Kidnapped Princess

Decisions

After almost a month, the knights had finally returned. They were greeted warmly and sent off to rest. Everyone was pretty exhausted from the traveling. Sarah and Leah went to go and report what had happened. Mari, Kanan, Hanamaru, and Yō went to go find where Dia, Ruby, and Chika were at.

They ran into Chika in the hallways. She greeted them happily and then led them to where Dia and Ruby were at. They were in the room that Dia and Riko had been using. Yohane was with them and visible, though she was transparent. Ruby had finally warmed up to Yohane. She wasn’t afraid of her anymore.

She had been a little jumpy around Riko as well. She was still getting comfortable with her as a ghost. It wasn’t as bad as her reactions to Yohane had been, so no one worried too much about it.

The five of them entered into the room. Dia and Ruby looked at them. Yohane glanced their way for a second. Mari walked over and took a seat beside Dia on the bed.

“How’d it go?” Dia asked.

“It went pretty well. Not too many casualties on our side.” Mari said.

“How have you guys been?” Kanan asked as she took a seat as well.

Neither Dia nor Ruby answered that question. They both avoided eye contact. Kanan and Mari looked at each other.

“It’s been tough, but things have been getting better.” Yohane answered on their behalf.

“That’s good.”

“I suppose you guys are tired. We can talk more later.” Yohane ushered them out of the room.

Hanamaru remained in the room. Yō decided to stay with her. Yohane looked at them with a confused gaze. She wasn’t sure why they were staying. Kanan and Mari had left without a fight because it was obvious neither of the sisters wanted to talk right now.

“Dia, can we talk?” Hanamaru asked.

“Not now. Tonight. I don’t want to risk anyone hearing us.” Dia replied.

“Alright. Then we’ll talk tonight.” Hanamaru accepted the answer and then bid them a good day.

Her and Yō went to go and track down where Kanan and Mari had gotten to. Neither thought they’d be in the room resting like they should be. And they were right. Kanan and Mari were out in the gardens. They were playing with some frogs. Hanamaru and Yō sat beside them.

“Wanna pet him?” Kanan held out a frog to Hanamaru.

Hanamaru reached out and hesitantly felt the frog. She shuddered as she felt his wet skin. Kanan smiled as she set the frog back down and let him hop into the pond again.

“Hey, Maru? Um, why are witches always associated with turning people into frogs?” Mari asked.

Hanamaru chuckled at the question, “I wish I knew. I don’t actually know any witch who has done that.”

“So, it doesn’t happen?” Mari asked.

“It might happen. But, it’s not the common threat. Most of the time witches will just kill or erase the memories of whoever wronged them. It’s pointless to waste magic on a spell like that.” Hanamaru shrugged.

“Hmm… witches have so many things associated with them that aren’t true.” Kanan hummed.

“I sometimes have to do a lot of research to figure out where some of these legends came from… the things people come up with to explain things…” Hanamaru sighed.

“You know how people are.”

…

When night fell, Hanamaru got out of the bed. She struggled out of Kanan’s grip.