Womanish Lady

Chapter 45:

   Siomi was awake before Fuyaiyah and studied her sleeping face. Not too long later, she also opened her eyes, and the two lovers gazed at each other.

Keith went to wake his brother upon request from his father.

"Woo, you sure were drunk last night that I thought we'd have to -" he began before he ended in a scream and closed the door in embarrassment.

"Um, dad? I think your son just became a man!" Was what the two lovers heard behind the door. In embarrassment, Fuyaiyah dove under the sheets, however, Siomi found it funny and got out of bed to keep the fun going.

Instead of getting on Siomi for not immediately correcting his brother, Fuyaiyah wanted to climb out the window.

The brothers and Her Teacher made a lot of commotion and suddenly, Keith opened the door again to interrogate Fuyaiyah, only to catch her halfway through the window.

"See! She's climbing out the window! That's how you know something happened!"

She was absolutely embarrassed and wanted to cry. Thankfully, Her Teacher reprimanded his son for being immature, and Siomi finally stated that nothing of the sort happened.

Fuyaiyah didn't care. She wanted to leave. So, with laughter, they let her go and she went home.

However, just about to open the door, Fuyaiyah heard tension from her sister and Norekeito.

"-then tell me why I just saw those two horsemen but with seemingly no news from them?"

There was a moment of silence.

"I can't, Nali."

She sighed.

"I thank you for wanting to take on some of my burden, but Norekeito, I'm the Third Headmaster. I need to know what's going on so I can make the right decisions!"

"I'm sorry, Nali." He said softly. "I just love you and want us to enjoy ourselves."

She matched his tone.

"I want that too, but we can't be selfish! The safety of everyone is on me now that I'm Headmaster."

"I know that! That's why I don't want you to worry about unimportant news."

Nali sighed.

"Every little bit is important to me."

Then there were sounds of shuffling in the house.

"Where are you going?"

"I love you Norekeito, but you're not reliable anymore. I'm going to search for the General myself."

"What?"

But Nali already opened the front door and saw her sister standing by. She paused at the sight of her and Fuyaiyah saw how sad she looked.

"Sorry Fuya, we may have to get married on different days."

She gave a small smile.

"Do your business, sister. Who's to say the village will be completely done by the time you return?"

The two sisters had planned to get married once the reconstruction of their village was complete.

Nali smiled and headed off. Norekeito slowly left back to his own place.

"Norekeito,"

He turned around dramatically.

"When the string is too tight, don't pluck it too hard or it'll snap."

Fuyaiyah thought she sounded wise, but he looked at her with genuine disturbance.

"What?"

She laughed at his facial expression, and rephrased.

"Nali's under pressure, as you know. If you're thinking of helping her, always ask her first. Okay?"

He exhaled and nodded then continued his way into town. Fuyaiyah exhaled herself and looked up at the late morning sky.

Later that day, Headmaster Nali's mission was officialized and two of her trusted comrades joined her. Fuyaiyah's teacher, Mehalor, was voted to be the temporary head of the village until her return.

All of the villagers except Norekeito, saw Nali and her comrades off pleasantly. And a while after she left, Fuyaiyah saw Norekeito, also with a small group of comrades, also about to set off.

"Hmm? Where're you going?"

"Ah, Fuya." He seemed in much better spirits than from earlier.

"Don't worry. I'm going to help Nali find out about the General. But we're heading to Everspring and will spy there for a while."