Chapter 100 The Guardfox
After another day, Evernya awakened in her bed. She sat up and stretched her arms above her head, refreshed much better than her previous awakening.
“Does Nya feel better? Aya worried when Nya wouldn’t wake up.” Aya said telepathically.
Evernya turned her head to the left, finding Aya kneeling in Seiza on the bed with her six tails gracefully waving behind her. The scene would look elegant if it weren’t for the fact Aya was wearing a familiar pair of white pajamas with tree prints. She glanced down at her own attire, finding she too was wearing pajamas, but hers were white with green leaf print.
“Yes, I feel much better. How what you?” Evernya replied.
“Aya feels better now that Nya is awake,” Aya stated, losing her previous chipperness.
“How long was I out for?” Evernya inquired, noticing something was wrong with her mate.
“25 hours, 16 minutes, 43 seconds,” Aya answered robotically.
“You have been awake this entire time!?” Evernya exclaimed.
“Aya must protect Nya.” Aya asserted again in a monotone, robotic-like voice.
What am I going to do with her? She doesn’t seem to have any sense of self-preservation. With a sigh, Evernya drilled her eyes into her glassy mate’s eyes, asserting, “You can not protect me if you don’t take care of yourself. You are good at hiding it, but I can tell you are exhausted. We are safe here. You do not need to guard me. It is normal for me to fall asleep after I eat or injure myself.”
“Aya is fine as long as Nya is okay,” Aya replied without blinking, seemingly unable to process Evernya’s statement.
Evernya pinched her brow in frustration, insisting more forcefully, “Well, I won’t be okay if you don’t take care of yourself! From what you have been through, it’s understandable that you have some lingering issues, and I’m fine with that. You just have to understand you are not subservient to me or anyone else. You are equal to me and free to do anything you would like.”
Again Aya replied in an automated fashion, “Aya understands.”
“I better not find you doing something like this again then. I don’t know much about Kitsune, but I doubt it’s healthy to kneel without sleeping for over twenty-four hours. Now please get some sleep. You are safe here.” Evernya ordered.
With reluctance Aya rose from her kneeling position, but her legs gave out, unable to support her weight. Evernya sprang to her feet, catching her before gently laying the now visibly exhausted Kitsune, who could barely keep her eyes open down on the bed. She ensured all six of her tails were free of kinks spread out in a star formation before tucking her in. Aya’s eyes drifted closed as she fell asleep, unable to keep herself awake any longer.
Evernya grabbed Aya’s ID from the nightstand, pressing it to Aya’s collar, but unlike her’s even when the information updated on the front, the collar didn’t unlock. Unable to remove the collar, she returned the ID to the nightstand, fuming. Stupid humans! We aren’t even in a Sespina controlled territory! I bet they pulled the same bullshit they did with me, but her ID isn’t active. Fortunately, hers isn’t as obstructive. Still, a gaudy chunk of silver, but hers actually fits her neck like a normal collar. Evernya thought as she stayed for another ten minutes to make sure Aya was sound asleep before quietly sneaking out of her room.
After making her way downstairs, she found Meira in her usual spot, watching TV in the living room, so she plopped down on a chair next to her.
Meira directed her attention to her kitten, commenting, “Finally awake? I tried to check on you, but your personal bodyguard wouldn’t let me near.”
Evernya frowned in worry. “She was awake for over twenty-four hours, kneeling next to me. She even timed how long I was out down to the second. I don’t know how we will do it, but we need to work on her subservient tendencies before she hurts herself. She doesn’t have any sense of self-preservation which worries me when I have to leave for college.”
With little worry, Meira assured her kitten. “She will be fine. She is doing much better than most freed slaves. Unlike her, many of the slaves I freed were essentially shells, even after the removal of their enslavement brands. Few who were that bad ever recovered fully, some even killed themselves, unable to cope with freedom. It’s why many of the freed slaves after the war returned to at least being servants, if not full slaves. To be fair, unlike Aya, many slaves underwent enslavement for years before the war freed them. From Sespina’s slavery registration department, Aya’s registration happened approximately a year ago. They could have delayed her registration, but by law, all slaves must have registration with Sespina within a month of enslavement to be legal. Another advantage benefiting her is, according to her slave training information, her first magical conditioning brand was memory suppressant, ensuring limited recall of her life before enslavement.”
Evernya sucked a deep breath before she exploded in rage. She growled with barely controlled anger, “She seems to remember at least some of it, but I haven’t pressed for details.”
Meira’s previous laid-back demeanor eroded to sympathy. “Poor girl, no wonder she gained so many tails in such a short time.”
