A Witch, A Knight and The Black Cat

Chapter 6

After the head pharmacist cleaned and bound Kumiko's leg she offered her a cup of sweet tea while Obi followed Shirayuki out to do her work. Leaving the two women alone sipping at tea, and Kumiko's coffee gaze following Obi's tall figure out the door.

"So have you told him yet?" Garrak inquired.

Turning to the older woman with pinched brows Kumiko said, "Told who what?"

Garrak smirked as she lowered her cup. "Are you going to stay when the festival is over?" she asked.

Kumiko tilted her head at the blonde woman, confused by her questions. "I don't have a reason to," she replied.

"What about Shirayuki? You've made friends with her. Or how about Obi?" Garrak commented with an arched brow.

"What about Obi?" Kumiko quickly questioned.

Garrak snickered into her tea while Kumiko sat hers aside on the desk.

"You two have gotten close," she smiled. "Spending so much time together and such."

Slouching in her seat Kumiko corrected the pharmacist by saying, "It's not "spending time together" when a prince orders it."

"That's not the rumor floating around," Garrak hummed.

Kumiko unconsciously perked up at that. Leaning towards the woman she asked, "What rumor?"

Garrak eyed Kumiko, amusement written across her ageless face. Setting her teacup down Garrak propped her elbows on her desk, knitted her fingers together and rested her chin on the backs of her hands.

"Word is that Prince Zen hasn't given a single order towards your stay since assigning your room. You're free to leave if you really wanted to," Garrak said.

"I won't leave without my sword," she stated.

"And once you have it? What are you going to do then?" she challenged.

Kumiko opened her mouth to answer, but she didn't know what she was going to say. She had no plans to return home, nor did world travel sound interesting to her. In fact Kumiko hadn't given much thought on what she would do after confronting Mitsuhide.

Running her fingers over the lower edge of her hood Kumiko closed her mouth as she thought about her options. She could leave Clarines and find a small village to live in. Her skills with a sword were enough for her to live as a guard or even an escort. Or she could stay in Clarines, move away from her old neighborhood and start a practical life working like her parents had wanted. That thought wasn't too awful, at least she'd be able to visit the castle and see Shirayuki. . . And Obi. There was him too.

"I don't know," Kumiko admitted.

Garrak stared at the girl with bright understanding violet eyes as she lowered her hands to hold her cup. Her index fingers brushing the rim as she took in Kumiko's perplexed expression.

"Who's on your mind right now?" Garrak asked curiously.

"Why does that matter?" Kumiko said defensively.

"Because they'll be important to your decision," she smiled.

Kumiko made a sour face at the woman before jumping to her feet, wincing at the pull it caused her wound. Yanking her hood up she turned to leave the medical room, waving back at the woman as she muttered, "Thanks for the tea."

When the girl was gone Garrak glanced across the room to where Ryuu was tucked away under a table working on charting the new herbs they were testing. Peeking out from his workplace her looked at Garrak who was smirking.