The cowgirl's guilt

After that very quick non-lesson, Mina made her way over to where Natalia was, and Natalia promptly put her to work helping care for the myavgo. As they went about their tasks, with Mina cleaning the pens while Natalia fed them, she was also trying to think of a way to get some info out of Natalia. See where she stood on everything.

‘Natalia is really nice, and I don’t think she would want to take advantage of me. But, she’s also one of the adults, so odds are she got told the truth about my summoning. The big thing is if she agrees with it, but how do I ask her without her realizing I’m asking her?’ Mina thought to herself. She then turned to look at Natalia to see if looking at her would give her some inspiration, only to be caught by surprise at the look on her face.

Natalia was visibly conflicted, clearly distracted by her own thoughts as she didn’t even realize that her hand she was feeding the myavgo with was empty. Something was clearly wrong with her, and Mina couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with the mission yesterday or her own issue.

“Miss Natalia? Is something wrong?” Mina asked, drawing her attention.

“Nothing!” Natalia said far too quickly. “Nothing’s wrong. Why do you ask?”

“Because you’ve been holding an empty hand towards the myavgo for the past few minutes.” Mina told her.

“O-oh, so I have.” Natalia said, finally noticing that fact. “Alright, so I have a bit on my mind, but nothing you need to worry about Mina.”

Mina frowned at Natalia’s insistent and transparent deflection. Even if this had nothing to do with the summoning or anything else related to her, Mina knew she had to get to the bottom of this. For Natalia’s own sake if nothing else.

“Does it have something to do with the mission yesterday?” Mina asked.

Natalia visibly flinched when Mina said that, basically confirming Mina’s assumption.

“I really shouldn’t be talking to you about this Mina. My issues aren’t something you should be worrying about.” Natalia said. Mina opened her mouth to argue, but Natalia cut her off. “Look, why don’t you finish in here with the myavgo by yourself. You’ve proven yourself to be quite good at taking care of them already. I need to go talk to my husband for a bit, so I’ll see you later.”

Natalia then began walking out of the pen to get away from her, not wanting to give Mina a chance to say anything. But Mina knew she couldn’t let this chance slip by. She needed to know if Natalia was on her side, and this was probably the best moment to do it. So, before Natalia could leave the pen, Mina took a risk.

“You know, the warden of the prison assumed me and Iro were there to hide from the people attacking the prison when we first met him at his office. He was really nice to us before we told him we were there to attack him.” Mina said.

Natalia froze in place the moment Mina said that, and for a moment Mina worried she screwed up, until Natalia visibly relaxed.

“Dorothos always was a kind and protective man. Glad to hear that hasn’t changed.” Natalia said, and Mina could tell her risk paid off. She then turned around and walked back to Mina, sitting down on one of the stools and gesturing for Mina to do the same.

“Alright, you got me Mina.” Natalia then said. “Don’t tell anyone, I’ve been having thoughts about what the Anaktites are doing to try and ‘save’ the kingdom. And I’ve also been having thoughts about your and Nik’s roles in this fight.”

“My role?” Mina asked, very intentionally ignoring the comment about Nik. Natalia either didn’t notice or didn’t blame her, because she didn’t bring up Nik either.

“Yeah. It’s just, I’m worried for your safety is all.” She said. “After you were sent to fight someone that was well above your level yesterday, I’ve been worried that these guys might be putting you in more dangerous situations than necessary.”

‘Ok, this is a perfect opportunity to nudge her a bit about the summoning.’ Mina thought.

“Well, I mean, I’m Uraina’s chosen one, aren’t I? Plus, seeing as I’m her chosen one, then wont she intervene herself if I really get in over my head?” Mina ‘innocently’ asked.

“Ah, he he, you are right, you sure are the chosen one.” Natalia said evasive, so blatantly guilty and uncomfortable looking that Mina would have been able to see it even if she was blind.

‘Ok, she definitely knows the truth about the summoning, and she definitely feels guilty about it.’ Mina thought.

“I feel like this might have been a mistake.” Natalia said as she abruptly stood up. “I really shouldn’t be bothering you with this, so I’m going to be going now.”

Natalia then walked off, and this time Mina let her, having already gotten everything she really needed.