Arthur was in his room, being caught up on recent events by a butler when the commotion happened. He heard a familiar voice from outside, so he looked out a window. Sure enough, Yuuki was there, putting on quite the show and probably scaring his father half to death.
“This can only end well.” He muttered under his breath sarcastically, and just after he could’ve sworn Yuuki glanced up at his window for just a split second. He quickly closed the window and sat back down on his chair.
“Is everything alright, Lord Arthur?” Asked the butler.
“Yes, nothing to worry about whatsoever.” He said, unconvincingly.
“In that case, what should I tell His Majesty?” The butler chose not to pry and instead got to the point.
“I will finish my studies before moving back for good. I’m only here because of winter break. You’re excused”
“Understood.” The butler bowed and left the chamber.
Arthur weighed the pros and cons of leaving right now without notice, but decided against it. He killed some time by reading some books until mid afternoon. He heard a knock on his door and knew who it was right away.
“Come in, father.”
The door opened to reveal a paler than usual. He closed the door behind him before speaking. “Your friend is terrifying.”
Arthur wanted to say something like ‘huh, she didn’t hold back, did she?’, but after having had a chat with her father, he had finally gained a glimpse into just how terrifying Yuuki truly was. “How bad was it?”
“Oh, much worse than it is now. I had to sneak into my own chambers so I wouldn’t be seen shaking and sweating. Almost tripped in the damn carpet.” Uther revealed his vulnerabilities for a reason: hoping to pry a bit more information out of his son. “I haven’t talked with other high priests, are they all like this?”
Arthur shrugged. “I haven’t either. Rumor has it that she has though, and the rest of the high priests avoided any contact with people for a week after that.” He knew his father wanted information, so he gave him just that. Not anything solid, but just an idea on what he was dealing with. Should prevent him from even thinking about crossing her, in case that was still on the table after what had happened. Yuuki did not seem the vindictive type, but better safe than sorry. An angry Yuuki was not on the list of things he wanted to encounter. Or share a planet with.
Uther paled a bit further before letting out a dry laugh. “You sure know how to pick them.” He and Arthur shared an awkward smile before continuing. “Well, I won’t keep you any longer, you should probably head back to the academy. It was good to see you, son.”
“It was good to see you too.”
After Uther left his room, Arthur took a bit of time to freshen up before heading back to the inn. There, he checked his room, and his things weren’t there. He knocked on Yuuki’s door, but nobody answered, and when he opened it, it was also empty. Not wanting to assume they were robbed, because aside from Yuuki, no one could’ve reasonably ignored the alarm spell he put in his room, he headed to the teleportation circle. He went to the first place he could think of. He went to Yuuki’s room in the dorms, opening the door, knowing it would not be locked.
Yuuki wasn’t there. What’s more: Yuuki did not appear when he entered. It was strange, very strange. He decided to rest for the day and went to his dorm room to sleep. The next morning, he tried again, and Yuuki still wasn’t there. He went about his day, and tried again in the evening.
“What did I say about knocking?” The kitsune herself asked, on her bed, currently reading a book. No… she was writing one. She had a pen? She seriously just invented a pen so she wouldn’t need to bother with quills. She was also writing absurdly fast, it took her a few seconds to fill a page.
That wasn’t the strangest thing about the room however. There were three other women sitting on the floor, playing cards. One was Cassandra, who was wearing the standard clothes for someone from the Church of Light. Another was a slightly younger looking, but taller, wolf-kin with black hair and fur. The last one, a woman in her thirties, he did not recognize, despite having a strange feeling of familiarity with her.
The older woman stood up wordlessly and walked over to him. Something in Arthur’s mind suddenly clicked and his eyes went wide.
“Art?” She spoke softly, on the verge of tears. Her gaze was one only a mother could have. She and Arthur needed no words between them as they embraced one another. They both started crying as they stood in the door.
Cassandra was smiling warmly, happy for other people’s happiness. Alice felt the happiness in the room and so she was also happy. Yuuki continued writing her book, undisturbed.
Eventually, Arthur separated a bit to look at Yuuki. “Where were you?”
“Home. I was sleeping. Oh yeah, before I fail to mention: don’t hold hope I will resurrect every poor farmer we meet, because that’s just not happening.” She stared at him with a disinterested look. “Oh, I also had your mom join my church, so you can be king.”
Arthur did his best not to glare at her, he was getting used to her more ‘authentic’ mannerisms. “And why is everyone here?”
“Those two ” She pointed at Alice and Igraine respectively. “have joined my church, so I’m their boss. She ” She pointed at Cassandra, who gave a shy smile and waved. “is who the Church of Light sent as assistance. And they’re here because I told them to be here so they could meet.”
“Wanna join cards?” Alice asked enthusiastically.
“Oh she’s Alice. She’s currently taking all our money.” Igraine said, while the wolf-kin smiled slyly. The shift in her mood was drastic, but it felt familiar to Arthur.
“Sure.” He smiled and set down, being handed his cards. He already knew this game, Yuuki had taught him and some other classmates before. And Alice was good. She hid her thoughts perfectly, and just kept smiling the same way. She also seemed to know what everyone’s cards were all the time. She lost a few times, but that just made Arthur more suspicious. She seemed to know his cards even when he used his aura to obstruct any possible short-range scrying.
“Alice, are you counting cards?” Arthur asked.
“There’s no way. There are at least six decks in there.” Igraine said.
“Seven. And one of them’s missing the queen of hearts.” Alice said confidently.
The other three players dropped their jaws with Cassandra commenting: “Are you an android?”
Right after she said that, she realized what she said in the heat of the moment and tried to make her presence smaller.
Arthur’s dumbfounded stare wandered from Alice to Cassandra, to Yuuki, who continued writing. “You knew!?”
“Of course.” She didn’t even bother to look up from her book.
“How!?” He was really loud. The only reason it wasn’t heard outside the room was due to Yuuki’s wards.
She finally stopped writing and looked at Arthur. “Haven’t you noticed that out of anyone with light magic, only she used lasers? You know why? Because people can only use magic for what they can imagine. What’s the last time you saw something cut or burnt by light in this world? Aside from Cassandra's magic? Not to mention, the goddess of light doesn’t exactly want people to weaponize her gift.”
Cassandra stared between Arthur, who was just as taken off-guard as she was, and Yuuki, who was writing once more.
Igraine had no idea about anything that was going on. Alice took the money she won and gave it back to who she took it from. “Well, I’m off.” With those words, the wolf-kin disappeared.
Arthur’s mouth went agape once more. “Yuuki.”
“Arthur.” She was writing.
“You said if I want to teleport, for real, I need to become more powerful than the spirits.”
“Yes I did.”
“Did she just teleport?”
“Yes she did.” Her tone carried no emotion, no smugness, nothing.
Arthur let out a sigh. Cassandra was still trying to understand what was going on. Igraine was happy she got her money back, and was thinking about all the sweets she would buy, now that she didn’t need to worry about clothes and accommodation. Yuuki was still writing that book.
Melisent· Nov 4, 2020
