Chapter 771: The Real Weirdo [Bonus - ]

Chapter 771: The Real Weirdo [Bonus Chapter]

He let that sink in.

Down in the crowd, a few of the recruits who’d only joined recently looked at Tasmin and Brida with brand new respect, and a couple of them shuffled a careful half step further away.

"And on top of all that," Silas added, a crooked grin coming back, "they still hauled back the most ore of anyone... Their mining was one of the best of all, even above Gunnhild’s team."

Neither of them looked even slightly pleased about being praised in the same sentence as the other.

Down in the snow, Tasmin clicked her tongue and turned her face sharply to the left.

TCH!

’As if that noisy brute could out-mine me,’ Tasmin thought, her jaw tight as she refused to look at the woman beside her. ’She spent half that run punching the walls like a drunk lumberjack and nearly buried us both... If I hadn’t been there, she’d still be down there, stuck headfirst in a rock.’

Beside her, Brida crossed her thick arms with a loud scoff, rolled her eyes and stared stubbornly off to the right.

’Look at her, acting like a delicate little shadow princess,’ Brida thought with a sneer. ’All she did was flit around in the dark poking things with her toothpicks while I did the actual heavy lifting... She should be polishing my boots instead of glaring at the trees.’

The two of them stood barely two feet apart, radiating so much prickly tension that the girls standing nearest to them quietly took a step back.

They’d fought shoulder to shoulder more times than anyone could count and knew each other’s moves better than their own heartbeats, and yet they couldn’t spend five minutes in the same room without cursing at each other.

Up on the platform, Morwenna leaned toward Eluned and whispered something while Eluned giggled behind her hand.

Whatever it was, both of them were looking at the pair in the snow like they’d just been handed front row seats.

Silas watched them both, and his smirk widened as he shook his head.

"So here’s my problem," Silas announced. "I couldn’t decide... The numbers are too close, and they both earned it. If I give the room to Tasmin, Brida’s going to tear down the training yard out of spite. If I give it to Brida, Tasmin’s going to spend the next month lurking in the shadows outside my office, and frankly, I’d like to sleep without checking under my bed."

A ripple of nervous laughter ran through the front rows, though everyone could feel something shifting in the air.

Silas’s expression sharpened, and the gold ring in his dark blue eyes flared bright.

"So," Silas declared, his voice booming over the snow. "To decide which of them moves into the Keep, and to finally settle who’s the stronger one... why don’t they fight it out?"

The words dropped into the frosty morning like a pair of anvils.

Up on the platform, Morwenna slowly reached into her coat for something while Eluned sat up a little straighter and Lupina’s ears shot straight up.

The entire crowd froze.

The wind whistled softly over the walls, swirling snowflakes around a hundred and fifty pairs of boots, and nobody breathed.

Recruits, veterans, smiths and Heroes all slowly turned their heads, looking from the shadow commander to the titan brawler standing in the snow...

Tasmin and Brida, for the first time all morning, looked at each other.

Tasmin’s dark eyes narrowed slowly while Brida’s amber ones lit up like someone had just handed her a birthday present.

The girls standing nearest to them took several more steps back.

Everyone else looked at each other too.

’Brida and Tasmin... fighting...?’

...

Deep green mana pulsed through the frozen mud of the courtyard, and a low hum ran up through the soles of Silas’s boots.

In the middle of the open square, thick twisting roots tore up through the crust of snow and started weaving themselves together.

The wood groaned and flexed as it grew, sprouting smooth planks, curved railings and rows of sturdy benches that climbed up around a wide open circle.

Living ivy crept over the fresh timber, binding the joints tight and blooming with tiny white flowers that filled the cold air with the sweet smell of spring soil.

CREAK! CRACK! CREEEAK!

The girls nearest the middle of the square scrambled backward as a bench sprouted directly where three of them had been standing.

Thora watched the whole thing happen with her arms crossed and a deeply professional frown on her face, checking every joint as it grew like she was about to send it back for repairs.

By the end, she grudgingly nodded at it.

A few minutes later, a small wooden arena stood near the Keep.

It wasn’t anything grand, but there was plenty of room: a wide open floor packed with sand in the center, benches all the way around for every girl in the territory, and a raised platform on the north side looking down over the whole thing.

At the edge of that platform, Eluned let out a long sigh.

"Phew..."

She lifted a slender arm and dabbed a few shining beads of sweat from her forehead with her lace-trimmed sleeve, her emerald eyes sparkling with tired satisfaction.

The ivy on her gown settled back into place with a soft rustle.

Then, without waiting for an invitation or even glancing at anyone else, the Goddess of the World Tree turned on her heel, walked straight to the carved wooden chair where Silas was sitting and sat down sideways right across his lap.

She threw both arms around his neck and settled her cheek against the fur on his robes.

FWUMP!

"My work is done, Hubby," Eluned murmured, nuzzling into his collarbone with a sleepy purr. "It’s sturdy enough to survive an earthquake, and there’s room for every single girl in the valley but growing that much wood on an empty stomach was very demanding... You have to hold me very close so I can recover."

Silas chuckled and wrapped his left arm around the small of her back, resting his right hand on her hip.

"You did a great job, Elu," he said, looking out over the arena. "Building that in a few minutes beats any construction crew back on Earth but you don’t have to pretend you’re completely drained just to steal the best seat..."

"I’m fragile, Hubby," Eluned pouted, fluttering her lashes against his cheek. "A delicate blossom needs constant affection and warmth from her husband to thrive, It’s basic botany."

Silas decided not to point out that the delicate blossom had just ripped an arena out of frozen ground with her mind.

Morwenna, a few feet away, made a small gagging noise but Eluned didn’t even look at her... She just snuggled in tighter, which made Morwenna angrier.

