We left Jolie-sempai’s home and we followed the path behind it to the small hut. Unsure, I raised my hand and was about to knock when the door slid open. Two women were standing behind the door looking at us. “Wow, you’re old.” I whispered.
“What’d you say, you little brat!” Before I could blink the taller elderly woman was a hair away. I actually flinched too. The shorter lady pulled what I think is her sister away and apologised for her.
“I’m sorry Hime, my sister has a short temper. Please come in for some tea.”
We walked into the hut. It was a poor looking hut. The walls were stone as was the floor. The wooden table was the first thing in view. It was in the middle of the home and under it was a fur rug. Next was a kitchen on the left, well, I guess you could call it a kitchen. It was more like a counter and a pantry with a bucket of water on one side. Too my right were some cupboards and in the back right corner were the ladies’ bunks. The middle of the back wall held a fireplace and in the back left corner I could see what looked like the shadow of a scrawny boy and a little cot.
“Come, sit.” The kind lady and her sister took a seat with their tea and we followed. “So you’re here for some training. We can help you. Amaya-chan will be trained by Ada-san and Rini-hime will be taught by me. I am Yuuki.
Ada-san will be teaching Amaya-chan mostly weapons while Rini-hime will mostly hone her magical skills. You will receive Saturdays off and training is from five in the morning until sunset, except on Wednesday when training will end in the afternoon so that Ada-san and I can have some time for ourselves.
Chores will be split between the two of you. You will cook dinner, take care of our chickens and keep your room clean. We’ll leave it to you on how to split them. Training starts tomorrow seeing as you will have questions tonight. This is how it will be.”
“Uh,” I started to say as I eyed to silhouette in the corner.
“His name is Souta-san. He might not talk much, not now anyway.” Yuuki-sensei whispered the last part with a smile on her face. “Now let’s get started. We only have about two weeks.”
“How can we trust you?” Amaya’s face showed she was annoyed with Yuuki-sensei rattling on for a bit.
“You can’t trust us.” Ada-sama finally spoke up. “You hardly know us, but we trust you and your friend Jolie referred us to you. I know Hime trusts her enough and you seem to, otherwise you wouldn’t still be here.”
Amaya grunted. I took a quick look around the hut. “Wait, where are we going to sleep?” If I count the cot for Souta-san then there are only three beds and no room for more.
Ada-sama stood up and hit the only wooden square in the ceiling. It fell open and a rope ladder hung down from the hole. “It’s a small attic with a dresser and two cots. It should be enough for you. Your training outfit will be under your pillow. After you get unpacked, feel free to ask us any more questions that you may have.”
Amaya crawled up the ladder and I followed. The walls were made of stone and were shaped around us like an igloo. There were two cots with a space in the middle where the dresser was. The source of light was a window facing what would be the backyard of Ada-sama’s and Yuuki-sensei’s home. “I call the cot closest to the window!” I exclaimed as I jumped on it. We unpacked and checked under our pillows. Amaya pulled up a black kimono. It was cut off at her knees and had super long sleeves. The large bow around the stomach was orange as was the trim of the dress. It made me excited as I scrambled around for mine. “Mine isn’t here, I’ll go ask Sensei about it.” I crawled down the ladder to see Yuuki-sensei leaving.
“Come, Hime.” She said without looking back. I followed her and as I caught up she told me, “Your training outfit is the one Jolie-chan made for you. We decided that you’d like it more than the one we had for you. It could barely be called an outfit with all the holes in it.”
“Thank you,” I agreed. “but I noticed you know everything I’m about to say, Sensei. Can you read minds?”
“No Hime, I cannot read minds, I can see the future. What I can control is only the ability of seeing a few days into the future, a week if I rest for a couple days after. That’s how I knew that you would show up and what you were going to ask me. Occasionally, I will get a vision more than a week into the future, but I can’t control it or hear anything in the vision. That’s how I know we only have about two weeks.”
“Sensei, so the future you see always happens?”
“Of course not, Hime. For example, two days ago I saw that tomorrow we wouldn’t receive any mail because the mailman would be sick. But a nurse who had affection for him changed her mind and decided to take medicine to him so now I see that we will get mail tomorrow because the mailman won’t be sick anymore.
