Bane Twelve - Nook

Felix looked up as Luciana walked into their little corner of the library. Once, not so long ago, Felix had been kind of terrified of the Dark Goddess. Now she... she supposed that she respected the goddess more than she feared her.

Luciana gazed across their nook. It was a neat place, with a few sofas set around each other, and a few stacks of books here and there. A coffee table sat off to one side, with normal chairs around it. When they had snacks, they made sure to eat them there or else the librarian monsters would throw a fit.

Most of the librarian monsters weren’t all that strong, but they carried books which were heavy, and Felix only needed to be smacked by one of those once to decide to be wary of them.

“Valeria,” Luciana said. Her voice sent a shiver down Felix’s spine. There was no avoiding that.

“Yup, mom?” Valeria asked. She popped her head up from where she was sitting next to Esme. They were sharing a blanket for warmth while they both read about magic or something.

Luciana’s brows met for just a moment before she continued. “We have something of an issue.”

“Is something wrong?” Valeria asked.

“No, nothing urgent,” the goddess said. “We have merely run out of provisions earlier than expected. Semper’s stay was longer than I had prepared for, and... perhaps I failed to account for the appetite of growing young women.”

Felix grinned. Yeah, that was definitely a little bit her fault. The food here was the best, all prepared fresh by monster chefs and super tasty. That, combined with the frequent exercise meant that she was often eating her share, then a bit more.

“Oh,” Valeria said. “So are we going to, like, starve?”

“No Valeria, we will not starve,” Luciana said. “But we will have to go and procure more provisions. Our supplier will continue to supply us, but I have a list of items that we need sooner rather than later. I was hoping you would volunteer yourself to go?”

“We can all go,” Valeria said with a nod.

“You don’t all need to go,” Luciana said. “If Esme, for example, wishes to stay here, then there’s no harm in that.”

Esme considered it for a moment. “Where are you going, exactly?”

“Santafaria,” Luciana said. “There’s a flight of wyverns waiting to depart, with all the equipment you would need. I prepared space for two.”

“You’re not going, right mom?” Valeria asked.

“I do not do groceries,” the dark goddess said. It had the weight of a godly proclamation.

Felix had to hold back a giggle at the mental image of Luciana shopping in an apron and with a basket hook to one arm. No, it didn’t fit her at all. “I’ll go with you, Val,” Felix said as she bounced to her feet.

“You sure?” Valeria asked.

Felix felt something from the dark goddess, some sort of quick smug aura that she wasn’t sure she imagined or not. “Yeah,” she said. “It’ll be fun. I haven’t been to Santafaria in forever! It’ll be nice to see my home city, you know? Actually see it, even. Last time I was there... you know.”

“Okay,” Valeria said. She gave Esme a quick parting hug, then scooted out from under the blankets until Felix helped her up.

Luciana nodded, then gave Valeria a long piece of paper. “This is the list. Do try to avoid missing any items. If you aren’t back by nightfall I’ll assume the worst and assault the nation with dragons and fire.”

“‘Kay,” Valeria said as she took the paper. It had a bunch of ingredients and things on it, at least from the quick peek Felix got of the page before Valeria rolled it up and tucked it away.

“You going out like this?” Felix asked with a gesture to herself. She was in nice, warm pyjamas. They were made of some thick material that was just about the softest thing Felix had ever touched, and they were light too.

Valeria was wearing something similar. One of the few times Felix had seen her in anything resembling pants.

“Nah, we’d better get changed. Hey Esme, is there anything you want?”

“That we can’t order here?” Esme asked. “No, I’m fine. Thanks for asking though.”

Valeria and Felix ran off to their respective rooms and got dressed up. Felix, of course, had to wait for a while, because Valeria didn’t know how to dress herself and would always hesitate whenever she started to look through her wardrobe. “Come on, Val,” Felix said. “Or I’ll pull you over there in just your underthings.”

“Felix!” Valeria complained as she barged out of her room. She was wearing a bright yellow skirt with a pale lavender top. The two didn’t fit, even Felix could tell and she had been blind for most of her life.

“Nice outfit,” Felix said with a grin.

“I wasn’t done,” Valeria said. She slid back into her room and came out with a lacy green cloak. It was a dark, forest green, probably one of Felix’s favourite colours. “Is this better?” Valeria asked.

“No, not really. You’d probably look better in just your underthings.”

They stared at each other, and Felix realized what she said a moment before a red-faced Valeria stormed down the corridor, cloak billowing out behind her.

Felix laughed and ran after her.

They exited out of the side of the castle and found a whole host of wyverns waiting for them. The monsters weren’t all alone though. Some of the winged mini-dragons (a term that Felix had coined and which angered both Esme and Valeria in a way that she liked) were standing next to large wolf-like monsters.

“Oh,” Valeria said. “I guess mom wants there to be some ground-based friends, in case things go pear-shaped.” She walked over to one of the wyverns that towered above her and patted the beast on the sternum. “Which one are you taking?” Veleria asked.

“Only one of them has a saddle,” Felix pointed out.

It was true. Of the dozen wyverns there, only one had a saddle meant for riding. It was a longer saddle though, with enough cushion space for two to fit on it if they were small enough.

“Oh, well that’s annoying. I could get another saddle and add it to one of the other wyverns.”

“It’s fine,” Felix said. “We can ride together.”

Valeria shrugged. “Fine. We need to get back before dark, we don’t have time for all of that.” She gestured and the wyvern lowered its head so that they could climb on.

Felix was a bit disappointed that she ended up in the back, but she was a little bit taller than Valeria, and could look out over her head.

“Are you ready?” Valeria asked. She shifted to settle herself in, and Felix froze a little as she felt Valeria pressing into her.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” Felix said. She carefully grabbed onto Valeria’s side. She didn’t know why Valeria made her feel that way sometimes. It was like a shock, and it made her insides squirm a little.

It happened with Esme too, of course, but maybe not as often. Felix worried that something could be wrong about her sometimes, but only sometimes.

The wyvern beat its wings, and with every stroke pushed Felix’s worries and strange thoughts away. They were off, heading out into the air towards her old home. She knew which feeling she felt about that. Melancholy.

It was probably healthy to feel that way. She had been working hard lately to push back the constant happiness, to feel other things even as she continued to sharpen her skills with her favourite emotion.

It wasn’t easy, but both of her friends told her it was important, and they were always willing to coach her through it.

She grinned as the wind picked up around them, then she let out a loud whoop as they circled around the castle and flew off due-south. Valeria leaned back, and Felix clung onto her with one arm, the other raising above her to cheer along with her friend.

Maybe the melancholy wasn’t a bad thing to feel, but it was hard to be anything but happy when she was with Valeria.

They flew and flew, eventually settling down as the joy of flight receded a little bit. “Are you worried?” Valeria asked.

“About what?” Felix asked.

“Santafaria.”

Felix was, but she didn’t want to admit it so easily. “Don’t worry, Val, I’m there.”

“What’s that mean?”

“That means that if anyone tries anything in the city, I’ll beat them black and blue for you,” Felix said. “I’m your bodyguard today, alright?”

Today, and any day that Valeria wanted her to act that way. For now, and if Felix had it her way, forever.

***