"You'd rather work for a wanted criminal than come back?" the man snapped, his voice sharp and dripping with a youthful arrogance.
"I already told you, we didn't have a choice back then!"
Wind didn't even flinch at his words. She already knew the truth of what happened back then.
She stood straight, eyes cold, with her hands clenched at her side.
"You abandoned me," she simply said.
It was spoken with such indifference that it seemed almost disconnected from reality.
The words landed like a hammer. The Gallon Family, or at least, this representative from the younger generation, knew that she would be stubborn, but… The man's jaw clenched. "You don't understand how dangerous 'that woman' is! Everything we did was for your own safety!"
That was nonsense…
He continued, "Did you know that the others (White Whistles) all throughout the Cross Continent are already dead? They were literally hunted down and slaughtered!"
He was trying to proclaim himself some kind of saviour…
Wind frowned but did not respond.
The argument spiraled into a stalemate.
Time passed.
The man from the Gallon family tried everything he could think of to convince Wind to return to the family with him. He didn't even put the surrounding servants in his eyes as he talked on and on. After a good old-fashioned, 'You owe the family for raising you—'
—Petra listened for about three more seconds, then her temple throbbed. Her patience snapped. She hated these poorly written side characters!
With a small, deeply irritated hiss, Petra stomped forward like a grumpy little bun, marching towards the problem she was done tolerating.
Tap-tap-tap-tap…
- She didn't raise her voice…
- She didn't argue…
- She just lifted her foot—
PETRA KICKED HIM TO THE SIDE (Gallon Ga-ga-ga-gun!) Boom—! And—————GONE!
Wooosh—! BANG! The man was violently kicked sideways, his body blasting out the door and across the porch, tearing through the air until he reached the distant hillside and was promptly embedded halfway into a wall.
Petra stepped forward, frowned slightly at her strength, reached out, and slammed the sliding door shut.
Bang!
She clapped her hands together at the 'successful' 'conclusion' of the confrontation. Wind watched her act all high and mighty from the side, her lip twitching.
Indeed, that was one way to do it! But… what an awkward way to send away a guest…
She looked at the closed door, then sighed.
Wind walked over, opened the door again, looked at the two attendants that had come with the young man, and said in a cold and noble voice, "This conversation is over—Bang!" Then proceeded to slam the door closed a second time.
-
Outside, silence reigned supreme…
The man's companions stared in horror as their young master hung awkwardly out of a wall, legs dangling limply.
"…What do we do?" one of them whispered.
The other swallowed. "I-I… think we should bring him back first."
The man groaned from within the wall…
* * *
Some time later, night quietly swept in…
Petra returned to the room.
Outside, the sky had rapidly darkened, the clouds piling atop one another until the surroundings became dark, and the distant horizon beyond the windows blurred into shadows, losing its color and flashing up with the occasional crack of lightning.
Tonight, the storm had arrived in full force.
Thunder rolled across the sea, with deep and resonating rumbles, shaking the wooden beams of the resort despite the distance. Rain lashed against the outer walls as wind whaled at the trembling windows. Instead of retreating inside, a small group of the girls gathered on the porch facing the ocean, drawn in by the spectacle.
Petra had always loved storms, but there was something about the weather in Pillomal that just couldn't be compared. Perhaps it was the existence of spiritual energy, or perhaps it was an imbalance of elemental energy, but the weather in this world was always wonderful and wild, differing greatly on a fundamental level from her old 'home' on Earth.
Petra walked out barefoot, a steaming cup clasped in both hands. It was hot chocolate, her favorite drink, and a refreshing contrast to the cold milk from before.
She sat on the edge of the porch with the other girls, looking up and chatting. She leaned on one arm, sipping lazily as lightning tore open the sky again and again, illuminating the intense waves and unseen creatures. Wind sat nearby with her arms folded, and a few of the beast maids sat on the floor with large blankets wrapped around their shoulders, their ears jumping with every clap.
The storm was loud and violent, a beautiful display of nature's wrath, manifested into a picture, framed by distance, and dulling the rolling echoes as they spilled past.
It was oddly comforting…
As they watched the storm like little children watching fireworks, some of the younger girls began counting the seconds between the lightning and thunder, arguing over which strike had been the largest, and how far away it was.
Petra hummed between sips, her eyes half-lidded and her feet kicking, as the spritz from the rain soaked everything within its rainy reach.
Then—
Bam! There was a sudden disturbance! The sharp bang echoed through the halls, rattling the walls and cutting straight through the relaxed atmosphere… again…
Petra frowned, slowly turning her head… again…
Her eyes narrowed.
Petra didn't even flinch, but… "Ah…?"
"…Who is it this time?" she muttered under her breath.
For the second time, she followed the sound back to the 'front door'. As she reached the door, another voice suddenly sounded. Petra looked forward, seeing the three figures involved in this next incident.
Mell had slid the door open—
Standing there, soaked and frowning in the rain, was an old 'acquaintance', or at least…
"…Merlin?" she asked, thinking back to the information she had learned on their way to the southern region. Mells's frown deepened as she scanned him.
He was a youthful boy, slightly arrogant, with pale blue hair that was wet from the rain, dark blue eyes, faint freckles, and a silver monocle. He was young, far from an adult, but he already seemed like a scholarly mage, only with a slight fanaticism concealed within his strangely serious gaze.
He stared back, clearly prepared for what he planned to say next, but—
Before he could speak, a voice stirred from behind. Mell stepped aside, allowing the light from the hall to spill outwards, revealing the recently refreshed Noah—
The two 'boys' froze!
