Dimly, some distant compartment of Katsumi’s mind registered a few things in the hours between admitting Ástríðr into her chambers and the sky greying in preparation for the dawn, things of which, of course, she had no prior knowledge. The first was that, as the first penetration’s pain varied wildly between individual women, the eruption of sensation across her lower body, like she was being torn in half, was a pretty extreme outlier as far as deflowerings went. At least as far as she knew.

The second was that the member of a she-elf was distinct in shape and size from that of a human. It was, in reality, somewhat more akin to a cross between an equine’s and a feline’s, blunt and flared, but adorned with multiple fleshy, firm-but-not-hard barbs, more for sensation than the causing of damage. This introduced a multitude of factors into the situation she had not predicted.

The third was that apparently, as long as it wasn’t shredding or cutting her body, she really liked pain. The liquid fire that raced along her veins consumed every coherent thought outside of that one compartment of her mind, that one box of cognition that observed even as the barriers around it began to give way to the storm of feeling that assailed her.

The fourth was that she had grossly underestimated the veracity of the third point. When she felt the spiny flat head of Ástríðr’s member crush through her cervix, which was selectively permeable as a drahn, not bone but cartilage, her mind buckled under the strain of agony that ripped through her. Her body bucked and thrashed, her spine tensing and bending like the strained limbs of a longbow as she dimly registered a rush of fluid from her nethers, and then a dramatic release of tension that flooded her body with what seemed to be endorphins.

The fifth was that there might have been some accuracy to the claims of drahn being descended from dragons. She could think of no other way that Ástríðr’s seed flowing into her several hours and pain-induced little deaths later could be considered comforting, given that she knew that its temperature was around scalding. She knew there’d be some damage, but the feeling of it burning and boiling away the embryonic fluid-submerged flesh inside of her uterus had such an unexpectedly sweet savour to it.

It was upon realizing this that Katsumi began to log some serious questions regarding what she did and did not like when it came to sex.

She blinked, and it was hours later and the sun was rather high in the sky. Ástríðr’s hand played over her lithe form, tracing the patterns of bone-white scales that adorned her alabaster flesh as Katsumi’s tail began to lazily coil around her partner’s upper thigh. She felt that her back was pressed flush to Ástríðr’s front, and that they were, in essence, spooning, and while the feeling was surprisingly pleasant, there were still things that nagged away at her waking mind. These at the forefront, she twisted so that she was facing the other, taken slightly aback at the collection of scars the elf wore upon her body beneath the neck.

Ástríðr, though smiling slightly, looked as though she was going to say something, but Katsumi had to dispel her festering misgivings before engaging in what she could only assume was going to be ‘pillow talk.’ “Now you’ve had me. Last chance. Any second thoughts?”

Ástríðr’s face twisted in a way Katsumi couldn’t follow, but she closed her eyes and shook her head, chuckling ruefully. “I’d usually take offence to that in light of what we spoke of last night before we—”

“—were together.” Katsumi supplied quickly.

Ástríðr’s bemusement was written large across her features. “Yes, ‘were together.’ But I would be a hypocrite if I did so, as I was about to pose the same question to you.”

Katsumi smiled weakly and shook her head, an emphatic ‘no.’ “You need not worry about me. That I still had a maidenhead last night in spite of everything should indicate that I do not give it lightly. Despite our…disagreements…there is something I feel with you. Something powerful, that I can’t give accurate words to. Like a spark of some kind, tinder catching and blazing to light. I think that, one way or another, I would not forgive myself were I to allow that spark to dim and gutter out.”

“Heh. Well…” Ástríðr rolled over onto her back, and on perplexing reflex, Katsumi moved sinuously to conform her body to the formidable, muscular curvature of the elf’s body, her hand landing on Ástríðr’s chest, just above her heart, beating strong and steady. “In my case, I can safely say you are the first one who has actually desired a repeat performance out of me. I’d have to be an idiot to let that go. So I won’t.”

“I…” Katsumi’s gaze was that of a deer in bright light, paralyzed. Then it softened, almost sad. “I’m glad. You have…no idea, the extent to which your words bring me such relief.”

Ástríðr turned her head and regarded Katsumi with a smile. “I’d ask if you wanted to go for another round, but given the time and day, I suppose it’ll have to wait for later.”

“As much as I’d like to revisit what we spent last night doing, I fear you have the right of it,” Katsumi sighed, even as she began to pull away and slide out of bed. “But…thank you. I had no idea it was going to be so…intense.”

Katsumi could feel Ástríðr’s hungry gaze upon her rear, her skin tingling as it was ogled lasciviously. On a whim, Katsumi put a little sway into her hips, very nearly stumbling at the change in stride that created, but thankfully her tail swished and acted as a counterbalance as well as an additional flair to the movement. There was a low growl that thrummed deep in her lower abdomen as she heard it from the bed as she moved to the wardrobe. When the she-elf spoke, that feral urge carried through her every word and pause, drawing the air to a fevered pitch of tension. “Glad I was able to impress. I’m eager to find out what this ‘regular bed-partners’ business is all about. I’m more certain than I was that it’ll be a euphoric experience.”