With a tone filled with concern, Evernya fretted. “Yeah, she seems to have latched herself onto me as a coping mechanism. I don’t think we could get her independent enough before I have to leave for college.”
Meira blew a warm breeze past her kitten as she assured, “She won’t have to separate from you because she’s going with you. Thomas cleared her enrollment as long as both of you pass the entrance exam, which should be easy. I highly doubt a royal Kitsune would have any trouble passing the exam, but we have a month to prepare you both just in case.”
“You sure she will be ready for that?” Evernya questioned.
“I don’t know, but she definitely wouldn’t handle separation from you,” Meira replied.
“You’re right. When I mentioned we may be apart occasionally, she refused to even consider it.” Evernya revealed.
Meira pinched the bridge of her nose before stating, “That kind of attachment may cause some issues, but who could blame her. If her family wanted her, they would have saved her by now, so you are essentially the girl’s only remaining family. I find it hard to believe that a family as powerful as hers would let something like this happen to one of their family members without a reason.”
“From the way she talks, I don’t think they held her in high regard. She mentioned she only got a mana bound artifact because no one else wanted it.” Evernya added.
Meira went over what her research about Kitsune society in her head before speaking. “Her treatment seems unusual. From what little I know about Kitsune society, a royal female Kitsune is at the top of the hierarchy. Though I’m going off of fifty thousand plus year old incomplete information, so I have no idea if my knowledge is accurate. One confusing aspect is how she got here in the first place, as no one on record has ever returned from the barrier. As for the mana bound artifact, I assumed she had one since even most middle ranked nobles in Sespina have one and someone enslaved cannot voluntarily give up their artifact.”
“I haven’t tried to pry into her past, but she says it’s the only thing she has left from before her enslavement, so it’s safe to assume they stripped her of almost everything. It is quite a powerful weapon she nearly blew up the testing room because that greedy bastard Archibald startled her. I think my mother supercharged it as one of her gifts as its power level is on par with mine.” Evernya said.
“Damn, your mother sure loves going overboard on her gifts. Hopefully, one of her gifts doesn’t backfire on you.” Meira commented.
Evernya shivered as she flashed back to both the pain and pleasure following the explosion caused by her mate’s staff for commenting, “Aya’s staff nearly did. I fried myself, trying to contain the explosion it caused.”
“I was wondering why Archibald Fleming told me to fetch you two. What happened in there when I arrived? You both were out cold.” Meira inquired.
Evernya’s eyes flashed with rage as she revealed, “Oh, nothing much, just a racist bastard insulting us then refusing to do his job because he wanted my artifact. He only accepted when he found out I could translate that damn ruin. He essentially blackmailed me to translate the ruin for his family.”
As her kitten tried to rein in her anger, Meira said, “Sounds like him. He is a typical noble willing to do anything to make him or his family look better. The Fleming family is a middling among the noble families of Buran so they are constantly trying to improve their position, but they simply can’t compete with the top families. Take Aidan’s family, they are the strongest fire based family in Buran. The Firebear family is probably triple the size of the Fleming family and has an astronomical advantage in resources.”
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“If he is a typical noble, I really do not want to visit a tier 1 city,” Evernya commented.
“You may not have a choice, especially when your name becomes more well-known,” Meira stated, before abruptly changing subjects. “Anyway, enough about that. I would like to know why you thought it would be a good idea to not only teleport yourself for the first time, but simultaneously teleport something else. In your current state, teleporting incredibly dangerous. You are lucky all you got was a headache. There is a reason teleporters master teleporting objects before they even try to teleport themselves. So many things can go wrong while teleporting yourself that many teleporters only do it as a last resort. Instead, they focus on teleporting objects. I don’t know how you pull it off with your affinity as low as it is, but please don’t try teleporting again without going through the proper training. How did you even know how to switch yourself in the first place?”
“My bloodline pounded a bit of basic knowledge and granted me a spatial sight,” Evernya replied, a headache forming just thinking about her escape attempt.
Meira’s brow scrunches in confusion as she stated, “how unusual I’ve never heard of a bloodline giving spatial sight. The only ways I know of temporarily glimpsing the spatial fabrics of the world is through enchanted items or spells. Though I suppose it’s possible as every bloodline has its own unique capabilities like mine with blending into nature.”
“I feel like I’m cheating with what I got,” Evernya commented.
“I wouldn’t call it cheating, but bloodlines do give a significant advantage. For example, with my bloodline, I can blend with nature as you saw with Maylin.” Meira explained.