These 'childhood friends' hadn't seen each other for over a year, and for a heartbeat—
Neither of them moved…
After a moment of shock, Merlin—
"W-wait. Why, w-why do you look like—" His eyes widened in disbelief, traveling up and down Noah, 'his male rival's', faintly feminine frame! The extremely cold and scholarly persona he had slowly created over the past year had shattered in an instant, his brain overwhelmed by what he suddenly saw!
"Y-you, you! You were a girl the whole time!" Merlin screamed!
Noah choked. "What! Ah—? Ah!" Noah's brain took a very long moment to understand where the misunderstanding had actually appeared…
At the same time, from behind—
"Pfft! Hahaha!" The room erupted into laughter! Petra snickered.
Merlin stuttered and tried to backtrack as his face reddened in embarrassment, but even the rain couldn't hide it! He was completely unprepared for this situation! It was an overwhelming level of embarrassment, a complete oversight! He was thrown into a flustered state, but then, suddenly, he stopped abruptly, his gaze accidentally sweeping past Noah.
That was when he noticed 'her'…
Petra, standing to the side, stood in the shadows, concealed in the darkness of the hallway. She was there as part of the crowd, but she felt unnaturally distant, despite clearly standing with everybody else. Her black eyes reflected the lantern light from outside with an unsettling clarity. She tilted her head slightly, almost cutely in a certain sense, studying him with a quiet, clinical curiosity, like someone 'examining' a subject rather than 'observing' a person. This gaze was completely disconnected from her actions as a bystander.
Merlin shivered.
He was one of the few people who could understand that gaze, that madness, the dormant storm concealed behind a very, very thick veil. He was exactly the same. He had been told by Arthur about this person. HE had understood the warning, but it was only up close that he could feel the contradiction.
In an instant, it clicked…
So, this was 'her'.
The person that Master (Arthur) had warned him about… The one who he should avoid, who didn't adhere to logic, who was a walking anomaly.
He understood clearly.
His master had explained it in a somewhat vague and dismissive way, but now, he felt as if Arthur couldn't have been any more accurate with his words.
"…I-I'm leaving," Merlin said stiffly, already turning away. It was an abrupt departure, leaving all the girls confused and disappointed. He just had one of 'those faces'.
Noah watched him leave.
She didn't say a word…
The door slid shut behind him, his form swallowed by the wind and rain. Noah stepped out onto the porch and watched Merlin disappear into the storm. At the same time, Mell, in the back, narrowed her eyes as she looked at the guest depart. One hand clasped her right arm, and she remained silent.
-
Petra took another sip of her hot chocolate.
"Some things never change." she hummed, returning inside. Petra slid the door shut behind her and trotted back, for the third time, to the room where she planned to sleep.
Rose, already halfway buried beneath the blankets of her bed, lifted her head with twitching ears and asked. "What was that about?"
Petra shrugged, tugging at the sleeve of her robe.
"No idea," she responded.
In truth, Petra felt like this casual gender swap was going to have a very large effect on Noah and Merlin's storyline, but she didn't need to say that to this the feminine feline. Mm, definitely not. Don't think Petra forgot that Rose was the first 'boy' she 'recruited', even if she already looked like a girl at that time. After so many months of Petra's persistent bullying, Rose seemed to have accepted her fate—
But that didn't mean Petra would forget her grievances! She had a bit of ADHD.
Looking at the red cat, Petra narrowed her eyes, contemplating…
For some reason, Rose, suddenly feeling very cold, disappeared even deeper beneath the blankets.
Petra mumbled something under her breath, then moved on.
The lights were dimmed one by one, their warm light replaced by the soft glow of luminous insects and the sparse spread of elemental wisps. Rain tapped steadily against the roof, flooding the garden outside. The sound was muted and rhythmic, like a lullaby. Thunder rolled in the distance, no longer as explosive, but deeper, and far further away.
The beds were quickly claimed.
Instead of separating, they all shared a room, choosing to open a large one instead.
Some of the girls slept 'properly', while others simply 'migrated', not accustomed to sleeping alone. They dragged their blankets, stole some sheets, pilfered some pillows, and before long, almost half the group had piled into the same space, with their limbs tangled, tails flashing, and ears twitching whenever the wind rattled the windows. It wasn't an 'adult thing', no no no! It was more like a family, only with the added benefit of some 'participants' being extremely warm, fluffy, or just outright embodying a pillow! I'm looking at you, Miss Fox!
Mm, anyways—
Time passed…
The room settled into silence.
Someone snored, and outside, rain continued to fall in sheets.
-
Mm, Petra still couldn't sleep!
While mumbling, she slithered out of bed, crawled across the floor, then poked her head around from beneath Wind's bed.
"Psst~ hay! Breezy beauty! Hay~!" Wind grumbled, then turned her head slightly. "What?" She asked, looking at the small green head of hair that was protruding from the edge of her bed.
"…Can I ask you something?" Petra asked, her big black eyes sparkling with curiosity.
Wind was silent for a second, then nodded. "Sure, what is it…?"
Petra stared at the silver sister, then asked. "How did you end up with the Gallon Family, anyway? You're adopted, right? But why did they take in an elf? They shouldn't have known about your uniqueness at the time, right?"
The room went very quiet…
Even some of the 'sleeping girls' seemed to tune in.
Wind didn't answer right away.
She turned away, her gaze distant.
She thought back to her childhood, then pursed her lips. When she was finally ready to speak, her voice was calm, almost distant. "It was when I was six…"
Outside, the rain grew louder…
-