Chapter 13

The two girls chatted for hours while messing around with Ash's hair.

Soon the pup's tangled mess of a pelt had become a silky smooth carpet, as soft as a new duckling's down.

Alice and Su were slumped over, leaning on the comfy cushion that was Ash as they talked.

Alice seemed to be able to hold a conversation with anyone. She acted enraptured by anyone's interest, she didn't let anyone talking to her feel left out of the conversation.

Having a knack for interpersonal relationships was a great thing to have in a dog eat dog world.

The sun crept towards the horizon, and soon Su had to return to her own home, leaving Alice and the pup alone once again. Alice spent the time remaining before their dinner was ready to continue Ash's education of this world's language, which Ash had come to know as Vos'thian. He still couldn't understand hardly anything, but it wouldn't take him long to learn with such an enthusiastic teacher.

There weren't any accurate clocks in this world, so time was mainly told by looking at the sun. Alice peered out of the small window placed on the back wall of her room. This window provided a view of the sunset no matter the time of year, helping her to keep track of time and not get lost in her studies.

*"Looks like it's almost meal time, Ash! I wonder what Gary has made for dinner tonight, I'm sure it will be good!"

She got up and headed for the door, followed by Ash. Worry lingered in his heart.

'What will Alice's father say when he sees me walking around, unrestrained? Everything has been going so well, I hope he doesn't put a stop to it.'

Alice didn't seem to share the same worries, her demeanor was just as cheerful as before.

Striding into the dining hall she could see a servant bringing out plates of food, as well as Earl seated at the grand chair at the head of the table.

*"Hi Thomas!"

She first spoke to the servant, receiving a nod in response.

*"Hi dad! Were you able to get all of your work for today finished?"

Earl motioned for Alice to sit, his face lighting up.

His daughter was his relief from work, the gem that he valued above all else.

Her always cheery demeanor was what cheered him up after his wife, Alice's mother, passed away from a bad cold.

Competent doctors were nearly impossible to find on this medieval plane. One could die from even a small cold or infection.

Ash walked into the room behind Alice. The startled look on Earl's face told an amusing story. Earl had completely forgotten about the wolf that he had purchased just this morning… and now it was free of any constraints following his daughter around like an obedient puppy.

A silly smile was spread across Ash's face, and he turned to look at Earl, trying to look as helpless as possible.

'C'mon pops, I'm just a cute little pet, nothing harmful. Please don't make me into stew…'

Earl hesitated for a moment, then spoke unsurely.

*"Uh… Alice, do you have some hidden method of taming wolves, or did you feed that thing some weird plants? It almost looks drunk…"

"Hmm?" Alice looked at her new buddy, then broke out in laughter seeing his face.

*"Ash, what are you doing? Su didn't say combing your hair would make you dumber, so why are you acting like that? Dad isn't going to hurt you, we are family now!"

Earl looked a bit taken aback, but his expression quickly recovered.

*"Yea, I guess you look harmless enough. I don't think such a stupid looking animal can outsmart my Alice! A little disappointing though, if he is retarded, he won't be much help protecting you."

*"Dad! Ash isn't retarded, stop being mean!"

Earl shrugged, but didn't apologize.

Ash got the gist of Earl's harsh words, shooting him a dirty look before curling up by Alice's feet to wait for the meal to arrive.

Soon Thomas returned to the room, carrying three plates piled with food.

The serving size was larger than Ash's previous meal.

'Well, I certainly won't be starving here… I better find some place to exercise, or i'm going to grow fat with all this food they keep giving me!'

Earl and Alice made small talk about their days as they eat while Ash sat in silence below them. Earl's tone made it clear how much he loved his daughter; he would do anything for her.

Ash sighed, thinking of his own father. One of the wolves from his now extinct pack had to have been his father, most likely the one that died first. Despite his mature, human mind, some part of him still craved to have loving parents to dote on him, like what Alice had in her father.

