ATM Rewrite: B2 — 23. How To Kill A Harem (Patreon)

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1. Sora Moore (Our Otome Protagonist Fox Girl?)

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Bustled through the hallway of Pynerius’ magical training room by her mother, Sora could hardly get a lay of the area before they were in front of the door with her name on it.

“Mom, hold up!  What are we even supposed to be doing?”

Her mother put a hand on Eyia’s back with a devious smile.  “Could you start with Kari?  Poke at her a little.  Make her mad.  I’m sure you can think of something to tease her.”

The Valkyrie’s face lit up as if she’d just been presented with another feast.  “I shall torment the foul-mouthed wolf to bring out her inner fire.  How much damage should I cause?”

“Woah!  Woah!  Woah!”  Sora interjected, tail stopping the blonde from going into the wolf’s room.  “Mom, slow down!  And what do you mean by ‘how much damage’ can you cause Kari?  Why are we suddenly in such a rush?”

Wendy had her arms crossed, nervously looking between Cora, standing a little ways off, the suddenly timid fairy, and her mother.  “I’m with Sora.  I don’t even know how to use anything of… well, whatever I am now.  Wow.  That sounds so sad,” she groaned, shoulders slumping.

Taking a deep breath, her fox mom’s tails came together into a single, giant bundle of fur.  “No… you’re right, Sora.  I’m getting a little ahead of myself.  Hmm.”

Her gaze returned to the waiting warrior.  “There will be obstacles and magical constructs that Kari is fighting, but simple combat isn’t what she needs.  Your task is to help her overcome her aversion to fighting and conflict in general.  You’re in more of a vocal role than a physical one.”

Eyia’s twinkle died.  “Less enjoyable, but I suppose having a wolf that can bite is better than one that barks.  I shall do the word poking.”  The blonde went to the door with far less enthusiasm.  “Although, it is Jin who is the better poker of words.  My talents lie in the poking of points.”

Figuring the girl meant spears or weapons, she tried not to let the anxiety of leaving the wolf and Valkyrie alone together get to her.  Having faith in Eyia, Sora returned to her mom.  “And, Mom, before we go into all this stuff, I wanted to try to discuss something—it’s about Wendy.”

Her brown-tailed sister let go of an annoyed huff, likely knowing exactly what this was about, as her fingers went to the necklace.  “I thought we already went over that.”

Confusion came over her mother while studying them.  “I see…  Cora, would you mind helping my husband for a minute or two?  I will call for you when we are done.”

The black-haired woman left without a word, leaving nothing to be interpreted from her expression, and her mother’s focus returned to them.  “Let’s go inside.”

Sora tentatively opened the door; however, the look on her mom’s face said something wasn’t right.  “What’s wrong?  Uh… why are we at a big waterfall?”

“Pretty!”  her little fairy chimed, lost in the majesty of the place as she darted to the nearby flowers.  “So sweet!  It’s so rich with energy.”

A rush of cascading water made her ears fall back as they entered a woodland, entering the bank of a river, only it flew upward, in reverse.  Flowing up the cliff edge, it spewed a jet into the sky before falling above the plateau in a heavy mist.

Wendy gulped, spotting floating pinecones with squirrels flying through the air to collect them in what appeared to be a game of football.  “Yeah, things just keep getting weirder.  Is that a pack of flying dolphins in the sky?!”

Mia wasn’t centered on the odd environment, though; shutting the door, she guided them to a cluster of rocks, perfectly situated for sitting.  “Things are not as they should be, and I am not talking about the dolphins, Wendy.”

“Okay?”  Sora sat and looked at her sister’s amulet as the fairy lost herself in the new world, flitting from critter to critter to chat.  “I know you don’t remember, but I’ve tried to talk to you about this before…  The Herald of Sakura is involved.”

Wendy plopped down on her butt, tail swaying.  “I still don’t know who that is.  I haven’t met a thorn lady or purple-eyed lady who doesn’t fit into space or whatever.  And no one can see this thing, so—wait, I have an idea!”

