Cleaning up the next morning was simpler, somewhat. At six o’clock in the morning, Yuriko untangled herself from several grasping limbs and went straight to the bathroom where she filled the tub with hot, steaming water. She stepped under the shower to wash up first since she didn’t want bits and bobs floating in the tub. A rather thorough wash took a few minutes, especially the parts she had to make squeaky clean. There was little risk of pregnancy, but there was no need to take any chances.
By the time she was soaking in the water, the other two had gotten up. Gwendith wandered into the bathroom to wash her face, and smirked at Yuriko, waggling her eyebrows suggestively. She simply rolled her eyes and shooed the smaller girl away. Gwendith blew a kiss at her then wandered off to her own bathroom to bathe.
She felt Heron staggering outside and she heard the two’s conversation.
“Why are you the one bowlegged?” Gwendith teased.
“My inner thighs are sore,” Heron muttered.
“Hmmm, Recovery?”
“I haven't had the chance yet, and it didn’t hurt last night, only now.”
“Well, mine would be sore too if I’d been as vigorous as you.”
“I didn’t want to disappoint.”
“I’m sure you didn’t,” Gwendith said, and Yuriko was sure she was smirking, just as she knew that Heron was blushing all the way. Well, she had to agree that he didn’t disappoint.
She closed off her connections just enough so that thoughts and emotions wouldn’t filter through. Strong and urgent thoughts could bypass her block, but that was a good enough line to draw.
The hot bathwater wasn’t nearly warm enough to soothe her, so she infused a bit of Radiance into the water and stopped when it was just about to boil. The heat was relaxing and she was tempted to just soak. But she still had a few things to fix. Her Anima’s purity had fallen, so she had to refine it. Doing a little bit at a time worked, and during her meditations last night, she determined the percentage had fallen to about 80%. Before she reached Transformation, her Anima’s refinement level had been close to a hundred percent and after she reached it, it had gone all the way. She wondered if it would be as difficult to refine the last bits of her Anima as it did then, and she worried it would be impossible now. She’d searched some of Damien’s memories too, but found little information on the matter. Still, she began refining her Anima while in the bath, and the session lasted for an hour. The percentage rose by one, and she was satisfied for now. The last points would probably take the longest, but as long as she didn’t advance to Manifestation soon, she’d probably be able to manage.
One worry was that it would grow harder to purify and refine the larger her reach grew, and her Anima continued to grow as she lived her life.
“It’s almost eight o’clock,” she muttered.
The administration building would open by then and Blanca Ferron was never late. Yuriko got out of the bath and, since she had been preoccupied, half of the water had already boiled away. She let the rest drain and drew away the water clinging to her skin with a spell.
Heron, Gwendith, and the handmaidens had left the house to go to the market. She sensed Ryoko heading out of the campus with Saki following behind her. Gwendith and Heron went to the in-campus stores, while Fluffington went to the fields to frolic in the snow. Devotee had gone to the Chaos Fount, to the hot springs inn that he and Desire had worked for, to tender his resignation.
Once she was dry, Yuriko allowed her hair to settle into a high ponytail. If she let it loose, it was long enough to brush her ankles, but the half-braid and the ponytail meant that they only fell to the back of her knees now.
Her long hair wasn’t as much of a bother as others would think. It always got out of the way when she needed it to. Anyone attempting to grab it would either find their fingers slipping off as if they were trying to hold sunbeams or they’d find their hand burnt to a crisp, depending on their intentions and Yuriko’s mood. Besides, the longer her hair was, the more neutral Radiant energy it could hold. Right now, it held nearly as much as her body held. Plus, cutting it only meant that it would regrow overnight and that she’d get hungrier throughout the day.
Most of her wardrobe had already been packed away, but she still had a set of traveller’s clothes ready. She only had two now, since one was destroyed with the exploding Fysalli. The rest of the clothes she had were for casual use and not suitable for adventure and fighting…but then again, her Anima protected her better than any outfit she ever wore.
“Oh,” she murmured when she realised that the Animus Armour she wore had been destroyed too. She supposed Gwendith didn’t mention it since there were no remnants left. A pity. Well, the traveller’s gear was useful simply because they had self-repair enchantments and resizing. The bag had laundering enchantments that took care of cleaning, but she knew that the outfits sold in Nirlith City had similar effects. Still, she didn’t have that many gold coins on her, and those things might cost a pretty penny.
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She wore one of the sets and headed towards the administrative building up on the fifth layer. The receptionist stationed in the entrance atrium nodded at her but didn’t say or do anything else. Yuriko headed towards Blanca’s office, and she felt the Khuni woman inside, behind her desk with a pile of paperwork half a pace high.
Tok, tok.
“Come in.”
“Blanca, good morning,” Yuriko said as she opened the door, and she was privileged to see the normally stoic Khuni jump to her feet, stumble over her chair, plop down on the carpet, then roll over to get her feet underneath her, before she leapt towards Yuriko. “Ah, a fitting welcome,” she chuckled even as Blanca’s lightly tanned skin flushed all the way down her neck and bosom.
“Yuri! I thought you’d be in Greyith.”
