Kitsune in the Shadows

After that night, time seemed to pass by quickly. Raynelle was back to her usual self in only a few days. Ava was the same; after a few days, she seemed to come back to life, although she felt just a little more distant than I remembered.

That isn’t to say everything else was exactly the same as before. The biggest thing that changed was that the two of them stopped pushing me to speak like they used to. However, I still tried my best to talk to them in spite of that, even if it was hard, just because whenever I did, their eyes seemed to light up.

The other thing that started soon after I arrived at the house was Raynelle and Ava heading out somewhere every few days without me. Ava always came back panting while drenched in sweat. I tried asking them what they were doing a few times, but each time, Raynelle would try to change the topic while Ava would go silent.

The only time that I left the house was to go visit Ovia at the temple. When I did neither Raynelle nor Ava would let me go by myself, so they would follow me there in the morning before collecting me in the evening. They started using the time while I was with Ovia to go shopping for the week, so they didn’t mind taking me every week. Well, I say they, but Raynelle was always the one who went with me.

The peaceful days continued, and before I knew it, a month had already passed.

“Kierra? Are you sure you got enough sleep last night?” Raynelle asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

I sat at the table, breakfast already laid out in front of me. A plate piled high with pancakes. Or, more accurately, Ava’s first attempt at pancakes. Their thickness was a little uneven and some parts were cooked slightly more than others, but I couldn’t say that they looked bad.

“Mhm… just… tired…” I took a bite of one of the pancakes.

Even if they didn’t look perfect, they definitely tasted as if they were.

“So… you’re telling me that you did get enough sleep, but somehow you’re still tired?” Raynelle pointed her fork towards me as she spoke, “I know you’re excited for today, but you really need to stop staying up so late every time.”

Her comment made me blush a bit out of embarrassment. I decided not to say anything and just continued eating breakfast.

I can’t help it!

I only get to see her once a week…

Of course I’m excited!

Breakfast quickly disappeared as the sun finally started to peek out from below the horizon. After finishing my last bite, I turned towards Ava.

“T-thank you, Ava,” I put my knife and fork down on the plate, “… It was good…”

I still need to practise talking more…

Ava chuckled in response as she got up and collected our plates, “I know it was good. I wouldn’t give you something that I thought wasn’t. But next time, I’ll try for ‘perfect’ instead of just ‘good’, alright?”

“Those weren’t perfect?!” Raynelle blurted out, “How could they be any better? Just what kind of recipe did Ana give you? How long has she been hiding this from the world?”

“Come on Mom,” Ava said with a smirk as she took the dishes into the kitchen, “There’s no need to overreact like that.”

I left the table almost immediately after that, heading into my room and digging through my wardrobe, looking for the dress I always wore when visiting the temple. Every time the wardrobe was opened, I was surprised at just how many clothes were inside. Raynelle and Ava had bought extra clothes for me as a gift, though they never told me exactly what the gift was for.

As soon as I found the black dress, I changed into it as quickly as I could before quickly brushing my tail down to make sure there weren’t any stray hairs sticking out from pulling it through the flap.

“Kierra?” Raynelle knocked on my door, “Are you ready to go?”

I opened the door and stepped out, showing her that I had finished getting dressed.

“The same dress again?” She knelt down and adjusted the bow around the collar of the dress, “Is there a reason why you always wear this dress when you go to visit? Is it the colour? The style? Something else?”

…

“I just… like it,” I responded, not wanting to admit the true reason: that every time I wore the dress, I was reminded of when Ovia wore a matching dress.

Right at that moment, Ava stepped out of the kitchen, “If she likes that dress, why not just get more of them?”

“But I just know she would look great in so many other clothes as well,” Raynelle stood up, “I just want to see her dressed up in all sorts of outfits. Is that so wrong?”

You don’t need to lie like that.

I know… that isn’t true.

Despite what was going through my mind, my face still went a little red from her words.

“Well, we can continue this conversation later,” Raynelle said, turning towards me. Let’s get going. I know you prefer to get there early.”

