Connecting Paths

Apparently, after the weird Demon hit me, I became unconscious and was saved by the healing powers of Rita. Agnes Stein told me everything that had happened and I hugged her as hard as I could.

Rita had a blue light coming from her hands as she tried to heal Gengis. The Paladin was very tough and got back up even though he still was injured.

“Congratulations, Agnes, that must have been difficult,” said Gengis showing a rare moment of niceness.

“You didn’t even need my Void Bubbles! I knew your Stanzas were better than mine.”

“Don’t say that, miss Nani! All of the Stanzas are equally important. Each one has a use, none can do everything, that is why it is important for us to stay connected!” Rita said and for a moment I smiled, before I remembered the truth that the Void Stanza was useless.

“Let’s return now. I know you deserve a rest, but in town will be better than here.” Gengis said and grabbed the body of Adrien. “Also, this man deserves the burial of a Hero.”

Agnes Stein was having difficulty, not only physically, but it felt like something more. I don’t know if I noticed that because we were still a little connected by the empathy threads or simply because I was understanding her more. Whatever the reason, I gave my hand to her, and we walked together under the starry sky.

(…)

When we reached the town, we heard screams and I still felt so tired that it was hard to move and see what was happening, but people needed help. Between the metallic houses, the hurricane frog was in frenzy. The people were hiding, but the creature was throwing its enormous body against the buildings.

“My powers on it must have failed when the Demon hit me. Don’t worry, I can take care of this,” Gengis said, showing determination even if he still was hurt.

Rita stopped his master.

“What if… I tried this time? With a friendlier Stanza?”

The Paladin looked surprised at his apprentice.

“Do you think you can do it?”

“Yes!”

“Only a few days with those girls and you already have that much confidence? Okay, go on.”

The shy girl walked in the direction of the beast. Even braver than usual, she still was apprehensive about approaching the hurricane frog. When the creature looked at her, she had already made an empathy thread connecting the two of them.

“Hey, froggy, do you remember our journey so far? We had some good times, like when I washed you by the river and when we ate carrots together.

At least the hurricane frog was not attacking her yet, but it was not tame like before. Both Agnes Stein and Gengis were ready to fight the beast if needed.

“We can do more of that, but this time is your choice. Do you want to come with us? I promise a lot of tasty foods and belly rubs if you just calm down and go with us.”

The hurricane frog took another step towards Rita. It appeared that the hurricane frog could eat her at any second, but she was not backing out.

When the creature was almost touching the girl it fell to the ground, and turned upside down, giving its belly to Rita. The girl immediately started to rub him.

“Who is a good hurricane frog? You are!”

“That was great, Rita. Truly incredible work,” said Gengis again being nice.

“Now you don’t have to brainwash innocent creatures,” said Agnes Stein joining Rita in the petting of the frog.

The man sighed.

“I know you think I’m kind of a monster, but I’m not. If it’s possible to do the job in a pacifist way I will choose it over violence any day. The problem is that sometimes that isn’t an option, and my mission comes first. I’m truly happy with what you did, Rita. Your powers are really getting stronger.” The girl blushed with the compliment.

With that being settled, we did what we needed in Starcourse. We held a burial for Adrien, with both Agnes Stein and Casper being impacted by all of it.

“Agnes, I have something for you,” Casper said and guided the girl to his house. There he gave a new pair of glasses to her.

“They are perfect!”

“It was actually from your brother. He knew that someday the glasses he gave you would break, so he ordered another pair from me. I guess he liked you using his gifts.”

Once again, her eyes filled with tears, and she hugged Casper so hard that he started complaining.

After that, Gengis went to rest and the girls and I lay down when the night came and watched the stars together.

“I’m always surprised by this view,” said my sister.

“That is so beautiful!” Rita loved it and the salamander in her head also made a noise.

“This salamander was with you during our mission?” asked Agnes Stein just now noticing that it could be very dangerous.

“Yes! Blue B. is always with me. I guess it is like those glasses of yours. My parents were veterinarians and took care of any animal that showed up. One day they got very sick and died. We were not very rich, but Blue B. was some kind of inheritance from them. But don’t worry, my Stanza have connecting me with him, he ages just like me and can only die if I die, he can’t be hurt otherwise.”

“I’m so sorry,” said Agnes Stein knowing the pain of losing a family member. At least one that you really loved.

“Don’t be! They were the best and they prepared me for this time. My Stanza was already known, and Master Gengis took me in soon after. I feel their love every day!”

“So, he is like your new dad!” I said excitedly.

“Well, I wouldn’t call him that… but Master Gengis is very dear to me and I’m very thankful to him.”

“You seem so okay with everything in your life.”

“Oh, I’m sorry about that,” she said getting shy again.

“Don’t be, I think this is a good thing. I hope someday I can feel at peace with my brother being gone…”

“It still hurts, but they made my life very happy, I can’t show tears after all their efforts to make me this happy!”

Before we could continue our conversation, Gengis appeared, this time without his chest armor showing his muscles and bandages covering his wound.

“I’m ready to return. We have to return to the king and brief him about our mission. They might have located the Green Demon.

Agnes Stein and I looked at each other. We had already talked about that, but convincing Gengis felt like it was as hard as facing an Elemental Demon.

“Since we have finished the king’s mission we were thinking of going directly to Deep Green and find the others,” Agnes Stein started the explanation.

“And we will still be available if a new mission comes! But Markus also needs our help.”

“I guess that is fair,” he responded more peacefully than I expected. “But Deep Green is in the other direction. Are you okay with going on foot?”

Both of us showed thumbs up. He was already convinced of letting us go, we were not going to gamble with his humor asking for a ride.

Rita went to her master, looking at the ground while Blue B. was the one facing the man.

“Master Gengis… I was thinking on going with them.”

The three of us were equally surprised.

“Rita, you are my apprentice! What do you mean? You want to go with them? You will be a Paladin someday; your job is to serve the king!”

“I know! But… I want to go with them… not only that, but my Stanza is all about making connections, shouldn’t I try to make new ones and learn more about the world? I don’t think I should stay all my training closed up in a castle.”

“Huh, you really have grown. Sure, I guess being outside is great for experience. But remember you are MY apprentice. I will be expecting you back after that.”

The girl gave a hug to her master, who started to blush. As soon as he realized we had noticed, he turned his back to us.

“The king might need me! I have to go! Take care of my apprentice! And good luck!”

Without looking back he was off and Rita looked at us embarrassed again.

“I didn’t even ask if I could go with you! I’m so sorry!”

“Hey, your name is Rita Fiori, right? Welcome to the family!”