Dark Light

Chapter 23: Ballads and Stargazers

Year 1872

Their departure from the fortress was a bit more agitated than any of them had expected. The four girls were looking at quite a crowd as they approached their horses with all their equipment in hand; soldiers saluting them and quite a few who were even clapping and shouting words of gratitude as they passed them by.

Both Mami and Tomomi seemed to be the most popular ones, and Haruna thought it was for good reason as she watched several soldiers shake hands with the white-doned Sun sorcerer with smiles on their faces. Mami was visibly not as fond of a whole bunch of soldiers approaching her like that, but Haruna thought she was doing a good job of being polite to them from underneath her black cloak.

It had been a shock to her earlier, to wake up and find Mami still asleep in the exact same position from the night before, her breathing even and her face peaceful. When the Moon sorcerer finally stirred and woke up, she seemed to be at a loss for a minute or two, but most of all, she seemed calm in a way that Haruna wasn't at all used to seeing her. Mami was always quiet and cold, but Haruna had always felt this constant tension coming from her that had been absent that morning. That was the last thing Haruna had expected after the convoluted night they had, but it had to be due to Mami finally having a decent night of sleep in god knows how long. It was probably the reason why she was mostly dealing well with the soldiers now.

The princess looked over to where Commander Claw was, and watched her say a few words to Kai, hand on her shoulder. Kai would be the one in command of the fortress during Claw's absence, as it turns out. The girls would be accompanied in their trip by Claw, two other shieldmaidens, and a small contingent of Captain Ura's squad of archers, including Ura herself.

Speaking of which, Haruna observed as Tomomi walked up to a group of Ura's archers who would stay behind in the fortress. She seemed to be giving something to one of them, and the princess recognized it as one of those small flasks that the Sun sorcerer had with her the night before. She had assumed both of them contained the potion she had made for Mami, maybe there was a second dose or something, but apparently that wasn't the case.

Soon enough, Haruna was already mounting the palomino horse that had been lent to her, patting its neck as she watched Rina mount the chestnut-colored horse nearby. Tomomi was supposed to travel with Rina first, but she seemed to be having issues actually mounting the animal. If that was an issue already, Haruna was glad they hadn't encouraged Tomomi to ride a horse on her own after all.

- Come on, Tomo, just hold my hand and come up. - Rina offered with a smile on her face, but Tomomi couldn't see how she was going to make her way up to that horse without kicking it accidentally and enraging it in the process. This was not a skill she possessed; mounting and riding animals was so far out of her field of expertise that she could almost laugh.

This predicament went on for a couple of minutes until Tomomi felt a presence by her side and turned to see Mami. Before she could say anything, the dark sorcerer spoke.

- Go on. - she said in her usual low tone, gesturing her head towards Rina - Hold onto her and I'll give you a leg up.

- I'm sorry?

- A leg up. - Mami repeated in the same monotone to the confused Sun sorcerer, lowering her hands together between the two of them, palms up - So you can mount sometime before midnight.

Tomomi puffed her cheeks, but said nothing. It was just like Mami to offer some help and yet at the same time make a derisive comment. The night dweller kept looking at her as if she hadn't said anything out of the ordinary, so Tomomi decided to leave it at that and held onto Rina's hand first, then stepping onto Mami's hands and getting pushed upward.