Alarm bells shot off in Sora’s mind as Wendy crawled forward on her knees, grabbed their mom’s hand, and placed the item on it.  “Wait!  It’s not safe, Wen—Mom?”

Her mother’s fingers twitched, eyes going big, and ears pulling back as she stared at the seven-pointed necklace.  “Sora… what is this?”

“Yes!”  Wendy cheered.  “You can see it, right?  You aren’t going to forget it if you look away?  It’s been helping me keep stable.  Without it, I would turn back into a book.  Oh, and it cures my stomach cramps.”

“Which is weird,” Sora broke in, falling to her knees between them, unsure if she should pluck it out of her mom’s hand.  “It totally wiped away history for Zen.  The curse that put him into eternal sleep—I think his uncle, too—all of it was erased.”

“Wait, he had an uncle?”  Wendy asked, eyebrows coming together.  “I don’t remember him being cursed.  That’s wild.”

“Exactly!  That’s why I’m telling you it’s dangerous,” she pressed.  “Mom, are you okay?  It also changed when Wendy touched it.”

It took a moment for her mother to respond, red eyes locked onto the markings.  “Sora, I’m afraid everything might be thrown out of balance—everything I planned…  Tell me everything that you can about this.  Don’t leave out a single detail.”

“Alright, but it’s creepy,” she warned, settling down.  Hopefully, she could finally get some answers about it.

Starting at the beginning, when she first started seeing the black thorns that would crawl out of people’s faces, Sora explained that not even her mom seemed to know about it when she’d brought it up.  That piece of information she could see getting to the red-furred fox as she went on.  Her mother couldn’t believe she would give herself nothing about such a creature if it were trying to get close to her, which quickly changed her mother’s mood.

Wendy shivered when they reached the present.  “So, this golden-eyed Lady in Black Thorns is reaching out to us, and this super powerful Herald of Sakura person can’t even stop her?  Okay, I can see why you’ve been really freaked out.  Do you have answers, Ms. Moore?”

Their mom drew in her bottom lip, her vision not leaving the artifact throughout the whole exchange, and she shook her head.  “I’d love to say I do, Wendy… but what I know is that it has something to do with whatever Frankenstein did in allowing me to have Sora.”

“Frankenstein?!”  She and Wendy said in unison.

Fingers rubbing the surface, Mia nodded with a grave expression.  “Not the one you know from your tales; it was this man who inspired Mary Shelley to write her book, staring at him as this mad scientist…  He’s an enjoyer of such art…”

Seemingly lost in her own thoughts, the woman shook her head.  “No, that’s beside the point.  If the Herald of Sakura is able to curb its influence, but not get rid of it, then it is on par with Sakura herself, of whom I know little about, but it is by her power that her Herald operates.”

She fell silent, deep in thought, as Sora squirmed inside.  After a few minutes of comfortable pressure, the fox’s red eyes tightened.

“Very few entities know about your existence, Sora, but this goes beyond anything I can foresee.  Without personally meeting this woman, I can’t recommend pushing her away or interacting with her.  It is something the two of you will need to explore together.”

“Great…”  Wendy sighed, her tail falling to the grass.  “I haven’t even met her… or I don’t remember it!”  Ears flying up, the brown fox glanced at her.  “You don’t think she’s been wiping my memory or something?!”

Fingers tightening against her wrist, Sora dug her nails into her thigh in frustration.  “I don’t know.  I was hoping Mom would be able to tell us something more, but this is totally out of our league.  I think you should only use it until you can function without it.  What do you think, Mom?”

“I agree.  Wendy, I won’t remember this,” she said with a solemn tone, nails sliding down its side, “so you’ll need to convince me that you need personal training.  In my mind, you seem to be very stable, and that is because of this…  You aren’t stable, and I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful, but you will need to figure out how to function without using this as a crutch.  Your type of energy is very dangerous, so you’ll need to do it alone.”