The future I see is only based on peoples’ decisions up to when I have the vision. If one event happens that could change the decision of a person involved with the vision, then the whole future changes. With the visions I can’t control it is different. Those are sure to happen.”
“Oh, I understand now.” We continued our walk in silence as we swerved through the path at the back of the house. We passed the chicken shed and stopped at a cliff. It had a bench on the edge, looking out over the country. Behind it was a tombstone. I stared at the stars for a minute and then I turned back and left Sensei there. I arrived back at the hut when it was empty. I’m guessing Ada-sama and Amaya went on a walk too but knowing Amaya, they could be tipping cows or painting the town red. I’m a bit hungry so I started making myself a ham sandwich.
“I want to leave,” I said to Amaya. She was lying on her side on the floor.
She rubbed her eye with my fist and croaked, “Uh . . . leave where and why?”
“The next village over, I want to leave this place. I know he’s not my father, and I’m sick of being polite!” I replied, my voice rising near the end. Amaya was still lying on the floor. If she didn’t hurry up we would get caught and not be allowed to leave.
“How long?” she asked still half asleep.
“Forever, I want to leave.”
“Alright, I’m pretty sick of this place too, just let me change first,” She said a little more clearly, beginning to wake up. I can understand why she wanted to change, she was just wearing an oversized t-shirt. She nodded and I shut the door.
I made a hole in a piece of paper and laced a string through it. On the paper I wrote:
Dear Father,
I have decided to go on an adventure to visit some of the towns in Kouseitan’i as a commoner so I can discover the real state that our beloved country is in. I’m sorry that I couldn’t tell you, but I know you would have forced so many bodyguards to follow me that everyone would know I was Princess Rini. This way I stand a chance of no one recognising me since I’ll be in disguise. Do not worry, I have the maid Amaya with me and she was trained with the weapons she made as a blacksmith. With love,
Your Baby Princess,
Rini
p.s. Don’t come looking for me Daddy.
I’m a big girl now and I’ll be back in a month.
I read the note over once and hung it on the door handle. I left the room and waited near the back staircase. Eventually Amaya showed up and greeted me.
“Grrrrowl.” She said.
Wait, she doesn’t say ‘growl’, I thought. I slowly looked around through the dark. There was a candle beside me so I picked it up and took a step towards the door. I stopped and listened, but no sound came. I relaxed.
“Grrrowlowl.” I spun around and held my candle towards the back right corner. I think the sound came from there. I held up the candle to see blue hair. I realised this was Souta-san. He was looking down at his stomach and rubbing it. He was sitting on a three-legged stool.
“Are you hungry?” I asked, but he didn’t need to answer. His stomach did it for him. “I’ll get you some food.”
I placed the candle on the table and set it for two people. I got the sandwich and cut it in half. When I turned to place the halves down (one on each plate) Souta-san was already sitting at the table, facing the door. I sat down too.
“So Souta-san, why are you always sitting in the corner?” I could see his face now. He had navy blue eyes that were the same colour as his hair which was cut short and spiky. His skin was a fair and pale tone.
“I want to.”
“Ok. How old are you Souta-san?”
“Twelve” he replied.
“Then I should be calling you Souta-kun. Is that ok?”
“I guess.” He shrugged. I could tell this was going nowhere so we just ate in silence until he spoke up. “So are you really the Hime? You know, the Princess?”
“Yes, I am, not by birth though. The king adopted me a few weeks after I was born. I think he was hoping that I wouldn’t find out so I could take his place one day.” I’m surprised he actually said a sentence. His voice is so soft and gentle. “I’ll get you some cake.” I toke our plates to the counter and cut two slices of cake.
“Thank you.” He said as I placed the plate down. The awkward silence came again.
“Um, Rini-hime, why are you tal-” The door opened and Amaya’s head popped in.
“What’cha doing?” she asked.
