-priestess-

[https://i.imgur.com/LoYByv0.png]

Rays of sunlight blasted my eyes with a scorching pain the moment I woke up. The curtain to the balcony door and windows had been drawn back, allowing the morning sun to fill our room unimpeded.

I winced and turned inwards to the bed to shield myself from the sun. Rolling over, I was greeted by the heavenly sight of my beloved. Airis was still fast asleep, her elegant features appeared softer than usual—her unconscious self lacked her rowdiness and bravado.

Her deep-red hair was splayed out wildly over the large ruffled pillows. My eyes followed a stray strand down the alluring curve of her neck, drifting past her distinguished collarbones, and lingering on her shapely chest.

A small hand was clasped around the low-necked collar of Airis’ pullover, and was drawing it back dangerously close to exposing her completely. Akari had managed to get herself nestled between the two of us and had also gotten entangled in the blankets so that Airis’ bare legs were completely uncovered.

Heat rushed to my face and I pulled my own blanket up over my head. I shuffled out of bed, grabbed my cloak, and took one brief glance back at them before taking my flustered self out of the room.

I gently pulled the door closed behind me and pressed my back against the wall.

I’ll just go take a walk to clear my head.

With a bit of a sluggish thrust, I pushed myself off the wall and headed down the stairway to the inn’s common area.

The morning staff were gracefully going about their work and greeted me with a cheerful exclamation in elvish. I returned the greeting with a smile and quickly stepped through the front doors before anyone could make a fuss over my disheveled appearance and set off towards the rear of the building.

The Triple Monarch had a fairly extensive open field around it, similar to one of the many city parks in Axio. Various brightly colored and exotic looking plants grew all around the grassy area. It reminded me of the gardens dad tended around the manor house, which were cluttered with planters of all sorts of pretty wild flowers. I’d been told that my mom loved to tend flowers in the garden, and it seemed like father had grown attached to maintaining them in her memory.

A small garden-box of natori tagetes caught my eye as I was walking. Most of the flowers had not yet bloomed, their golden buds still tightly closed—but a single group of them tucked between a bushy fern had begun to bloom. The vivid red petals seemed to sparkle in the morning sun.

I knelt down and gently plucked two of them from the pack, breaking the flower off with about two inches of the stem. With my newly acquired bouquet, I headed back to our room.

Rounding the top of the stairs I spotted that Rias’ door was ajar so I peeked my head in. Her lights were off and she was nowhere to be seen so I continued down the hall, but as I approached the door to Airis’ room I heard Rias talking.

“—I’m not saying I’m gonna test magick on her! With her, I said, test magick with her!”

Rias’ voice was lowered just above a whisper, but I caught the last bit of, what I assumed to be, an impassioned bid from Rias to do some sort of magick test with Akari.

I stopped just before the doorway and leaned in to peep through the door crack.

The sound of one of Airis’ habitual sighs was followed by the noise of the wooden bed creaking as she pushed herself up.

“On her or with her, it doesn’t matter the difference because I promised to look after her. She put her trust in me and I’m not going to break this promise. She’s alone and vulnerable here.”

“And she can seemingly cast the same kind of celestial magick as you.” Rias poked a finger at Airis, gently pressing against her shirt. “Doesn’t that warrant some kind of investigation from us? We know where your power came from… kind of. But if Akari doesn’t know anything about Capricorn, then what other kind of supernatural force is in play?”

“I have the same questions as you, Rias. But instead of probing an already frightened and distressed little girl, I figured it would be better to just ask Capricorn herself.”

“Y-You can do that!?”

Airis’ stern expression faltered and a brief moment of uncertainty let itself show before she clamored to recompose herself. “I’m pretty sure I can. My soul is bound to her at an aetherial level—”

The rustling of bed sheets and the emergence of a mess of pink hair cut her off mid sentence. Akari stretched her arms up in the air and let out a great big yawn that ended in an adorable squeak. She wiped her eyes and shifted in bed, looking at Airis and Rias.

“I don’t mind casting spells with Rias.”

“See, sis! Even Akari wants to some magick testing.”

I had a hard time holding in a giggle watching the stupefied look take hold on Airis’ face.

“Akari, sweetie. I’m not so sure it’s a good idea. We should be keeping a low profile until we can talk with the Astral Knights.”

“It’ll be fine! I promise we’ll stay in our rooms.”

Airis pressed her hand against her forehead, rubbing her thumb at the side of her temple. I rapped my knuckle against the door frame, garnering the attention of Rias and Akari.

“Knock knock! I’m coming in.”

I sauntered over to Airis and wrapped my arms around hers, pulling her hand down from wearing a rut in her head. Lifting myself up on my tip toes I leaned in to her left ear and whispered to her.

