“It fits well doesn’t it.” Grace smiled as she admired my new clothing.

“I assume you picked it out?”

She chuckled, “Well, of course. Who else?”

“You don’t think it’s a bit… much? I look like the Punisher?!”

“What’s ‘the Punisher?’” Grace turned her head to the side, clearly confused about my comparison.

“He’s a character from a story in my old world. He wore black all of the time, and I was making a comparison to your… choices of clothing for me.” I used my hands to display the jacket and pants she had gotten me.

“I need you to look at least a little intimidating. What is a Divine One without the look? Plus, I think you look handsome.” Grace glanced at me. Wow… those crystal blue eyes really do something to you.

“If you two are done, we could use your help over here.” Suri interjected and pointed to the wagon wheel that had sheared off when we hit a rather large hole in the road.

“Oh! Sorry about that!” I blushed and quickly ran over to the side of the wagon.

It had been a several days since we left our underground hideout and made our journey to meet with Felicia’s father to discover more details of what I could do and explain the odd phenomenon that had occurred. Things were going well until one of the wheels decided to depart from our rear axle. We had stopped to quickly repair the wheel and continue. I moved next to Felicia and Suri as we lifted the wagon off the ground, Grace quickly slid the wheel back into place.

“Well, it’s back on, but we still need a pin to put in it to keep it from sliding off the axle again.” Felicia poked her finger through the hole where the pin had been previously. She pulled one of the several molds attached to her belt and moved the mold over the hole. She quickly crafted a pin that was the exact size needed for the journey.

“Wow! That’s impressive. I’m guessing your father taught you this?” Felicia stopped and looked at me for a second, grimaced slightly, and ignored my question.

“Eli… I thought you would have learned by now that she doesn’t want to talk about that.” Grace scolded me. I figured that their relationship was sour but sheesh. This is beyond sour. I got into disputes with my parents often, but I could at least talk about them.

“All done! It’s getting late though. We should make camp here.”

We pulled several large canvas tarps from the back of the wagon and pulled the four corners of each until they were stiff. We added long poles to the inside to prop each tent up while Suri began collecting firewood for a fire. After collecting the wood, Suri built a large fire, and we all crowded around the only source of heat for miles.

“We should reach your father’s place by tomorrow.” Grace glanced over at Felicia. Felicia had her head buried between her hands.

“Felicia, you ok?” Felicia glanced over at me.

“What do YOU think?” She sneered at me. It was a very different Felicia from when I had first met her. Her calm and collected demeanor had vanished completely.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Do you want to talk about—”

Before I could finish Felicia interjected. “What!? Talk about my father?! Talk about how terrible my childhood was!? Day after day utilizing all of my reserves of transmaculation. Passing out from exhaustion and then repeating! Day after day after day!” Tears began forming on her cheeks as she forcefully stared in my direction.

I was speechless… I had no idea. I felt guilty as if I had been antagonizing her up to this point. Building her up to the point until her feelings boiled over and spilled out.

“I-I’m sorry Felicia.” Felicia looked at me a few seconds longer and then ran into the woods away from the fire.

“Felicia, no! Don’t run out there!” I called behind her.

“We told you not to bring it up Eli! She went through a lot when she was younger. More than any of us could imagine.” Grace rubbed her hands in front of the fire.

“Someone needs to go get her you know…” Grace locked eyes with me.

“You guys have known her much longer… Shouldn’t you be the ones to go get her?”

“We aren’t the ones who caused the problem.” Grace gave me a fierce look.

“Alright. Well, if I die out there bury me somewhere nice.”

“Oh… you actually think we would care.” Grace smile at me deviously. She had a dark side that I didn’t even want to delve further into.

I made my way into the darkness. The forest was extremely thick and the “mushtingers” or the jelly-like animals I had learned about previously seemed to glow with a blue haze. Small branches cracked under the weight of my feet. Soon, I saw a faint green glow from the base of a tree. Felicia had formed a small orb of light near herself.

“Felicia… I’m sor—” Felicia cut me off.

“It’s fine. Really.” Felicia was sitting at the base of the tree slumped over with her head resting between her knees.

“Felicia, I know it’s hard and I’m sorry I’m the reason you’re going.”

“It’s not your fault Eli. Grace and the others were right. My father is the only one who will know how to help you. It’s just been hard. The memories of those days came rushing back, and it was just a bit much for me to handle at the time.” Grace gave me a half smile. Her cheeks were still wet. I pushed my back against the trunk and slid down to sit beside Grace.

“Well, just know that… I’m here for you if you need anything. I don’t know how much that is worth, but I’ll do my best to make it worth something.”

Grace gave me a smile and pulled me into an embrace. Her dark blue hair draped over one of my shoulders. Her body gave off a flowery aroma. It was nice to have an intimate moment in between all of the death and destruction of the past several days.

“We should probably head back to the camp site. It’s getting late.” Felicia motioned for me to lead the way back. I stood up and brushed the dirt that had accumulated on me from the floor of the forest. We made our way quickly back to the campfire.

“Hey! Good to see you two back in one piece!” Suri smiled from the opposite side of the campfire. Flames darted across her face in rapid succession.

“Yeah… we made it. So, what’s the plan for tomorrow.”

“We are likely going to leave at dawn. The longer we are out in the open, the worse it is for us. We need answers from Felicia’s father.”

Grace gave me a determined stare. I can see why she made a good Empress. You could clearly see the pain behind her eyes, but it didn’t stop her from moving forward. It was an extremely admirable trait for someone who had lost so much in the span of 48 hours.

“I am flattered by your stare, but we need to get ready to get some rest.” Grace giggled, commenting on the fact that I had been staring at her for an embarrassingly long time.

“Oh… well” I attempted to contemplate an excuse, but despite my best efforts, I failed miserably. Grace simply grinned and made her way to the tent.

“Well, I’ll see you all in the morning.” I made my way to my personal tent and pushed back the cover enveloping the front of the tent to reveal two small blankets and a pillow made with cloth and hay. It wasn’t the most comfortable set up, but it was better than nothing. I pulled the top blanket to cover a majority of my body and rested my head on the tweed pillow. I truly hope that Felicia’s father can help me. I want to protect these people. They all deserve more than what life has given them thus far, and I want to be the one to make fiction a reality for them.