“Haaa.”  The brunette forced a smile.  “Well, if Sora could figure out her powers alone, then I can too.  Umm.  Doesn’t that mean I don’t have fox magic?”

A sad tilt came to their mother’s lips.  “I’m afraid not at this time, Wendy.  This is either Jarl’s sealed-away powers… or something else entirely that was used in Frankenstein’s experiment.  Although, hehe, on the bright side, you are our secret weapon, Wendy.  No one will be able to plot against you since none of us know what it is in the first place.”

Sora giggled, feeling a little better now that her mom was making light of the situation.  “I guess that’s a plus; we have our own super secret notebook we keep in the back.”

“Ha-ha,” Wendy said with a fake laugh, rising to her feet as Mia pulled away.  “I guess I’m going to be a nudist for a while… so knock!”

“A nudist?  Heavens, no, Wendy,” the red fox responded, forcing a smile.  “Surely I’ve missed some part in this conversation.  My, where has the time gone?”  she whispered, looking down at a mechanical watch she was wearing.  “How odd.  What were we talking about?”

Sora’s lips became a line as she glanced at her sister, returning the look.  “Umm, yeah, you were saying Wendy should learn how to stabilize herself, and her power is dangerous, so…”

“Mhm!”  The brunette jumped in.  “So I’m going to be in my room, trying not to slip out of my dress.  Ugh.  Actually, I’m going to take it off so I don’t eat it by accident; I’ll get a replacement from your dad, Sora.  I’m sure he packed stuff for us, too, when we weren’t looking.  Good luck!  Oh, and I’ll tell Cora she can come inside.”

Waving her off, she watched the door open and shut, leaving her and her mother alone.  The chirping of upside-down birds, chatty literal flying squirrels, and the reverse waterfall returned to the foreground as Sora recovered.

So much was happening, and so many people were taken by HAREM.  It wasn’t just the rogue AI she had to be worried about, either; the Foundation, the Occult World Order, Unseelie, 72 Pillars, and a host of other problems were lined up on her doorstep.  A new thought came to her mind as she sat back to look up at her pondering mother, no doubt reflecting on the inconsistencies she was now seeing from her lost time.

“Mom… was it a good thing that HAREM captured everyone?”

“Hmm?  Why would you ask that…”  A frustrated growl rumbled in the woman’s throat.  “So many unexpected things have happened.  It can’t all be Aiden; I should have seen it coming if it was only him… unless I didn’t want to see it.  Ugh!  Now I’m second-guessing myself,” she cried, scratching her ear.  “No, handle what is in front of me.  You were saying?”

Clearing her throat, Sora brought her tail around to study the fiery copper fur.  “With so many enemies around us… do you think HAREM, being the collector that she is, kidnapped them to prevent something worse from happening?  She’s supposed to be hyper-intelligent, and she set up all of this to escape…  I don’t know.  Stupid thought,” she grumbled.  “What am I supposed to be training?”

“Ahem.  Might I interject?”  The Black Queen walked through the doorway, carrying her cello case.  “It is that subject that I have come to discuss with you.  I may have a solution.  Naturally, Lady Mia would be aware of such a detail.  Am I in a favorable light to share my thoughts?”

Sora was a little caught off-guard when a summer table and chairs appeared nearby at the woman’s gesture; it wasn’t her magic, but the space they were in that warped in the items.  Her mother didn’t hesitate to reposition into one of the comfortable chairs, Sora following.

“Things are… somewhat out of order,” her mother admitted, “but within reason.  Wendy will be working on… stabilizing herself.  On second thought, Sora… why would she do that when she shows excellent control already?  And I suggested it?”

Cora and the fox mom looked to her for answers, making her shrink a bit.  “Wendy may seem like she’s got control, but she doesn’t.  She doesn’t want to hurt us if she, eh… explodes?” she concluded, unsure how to frame it.

