140: Whole Again (Patreon)

“What are you doing here?” Vir whispered. “Why are you—!?”

Before he knew it, Maiya had enveloped him in a hug, his thoughts blown away by a crimson wind. And when her sweet-smelling, nostalgic fragrance touched him, he lost all capacity for thought.

“I’m so, so sorry. I couldn’t reveal I knew you because it would be bad for you to have any connection to me because then you’d have even more people after you so I wanted to avoid that but I screwed up and now you hate me, don’t you?”

What did she just say?

Vir struggled to piece together Maiya’s torrent of words.

“Wait. You did all that… to protect me?”

When Maiya broke her embrace, her cheeks were wet with tears.

She nodded. “I thought you’d pick up on it. But you were too angry. That’s why I said that thing about Saran. Y’know? The Fighters of Saran Stick Together? Remember your words to me back then?”

“Er, not exactly.”

“Well I do. ‘Even when the entire realm turns against you, I’ll be there by your side. Fighting until the end. So don’t tell me to leave you behind.’”

Did I really say something so dumb? Badrak’s Balls, I’m such an idiot.

“It’s not dumb, Vir. And no, I can't read your mind. Just, your face is like an open book right now!” she said, poking out her tongue. ”Those words really touched me. They had all of your emotions packed in. Well, I guess maybe I’m the dummy for thinking that.”

Maiya looked him up and down.

“N-no. I did mean it.”

“You did?”

“I do,” Vir admitted. “Also, why are you looking at me like that?”

“Your injury! Did you get a mejai to heal you?”

Vir nodded. “All good. The wound wasn’t that bad in the first place.”

“W-well, good, then. That’s good.”

“Um, what about you? That was a pretty nasty wound... that I gave you.“

“Haymi patched me up. No worries.“

“I’ve been a chal, haven’t I?”

Maiya flicked him on the nose. “You have. And I’ve missed you. This. Everything.”

“I said such horrible things to you. I hurt you! I'm so sorry. I can't even... How do I possibly make this up to you?“

“Hey. It's alright. Everything's alright.“

Just like that, the storm in Vir’s chest parted and calm seas returned. Gone was the angst and anxiety and regret.

And all it took was one word. I feel so stupid for doubting her.

For the first time that night, Vir took some time to actually look at Maiya. Things had been so intense earlier, he hadn’t had the chance.

The flowing red hair and hazel eyes Vir had always known struck him as much the same, yet she was markedly different. For one, her body was far more sculpted than when they’d separated. Maiya was never particularly chubby, but now, it looked like she didn’t have a shred of fat on her. She wore elaborate half plate, half fabric exotic armor, which contoured perfectly to her torso and ended in a gambeson skirt.

More than anything else, it was the light in her eyes that captured his attention. Eyes that exuded utter confidence—something that Maiya completely lacked before—and moreover, a genuineness that Vir had so sorely missed.

Here was someone who accepted him fully for who he was. Who kept no secrets.

Vir grasped her again and squeezed tightly, and now it was his turn to shed tears. Something had been wrong with him ever since they’d separated. Now he understood. It was the hole in his heart left by Maiya’s absence. A hole he’d desperately tried to fill with Tia, only for it to have grown even larger after she’d betrayed him.

Now that hole was filled. Not just filled—his chest threatened to explode with the feelings that coursed through his body. He had a million questions for her; how was she? Where had she been? What did Riyan make her do? How’d she end up at the Kin’jal garrison when he did? But before all that, there was something that had to be said.

“I missed you, Maiya. More than you could know.”

“Liar!” Maiya whispered into his ear, tickling him. “I missed you more. And y’know? Pretty seric, the way you stood up to Tia back there.”

As if to prove it, she pecked him gently on his cheek, making them both blush and break their embrace.

“I, er, uhm,” Maiya stammered. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to—that just kinda…”

“N-no. My pleasure. I mean, it’s fine! So, uh,” Vir replied.

“Not to ruin your awkward reunion, but why is she here?” Badal asked, pointing a finger at Maiya. “This is no place for strangers.”

Lord Reth, who’d stayed several paces away, sighed. “Badal, can’t you see they were having a moment? You’ve gone and ruined it!”

“I presume you have a good reason for this?“

Reth lifted an open hand. “Of course! It's been so long since we've had a human visitor! I simply couldn't resist divulging our greatest secrets to a complete stranger. That's all. I fail to see the issue!“

Commander Badal was not amused.

Reth sighed. “Do you believe I’d allow her here without vetting her first?”

“No, of course not. Just that this is very unusual. For an outsider to witness our Acira landing… it’s unprecedented.”