My eyes instinctually drifted over to Ava.

But what about…

…

“What’s going on Kierra?” Ava crouched down, “Are you wanting to go with me?”

“Mhm,” I responded as I nodded my head.

“Well, I’m sorry, but I can't today. I’ve got something I need to do.”

But… you always say that…

“Well, how about this then?” She went into her room before coming back out with a ribbon that matched the one around my neck, albeit a little larger, “Can you turn around for me quickly?”

I immediately did as she asked.

“Alright, this might feel a little strange, but… just bear with me.”

As soon as she said that, I felt something tickle the base of my tail, making me flinch involuntarily. However, the tickling didn’t stop. Instead, it just kept on going until I eventually felt something close in around the base of my tail.

“And that’s… All done!” Ava shouted as she spun me around, “What do you think Mom? I think it was a pretty good idea.”

“… Why… didn’t I think of that?…” Raynelle muttered, “It’s absolutely adorable.”

“I know! I’ve been looking for an excuse to try this with Kierra for a while.”

What did she do?

I awkwardly looked over my back, barely catching a glimpse of a large bow at the base of my tail.

…

I moved my tail a little, trying to get used to the sensation.

…

“I… like it…” I said, watching as the two loose ends of the ribbon fluttered along with the movement of my tail.

“I’m glad you do,” Ava turned me around, adjusting the bow one last time, “This is what I can do for you today, okay? I promise I’ll go with you next week… if that’s still what you want when we get there.”

I immediately nodded.

Ava responded with a smile, “Now, go along with Mom. You’re just wasting time you could be spending at the temple right now.”

Before I had the chance to say anything, Raynelle scooped me up and took me out the door.

“Ava, we’ll be back this evening. You can eat first if you want,” Raynelle stepped out, letting the door swing closed behind her.

Just before the door slammed shut, Ava yelled out, “Stop saying that! You know I’m going to wait for you two anyway! So instead, just make sure you’re not late!”

Raynelle just laughed in response before we made our way to Ovia’s temple.

At some point, Beni told us to use the hidden entrance at the back of the temple instead of the main doors. Apparently, someone saw Raynelle dropping me off in the morning, which started some strange rumours around the city about what the temple was doing behind the scenes. Luckily, we both had the hoods of our cloaks up at the time, so the rumour didn’t include our appearances. It was then that Beni decided it would be better to use the back entrance to stop the rumour from getting any worse before they hopefully died off.

As soon as we arrived at the temple, the hidden door opened, with Beni already waiting in the doorway.

“You’re a little later than usual today…” Beni said as he laid eyes on me.

“I’m sorry…” I responded instinctually.

“No I wasn’t… One day I’ll…” He sighed, “Just… head in… she’s still getting ready… as usual…”

“Go on then,” Raynelle nudged me into the temple, “I’ll be back in the evening, so remember to be good.”

“I will…”

Raynelle waved back before walking away.

I followed Beni into the temple as the door closed behind us. As soon as we were in the main room, the two of us sat on the pew right at the front of the temple as if it were routine.

“Now… What story should I tell you today?… Any preference?” He asked.

Beni started telling me his stories while I waited for Ovia to be ready every week, and sometimes, he would even tell an extra story when I came back in the evening if Raynelle was running a little late.

“F-from when you were an adventurer…” I said meekly.

“Hmm… Just like the Goddess…” He chuckled, “Maybe I need to see about becoming an adventurer again… it’s all the two of you want to hear about…”

That is why I want to hear about those stories.

It’s what Ovia enjoys.

Maybe… one day… I could…

…

“Well… what should I tell you about this time… Hmm… I’ve told you a few tales about my solo adventures… so how about something from a bit later on…” He smiled a little “Something from my… very brief… time as an ‘instructor’ for the greenhorns…”

I nodded immediately.

