Lilyth

‘Thank you for the explanation,’ I told Nyx after she finished apologising profusely for not being with me and not helping me. ‘But… It was due to factors beyond your control. If I didn't stupid myself into the situation, you wouldn't need to help me.’

‘You couldn't have known…’

‘I forgot this place was nothing like Earth. Making assumptions that it worked the same almost ended with me being Kojiro's concubine.’

‘It’s not your fault…’

‘It is, and I hate that all of you are trying to absolve me of it.’

I said the last bit louder than I intended and the looks of hurt on everyone's faces told me I had said too much, bringing yet more guilt flooding into me.

So it came as a surprise when I felt Aki’s hands wrapping around me and her crying.

‘Don’t say such things, my love. Don’t.’

‘Yes, ‘Nyx agreed. ‘Aki is right, you know. To put it in terms you will understand: In this body, you could eat a sandwich with rat poison and death cap and wash it down with two litres of battery acid laced with arsenic and all that would happen to you is heartburn.’

‘Plus, even if you didn't eat, there are good chances they would have given it some other way,’ Savri added. ‘You getting stabbed with a knife covered in that stuff would likely be as bad.’

‘Unfortunately true,’ Nyx concluded. ‘The moment you were spotted, chances are, you weren't getting out.’

I hid my face in my hands.

‘Oh, gods…’ I whimpered. ‘Oh, gods…’

Caeileera

‘It will take her a while to forgive herself,’ Savri whispered as we watched Nyx, Aki and Lilyth sit together and cry. I know that I wouldn't be able to for a while either.’

‘Leera always blamed herself whenever Kojiro…’

I paused. Savri just shook her head.

‘You don’t have to finish if you don't want to. I don’t need to know more than that. Just another reason to kill that bastard. Still, I guess if you need to talk or a drink, I am here.’

‘About that…’

I told her about the message from Kojiro. Savri got red-faced and let out a long litany of swear words.

‘Don’t let him get inside of your head,’ she finally said. ‘And we’ll make sure he can't get into any other parts of you either. So I guess… we need to figure out our next steps.’

I heard her stomach growl. I then remembered we hadn’t eaten anything since Lilyth… left. Despite all the fear, pain and sorrow I felt, I realised I was hungry too.

‘Step one: dinner, I guess,’ I chuckled wryly.

Nyx treated us to food again, since she was down here anyway. It was something called lazańa and it was absolutely delicious. Lilyth remarked it was one of her favourite dishes back on Terra. This brought a faint smile to Nyx’s face, which told me the choice wasn’t an accident.

‘You’re a Terran?’ Ireela asked. ‘What I learned from family history here implied to me there were only humans living there.’

‘That’s a long story…’ Lilyth sighed. ‘I guess we would need to tell you anyway.’

By the time we were done Ireela's expression said that she regretted asking that question. I lived through most of that and it still felt insane to me.

‘I guess that at least answers the question I was going to ask about sleeping arrangements. Unless you have some other ideas?’

Aki pointed at Lilyth with a movement of her head. My jellybean thought about it and very reluctantly nodded.

‘No,’ I finally said to Ireela. ‘One for us three and one for Savri.’

‘Gotcha. Don’t take it the wrong way, but I find the idea of three women being married… a bit too much. At least for today. Not that it is any of my business, or that I should be judging given who I am married to. Tell me though… who actually agreed to do that?’

Nyx gave her a friendly wave and said:

‘Not an easy day for any of us, though I think that's all the difficult revelations for today that I know of.’

Nyx was, in fact, wrong. You see… Ren had never told Ireela about her being a lesbian, though this one is on the harpy since she had to ask.

‘So tell me Rennie… you seeing anyone? Not that I want to pry, but if you have a boyfriend there they may be in danger.’

‘No,’ Ren shook her head. ‘I have no one in Tyr-Mel.’

‘How come? You are a beautiful girl, surely there must be plenty of men vying for your attention.’

‘There were…’

‘And none of them were good enough? I find that hard to believe…’

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

‘I am sure some of them were nice…’

‘Then why?’

‘Because I like girls… mom.’

Perhaps due to it being the sanest thing she had heard the whole day, Ireela took it with grace.

‘There goes my hope of having grandchildren.’

After the dinner, we said our goodbyes to Nyx, who promised Lilyth she would drop by every now and then to help her get through this, and then it was time to get serious again.

‘Do we know where Kojiro went?’ Savri asked.

The question seemed to be directed at Lilyth and Ireela. My wife simply shook her head and, based on her expression, bit back a nasty response. I could imagine what it was.

Ireela on the other hand did have something to contribute.

‘They didn’t discuss any specifics near me,’ she said, a bit apologetically. ‘But from what I could overhear Kojiro sounded like he was planning on being back today, or tomorrow at the latest.’

‘What gave you the impression?’ I was curious.

‘He and Xyrus were talking about Lilyth and checking on whether the “lessons sank in”.’

‘I don’t know what you did to him, sister,’ Savri said, sounding queasy. ‘But he sounds like a man with a grudge.’

‘As I understood his gloating,’ Lilyth responded weakly, ‘Kojiro is mad at me for saving Ren. Someone must have witnessed the fight in the tavern and given him enough deets to post lookouts.’

‘Why would he hate you so much, Rennie?’ Ireela asked, ashen-faced.

The answer seemed obvious to me.

‘It’s because of Leera, isn't it?’ I asked, feeling dirty. ‘You took her away from him.’

‘If he found out you two were together…’ Aki mused.