I turned my head back to the table and replied, “Eating some cake by myself.” Souta-kun had already returned to his stool and took his plate with him. Ada-sama went to her bed as Amaya started climbing the ladder and beckoned to me. I left the table to see Yuuki-sensei slide in the door. She caught my eye and winked with a short grin on her face. I went upstairs and fell asleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We started training the next day. It was May eighteenth, a Sunday. I never saw much of Amaya anymore, except when we were sleeping and cooking dinner. I took care of the chickens and help with the preparations for dinner because I can’t cook while Amaya cooked and cleaned. My usual day went like this:
· Wake up at four and get washed and eat some breakfast
· Take care of the chickens. It was really easy since I could do it with my magic. All I had to do was feed them and make sure none were sick. Then I would collect their eggs. Strangely, the chicken coop was split in half. One side was for the chickens and the other side had two pair of shackles. One pair was hanging from chains and the other was attached to the ground.
· Next was training. My training was in an underground cavern. The entrance to it was under the fur rug beneath the table. There would be short breaks for drink and food.
· When the sun went down we would hear Amaya and Ada-sama upstairs meaning it was time to make dinner. On Wednesdays dinner was earlier. When Ada-sama and Yuuki-sensei left, Souta-kun and I would talk. Amaya would always run off after Ada-sama and Sensei left and wouldn’t return until around midnight.
· Finally I would go to sleep and it would start all over again.
Training was strenuous and Yuuki-sensei was a very good teacher considering she could only control two powers. She said that most supernaturals that can use magic can only control one or two abilities even if they can use little bits of other powers. The best magicians out there can control four at the most. However Amaya and I are different because we have been able to use every power we have tried up until now, except I can’t use fire. She said it had something to do with Amaya and yin and yang. I’ve learned how to have full control over water, earth and air though. I can even glide! Also things like telepathy and being able to move things heavier than before. She’s taught me some healing and how to store weapons in my charm bracelet. Amaya gave me a protection charm for my birthday and it turns into a shield. I also have a bow and arrow charm and a sai charm. It was hard to learn these because Sensei couldn’t show me herself. She could only help me with magical barriers and brief visions. She taught me how to fight using the weapons I have.
Every night I got to talk to Souta-kun. On the second Wednesday, I snuck Souta-kun out of the hut and we watched the sunset.
“Look at how big the moon is today. I haven’t seen a full one in a long time... Souta-kun?” I turned around to see Souta-kun running down the path while holding his head in his hands. “Souta-kun?!” I called out for him as I rushed to follow him. He dodged into the chicken coup and shut locked the door. By the time I reached the coup I could see Sensei standing outside the door.
“What’s wrong with Souta-kun?” I asked. The clinking of chains could be heard through the door.
“There’s nothing wrong with him, Rini-hime. He’s just a werewolf.”
I blinked. Then I blinked again. “A what now?”
“A werewolf. As you can see he’s not ascended yet so he can’t control himself and changes with the full moon, but there’s nothing wrong with him.”
I hit the ground.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Hime... hime... RINI-HIME!” I woke up to a yelling sensei.
“How long was I out of it?” I groaned, rubbing the new bump on my head.
“About two minutes.” I stood up and she continued talking. “Rini-hime, Souta-san is a werewolf. He will not hurt you when he has ascended because he will be able to change whenever he wants, but now we have to keep him in here. You’re lucky he even lasted that long in the moonlight.”
“Hey Rini. Stop talking to yourself. Your sensei told you to spend today packing and relaxing, not talking to yourself. I’m pretty sure she meant packing first. We are leaving tomorrow.”
“Fine Amaya, I’ll pack. By the way, you just ruined one of my memories of Souta-kun.” I headed to the dresser and threw my dress and my training kimono in a saddle bag. They were followed by some clothes and necessities.
“What memories of Souta-san? You haven’t even talked to him before.”
“Um... my memory... of him sitting in the corner.” I hope she didn’t mention my slip.
“Sure.” We grabbed our saddlebags and tied them to our horses. “Now come on. This is Saturday so it still counts as part of our free time. Let’s go shopping.” She started walking away from me.
“Hey, wait up!” I almost tripped trying to catch up. “As long as we are back in time for dinner.” We didn’t really buy much when we were shopping. I bought a new charm. It’s a long spear. I’m not sure what Amaya bought. She went into a couple creepy stores though.
Sensei and Ada-sama treated us to dinner today. It was some simple pasta with some yucky asparagus. Thankfully there was cheese sauce to cover it up with. Dinner was very quiet. It was like a silent farewell. Ada-sama and Amaya were whispering back and forth while Sensei and I were just looking at each other. I swear I could see a tear fall when I glanced up at Souta-kun. I could feel one on my cheek so I brushed it off.