Half an hour later, all three of them had finished their food. Leaving the plates for the servants to clean up, Earl lead Alice and Ash to what seemed to be a game room.

A game that looked similar to earth's pool was in the right corner of the room, and a table set with a game of chess lay in the middle.

'Hmm? That board looks the same as the chess in my memories. Hey Roth, are you good at chess?'

Roth, who was also interested by the board game. If this was a different world, which everything they had encountered so far seemed to suggest, how could this board game be the same?

^I'm not sure… I remember the basics of the game, but just like you, all my memories of myself are missing.^

Alice and Earl sat on opposite sides of the chess board and began playing.

It was clearly evident which of the two was better at the game, as well as who would win.

Earl was an experienced chess player who examined every possible move before choosing the best one, while Alice seemed to be moving the pieces at random.

Earl had a number of opportunities to checkmate the enemy king, but he passed them all up. He was too loving of a father to ruthlessly crush his daughter in this game.

Alice was so bad at chess that it almost looked like she was trying to lose. Ash looked into her eyes, trying to figure out how this girl, who seemed rather bright despite being incredibly naive could be worse than a toddler at this game.

Alice's eyes flitted across the board, taking in all the possible moves… then she picked the worst spot to move her rook, offering it up like a present for her father to take.

She was throwing as well, and her acting to cover it up was impeccable. Every time she lost a piece, she would groan in frustration, and would shout in joy each time she took a piece.

'God, these two are hopeless. Two people both trying their hardest to lose, both unaware that their opponent is doing the same. I wonder if I can change this...'

Their game soon ended in a stalemate, neither side was able to throw hard enough to lose.

Earl reset the board in confusion. How could his darling daughter be so bad at chess? She excelled in everything else, but had the intelligence of a third grader when it came to this game.

Before Alice had a chance to make the first move, Ash butted in, grabbing a pawn between his teeth.

*"Ash, what are you doing? Hey, this chess set is expensive, don't ruin i- wait, you know how to play chess?!?"

Ash set the pawn back down near the center of the board, two spots in front of its original place.

'I don't know what you called me earlier, old man, but I will make you eat your words now!'

Earl responded in kind, both sides fighting for control of the center of the board.

Alice sat back, watching as Ash battled against her father. He could be said to be decent at the game, but nothing more. Despite having two minds working together, Ash couldn't predict many moves into the future. Earl, on the other hand, had played chess for many years and could be considered an expert.

Watching her father's impressive play, Alice grew angry.

*"Dad! You were trying to lose when you played against me!"

Earl shrugged at this, too engrossed in the match to answer properly.

She turned to Ash, determined to make her father lose this round.

Patting Ash on the head, she started moving the pieces herself.

Ash had already recognized that he stood no chance of beating Earl in this, he didn't have enough experience to beat a master. He didn't mind Alice taking over for him.

Not only was Alice not bad at the game, but she was just as good as Earl. The armies of the two sides were slowly whittled down, until only the kings of each side remained.

Another stalemate, but this one was played expertly.

Earl looked shocked by his daughter's prowess in chess, shouting out in a similar fashion as her before.

*"Hey, you were throwing the game earlier too! Do you take me as some kind of idiot father who can't even beat his kid in a simple game?"

Earl broke into tears after realizing that his daughter thought it necessary to throw a game to not hurt his feelings.

*"Hah! Not only can you not beat your kid daughter, but you can't even beat Ash! He has literally never played chess before!"

The two bickered for a while. It wasn't the bad kind of bickering, but instead a healthy family relationship of teasing each other.

The sky had already long since grown dark, and the small family decided to call game night there.

Alice led Ash back to her room to sleep for the night. Getting a cage for the wolf pup had completely slipped his mind, and after having fun with Ash today, he didn't feel the need for one.

Ash curled up near the footboard of the bed, the soft cushiony surface caressing his sore muscles. Today was the first good day in a long time, and he finally had somewhere safe and warm to sleep.

Life was finally looking up.