5 black feathers float through the air. I had tossed them about a minute ago, tired of the strange hold they had over me. They dance and twirl, spinning and weaving around me. But they don't sink. They may flutter downwards momentarily, but that is always followed with a strange surge upwards.
My brow furrows, "Is this your doing MM?"
She throws her hands up, "Not me. My river will be dry as the hells today." She looks around at the farm women, "Is this any of y'all?" They shake their heads with vigor.
Silence overtakes us as we watch the unbelievable phenomenon. It's like they're orbiting around me.
At last, MM let's out a nervous chuckle relieving the tension for everyone else to giggle.
I can't let the unknown sit with me any longer, "What are they?"
MM brings a hand to her chin, narrowing her eyes in on the feathers. "Did you see where they... originated from?"
"It was, uh, like a crow? I don't really know birds, more of a horse girly. Not due to a lack interest, but an absence of opportunity. Oh right, the bird was pretty damn big, size of a house cat."
MM's eyes widen and then narrow. "There was a thick fog on the forest floor? The trees came to life?"
I nod.
"We unfortunately won't be able to rely on most of your recounting."
"What, why?"
"You met a familiar. Someone's familiar. I don't know who. But the feather's floating on the fog, the strangeness of the woods, that hard cut radius of effect. That's no natural occurrence. I believe heavy amounts of illusions were cast on you, well, not you specifically, it's more of a natural effect imbued within some types of familiars. Pass me one of those feathers."
I snatch one of the feathers circling past my face and hand it towards MM. As she reaches out to grab it, the feather bends and coils, staying just out her reach. She grunts in frustration, thrashing her fingers, urgently trying to snatch it from my grasp. It remains elusive.
"Interesting," Sir Kahlin adds. He steps up to the challenge, instantly proving a knight's superior reflexes and speed, yet there no results to show for it. He recedes his hand in defeat.
Ruby wants a chance but MM shoos her away. She glares at MM and I mouth, "Later." She flashes me a triumphant grin.
MM rolls her eyes and shakes her head before continuing, "Unfortunately, all of us real wizards are out of magic. That means tomorrow morning, before you go off to aid Prince Rythel, is all the real testing we are going to get. And all that will come from Ruby or your river, Jessica. I'm feeling like I will be out of sorts for at least another few weeks. Now put those feathers in your pocket, they're pissing me off."
I quickly stash the feathers. I can feel them squirming around in my pocket. And yes I did sew pockets into my ankle skirt. "When you say testing, what exactly are you meaning?"
"What use they will have. You stole them, got some type of ownership over them. We are needing to make them beneficial or we are going to have to destroy them. We can assume there's some type tracking spell, as well as some spell to manipulate your senses. Like it did when you met. I'm unsure about anything else, but it's safe imagine there's a variety of other spells on it too."
"But the bird flew away."
"No, it most certainly did not. It created an illusion of it flying away, just like it showed you some precious feathers falling to the ground. What it did not account for, was your lack of rationale. Most people would turn and run. But not you. You charged headfirst toward the feathers. Plucked 'em right from the familiars body."
"But why would the familiar just sit right where the feather's were? Couldn't it just have sat in the tree branches stalking me from above?"
"If it's master was nearby sure, but alone, no. Familiars are often quite dumb. Especially one's that are dripping in illusory magic. It seeps into their brain, when powerful enough spells linger on them for long enough, their entire lives fall into some type of dream-like state. It's written in legend that such creatures can travel from reality to dreams, their world blending between the two."
After a moment of careful consideration, MM looks to Sir Kahlin, "I want you to watch over Jessica tonight." Sir Kahlin begins to protest, but she looks back at the ruins of her lab. "I'll try to scrounge something up to help you with the lack of sleep." This seems to content Sir Kahlin.
Ruby takes a deep breath, "Enough of all this. I think we've covered what we could today. We'll get to the rest in the morning." She looks around and sees nobody disagreeing. "Good. Now let's fucking celebrate. I'm going to cook everyone up a juicy big steak. Petunia, you get some fresh fruit ready. Lilac, you're on mashed potato duty. Chrysanthemum, you're on liquor duty, anything will do, but the knight does prefer beer. You two-" she points to MM and I, "figure out where the fuck we're gonna sleep tonight."