“It’s a bit more than a significant advantage, at least in my case I can see the very fabric of space and I think ignore physics with my other ability,” Evernya revealed.
Meira’s eyes widened in surprise, questioning. “Your bloodline is a dual type?”
Hung up on her unearned abilities, Evernya continued to complain, “Yeah, the test said spatial and combative. Like I said, I feel like I cheated. It’s almost pointless for me to even go to college. If it weren’t for the fact I know nothing about telepathy, I would just become an adventurer and skip college. Of course, I wouldn’t do it because I gave my word that I would attend for at least a year.”
“So I don’t get to teach you how to fight either?” Meira questioned in a pouty tone.
Despite the shiver running up her spine at the thought of undergoing Meira’s training, Evernya replied, “Just because I have these abilities, that doesn’t mean I can put them to full use. I’ll need to do a lot of practice, otherwise, I may accidentally knock myself out like when we tried to test my turbo mode.”
Meira’s pout disappeared in an instant as she lectured, “You learned that firsthand when you did the substitution. If It weren’t for the fact you manually calculated everything, you would have fried yourself much worse than you did. As I’ve explained before, your mana simplifies most things, but substitution teleports should be way beyond your capabilities and you paid the price thankfully at a discounted rate.”
“Fine, I won’t try it again, even though I know exactly how to do it now.” Evernya pouted.
Meira drilled her gaze into her kitten as she insisted, “Don’t get cocky, I mean it, don’t try something like that again.”
“I understand, and I’m not being cocky. I really do know how to use substitution, but that doesn’t mean perform the magic without cost. Spatial sight really is a cheat.” Evernya asserted.
“Not a bad problem to have,” Meira commented.
“I suppose if I take a class on teleportation or spatial magics it would be an easy A nap time when I can literally see space,” Evernya replied.
Meira smiled, flashing back to her college days as she said, “You would piss off your instructor, but yeah, you could take a nap after learning the basics. Maybe have that class right after lunchtime.”
Evernya stared at Meira in a new light as she commented, “Wow, I thought for sure you would say don’t nap through classes or disrespect the instructor.”
“I am the last person who should tell someone not to mess with instructors. The instructors hated me, especially the enchanting instructors. I was either constantly correcting them or napping. I really didn’t need to go to college, just thought it would be fun, so I did it on a whim. It didn’t help that even though I looked college-aged, I was already over two hundred, so I was older than most of the instructors.” Meira revealed with a smile.
“You brat, now as your little sister I have to keep the tradition alive.” Evernya proclaimed.
“Yes, you do. Too bad all the instructors I tormented probably retired half a century ago.” Meira commented.
“It’s crazy how it’s been that long since you went to college.” Evernya marveled.
“To me, it feels like only a few years ago,” Meira replied.
“To me, the last few months have felt like years and I was sleeping for most of it,” Evernya commented.
“Well, with how eventful the last few months have been for you, I can understand the slow-moving time. Before you came along, my day blended together for years, going from one enchanting project to another. Most people have a fairly mundane life without too much controversy, unlike you.” Meira stated.
“I don’t know about that. It sounds like there are some dangerous career paths out there. I’ve just been unlucky so far, at least I hope I’ve been unlucky and not dealing with the majority of people.” Evernya commented.
Meira tried to hide a wince as she stated, “I would say it’s more of a mix of both, unfortunately. I’m not even going to bother sugarcoating it anymore. Some people will be out to get you.”
“Yeah, I hate being at the mercy of these people. Arthur let me become enslaved right in front of him, and Archibald constantly insulted me or blackmailed me to get what he wanted.” Evernya growled before suddenly inquiring in with a hopeful tone. “Speaking of enslavement, is the weakness of my black band fixed?”
Meira glanced at her kitten’s band with envy before responding, “Yes it is, the mana vein still exists, but your mother completely sealed it off when she enchanted both of your bands. You both should be safe from people trying to use your slave band to enslave you, but I’m not sure if Aya’s mana core is potent enough to reject enchantments like yours is.”
Evernya shivered, replaying her brief enslavement as she muttered, “I’m so lucky he wasn’t able to get any further than a boob grab. I can’t imagine what Aya went through. Being unable to control your own body or even thoughts is beyond terrifying.”
Meira scowled as she revealed. “I saw her slave training profile on their nasty website. They did a lot of things to ensure she would be completely subservient to her owners, but they never had her raped or subjected to sexual assault of any kind. I doubt they spared her of that out of the goodness of their hearts instead as a selling point that she is still a virgin.”
