29. Ren Appreciates A Friend

Ren found herself backing away from Astolfo's grin and stopped herself. Astolfo, knight of Charlemagne, definitely qualified as a hero, but he wasn't exactly an ideal Servant. Restless, bright, playful and troublingly independent; backing away from him could only lead to trouble later on.

Breathlessly, she said, "Now. Astolfo, I'll brief you in a few minutes but first I need to deal with—Cú! There you are." She bestowed a grateful smile on the Irish Lancer as he stepped to her side.

His eyes widened as he looked down at her. "My lady—" He shook his head, cancelling whatever he'd been intending to say. "You want I should go deal with the beastie in the woods?"

She wanted to hug him. Sensible, sane, trustworthy Cú Chulainn. She didn't want to imagine where she'd be now without him. "Yes, exactly. Keep an eye out for the little boy, but let's start by eliminating the biggest threat."

His eyes teasing, he said, "You don't want me to capture it, or tame it, or anything like that?"

Ren answered seriously, "Only if that's easier than just destroying it. We have too much going on right now for games and I'd like this resolved as soon as possible. Lord Kirri's due the dawn after tomorrow's."

With a nod, Cú vanished. Ren stared at where he'd been and then looked around. Astolfo now knelt beside Ritsu and Tora, looking at Ritsu's book as the younger girl waved her arms and talked. Merlin still sprawled against the wall, his head down. But Jekyll watched her, his face impassive.

To him, she said, "You said the Count of Monte Cristo left, just as Ritsu's nemesis in the woods did, yeah?"

Jekyll nodded. "He'll need to acquire magical energy somehow, or he'll disappear quickly."

Ren found she didn't have room to fret over what the Avenger might do to prolong his stay. "I doubt we'll end up at cross-purposes. Uh, when you have the opportunity, will you think about ways to form a contract with a Heroic Spirit who rejects their True Name?"

With a twitch at the corner of his mouth, Jekyll said, "I'm a theorist, not a miracle worker, miss. But I'll try."

"Thank you. Meanwhile… I need you to come with me. Ritsu, Tora! Stay down here with Astolfo, please. Show him the kitchens. Get dinner started."

Astolfo barely glanced at her, laughing at something that pleased him, but both Tora and Ritsu looked at her and nodded acknowledgement. She had the impression that both of them thought they were also being asked to keep the other out of the way and, well, at least one of them was right.

Now for the first step in getting Ritsu's kids back: asking.

With Jekyll behind her, she went upstairs and over to her bed, where Jack dozed. Brushing the child's hair away from her eyes, she said softly, "Jack. I need you to come be my secret weapon."

Jack's eyes fluttered open and she smiled. "I was just dreaming of you."

Ren stroked her head. "Go to spirit form for now, and stay with me. Don��t let anybody attack me." She looked over at Jekyll. "You too."

After both Assassins had dematerialized, Ren ran her hands through her hair and straightened her clothes before crossing the Great Hall to the keep exit. But as she was in the midst of stepping outside, Merlin materialized within the frame, causing her to smash into him.

"Are you really about to go talk to the enemies at the gates with no more guard than two dematerialized Assassins?" demanded Merlin, with an apparently inexhaustible supply of irritation. Clearly he'd given up on the moment of normal behavior he'd displayed in the portal room. Maybe it had just been a show for Astolfo.

"I'm going through the door you made, actually, since there's no gate," said Ren impatiently. "You should dematerialize, too, and get back what energy you can."

"I shall not." Merlin's blank face had the slightest hint of a scowl on his brow, and he stubbornly stood between her and the outside. She gazed at him for a moment and then sighed.

Then, gripping him by the mantle again, she pulled herself onto her toes to look him more in the face. "Merlin. If you're as exhausted as you claim, don't waste your emotional energy on me. I don't know what your issue was earlier, but it was all a game, wasn't it? You don't care how I react to things, as long as somebody reacts."

His brow furrowed more as he put his hands on her hips. "Ignorant, foolish and untrue."

Ren gave him a skeptical look. "Then tell me why you're acting like a grouchy bear, so my reaction can be something other than confused annoyance."

Merlin's hands slid up her sides to her ribcage and then he pulled her to him in an embrace so crushing her ribs creaked. "No," he said in her ear. "You wouldn't understand me if I did."

Ren, less surprised but no less puzzled on this second round of Merlin hugging her, hesitated and then, remembering the previous instance, slid her arms around his neck. She could sense Jekyll moving restlessly near her in his spirit form, as if the embrace bothered him, but he was a problem for a later moment.

Instead she burrowed her fingers into Merlin's hair and tugged lightly. In response, Merlin's grip tightened further, until breathing was hard. His own breath rasped short and harsh in her ear. For a moment, an odd tension suffused Ren, as if she stood on an invisible precipice in a high wind. Her skin prickled all over.

Then, barely audible, Merlin said, "Remember what I am," and slowly unpeeled himself from her before stepping away.

Half-incubus? As Ren blinked and her mouth formed the words, Merlin pointedly looked away. "I'll come with you. They've seen me before. I'm sure it will be refreshing, in a grim, depressing kind of way."

"And that will get you out of this mood?" Ren queried hopefully.

Merlin glanced back at her. "You know, I'm going to remember later how eager you were for me to return to my usual state. Every time you sigh or roll your eyes, I'll remind you. You'll hate me." This was delivered in a deadpan tone far removed from Merlin's usual cheery speech, but suddenly Ren could see the link between the troublesome, familiar Magus of Flowers and this nearly-incomprehensible creature before her. The true Merlin didn't display emotion as she understood it, but he still cared for, wanted, liked and disliked things. He could still suffer, be wearied, and enjoy aspects of the world.

Like pissing her off.

And, perhaps, hugging her, though she wasn't quite sure about that. It wasn't something she wanted to read too much into.