Thankfully, the stables somehow remained unharmed. They are tucked away on the side of MM's property, she said it was the only place the horses would take to.
To the chagrin of MM, I suggest that we make due in there, "Just for tonight, you'll be too drunk to notice by the time you hit the... hay."
We finish readying the stables in complete silence.
I feel a strange calming sensation as I sweep up horse shit. Or actually, I'll call it poop now. Artemis doesn't shit, she is simply too refined. Too majestic. I was worried I might be unable to keep horses, to be totally frank. The horrors of being almost entirely confined to a massive royal stable for the bulk of my youth would be understandably repelling. But I dwell in the positivity, the relationships I had with all the horses there. Artemis was one of those horses. She's the reason I'm still alive. If I hadn't been there, combing her hair, keeping her stables clean, giving her carrots, she would've never ran for help. She wouldn't have let me get on her back, holding her finely brushed mane, my thighs gripping her ribs as tightly as they could in place of the usual finest leather saddle the royal leatherworkers and blacksmiths could make. But she didn't buck me. In fact, I felt her lean, ever so slightly downward, to ease my struggle, letting me clumsily climb up on her. I certainly wasn't calm, it had been so long since my life had been threatened like that. I've seen nobles and even trained knights get thrown over showing even the slightest hesitancy or nervousness. Horses are emotionally sensitive creatures. They are completely in sync with how others feel, it's how they herd so well, how they survived in the wild, even how they've lasted being in humanity's captivity.
MM glances upward to see Jessica grinning wildly, ear to ear, while piling together the total of the shit that had built up within the week of her arrival. She raises an eyebrow and begins to say something snarky but ends up shaking her head and getting back to organizing the impromptu tables and beds she's putting down in the unused area of the stable. Looking at her work, MM feels a strange sense of pride. It's been quite some time since she's had fun. Even longer since MM did manual or even menial labor. If she didn't have the farm women to handle all the tasks, it's not like she would need to. Magic could always be used, or she could always go and ask a local farmer; she's found that big ol' doe eyes, a few whimpers, and plenty of "oh I just don't have the faintest clue what to do" would always do the trick. If things were truly dire, she'd always just put in a request for some local knights to be put to use. But here she was, folding sheets out over clumped up piles of hay to make beds, sliding small wooden chairs and tables over from the entrance of the stables to make a rather impoverished but meeting the bare necessities of a banquet hall. She scanned the room to find any other improvements.
At once she remembered, the bathroom. MM couldn't believe she had forgotten. Especially not after her first day as an adult, her 18th birthday. Locked in a prison cell, there was nothing but a dirty bucket to relieve any... movements. There, she slept on an eerily similar bundle of hay, but the sheet was instead tan and remarkably stained. It was too thin and the hay much too sparse to comfort her on the cold, hard stone floor of the her own family's dungeon. She was held for 3 days. Without so much as a glass of water or a bite of food. Her father, swankering in front of her, viscous sneer on his face, bits of blood on his clothes. He had been torturing some of the other inmates. Anyone who posed no risk to his cruelty being exposed to the general public would do. But he must have his some type of vent for his violence or he would begin to act out. Drinking, gambling, sword fights in the street. Hitting his mother in law or his 3rd wife who was 23 years younger than him. Touching MM. He always got handsy after the booze started. MM couldn't remember when it started, but she remembered when it stopped. When she looked grown.
MM turns to me, "What are we gonna do about the bathroom?" There's tears in her eyes. I cooly reply without looking up from my colossal pile of dung, "Strangely enough, Ruby and I found I fully plumbed up toilet in the middle of the tentacle pile." MM replies excitedly, "REALLY?" I laugh, "No, not really, what is up with you?" I slides my broom in a diagonal arc sending a bucket clattering across the floor rolling to a stop against MM's feet. I smile naively, my front teeth jutting out of my mouth, "We got that, don't we?" MM falls to the floor weeping.