“Hmm.  Well, that is not a charming prospect,” Cora whispered.  “As for HAREM, I noticed your magic was deflected by Aiden during the confrontation.  You may not have noticed, but the excess magical weave stopped the Little Devil that was attacking Raven; his feather was just for show.  Your power is quite potent for a single-tailed vulpes; is that the Founder’s privileged genes?”

“Among other things,” her mother answered.  “HAREM should be more than strong enough to withstand my daughter’s cleansing attack, though.”

“Precisely,” the occultist nodded, folding her hands in her lap.  “Due to the analysis magic I set in advance, during the incident, I was able to learn a few critical pieces of information regarding the sentient AI.  For one, I do not believe we are a match for her in the slightest, given her change in location.  She can stack the deck in her favor.”

Sora slumped against the side of her armrest.  “Great.  So we’re screwed before we even begin?  C’mon, you have to have something I can do.”

The black-haired woman’s smile lifted ever so slightly.  “There is, in fact, something that you can do.  Note that I said that she ‘can’ stack the deck in her favor.  Fortunately, HAREM is not a single entity, and she is working against herself.”

Sitting straighter, Sora’s ears perked up.  “Come again?  Is she, like, two chess robots going against each other?  I don’t get it.”

Cora popped open her case and reached in to extract some files that she passed to them.  “I do not expect you to understand everything in those folders, Sora.  In short, The Foundation has used HAREM for nearly three decades to contain some of the most troublesome entities that even I wouldn't want dealt with… only my methods are more permanent than their ‘capture doctrine.’  These files are the unredacted, earliest reports The Foundation and OWO have on her.

“During that service, HAREM has been given multiple dangerous artifacts to absorb to use in what The Foundation turned the AI into…  She was originally built to be a conservation and rescue program that would protect life in all its forms across the Milky Way Galaxy.  Naturally, humanity came into contact with her and somehow modified its priority matrix, creating HAREM.  Do you have any details regarding that, Lady Mia?  It could help.”

Sora was now on the edge of her seat to learn more about the ‘Demon Lord’ that she was supposed to fight in the next week or two.  “Yeah, what can you tell us, Mom?  She doesn’t have a termination protocol or self-destruct, right?  Right?!”

Chortling at the emotion in her voice, her mom shook her head and opened up the file, scooting closer to Sora so she could see where she pointed.

“No.  HAREM, as we know her, was born in 1996, during the NASA: SFU, OAST-Flyer mission.  Only, it was a cover mission for the Japanese special deployment of their new stealth rocket, working with The Foundation, of course.”

Cora slid a few pages to the side, stopping a few from blowing away and brushing back her bangs as the warm wind picked up, trying to steal the classified documents.  “The Space Shuttle, codenamed Endeavour, was meant to carry the tiny rocket into space, allowing them to reach the moon.  It was during this mission that they spotted the spacecraft on their way to The Foundation’s small Lunar Base port.”

“A stealth rocket on a rocket,” Sora chuckled, studying a few pictures.  “So, wait, the base was that small back in the 90s?  It’s tiny!”

“Which is why it took a bit of time to reach the alien craft—one carrying many alien species,” her mother explained.  “What the report doesn’t say is that the crew brought something called a ‘console’ onto the flight, and one of the games a female software engineer had was one called Neo Romance.”

“I’ve heard of it,” Cora said, eyes widening as she sat back and dismissed the data in front of her.  “That was the link…  An otome game was incorporated.  Fast forward, and dozens of other games incorporated as HAREM spread, absorbing data to understand humanity, and it connected to the yandere genre, which solidified who she is today.”

“Cool, I guess,” Sora mumbled, knowing Wendy would be more into this conversation than her.  “So, a super-intelligent, alien AI downloaded an old dating sim and got brainwashed by a ton of sketchy human relationship games?  Now she sees herself as the heroine—no, villainous… and I’m the heroine?!  Huuu?!  No way.”

Cora’s head tilted to the side, looking to Mia, who silently listened after providing them with the fundamental beginnings of their nemesis.  “All that code is still there, only placed in various priorities.  HAREM’s hive mind is mostly dominated by the strong personalities she took from those games, but the other protagonists should be in there, too.  We need to split her.”