Katsumi no longer felt she could trust her voice, not with the delirious flush suffusing her face. She giggled a bit, figuring that wasn’t going to be read into too much, as she opened the wardrobe and dressed. Her breasts were not especially considerable—some might call them flat or small—but all the same, she wrapped her sarashi, grateful beyond measure that Madam Tsuyu had provided the correct fabric for it. Dimly, she remembered the burn of linen on her chest, makeshift and crafted from stolen rolls of bandages, and so being able to wear something like this without having to figure out the intricacies of a bodice, and without the familiar irritation, was, in light of what had transpired, in keeping with this new beginning she could not help but feel had stolen upon her while she had not been looking.

Considering what she had on offer, she decided it would not go amiss to embellish a tad, to experiment with something new. The black trousers she chose were considerably tighter in fit, but still loose enough that they did not constrict her ability to move her legs. Into this and secured with a cinch she tucked the hem of the blouse she had chosen, a loose thing, white and slightly billowing, with a lower neckline than she would have ordinarily chosen for herself, but it would obscure her frame in a pinch, buying her precious moments to escape grievous injury. The black leather boots she found were slightly firmer than the light brown ones she had worn the previous day, and were an exact fit for her feet, in contrast to the approximated size of her previous footwear. She slipped on a pair of long, thin gloves, reasoning it was better to begin wearing them sooner rather than later, so that a callus would not form in the middle of a battle, inducing a moment of fatal hesitation. Once again, she had her satchel and was securing the baldric for Deatheater when she turned around, and saw Ástríðr steadily progressing through a series of push-ups.

Naked.

The flexing of her muscles, the movement of the coiled strength as it shifted beneath her skin as sweat beaded and fell, causing her form to glisten and glow in the sunlight, was nothing short of enthralling. All thought ceased as she stood, transfixed, her hands frozen in the end of the task of securing the baldric, her eyes riveted to the sinuous motion of exercise.

All sense of time fled from her, until finally Ástríðr’s swift, but controlled, exertions came to a close. She stood, looked at Katsumi, and chuckled. “Not all of us have the ability to magically amp up our strength, babe. I have to do this manually.”

These words cracked a whip across her mind, and she coloured and turned, staring resolutely at the wall. “O...of course. I was simply surprised to see you doing it in such a state of undress.”

“Come on, babe, don’t prude up on me, now. If I did it clothed, all I’d have is a set of sweaty, icky clothes I’d have to change out of, and frankly, I don’t see much point in protecting my modesty from someone who has not only seen everything, but also had me inside of them,” Ástríðr explained as she jumped to catch on a rafter, beginning to execute a series of rapid-fire one-arm pull-ups.

“You’re correct. It was just a shock, that’s all…!” Katsumi yelped, Ástríðr’s grunts of exertion winding the agonizing tension in her core ever-tighter. Eventually, it became intolerable, and Katsumi walked with purpose to the door, her back to her exercising…lover? She clutched a closed fist against her chest, to still the rushing of blood scorching its way through her veins. “What would you like me to get you from your room with regards to garments?”

“No need. I’m going to bathe before dressing anyways, so I’ll get them myself. Why? You have somewhere to go?”

Anywhere but here… I have not the strength to remain in this room…

A pulse sounded in her ears—now that she thought about it, did she have ears, or did she hear through some other means?—and she opened her hand slowly, to see that she had clasped her fingers around the orb from the previous day. Looking into its depths did not calm her, but it allowed her to briefly push aside the fire in her skin and speak clearly. “I do, in fact. I should like to speak with Madam Tsuyu and see if there is aught that I can do to make myself useful to the bordello. I have no income at the moment, and so it would be the least I could do. I shall see you on the ground floor when you are finished.”

She stepped through the threshold and closed the door behind her, nearly collapsing against it as she exhaled all at once, her breath shuddering and hesitant. It was as though something dormant had awakened quite abruptly within her the night before, and it was so unlike anything with which she had previously grappled that she hadn’t the slightest idea of how to control it, or herself while in its unyielding grip. Like shackles of iron, it held her mind in thrall whenever she relaxed for even a moment, lurking seductively as a shadow just beyond the light of her awareness, lengthening and creeping and stealing in whenever she looked away for even a moment, if even to beat back yet another tendril lurking from the fluid darkness of desire that surrounded her, in which she could easily drown.