“I joined the Reclamation Army, well, drafted into it, actually,” Yuriko admitted. “We were attacked by Ishodir’s Guardian and I managed to escape. Not sure if I wounded him in the process, but by the time I returned to the army, they were already retreating. Then, I received a Sending asking me to return to the fortress, but my companions returned from their journey with something worthwhile. I’ll…well, we’ll need to go to the Eternal Tower for it.”
“The Eternal Tower? That's fifty thousand leagues away, it’ll take you years to get there!”
“We have a key so we can use the Portal Gate.”
“Oh! But your journey will still take a long while,” Blanca pointed out, disappointment evident on her face.
“I know.” Yuriko sighed. “I’m here to give a notice to the Academy, and I need the procedures to apply for use.”
“A Leave of Absence? It’s in the middle of the second trimester.”
“I’m only responsible for a few students this term,” Yuriko said, “and there’s really nothing much I can teach them at this point. They’ll have to take their own paths now.”
“I see. I will give your leave application to the dean’s office.”
Yuriko shook her head, “I will go whether the notice is accepted or not. It’s important to me to go there.”
“I see. I will take care of it.” Blanca nibbled her lower lip, then glanced up at her for a long moment. Her bunny ears were held stiffly upright, “But, do you have time for lunch? Or a late breakfast?”
“I haven’t broken my fast,” Yuriko admitted. “Are you sure? Are you not busy with work?”
“Paperwork can burn for all I care. I might not see you again for years.” Blanca’s smile grew bitter, “ And you’re less than half my age.”
“That’s not my fault,” Yuriko grumbled.
“Yes, it is,” Blanca grumped. “You should have put it in your personal details instead of leaving your age blank”
Yuriko gave the other woman a pointed look, and Blanca simply giggled, “No, I understand why. It was simply a shock. I have not changed my mind over the past weeks, and since your companion has returned…” Blanca shifted on her feet while pressing the tips of her fingers together.
Yuriko sighed, “I appreciate it, but, uhm, I might not have time. I’d like to reach the tower soon.”
“Oh, pish on that,” Blanca growled. “You won’t get permission to use the Portal Gate so quickly. I…I’ll join you in Bresia if you wish.”
Yuriko stared at the Khuni for a long moment, then looked at the connecting thread between them. She hadn’t tried to listen to the woman’s emotions or thoughts, but she could feel the thread grow thicker. She didn’t want to entangle Blanca since it would be blatantly unfair to both of them, so she pressed down on the thread, and it froze. She felt Blanca’s breath hitch for a moment before resuming with a calmer pace.
“Where do you see this going?” Yuriko asked softly.
“I…I don’t know. I haven’t felt such passion in years.”
While Yuriko found Blanca’s body and mind to be equally fascinating and beautiful, she didn't particularly need to scratch her itch. Gwendith and Heron were good enough for her, at the moment, and while she didn’t know where their relationships would eventually go, they were still her Squires and her companions beyond being her lovers. Blanca…was simply a work colleague.
Still, she couldn’t just leave it as it was. She could see the woman had been affected by Yuriko’s Charm Mien, and if she didn’t do anything, Blanca would simply pine away for her. Well, she knew how to solve it now.
Her hand cupped Blanca’s cheek, and the Khuni woman leaned into it, closing her eyes in the process. “I’m sorry,” Yuriko whispered, and when Blanca gasped, she leaned down and kissed her.
Warm and soft, with a little hint of coffee and milk. Her lips parted and Blanca’s tongue slipped inside Yuriko’s mouth. While their tongues caressed each other, Yuriko focused on the connecting thread and simply Willed her Mien to release Blanca’s heart. There was a painful gasp, and Yuriko felt through the budding bond the heartrending pain that suffused the other woman. It was only her kiss that kept Blanca conscious and standing, and when the pain faded away, Yuriko pulled back and whispered, “You are free…”
Confusion marred the other woman’s large, blue eyes, the shade of which was close to her own. “I… I…”
“If we see each other again…” Yuriko said, “after I return, then maybe we will have a chance. I’m sorry, I cannot give it to you now.”
A single tear fell from the woman’s eye, but Blanca nodded, even as her mind was still confused. The thread between them fell off from Yuriko’s body, and returned to the orbit around her, no longer different from the countless admirers she had.
“Goodbye.”
Blanca returned to her desk in a daze and Yuriko left the office. She hadn’t actually given a written notice and she didn’t expect Blanca to actually attend to it. So she headed to the registrar’s and filled out the necessary forms. As for the permission needed to use the Portal Gate, well, she should get it from Monica Coinoch instead.
After she finished filing the paperwork, Yuriko returned to her home, only to return since she had forgotten about the Chaos ship. It took half an hour to donate the thing to the Academy, since there was no way she would use it to return to Rumiga through the Chaos Sea, and bringing it overland would just waste time and effort. Well, she stipulated in the papers that she may reclaim the ship later, and as long as it isn’t dismantled, she would allow Niria to research the Animatech within. It was just unlikely that they’d ever get it to work without having Animus, and if by some miracle they did, she would have a copy of their results.
By noon, everyone else was back, so she picked them all up and they flew to Greyith Fortress.