Right. Badal never saw her at the garrison, did he? Otherwise, he’d be freaking out right now.

“You may be at ease, Badal. She’s a bit special,” Reth said with an awkward smile. “She already knows all about us.”

She knows the true nature of the Pagan Order? Vir thought. Only royals were supposed to know that. Vir wondered if that knowledge had something to do with why she was at the garrison.

“I vouch for her,” Vir said immediately. “She’s been my best—and only—friend ever since I was little. And she knows I’m a demon.”

Badal raised a brow. “What do you think of demons?” he asked Maiya.

“What, interrogating me now?” Maiya asked with a sarcastic smile, causing Badal to narrow his eyes.

“Relax. I have nothing against demons. I truly wish they were treated better. Vir being a demon has absolutely nothing to do with our relationship.”

Vir was only half-listening, more concerned with the pounding of his chest. Maiya’s presence had never made him feel anything other than comforted. What had changed?

I’m just excited to finally see her again. That has to be it.

Maiya glanced in his direction, but the moment their eyes met, his head grew hot and he looked away. She did the same.

Okay, definitely not normal. It wasn’t like they’d stared at each other all day, but they never had trouble making eye contact!

Vir panicked. What if it’s because we’ve grown apart? Have we… drifted away from each other?

“If both Lord Reth and Vir vouch for you, then I suppose I have nothing further to say,” Badal said, nodding slightly at Maiya, then turning to address Vir. “Be sure not to stay up too late. You’ve been through a taxing ordeal. You need rest.”

“I concur,” Lord Reth said, approaching. Even at this late hour, the tall man was clad in an ornate golden robe, giving him a regal bearing. “No doubt you two have much to catch up on, but Vir, the Tribunal would like to meet with you at noon. There are several matters to discuss.”

“Should I be worried?” Vir asked.

Reth returned a smile, but if Vir wasn’t mistaken, there was a hint of concern in it. “Not at all. Please enjoy your time together. You’ve done your brothers and sisters a great service tonight. Be proud of that. And do try to get some rest,” Reth said with a wink that made Maiya blush. He then spun on his heel and left, leaving the two alone with the Acira and their tenders.

What was that all about?

Then Vir noticed the silence. “Uhm…” Vir was at a loss for what to say, despite all the things he wanted to ask her.

“S-so, uh, why, don’t we go somewhere more suitable?” Vir reached for her hand, but suddenly stopped when his heart started pounding madly. “Er, j-just follow me, okay?” he blurted awkwardly, guiding her out of the open-air space, into the castle walls.

“Maiya—”

“Vir—”

“You first,” Maiya said, giggling.

“Well, er. You look nice,” Vir replied.

That’s the first thing you say!? Vir thought, panicking. Good job, you chal.

“Um, thanks? Guess all my Ash-damned training was good for something,” she said, smiling.

Maiya fell silent for a moment before squeezing his hand. “You holding up alright?”

“I am now,” he said with a wry smile. “And, sorry. For everything I did back there. For… thinking you’d abandoned me. Just… really sorry.”

Maiya let out a breath. “I was really worried, y’know? Thought something had changed you in these past few months. I’m glad.”

“You’re glad about that fiasco?”

“No. Glad you’re still you. I like you.”

Vir panicked. “What did you—”

“Oh no! No,I didn’t mean—not like that! Ah hah ha. I mean, I like you as you were. I was just worried. Y’know.”

“O-oh! Right. Yeah.”

The two friends fell into another awkward silence, and Vir wondered what he was doing wrong to cause such a bizarre atmosphere between them.

“So, anyway. I wanna hear all about you, Maiya! Where’ve you been? What was your favor to Riyan? Are you alright? Oh, and crazy coincidence, huh? You being there at the garrison the same time I was?”

Maiya laughed, and again, Vir found his thoughts going blank.

Was her laugh always so melodic? She sure has matured…

“That’s because I was the one who got Tia’s brother to send her there, silly. When the Brotherhood told me you’d signed on with Spear’s Edge, I knew I had the perfect plan for us to meet!”

“You orchestrated all that? By yourself?”

“Be proud!”

“That’s a lot of questions! I’ve got plenty of my own, y’know? How about we each take turns?”

“Of course. Sorry.”

Leaving the confined of the castle’s narrow halls, he led her out the royal gardens and to the Promontory.

“This is really nice!” Maiya said as a gentle breeze ruffled her hair. “Gotta say, I never expected Balindam to be so civilized.”

“Right?” Vir said, feeling the initial awkwardness ebb away. “That’s the same reaction I had. All those rumors are just a facade… Which makes me wonder how exactly you knew about them, but that would be another question, wouldn’t it?”

