Confirmation Bias

It was far into the evening hours before everything was finished at the Markets. Stepping out with Eri’Sol, I looked over at her healed up. Renold’s chat with me still lingered in my mind. It muddied all of my thoughts. “What did you want to do?”

“It’s rather late, but I think I want to go home.”

“Ready for that?”

“It’s not going to get any easier.”

“I’ll go with you if you want.”

“Please.”

She took the lead once more as we walked to the west side of the town. I wasn’t sure what to expect from their home. She said they were weaponsmiths, so I was envisioning something like a workshop. A simple home with smoke rising and maybe the smell of food cooking.

Instead, they had a fairly large place with two stories. It was built in dark wood like most of the buildings and steep roofs with clay tiling. There were a few more decorative touches at the ends of the roof that looked like some bird or maybe a dragon. A simple stone and mortar wall ran around their property with a second smaller structure away from the house. It was up off the ground with the shape narrower for the first floor and wider stretched out over on the second, but much shorter than the house.

Smoke rose out of the smaller structure with a light coming out of the first floor. Several of the rooms in the house had lights as well. Eri’Sol pushed the gate open as it squeaked a little. Rather than what I figured was the workshop, she went to the house. Walking straight up, it seemed like she was going to just head in, but she stopped at the steps.

I stayed behind her. This was for her to do. But she looked back at me. The energy she normally had burned away. I wondered how bad their last fight had been. How much was all of it a screen for her? “I’m just going to get into another fight with them.”

“I’m not sure I’m the best person to be giving advice in this matter, but nothing starts without talking. Even if it is yelling.”

Though before Eri’Sol could even make a decision, the door opened immediately confronting her with her mother. A tall woman by my standards, though clearly not this world’s. She felt like she towered over Eri’Sol in spite of the huge sword at her back and the monsters that she faced down. The crimson-orange wild hair seemed to have been inherited. “Eri’Sol, what are you—a Hero.” Her mother put on a quick smile and motioned to both of us. “Come in! It's been how long, Eri?”

The interior of the house was fairly homely, though there was a healthy amount of metal around. It seemed like they weren’t just weaponsmiths. They enjoyed working metals for anything. Either that or they just ran out of weapons and needed to keep working. Where there wasn’t metal plants decorated the gaps bringing a much needed warmth to the cold metals and dark wood.

We were taken into the living room with a couch, table and three chairs around it. I took one of the chairs just out of caution. It kept me safely away. Though her mother took off Eri’Sol’s sword and sat her down the couch. She joined a moment later next to her daughter.

There was a small distance between the two, though her mother still kept a warm hospitable smile on her face. Even as Eri’Sol looked to be soaking in sweat. “What are you doing in Ala Pena, sir?”

“Traveling and learning. Though I’ve been getting caught up in things here.”

“Curse rumors?”

“That’s right. Your daughter was helping with it.”

“Eri was? She always had big dreams! Making them come true!”

We sat chatting until her husband came in from outside. It remained amiable the entire time, even if Eri’Sol didn’t say much. Her mother continued to dominate the room with questions. She kept to a polite host. Even as much as inviting me to dinner. I considered politely declining, but both were very insistent on me joining.

They gave me a spare room to stay in for the night. Given how late it became, I didn’t think I had a lot of options beyond sleeping with the stars. It was far too late into the night when I was woken by a knock at my door. Was I always a light sleeper?

“Minoru?”

“Eri?!” I sat up in the bed more than a little confused that she was still awake or maybe she woke up. But it seemed that hearing my voice was more than enough of an invitation for her as she stepped in.

Eri’Sol had some of her hair laying in front covering up a bit of her nightgown. It was different from what I had been used to seeing her wear, which was just her under clothes. This was more of a loose dress, but slightly more cutely designed. “I woke you didn’t I?”

“No, I always wake up at three in the morning. Keeps my metabolism on its toes.”

She smirked a little at my dumb joke. “Sorry, it was the only safe time.” Eri’Sol sat down at the foot of the bed being that there were no chairs.

“It’s fine. What’s wrong?”

“I had another fight with them.”

“But they were so inviting. They were nearly tripping over their feet.” I grinned a little before getting serious. Even I could tell it was awkward. “What was it about?”

“Mostly the same as it always is. Abandoning the family business and starting from scratch in something that I’ll never reach any success in.” Now that I had the full picture, I could understand her parents’ point of view better. They were angry with her for abandoning everything that they worked for and the family before. But there had to be some part that was also just scared about her starting with nothing and never amounting to anything because of how the whole world worked. She would need children of her own before any real growth could be found.

Eri’Sol shifted her weight a little, turning to look at me. “It’d probably be easier for them if I wasn’t an only child.”

“But what’s wrong? You knew they’d still be upset.”

“I wasn’t expecting them to accuse me of using you.”

I looked on with some confusion. “Using me? They know about your promise with your friend, right?”

“Yes, they knew I haven’t had a lot of luck joining anyone. So they think I’m just trading that for you and taking advantage of you. That you’re naïve and blinded by my exotic qualities.”

‘Oh right, I sort of forgot that she was a catgirl.’ I wondered if others from Earth had created a negative reputation with some. It was easy to think we were the only ones summoned, but they had a whole history of it. “Sounds like nothing you’ll say will change their mind or even me. They’re going to create reasons.”

“Probably, but that was before when I hadn’t done anything. I wanted them to see I’m able to do something. That this isn’t pointless.” She slumped over. I could only imagine how much she put on this to change her parents’ mind. It was only made worse knowing why they disagreed.

“What will you do?”

“I don’t know. I can’t keep fighting with them. They’re my family. How much can I continue to be a child changing dreams?”

‘So she’s leaving.’ She didn’t say as much, but it was pretty clear what decision she would make. Family was more important than anything I needed. I knew that all too well. It would be fine. This is how it always will be. It was better to know now. “You should probably get some rest.”

Eri’Sol stared distant for a moment before agreeing. “Sorry for waking you.”

“It's fine. Night.” She stood up and walked out with that. I sighed. “There was no helping it. I can just focus.” With that I laid down. What she said lingered in my mind making it difficult to return to sleep. But eventually I managed to close my eyes.

Morning arrived and walked down cautiously looking around. Without Eri’Sol I felt a little like an intruder. But it wasn’t long before her mother appeared from around a corner rubbing her hands dry on her dress. “Sir Hero! Morning!”

“Good morning.” I checked out around not really sure what I was looking for.

“Eri said to tell you thank you. She seemed very happy that she was able to journey with you for a short while. But she has decided to stay.”

I nodded. “No, I understand. It’s important. I wish you well.” The door outside started to look very inviting. Thankfully, I carried my things with me. “I should probably be getting out of your hair.”

“Have a good day!”

She walked me to the door, always with that same polite smile. A courtesy gesture with her hands over her stomach gave me her parting. The fire in the workshop looked to already be burning strong by the smoke rising.

I was right, Renold.