Volume 1 - Harpy Heaven, Chapter 4 - Testing Boundaries

Thanks to Yuri-su’s laundry escapades, Yuisu found breakfast very awkward. Yuisu and Haru finished eating in relative silence, and then Yuisu revealed the plan for the day.

“Bundle up, because we’re going to explore the mountain today. I’ve got to check on the fences, and you can learn the property boundaries, since you aren’t supposed to leave the property without me.”

Haru quirked her head. “Just how big is the property anyway? It was quite a drive for Agent Will from the gate to the house.”

Yuisu smiled proudly and said, “‘The property is just over 500 acres, including forest, meadow, game trails, and a creek. It backs to a nature preserve, ensuring peace and quiet and a constant influx of wildlife.’ Or at least that’s what my uncle would tell people every chance he got. He really loved this place.”

Haru nodded. “Impressive. I won’t feel cooped up with that much space to roam. Oh, and miss Yuisu?”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“Could you help me get dressed? My snow gear is hard to put on by myself,” Haru said meekly.

Thirty minutes and a crash course in harpy-specialized clothing later, Yuisu and Haru were ready to brave the elements.

Haru wore fitted black ski pants with white accents, modified with a zipper up the outside of each leg. Her top was protected from the cold by a slim white snowboard jacket with a high collar and a fur-lined hood. Unlike normal coats with a zipper on the front, it pulled over the wearer’s head like a poncho and was secured by zippers and buttons down each side under the arm. The sleeves were kept short and loose to enable flight. The entire ensemble was lightweight and still fashionable.

If Haru was bundled up, Yuisu was a mummy in comparison. She wore bulky snow boots, puffy purple snow pants, a heavy grey winter coat, gloves, a purple scarf, and a beanie. She was so round and insulated, she looked kind of like a grey and purple bowling pin. She grabbed a small toolbox and a couple bottles of water before leaving.

It was bright and clear outside, but the morning air was bitter cold and two inches of snow coated the ground. Yuisu waddled down the driveway and Haru hovered overhead. Yuisu called upward, “We’re going to start at the front gate and follow the fence around. The property is close to square, so the whole trip is under four miles.”

When they reached the gate, they turned north. A few hundred feet along, Yuisu found a broken fence wire and set to repairing it. When she finished, she scanned the sky but Haru was nowhere to be seen. “Haru? Where’d you get off to? Haru!” she shouted.

Yuisu grumbled, “She probably saw a rabbit or deer or something and chased it…” and continued along the fence. After fixing another minor break with no sign of Haru, Yuisu started to worry.

“Come on, Haru! Where are you?” she called out. Yuisu left the fenceline to search for Haru or at least find a better vantage point. After five minutes of wandering through the trees and shrubs, she hadn’t found anything, but she had lost sight of the fence. Muttering under her breath about the futility of chasing a bird on foot, she was about to give up and retrace her footprints when she saw something in the distance.

Up ahead, what looked like steam billowed up from a gap between the trees. Yuisu approached to get a better look. She pushed a large branch aside and stepped into a clearing, only to be hit by a wall of steam and the smell of rotten eggs. Once her eyes focused again, she saw that a small pond was the source of the steam. A natural hot spring filled the pond, and its overflow formed a small creek that wandered downhill toward the property line.

With a soft wumph, something landed next to Yuisu, startling her. She turned to look but there didn’t seem to be anything there. I guess some snow fell from a branch, Yuisu thought and started to turn away. Then a large pile of snow started to move, and it turned to look right at Yuisu with big golden eyes.

It was Haru, crouched down with her wings wrapped around her knees. Her white feathers blended in so well that Yuisu couldn’t tell where snow stopped and harpy began. Yuisu let out the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. “You spooked me, Haru. You can be a little too stealthy, sometimes.”

Haru pinched her nose shut with one wing and prodded some snow into the pond with the other. “So this is what was messing with my tracking…” she murmured to herself. Haru turned to Yuisu, oblivious to how worried her host had been. “I was following the trail of a rabbit when a strange smell distracted me. Do all hot springs smell this… bad?”

“For the most part, yes. But, it is believed that the sulphur and other minerals are great for your skin. You get used to the smell pretty quick when you’re bathing in the hot, relaxing water.”

Yuisu hadn’t known the property had a hot spring, but now she was thrilled. Her love for hot baths was surpassed only by her love for real hot springs. She had already forgotten about her worry for Haru and her fence-repairing task; her mind was set entirely on figuring out how to harness this hot spring and make a true onsen experience on her property.

I could pipe the water to the house, but that would lose so much of the rustic charm, and Haru has a good point about the smell. I wouldn’t want the house smelling that way all the time. Her eyes lit up as a better idea struck her. “We could build a bathing area out here, maybe with its own outbuildings. It could even be a tourist attraction!”

Yuisu imagined herself as the proprietress of a classy hot springs resort. The resort could be a specialized retreat, catered towards women, or extraspecies women, or both. Visions of nude bathers of all species danced through her head and her thoughts drifted further and further off topic.

Haru broke the trance when she grabbed Yuisu’s arm. “Shall we get back to the fence, miss Yuisu? We shouldn’t idle too long and have the sun set on us.”

Yuisu took a deep breath and shook her head clear of dirty thoughts. “Yes, of course, let’s do that.” As Yuisu followed her footprints back to the fence, she asked, “Do you think you could find that spring again, Haru?”

“Oh, easily, even if it didn’t stink from a mile away,” she replied with a teasing tone.

“That’s great. I’m serious about putting that spring to use, though I think I’ll keep it simple for now.”

Yuisu and Haru finished their circuit of the property, with only a few more spots in the fence needing repairs. The short fence wasn’t meant to stop wildlife, but keeping it in good shape played into the larger goal of making it clear that this land was private property. The last thing Yuisu wanted was a hunter wandering in and accidentally shooting an extraspecies guest.

Once inside, Yuisu shed her coat and gloves in a hurry. She helped Haru out of her tight snow-pants, attempting, and failing, to ignore the color and style of Haru’s panties. Orange, and side-snap again.

Tired and sweaty from the exercise, Yuisu then bee-lined for the bathroom to soak away her aches. Haru returned to her bedroom, where Yuisu’s extensive manga collection still covered one wall.