Unlike the flowing underclothes Sashalia usually wore, Darke’s undergarments displayed her figure for everyone to see. She did make an effort to wear clothes around Emon as much as possible, however, thinking the scars from her past abuses might be a bit too shocking for the young man.
“Fluff peed right on me in his sleep, see?”
Sashalia looked closer, and she could indeed make out that her colleague was clutching a bundle of sleepwear in her other hand.
Fluff had only just learned to stop wetting the bed, but after White Fog’s death he had started right back up again. Now he slept in diapers. Some must have leaked through in the night while he was curled up on Darke’s chest.
“I was thinking I’d bathe and change into my training clothes or something. And change Fluff’s diaper, too.” Meanwhile, Fluff himself was drooling and showed no signs of waking up anytime soon.
Darke took down a diaper from the nearby clothesline and checked to see how dry it was. She laid Fluff down on the grass and set about swiftly changing him. Sashalia watched her curiously, hiding the purloined sock in a pocket while the other woman wasn’t looking.
“...I’m surprised. I didn’t really take you for the child-rearing type.”
“Well, I’m not, so your instincts are correct.” Darke cleaned Fluff up, a faint smile on her face. The fuzzy pup wiggled once as if ticklish, but continued sleeping soundly. “The only things that matter to me are the things Sir Gaius loves and the people Sir Gaius cares about. And this little bed-wetter falls into both categories, so...here I am.” She gave her usual frog-like croaking laugh at that.
“...You use Sir Gaius as a basis for all your decisions, huh?”
“Indeed I do.” Darke nodded, placing the replacement diaper under the pup.
“Suppose I became Sir Gaius’s enemy, then. What would you do?”
“I suppose I would cut you down on the spot.” The black-haired former knight twisted around to the half-elf and gave her a rather crooked smile.
“You could agonize about it a little, couldn’t you?”
“Mm... I do think I would hesitate. Just a little, though.”
Of course, that moment of hesitation was probably the proof of Darke’s friendship. That was what Sashalia imagined, at least. The red-haired girl was starting to feel something for this colleague who was so unlike her, and she decided that if her feelings were reciprocated, well, then that was something to be happy about.
“Say, Darke.”
“...This isn’t good, Lady Denan.”
“What?! What is it?” Sashalia’s tone was serious to match the sudden grimace on Darke’s face.
“The little snowball’s fired a second volley...”
＊
“Aha, I found you.” Sashalia called out to Gaius when she spotted him, leaning on her cane.
He was crouching on the ground in his farming clothes, his work done. In front of him were some burnt embers. The sword Stingfeather was stuck into the ground before him, the light of the setting sun reflecting in its blade, and some flowers had been laid out before it.
“Oh, Miss Sashalia. Are you all right, being up and about like this?”
“I’m fine. It’s going to be more trouble down the line if I don’t get used to it, anyway.”
“...I suppose you’re right.”
“I know I am! I’ve got a lot of work to do! So I have to give it my all while I’m doing it, right?” Sashalia flexed her right arm with a laugh. “...Flowers for Fog?”
“Yeah. And the others who died in the battle.”
Sashalia looked past him and saw six other piles of ashes and flowers.
“Spear Tail was a great archer. He was always the one to bring down deer on hunts. Leaf Ear played the flute. He always had it on his hip, and he’d perform for us on breaks while we were working in the fields. Dancing Spider drew amazing art on the ground. The kids were always bugging him to draw for them. Sitting Bear always knew where to find mushrooms growing. He brought some to share with me a few times. Black Stag had only just become an adult, but he was so responsible. He was always helping out on hunts and in the fields. And Sand Claw was always napping. If the weather was good, even in the middle of a hunt, he’d find somewhere to lay out in the sun, and Rain Grass was always yelling at him. But he was strong, too. He could carry twice what some of the other men could.”
“You knew them very well...”
“They were all so friendly with me.”
Sashalia made her way over to Gaius, her cane tapping the ground. “Speaking of napping, there was someone who’d died at Snake Bush who was like that too, wasn’t there? A knight named Randy Hudley. Billy was always chewing him out.”
“Snake Bush, eh?”
The Battle of Snake Bush was a large-scale battle that had turned the tide of the Five Year War. The Knights of the Chain had suffered heavy casualties in that engagement, according to the records of the conflict.
“It sounds like it was quite an intense battle.”
“Yeah. Even just in my own unit, there were almost sixty knights and soldiers who died... Randy Hudley, Roy Hoken, Sopar, Dexter, Harry, Cody, Aster, Vince, Jeff Sutherton, Derrick, Duncan, Dwayne, Harry Eliott, Shelly Eliott, Earl, Clarissa White, Dom, Graham, Giles, George, George Green, Andre, Ray Wollstonecraft, Gren Savery, Gus Savery, Ray Savery, Ann, Clave, Claire Sums, Zack, Gilbert, Saki, Greg, Bugsy, Mickey, Hal Hoover, Ken, Jensen, Mallory, Eric, Hanson, Roxie, Charley, Raund, Erech Campbell, Leroy O’Connell, Riley Henderson, Martin, Shoho, Jack Carlisle, Richard, Samuel, Hans, John Stanley, Daniel White, Christiana, Jeff Soke, Quentin... We lost a lot of good people.” The names came easily to Gaius’s lips as he looked out into the distance.
Sashalia watched him, more than a little surprised. “You remember them very well...”
“Hm? I suppose.”
“I heard the second battle to capture Moonglow Castle was a rough one. Do you remember all of them, too...?”
“I do,” said Gaius, and he named another almost thirty people.
“What about Trincy?” That was another twenty names.
“The defense of Minoch.” Ten or so.
“The second battle at Jerone.” Twenty-five.
“The seventh defensive battle at Madentia.” Twelve names.
“And the battle of Vesperia?”
“Miraculously, everyone survived that one. Though Shin got his arm broken by a mace.”
“What did we have for dinner last night?”
“Huh?! U-Umm, err, hmm... kobroth?”
“...We had horned boar meat and a mushroom and egg stir-fry. Darke’s going to be angry with you.”
Gaius groaned, shoulders slumping.
Sashalia watched him and giggled.
“...Is it that amusing?” Gaius scratched his head bashfully. Sashalia smiled in response.
“It is.” It really is. He can’t even remember what he had for dinner last night, but he’ll never forget the names of each and every friend and subordinate he lost long ago in the war. That’s the kind of person he is. Sashalia was delighted to confirm to herself that the person she’d chased after was exactly who she thought he was.
“All right, let’s get back, Sir Gaius. Darke is probably finishing up dinner right now, and Blossom was helping her today.”
“That’s sweet of her. What about Fluff?”
“Fluff declared, ‘I’ll help!’ and tried to put a beetle into the pot, at which point Blossom bravely subdued him.”
“Don’t really want to imagine beetle stew.”
“We owe much to Blossom’s reflexes tonight.”
“Indeed.” Gaius stood with a grunt. “Shall we?”
“Let’s.”
“Can you make it back on your own?” Gaius was concerned for Sashalia, who wasn’t fully used to the cane yet.
“I can. I’m a little tired, though...” The redhead took a breath and asked with trembling lips, “C-Could I impose on you to h-hold my h-hand?”
“It would be no imposition at all.”
Gaius bent down and Sashalia gripped one of his thick fingers in her hand. They took slow, slow steps back to the house. In truth, it was actually harder to walk this way, but Sashalia didn’t mind that one bit.