Quickly she pushed forth from her door, remembering to slip the orb into her satchel before it slipped her mind entirely, and started walking down the corridor, and to the first floor. It was firmly midmorning, and the others were already awake. Sonja’s gaze upon her was wary, as though she was watching an animal that was for now tamed, but could easily bite the hand that fed it should a moment of negligence allow it to slip its tether. A part of her rose in indignant irritation, but the more practical majority of her conceded that in light of the Beast’s rousing the day before, it was only expected for Sonja to keep her under more diligent scrutiny until she was reasonably certain that it would not slip from her again, and perhaps even put in mortal danger all she held dear. And so Katsumi bore it.

Kagura looked at her with a respect in full bloom, a warrior’s respect. There was an edge of murder in her gaze, but far from malice or enmity, this sprung from an acknowledgement of her strength. It was base and bestial, but simple and uncomplicated, and it brought a sort of reassurance to it. She knew where they stood—that someday, one of them would kill the other, and thus prove forever which of them was stronger, but until that day when only one of them could walk their path, they would walk it together. Kyomi had a similar emotion in her gaze, though only at its core; hers was a more cognitive assessment, a recognition of her abilities and their utility.

She caught Sonja begin to stiffen as she drew close, and discreetly changed course, allowing the paladin to relax. If this was going to affect their cohesion as a unit, this power she had that came only when she called, that called to her only when the alternative was death, that would be a problem, and she would take steps to rectify it; absent that, she was content to let her need for caution fade with time, and was not inclined to press the issue unless it proved an absolute necessity.

This in mind, she moved over to the bar, sitting on a stool directly in front of Tandem as he meticulously dried out a metal tankard. His ruby red eyes flickered up to her, his marble skin showing none of the sallow frailty that Kyomi’s complexion put on display, frailty she thought typical of their condition, now that she sat and thought about it. “See anything interesting?”

“Since you asked, you look a lot healthier than Kyomi,” Katsumi replied. “Your complexion, at least. Appearances can be deceiving and all of that, but…she looks like she’d be toppled by a stiff wind. You look like you’re carved from living stone.”

“Thank you…?” Tandem cocked a single bone-white brow into a quizzical expression.

“It wasn’t meant as a compliment,” Katsumi said, shaking her head. “Of the two of you, Kyomi looks more like what I would expect the typical albino to look like, to a degree that would be comical if I didn’t find large blanks in information disquieting. So, what’s your secret, and why are you not sharing it with Kyomi?”

She could feel Kyomi’s eyes boring twin holes into her back, even at such a distance, but she ignored it; and before the summoner could rise to give voice to her protest, Tandem sighed and shook his head. “It’s a story and a half. Not one I’m inclined to tell you while I’m polishing tankards, that’s for certain. Suffice it to say that Kyomi is employing the method by which I spent a large portion of my life managing my condition. I found an alternative method, but it’s not one that would work for her. Does that satisfy your curiosity, girl?”

“Sufficiently so that I shall refrain from prying further,” Katsumi shot back. She then looked around for her benefactor, and, finding her absent, presented her next query. “Where is Madam Tsuyu?”

“Bathing,” Tandem said, his tone terse and long-suffering, but still fond. “How’s my daughter?”

“...!” Katsumi’s words stuck in her throat, the image of Ástríðr in the midst of a morning routine to which she had never before been privy surging forth of its own accord and seizing her lungs in what she was certain was something akin to rigor mortis.

Tandem barked a short, mirthless laugh. “Oh, gods, it’s written all across your face. How Tsuyu caught it as early as she did is beyond me still, but at least I now know she didn’t cheat. Which kind of makes it smart more, if I’m being completely honest.”

“W-when I left her, she seemed healthy…and ambulatory…” Katsumi forced out, even as her throat constricted painfully around the words.

“I’m sure,” Tandem said with a wry twist to his tone. “The girl once had a log lobbed at her. Whole fucking trunk, old growth. She caught it and threw it back. She’s plenty durable. But I take from the intensity of your reaction that last night went well?”

“...I suppose that’s one way to look at it…” Katsumi sighed.

“I know it doesn’t sound like it, but that’s probably a rave review regarding her,” Tandem chuckled. “She does nothing by half-measures, that one.”

“Most assuredly,” Katsumi agreed. “I just… I’m…lost.”

Tandem studied her, and then sighed. “I’m no good at stuff like this. Tsuyu’s the one who handles complicated shit like this—I usually can’t make heads or tails out of it… She basically had to beat me over the head with the idea that we could be a couple before I finally took the hint and asked her to marry me. But, in the probably vain hope that some of her savvy regarding these situations has managed to rub off on me over the years, and my idiot brain hasn’t managed to forget it, I guess the best advice I can give is to be open about your feelings with her. If you guys are going to be joined at the hip, the right hand absolutely needs to know what the left is doing. Am I making sense?”

Katsumi exhaled in a huff. “I suppose. I just…I feel like I’m drowning…”

Tandem’s eyes went wide as he looked over Katsumi’s shoulder. “Hold that thought, kid. Tsuyu just came down the stairs, and she’s got that look in her eye.”

