I opened my eyes and saw complete darkness, so I used my Detect Mana and Presence technique and could now see through the blast shield that covered my eyes. I didn't feel any pain or even a hint of discomfort, so I knew my magical wounds had been taken care of. I checked my Presence and mana reserves and saw that they were completely full, so I relaxed and looked around. I saw that I was in an unfamiliar room and then remembered where I was. Maylia was cuddled up as close to me as she could get with the both of us still wearing our armor and our bags of holding as backpacks.

I turned my head and looked out the side of the room to the hallway beyond that and then the next room. I could see outside past that and it was dark outside. I wasn't sure how much time had passed since I was brought here for healing and took in a deep breath and let it out.

“Are you awake?” Maylia whispered.

“Yes.” I said and turned my head to look at her.

“How do you feel?”

“The pain is gone and my energy reserves are completely full.” I said.

“That doesn't answer my question.” Maylia said with a smile.

“I feel stupid for pushing myself like I did.” I said, and she sat up and touched the side of my face.

“You acted to try and get the help you needed.” Maylia said. “The queen apologized for their behavior.”

“Wait, what? Did you say the queen?” I asked, surprised.

Maylia nodded and reached for my armpit and hit the button for my powered armor. I sat up myself and checked the batteries with Presence and saw that they were down to just above half full.

I need to repair the wires and try to figure out how to charge the thing. I thought.

“She also wants to speak to you.” Maylia said.

“What time is it?”

“It's early evening.” Maylia said and pointed. “They just brought supper for us.”

I looked over at the table and saw huge piles of food. “What if I hadn't woken up for a while?”

“The food would still be there.” Maylia said and stood up. “Do you want to stay here or go to the table to eat?”

“Table.” I said, stood up myself, left off the hood of the cloak, and we went to the table and sat down. I was famished, considering I hadn't eaten since lunchtime the day before. Maylia ate just as eagerly as I did and I stopped and looked at her. “You haven't eaten?”

Maylia shook her head. “It didn't feel right to eat food while you were hurt and you couldn't join me.”

I reached out and took her hand, and she looked at my hand and then at my face. “You didn't have to wait for me.”

“Yes, I did.” Maylia said as she gave my hand a squeeze. “I'm your trusted companion.”

“That doesn't mean...”

“Oh, yes it does.” Maylia said. “Where you go, I go. What you do, I do. When you eat, I eat.”

“That sounds like you're becoming obsessed with me.” I said with a smile.

“Devotion is a kind of obsession.” Maylia said, wisely. “I've seen you challenge the elders, the princess, the queen, powerful monsters, and even the common folk's perception of you.”

“I didn't intend for...”

“You took me into battle at your side and didn't once say that it was too dangerous for me, even if you thought it was, and you trusted me to help, even though you could have handled it on your own.” Maylia said. “You deserve my devotion, Hunter.”

“You're wrong about two things.” I said, and she raised her eyebrows at me. “The first is that I never once thought it was too dangerous for you. Either in the clearing against those criminals or against the garglemacer.” I said and gave her hand a squeeze. “Also, I couldn't have handled it on my own. You saved me a couple of times in the clearing when I was distracted and it was your initial blow against the garglemacer that gave me the opportunity to defeat it.”

“Hunter, that was your idea and...”

“I'm not going to mention that huge slash you did to its underside that made it think twice before attacking us again.” I said. “I don't think I could have hit it properly with the lightning bolt if it had kept breathing fire and jumped at us constantly.”

“We would have whittled it down eventually if it did.” Maylia said. “That was your plan, wasn't it?”

I nodded. “If it kept breathing fire to give us cover, we would have given it so many wounds that it would eventually die... assuming that it didn't have some way to regenerate or heal itself.”

“I... hadn't thought of that.” Maylia said. “We might have been there for hours trying to fight the thing.”

I nodded again. “I expected it to take a while, especially when I saw the size of the thing.” I chuckled. “We handled it a lot faster than I thought we could have, that's for sure.”

