Friends

Rivhild watches the campfire's flames dance in the gentle evening breeze. Meanwhile, Reioi and Tuipa divides up a rabbit that Tuipa had hunted. Tuipa extends a plate to Rivhild, who looks at it curiously. "Huh? Is this for me?"

Tuipa smiles. "Of course. You need to eat to get your strength back. Don't forget to thank the rabbit for it's meat."

Rivhild takes the plate at stares down at the meal. A few small, wild berries and some meat. "Thank you, rabbit, and thank you, Tuipa and Reioi."

Reioi swallows what is in her mouth before speaking. "You say that like you've never been given food before."

"I've never eaten before." Rivhild admits.

Tuipa stops chewing and Reioi gasps. "Never ate? Then how are you alive?"

"I'm a goddess." Rivhild tightens her grip on the plate. "I don't need to eat to survive. Though, this food, that you are letting me have, is making me drool. Are you sure I can have it?"

"Yes, you can have it!" Tuipa squawks. "If you are to get your strength back, you'll need to eat and sleep, deity or not!"

Rivhild hesitates for a moment before taking a bite of the meat. Her eyes go wide. She savors the flavor in her mouth, then she starts moving her jaw, learning how to chew. She swallows, chokes for a moment before forcing it down. "It's delicious." She mutters as golden tears start to fall from her eyes.

"Oh dear." Reioi sets down her plate and heads over to sit right next to Rivhild, with Tuipa following suit on the other side of the girl. "There is no need to cry."

"Thank you so much. I've never tasted anything this good before." Rivhild quietly proclaims.

"Come on now. It's not that good you need to cry over it, you just don't know what delicious food tastes like." Tuipa tries to deflect.

"Are all humans as kind as the two of you?" Rivhild asks as she wipes away her tears.

"Eh." Reioi shrugs. "I'd like to say we are pretty good, but I know some people who would make Tuipa, and I look like real jerks, still there is a lot of human meanies out there." She admits.

Rivhild sets down her plate for a moment and digs her fingers into the grass. "Reioi, Tuipa, will you take me with you on your adventures, so I can taste all kinds of food?"

The women exchange a quick glance before Tuipa answers. "Yes, we'll take you all over the realm, so you can taste all the food it has to offer."

Rivhild wraps her arms around Tuipa and Reioi. “Thank you both so much!”

Tuipa smiles as both women hug her back. “That’s what friends are for.” The trio goes back to eating their meal. The sky grows darker as they finish. After Tuipa wipes off her plate, she stands. “Alright, I’ll take first watch!”

“No, no you won’t.” Reioi grumbles. “I’ll take first watch, every time you take first watch, you fall asleep. Last time, I woke up with a raccoon on my face!”

“You never let anything go. Fine, I’ll take second watch.” Tuipa cedes.

Rivhild shifts. “So what should I do?”

“Sleep. We’ll keep you safe. You can use my sleeping bag, I’ll take Tuipa’s when we switch.” Reioi then straightens her back as she prepares for her watch.

Rivhild watches Tuipa get into her sleeping bag. She mimics the movement as she climbs into Reioi’s.

“Goodnight!” Tuipa exclaims as she turns her back to the fire.

“Goodnight.” Reioi wishes her and Rivhild as well.

Rivhild hesitates for a moment. “Goodnight.” She whispers, barely loud enough for the others to hear. She then drifts off to sleep.

In her dream, Rivhild is back in the destroyed realm, in the crater that was once the city of Ealiaoun. She reaches into the pocket of her dress and pulls out her pocket mirror; she tosses it in front of her. The moment the mirror lands of the ground, it transforms into an identical version of her. The Rivhild that was once the mirror speaks first. “I left.”

“Yes, I did, I left the Destroyed realm.” The original Rivhild confirms.

“This was once a city. I remember a brief glimpse of it when I was born, before it became my cradle.”

The scene the shifts, time rewinding in the dream, back to when Rivhild was born as the two Rivhild’s watch. The crater is replaced by skyscrapers made of metal and glass. A mighty wall surrounds the city, with gun turrets guarding every gate. The realm beyond is covered in luscious grass, wildlife, and far off, more cities much like this one.