Katsumi nodded heavily and turned around to look at the madam as her geta hit the floor with a slight clack that silenced the other three at the table in the midst of their coffea drinking, drawing what gazes were not already upon her.

Madam Tsuyu clapped her hands together and exhaled. “Well. It’s good to see everyone up and lively! I’ve given some thought to what was proposed yesterday morning, and I think it’s a brilliant idea. A fifth member means that you’ll be safe enough for me to be comfortable with you all taking low-level marks. So, once Ástríðr is finished with her bathing, I’d like you all to head over to the Guild and pick out an appropriate quest. Since this will be your first true endeavour together as a party, I must insist that you take a one-star quest, two-star at the absolute maximum. We’re open tonight, and it would be beyond troublesome to replace any of you on short notice should you receive significant injury, so rest assured, I mean it. Nothing greater than two stars. Are you listening, Kagura?”

“Yeah, yeah,” the vii sister sighed with a dismissive wave of her hand. “It’d be stupid to risk death this early—even I’m not that reckless.”

Madam Tsuyu’s jade gaze, hard and sharp as the jewel itself, softened. “Very good. I would hate to have to explain to Yuriya why you were indisposed when she gets here.”

Kagura made an odd motion, as much a cringing flinch as it was a perking up, her large leporine ears standing at strict attention. “She’s coming?!”

Tsuyu nodded with a fond, but unmistakably feline close-lipped smile. “My dear sister-in-law sent word ahead. She should be arriving late tonight, just after closing. She mentioned you by name, and asked after your going rate.”

“And what did you tell her?!” The excited, nervous tension in Kagura’s voice trilled through the room, like the beating of a hummingbird’s heart.

“That you would be happy to receive her, and that your usual fee would be waived. Far be it from me to keep you two apart for something as minor as a fistful of gil,” Madam Tsuyu replied, slipping her kiseru into her mouth as she approached the bar, beelining for the tray of kizami packets Tandem slipped onto the edge of the varnished wooden surface. She tore a packet open with a grateful look to her husband, who responded with a nod as the ball of stringy, amphetamine-laced tobacco was placed into the small bowl, a snap of the woman’s fingers sparking onto it and setting it alight. Taking a deep breath, she held it, and exhaled the fumes steadily through finely-pursed lips, a seemingly involuntary pleased hum surging through her. “Kyomi, I’m afraid Sophia is still stuck at the conference in Rosenfaire. Her missive mentioned that Emberlet’s representative was pushing aggressively for a greater trade share, and that needs to be dealt with before she can come see you. She mentioned an extended timeline of anywhere from three days to a fortnight, depending on how long it takes to smooth out all the inevitable ruffled feathers.”

Kyomi did not share Kagura’s tangible enthusiasm, her mask of composure firmly in place as she nodded soberly.

Katsumi turned a perplexed gaze to Tandem. Obviously these two, Yuriya and Sophia, were important to the vii twins, and one was Tandem’s sister, but that was all she knew. Madam Tsuyu caught her look, and, after attracting her gaze, mouthed, ‘Later.’

The drahn nodded, somewhat disquieted, but for the moment mollified.

“Katsumi! Do you think you can do that berserker thing again when Yuriya gets here?!” Kagura asked excitedly.

Katsumi stiffened, and Kagura wilted at the look Madam Tsuyu shot her. “...Nevermind.”

“Please excuse my sister,” Kyomi sighed. “She speaks without thinking sometimes, particularly when Yuriya the Sword Saint is involved.”

“My sister is not to be trifled with, Kagura. Her lenience for you is greater than it is for most people, but it is by no means unlimited. I would advise you to exercise quite a bit more caution in dealing with her than you have in the past,” Tandem chided. “Yuriya has no compunctions about leaving you limbless if she thinks that your autonomy is going to get you killed. You should know this by now.”

Kagura slumped further in her chair, muttering dejectedly.

“Oh, come off it,” Kyomi snapped. “You finally get to go kill things today, for fuck’s sake!”

“My sword, though…”

“You have a spare, you idiot!”

Kagura straightened, righting herself in her chair at that admonition, pouting and looking away. “It’s not the same…”

“They’re literally the same quality and type of sword!”

“It’s not the same!”

Kyomi threw up her hands. “Fuck it. I tried! You all saw!”

“Don’t you need to bathe, Katsumi?” Sonja asked, speaking up for the first time all morning. “I understand you bedded my sister. That tends to not be an especially lax affair.”

Katsumi shrugged, the pink still appearing in her cheeks, but the note of accusation and distrust in Sonja’s voice prevented a full flush to bloom across her face. “I don’t think so? I haven’t perspired, if that’s your implication.”