“Ha ha… alright then… This tale took place back when I was ‘asked’ to take on a new party… I was supposed to supervise them on their first hunt… Thinking back, I don’t know how I got that position… hunts weren’t really my speciality… with my Dark magic… I was much better suited for as-… No… No, you don’t need to know about that part… not yet at least…”

It was strange for Beni to stop himself like that in the middle of his story, but I didn’t say anything.

“Anyway… This party wasn’t the worst I had seen… they had a big guy with a shield up front… someone who at least knew which side of the sword you’re supposed to hold… They even had both a mage and a healer somehow… though that mage wasn’t the greatest, as you’ll come to realise… They lugged around this large mace that was clearly much too heavy for them… but it wasn’t my job to do anything about that… I just needed to make sure they would make it back alive…”

Didn’t you say you were an instructor?

“It was a simple enough hunt… nothing too dangerous… just two of these large wolves that had been causing problems near the town… The request didn’t even include anything about butchering them… no pelt, no bones, no teeth… just proof of the kill… so perfect for a new party… well, those higher up didn’t think so, and they sent me with them as some kind of insurance… Now, to make a long story short, I’ll just jump ahead to the interesting part… We’re out in the forest facing down the two wolves… the two of them were scared out of their minds, but well… so were these greenhorns…” Beni chuckled a little.

“The big guy said something like ‘I’ll protect all of you!’ before tripping and falling face first into the ground… Honestly… even those wolves seemed to be embarrassed… they didn’t pay him any mind at all and went straight for those at the back… the lad with a sword stepped in and took the attention of one of them… can’t say he did much more than that though… but at least he was better than the big guy…” He chuckled again, “Ah, that guy… this whole time he was just stuck there… the armour he was so proud of was a bit too heavy for him… he couldn’t seem to get himself back up…”

“*pfft*” Even I couldn’t hold back my laughter after hearing that.

“Now… the second wolf took the opportunity and jumped right at the healer… luckily they swung their staff on instinct and knocked it clean out of the air… was a very good hit too… though it unfortunately wasn’t enough to stop it completely… it quickly got back up and started snarling at her… it was almost as if it was now acknowledging her as a noteworthy enemy… but that’s not what caught my attention… standing far behind the rest was the mage… scared beyond belief… doing absolutely nothing…” Beni’s face contorted as he spoke, “This… annoyed me to no end, to put it lightly… I knew I didn’t have to do anything but… In the heat of the moment shouted at that mage to cast a spell or something… You know what they did after that?”

I shook my head.

“They slowly stumbled forwards… dragging that damn mace of theirs along the ground with them… tearing up the grass as they went… Even thinking back on it now, I’m getting ticked off… What’s the point of being a mage if you don’t use any spells…” Beni paused for a moment before continuing, “Anyway… the healer dropped their staff in a panic and started running in circles with the wolf chasing her… I didn’t exactly want to lose a healer like that… they were a rarity out in that town after all… so I ran over to the mage… took their mace… and swung it down on the wolf’s head…” Beni jumped out of his seat, swinging his arms as he acted out the scenario.

“It was a… very heavy mace to say the least… everyone in that party was scared out of their minds afterwards… while also being painted with-… a little redder than before…”

Redder?

Was that-?

Do you mean-?

I shuddered as Beni pretended to swing the mace once again.

“While they were all paralysed with fear, I quickly… ‘dealt’… with the other wolf in much the same way…… Needless to say, the party failed their hunt as I was forced to step in… though the higher-ups didn’t care that much… their problem was solved either way… I do remember hearing that the mage and big guy tried to get out of being an adventurer after that… Unfortunately, that there is where this story ends… I got transferred to the town over for some… more appropriate work… I do sometimes wonder what happened to them… mainly that healer… with a swing like that, she could’ve done some real damage if she was given something better than her staff…”

Right as he let out one final chuckle, a now familiar dark orb appeared next to his ear before promptly disappearing.

“Well, that’s enough from me…” While he had stopped laughing, he still had a smile on his face, “The Goddess is waiting for you…”

I quickly turned away from him and headed deeper into the temple, hoping that by the time I came back, he would have calmed down a little.