We kept eating at a more normal pace and filled our stomachs. When we were done, Maylia stood up and went to the door of the room and opened it, spoke briefly, then closed the door.

“What was that about?” I asked.

“The queen wanted to know when we woke.” Maylia said. “If my guess is right, she won't want to wait until tomorrow to question us, despite the late hour.”

Only a minute later there was a knock on the door and a court attendant asked us to accompany him to visit the queen. We agreed, since it wasn't polite to say no to the ruler of a kingdom while staying in her castle. The man looked at us from head to foot, sighed, and led the way down the hallway.

“I don't think he approves of our clothing.” I said in a loud whisper.

Maylia picked up on my teasing tone immediately. “At least he didn't state it out loud.”

The man sighed again and Maylia and I exchanged amused looks and held in our laughs. He took us to what I thought was a random hallway in the castle and stopped in front of an unmarked door, knocked, and stepped out of the way and waited. The door opened and a girl of about twelve stood there.

“Welcome, adventurers.” She said in a haughty voice. I knelt on one knee and held a hand out to her. She was surprised for only a second and she daintily put her fingertips on top of mine.

I put my thumb on them and bent my head. “It's a pleasure to meet you, your majesty.”

The girl caught her breath. “I-I-I'm not the q-queen!”

“You're not?” I asked in mock surprise. “I was told the queen wanted to speak to me, so when I saw you with such poise and composure...”

“I should have known you would be charming as well.” A woman's authoritative voice said from farther inside the room. “Milly, bring them in.”

“Yes, mother.” Milly said and stepped back without letting my hand go. I stood and we followed her inside and she shut the door. She led us across the room and stopped near a large roaring fire in a fireplace that was as tall as I was, six feet. A woman in a normal and yet very fancy and expensive dress sat in a rigid chair by the fire and was knitting something.

“I'm glad to see you well, Hunter.” The queen said and looked at her daughter. “You also seem to have found another admirer.”

Milly's face flushed red and she let my fingers go. “Mother, I...”

“It's all right.” The queen said. “He is handsome, isn't he?”

Milly looked up at me and right into my eyes, then she nodded.

“You are too young to be betrothed, so don't make any plans in that regard.” The queen told her.

Milly nodded again, disappointment clearly on her face, and she walked over to her mother.

“You will find someone that makes your heart flutter; but, don't forget that you need to be queen first and foremost.”

“I know, mother.” Milly said and looked at me. “You could ask him to stay for me.”

The queen smiled a little and gave her daughter a slight hug. “Just because you can do something, doesn't mean that you should.” She said and let her go. “Now go into the other room and try not to listen at the keyhole.”

Milly sighed dramatically and nodded, gave me one last look, then went into the other room and closed the door.

“You need to be more careful of whom you entice in the future.” The queen said to me.

“I can't promise the impossible, your majesty.” I said, and that made her smile a little.

“I need to ask you to forgive the surroundings.” The queen said and motioned to the room. “I only get so much personal time each day and I spend that time here relaxing.”

“Then we should ask for forgiveness.” I said and glanced briefly at the door that Milly went through. “We've interrupted time with your daughter.”

The queen gave me an odd look. “You really are bothered that my time with her has been shortened.”

“I am, your majesty.” I said. “When I was four, my parents were... taken from me.” I said 'taken' instead of 'killed', so that I wouldn't startle the girl that listened at the door. “At the time, I would have given almost anything to spend a few more moments with them. When I was eleven, my caretaker was sent away from me without notice, and once again at that time, I would have given almost anything to have seen her one more time.”

“I am hesitant for my daughter to hear the story you are about to tell me about the garglemacer.” The queen said. “She is a little young to understand the impact creatures like that have on a population.”

“I don't think she needs to understand it in that capacity, your majesty.” I said, to her surprise. “Just how it has affected me and the people I've met should be enough for her to imagine how other people will react.”

“Will you censure your words and vulgarity while you speak?” The queen asked.