“Drahn bodies don’t perspire,” Tandem remarked. “They regulate like reptiles, and the dragons’ blood that flows through them runs toward the hotter side as a general matter, so her need to keep her temperature down is not as great as it would be for any of the other races, save for maybe a galdjent. The trade-off is that they need to eat meat in large quantities to keep themselves going, though. Speaking of which, how was the food we sent Ástríðr up to you with last night?”

Tandem’s attention turned towards her, and Katsumi froze. “Food?”

“...You did eat, yes?” Tandem prompted, eyes widening.

“I…” Katsumi paused. “I forgot to.”

“So you’re telling me this is day three that you have gone without food?!”

“Day four, actually,” Katsumi noted absently. “Is that an issue?”

“Swords give me strength…” Tandem muttered.

“It is a problem, but not one without a solution. Katsumi, you need to remember to eat when you can. By the colour of your scales I can tell that you don’t feel hunger, so you have to keep in mind that just because you don’t feel hunger, that doesn’t mean that your body doesn’t need to be fed. The fact that you haven’t collapsed yet is nothing short of astounding,” chided Madam Tsuyu. She tapped her kiseru in the free air for a few moments in thought, before looking to Tandem. “We have the leftovers of last night’s boar, yes? Sealed and all that?”

Tandem nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line.

“Bring her a double serving before they go. It’s important that she remains well-fed more so than others, especially with…” She gave her husband a meaningful look.

“On it,” he replied, moving smoothly into the kitchen behind the bar.

“Now, when you get back tonight, Kagura especially, I want you pristine and presentable for Yuriya. You know what she likes,” Madam Tsuyu directed.

Kagura nodded eagerly, her mood still high. It was a bit of a shock to see this other side to her, the Yakuza-affiliated sukeban persona that Kagura usually put forth completely at odds with this…girl, as energized as a puppy and appearing moments from preening obsessively to look her best.

“Kyomi. I know you feel left out, so if Sophia isn’t done in one week, I’m giving you leave to take off from work and join her in Rosenfaire. It’s clear to me that neither of you does particularly well when separated from the other, and I need you at your best when you come to work, especially with regards to the niche you fill.”

Kyomi’s eyes went wide in shock, and then she grinned, before pressing it down into a small smile. “Thank you, ma’am.”

Madam Tsuyu smiled back. “Just know that this possible absence will be made known to all patrons, so in the next few days, you may have to deal with a glut of roaders.”

Kyomi’s excitement didn’t dim, her pinkish eyes sparking with euphoric anticipation.

“‘Roaders’?” asked Katsumi, perplexed, as her head tilted to the side. “I’m unfamiliar with the term.”

“I got this one,” announced Kagura. “Well, when the jon’s about to be gone for a while, maybe for travel, maybe for war, maybe they won’t come back and die, they tend to book one last session ‘for the road,’ so we call them ‘roaders.’”

“Oh,” said Katsumi, suddenly feeling very silly for not immediately making the connection given context.

A few moments of silence settled, and then two things happened in quick succession.

First, Tandem came out with a plate piled high with slabs of boar meat, into which Katsumi began to dig, each bite dispelling a pervasive feeling of ickiness she had not been consciously aware of; then, Ástríðr walked down the stairs into the tavern area, fully clothed and stretching her long, lean, strong limbs, catching Katsumi’s eye with a predatory smoulder and giving a saucy wink that ignited the drahn’s pale face and caused her to start choking on the bite she had just been one third of the way through swallowing.

She coughed violently, her body shuddering with the effort of dislodging the rather large morsel, at which point she, resolutely looking away from her bedmate of the previous night, tried again, chewing and swallowing that piece of meat before going back and chipping away at her feeling of discomfort that wasn’t at all what she remembered hunger feeling like, but present all the same, and warranting being accounted for with regard to future situations.

Ástríðr’s eyes did not bore into her back as she might have expected, and for that, she was grateful; but her very presence was heavy. It was like putting her back to the sun in a desert, with nothing between its passive, scorching radiance, and her all-too-delicate flesh. Between the simmer in her blood and the intensity of Ástríðr’s aura, her skin seemed to be frying to a crisp as she fervently attempted to keep her eyes forward as she shoveled food into her mouth in a manner that resembled a marionette’s mimicry to an increasingly uncanny extent.

It was torture. It was torment. It was dying of thirst and being dragged to an unending supply of cool, fresh water and having to resist drinking, being told that she must not drink. Her very being began vibrating with tension at some point in the process of eating, so much so that the last few cuts of meat, flavourful, juicy and wonderfully seasoned, began to miss her mouth, the trembling of her hands throwing off the precision of her movements.

Eventually, she finally got the last of it down, muttering her thanks to Tandem, and, by this point unable to take notice of the peculiar feeling that came with sating that particular need, she plastered a gentle smile on her face as she turned to regard Ástríðr as she interacted with the others, talking to Kagura and Kyomi with a friendly grin searing the room in vibrant brilliance, though Katsumi noted how her eyes flickered over to Sonja every so often.