Sir Kahlin finds himself with a moment of free time. Drawing his sword he begins to retrace the fight he had with Swiftblade. Move by move he slices his blade through the air at a quarter speed to what happened in reality. He observes the noticeable mistakes, filing them away in his memory. Swiftblade had been no easy opponent. Sir Kahlin looks down at his rough, sun-weathered flesh, remembering the uneasy feeling of his body transforming. In an instant, he'd grown taller, stronger, and quite a bit scalier. He shook off the thoughts but one lingered, "In order to properly replay this fight, I'll need to enter that form". But he couldn't quite help but feel like there as an element of self control that he had lost. Or maybe it had weakened? No. Changed. He had become something not quite himself, not quite human.
Sir Kahlin watched his sword glimmer as his slow diagonal slice carved through the air. In times of mental turmoil, he had always turned to his blade. It was the one thing that remained constant throughout his life. Different rulers, different enemies, different friends. It's edge was needing a good sharpening, maybe even a nice polish. He was quite looking forward to returning to the castle, where he could find those services again. The carriage being destroyed had been especially frustrating, but Sir Kahlin had nobody to blame but his skills. It seemed like his whole world revolved around his blade, if only that were true. Sir Kahlin had simply forgone the rest of his world.
His attention snaps to wailing weeps in the distance, the gap between himself and the source closed. His vision settles on a unique but not entirely unwelcome sight. MM slowly trailed Jessica, holding her hand, being led. MM's head was thrown completely back and she let out long anguished cries.
While leading MM to Sir Kahlin, I turn to my supposed teacher, "See, look. There's Sir Kahlin right there. I promise you, he'll be able to help."
MM's sniffles, dragging a hand across her face to wipe away the tears and snot. "Mister Luther, we need a bathroom. Now."
This was the nicest and most respectful MM had ever been to Sir Kahlin, but he didn't achieve knighthood by giving away his advantage. "Now what do we say, Miss Moonlit Maiden?"
MM turns to me, her eyes pleading for help.
I kindly and dare I say motherly advice, "We must use our nice words, MM. Say please when asking a kind knight for a favor."
MM whimpers, "C-can you please help us make a proper bathroom, Sir Kahlin." Her eyes dilate as she tries to look as innocent as possible.
I make a face at her and mutter, "Disgusting."
Sir Kahlin let's out a large sigh and says, "Fine. I'll help since you asked so nicely. What do I need to do?"
I smile at him, "We need you to dig a hole. You knight types just eat that shit up, right? You can call it training, eh?"
The feast is larger than any shared meal I've ever seen. There's bowls of various fruits; blueberries, peaches, a sliced up watermelon, tangerines, peaches, apples, kiwi, pineapple, razzberries, and even some I've never seen before. One is all blue with green spots and it emits purple gas every few minutes or so. A mild haze slowly builds within the stable, but it seems to put everyone in a great mood, so I choose not to bring it up.
There are wondrous slabs of thick, juicy meat placed on everyone's plate. A rich creamy mashed potato with a succulent gravy is served on the side. Tall slender glasses full of sparkling wine sit at all of our spots, except Sir Kahlin, who has an orange-brown foamy mug of beer.
I say to everyone but look at Ruby specifically, "The food looks absolutely amazing. We eat better than The Queen today!" I pump my fist in the air excited to dig in. Ruby and the flower named farm girls share a laugh while MM and Sir Kahlin exchange a glance. I'm so excited to eat! I could care less what those old farts think.
I hurry into my seat and pick up my utensils to start chowing down. Ruby quickly grabs my wrist and I look at her with confusion. She gestures over to Sir Kahlin who has his mug of beer raised into the air. "Now how's about a toast! I think that Jessica should give us our words." Ruby pulls me to my feet and puts a glass of wine into my hand. I've never drank alcohol before. She raises her own. I mimic. She smiles at me and I blush.
Everyone is looking at me. I'm not quite sure what to do. I've never heard of a 'toast' before. But I can tell everyone is expecting something of me. I let my brain click off, getting lost in the smells and the sights of what is before us. Letting the words flow from my soul, or in this instance, perhaps my growling stomach.
"Thank you to everyone here. If we hadn't worked together, if any of us weren't true to ourselves and in the exact right places at the perfect time, none of us would have come out alive. If there's anyone on this planet that deserves to eat an amazing meal like this, you know damn well, it's us."
Everyone cheers, clinks glasses, and the feast is on!