But the idea that not everything Merlin did was a lie or a game gave her a burst of unexpected cheerfulness that lasted until she approached Merlin's door and saw the shadowy figures of the Sovereign champions moving around in the twilight. Then frustration and anger rapidly eclipsed everything else once again.

Merlin cut in front of her and opened the door, preceding her outside the wall. When she followed him out, he once again leaned against the wall, wearing the exact faint smile he usually wore.

There'd been a light argument in process among the champions when she emerged from the fortress, but it stalled out as they all turned to look at her, except for the two small kids rubbing their hands and faces in the mane of the lionbolt.

"Hey," called Ren, getting directly to the point. "Kids don't belong in this fight. Send them back to their village."

Theory, the big kirin-rider who'd brought the children, said, "Ah, no, lady. I won't be sending anything into that forest alone at this time."

"I'll provide an escort," Ren offered.

"Where's Ritsu?" demanded the older of the two kids, a little boy.

"An excellent question, child!" said Theory. "You see, they've come for a reason, just as we have."

Ren ground her teeth together. "Ritsu's inside the castle. You can join her if you want."

And the little girl would have run to Ren at that, if the lionbolt hadn't scooped her up in one of its human-like arms. Those wicked long claws seemed to be retractable, at least.

Theory put a hand on the boy's head. "They cannot. What kind of man would I be were I to let children enter a structure soon to be demolished?" He smiled and his teeth flashed uncannily. "But you could let young Ritsu join us, and her sister Tora too, and then all children are safe and we go away peacefully."

Shina, standing beside her dragon, added, "For now."

"Shina," said Blue Violet with a sigh, and Shina only shrugged.

"Eh," said Theory. "What do you say, lady? Nobody wants to see children hurt, but unless you surrender, it may be unavoidable." He scratched his chin. "Or perhaps you think to come and take them in the cover of night? But that would be so dangerous for them. The act of an evil, selfish woman."

Ren's fingers curled into fists and her cut hand ached terribly. "And now I have seen what you are. A good man would return them to their homes before settling his quarrel with me."

Without waiting for an answer, she turned and walked back into the keep. Merlin followed her, closing the door with a quiet click that was far more subdued than the slam she wanted.

Silently, Jack said, Can we just take them? The baby girl is so cute, like a doll.

"We will. Wait!" Ren thought past the fury for a moment. "Not until Cú is back, though. If it turns into an all-out brawl, I want everybody present and ready to go." She eyed Merlin, who had let his smile vanish. "Even you, if possible."

"You surprised me, you didn't kill me. If you could manage sit very still for a few hours and refrain from causing trouble, I'd be as fresh as a daisy."

Ren pursed her lips, momentarily distracted. "Does briefing Astolfo count as causing trouble?"

Merlin only gave her an impassive look so tempting that she reached out to push up the corners of his mouth with her pointer fingers. His face seemed carved of stone, though. While she struggled with this, she said, "Jack, until we're ready to retake them, stay near those kids. Anything hurts them, you take it out and let me know."

Right, Mommy! Nobody steals my dolly!

Ren returned to tugging on Merlin's stone face. His lips twitched, and encouraged, she ran her fingers across them.

Instead of smiling, he said only, "Bad, bad Ren. You have a memory like a sieve. Go speak with Astolfo. Hey, Jekyll, stay with me."

Ren stepped back, putting her hands behind her back. Once again, the vague cheer brought on by harassing Merlin faded away and her fury at the champions outside resurfaced. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, not while all she could do was wait and plot. She spent a moment with her eyes down, trying to wind up the rage like a ball of yarn and tuck it away where she could gather it again, but that left her feeling off-balance and worried about more bizarre things, like talking to Astolfo.

Despite her reservations, she found him downstairs in the kitchen, making a mess with a frying pan with Tora and Ritsu. With a wince at the chopped vegetables jumping from the frying pan to the fire, Ren greeted them.

"Rendidi!" said Astolfo, abandoning the pan, leaping over the table and landing in front of her. "Toratora and Riritsu have been telling me all about this wonderful adventure you've summoned me into. I was wondering if you'd mind if I took my Hippogriff and went exploring some? You could come with me!"

Ren blinked at Astolfo's ideas of nicknames before saying, "Normally all I'd care about is the mana cost, but I don't want the guys outside to know you're here until the last minute. Uh, did they explain about the mana?"

Astolfo winked at her, swinging his braid over his shoulder. "Riritsu did! Hippogriff is a little expensive, which is why I thought I ought to talk about it with you first. Who are these guys outside?"

"Enemies." Eyeing what theoretically would eventually become dinner, Ren added, "Uh, why don't you come with me and I'll tell you more? We can go to the roof of the keep."

"Yes, yes, good idea. I'd like to see more of this place." Without a glance back at the mess he'd made, Astolfo bounded out of the kitchen. After she gave Ritsu and Tora an apologetic shrug and Ritsu laughingly waved her away in response, she followed him.

On the roof, Ren spent a while answering some surprisingly perceptive questions as best she could. She didn't entirely notice when Astolfo's questioning veered first onto herself, and then onto the other Servants. All she noticed was that by the time Tora called them for dinner, she felt like she'd been talking a long time to a surprisingly good listener and yet couldn't recall exactly what she'd said.

It was after a dinner where everybody, even Astolfo, was occupied by their own thoughts that Ren started wondering what was keeping Cú. She didn't reach out for him, though, because what if he was fighting even then, and she distracted him at a crucial moment? She trusted him absolutely. If he hadn't returned yet there was a good reason for it.

That's what she told herself as she prepared to rest that evening. Once he returned, they'd have a new task and she needed to be fresh.

It didn't occur to her until later that Cú's good reason for not returning might turn out to be very bad indeed.