It was early in the morning. As we were packing up to leave, we had visitors to our room: Leon and Baze. Did they sleep together the night before?! What a lucky guy you were, Lord Baze! So jealous! I wished them a lifetime of happiness!
“Boss Man... Sis...”
A voice boomed like it was coming from the bowels of the earth. Apparently he wasn’t in the mood to accept my congratulations. Yep. I already knew that.
Lord Baze didn’t know how to treat Leon either. This Fenrir had become very close to humans, but he preferred more feral or rough-housing friendships between men. Even in Mostail, he had sung with Earl Agamemnon, arms around each other’s shoulders. Being touchy-feely with girls was solely handled by Hieronymus around here.
“I hear a little thorn in your voice, Lord Eiji.”
The Cait Sith popped out from behind Baze. In human form, for some reason. His arm intertwined with Miss Cielz’s, for some reason. Okay. I silently begged him to not explain. Don’t tell me what happened the night before. I wanted to remain good friends with him. Damn it.
“Please... Tell her... Leon’s insisting on coming with us...” Baze muttered.
“Oof...”
That was a twist. Tiamat and I faced each other.
“Leon. We’re headed to Nourn. The capital. Don’t you have things you need to take care of?”
I took a stab at convincing her, after clearing my throat. I tried being informal without sounding uncaring.
“Cielz can prep for the migration. The skeleton is done. I don’t need to give orders about everything. Besides, I don’t entirely trust you, either. I can’t disregard the possibility that you will notify them of our location once you’re in the capital.”
She responded with an answer perfectly laid out with logic. It made sense. We weren’t on the side of the monsters; if anything, we were on the other side.
“So you’re coming along to keep an eye on us, Leon.”
“Yes.”
“But isn’t that the sort of thing you can delegate? What about Miss Cielz?”
“She can’t handle a situation if it goes south.”
Hold on a minute. She was plenty strong. She easily lost to Tiamat, but she’s like an outlier of the natural order.
“Mm. I am the strongest there is.”
“That wasn’t really a compliment, Miss Tia.”
“I’m about as strong as Tia,” Leon chimed in. “I can get away if something happens or destroy the capital if I need to.”
That wasn’t exactly a peaceful sight to imagine, but those were reasonable conditions. There was no reason for the monster army to trust us wholeheartedly. Even if we wouldn’t go as far as tell their secret location, we very well would have the chance to make a run for it. Someone had to keep an eye on us, and not anyone could do the job.
“Of course, we’ll take a hostage from you, too.”
“...Right.”
“I shall accept that role,” Hieronymus volunteered.
That would hurt. He was the brains of our party and my guard during combat. Going without him would be tough. But who else was there...? Not Tiamat. She’s the core of our team; that was out of the question. Baze was out, too. He’s our expert hunter and our best fighter when Tiamat isn’t involved. The job would be difficult for Ruey, too, as our navigator. The only one we could afford to lose...
“...is me.”
What a tragic realization. I wanted to cry.
“What’s wrong with you, you idiot.”
“Sorry.”
I was tasked with negotiating with the king, so I couldn’t stay here.
“From the process of elimination, the task befalls me.”
Hieronymus smiled, stroking his well-kept beard. Theatrical gestures suited him well. It couldn’t be helped, though.
“Give it up, Lord Baze. I don’t think there’s room for debate.”
“Boss Man...”
Hang in there.
I could only pray for him. Then I wondered why Leon and Miss Cielz gave each other a look, followed by a laughter. Perhaps there was some dark bargaining going on... pertaining to the allocation of Baze and Hieronymus, maybe? I was too scared to confirm anything though.
Tiamat and I walked side-by-side, led by Ruey holding the donkey’s reins. Baze followed us in the rear of the party, carrying Leon, sitting with her legs out to one side. It was picturesque... but couldn’t she have walked on her own? The rest of us were walking, after all.
A day and a half had passed since we left the castle of Gannes when we arrived at the main travel road. I expected that we would be able to spend nights at inns again. I was sure that a girl riding a Fenrir wasn’t something they saw every day, but they’ll just have to accept her as an adventurer. I think Tiamat had them beat in rarity, anyway.
“If we keep going down south we should reach Nourn in five days or so,” Ruey informed us as he checked his maps.
Still a little ways to go.
“I can finally sleep in a bed again.”
“We slept in beds just two nights ago,” Ruey pointed out.
“I’m getting used to it, but sleeping out here is still rough.”
“I won’t argue with that.”
We laughed. No adventurer or soldier slept under the stars by choice.
“Will you turn into a human at the inn, Baze?”
“Yeah. I can’t really go into a human town looking like this.”
“But you’re so cool.”
“If I don’t, I’ll have to go through the whole shebang that we’re Hermits and friends.”
A delightful conversation could be heard from behind me (by Leon and Baze, of course). They seemed to have grown quite fond of each other. I was glad they seemed to have formed a good friendship.
“It could be a turning point when he takes his human form,” Tiamat mumbled as she glanced behind us.
She had continued Leon’s counseling so far. Of course, an abused girl’s heart couldn’t be expected to heal right up after a few conversations. That would take a much, much longer time.
“Is it bad that he’ll be a grown man, Tia?”
I had to ask. I fit that category too.
“Not sure. Flashbacks aren’t something that anyone can predict. Still...” the dragon princess continued.
In most cases, a child’s abuser is one or both of their parents or step-parents. Apparently, other cases include the employees of the child’s care facility abusing them. Most of the time, the adults tasked with protecting the children are the abusers.
I wasn’t sure what to do with my indignation when Tiamat informed me that it wasn’t a newfound social issue. This formula is as old as time. The strong bully the weak, who bully someone weaker than them, and so on. Perhaps that’s a sort of incurable disease humanity hosts.
“Of course, ‘incurable’ isn’t going to cut it for those actually being abused.”
“Right. We can’t stop looking for solutions just because it’s a long-lasting problem.”
“The answer is never simple, but there could be various reasons why she isn’t triggered by you. Your image may be completely different from her father, or your age, or your smell...”
“Ah. Lord Baze and I do look very different.”
“That’s why I can’t predict what’s going to happen. If her mother figure was her abuser, she may be triggered by my human form.”
“Anything we could do?”
Tiamat slowly shook her head to answer my question. Apparently, we couldn’t prepare any of the tools in her arsenal in our situation, and we’re not even supposed to try and help when we weren’t asked to do so. Only detectives in mystery novels (and those online horoscopes) try to deduce someone’s mind. Counselors, on the other hand, wait as long as it takes for the patient to open up to them.
“All we can do is sit back and watch, then?”
“You may feel like it’s not enough, but the human heart usually doesn’t take a straight course.”
At that, I turned around to find Leon petting Baze’s fur. It seemed more like compensation than a part of pet therapy. I couldn’t help but avert my eyes.