Above all else, Katsumi wished for the physical distance between herself and Ástríðr to evaporate. She wished to curl herself around Ástríðr’s sculpted body, to constrict herself gently around her muscular form as a serpent might, and then to never be separated, but…she found she couldn’t. Ástríðr had her friends and her sister, whom she clearly valued immensely, and from whom she would no doubt be unwilling to part. This was their time, and so she would not, could not intrude in this moment where they simply got to be friends.

The thought was like a dozen red-hot knives plunging into her body repeatedly. Her body stilled, even as her mind recoiled in abject shock; Katsumi had always been an outsider, but this was the first time that realisation hurt.

And then, of course, the inability to force herself to go to Ástríðr, and her knowledge of the necessity of that prevention, did nothing to calm the urge within her, the yawning ache that caused her significant disquiet. It surged, consumed, devoured, and yet no matter how it howled, how it scraped at the walls of her mind like a rabid, feral beast, she could not have moved even had she wanted to. Her body would not obey her commands, and for that, she was at once immensely grateful and tied to a post as the flames caught and raced along her flesh, the heat causing her skin to boil and pop and sear as she was restrained, powerless to escape, her every waking moment ablaze with refulgent despair.

And then Ástríðr glanced at her and winked again.

Katsumi whirled right back around, resolutely. Distantly, she was thankful that her race actually did lack ears, because she was aware that even with her long hair, her ears would have blazed red with the full-body flush that, like a sea serpent made of fire, unhinged its jaw and swallowed her whole. It was a strange feeling, to have her mind go blank while her thoughts raced, to have everything be flitting through her too quickly for her to feel grounded while she was a white void at the same time. The paradoxical contrast was unnerving, but in view of how unnerved and tense she already was, the feeling didn’t especially stand out as remarkable.

She jumped nearly out of her skin with a wordless, almost animal ‘yip!’ as a pair of arms wrapped around her, their scars and musculature marking them as Ástríðr’s. Her lover’s head nestled next to hers, dragging her tongue up Katsumi’s cheek and leaving a line of…‘heat’ was far too weak a word…where her wet, prehensile muscle touched the drahn’s livid skin. “What’cha up to, babe?”

“...!”

“Right, stupid question. Why don’t you come over and sit with the rest of us? We’ve got room…” Ástríðr asked.

Katsumi was just about to wordlessly nod and agree, but her mouth moved independent of her. “I don’t want to make Sonja uncomfortable.”

Ástríðr stiffened slightly against Katsumi. “Come again?”

Ástríðr’s voice was low and dangerous, almost hissing with venom. Katsumi was certain she had somehow made Ástríðr angry, that Ástríðr hated her again, that she was all alone, that she might not survive it this time…but her words came, once more unbidden. “She’s been watching me all morning, like I might snap at her. In light of what happened yesterday, it’s a perfectly sensible concern—she doesn’t know what it was like, she only saw that I nearly killed her and Kagura, so she’s being cautious—so I chose not to press the issue. I’m sorry…”

Ástríðr inhaled sharply, once more like a snake’s hiss, and Katsumi cringed on reflex, but then Ástríðr, miraculously and methodically, began to relax. “I’m not mad at you, babe. Give me a second, then I want you at that table next to me. Okay?”

Katsumi nodded, and this time, thankfully, her mouth and mind were in accord on the importance of remaining silent.

“Good.” Ástríðr pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and then moved away, her arms sliding off of Katsumi’s body even as her fingers lingered, dragging across her chest and leaving streamers of scorching sensitivity along their path. “I’ll just be a moment, don’t worry.”

Katsumi counted the retreating, slow footfalls, struck by how loping Ástríðr’s stride sounded, and then counted out ten seconds. Once she was contemplating continuing onto eleven if she was going to wait this long after ten, she turned around and saw Ástríðr staring at her, her posture languid and a space open right next to her, close enough that their hips would be flush together. Swallowing a hard mouthful of saliva and taking a deep breath, she stood and walked across the tavern floor, sitting gingerly where Ástríðr had indicated, a squeak tearing free from her as Ástríðr’s arm immediately settled around her shoulder, pulling her even closer than even the seats would have implied. So focused on her breathing and maintaining what little remained of her composure was she in that moment that she almost missed when Ástríðr began speaking.

“A little bird of mine told me that there’s a posting in the Adventurer’s Guild. It’s a two-star ranking, and while I understand and to an extent agree with Mom, Katsumi had a point yesterday. We need to make some sort of splash if we’re ever going to be able to gain ground. The job is a relatively simple one, to clear out some monsters in the mithril mines. They’re nearby, maybe a few hours’ walk outside of city limits. Depending on complications, we can be there, have the job done, and be back within the day.”

