Chapter 30: Free Hugs (1)
There were no pews in the temple, and in fact, no furniture to speak of. The Clerics sat on the floor in their own little circles, while some decided that the cold floor was too hard for that. A few of the scouts were by the door, blasting detection Skills on max. So far, though, it had been peaceful.
Kalender was watching Jyn telling Page off about how reckless she was, and the poor girl was sitting cross-legged with watery, downcast eyes—eyes which Kalender refused to meet for fear of having a protective switch flipped on to meet his fear of seeing her cry, even if it was for her own good.
He moved away from them and approached Luceria, who was sitting on the resurrection table. It really was nothing more than a grey, bed-sized stone slab on a supporting stone block.
“Hey,” he called out.
“Sir Kalender.” She lightly bowed.
“I’m not a knight, though?”
“You are a Champion. It’s similar enough, I think.”
“The scale’s too different, y’know.”
Luceria chuckled. “Perhaps. Did you call me for anything?”
“Nothing serious.” He leaned on the edge of the table, keeping himself at arm’s length. “What does Minimine look like?”
“I can only take a guess. I’ve only seen her broken in two aspects, after all.”
“Fair enough.” Kalender nodded.
“Both aspects had child-like forms, so it shouldn’t be a surprise if she is still child-like after the merge.” She put a hand under her chin. “In all truth, she is quite … precious.”
“Sorry?”
“If only Pebble bothered to bathe, her skin would be glowing, and smooth, and fluffy—”
Kalender eyed Luceria’s evolving expressions. For a while, she was making gestures as if squishing invisible cheeks, until she eventually noticed what she was doing—and pulled her hands back, crossed over her chest, and turned herself five degrees away from Kalender.
“You saw nothing,” she said.
“I saw everything.” Kalender smiled.
“W-whatever.” As she turned her head even further away, Kalender chuckled. “Just teasing you,” he said. “Anyway?”
“Anyway,” she continued, “Pebble’s hair was silvery, whilst Insane’s was a fiery red. Perhaps her merge would make her hair somehow orange?” She tapped on her waist. “In either case, her hair extends until here, at least while they are unkempt.”
“Oh, wow. You never saw them straightened?”
“Like I mentioned, if only either of them bothered to bathe…” She sniffed the inside of her shirt for a moment. There was still a bit of iron in the smell. “Not that I have a defense.”
She froze for a moment, then looked to the entrance. “They’re here,” she said in a voice loud enough for all to hear. She hopped off and left the ring of crystals that surrounded the table, with Kalender following suit.
Everyone stood and looked towards the entrance, locked in bated breath. Two heroes stood on either side of a green-haired child, still covered in blood-stained rags, still with spots of mud clinging to her skin. She scanned the room, and met eyes with her Champion. From her mouth came just one word:
“Kalender.”
Everyone looked to him. Minimine took this opportunity to hide behind one of the heroes. That wasn’t supposed to come out.
“Goddess?” Anarel turned around. Minimine was covering her mouth. “Goddess? They’re waiting for you.”
Minimine looked up to her hero, then leaned out to take a gander at her Clerics, her Priestess, and her Champion. She pulled back in and shook her head. “I-I’m not ready.”
Anarel looked to the blue-caped swordsman. He shrugged. “Goddess’s orders, I guess.”
“So what, do we just shout ‘She’s not ready’ down the aisle like this?”
“… I guess?”
She slapped his shoulder. “Idiot.”
Meanwhile, on the other side, neither did Kalender know how to deal with this. Asking Tak or the Clerics to bring her over was out of the question. He could approach her, himself, but wouldn’t she shrink back if he did that? That wouldn’t be a nice first impression.
“Goddesses above and below, it’s a kid!”
Kalender looked left and right, searching for the source of that voice. He looked back to Jyn, catching her as she had turned around, herself. Page was gone. She looked back to Kalender, horror in her eyes. They both turned towards Minimine.
“Hello!” Page smiled and waved. “Oh dear, you’re so dirty!” She looked to the heroes. “You look like you’re from around here. Is there a bath or something we can use?” She paused. Girl knight… Guy knight… “Oh! Is she your daughter? I’m so sorry, I should’ve asked first—”
"“She’s not,”" the heroes replied in tandem. Before they could ask her just what on Gaia she was doing, Minimine tugged at the hem of her shirt. Page looked down and followed the finger the cute kid was raising—pointing to a door, through which a bath was visible.