“Let’s ask Julius if he minds watching them. You’d feel better if they had a guard, right? If he agrees, then there’s no worry about their safety. Annnnnnnnd,” I drew out the word as I squeezed her playfully, “While they’re amusing themselves with magick, we can sneak off and spend some time in the city together.”

I tapped a finger against a small rune that was positioned along my neck, just below my ear. After a little electric jolt and a few seconds of white static, I focused my attention on contacting a certain stoic guardian.

“Julius, are you there?”

That static-like feeling swelled and a voice responded through the communirune.

“Yeah, Hailey. I am. What’s up?”

“Would you be available to keep watch over Rias and Akari today? You won’t have to go anywhere, just make sure they don’t get into any trouble here at the inn.”

“Baby-sitting duty, huh. Yeah sure. You and Airis going somewhere?”

“That’s the plan. Thanks, Julius.”

“Yeah yeah. I’ll head up after I grab some breakfast with Mei.”

I tapped the small rune once more and the uneasy static feeling dissipated. Airis exhaled sharply, but relaxed her rigid posture. I’d successfully diffused the situation, and now it was time to execute my original plan.

I shifted around so that I was in front of her and smoothly tucked one of the cut flowers I was concealing between her left ear. Before she could react, I jumped over to Akari and knelt down, doing the same with the other flower.

“I’m gonna borrow Airis for part of the day, but you’ll have Rias and Julius to keep you company. Even though you’ll both be away from each other, you’ll have matching flowers.”

Rias and Akari left the room, leaving me with a frazzled looking Airis.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Did you sleep well? The two of you were snuggled pretty tightly when I got up.”

“Yeah, I slept fine… I think?”

“You think you slept fine?”

“After I fell asleep, I woke up—but not like in the real world, if that makes sense.”

“One of those psycho-dealios?”

“I thought it could have been for maybe a second, but then Akari was there.” She shook her head and sat on the edge of the bed, “And it wasn’t like a dream. She told me she was looking for her mother, and that we were in the same place as her home.”

Airis looked up at me, throwing her hands up. “I don’t know where in the Aether that little girl is from, but I’m certain it isn’t the same world as ours.”

“She’s not one of those… uhm, angelic ones you said were in the celestial planes?”

“The Alaetüs, and no, I don’t think so. The two I’ve met have wings, but not like hers. And they didn’t have tails or horns. Akari is a complete enigma to me, but I just have this overwhelming urge to protect her—baaah!”

Airis flopped back on the bed.

I glanced up at the ceiling, “I don’t know if I’d really call it overwhelming, but I think I know what you mean. Last night I felt this subtle urge to stay close to her. Like when we went to bed last night… my mind knows it should be weird to fall asleep with a stranger so close, but at the same time when I look or think about Akari it just feels right. Does that make sense?”

Airis’ eyes lit up and she sprang back to a sitting position, “Exactly! I thought I might just be going crazy. Like, some sort of maternal instinct had gone awry. Haaa, if you’re getting the same feeling then I don’t feel so racked about it.”

“I wonder if the others feel the same way. If they don’t, then maybe we both have faulty maternal switches in our heads.”

“Haha. I wouldn’t rule that out just yet.” Airis sighed in relief, and pushed off the bed towards the wardrobe, “Either way, we can ask them all about it later. You wanted to go somewhere today, right? What kind of clothing would make sense for our outing?”

----------------------------------------

“When you said you wanted to sneak off somewhere this morning, I wasn’t expecting it to be so… highbrow.”

We’d arrived at our destination, which I’d been super excited to see since I found out about it yesterday from the receptionist at the Triple Monarch.

A massive spiraling tower loomed over us. The luster of smooth white marble was broken up by rich gold and deep red carvings that decorated the outer walls. Along the upper levels of the spire, bridges reached out to connect smaller turret-like structures that appeared to be suspended in the air on their own. At the apex floated five red crystals, each the size of a large carriage.

The common area around the tower was a well maintained grass lawn brimming with colorful flower gardens and large silver aspens.

Just as Airis had said, the place emanated an aura of sophistication and gracefulness, beyond even that of the grandeur of the Tribunal’s assembly hall.

“It’s called the Athenaeum, at least that’s what the lady at the front desk said yesterday. It’s a hub of civil and magickal knowledge, and an annex for the Astral Mages.”

“Uh huh, and why are we visiting a giant library for our date?”

“Becaaaaause, if you noticed, the tower is up on this big ‘ol cliff. And just on the other side one of the river ways that runs through the city spills over the cliffs, creating a great waterfall.”

“So we’re not here to look at or read books?”

“Nope!”

Airis lifted her hands up and offered a mocking prayer to the Celestials, “Oh, thank the Goddesses!”

“You really don’t like books that much?”

“It’s not that I don’t like books, I was just expecting—ah, nevermind. I’m yours for the day, so no matter what we do I’ll be fine!”

She took my hand with a smile and we headed through the main doors into the tower.