“Rini. I’m sorry, but your father has disowned you... I thought you should know.” For some reason I wasn’t sad. “I also want you to know that you were my best pupil. I know that you will continue to use what you learnt in the very near future.”
“Sensei...” I wiped my eyes. “You aren’t supposed to make a princess cry.”
She smiled knowing that I understood what she said. “You and Amaya-chan will be sleeping in the backyard with your horses tonight. I trust you are all packed.”
I nodded. When dinner was finished Amaya and I headed outside. I could hear a faint whisper in the back on my mind. “And when I say go, I mean go.” We fell asleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Rini....Rini... RINI RINI RINI!” Amaya was shaking me violently. “The hut is on FIRE!”
I stood up as fast as I could. “Well stop it! Can’t you control it?”
“I didn’t create it so I can only move it, but Sensei, Yuuki-sama and Souta-san are in there. If I try, it will kill them.”
“Then get the horses ready!” I ran into the house as I heard Amaya say my name. I saw my sensei and ran to her. She was holding most of the fire back with her barrier, but her nose was bleeding and her hands were burnt. Souta was right beside her trying to take care of her wounds. “Souta-kun! Sensei! I’ll help you!”
“No Rini! I can hold it for now! Get Souta-san and take your horses! They must not see you so take the path beside the cliff. Now go!”
“What about you and Ada-sama?” I can’t just leave them here.
“I SAID GO!” she screeched.
I grabbed Souta-kun’s hand and ran out of the gaping hole in the back wall. “Amaya, let’s go!”
“Where are Ada-sensei and Yuuki-sama?”
“They said to go.”
“But-”
“GO!!” Tears were falling as I got on my horse and pulled Souta-kun up behind me and kicked me horse into a gallop. We didn’t slow down until we got to the cliff where we spun around for a brief second. In the distance I could see a still raging fire where the hut was. Some screams were heard as a neighbouring home caught fire. The smoke was stinging my eyes.
Amaya put her hand on my shoulder. Her face was covered with ash and stained with salt water. “Come on.”
I stared for a second longer then whispered, “Farewell.” We turned and left. On the wind I could hear a faint ringing.
“Farewell” it said.
“What’d you say, you little brat!” Before I could blink the taller elderly woman was a hair away. I actually flinched too. The shorter lady pulled what I think is her sister away and apologised for her.
“I’m sorry Hime, my sister has a short temper. Please come in for some tea.”
We walked into the hut. It was a poor looking hut. The walls were stone as was the floor. The wooden table was the first thing in view. It was in the middle of the home and under it was a fur rug. Next was a kitchen on the left, well, I guess you could call it a kitchen. It was more like a counter and a pantry with a bucket of water on one side. Too my right were some cupboards and in the back right corner were the ladies’ bunks. The middle of the back wall held a fireplace and in the back left corner I could see what looked like the shadow of a scrawny boy and a little cot.
“Come, sit.” The kind lady and her sister took a seat with their tea and we followed. “So you’re here for some training. We can help you. Amaya-chan will be trained by Ada-san and Rini-hime will be taught by me. I am Yuuki.
Ada-san will be teaching Amaya-chan mostly weapons while Rini-hime will mostly hone her magical skills. You will receive Saturdays off and training is from five in the morning until sunset, except on Wednesday when training will end in the afternoon so that Ada-san and I can have some time for ourselves.
Chores will be split between the two of you. You will cook dinner, take care of our chickens and keep your room clean. We’ll leave it to you on how to split them. Training starts tomorrow seeing as you will have questions tonight. This is how it will be.”
“Uh,” I started to say as I eyed to silhouette in the corner.
“His name is Souta-san. He might not talk much, not now anyway.” Yuuki-sensei whispered the last part with a smile on her face. “Now let’s get started. We only have about two weeks.”
“How can we trust you?” Amaya’s face showed she was annoyed with Yuuki-sensei rattling on for a bit.
“You can’t trust us.” Ada-sama finally spoke up. “You hardly know us, but we trust you and your friend Jolie referred us to you. I know Hime trusts her enough and you seem to, otherwise you wouldn’t still be here.”