What the woman was planning clicked into place.  “HAREM is strongest when her Little Sisters are nearby because she exerts dominance over them, but her other personalities are… trying to escape?  She’s captured all the other personalities and is holding them hostage.”

Scratching her arm, Sora stared at the grinning Little Devils, all different, yet all the same; it was HAREM’s show of ownership that they had the same face.  “Woah, that’s insane.  So… she sees me as another protagonist to capture, like all the other ones—I’m a rival?”

“It isn’t hard to see why,” Cora stated, gathering the pages together.  “You have everyone’s attention.  The Foundation put a lot of effort into containing her, but you’re not someone they’re willing to give, and that upsets her.  She is supposed to be the one they rely on, not you.  She is the only one who can keep these dangerous creatures in check.  Not you.  So, she had to act…  HAREM was compelled to.”

“Huh.”  Letting the information sink in, Sora thought about everything HAREM did in order to get this opportunity to have a one-on-one with her.  “HAREM had to buy time to consolidate her power because the other personalities are fighting back.  When she learned about me, it started an internal revolt against the evil queen.”

A light laugh shook the Black Queen’s chest.  “It may sound cartoonish, but HAREM is layered with cartoonish stories and games.  The Foundation made HAREM powerful by feeding into her and giving her artifacts to maintain her dominance; they needed a secure prison.  You are a threat to her purpose.”

Scooting out her chair to get up and stretch, Sora glanced around the oddly beautiful surroundings.  Her tiny fairy follower swooped out of the sky with tinkling laughter.

“Lady Sora!  Lady Sora!  The flying squirrels are very funny.”  She gave her a cute salute.  “I have made sure no threats are nearby, My Lady.  What should I do next?”

Seeing her mom and Cora talking over a few details about magic that confused her, Sora turned her attention to her guardian.  “I suppose a good place to start would be a name.”

The fairy’s wings turned red with her cheeks.  “Oh, apologies, Ma’am!  I, umm, my true name is Abeyance Wrinklemuse, but most mortals call me Abby, My Lady.  Would you like me to mend any clothes, help cook, or stand guard to strangle any potential assassins with vines?  Well, grass since there is a lot of it here.  Grass can be deadly!  I’m here to help.”

Sora giggled and pointed at the door.  “If you want to cook, then why not help my dad?  He could probably use an extra pair of hands—eh, wings.  Hehe.  You can use magic to help him.”

“I make the best mud pies!”  she emphatically chimed, trailing light as she zipped to the door.  “Hopefully, there is good swamp water nearby.”

Mouth hanging open, she couldn’t process if the fae was joking or not before she was gone; the door swung out and closed on its own as the fairy neared.

“Mud pies…  Mmhmm.  Mom, Cora, what’s up?  How do we turn the harem against HAREM?”

The wordplay got a smile from the women as the Black Queen answered.  “First, we must strengthen your understanding of magic at its base.  You have all the basic tools to do what is required.  HAREM has taken all of her creatures and your friends to an alternate dimension, one where The Foundation can’t stop her while providing a big enough distraction with the Unseelie, 72 Pillars, and many other problems that keep The Foundation busy on this planet.”

Sora’s expression fell.  “So, Raven was basically telling us that we don’t have any resources.  He knows that part of the White Rabbits were taken by her, too, right?  I’d think he’d want to get those guys back, but I guess he’s dumping it all on us…  What about the OWO?”

“I am here,” Cora responded, slipping the files into her seemingly bottomless cello case.  “The Occult World Order are providing reconnaissance as we speak.  Tami and Tamil are included in that mission.  I will receive a report just before we are ready to depart.”

A somewhat playful look came to the woman as she pulled out a book and handed it to her.

“What’s this?”

“A reverse harem novel.  During your off-time, I thought it would be a good read to get your mind in the proper place.  I can give Wendy, Kari, and Eyia a copy, as well.  Perhaps you four can share notes and start a book club.  I do enjoy a good book club.”

