An Unbound Soul

I left Lord Reid's dwelling with a despondent Cluma trailing behind me. She had none of her usual energy, and didn't look at all up to a jog back to the village. That was a problem, because it was getting late, and if we walked back at this pace, we wouldn't get home till the middle of the night. It would be better to find somewhere to sleep here. That was stupid of me; I should have noticed this back when Lord Reid was telling her to go and pack, but by the time I did, it was a bit late to ask if I could come back to pick her up tomorrow instead.

"How did you end up with a fighter class?" I asked as we walked. I was sure the only inn in the town was down this street somewhere...

"Because Daddy didn't want me to," Cluma answered matter-of-factly.

"That's... not a great reason," I observed. An interesting alternative to punching him in the face, for those that couldn't, but one that would normally have screwed up her whole future, given the difficulty in advancing it. Apparently that wasn't a concern of hers, though; she'd obviously been levelling it, and fast. She'd been a level nine [Commoner] the last time I'd seen her, before leaving for Dawnhold last spring, but was already almost at the point of another class change.

"There's a bunch of mana fields around the Emerald Nest that they hunt for food, Mummy needed meat for the restaurant, and I had a desperate desire to stab something."

This was getting worse, not better... I grinned nervously, glad that we had reached the inn and I didn't need to respond to that. Where had the old cheerful Cluma gone? I wasn't sure I liked this gloomy, angry version. She hadn't even tried to hug me once.

When we entered the inn, the desk at reception was empty, but when I rang the bell placed there, a lady came rushing through a door to the side. Before it swung closed, I caught a glimpse of a very busy canteen.

"Can I help you?" she asked politely.

"Do you have a couple of rooms for tonight?" I asked.

She looked about as taken aback as I'd expect from being asked that by a kid. As close as I was to my ninth birthday, it was still only my ninth. "For you two? Or are you asking for your parents? Not that it matters; I'm afraid we're booked solid till next year. It seems half the population of the continent are either visiting or working at the research institute. Half of the visitors are camping out there. I think they're in the middle of building some dormitories on site, but that doesn't help you tonight."

"Oh," I said, disappointed. "Thanks anyway."

We left the building, and I led Cluma to the delvers' guild instead. Given that she had nothing to do with the guild, I didn't see any reason why they'd let her stay, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. If that failed too, we'd just have to sleep outdoors, or travel through the night. It was already summer, and the temperature was warm enough.

It was Ella on reception and surprisingly, after explaining the situation, she told us to just both sleep in my usual room. Unlike the inn, the delvers' guild was quiet, given that we'd lost a few parties to deeper dungeons, and my room still hadn't been reused despite me being away for almost all of spring. As much as I appreciated it, there was still one major problem. "But there's only one bed? I mean, I don't mind sleeping on the floor, but the room's so small that I don't think there's enough of it."

"What does it matter if there's only one bed? You're both tiny. You'll fit together."

"But we're a boy and girl?"

"You're also eight, and different species. If you were both beastkin I'd insist on separate rooms at this time of the year, but you two will be fine. I can assure you there's no such thing as cooties, so stop being so weird about it."

Huh? "What's special about the time of the year? And why would two beastkin be different from two humans?"

Ella gave me a completely blank look. It was a very careful sort of blank, trying to give nothing away about what she was thinking. Cluma was wrinkling her eyebrows in a 'did you really just ask that' sort of way. Ella broke first, shaking her head. "No, the job responsibilities of a guild receptionist may be many and varied, but they don't cover giving that talk. Get that from your parents, please."

Oops... I could feel myself starting to blush, and hurriedly turned away. I made it two steps away from reception before it occurred to me that I'd never seen a single halfbreed. Back in the village, all couples were two humans or two beastkin. My father, who I knew had [Xenophilia] and who was a very close childhood friend with Clana, had nevertheless married my mother. Yes, it was time I got my parents to give me the talk, because this seemed like important stuff that I should know...

Hesitating in front of the stairs, I asked, "Are you hungry? It's not a patch on what your mum makes, but they do serve food here."

"No thanks."

Cluma followed me in silence to my room, then immediately curled up on my bed, facing away from me. Moments later, I heard quiet sobs.

"I'm sorry," I started, slightly panicked. "I tried. I even got the money together to use the portal to try to find you, but then they wouldn't let me use it without an adult, and I didn't have enough money for two. The guild wouldn't pass on messages. I didn't know what to do!"

Cluma didn't respond, and I had no idea how to comfort her. What would she do in this situation? Or at least, what would the old Cluma do? Hugs, obviously. I lay down behind her and gave her a squeeze.

"What are you doing?" she asked, sounding a little annoyed.

"Hugging you. Hugs make everything better, right?"

"No, they don't!" she shouted angrily. "Let go!"

"Nope," I refused. Yes, that was flippant of me, but despite what she was saying, she was making no attempt to push me off. "I have over a year of hugs to catch up on, so I need to get started right now."

She said nothing further for a few minutes, before quietly asking, "Why did you put yourself in so much danger for the other villagers? For me? We never asked you to. But when I wanted to protect you, you made me run away. What makes you special?"

It took me a while to work out what she meant, given that I'd learnt long ago that Erryn had no intention of letting her get hurt, and that Cluma wasn't supposed to know about my delving activities anyway. She hadn't batted an eyelid at me walking into the delvers' guild, but I'd assumed that was because she'd heard something in Lord Reid's mansion, and she wouldn't know why. Apparently, she knew more about what was going on than I thought.