“Oh! Perfect!”
Kalender and Jyn started throwing “Wait!”s and “What are you doing!”s at Page, to no effect as she blabbered on, “You’re so dirty! Where’d you come from? Come on, come on, let’s get that cleaned up!” Neither Tak, nor the Clerics, nor the heroes could say anything; Minimine looked like she wanted it, which was pretty much equivalent to divine will. The bath’s door slammed shut.
Jyn tried opening the door, but it wouldn’t budge. A hand landed on top of hers. It was Tak’s.
“I feel my goddess’s energies in this door,” she said. “In the first place, this bath was not here when we arrived. This is clearly my goddess’s will.”
A goddess’s temple was also her domain. Something like instantly changing the architecture to include a bath wasn’t out of the question.
“Stupid Page.” Jyn gritted her teeth. “She clearly knows who that was! And she still did that!”
Kalender thought for a moment. “Wait, no, she didn’t.” Jyn questioned him with a glance, to which he replied, “She didn’t know. None of us told her about the actual plan today, right?”
The light left Jyn’s eyes. Page genuinely thought Minimine was just an ordinary child. Said child just wanted to avoid Kalender for a few minutes longer—not that they knew.
“Undead outside,” one of the scouts reported. “Just a few, not a problem. They’re all coming from one direction, though…”
“From the west?” Anarel asked. She’d walked up to the scout, who nodded in affirmation. Anarel sighed. “My comrades couldn’t possibly get all of them, after all. Well, they would’ve prioritized the higher level ones, so the town should be able to handle themselves.” She scanned the room. “Anyone up for some XP?”
“Level range?” Jyn asked, her voice amplified by the temple. She figured she might as well pass the time doing something productive.
“Should be from 1 to 10, I think,” Anarel replied. “Even if some level 30 shows up, there are three Heroes here. I could really use a break, though…”
“I’ll take care of them. Both of you get some rest,” Luceria said. She’d come closer to the entrance where the others were.
Jyn turned to Kalender. “How about you? You should be able to hit level 4 easily.”
“I think I’ll hang back. Minimine might come out any time, and all.”
“Reasonable. Then, I will see you soon.”
Jyn bowed slightly, for some reason, but as she turned, Kalender called out, “Hey.” She turned around just in time to see him approaching her, arms wide. She mirrored him, receiving his embrace for a few seconds—then she was off.
Most of the lower-leveled Clerics went as well, which left Kalender, Tak, about a third of the Clerics, and two mentally fatigued Heroes in the temple.
***
“Wow, that’s caked on there, huh,” Page said. She was scraping dried mud off Minimine’s arms. “Good thing your clothes soaked up most of the dirt.”
As she took the rags off of her, she noticed the dried blood. “Oh, did you run into the zombies outside!”
Minimine nodded. She didn’t really know how to deal with Page, but at least she was talkative. It set her at ease.
“There, there.” Page took her in her arms and gave her a light squeeze. “We’re in the temple now, so it’s safe!”
What is this? Minimine cross-referenced this s-strange warmth and—comfort? Was this comfort? She got a ping from the database. So this is the full human experience of a hug? H-how have I never… She’d incarnated a few times in the past, but zero hugs were had. She had been living in tragedy all this time.
Hugs are nice. The divine realm must know of this.
Her own hands had started to snake their way to Page’s back, but before they could complete their encirclement, Page broke away. Minimine quickly pulled her hands away, and Page was none the wiser.
“Alright! It’s bath time!”
She helped Minimine into the bath, picking her up and easing her into the warm water. The browns, greys, and whites of dirt and ash spread out from her body, clouding up the water enough that the bottom of the bath was no longer visible.
Specks of water sparkled like the gentle waves of a sunset beachfront. Each time they did, that small, infinitesimal volume of water cleared up.
Page clapped in glee. “As expected of a goddess’s temple! Oh, I hope the goddess above doesn’t mind us using her bath…”
She doesn’t.