“What’s the payout?” Kyomi asked.

“...Ten thousand gil.”

“For a two-star?!” Kyomi exclaimed. “That’s absurd! There’s gotta be more to this if they’re willing to fork that much cash over!”

“From what my bird told me, discretion is the motive here. The mine is only a few ‘turns old, and the government doesn’t want this to get to the ears of the conference in Rosenfaire. Emberlet and Bantamoor would be ripping each other apart to get the first crack at reaming Maelnaulde for every ingot they could get were the news of the mithril mine to go public, so they can’t bring the Crown Knights into it, and nor can they be entirely overt with what’s happening. The sooner the better, though, so the ten thousand’s a base price. The bonus will increase with haste, and given the mark went up today…

“Anyway, that’s what my bird is telling me. My gut, however, is wholeheartedly agreeing with you, Kyomi. There’s something there that they’re not telling us about.”

“What kinda monsters we gotta kill?” asked Kagura.

Ástríðr shrugged. “Goblins. Qiqirn. Kobolds. Gremlins. Cave shit. The types one would expect when going in to clear a mine. But that’s only what they’re telling us; we’re likely to run into much nastier foes with that kind of payout. So we should be prepared for that, keep on our toes, et cetera.”

“What’s the procedure for something like this?” Sonja took that moment to ask her own question, even as Kagura nodded in satisfaction and leaned back in her chair.

“Already done. My little bird brought me the missive, going through all the bureaucratic nonsense to get us registered to have taken this job. Having said that, I don’t doubt we might have some competition getting there. Information does not travel by courier faster than avaricious eyes can see, after all. Fortunately, we have a way there. The girl who runs the local raptor rental owes me a fair few favours, so we’re getting five of her birds to get us to our destination today.”

“Raptors…?” Katsumi asked, nonplussed.

“You don’t know what raptors are?” Kyomi asked skeptically.

“Not in this context,” Katsumi replied. “Where I’m from…in the Far East…the word refers to a type of bird that’s domesticated as a hunting and scouting aid. What they have to do with transportation is beyond me.”

“Huh. Never knew that. Though I suppose you’ve spent more time in our shared homeland than my sister and I. We were spirited away before we could remember. My earliest memories were in the streets of Ravana, so…” Kyomi shrugged.

Katsumi had no idea what Ravana was, but she felt like revealing that was a bad idea, so she held her tongue on the subject for the moment.

“Don’t worry, babe. You’ll see how we get around in this side of the world soon enough.”

“It’s…a bird. A literal bird. But bipedal…” The words fell from Katsumi’s mouth as her wide purple eyes took in the beasts of burden they were renting for the day, free of charge. “Huh. Somehow I was expecting… I don’t exactly know what I was expecting, actually.”

“What do they use where you come from to get around?” asked Ástríðr.

“Horses,” Katsumi replied. “Where I grew up, we were near the province with the best horses in the land. They weren’t especially large compared to foreign breeds, but they were sturdy, loyal, and reliable.”

“Well, horses aren’t common in these lands, but raptors are. So they were domesticated,” said Kyomi.

“Mm…” Katsumi hummed idly as she looked at the ‘raptors,’ noting that now she had a name for the strange bird emblazoned on the international currency, the ‘gil.’ They were large, seemingly favoured bright yellow plumage, and bipedal, as noted. Their beaks were large, wickedly sharp, and seemingly very sturdy, and in their beady black eyes she noted the obvious capacity for abrupt and brutal murder.

“They’re almost exclusively carnivorous, though they vastly prefer the flesh of monsters to those of the sentient races,” the woman they were taking the animals from for the day explained helpfully. Katsumi remembered the woman had introduced herself as Thérèse, and that she was apparently a bastard daughter of a minor noble house that specialised in the breeding of domesticated raptors, hence the how and why of her coming to work here. The nature of the favours she owed Ástríðr was unknown to Katsumi still, but she realized before the question even formed in her vocal chords that that was not her business to know. She had to remember to respect Ástríðr’s space, to let her have her secrets, to rein in her desire to know everything about the she-elf with whom she was currently entangled. “The hunter-killer aspect is still there, though, so instead of providing them with food, we let them loose to hunt down their own. They’re not exactly the most migratory, so these ones always return to the place of origin. The ones for personal use in long-distance travel are trained rather differently and are much more expensive as a result.”

Katsumi could only admire how the woman, a hume, spoke on the subject even as she scurried around the enclosure, seeing to the preparedness and tack of each of the five mounts they had selected. That spoke to a remarkable ability to multitask.