“Sure would!” Maiya replied with a grin. They sat down on the grass, and Maiya kicked off her shoes, leaning her head against Vir. “Remember when we used to hang out like this under the tree at Rabbit Hill? And then under the tree at Riyan’s place?”

“How could I forget? Honestly felt we might never get to do that again. Especially after Riyan’s place burned down.”

This was the sensation Vir had missed—the sense of warmth that came just by chatting idly with his best friend. His worries that they might’ve drifted apart began to ebb, though that it made him wonder what that awkwardness was all about.

“Still can’t believe that. I thought Fate was playing tricks on me, or something. It was like someone had just erased his home. There wasn’t any trace of it!”

“Guess the sands must’ve filled Riyan’s place in by now. When I went there, the place had burned to the ground. Wait. That means you found my note!” Vir said excitedly.

“Sure did! Went to the cave right after. I was never as good as navigating that dang maze as you, but I managed it alright. After that, it was Daha, then Avi, then Zorin,” she said, counting the towns and cities on her fingers. “It’s been quite the pain finding you, y’know? You could’ve made it easier by not jumping around like a prana frog!”

Maiya punched Vir’s shoulder lightly, earning her a chuckle.

“Sorry. I’ll tell that to the people who were hunting me next time. ‘It’d really inconvenience Maiya, so would you please stop following me?’”

Maiya broke into a fit of giggles. The laughter passed, and her expression turned solemn.

“And yet, here we are,” Maiya replied.

“Here we are…” Vir echoed. His mind still couldn’t comprehend that Maiya was back. Actually back! After so long apart, she’d just popped up in his life again, albeit in a most unexpected way.

“Never in a million years did I think we’d reunite as enemies.”

“You’re surprised—what about me? I literally hired you for help! At least, I thought I was hiring you. Imagine how I felt when I got the baggage without the cake!”

Vir’s cheeks flushed immediately.

“O-oh, I mean, not that you’re a cake. I don’t want to eat you or anything. I mean, not like that!”

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean? So you do want to eat me?”

“No, like—agh! Just forget it!”

Vir laughed so hard, he teared up.

“Bully,” Maiya said, pouting.

“You honestly did that to yourself.”

They fell into a comfortable silence, leaning on each other as they watched the world wake up.

“Riyan sent you to assassinate Princess Mina Hiranya, didn’t he?” Maiya asked quietly.

“You knew?”

“I’d suspected for a while. Riyan was… obsessed with the princess. He genuinely hates her, Vir. I figured your mission would be related, but when he started training you to be an assassin? And an assassin that specialized in fighting mejai? I was almost sure of it. Of course, not like he’d ever admit it to me.”

“And you never shared that with me because you didn’t want me to worry.”

Maiya nodded. “Either it was going to be that, or something else. Worrying about it wasn’t gonna help anyone. We’d already decided to escape, anyway.”

“Lot of good that did us,” Vir remarked wryly.

“Oh, Riyan knew. Tanya told me later that he’d been tailing us to our secret meetings. He even knew of our cave stash. We just never noticed.”

“Yeah, he wasn’t happy about that cave stash. To think he spied on our conversations too…”

I never even noticed, Vir thought. Prana Vision was great when used actively, but like regular sight, it missed things if Vir wasn’t paying attention. Especially if they were behind him. Something to work on.

“Anyway, you’re right. I went to Daha, but killing her was impossible. She’s way smarter than she looks. She knew I was coming and laid a pretty nasty trap.”

“That’s… wow. I can’t believe I haven’t heard of that yet. Hiranya must really be keeping news of that locked down tight. You’re lucky just to have gotten out alive. I dunno how you managed to kill Head Priest Harak despite that!”

Vir’s eyes shot open. “How do you know that!?”

“I know everything about you, Vir,” Maiya said with a creepy face, before bursting out laughing. “Sorry. Sorry! I… probably oughta explain how I came to be in charge of the realm's largest spy organization. Hmm, where to begin, though?”

“Seriously?“ Vir asked, visibly shocked. “Uh, maybe from the beginning?”

“Well, the gist of it is Riyan sent me to spy on Kin’jal. Between sending you after Mina and me feeding him information on Hiranya’s biggest enemy, he’d have countered two of the largest threats. Or at least, that’s likely what he was thinking.”

“I see… So what happened? You went with Tanya to Sonam?”

“Right. Tanya lied and said we were going on a training trip to bait me out. She set me up. I had to audition as a Royal Imperial Handmaiden, of all things. Can you believe that? Me, acting all girly and proper?”

Vir laughed. “Yeah. Nope. Can’t picture that at all!”

