When Viela finally got up from the floor—and out of her… dream—I brought her back up the mansion’s stairs to a different spare bedroom. Thankfully, her hangover really was cured. I considered giving the fox spirit a basic rundown of my new quest after I closed the door behind us, but it would save time holding off on that until we reunited with Alice.
And before that…
“Listen, there’s something I want to ask you,” I began.
Viela stepped toward me and gently caressed my neck. “Oh? Do you want me to show you another fun thing we can do together?” she whispered in my ear.
I quivered at her touch. “Uh, n-no. I mean, maybe later. I mean… Wait, that’s not what I meant!” I took a deep breath before continuing. “Here’s the deal: I need to gather some things outside the city for my… business partner. There’s no telling how long this job is going to take, but I want you to come with me.”
She took a step back with a more serious look on her face. “You really do get around, huh? Alright. What’s your offer then?”
“Not this again!” I replied. “Even after everything we went through yesterday, you’re still going to ask me for gold?”
Viela held up a hand to check her nails as if disinterested. “I never said it had to be gold. Time is valuable, you know? I just want to hear you make an offer.”
I couldn’t tell if she was still playing with me, or if she didn’t trust me, or what her angle was. But whichever way…
“You never told me what you were really looking for,” I said. “There’s something more valuable to you than money. I just know you’re really looking for something more than that!”
To my surprise, she started blushing and looked away. “Beryl, that’s… a bit personal.”
I closed the distance between us and grabbed her by the shoulders. “After causing all that trouble in the tavern and carelessly grabbing that potion earlier, you can do at least this much for me!”
“That headache was almost killing me!” she whined.
“That doesn’t matter now!” I shot back. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
For a moment, I thought the wily fox would try to disappear in another puff of smoke—Viela had that kind of flighty unease in her fiery red eyes. A moment later, I felt her shoulders relax, and she finally spoke again.
“I… want to be remembered.”
A lump caught in my throat. “You aren’t dying, are you?” I asked.
“It’s nothing that dramatic,” she sighed.
Viela chewed her lip for a minute, then gestured for me to sit beside her on the edge of the bedroom’s canopy bed. She was still staring at the floor while I waited for her to explain.
“Let me put it to you this way: the ‘Spirit World’ is a term that humans invented to call the world I came from because they developed the summoning ritual. In my world, they might not be human but most ‘people’ aren’t spirits—or demons, either. Spirits like me aren’t really expected to become a part of society over there, or to make their own lasting impact, if you know what I mean… Especially fox spirits.”
I had a few ideas why that might be the case, but I wasn’t about to bring them up now.
“It’s not uncommon for spirits to be easily forgotten over time. And then one day, they just… disappear.” She shuddered at the word, as if saying it could make her vanish into thin air. “I thought things might be different over here in Gadea. Maybe they are and I just haven’t gotten lucky yet. But no matter what, I want to leave my mark on history, you know?”
Viela was back to her usual feisty self when she finished with a smile, even if she was faking it this time. I spent a minute in silence processing all of that.
“So what exactly did you have in mind?” I asked. “Do you have a plan, or were you saving up to build a statue of yourself or something?”
“That’s quite a way to put it!” she laughed. “But you know, even statues can crumble and rust away. If anything, I want to build a statue… here.”
Slowly, she placed her hand over my heart. I couldn’t help thinking that… that might have been the most profound thing I had ever heard her say.
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“Not just for you, if I’m being honest,” she finished with a wink. “I want everyone to remember me!”
I take it all back…
That aside, what was I supposed to tell her? My mind just wouldn’t come up with the right words to say. What would Lady Beryl do? No, I already knew that bluffing wouldn’t work on a fox like her.
Instead…
I grabbed her hand and held it tightly in mine, staring back into her eyes. “I want to promise you that I can make that happen, and that this world will never forget any of us after I finish what I came here to do. Honestly, there’s no telling where I’m headed or what’s going to happen when I get there. But I want you to come with me anyway. I can promise you this much: I’m not someone who gives up easily when I set my mind on something.”
At first she gave me a scrutinizing glance. Then, a chill ran down my spine at the way her face softened and she fought back a laugh.
“Yes, that’s a little better,” she said with a familiar impish grin spreading across her face.
“You—!”
Viela wrapped her arms around me, gently pulling me into her warm body with the touch of one lover to another.
“Did you really think I could say goodbye now?” she whispered in my ear. “I don’t know where we’ll end up either, but… I already decided I’d take my chances with you.”
This fox, she really did just want to hear me make an offer…!
“You’re going to drive me crazy if you keep doing this!” I sighed, starting to return her tender embrace anyway. After a second, I stopped. “Actually, I don’t know if we can keep doing this. There’s someone that I… I mean, there’s someone else we’re going to have to bring with us.”
Viela slowly pulled away with a quizzical look. “Oh? Beryl, you’ve been a naughty girl.”
“What? No, it’s not like that!”
“Then… a naughty lady?”
Ugh! “A-Anyways, we need to go get her now, okay? I know here to find her; she’s inside the city with us. Uh, just like all those guards who are probably out looking for us. Especially you, after what you did!”
“Hey, last night those guys had it coming to them,” she responded with a casual flip of her hair.
“Whatever,” I sighed. “Do you have some kind of disguise for, you know…”
I stared back and forth between her two fox ears and that big fluffy tail billowing out behind her. Would a cloak even hide those?
“Yeah, I have a little something for that,” she shrugged. “I have a few other tricks you haven’t seen yet, too.”
The thought occurred to me that my reunion with Alice could cause us a lot of different issues… for a lot of different reasons. It might be necessary for us to use anything and everything Viela had at her magical disposal to keep a low profile, among other things.
“Hmm… For starters, do you have any spells that can do telepathy?” I asked.
She tilted her head. “What’s ‘telepathy?’”
Okay, this might take a while…