lips pressed tightly shut. The High Queen glanced at all of them once and made sure that no one else was going to butt in while she spoke. With one final sigh, the brunette started again as she glanced warily at her sisters.
“I’m not going to repeat myself. Haruhi was rough and snappy with us from the beginning, in the street and then in the Purple Conch.”
I could tell from Carmedy’s pink and strained face that she struggled to keep her objections in, but she won the battle and didn’t speak another word against Annalise as the High Queen went on.
“But, as all of you have pointed out, Haruhi had her reasons to be wary of us in Eifersucht, and those reasons were warranted once we worked together to figure out what the Liebe was doing to the city. Haruhi gave us vital pieces of information that helped us defeat the Liebe, and I’m very grateful to her for that.”
Annalise raised a hand to the reddening feline and fox. “So, to cut things short because I can see from both of your faces that you’re biting at the bit to challenge every harsh word I say about her, I like Haruhi, I do, and I agree with the rest of you. I would like her to be part of our family and one of my sisters. She should have just been nicer to us in the beginning, that’s all.”
With the High Queen finished, both Rana and Carmedy let out the deep breaths they were holding.
I chuckled as I remembered back on the first time we’d encountered the white-eared cat and how she had tried to hit me as I stabilized her. Haruhi, who came from a society of pacifists and had never trained how to fight, had taken a well-aimed swing at not only me but also Rana in the Purple Conch. Once she was added to the fold, I would train her hard, and she’d learn how to be a warrior like all of my minions before her. I looked at each of my women, and their eyes connected with mine eagerly. Carmedy grinned at me as her paws clenched into fists and she wriggled excitedly.
“So, when are you going to ask her?” the alchemist cried as she scooted closer to me, and I smiled down at her as I ruffled her hair. “Did you ask her last night? What did she say? What did she say!”
“I think he did a little more than ask her to be his minion.” The redhead snickered as she elbowed the cat, and Carmedy turned to face the fox with a confused face. “I think they did your favorite thing, pussycat. I think they made ghost noises.”
“You did!” the cat shouted a
s she launched herself forward and grabbed onto my arm. “Oh, Master, I bet Haruhi loved it because I already know you’re the best lover a girl could ever ask for.”
I tried to keep a straight face, but all of my minions looked at me with raised eyebrows and broad smiles, even Morrigan who rarely showed emotion gave me a pursed-lipped smile as her cheeks dusted a soft rose color.
“Well, when can we go pick her up?” Carmedy asked as she wriggled happily next to me and batted her emerald eyes in my direction.
“She’s not a lost puppy or kitten that you can just go and take away.” The High Queen chuckled as she shook her head.
“That’s not entirely true! Haruhi is a cat! Like me!” The alchemist laughed back as she grabbed her sleek black tail and wiggled it in Annalise’s direction.
I laughed along with them, and my heart beat warmly in their presence. I’d already decided to bring Haruhi into the flock, but having the rest of my women’s approval made the decision just a bit sweeter. I knew Haruhi would accept my offer without thinking twice, but first, I had other things to attend to as I turned my eyes to the northern horizon. I had to deal with Baudouin and Tintagal first, then my minions and I would journey together towards Carnarta and my fifth minion who waited there patiently.
Chapter Seventeen
The journey towards Tintagal went smoothly. Halfway through our last day, the city of Jemmets Landing came into view of the horizon. I turned as a soft whisper came from behind me. It was from Annalise, but the swordswoman’s eyes stayed on the massive palace placed on the edge of a sheer cliff face. She’d stopped her Bantam in its tracks, and thin wisps of her hair shifted in the cool breeze as she took in the whole of the city.