Woes and Worries

Relaxing in the jacuzzi became a bit of a challenge, as far as Kristel was concerned. She tried to enjoy the snacks provided for them. Every patron was given three pieces of freshly baked chocolate and cream macaroons along with the local Atlas Sid brewed coffee. It didn’t seem much, but when she saw each cookie was the size of her fist, she had to maintain awareness to hold herself back from drooling all over them. The straight-from-the-oven fragrance alone was enough to make her forget she was a princess.

As instructed, Kristel took the plates and mugs and placed them on a provided tray just beside the ledge of the pool on the inner room side.

It wasn’t the meal, or the fact that she convinced herself to mix her drink with some milk, that made it difficult to enjoy the relaxation. It was the weirdness of the back and forth between the Lady of the Void and the Aria in Red.

“Why not?” Frill asked. She sat in the water towards the outer side of the room next to Katherine, facing inwards and resting her head on the ledge while letting the length of her scarlet hair drift freely on the wind. “I thought you wanted to give me a bite?”

“I’ll be honest with you Frill,” Katherine said as she turned her head towards the Aria. She eyed Kristel as well. It made the Princess stop munching on her macaroon. “You two are the closest people to me except for Frein and Eli. And quite frankly, I’m on edge enough that I might not hold myself back when it’s you two. I’m aware that I’m a little sex-crazed right now, so I don’t want to do anything that might make either of you not look at me the same way anymore.”

She tried to place a hand on Frill’s bare shoulder but hesitated and smiled instead, moving over to the pile of snacks that Kristel arranged neatly for them.

Kristel noticed Frill giving her a stare, frozen in surprise by the fact that she, the retainer, was too distracted and had a lapse in service. The Princess stuck out her tongue to play it off so that the Aria wouldn’t be stressed by her lack of concentration.

Katherine read the entire scene play out and giggled. “Tell you what, Frill. When I’m all better and satisfied, and Xiv still hasn’t taken a bite out of you, I’ll consider it,” she emphasized it by sensually nibbling on the macaroon.

The short gap in conversation gave the Princess enough time to snag something from the Lady’s words.

“How are you close with Eli now?” she asked.

“It’s a Tether thing,” Katherine replied with her mouth full. “It’s making her turn more and more into Frein. Personality-wise, mentality-wise. Even the things that matter to her are the things that matter to Frein, which includes me. But we can talk about that more later.” She turned to Frill and ushered her plate of those delectable cookies. “First, we should talk about you and Xiv.”

Now this was something Kristel intended to participate in.

“That’s right. Of all the people that proposed to you, sent you love letters, embarrassed themselves, or whatever, why this guy?” Kristel started handing out their coffees in mugs. “Don’t tell me, it’s just because he has Liona’s core?”

Frill shook her head but didn’t reply right away.

A soft tune started playing within the room, courtesy of Katherine. She started navigating through the small M.O.B.I.L.E. that Belldrin provided her. Not only did the device carry a catalogue of summer clothes, it also contained a remote control for the room as well. She chose something gentle, a ballad combination of piano and violin. The title of the song was lost on Kristel at the moment.

“I don’t really know,” Frill admitted, finally. “We’ve only met each other for about a week, but I feel comfortable around him. He doesn’t care about my fame or that I’m close to someone in a position of power. He doesn’t get intimidated by those and he talks to me like I’m just another person… Well, except for when he’s being overdramatic.”

Frill took a sip, allowing for anyone else to speak, but Kristel allowed her the spotlight. Even Katherine simply vibed with music while listening to the Aria explain herself.

“We talked about the Battle of the Vanguard,” Frill continued. “After I saw how sincere he was in helping us and building a working relationship between our countries, I couldn’t help but feel guilty towards the people I killed.

“He didn’t even get mad, not outwardly towards me at least. He said they were under Urzic’s Monarch’s Law, and that I had no choice but to defend my nation. He forgave me just like that, but I don’t think I deserve it.”

“So you’re going on a date with him because you feel guilty?” Kristel asked. She didn’t like that notion at all.

Frill frantically shook her head. “Not like that, no. He’s the first person who actually asked me out. Personally. He didn’t make a letter, he didn’t prepare anything grandiose, no love confession. He reached out and asked if I wanted to go on a date. I don’t know, it might be the pressure, but I ended up saying yes, so…here we are.”

“Seems like a legitimate reason to me,” Katherine interjected. She was now floating in whatever which way the water brought her. Her mug of coffee followed her like a faithful servant, floating through precise meiyal control. “Couples end up together for pettier or simpler reasons.”

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“How did you end up dating Frein?” Frill asked, throwing the question out of nowhere.

“Our rooms were next to each other,” the Lady answered without skipping a beat.

“You stayed in rooms?” Kristel asked, derailing the entire conversation. It dawned on her that she never really asked about Katherine’s living conditions when she set out to fulfill her role as Seeker. All they had really talked about regarding that matter were Frein, her job, and the recipes she taught to Frill.

“It’s like an inn, but is a bit bigger. I have my own kitchen and restroom, and I can stay for as long as I can pay rent. It’s called an apartment. You rent out a section of the building, which becomes your room, and pay for it on a monthly basis. You get kicked out if you don’t pay on time.

“Frein’s door was literally only eight steps from mine. And since he was kind enough to get me a place to stay and even gave me dinner on my first day on Earth, I ended up returning the favor. One meal went to the next, and we naturally spent dinner together all the time at that point. Prices were cheaper there if you buy shared meals or cook for many.”