Around them, the rest of the inner circle settled into their seats on the platform.

Morwenna dropped into a chair on his left and kicked her salt-stained boots up onto the railing with Tidebringer resting across her knees.

Lupina hopped onto a bench nearby and sat cross-legged, her wolf ears twitching at the noise from the stands.

Morrighan leaned against a carved post with her arms crossed, her molten gold eyes scanning the sand below while her tail flicked with quiet anticipation.

Aurelia, Solenne and Thora found their seats too, along with the two newest members of the household, Gunnhild and Rowenna.

Rowenna was still pink and sitting so close to Gunnhild that she was basically wearing her as a coat.

Below them, a lot of women poured into the stands, boots clattering over the wooden benches as they fought over the best spots.

It got competitive fast.

...Two scouts arrived at the same seat at the same time, and neither of them sat down.

A dwarf claimed a whole bench by lying across it while Brenda got pushed up three rows by the crowd behind her and ended up somewhere she clearly hadn’t meant to be, looking around in confusion.

CLATTER! CLATTER!

A soft chime of silver against crystal drew Silas’s attention toward the back stairs of the platform.

Aeliana had reappeared.

She came up the stairs as if she’d been there all along, as if she had never teleported out of anywhere in her life.

The Elf glided up onto the platform with smooth graceful steps, balancing a polished silver tray on her fingertips.

Her white tunic was laced all the way up to the hollow of her throat without a single crease, and her straight blond hair had been brushed into a flawless sheet that fell past her shoulders... Not one strand was out of place.

On the tray sat a dozen tall crystal goblets filled with chilled purple juice.

"Some juice, Lady Lupina," Aeliana said, her tone smooth and polite, without the faintest hint that she’d been screaming on an office desk barely an hour ago.

"Ooh, thanks, Aeli!" Lupina chirped, grabbing a glass and gulping down half of it in one go.

Aeliana moved down the line with perfect posture, offering goblets to Morrighan, Aurelia, Solenne and everyone else on the platform.

Her steps were even, her back was straight and her face was perfectly calm, and if anyone had looked closely, they would’ve noticed that the juice in every single glass was trembling ever so slightly.

Every single one of them thanked her warmly, glad for something cold after all the shouting in the courtyard while Rowenna took hers without coming out from behind Gunnhild’s shoulder.

Finally, Aeliana stepped up beside Silas’s chair.

She lowered the tray and lifted the last frosted goblet with her slender fingers.

As she held it out to him, her long pointed ears gave a sudden twitch and flattened back against her hair for a split second before snapping upright again.

"Your juice, Lord Sy," Aeliana said, keeping her chin up and her eyes fixed carefully on the bridge of his nose instead of meeting his gaze.

Silas reached out and took the glass, his warm fingers brushing against hers.

"Thanks, Aeli," Silas said with a warm smile. "You always make sure everyone’s taken care of."

Aeliana froze.

The heat of his fingers on hers and the soft knowing warmth in his smile hit her like a punch to the stomach.

Her breath caught as a scorching wave of red rushed up her neck and set the tips of her ears on fire, and under her neatly straightened skirt, something low in her belly clenched.

A sudden slick warmth gathered between her thighs all over again.

’No, no, no...’ Aeliana panicked, curling her toes inside her slippers as she pulled her hand back and clutched the tray to her chest like a shield. ’Control yourself, Aeliana! You already did your research this morning though it isn’t complete! Why is my body reacting like this to a simple thank you?! Just his smile... just his voice saying my name... this is completely scandalous!’

She took a hasty dignified half step back and turned her eyes toward the corner of the platform.

Unfortunately for her nerves, standing right by the railing was Talira.

The dragon girl was leaning against the wood with her chin propped in her hands, her crimson wings twitching restlessly, and she was staring straight at Aeliana with wide unblinking red eyes full of pure fascinated curiosity.

Aeliana’s ears pinned flat against her head.

She had been so composed... She’d had the tray... She’d had the posture... She had walked up these stairs with the full dignity of a princess, and one curious dragon was taking all of it apart without saying a single word.

She looked away so fast her hair swung, and stared very intently at the grain of the floorboards with her cheeks burning while Talira’s head tilted to follow her.

Aeliana stared harder at the floorboards.

’What kind of creep watches other people have sex...?’ Aeliana fumed, her knuckles going white on the tray. ’Or catches them in the middle of it, stands in the doorway with her jaw on the floor and then stares at them afterward like a curious lizard?! It is a complete violation of household manners! She has the manners of a wild wyvern!’

A small honest voice in the back of her head pointed out that she, Aeliana, had been inside a closet and watched Lord Sy and Morwenna all night.

Aeliana ignored it with great dignity.

She drew a slow deep breath through her nose, trying to calm the fluttering in her chest, but as her eyes wandered across the platform, they landed right on Morwenna.

The pirate captain was slouched in her chair, cleaning under her nails with the tip of a dagger, completely unbothered by everything in the world.

Morwenna glanced up, caught Aeliana staring and lifted her empty goblet with an impatient wave.

"Oi, elf," Morwenna drawled. "Quit daydreaming and pour some more of that purple stuff over here... My throat feels like I’ve been swallowing beach sand all morning."

Aeliana’s silver-green eyes narrowed into tiny venomous slits as she walked over to refill the glass.

’No,’ Aeliana thought fiercely, watching the pirate drain the juice in one huge unrefined gulp. ’Talira isn’t at fault... The real creeps are people like this woman! She did it with Lord Sy all night long, made enough noise to wake the dead, knows I was there and now she sits here barking orders like a dockhand as if nothing ever happened! She has no shame at all! She is the real weirdo in this territory! I am completely normal!’