The Winds of the Past [Rune Factory 4]

Chapter 39

We fell asleep that night on my narrow bed, still fully dressed and in each others arms. I woke at some point during the night and pulled a blanket over us, as the spring nights were still rather chilly. Then I fell back asleep with her body pressed against mine.

When I awoke the next morning, Avani was gone. She had left a note propped up on my bedside table informing me that she had returned home to tend to her gardens and beasts and inviting me to join her for breakfast.

I arrived in her gardens just as she emerged from her barn, carrying a crate full of milk cans with a basket of eggs balanced on top. She gently set the eggs on top of her shipping container just as Vishnal came down the steps behind me to take her day’s produce to the waiting airship. I followed her into the kitchen, where she deposited the milk in her refrigerator and began pulling out ingredients to make breakfast. “I hope you won’t mind, but I invited Dylas to breakfast, too. He should be here any minute.”

I was a little taken aback at first, but after reflecting for a moment, it wasn’t really all that surprising. Avani likely felt somewhat guilty for turning Dylas down, and was doubtless eager to try to restore some normalcy to our recently disrupted accord. So carrying on as if nothing had happened really seemed pretty characteristic for her… but I wasn’t at all sure that things could go back to normal. It mostly depended on Dylas, I supposed, and whether he was willing and able to resume the relationship they’d previously enjoyed.

Avani started some porridge simmering, then began chopping vegetables to make a filling for omelets. Meanwhile, I started the coffee, then grabbed a basket of oranges on her counter to start halving them for juicing. I was just slicing the first orange when there was a knock on the door. When I opened the door, Dylas stepped in, looking painfully awkward. He stopped just inside the door and looked questioningly at me. I nodded, saying, “She told me.”

He looked away again, his eyes both relieved and dismayed, saying, “I… you know, I really didn’t think I had a chance. But… I had to at least try. I couldn’t have lived with myself if I’d never even made the attempt. But… she said no, so that’s that. I guess I’ll just take whatever she’s willing to give, as long as she’s willing to give it.”

I raised an eyebrow as I said, “Even if all she wants is to continue as we are indefinitely? Can you… bear that?”

He shrugged. “I don’t honestly know. But for now… I’d rather that than lose her completely.”

I nodded in sympathy. I understood how he felt, as I felt much the same way. Though in my case, our state of limbo was entirely my fault, tied as I was by an old promise to one who was no longer able to release me from those bonds.

As we ate, Avani said that she was ready to go tackle the western island on the floating fortress as planned, if we were ready to join her. Dylas and I agreed, so we finished our meal, donned our gear, and headed for the airship.

This trip was as quiet as the previous one, despite the two-day delay. Landing on the floating quay, we again headed to the central island on to the bridge leading west. This island was… well, nothing short of a royal pain in the ass. Instead of platforms connected by bridges, it was instead comprised of small clusters of two or three platforms each, which were connected by warp points. The guards of this island were mostly dark and undead monsters: fausts, dark slimes, dark fairies, and hell spiders, though later we also encountered some fairly tough golems. However, the monsters themselves weren’t so much the difficulty—it was trying to figure out our way through all the warp points. We soon lost count how many times we ended up back at the start, backtracking yet again as we tried to map out a way through the tangled confusion of platforms.