The drahn got three thoughts into evaluating the hume’s appearance and analysing her reactions to Ástríðr to gauge if they themselves had any romantic feelings there, before she clamped down on her own mind ruthlessly. The girl was very pretty, very delicate, and if Ástríðr was entangled with her as well to any extent, that was perfectly fine, as clearly the hume was there first, and it wasn’t as though Katsumi would find sharing the elf impossible. Or at the very least, not as impossible as she was beginning to suspect separation might be. And really, it was beyond conceited to think that Ástríðr felt as strongly about Katsumi as Katsumi did about her. Katsumi was naive and inexperienced when it came to actual romantic attachment or sexual attraction, and Ástríðr had no such issues. She had to continue to push herself to keep those runaway thoughts in their place if she could not eliminate them entirely.

“All done!”

Katsumi shook herself from her thoughts as Thérèse the hume woman stood before them, hands on her hips, brilliant red hair shot through with streaks of white that were not from aging, her lime-green eyes and freckled, youthful face attesting to that. Her hands were on her hips as she looked at them, her sturdy brown tunic and loose trousers fluttering in the gusts of wind that blew through Maelnaulde. “Treat my boys right and they’ll treat you right. If you don’t, I’ll know. Got it?”

Ástríðr chuckled. “Message received, Thérèse. Take care of yourself, alright?”

“You, too. A word with your girlfriend, though, before you all are on your merry way?”

Ástríðr’s good humour vanished, and Katsumi made a note to never cause a delay if she wished to avoid upsetting her lover. A muscle in the elf’s jaw ticked for a pregnant moment before she sharply nodded her assent. “Make it quick.”

Thérèse laughed in response, and Katsumi saw how the tension increased in Ástríðr’s body, begging the question of whether Thérèse was entirely ignorant of the danger she was courting, or if the hume was somehow immune to it. The woman waved Katsumi over as Ástríðr directed the others to mount up, and Katsumi did as she was bid with one last look at Ástríðr, growing increasingly worried about the twitching tendon near her neck.

Thérèse guffawed. “Relax, kid. I’m not going to garrotte you. I just wanted to have a quick talk. And it will be quick; I don’t fancy trying to build back my business after one of Ástríðr’s legendary tantrums.”

“What did you want, then?” asked Katsumi, doing her best to look and sound cordial.

“I’m not fucking Ástríðr. Never have, never will. She’s helped me look after my little brother and keep him safe through his noble antics over and over again, so I consider her a firm acquaintance, maybe a friend on a good day. But I know her well enough to say I want no part of her. She’s all yours,” said Thérèse.

Katsumi’s jaw dropped, before something like bile that tasted more like blood lurched forth in her mouth. “And what gave you the impression I was even curious?!”

“Your eyes are an open book, kid. Until recently the pages have been uniformly blank, I’m guessing, so you haven’t figured out how to guard them just yet. But everything you’re thinking is blasted from them, if you know how to look. So rest assured, I’m not trying to cut into your time with your girlfriend. And, judging by how she’s near to frothing at the mouth over there…she wouldn’t allow me even if I was so inclined. Now cart yourself back over there, please. I have enough expenses without having to replace load-bearing beams, and the one she’s closest to is starting to splinter.” Thérèse shooed her away, and Katsumi turned, perplexed, and began to walk back. “Oh, and kid? One last thing.”

Katsumi looked to the hume over her shoulder, stopping in her tracks.

“Learn to guard those eyes. They’ll be the death of you otherwise.”

“Noted,” Katsumi replied.

Thérèse stared at her with an unusual intensity. “I’m serious. I might not be Ástríðr’s friend, but that doesn’t mean I want to see her hurt.”

Katsumi nodded this time, suddenly less than inclined to deliver a glib quip or scathing response to the admonition that rang out like a death knell.

Unsettled, she put her face forward and walked towards the remaining raptor waiting for her. She had actually never ridden an animal before, ever, but she was aware of the basics of mounting procedure and was confident in her ability to fake experience in a pinch. One foot went into the nearest stirrup, and then she stood on it for the moment it took to swing her leg around the animal’s hindquarters, slipping into the other stirrup and settling with the saddle padding the creature’s back. She took hold of the reins on its bitless bridle, configured so as to allow the bird to open his mouth, hunt and eat, and then gently squeezed the beast’s sides with her knees, spurring him forward, and praying to whatever god was passing by and might overhear that the mechanics of riding the raptor were similar to the principles of horse-riding she had assumably read about, given that the knowledge of how to do so was in her head sharing space with the knowledge of having never practised it.

“CU-AY!” exclaimed the raptor, moving forward slowly to take his place with his fellows as Katsumi let out a small sigh of relief.

Ástríðr immediately relaxed as Katsumi drew level with her, her expression changing entirely, assumably now that they were back on schedule. Their de-facto leader for this quest took point, leading them out of the gates of Maelnaulde and into parts unknown, towards the mithril mine they were to purge of all interloping life.

At the very edge of Katsumi’s awareness, the blade on her back, the kriegsmesser called “Deatheater,” bathed itself in fell forces, and seethed.