The silhouette of a man stands atop of the tallest building, laughing manically as he charges a magic attack with both hands. The first Rivhild speaks. “Would he be my father?” The magic attack launches, the moment it touches ground, the city is turned to dust, and a blast radiates out over the whole realm. In the impact point, a black winged baby lays there, echoing the screams of the humans who died at the moment of her birth. Rivhild.

“In a sense. I guess.” The other Rivhild replies, staring down at her infant form. “Tuipa and Reioi… they called me a friend. Will I need to do this anymore? I won’t be alone.”

“Need? No this is no longer necessary. Still, I do enjoy talking to myself.” The original answers.

Rivhild wakes up slowly. She sits up to see that Reioi is now sleeping in Tuipa’s bag, while Tuipa sleeps sitting up where Reioi was when Rivhild went to sleep. The young goddess smiles. The fire has died out by now, only a few glowing embers remain. Rivhild watches the women sleep for a few minutes. She notices that Reioi had let her hair down the pigtails they were. Finally she her gaze to the sky. She stares up the greater moon through the leaves above, occasionally catching glimpses of the two lesser moons.

A sound in the distances draws the child’s attention from the sky. A man stands a few meters away, holding a spear. Rivhild then realizes that the camp is surrounded by several men. “Reioi! Tuipa!” Rivhild screeches. The men come into the clearing as the women wake up.

Reioi stumbles out of the sleeping bag. “We mean you no harm! We are just travelers passing through, we stopped here for the night. We are going to leave in the morning.”

“Now, now, there’s no need for that.” A man with a scar on his nose steps forward, clearly the leader. “What are you ladies doing out here on your own? Don’t you know it’s dangerous, lots of folk-eating monsters around these parts.”

“We can take care of our selves. We have each other.” Reioi grumbles.

“Got each other… that’s nice. You got a name?” The scarred leader asks, his voice dark and playful.

She hesitates for a moment. “I am Reioi Bluebell.”

“Oh, just some flower farmer? Hm, black hair.” He mutters before turning his attention to one of the other men. “You think we should try to ransom her to her father, or sell her as a slave in the Ficorain realm?”

Tuipa screams at the scarred man. “What in the sixteen realms is wrong with you!?”

“Oh don’t think I forgot about you, carrottop. You’ll fetch an even better price, not sure how much the little winged brat is worth, but she is rare sight to see.” The scarred man grins. “Now are going to make this easy, or are we going to have to teach you three to be good submissive women?”

Rivhild stands up and stretches. “Want me to dust him?”

“Nah, I got this.” Tuipa gleefully answers as she unfurls her Kyoketsu-shoge, “I am Tuipa Mint!” The rope of her weapon wraps around the leader’s neck. She pulls him down into the still hot remnants of the fire. “And my grandma always told me never to let some butt-brain talk down to me.”

As the leader screams in agony, the other men charge. Reioi quickly retrieves her axe and cuts one of them down. Another man swings at her with a sword, which she swiftly dodges, only to fall against another man. The man she ran into puts her into a choke hold, unfortunately for him, Reioi is still holding her axe, she promptly cuts off both of his arms. When she is free, she faces off against the man with the sword.

Rivhild looked up at the burly man standing next to her. “What do you want?”

“I want you to be a good little chick and surrender.” The man snarled.

Rivhild turns her head down, she then punches the man in the balls. The man screams and falls to his knees. Rivhild then flaps her wings a couple of times to bring her a few feet in the air, she then kicks the man in the head, snapping his neck. Two other men who witnessed this ran off into the woods screaming. Rivhild sits on the body of the man she just killed and watches Tuipa, who is sitting on her own latest victim.

Tuipa holds the rope of her Kyoketsu-shoge tight around the poor man’s neck, choking him. “Say uncle!”

“Agh, gah, agh!” Are the only sounds the man can make.

Tuipa leans forward. “Can you speak up? I didn’t catch that.” She coos. The man then passes out from the lack of oxygen.

Dawn begins and the battle ends. Reioi wipes her axe clean on the shirt of one of the men she killed. “Good morning, everyone, how’d you sleep?” She asks as if nothing had happened.