NOVEL NEXT 42: Moonlight Bonding
Falling back on the grass, Kaitlyn stared off into the night sky as both she and Rachel laid there, enjoying each other’s presence while quiet conversation continued between them. Ignoring the dampness that she felt on her back, Kaitlyn, listening to Rachel talk about her worries of the upcoming expedition, confessed, “Don’t feel alone, I think every year everyone is worried that they’ll get hurt. I, for one, am always worried...”
As Kaitlyn reassured her, assuaging her nerves, Rachel squeezed her hand once Kaitlyn had finished, asking, “When you fight like that, like, how you do normally, absolutely destroying everything, what motivates you?”
“In all honesty...” Kaitlyn sighed, squeezing Rachel’s hand back as they both scooted just a touch closer to each other, “I’ve been looking for a lot of my life. As a child, being... talented,”
“That’s putting it quite lightly,” Rachel laughed with a small smile.
Chuckling and letting out a small sigh, Kaitlyn relented, “Well... being one of the most talented people that were found, right at the peak of the war, I was just told from a young age to fight, fight, fight for the larger populace. But... That type of stuff always feels empty...”
“It really does,” Rachel nodded along, having heard that as well when she had first been summoned, “So have you found anything?”
Moving over a little, Kaitlyn pressed her arm against the warm Rachel while pulling her coat around herself tighter, “I’ve just been focusing on training you all, it’s much more purposeful than hunting loose bands of bandits after all...”
Fingers intertwined with Rachel’s as she trailed off, Kaitlyn then added, “Y-You all also have been really good friends to have.”
“I’m glad that we can be,” Rachel burst out laughing, pulling Kaitlyn in for a hug, “You’re a good friend of ours too! Our precious teacher who beats us up all day!”
“I don’t beat you up all the time, though,” Kaitlyn stammered with an aggrieved expression on her face, “Only like... every other day.”
Kaitlyn embracing her back as she defended herself, Rachel blanked out for a moment, taking a few deep breaths while squeezing her back. Having collected herself, Rachel nodded, an amused glint shining in her eye as she hummed, “Sure, sure, if you say so~”
Giving up on arguing against Rachel—not even Oliver or Josephine could win most of the time—Kaitlyn sank into the hug, too lazy and too warm to let go, “So... what are all of your motivations? It’s gotta be rough after you just had your lives completely changed twice.”
“Well...” Rachel began, trailing off after not thinking of an immediate response, “Well... uhhh...”
Taking a moment to think, Rachel panicked to herself, ‘Well I can’t just say it’s love right?? That’d be really weird to say while we’re hugging each other... uhmmm... well it used to be... yeah, let’s go with that! Ohmygosh Rachel you’re so smart...’
Having let Rachel collect her thoughts for a bit, watching Rachel’s expression change a few times while arguing with herself, Kaitlyn listened and nodded along as Rachel continued, “So all of us have read a lot of books... So we’re just trying to make a life for ourselves... the classic just... survive. Find a place to settle down, root ourselves down somewhere, maybe then also start pursuing some of the careers we were considering before we got summoned.”
“I... I hope that you can achieve that then,” Kaitlyn murmured, hugging Rachel a little closer, to the point where the two were almost cuddling atop their small hill under the stars.
Silence then fell between the two, a comfortable silence in which they basked in each other’s warmth, they watched as a shooting star flew by, its path drawing a gentle arch in the sky. As the star’s last mark disappeared, Kaitlyn and Rachel laid in each other's arms for a few moments longer.
Cough.
Sitting back up, the pair disentangled from the other’s arms with an embarrassed flush on their face, realizing now the position they had spent the past conversation in.
“Let... Let’s get back to the camp, yeah?” Kaitlyn asked, her eyes averted as shame swept through her mind, “We let one person know but they’re still probably worried about us...”
Coughing while trying to hide her happy smile, glad the darkness hid her complexion, the still red-faced Rachel stammered, “Y-Yeah... yeah... that... that sounds good. Let’s get going, don’t want them to worry about us after all.”
“Right, don’t want to worry them...” Kaitlyn repeated again, reassuring herself as well as distracting herself from the events that had just transpired.
Extending a hand, the two laced fingers once more as they ventured back through the forest back through the camp.
Their hands both warm, the two traded subtle hand squeezes while making small talk that was artificial at best, between two rocks at the worst. Wandering back the way they came, the two continued pretending nothing had happened until the camp came back into view.
Letting go of each other’s hands, the two ran forward, greeted by the impressive sight of the caravan having laid down its night accommodations.
A few small campfires and magical lamps spread out in the camp clearing beside the road, the camp was illuminated in warm tones. Near the fires and lamps, spread throughout the clearing were a number of tents, some larger, some smaller. Entering the clearing, Kaitlyn and Rachel greeted a few people as they returned to their own tents, Kaitlyn having a smaller one to herself, while Rachel, in the tent right beside, was in a larger one, sharing with Josephine.
Giving each other a small wave, Kaitlyn and Rachel each ducked into their own tents. In their own tents, Rachel, plopping down onto her sleeping area, was assaulted by questions from Josephine while Kaitlyn laid down in silence, a faint flustered tinge clear on her face as she prepared for bed.
With that, the two, having just laid under the stars, pouring their hearts out to the other, went to bed hoping they hadn’t pushed the other away.