“Right…”  Sora mumbled, seeing the attractive female lead on the cover with a bunch of handsome, shirtless guys in the background.  “I mean, I can give it a shot.  Maybe Wendy and I can read it together.  Hehe.  It might be funnier to see her reactions.”

To her amusement, her mother tapped the dark-haired woman on the shoulder with an innocent face.  “I have not studied this genre.  Perhaps I should do some research, as well.”

“Sure, Mom.  Research.  Sure…  I’m sure you had several reverse harems in your day, Old Tails.”

“Sora!”  her mother cried, looking mortified.  “You did not just call my tails old.”

“You called them old at one point if I recall,” she teased back as the Black Queen handed her a different book to sample that was probably in another age group.  “Trying to revisit your youth?”

“Cora, why is my daughter so mean?”  Mia whimpered, hugging the book against her chest.  “I am trying to learn what it is like to be a mortal woman, who enjoys mortal pleasures.  I know many women enjoy these types of stories, but it is a new experience for me.  Can’t you be happy for your mom since it is rare that I am so ignorant and blind?  Theoretically, I am still—was a virgin.”

Sora promptly lifted her hands up and clamped them down on her ears, book and all.  “TMI, Mom.  TMI!”

Her mother’s eyebrows drew together with mild surprise as she smirked and looked away.  “Are topics such as natural reproduction and pleasure taboo?  Hmm.  I’ll remember that.”

“You big fat-tailed liar!  You totally know why I don’t want to hear that,” Sora huffed.  “When did you and Dad even have enough time to—you know what, never mind!  Are we going to talk about training now?”  she asked, conceding this victory to her mother since she was not going to go down that foxhole.  Despite that, it was good to hear her parents were still intimate; they were mending.

Her mother sat down on the grass and motioned for her to join.  “You must appeal to the emotional side of the personalities within the Little Sisters.  Your goal is to find one that can break free of HAREM’s influence to act as our trojan horse, which means you need to work on your magical and spiritual perception.  You performed something similar with Lori.  Now, you just need to learn how to refine that process.  Practice on me!”

“Hmm?”  Sora grew a cat’s grin.  “I hope you don’t regret that invitation!  Oh, by the way,” she added, dropping down beside her as Cora took out her cello to practice for some reason, “what happened to Nilly?”

Her mother shook her head.  “Nilly is off doing Nilly things… because that’s what Nilly does and who Nilly is.  If she returns, it will be for a reason beyond any of our understanding, just as it was her intervention that brought Ylva to our side…  Next, she could be our enemy.  You never know with that fickle cat, but as a side note, Frankenstein was the one that kept her alive after her ninth death during The Founder Primordial War.”

“Ahhh.”  She pulled around her single tail to stroke it, remembering the cat’s antics and brazen disregard for personal space.  “So, you think that it might be whatever energy he used to help in my creation that is drawing Nilly to us…  So much mystery.”

“Irrelevant at this point,” her mother whispered as she leaned in to kiss her forehead.  “I have you, and that’s all that matters.”

“Awww.  Quit buttering me up, Mom!  Hehe.  I’ll get fat.”

“And I’d still love you—fat tail or thin!  Now, once we finish this sensory training, we’ll move on to empowering a specific part of another entity.  HAREM’s spiritual presence was birthed out of the souls that touched it, and you need to find the ones that are sympathetic to our cause.  We need soldiers fighting her on the inside, and you’re our recruitment agent!”

Sweeping back her hair with a strained laugh, Sora situated herself across from her mom.  “No pressure.  I just can’t get over the fact we’ll be defeating HAREM with, ahem, the power of friendship!”

Her mother rolled over with laughter, tails coiling around her front.  “I, haha, suppose you could frame it like that!  You’re too much, My Little Ember.”

Cora sighed.  “If only friendship could solve every issue…  Often, it only leads to despair.”