Amaya grunted. I took a quick look around the hut. “Wait, where are we going to sleep?” If I count the cot for Souta-san then there are only three beds and no room for more.
Ada-sama stood up and hit the only wooden square in the ceiling. It fell open and a rope ladder hung down from the hole. “It’s a small attic with a dresser and two cots. It should be enough for you. Your training outfit will be under your pillow. After you get unpacked, feel free to ask us any more questions that you may have.”
Amaya crawled up the ladder and I followed. The walls were made of stone and were shaped around us like an igloo. There were two cots with a space in the middle where the dresser was. The source of light was a window facing what would be the backyard of Ada-sama’s and Yuuki-sensei’s home. “I call the cot closest to the window!” I exclaimed as I jumped on it. We unpacked and checked under our pillows. Amaya pulled up a black kimono. It was cut off at her knees and had super long sleeves. The large bow around the stomach was orange as was the trim of the dress. It made me excited as I scrambled around for mine. “Mine isn’t here, I’ll go ask Sensei about it.” I crawled down the ladder to see Yuuki-sensei leaving.
“Come, Hime.” She said without looking back. I followed her and as I caught up she told me, “Your training outfit is the one Jolie-chan made for you. We decided that you’d like it more than the one we had for you. It could barely be called an outfit with all the holes in it.”
“Thank you,” I agreed. “but I noticed you know everything I’m about to say, Sensei. Can you read minds?”
“No Hime, I cannot read minds, I can see the future. What I can control is only the ability of seeing a few days into the future, a week if I rest for a couple days after. That’s how I knew that you would show up and what you were going to ask me. Occasionally, I will get a vision more than a week into the future, but I can’t control it or hear anything in the vision. That’s how I know we only have about two weeks.”
“Sensei, so the future you see always happens?”
“Of course not, Hime. For example, two days ago I saw that tomorrow we wouldn’t receive any mail because the mailman would be sick. But a nurse who had affection for him changed her mind and decided to take medicine to him so now I see that we will get mail tomorrow because the mailman won’t be sick anymore.
The future I see is only based on peoples’ decisions up to when I have the vision. If one event happens that could change the decision of a person involved with the vision, then the whole future changes. With the visions I can’t control it is different. Those are sure to happen.”
“Oh, I understand now.” We continued our walk in silence as we swerved through the path at the back of the house. We passed the chicken shed and stopped at a cliff. It had a bench on the edge, looking out over the country. Behind it was a tombstone. I stared at the stars for a minute and then I turned back and left Sensei there. I arrived back at the hut when it was empty. I’m guessing Ada-sama and Amaya went on a walk too but knowing Amaya, they could be tipping cows or painting the town red. I’m a bit hungry so I started making myself a ham sandwich.
“I want to leave,” I said to Amaya. She was lying on her side on the floor.
She rubbed her eye with my fist and croaked, “Uh . . . leave where and why?”
“The next village over, I want to leave this place. I know he’s not my father, and I’m sick of being polite!” I replied, my voice rising near the end. Amaya was still lying on the floor. If she didn’t hurry up we would get caught and not be allowed to leave.
“How long?” she asked still half asleep.
“Forever, I want to leave.”
“Alright, I’m pretty sick of this place too, just let me change first,” She said a little more clearly, beginning to wake up. I can understand why she wanted to change, she was just wearing an oversized t-shirt. She nodded and I shut the door.
I made a hole in a piece of paper and laced a string through it. On the paper I wrote:
Dear Father,
I have decided to go on an adventure to visit some of the towns in Kouseitan’i as a commoner so I can discover the real state that our beloved country is in. I’m sorry that I couldn’t tell you, but I know you would have forced so many bodyguards to follow me that everyone would know I was Princess Rini. This way I stand a chance of no one recognising me since I’ll be in disguise. Do not worry, I have the maid Amaya with me and she was trained with the weapons she made as a blacksmith. With love,
Your Baby Princess,
Rini
p.s. Don’t come looking for me Daddy.
I’m a big girl now and I’ll be back in a month.
I read the note over once and hung it on the door handle. I left the room and waited near the back staircase. Eventually Amaya showed up and greeted me.
“Grrrrowl.” She said.
Wait, she doesn’t say ‘growl’, I thought. I slowly looked around through the dark. There was a candle beside me so I picked it up and took a step towards the door. I stopped and listened, but no sound came. I relaxed.