At even the mention of her mate possibly being raped, Evernya sprouted claws, digging into the armrests with a glowing eyed stare of hatred at the wall. “Calm down! My poor chair doesn’t deserve the abuse.” Meira exclaimed, while staring at the deep gouges in the armrests.
Evernya stared down at her hands, just now realizing she tore large gashes in the fabric of the armrests. She shifted away her claws while taking a deep breath to calm herself down.
After calming herself down, Evernya turned toward Meira looking sheepish, as she apologized, “Sorry, I lost my temper. You can use the money you gave me to buy a new one.”
Meira waved off her kitten’s apology. “Don’t apologize. It’s natural for a shifter to feel agitated when they hear their mate faced harm. I was planning on having these chairs reupholstered soon anyway.”
“Still, I shouldn’t have done lost control. I honestly forgot how easy I can sprout claws after wearing that stupid collar.” Evernya stated in a self depraving tone.
“Really, it’s fine, having a mate is still new to you.” Meira insisted.
“I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that I am connected to her for life. From where I am from, people get married and divorced all the time.” Evernya commented.
“Oh, they do here too. The bond you have is different. If their souls are compatible enough, some couples get soul bonded. I wouldn’t call it a marriage more like a lifelong partnership. Siblings or best friends sometimes have their souls bonded to guarantee they will always have a connection.” Meira explained.
“To me, it sounds a bit extreme to have your souls permanently bonded just because you want to be more connected,” Evernya commented.
“It can be, but if they are compatible enough to for a soul bond, they typically already have a strong enough connection to qualify as soulmates, even if they are not shifters. Shifters may feel a stronger connection to their mate, but even humans can have a soulmate. It’s just a lot harder to tell. Of course, you need more than soul compatibility for the soul bond, which was what your problem was. A soul bond links your soul and body, so your bodies have to be compatible as well. If it wasn’t for your mother doing some genetic swapping, you would have died an extremely painful death during the bonding process. Though, you two were dying either way as Aya’s soul was trying to cannibalize yours to save itself.” Meira explained.
At the mention of Aya’s soul, Evernya inquired, almost sick with worry, “Is she okay now?”
Understanding her kitten’s worries, Meira answered, “I had Michael check both of your souls before I brought you back here, just in case. Fortunately, everything seems to be in order. Aya’s soul isn’t back to full strength, but it’s healing remarkably well to the point almost all the damage from her forced tail gains is barely noticeable to an expert like Michael. She should make a full recovery in a few weeks to a month. Your soul, on the other hand, he can barely read as it simply too bright as he described it. All he could tell is your soul now has a solid connection to your body unlike before.”
Evernya breathed a sigh of relief, but still fretted. “I’m glad she will be fine physically. I just hope we can help her mentally.”
“I’m sure she will be fine. It takes time to recover from what she’s been through. You just have to be there for her.” Meira assured.
Evernya stared toward the hall leading to her sleeping mate while saying, “I hope so, she deserves a happy life.”
“She is most definitely happy around you. When I picked both of you up from the testing room, she was sleeping restlessly until I laid her next to you. As soon as she was within tail reach, she cocooned you and let out a sigh of contentment.” Meira revealed with a smile, planning to cherish the dozens of photos she took.
With a dreamy look, Evernya added, “Oh, I know firsthand how much she wanted to cling onto me. Those little arms of hers had a lot of clamping force. I think she may be stronger than I am. Every time I tried to wiggle myself free, she just clamped on stronger, hence why I teleported myself out.”
“I know I was watching your struggles. It was quite entertaining until you pulled that teleporting stunt. Anyway, it’s time for you to eat. I ordered a couple of orders of the shifter special from Sullivan’s since you like it so much. Don’t worry about cost since that video gave them such an enormous boost in customers they gave me six orders for three-fourths off as a thank you.” Meira revealed.
Evernya’s fangs descended as she commented, “Do I want to know how many views the video has now?”
“A lot, but luckily last time I checked, the views were slowing down. Aiden released several new videos to take attention away from your video.” Meira replied, omitting the real number in the eight-digit range.
Meira stood up from the couch while materializing a stand full of delicious smelling meat on the table. In a blink of an eye, Evernya appeared on Meira’s vacated couch, drooling over the stack of meat. It only took a second before she gave in to her hunger. Rapid applications of telekinetic dicing reduced the entire stack of meat into small bite-size pieces. The petite catkin then switched into vacuum mode, sucking all the meat down her throat. In record time, all the meat disappeared down the now swaying girl’s throat. Meira produced a pillow just before the passed out girl’s head fell onto it.