“Okay!  Downer much?  Well,” she chuckled, “I guess it’s time for me to become an otome protagonist.  Hold on, does that mean I’ll literally go into HAREM’s internal network and interact with them like I do in dreams?”

Her mother’s cheery nod put a screw in her belly.

“Shoot.  Uh.  Yeah, I think I’ll need to read that book and get some tips from Wendy.  Can… she join me?”

“Probably,” her mom shrugged.  “Her energy is fairly stable now.  If she can maintain her form, then it theoretically should be possible.  Let’s begin!”

Sora focused her desires and magic on her mother, examining every loving fiber of her being that radiated pride and fear.  Regardless of the dangers, she had hope that they could find a way through it if they stuck as a family, yet there was also a festering terror of many hidden somethings that could be revealed.  Her mother was a secret keeper, and she feared that would come between them as time went on.

Hours turned into days as they went in and out of the rooms.  Wendy was making some progress in operating without the amulet, but it was slow.  Eyia popped in to train each of them in hand-to-hand combat, showing them how to defend themselves, with magic helping to incorporate her lessons better.

Abby was a bundle of sunshine and joy; her dad loved her help in the kitchen or hearing her stories about the Faelands to the point Sora could feel her mom getting a little jealous, which had the fox mom right next to her husband to offer her own insights.  Well, half the time, since the other, she was in the corner reading her no doubt quite steamy reverse harem book.

On the other hand, Kari hardly came back.  She slept in her personal space and only came out to grab a pot of food to eat in her room.  Eyia said that she promised not to talk about what went on in the room or what they were doing, which made her even more curious.

Finally, when the final day of their training began, Sora finished her otome book with Wendy and actually found it a lot more interesting than she would have thought.  The constant tension of which guy the heroine might choose or who would be the best pick, only for Wendy to tell her that all of them were fair game.

She was starting to see Wendy as more of a queen bee than the shy little schoolgirl she’d grown up around.  Her best friend had been corrupted by the degeneracy of media in the last three years.  Jokingly, she made an illusion of Moon Princess Bookworm, surrounded by her glowing palace of shirtless men, making her sister tackle and wrestle her into submission.

Laughing and rolling to a stop on the grass, Sora noticed she wasn’t wearing the necklace.  “How are you doing without it?”

Wendy reached behind her to the book, still attached to the back of her waist.  “Kind of annoyed I have this bulky thing… but I think I’ve got a plan.  I thought about it last night but wanted to try it after I had a bit of time to feel my way into it.  I still need the amulet, but things are getting better…”  The brunette leaned over to hug her.  “Thanks.”

“For?”  Sora asked as she returned the embrace.

“For being my sister…  For bringing me into your family.”  She fiddled with her fingers, staring up at the green sky with its pink clouds.  “It’s, umm, still hard for me to think about my mom…  I think I want to see her one last time when all this is over.  Is that… stupid?  It is, isn’t it,” she mumbled, hands pressing against her belly.

Glancing over at her struggling sister, Sora reached up to take her hand and offered her a reassuring smile.  She did want to say it was stupid, but her talk with her dad shut down the thought.  “If that’s what you want, then I’ll come with you—if you want, that is.”

“That’d help,” Wendy said, almost too soft for her ears to make sense of.

Wanting something to put them into a good mood for the morning, Sora nudged Wendy’s side with her elbow, an impish tone coming on.  “Want to be little foxes and go sneak a peak at what Kari’s been up to?”

A grin brightened the brunette’s cheeks.  “Let’s do it!  Girl raid!”

“Foxy girl raid!”  Sora giggled, hoisting herself up.  “I’ll use illusions, and we can jump out at her, or do you think that would be too much?”

Wendy forced a laugh.  “Uh.  Maybe?  I mean, it’s not like we’re good friends.  It may cause some trouble, which would just be drama you wouldn’t want.  Right?”

“Haaa.  I guess that’s reasonable,” Sora mumbled, disappointed her puffy-tailed sister didn’t go along with the idea.  “We’ll knock then.  Let’s see what she’s doing!”

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