To his surprise, Maiya frowned at him, despite having just admitted as much.

“Anyway, it’s Kin’jal, y’know? To get in, you need to either excel at etiquette and chores… or simply eliminate your competition.”

“Eliminate…” Vir said blankly.

“Yep. By any means possible. Short of killing or permanently maiming them, of course.”

“That is insane.”

“Truly is. Welcome to my life.”

The grin on her face told Vir she might not hate that life quite as much as she let on.

“And thanks to Riyan’s Kalari arts and Tanya’s magic, you managed to win?”

“Yeah, kinda swept the floor with them actually,” Maiya said, laughing. “They weren’t very strong.”

I think you were just ‘too’ strong, Maiya, Vir thought. While the prana coursing through her blood hadn’t undergone any drastic changes, he sensed fewer other affinities in her blood, making her Ice and Wind affinities a bit purer.

He wasn’t about to be fooled by that seemingly minor change, though. He knew just how far even a small amount of prana could go with the right training.

“Oh, grak!” Maiya sat straight up. “Oh no. This is bad. Really, really bad.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“I kinda locked Tia up in that jail before rushing here.”

“Yeah? And?”

“And I never gave orders to the garrison commander to release her. I think she’s still there…”

Vir looked Maiya in the eyes, and their lips crept into grins at the same exact time, right before they burst out laughing.

“Serves her right!” Vir said.

“I mean, can you just imagine her face right now? Gods, I’d pay good money to see it.”

“As hilarious as that is, won’t it be a problem?”

“Eh, nobody can keep that brute locked up. I’m sure she’ll figure something out. So anyway, after the interview battle, my life became a living hell. There’s this head handmaiden—she’s an Ash Beast disguised as a human, I swear. Chores after chores, and everything has to be absolutely perfect, or it’s even more chores as punishment.”

“That does sound brutal.”

“Oh, it was worse. There was combat, too. And it wasn’t like that was any easier. Nope. They had us fight the Royal Balarian Guard! And before you ask, no, they’re not Balar Rank One. More like twenty to fifty, depending. And then they had us fighting Ash Beasts at the wall. Ash Beasts! And after that, I had to lead a whole squad! Me! Leading people! Can you even imagine?”

“Actually, I kinda can. You were always popular back at the village.”

Oddly enough, it sounded like Kin’jal culture suited Maiya more than Hiranya’s ever did.

“Yeah, but Vir, do you have any idea how much work it is? Ugh. I feel like my hair’s gonna turn white. Seems the higher ups thought I did really well so Princess Ira Kin’jal recruited me to be her right-hand woman since she wants to overthrow her parents. Mmmm yup, that’s about everything.”

Vir stared at his friend, open-mouthed. There were more than a few things sprinkled in her words that sounded dangerously like national secrets. “You’re telling me… that you’re not only living in the Kin’jal castle… you’re working directly under one of their princesses!?”

“I know, right? Who would’ve thought? When I found out Riyan was gone, I confronted Tanya. Convinced her to go look for him. So I’m not even spying now. I’m actually a real handmaiden ha ha. You won’t believe how much I get paid, Vir. Never thought salaries would be measured in seric.”

“Seric!? That’s… so that’s how you could bribe the Daha Brotherhood guildmaster.”

It’d worried Vir how she’d ended up with so much coin. He’d feared she had stolen it. But the truth was even crazier.

“Yeah. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I can just go around spending serics, but yeah. Money will never be a problem for us again, so long as I stay on with Kin’jal. And, y’know? They’re not that bad. Rough around the edges, kinda crude, but they’re strong. No nonsense. I kinda like that. I’m sure you’ll love them too, when you come back with me.”

“Come back?” Vir asked, straightening up and looking her in the eyes.

“Well, of course. I get that you have fellow demons here, and that’s great! With my Acira, you can visit whenever you like!”

“That’s… I dunno, Maiya.”

How was he supposed to tell her he didn’t want to leave? The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to stay on with the Order, rather than undertake a suicide mission into the Ashen Realm.

But none of that mattered right now. He was with Maiya again, and after being broken for so long, all was right with the world. The details were just that—details. They’d figure it out. He was sure of it.

They remained there in a comfortable silence for several minutes, before Vir’s eyes slipped shut and his head fell onto Maiya’s lap.

“Oh, you,” Maiya said, tenderly brushing Vir’s hair away from his eyes. “Been a while since we slept under the stars, hasn’t it?”

Maiya gently laid Vir’s head on the grass, then snuggled up next to him and shut her eyes.

After several near-death experiences, after months apart, the two halves had finally been made whole again.