‘Yeah,’ Savri agreed. ‘Ren stole what he thought was his property and, in his eyes, made Leera betray him.’

‘Which would explain the note,’ I finished before I could catch myself.

‘What note?’ Aki asked.

Fuck.

Savri was the only person I told about it. We decided with Rennie to leave this bit out when making our report.

‘You are not going to like this…’ I began, and with a silent nod of approval from Ren, told my friends about the message we got from Kojiro.

This, finally, proved too much for Ireela who put her hand on her mouth and bolted towards the toilet, but judging by the sounds in the corridor, didn't make it that far. Ren ran out to check in on her. She returned a few minutes later.

‘I took my mom to her room and brought her some of her favourite whiskey,’ she explained, finally breaking the silence that fell upon the room. ‘I guess I am the lady of the house for now.’

‘Is there any militia in the village?’ Sav asked her immediately.

‘No clue. I could go find out.’

‘Please do. I don’t think the five of us will amount to much if more of them come.’

‘We did win,’ Aki pointed out.

‘Against a disorganised enemy who had no idea we were here. That's over now. I would have died today if it wasn't for Lilyth of all people.’

My jellybean’s cry of “Savri! Flanks!” echoed in my mind.

So that was what this was about. Even despite everything, Lilyth still fought along with us.

‘My plan is as follows,’ Savri continued. ‘Ren goes to the village and sees about getting us some help. I will go over the things of our friends to see if there is anything of note that would aid us in further planning. Aki and Lilyth, I don’t know, go cuddle or something, just don’t get in my way, and Caei - you keep watch over them.’

‘B-but…’ Aki began to protest.

‘Akster… you need rest. Go get it. We don’t know what's in store for us later today so I need you both to be in as good a shape as you can. SO. GO. GET. SOME. REST.’

There were no further complaints from our end.

Sav’s search didn't amount to much. There were no documents that she could find, but she did find a couple thousand Divines which we decided to divide equally between the families of Ireela's staff and Lilyth. My jellybean tried to refuse, but Savri's death glare made her relent.

‘You are a victim here too, so it’s only right you get recompense,’ she said.

On top of that, we gave her Xyrus’s money pouch. Sav led with its origin causing Lilyth to accept it without a word.

Ren was more successful. She returned to the mansion with Baial, Aldvil and Gerra. The latter two were ecstatic to see Lilyth okay.

‘Hey there, lassie,’ the innkeeper smiled. ‘When your friends came looking for you we got really worried. Then we heard about the battle and now that Renn… I mean Lady Ren…’

‘Rennie is fine,’ the former crime boss said with a wink.

‘So when Rennie came down to speak with Baial about the militia, we decided to tag along.’

‘Thank you,’ Lilyth muttered. ‘You have no idea how much I appreciate it.’

‘I was mad at Aldie for not escorting you after… you met that dreadful man,’ Gerra snarled.

‘Be glad he didn't,’ Lilyth said weakly. ‘There were four of them and they were specifically ordered by Kojiro to capture me, so chances are… Aldvil wouldn't have fared all that well.’

Gerra paled and covered her mouth with her hand.

‘Then…’ the innkeeper began but his wife stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

‘No. Whatever you want to say… Don’t.’

‘Thank you,’ Lilyth repeated. ‘Let’s just say… be glad for your wife's sake that we got rid of them. No one… no one should endure what I did here.’

‘Which brings us to what brings us to the subject matter at hand,’ Baial interrupted his face a mix of sorrow, pain and disgust.

‘Yes…’ Aldvil nodded. ‘Sindara was it?’

‘It’s Lilyth, actually,’ my wife answered apologetically. ‘Sorry for lying to you. Sindara is just a… name I use when I don’t want people to know who I am. Not that it did me much good today.’

‘Lilyth then. And don’t worry, I understand. It is a wise precaution,’ the innkeeper smiled reassuringly. ‘I discussed this with Baial and we both agree that no man should let the others defend their family while he has strength in his arms. So a lot of men volunteered to reform our militia.’

‘Reform?’ Savri asked with a raised eyebrow.

‘Yes. Ever since the Yamaoka family moved in here, the area has been peaceful, so over the decades the number dropped from a dozen or two to just two. You don’t need much more to keep peace in an area of this size.’

‘But now that has changed,’ Baial took over. ‘So even before Ren came down we were making arrangements. With Kojiro gone rogue, this place is no longer safe and we cannot rely on you five to protect us. So most men, and some women, volunteered to a new militia.’

‘The old goat was initially against us serving,’ Gerra said. ‘But after the rumours of your ordeal began spreading, Lilyth, and now that they are confirmed…’

‘As you put it, no woman should be forced to endure that,’ Baial said ashamed. ‘So I am not going to stop anyone from wanting to fight against people who commit these kinds of heinous actions.’

‘How did the rumours start?’ Savri asked with a furrowed brow. ‘I don’t think anyone from the village saw Lilyth before… she cleaned up.’

‘Lord Kojiro had a reputation,’ Aldvil said. ‘It was just stories, but enough to make anyone wary. Then, Lilyth arrived and she disappeared after interacting with his men. It didn't take long for people to connect things.’

‘Ah…’ Savri said.

‘Let’s keep those as rumours,’ Ren said. ‘To protect my friend’s privacy. Hopefully, they will die out.’

‘Fat chance of that,’ Lilyth sighed. ‘This one is going into history books. I’m going to forever be the woman whose rape caused the first battle of Mer-Cas or something.’

‘Let’s just hope it’s the first and only,’ Baial sighed.