I had to admit my own hypocrisy. What had I yelled at Camus back then? Something about how he shouldn't be so arrogant as to think he was the only one allowed to put himself in danger for the sake of others. Yet I'd done exactly the same thing and hadn't even noticed until Cluma pointed it out. Wait... There was a memory that had stuck with me; the first time I'd seen Cluma after I'd had a go at Camus, she'd muttered 'hypocrite' at me under her breath. She'd been listening to that whole argument?!

I could easily justify it to myself; Cluma was a child, and I, at least mentally, was not. I had the mental capacity to make that sort of decision, and she didn't. But then, why should I base that sort of thing on age? I'd spent a good chunk of my life complaining at rules I have to follow just because I was physically a kid when mentally I was much older. Cluma's mental stats might not be as outrageous as her physical, but they were still already at adult level, so wasn't that just another way in which I was being hypocritical? Shouldn't I respect her decisions too? If only I hadn't said what I'd said to Camus back then, or if only I'd noticed our eavesdropper, could we have avoided all this?

"I'm sorry," I said, hugging her tighter. "I won't promise not to tell you to run away again, not if I think it's the best course of action. But I will promise to keep my arrogance in check, to remember that I'm not the only one who wants to protect people I care about, and that I'm certainly not the only one allowed to."

Cluma wriggled around in my grasp, turning to face me. "So you noticed?" she asked, her eyes still red and puffy, but now dry of tears. "You swear to me? You'll treat me as an equal, and not some sort of fragile princess?"

That made me laugh, despite the situation. "I've never thought of you as fragile," I managed, between giggles.

"Oh, so you do think of me as a princess then?" Cluma responded with a smirk.

Uh-oh. I didn't need [Trap Perception] to spot the danger in that question. It was one of those questions with no right answer, wasn't it?

Spotting my dithering, Cluma laughed too, before returning my hug. "Swear to me," she repeated, more seriously.

"I swear," I answered, at which Cluma noticeably relaxed.

"I... think I'll still see Daddy again," Cluma started, hesitatingly. "Maybe not for a while. He did a bad thing, but in his own way, he just wants to protect people too."

I saw her ears twitch, but she remained silent for the next few minutes, before asking, "How is everyone back at the village? Anything interesting happen?"

"No huge changes. Kari moved to Dawnhold, I have a new baby brother, Mum and Remous reached rank three."

"Wait, wait, wait!" she said excitedly. "New baby brother? What's his name? How old is he?"

"Darren. He's eleven and a bit weeks, and if you're staying with us, you're going to be babysitting him a lot."

Cluma's energy departed as quickly as it came. "I could have stayed with Mum," she muttered. "I know there wasn't much space, and I was just in everyone's way, but I'm sure I could have found something useful to do if they'd let me."

"You can still go and visit. It's not that far between here and the village. Oh, and I bet that with your dexterity, you'll get used to [Weft Walk] in no time."

"Weft walk?" asked Cluma curiously.

"It's a new spell I have that cuts travel time, and I have a magic item that lets me share it with other people."

"How come you've got the cool stuff?" Cluma complained.

"Hah, just you wait till you see my Prototype Electro-Thaumic Projector," I said. I'd have pulled it out of my [Item Box] to show off, but it wasn't a safe thing to have around in a cramped bedroom. Anyway, I wasn't the only one with upgrades. From Cluma's skill set, I could see that she had taken her monster hunting seriously. We didn't have any mana fields near our village. I knew there was the kobold one up north, but I also knew somewhere far more obvious that had a plentiful monster supply.

"Cluma," I started, unsure if I should even be making this suggestion. "In the spirit of treating you as an equal, would you be interested in joining me in the dungeon?"

Cluma boggled, her eyes almost popping out of her head. "What? I... I can't. Can I?"

"I can ask. They let me in, even though the original reason I had isn't relevant anymore." Although, to be fair, I hadn't told anyone that it had become irrelevant... Maybe that was a bad plan. "Or maybe you can join the tournament?"

"Tournament?" she asked, confused. "What's that?"

"Basically, a big event where the delvers' guild members get together and spar with each other. You could sign up for rank one singles."

"That sounds... fun?" Cluma responded cautiously.

"Awesome. Do you have armour? What did you wear when you went hunting?"

"Nothing special. Just my normal clothes."

"Hmm... Okay, we'll stop by the store tomorrow morning then, and I'll get you a present." Not that she'd particularly need it just for the tournament, but I bet it would aid my effort to cheer her up.

Cluma peered at me suspiciously, but before she could respond, her tummy rumbled loudly, causing her to start blushing furiously.

"Are you sure you don't want to go downstairs for some food?" I asked.

"No... I want to stay here with you for now, please. I'm okay."

I retrieved a couple of ration biscuits from my [Item Box] and handed one to Cluma before munching on my own. "So, tell me about this other world," she asked, nibbling on her biscuit.

It seemed that she really did know everything, and yet, like her mother, she wasn't blaming me for what happened. I spent some time talking about cars and planes, televisions and computers. The sort of games we played, and what we did for entertainment. A little of what I did for work. She may not have understood much, but it was nice to be able to talk to my heart's content without keeping any secrets.

My colourful description of Earth over, she curled back up on the bed. This time, there was no sobbing; she swiftly fell asleep and started a quiet purring, which was just plain adorable. With no space in the bedroom, I went to sleep in the bathroom instead, using all the clothes in my [Item Box] to soften the hard floor a bit, because despite Ella's opinion, I was not eight. Just what time of the year it was for beastkin, anyway? Did they go into heat or something?