“Well, since I'm not from here, if I do use vulgarity, either on purpose or by accident, you would only hear words that you wouldn't understand.” I smiled. “I don't see a need to curse or swear, though. It wasn't that kind of an ordeal for either myself or Maylia, even after I was wounded.”

The queen looked at Maylia for confirmation, and she nodded. “All right, Millicent. Come back in.”

Milly opened the door to the side room and came right in without trying to disguise that she had been listening at the door. The queen shook her head at her and Milly motioned to her lap. The queen looked at her knitting for a moment, then tucked the needles and yarn back into the bag of knitting supplies she had at her hip and pat her thighs. Milly climbed up and sat on the queen's lap as if she sat upon a throne.

“May we sit as well?” I asked.

“There are no chairs for...”

I created a box of Presence and added some mana to it to color it green, made the Presence solid, and motioned for Maylia to sit. She did, and I sat beside her. Both the queen and Milly stared at the box like they had never seen a box before.

“I suppose I should start when we reached the valley town under the Karmack Mountains.” I said.

“Actually, I think you should start with the captain of the guard giving us the list.” Maylia said. “The queen needs to know the legitimacy of the quest.”

“What list?” The queen asked, so I pulled the list out of a pocket and handed it to her. She quickly read it, as did Milly, and both of them stayed quiet.

“Before you ask, we've only done the first item on the list.” I said. “The captain scratched out the others so we wouldn't be wasting our time with them.”

The queen nodded and handed the list back. “I assume you must have done something to earn such attention from him.”

“That I won't describe with young ears around.” I said.

The queen nodded while Milly frowned.

“It's not that I don't think you can handle it, young majesty. It's that I don't want to be the cause of putting those kinds of images in your head.” I said. “Believe me, you don't need that right now.”

Milly thought about it for a few moments, then she nodded.

“Needless to say, Maylia and I completed what he thought was an impossible job.” I said.

“So he gave you a list of others.” The queen said, and it was my turn to nod. “Why did you accept?”

“I could lie and say money. I won't, though.” I looked at Maylia and she took my hand. “If it was something bad enough to be at the top of a list the captain of the guard had to be dealt with first, when what we had already done was over half a dozen spots down on that list, I knew I had to try to do something about it.”

“That's not really a why.”

“Before I came here, I was a bounty hunter.” I said, and both the queen's and Milly's eyes widened. “I was hired to hunt things down and either deal with them or bring them back to whoever hired me, so that they could deal with them.”

“You were a mercenary.” The queen said, almost like it was a curse.

“Before you judge me too harshly, there were extenuating circumstances that allowed me to assume that role in an altruistic fashion.” I said. “Also, I wasn't a murderer for hire.”

Neither Milly nor the queen reacted to that, so I knew that they had understood what the job entailed. I started to explain about my personal situation at the time and how I would have the jobs, the clients, and the targets researched and verified, then I would hunt the targets down. Most were capture and return, except for the ones for The Order. Those were always eliminate, and the queen was surprised when I told her that I had faked all of their deaths and set them up with new lives, money, weapons, and a series of connections with the others that I had saved.

“You are a good man.” The queen whispered when I was done of that part.

“I could argue that I've done a lot of bad things, your majesty.” I said.

“That doesn't matter.” The queen said in dismissal and waved my comment away.

I glanced at Maylia, because she had said the same thing to me when I told her.

“Now, tell me about the garglemacer.” The queen said.

“After we took a day of rest and explored the capital city, under the captain's orders, we left and...” I explained everything that happened between then and now, and Maylia filled in the parts where I was unconscious. When we were done, quiet filled the room and no one spoke as they thought about everything that they had heard. Even me. I intertwined my fingers with Maylia's and glanced at her face. I couldn't thank her verbally for what she did for me in the guest room with the healers, so I winked at her. She understood and smiled at me.

“Can you show me the garglemacer?” The queen asked.