“Grrrowlowl.” I spun around and held my candle towards the back right corner. I think the sound came from there. I held up the candle to see blue hair. I realised this was Souta-san. He was looking down at his stomach and rubbing it. He was sitting on a three-legged stool.
“Are you hungry?” I asked, but he didn’t need to answer. His stomach did it for him. “I’ll get you some food.”
I placed the candle on the table and set it for two people. I got the sandwich and cut it in half. When I turned to place the halves down (one on each plate) Souta-san was already sitting at the table, facing the door. I sat down too.
“So Souta-san, why are you always sitting in the corner?” I could see his face now. He had navy blue eyes that were the same colour as his hair which was cut short and spiky. His skin was a fair and pale tone.
“I want to.”
“Ok. How old are you Souta-san?”
“Twelve” he replied.
“Then I should be calling you Souta-kun. Is that ok?”
“I guess.” He shrugged. I could tell this was going nowhere so we just ate in silence until he spoke up. “So are you really the Hime? You know, the Princess?”
“Yes, I am, not by birth though. The king adopted me a few weeks after I was born. I think he was hoping that I wouldn’t find out so I could take his place one day.” I’m surprised he actually said a sentence. His voice is so soft and gentle. “I’ll get you some cake.” I toke our plates to the counter and cut two slices of cake.
“Thank you.” He said as I placed the plate down. The awkward silence came again.
“Um, Rini-hime, why are you tal-” The door opened and Amaya’s head popped in.
“What’cha doing?” she asked.
I turned my head back to the table and replied, “Eating some cake by myself.” Souta-kun had already returned to his stool and took his plate with him. Ada-sama went to her bed as Amaya started climbing the ladder and beckoned to me. I left the table to see Yuuki-sensei slide in the door. She caught my eye and winked with a short grin on her face. I went upstairs and fell asleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We started training the next day. It was May eighteenth, a Sunday. I never saw much of Amaya anymore, except when we were sleeping and cooking dinner. I took care of the chickens and help with the preparations for dinner because I can’t cook while Amaya cooked and cleaned. My usual day went like this:
· Wake up at four and get washed and eat some breakfast
· Take care of the chickens. It was really easy since I could do it with my magic. All I had to do was feed them and make sure none were sick. Then I would collect their eggs. Strangely, the chicken coop was split in half. One side was for the chickens and the other side had two pair of shackles. One pair was hanging from chains and the other was attached to the ground.
· Next was training. My training was in an underground cavern. The entrance to it was under the fur rug beneath the table. There would be short breaks for drink and food.
· When the sun went down we would hear Amaya and Ada-sama upstairs meaning it was time to make dinner. On Wednesdays dinner was earlier. When Ada-sama and Yuuki-sensei left, Souta-kun and I would talk. Amaya would always run off after Ada-sama and Sensei left and wouldn’t return until around midnight.
· Finally I would go to sleep and it would start all over again.
Training was strenuous and Yuuki-sensei was a very good teacher considering she could only control two powers. She said that most supernaturals that can use magic can only control one or two abilities even if they can use little bits of other powers. The best magicians out there can control four at the most. However Amaya and I are different because we have been able to use every power we have tried up until now, except I can’t use fire. She said it had something to do with Amaya and yin and yang. I’ve learned how to have full control over water, earth and air though. I can even glide! Also things like telepathy and being able to move things heavier than before. She’s taught me some healing and how to store weapons in my charm bracelet. Amaya gave me a protection charm for my birthday and it turns into a shield. I also have a bow and arrow charm and a sai charm. It was hard to learn these because Sensei couldn’t show me herself. She could only help me with magical barriers and brief visions. She taught me how to fight using the weapons I have.
Every night I got to talk to Souta-kun. On the second Wednesday, I snuck Souta-kun out of the hut and we watched the sunset.
“Look at how big the moon is today. I haven’t seen a full one in a long time... Souta-kun?” I turned around to see Souta-kun running down the path while holding his head in his hands. “Souta-kun?!” I called out for him as I rushed to follow him. He dodged into the chicken coup and shut locked the door. By the time I reached the coup I could see Sensei standing outside the door.
