Chapter 1997: Cruel Women

"Don’t put me back..."

"You’re out," the elf told her. "Look around."

Her frightened gaze moved from Sera’s face to the roof, then toward the open lawn.

"Outside...?"

Aurora waited through another breath before nodding to Black Fang.

"The repeating flow has stopped. Her own mana was keeping her trapped after the venom started it, just as we thought."

"And she can see where she is," Sera said softly, keeping hold of the woman’s hand.

Quinlan watched the patient loosen her grip. She was still frightened, but when Sera offered her water, she took the cup and drank instead of clawing at silk that wasn’t there.

Aurora returned to the bench to fill the remaining vials.

"We’ll take this back for Celia’s father. If Edric responds as well as she has..."

"Well done, ladies, Silky."

At the acknowledgment, Silky raised her head a little, then froze when Rosie shifted against her.

The child had fallen asleep.

Once Blossom and Vex had slipped from his knees, Quinlan went to lift his sleeping daughter from the spider’s head. The sight of his approaching hands set Silky’s surviving legs moving anxiously against the paving.

"I... stay."

He paused.

"Your leg must be getting tired."

"Can stay. Rosie... sleeping."

Quinlan’s smile spread as the queen eased her injured leg more comfortably into the cradle of roots. One hooked foot rose beside her head, forming a rail beneath his daughter’s dangling arm.

"Could... blanket? For... Rosie."

...

By the time Quinlan opened a [Warp Gate] against the estate’s terrace wall, the medicine was packed and Synchra had covered his face again. Beyond the opening lay the courtyard of Celia’s house in Sarthal.

Serika carried Celia through, still asleep against her shoulder. They had left Rosie beneath a blanket on her new mount, with Emily watching over both, and brought the remaining rescued patients back for treatment in Sarthal.

The neighbour nearly dropped the basin she was carrying when she saw the girl in Serika’s arms.

"She’s sleeping," Sera reassured her as Quinlan closed the gate. "Could we come in? We have something for her father."

Inside, Edric sat by the same window, rubbing his fingertips over his blanket. Serika lowered Celia onto a chair beside him while the neighbour took her basin into the kitchen.

"Khm."

Kitsara glanced toward the kitchen, then through the window to check the street. Edric was staring at his blanket.

*Slap!*

"Eh?!"

Kitsara withdrew her hand as Celia jolted upright, clutching the cheek Kitsara had just slapped.

"Morning, sunshine." The foxkin smiled sweetly while the other women stared at her with extremely wry eyes.

Serika recovered first.

"We’re back."

"Eh?"

The girl looked past her at the familiar window, then at her father’s chair beside hers. Even the cupboard behind Sera was the one where she’d put his damaged armour.

"Ehhhh?!"

She twisted toward the door, searching for the tunnel they’d been fighting in.

"But we were just... The spiders! There was... Eh?! We’re home?!"

"You hit the sack about one second into the battle," Kitsara purred. "We finished up and brought you back~"

"One second...?"

"Mm-hmm. But your cooking was great, don’t you worry."

The foxkin leaned closer, enjoying every bewildered little change on the innocent girl’s face. Celia had already forgotten her stinging cheek, her hand falling into her lap as she tried to account for an entire battle she’d apparently slept through.

"It’s... over?"

Serika brushed the hair from her face. "Yes. You’re safe."

"Then... Father? What about Father? Did you find anything?"

Seraphiel twirled a small vial between her delicate fingers, smiling as Celia’s gaze caught on it.

"We did~"

Her hood rested against her shoulders, leaving her long elven ears in full view.

"Eh?! Miss Seraphiel is an elf?!"

"That I am~" Seeing her gaze locked onto her ears, the elf grinned. "Want to touch them?"

Furious nodding followed.

"Sorry, that’s my husband’s privilege~"

"!! Cruel... Stop messing with me...!" Celia whimpered.

As for the hood?

After gathering enough information, they’d learned that elves were extraordinarily rare here, but people knew of them. Seeing one wouldn’t immediately tell anyone she’d come from Iskaris.

There were still plenty of people who regarded an elven woman as a prize to buy and bed, just like how it was in Iskaris, and perhaps even to a greater degree due to their increased scarcity.

But hiding Sera and Kaelira’s race no longer seemed required; a pair of beautiful elves would add to their party’s mystique without exposing where they came from.

Celia, pouting furiously, returned her gaze to the item in Seraphiel’s fingers. Her face became serious immediately.

"Will it... Is that for him?"

"Yes," Sera said, her teasing smile turning gentle. "Could you give me a hand?"

"Yes! Anything!"

Sera drew Celia’s chair closer to Edric’s before crouching in front of him. He watched the vial in her hand without seeming to understand her explanation, but accepted it when Celia helped him hold it.

After he swallowed, Aurora rested her fingers against his wrist.

Nobody spoke. Celia held the empty vial between both hands, staring at her father’s face while his gaze moved past her toward the corner.

Then he looked back at her.

"Celia?"

"Yes! Yes, Father, it’s me."

She leaned forward so quickly that Serika caught her elbow. Edric looked at the hand supporting his daughter, then at the unfamiliar women gathered around his chair.

"What... happened?"

Celia tried to answer. She had so much to tell him, all the people she’d asked for help, the medicines she’d brought home, the expedition she’d followed into that awful place. Now he was looking at her properly, waiting for her to speak, and she couldn’t get a word out.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

The vial slipped from her hands into her lap.

"No..."

She reached for him, and Edric caught her against his chest as she began sobbing. His hand found the back of her head, holding her close while she clung to his shirt.

"I’m alright," she managed. "I’m alright, Father..."

He looked helplessly over her hair at Seraphiel.

"She’s been very worried about you," the elf said softly. "We can explain in a little while."

Aurora withdrew her hand from his wrist and nodded to Sera. The repeating flow had stopped.

Beside the door, Quinlan watched his healer press her lips together. She’d wanted so badly to help this girl when all she could offer was another attempt. Now Celia had her father holding her again.

When Sera came to him, he opened his arm for her.

"You did it."

"We did," she whispered, looking back at Aurora and Black Fang. "All of us."

She rested against him while Celia cried into her father’s shirt, too happy to care that she was getting it wet.

...

"Your Majesty, there’s also the matter of Adventurer Black."

The following evening, in her study overlooking Sarthal, Queen Zorvanna glanced up from a report on the northern border.

"Who?"

"The foreigner a merchant captain called Narethi brought into port."

"What about him?"

Across the low table, her assistant, Lysara, leaned forward in her chair, a sheaf of papers held against her chest. Small pink horns rose through pale hair, matching the delicate scales along her cheeks.

"I think we should take a closer look at him."