“But where are the dates?” Frill clarified.

“Oh, those were the dates, Frill.” Katherine giggled. “He didn’t even bother asking me out. We just did. I guess we did just stay in his room, but that’s just semantics. After I got a job as a detective and dragged him along, we ended up with better dinner dates in fancier restaurants.

“Frein’s very simple and practical. His earnings in the underground arena could cover his rent without issue, but he’s only allowed to fight once a month. He was almost undefeated, but that didn’t matter. He was fighting in an illegal establishment. The kind that took advantage of the desperate. The money he earned from there didn’t really change unless he got invited into the more prestigious rings. So he had to always budget his earnings if he wanted to get through the month. He had odd jobs, menial labor, but he was mostly focused on the next fight.”

Katherine realized she took the conversation away from their agenda. She pulled herself to sit back properly in the jacuzzi and sheepishly scratched her head. “Sorry, I got a bit into it.”

“Didn’t know Frein was so…” Kristel started but held herself back.

“Poor?” Katherine finished, nodding. “Maybe, but that doesn’t matter now.”

“So,” Frill began, trying to get back on topic. “Is that what dates are? Just eating and going to fancier restaurants?”

Katherine pondered for a while. “We’ve been to other places. We visited a zoo once. Lots of animals there that looked like ours. They’re mostly really docile and they don’t look strong at all. Obviously, none of them were meiyal-attuned.”

“No yumas or vorks?” Kristel asked. She realized she was down to her last macaroon. Katherine noticed this and gave her another one. “Thanks.”

“No yumas or vorks. They have this giraffe, though. It looks really weird. They have this super long neck. You can mistake them for a Nightmare at first glance. But no, they’re extremely docile and they evolved the neck to eat from tall trees.”

“What else aside from zoos?” Frill asked, now immersed in their talk. She was munching on her own macaroons and almost choked when she spoke. She washed it down with coffee. “Sorry.”

Katherine pointed her mug at the Aria. “You sure you don’t want to prepare for your date instead? Just from this catalogue alone, we’ve got lots of clothes to look at and choose from.”

Kristel didn’t want the Lady slipping away. “We can look at those later after lunch.”

Katherine smiled, resigning that there was no going away from this.

Kristel realized they hadn’t really had the time to unwind and just talk lately. She intended to make full use of today just for exactly that.

“Fine. We also went to malls. They’re these large buildings that lease spaces for businesses. Not exactly like Atlas Life. I’d compare it closer to our markets but in a fancier place that’s strategically positioned to attract many people from different walks of life. We mostly just went window shopping, until we got to the used bookstore.” She shrugged. “You know him and his books.”

“Yeah…” Kristel and Frill nodded at the same time.

“Other than that, when we became an official couple, we pretty much just stayed in his room and chatted. Maybe bought a few drinks, some beer, some food, and then had some fun, if you catch my drift.”

Kristel saw that Katherine wanted to share more, but was trying to hold back since she was becoming more and more aware of the fact that she was hogging all the attention.

Frill didn’t let her get away either. The Aria realized there was something more and wanted to get as much information as possible.

“What is it?” she asked.

Katherine turned to Frill and shook her head. “It’s not that important.”

Then it definitely is…

Kristel just stared at Katherine. She knew Frill was doing the same. It was the easiest, surest way to get the Lady to speak. That was how it was before, at least. A tinge of regret started to surface within her chest, but fortunately she began to see signs that their strategy still worked.

Katherine sighed and held both knees together as she withdrew into them. Eyes staring at something somewhere distant.

“This has nothing to do with dates, though, Frill,” she said, trying to sway the conversation away one last time.

“It’s important to you,” Frill argued, ignoring the dismissive statement the Lady said earlier. She looked at Kristel, passing the baton.

“It’s important to us,” the Princess said, delivering it perfectly.

Katherine sighed again. “I’m sure both of you already asked Frein why he chose to be the Visitor.” The two nodded in unison. “He’d tell you it’s because of me. So that I can come back here and be with my friends and family while he goes and figure out his role in all this.”

“But he’s really only doing it for himself,” Kristel said. “He’s adamant that bringing you back here is the best thing for you, but that only makes him feel good and justified for his own satisfaction.”

Katherine shook her head and gave the Princess an understanding smile. “Not quite.”

“Then why?” Frill asked this time, the thought of the date looming behind her already forgotten.

The Lady shrugged. “There was a moment during the night I gave myself to Frein, our first night together. I remember it as the effects of Heart’s Will stopped working for him. I was in the heat of the moment, too occupied by the pleasure and couldn’t pay it too much attention at that time. But until now, I still remember the last thing I heard from him.”

Kristel prepared herself as Katherine stared from her to Frill.

“I don’t mind giving her my heart.”

The Princess looked at her retainer. The both of them were confused, while Katherine simply smiled at them.

“You don’t get it, huh?”

Both of them just slowly swayed their heads back and forth. Kristel, try as she might, could only think of the phrase as an internal resolution, a promise to one’s self. Like she did when she promised herself to be as strong as the Visitor or even stronger. Nothing about it connected to why Frein chose to be one.

“I guess, that’s fair. You’ve never seen him without a shirt on.” Katherine stood and showed them her scar. She traced them, starting from the lowest point just above her waist and up. Finally, she pointed to her chest directly above her heart.

“Frein’s heart isn’t his.”

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