I looked around the room and shook my head. “It will never fit in here.” I said. “My bag of holding had to open to twenty feet across to fit it inside.”

“Twenty feet?” The queen asked, her eyes wide.

“That's with the wings folded in.” I said. “If you can wait until morning, I can take it out briefly before I head back to the valley town to give them the teeth and scales.”

“The town is called Bitosin.” The queen said. “You really promised to give them such valuable items?”

“I figured they were going to die facing the thing while defending their homes, so they should get something for that when it died.”

The queen looked at Maylia, who nodded. “I assume you'll bring it right back here after that.”

“I need the evidence for the captain of the guard, so yes.” I said.

The queen nodded. “After you collect the bounty, bring the carcass to me and I will buy it from you.”

“That's not...”

“I doubt anyone else could offer you what it's actually worth.” The queen said. “Will you sell it to me?”

“I should say no.” I said and looked at Milly. “I think a certain someone would be upset with me if I did, though.”

Milly nodded firmly, while the queen and Maylia smiled.

“It's settled then.” The queen said.

“I'll sell you the carcass for a fair price... and for some information.”

“Oh? About what?” The queen asked as Maylia and I stood.

“The emissaries of a certain goddess that arrived here a while ago.” I said. Since the queen didn't react in surprise or was startled by my words, that meant she must have known I would ask.

“I will tell you what I know, what I believe, and what is going to happen next... if you want to know.” The queen said. “Such things can be dealt with in the light of day and outside of Black Laura's domain, however.”

“Her domain is the night?” I asked and absorbed the solid Presence box that Maylia and I had sat on. “Is that one of the reasons she's called Black Laura?”

“Among others.” The queen said.

“Are you a follower?” I asked, curious.

“Not publicly.” The queen said. “There are too many different religions for the ruler of a kingdom to be partial to any of them and remain favoured by most of the people.”

“Unless you convert them all.” I said, and the queen's mask of a polite face became a frown.

“Being a ruler to guide the people, and ruling their lives with imposed religion, are two very different things.”

“Your majesty, I am very glad to hear that.” I said and held a hand out to her. She did the same move that Milly had when I had held a hand out to her, and she placed her fingertips on mine. I touched them with a thumb and bowed my head to her.

“Goodnight, your majesty.” I said and let her hand go, then held a hand out to Milly. She took it the same way and I bowed to her as well. “Goodnight, young majesty.”

I took Maylia's hand and we left the room and went all the way back to the guest room. I paid attention this time and saw all of the people tucked into recesses and corners all along the way.

They must be concealing themselves with a spell or something. I thought, because they glowed slightly green and I doubted that I would see them otherwise.

We entered the guest room and went over to the bed. Maylia pointed to the bathroom and the large tub there, and I shook my head as I climbed onto the mattress. I laid down and she laid down next to me, and I turned off the powered armor. I sank down into the mattress and Maylia rolled over on top of me.

“Hey, now. Control yourself.” I joked, and she chuckled.

“Go to sleep.” Maylia said and moved back slightly to lay on her side and faced me. “Despite being back to normal, you still need to rest.”

“You, too.” I said. “You worked hard to keep me safe and get me healed.”

“You would have done the same for me.” Maylia said.

“Definitely.” I responded and turned my head to look at her. “So... you actually created a Mana Hand.”

“I did.” Maylia said and I could hear the happiness in her voice. “Do you want to see it?”

“You don't need to show off for me.” I said and yawned. “I already think you're great.”

Maylia partially sat up and leaned over me. “You do?”

I nodded. “You've stuck by me as we ventured out into a strange world that neither of us has seen before. You've had my back the entire time, even fighting a dragon of all things.” I said and took her hand and held it. “I'm having a difficult time trying to come up with a way that I could have done all of this without you by my side.”

“I feel the same way.” Maylia said and gave me a kiss. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” I said, and she snuggled in as closely as she could, like she had when I was unconscious. I used a mental technique to enter a meditative state, so I could wake at any disturbance, then let my mind drift off to sleep.