“I thought you just said we weren’t here for the library?”

“And I thought you just said no matter what, you’d be fine? You’re mine, so deal with it! Plus, we’re still not here for the library. Think of this as payback for your stunts in Tolin.”

Airis pursed her lips cutely and didn’t give me a rebuttal.

The lobby of the building was just as beautiful as the exterior. The white marble walls were covered by large artworks and statues of various things. Off to the right was a large desk made of ornately carved wood, with a number of people working behind it.

In the center of the lobby was a small shop built between twin stairways leading to the upper levels.

The shop had tons of bright pink apples lined up in the front in rows of display cases, and crates stashed away behind the counter that were branded with an illustration of an apple-shaped face that bore a big smile.

I rushed over to the stand, pulling Airis’ along with.

“We’ll take two, please!” I called out to the shopkeeper in the best elvish I could muster.

I handed over a four silver coins and received two large apples. After thanking the shopkeeper, we headed back outside.

Airis was inspecting her apple like it was some kind of foreign entity she’d never seen.

“It’s just an apple.” I chided her with a playful tone, “I don’t think it’ll bite you back.”

“I’ve just never seen a pink apple before. The color is strange since green or red were all we had in Axio. Is it sour?”

I took a bite of mine, and the juicy sweetness satisfied my taste-buds—though I already knew what to expect since the lady at the inn had told me about them.

“Mmmm! You’ll have to try it to find out.” I provoked her. I skipped a few paces down the pathway and stuck me tongue out at her.

“You little!” Airis yelled at me and gave chase.

We eventually made our way around to the other side of the tower once I’d completely exhausted myself trying to keep away from her.

She’d caught me immediately once I’d tired out even the slightest, and we found a bench to sit at that overlooked the picturesque falls.

Airis let out a satisfied noise as she bit into the sweet apple. “Oh, it’s really good!” She took bite after bite, devouring the fruit in seconds.

She looked down at the bare core with a look of both satisfaction and desire.

“We can get another one before we leave if you want another.”

Her face reddened a bit and she quietly replied, “I’d like to, yeah.”

I leaned against her, pressing my head against her chest.

“W-What are you doing!?” She stammered in surprise.

“Just listening to your heart. I thought I might learn some of your secrets if I did.”

I tilted my gaze upwards to sneak a peek at Airis’ expression, but was surprised to see her eyes glittering in the sunlight. Tears were clinging to her eyelids, on the verge of falling.

“Ah, Airis, what’s wrong?”

Airis turned her face away from me and rubbed a hand against her eyes, drawing the moisture away. “Nothing,” she started with a shaky voice, “I dunno what that’s all about.”

“Hey, hey,” I brushed my hand across her chin, gently pulling her head back towards me, “It’s just us here. Talk to me. Come on, relax for a minute.”

She hesitated, but gave in once I grabbed her hand and began to pull back. Once she was leaning back against me, I squeezed her fingers.

“Somethings eating at you, right? I’m here. I’m right here,” I pulled her hands close to my chest, “You can tell me anything.”

Airis was quiet for a moment as she caught her wavering breath, “Sometimes it feels like there is some thing still haunting me. Like this kind of… darkness.”

“A darkness?”

“Remember when we were camped outside of Tolin, and I had that nightmare?”

“With the Terror Demon, right?”

“Yeah. The way it spoke to me that night—the glowing runes, the pounding voice in the back of my head. You must have felt a similar feeling when we breached the Citadel. That fear. The panic that races through your nerves…”

I shuddered thinking back on that day, just before we entered the garrison gatehouse a dark presence clawed its words into my mind and painfully shouted at us to turn away, and taunted us throughout the desecrated halls. “I remember the unnerving feeling. But we beat that monster. It’s gone and not coming back.”

“We beat one. There could be hundreds more.”

“You’ve been letting Tatsuko’s tales of the war too close to your heart. If there was an army of demons with generals like that still out there, why wouldn’t they have pushed against Axio? Four decades of skirmishes in the Commonlands and we’ve never seen a report of a creature like that, Airis.”

“When that demon was in my head it swallowed me into a void and I screamed, or at least I tried to. I cried out for help but no sound would escape my lips. It felt like an eternity that I was stuck in the darkness as that empty void closed in around me, taunting me with my suppressed voice, before I finally came back to reality.”

Airis’ whole body was shaking, and her fingers tightened around mine.

“And sometimes I feel that same emptiness claw its way back in, and I’m lost in that void again. This gnawing feeling that I could set the world ablaze but not even a single ember would warm me. Then I collapse back to my senses. But that cold remains, seeping in like a sickness…”

I pushed myself up and planted a kiss on her cheek.

“You aren’t alone. I’m here with you, and if you feel cold then I’ll provide some warmth.”

[https://i.imgur.com/0dzr29i.png]