Arthur was close to finishing the first three books Yuuki had given him. After deciding that a few minutes of rest might be needed he took a short nap on the chair. He woke up to the sound of light knocking on the door. After quickly making sure he was presentable he went to open it. There stood a tall, tanned woman with fiery red hair. He felt like she was familiar in a way but thought that he’d remember if he’d met her before.
“Good afternoon, how can I help?” He asked cautiously.
“Hello child.” She spoke in a soft voice. “May I enter?”
He left the door open and walked backwards, not taking his eyes off the guest. “Who are you?” He knew to be wary of people that called others ‘child’. It probably meant they were really old and powerful creatures, or a priest. She did not seem like a priest.
“Freya. Former ruler of the fire spirits. I’m here to help.” Her words seemed genuine, but he had his reservations about trusting her. She walked into the room and closed the door, taking a look around.
“It is an honor to meet you.” He lied through his teeth as he bowed slightly. When he looked back up, her eyes were focused on a painting on the wall as she had a look of pure confusion clearly written on her face.
“That’s from a friend. She said I stared at her a lot and gave me that.” He did not hide his annoyance.
“Why don’t you remove it?” The spirit’s bewilderment was a bit cute actually. She wanted to seem so formal and elegant and here she was confused by a painting.
“Oh, good luck with that. It finds its way back on the wall no matter what I do. Or rather, on the wall of the room that I sleep in. It’s really quite unsettling.”
“Right…” She coughed and directed her gaze back to Arthur. “Well met, child of man. I am here to offer guidance.”
Ah. So, it was one of those. “Shot in the dark: is it about Yuuki and how dangerous she is?” He asked with a smirk.
“I see you are not taking this issue seriously.” She frowned.
“Freya, buddy, pal, I don’t know what to tell you. But you really don’t need to worry about her, she’s rather harmless nowadays unless you manage to anger her. Also, going after the people she cares about to try and turn them against her is just such a stereotypical villain thing to do.” It may have been the sleep deprivation, or it may have been the fact that he knew Yuuki was not going to let him get hurt that caused him to speak with such bluntness.
While she was taken aback a bit, she did not give up so easily. “She is a danger to this world. Do you know of the destruction she has caused already?”
“I do. She destroyed a plane that was inhabited, mass carnage, yaddy yaddy yadda. I did say she’s not like that nowadays. If you are friendly, genuinely friendly, she will respond in kind. If you try to hurt the people she cares about, she will kill you faster than you can say ‘the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell’. So, please believe I am just trying to help when I say that you should bury whatever beef you have with her.”
“It’s not beef. She killed me!”
“Tomayto tomahto. What can you do about it? Nothing. Not a thing in this world. Just like how I personally could do nothing against you vaporizing me here and now. There are just things in life you have to accept. You can be angry about it all you want, but at the end of the day it makes no difference. So, Freya, former ruler of the fire spirits. Allow me to offer you guidance. Don’t do anything that would make Yuuki angry. Especially not when she’s standing right behind you.”
Freya looked behind her, scanned the area but there was nothing there.
“Huh. Could’ve sworn she was just waiting for her chance to dramatically enter. Well, regardless, my point still stands.” He seemed done with the conversation as he sat down at the table to continue reading.
“Even if what you’re saying is true. And I’m not sure she hadn’t just tricked you. Why would you believe she is on your side? How do you know she’s not using you?”
“Be logical. What damage could she deal with scheming that she couldn’t do with brute force? But you’re right, at the end of the day, I don’t know for sure. But I trust her. Is the concept of trust really this foreign to you?”
The spirit narrowed her eyes in a glare. “That’s enough out of you.” She raised a hand in anger that she pointed at the prince. His thoughts were ‘oh @*#&!, am I actually going to die?’ right up until Yuuki appeared between them. That helped him calm down. Contrary to what he expected, Yuuki did not seem angry and the world was not shaking. That was a good sign most likely.
“I believe we should talk in a more private location.” Yuuki said calmly as Arthur was once more alone in his room.
“Yuuki, you won’t kill her, right?... right. I’m doing well by the way. It’s really nice that you made the books unreadable at night without telling me, so my schedule was thrown completely off. But that’s fine, no hard feelings, you’re just worried for me and honestly, that’s very nice of you. Nice talk.” He was talking to himself. “I need more people I can talk to.”
--
Freya stared down Yuuki who did not meet her gaze.
“What, did you bring me here to kill me?” She spat.
“Not quite.” Yuuki turned around and took a few steps uncomfortably shifting her neck and limbs. After she was a bit further from the spirit she turned back to look her in the eye. “Here I am. Flesh and blood. Like what I did to Ifrit not too long ago, only in my case I wouldn’t stay dead no matter what you did.” Yuuki showed no emotion. As if she were nothing but a lifeless doll.
“You want to settle the score as a form of what? Goodwill? Friendship?”
“You want vengeance. You say you are doing this for the sake of the world but that’s a lie. If going through some pain means that you’re no longer my enemy, I’ll take it.” She sliced her palm with her nails and let the violet colored blood drip to the ground. “I swear I will not attack you or harm you for what you do to me now.”
Freya walked up to the kitsune. “If I were to carve out your heart. Will it hurt?”
“I would imagine so, yes.”
The spirit raised a hand but did not attack. “Why would you let me?”
“Because I deserve it.” Yuuki said, unflinching.
Freya was breathing erratically, the internal conflict clear on her face, but she eventually lowered her hand. “Turn back.”
Yuuki looked confused but she turned back into her normal, far less vulnerable, state, nonetheless. Freya punched her square in the jaw which did nothing, the power was completely absorbed.
“Now we’re even.” The spirit mumbled before flying off.
Yuuki let out a breath she did not know she was holding and sat down on the ground. As stoic as she may have acted, she did not really want to go through immense pain. But there was a part of her that screamed ‘murderer!’. One that had the guilt of a million deaths weighing on it. One that believed she deserved all the punishment but could not face judgement due to her power. One that would just not shut up. Being told that she wasn’t a bad person just seemed to add gasoline to the fire.
“Would you like to hear my judgement?” Hearing Mystra’s voice surprised Yuuki, so she turned to look at the goddess. “I judge the food is getting cold. And there are people who care about you waiting for your return. Come on.” Mystra did not protect. She did not heal. She did not tell her what to do. She did not tell her what to think. She gave Yuuki the chance to allow herself to heal instead.
“Yes, let’s go.”
Mystra's such a good big sister/mother figure to Yuuki, it's quite endearing.