“I hope you’re comfortable?” Page asked. Minimine nodded, to which Page smiled. “Great! My name’s Page! Hmm, I don’t think Kalender or Jyn would agree to taking care of a kid all of a sudden… Say, I’m sure they’ll be happy to help me help you find your parents, though. What do you think?”
Minimine tilted her head. “I don’t have parents.”
“O-oh…” Page looked down in dismay. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Huh? I really don’t have parents?
Page continued to wash out the grime from Minimine’s hair. It helped that the bath’s water was essentially the most powerful detergent in existence—without being harsh on the skin, at that.
“There, now. We’re almost done.” Page reached over and ruffled Minimine’s hair one last time. “Oh! I almost forgot! What should I call you?”
Finally. “Minimine.”
“Oh? Were your parents religious?”
“Uhh…”
“Oh, sorry, sensitive question? Forget I asked.” Page nervously chuckled. “Here, let’s get you out. I’m pretty sure I saw some fresh towels around here somewhere…”
After Page helped Minimine out and found some towels to wrap her in, she went ahead and washed the rags that counted as Minimine’s “clothes” in the bath. Between holes and torn seams, she could make out what used to be a simple dress. Would she look better in other colors, I wonder? She shook her head.
The former dress was spotless, but still wet, even after a good squeezing. “Sorry, looks like we’ll have to wait a while for it to dry…” she told Minimine. After it would dry, she’d sew all the torn bits shut. Minimine took the wet dress from her, but Page continued to think. Maybe I should fold pleats over the holes? Stitch those in place? It’ll look weird, but I guess it’ll have to do… Minimine handed the dress back to Page, who squished the dried cloth in her hands.
Hm? “Huh?!” It’s dry! She looked to Minimine. “Was there a dryer here all along!”
Minimine pointed to herself, eliciting a “You’re a mage… You’re a mage?!” from Page.
Page grabbed two locks of her own hair and covered her mouth with them, her eyes wide. “But, how? You’re still a kid! I didn’t even hear anything like a chant!”
“Minimine.”
That one word sent Page’s thoughts into an ever-deepening spiral. One by one, the facts fell into place: came in with strong-looking people; everyone around here looked weirdly serious; literally named Minimine; literally did instant, chantless magic.
She looked back to the fun-sized goddess, who offered her a cup of wine.
“T-thanks.” Page sipped—then ratcheted her head to face Minimine again, just in time to see her transmuting the ambient humidity into wine, letting it fall into a cup of her own that floated in mid-air. Once it was filled, the cup fell into her hand, the wine sloshing around a little, and she tipped it about her lips.
“… G-goddess Minimine?”
“… Yes?”
… [+10 Excitement]
Wonderful job! The chapter 29 edit was great, bringing us back to the same atmosphere as the rest of the story so far.
Well, Page is alone with the Goddess.... I will see where this goes but I seriously wish she does not decide to do anything.... with brainless abandon. We shall see.
I mean, the whole idea for this plan was to get her and Kalender in the same place to change that affection to something else. Why they have not started doing exactly that seems.... odd. I mean She is a goddess (supposedly) so she should not in theory have the frailness in her head and heart the same as a human. Honestly I cant quite figure out why one random god can curse/bless another like what happened in the beginning of the story anyways. She is a higher power being, you dont really need to treat her with the care of a piece of art you might be afraid of dropping, especially considering the current actions going on in the surrounding at the present time.
I do actually have explanations for all of the above, some of them too profound to be introduced right this moment. I'm really just waiting for the right timing to plug it in.
Also, Minimine is evidently shy. That's a clue for a lot of things right there.
I'm really just trying to avoid long spats of introspection/exposition. I've got most-ish things laid out in my head, but the plot would grind to a full stop if I exposed them in advance rather than going for delayed gratification. I hope you'll understand.
when you realize that you just washed a god like a reticent animal
I didn't really like the title, my recommendation "A powerful hug generated by misunderstood" or "A powerful hug" or the last one "The first hug"
Thanks for the chapter! Hugs are really wholesome
Thank you for the chapter!
I really hope Kal doesn't stay at level 1 for to long.
Level 2, the big slime got him a level up.
@Aircat386 I utterly forgot. Level 2 then.
Thanks for the chapter.
🍪