“What’s wrong with Souta-kun?” I asked. The clinking of chains could be heard through the door.
“There’s nothing wrong with him, Rini-hime. He’s just a werewolf.”
I blinked. Then I blinked again. “A what now?”
“A werewolf. As you can see he’s not ascended yet so he can’t control himself and changes with the full moon, but there’s nothing wrong with him.”
I hit the ground.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Hime... hime... RINI-HIME!” I woke up to a yelling sensei.
“How long was I out of it?” I groaned, rubbing the new bump on my head.
“About two minutes.” I stood up and she continued talking. “Rini-hime, Souta-san is a werewolf. He will not hurt you when he has ascended because he will be able to change whenever he wants, but now we have to keep him in here. You’re lucky he even lasted that long in the moonlight.”
“Hey Rini. Stop talking to yourself. Your sensei told you to spend today packing and relaxing, not talking to yourself. I’m pretty sure she meant packing first. We are leaving tomorrow.”
“Fine Amaya, I’ll pack. By the way, you just ruined one of my memories of Souta-kun.” I headed to the dresser and threw my dress and my training kimono in a saddle bag. They were followed by some clothes and necessities.
“What memories of Souta-san? You haven’t even talked to him before.”
“Um... my memory... of him sitting in the corner.” I hope she didn’t mention my slip.
“Sure.” We grabbed our saddlebags and tied them to our horses. “Now come on. This is Saturday so it still counts as part of our free time. Let’s go shopping.” She started walking away from me.
“Hey, wait up!” I almost tripped trying to catch up. “As long as we are back in time for dinner.” We didn’t really buy much when we were shopping. I bought a new charm. It’s a long spear. I’m not sure what Amaya bought. She went into a couple creepy stores though.
Sensei and Ada-sama treated us to dinner today. It was some simple pasta with some yucky asparagus. Thankfully there was cheese sauce to cover it up with. Dinner was very quiet. It was like a silent farewell. Ada-sama and Amaya were whispering back and forth while Sensei and I were just looking at each other. I swear I could see a tear fall when I glanced up at Souta-kun. I could feel one on my cheek so I brushed it off.
“Rini. I’m sorry, but your father has disowned you... I thought you should know.” For some reason I wasn’t sad. “I also want you to know that you were my best pupil. I know that you will continue to use what you learnt in the very near future.”
“Sensei...” I wiped my eyes. “You aren’t supposed to make a princess cry.”
She smiled knowing that I understood what she said. “You and Amaya-chan will be sleeping in the backyard with your horses tonight. I trust you are all packed.”
I nodded. When dinner was finished Amaya and I headed outside. I could hear a faint whisper in the back on my mind. “And when I say go, I mean go.” We fell asleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Rini....Rini... RINI RINI RINI!” Amaya was shaking me violently. “The hut is on FIRE!”
I stood up as fast as I could. “Well stop it! Can’t you control it?”
“I didn’t create it so I can only move it, but Sensei, Yuuki-sama and Souta-san are in there. If I try, it will kill them.”
“Then get the horses ready!” I ran into the house as I heard Amaya say my name. I saw my sensei and ran to her. She was holding most of the fire back with her barrier, but her nose was bleeding and her hands were burnt. Souta was right beside her trying to take care of her wounds. “Souta-kun! Sensei! I’ll help you!”
“No Rini! I can hold it for now! Get Souta-san and take your horses! They must not see you so take the path beside the cliff. Now go!”
“What about you and Ada-sama?” I can’t just leave them here.
“I SAID GO!” she screeched.
I grabbed Souta-kun’s hand and ran out of the gaping hole in the back wall. “Amaya, let’s go!”
“Where are Ada-sensei and Yuuki-sama?”
“They said to go.”
“But-”
“GO!!” Tears were falling as I got on my horse and pulled Souta-kun up behind me and kicked me horse into a gallop. We didn’t slow down until we got to the cliff where we spun around for a brief second. In the distance I could see a still raging fire where the hut was. Some screams were heard as a neighbouring home caught fire. The smoke was stinging my eyes.
Amaya put her hand on my shoulder. Her face was covered with ash and stained with salt water. “Come on.”
I stared for a second longer then whispered, “Farewell.” We turned and left. On the wind I could hear a faint ringing.
“Farewell” it said.
