Don't jinx it

“Why didn’t you contact me?” Katharin pulled a long face.

What could he say? Hale felt like the world was spinning around him and there was no solid footing under his feet. The temple prevented outsiders from contacting her? He didn’t want to bother the busy Saintess? He was worried that her possessive love interests would single him out? Excuses, all of them. Because the truth was something he didn’t want to confront.

So he bowed his head and only the sound of their breathing filled the space.

“Fine, don’t tell me. But answer these instead.” Katharin lifted his head with a finger and met his golden eyes with hers. Did she know how much power they held over him? Hale felt an unprecedented groundedness. As if a tilted building finally regained its foundation and could stand firm against all storms and gales.

“Will you run away every time you see me?”

Katharin’s face scrunched up, and her eyes widened. She seemed to think she was being fierce but it was as intimidating as a soft rabbit baring its teeth. She listed her grievances over the years, one by one.

“... No.”

“Will you ignore my messages?”

“... No.”

“Will you send the temple anonymous warnings every time someone wants to assassinate me?”

She knew??

“... No.”

“Will you leave things at my door without coming in to see me?”

Hale gave up. The teenager clearly knew everything.

“...... No.”

The pinkish eyes finally curved into crescent moons and he was urged further into the room. For some reason, there was no chair no matter where he looked so she beckoned to the bed but he insisted on standing. The boy unpacked the medicine and, with bursts of fire magic, heated the cold water by the nightstand, stopping only when it was sufficiently warm.

“Here. I heard you have motion sickness.”

It was said that bitter medicine worked best but Hale’s soul almost popped out when he tried it earlier. However, seeing that her face didn’t change a smidgen even though she took the pungent liquid, Hale almost wondered if it was his taste buds that was problematic. His deft fingers unwrapped the prepared candy and popped it into her mouth.

The boy’s denseness was thicker than the walls of Ironreach. Hale was unaware of how intimate his action was; with his fingers pressed against her lips through the candy wrapper. A suspicious red dyed Katharin’s cheeks.

“Has the temple been treating you well?” Hale asked even though he knew. The key members of the Guild were made up of people saved by Katharin. Her health and happiness was a part of their organization goals so a lot of the information they gathered pertained to her.

“They have to.” Katharin shrugged, “I’m their money maker and mouthpiece.”

Four years ago, Katharin’s immense mana capacity and talent for restoration and spatial magic was revealed. In the eyes of outsiders, the poor orphan went to the Homecoming Festival (to see the spirit of her mother, who passed recently) with nothing but returned with everything. She became a savior, the temple appointed her a Saintess and the childless Hominian duke adopted her.

But they didn’t see that with status, she lost her privacy and in the name of keeping her safe, her freedom disappeared. Her schedule was determined by everyone except herself and she couldn’t leave the compounds without permission. When she did leave, she had to be guarded by scores of paladins.

She wasn’t the Katharin who loved to smile, but a canary in a golden cage they weaved.

But the survival of the fittest was the way of life anywhere, not just for the anima.

The Guild worked themselves to the bone to expand. Only when they were strong and had more say, could they stand by Katharin and let her do what she wanted. If she wanted to leave, they would take her away and make sure they couldn’t find her. If she wanted to lessen the restrictions, they would negotiate (read: blackmail). If she wanted to destroy it all, they would be the sword in her hands.

If she so wanted, everything that she lost to save them, they would return to her multiplied.

“Are you actually getting distracted during our long awaited reunion?” Katharin pinched Hale’s waist playfully.

“Sorry, just… if you ever need anything, say it. Lily, Tomas, Delys, Nikolai… even Sylvan or Norte… they really care about you.”

“And you?” She tidied up Hale’s messy black hair. “Do you care?”

“I—”

CRASH!

The airship shook for a moment, as if it collided with something. Hale immediately held Katharin in his arms, protecting her from falling objects. Then the craft suddenly tilted and they smashed into the wall.

“Hale!”