Welcomed by All but One
"Of course none of us have ever entertained a thought that filthy, little one. Even so, that reaction was far too tragic."
"It's instinct. I can't help it."
Bariya's merciless reply left Shirca thoroughly dejected. Well. From her point of view, it probably was horrifying.
A fiancée? Please. Making her my little sister is the obvious choice...
The thought struck him out of nowhere, and he found himself staring at her.
A little sister.
Come to think of it, even the first time he had brought her home, he had wanted to make her one. Life had been so busy that he had forgotten for a while, but now that he considered it properly, wouldn't it be better to adopt her outright than to keep up some patronage that could be severed at any moment?
Mother and Father adore her, too.
Both Baden and Sabrina were watching Bariya with soft eyes. When had he ever seen those two faces like this? Not on Sabrina, who had lived half-mad with revenge against the hyenas. Not on Baden, tormented by longing for that same Sabrina and by the guilt of having failed to protect his son. And not on Shirca himself, who had whipped himself raw trying to become an ever more perfect heir for their sake.
Even the air of House Caliph, heavy for as long as he could remember, had grown so much brighter since Bariya arrived.
So all the more reason she ought to be my sister, doesn't it?
Baden was still looking into the cat beastkin families, but nothing had come of it. And given that Bariya herself made no effort to find her parents, the odds that she had no family left were very high. Wouldn't it be good, then, if people who had lost their families became family to one another?
"What? Is there something on my face?"
Unsettled by the way he was staring, Bariya tilted her head.
"No. I was just thinking something pleasant."
"...While looking at my face?"
Is my face funny? I'm this pretty right now?
When she put real force behind both eyes, Shirca burst out laughing.
"Yeah. It does make me laugh."
"You're getting back at me because I went blegh, aren't you?"
"That one did sting a little."
Shirca and Bariya bickered exactly like real siblings.
"There may be fools at this banquet who talk nonsense at you, the way that one did."
Sabrina had warned Bariya in advance. It was hardly a pleasant subject, and they could have hidden it from her if they wished. But now that the banquet was underway, Bariya was in the same boat as the Caliphs. Better she know ahead of time and have a plan ready.
"If anyone speaks crudely to you, tell us."
"Hmm. And if I handle it myself?"
At Bariya's unabashed counterquestion, the three Caliphs stared at the child—and smiled, all at once.
"Of course you may."
Why on earth wouldn't she? The world of predators was a world where the strong devoured the weak. It was only natural for the strong to punish those who grew insolent.
At that ready permission, Bariya's eyes sparkled. This was the same Bariya who had faced hyenas alone in that small body of hers. Driving a fist into the bridge of some fool's nose for talking nonsense was nothing at all. The three Caliph beastkin smiled with deep satisfaction at the grim look on her face, the look that said just let one of them try me. Truly, teach her one thing and she grasped ten. A brilliant child.
Bariya climbed down from Shirca's arms and wandered the banquet hall. It was the first banquet of her life, and she was even the guest of honor, so sitting still had her itching all over.
"..."
But no matter how far she roamed, not a single person spoke to her. The reason, as far as she could see, could only be one. In the end she turned a discontented look on Shirca, who was trailing faithfully along behind her.
"The Lord and Lady Sabrina are dancing. Aren't you going to do anything?"
"Why? Do you want to dance with me?"
Shirca brightened at once. If she wished it, he looked ready to sweep her up and spin her around the hall that very moment.
"Not with me. There are people over there who are dying to dance with you."
Bariya pointed toward a gathering of young women. Those who caught Shirca's eye smiled shyly and waved.
"...Little one, are you getting back at me because I laughed while looking at your face?"
"You got back at me for going blegh. You pay back exactly what you were dealt. That's what you said."
"Who said that?"
"Lady Sabrina!"
That did sound exactly like something Mother would say.
"Go, before that whole crowd starts bothering me too. You have to get married anyway, don't you? Go find a lady who's strong, powerful, and impressive."
"Little one, sometimes you say things that don't sound like a ten-year-old."
"You're not allowed to tease me for being an old soul. Go. Now."
Bariya shoved Shirca toward the young ladies.
"Young Lord! It's been far too long. I truly missed you."
"I thought I wouldn't see you until your birthday banquet. I'm so glad to meet you like this."
"Tonight, your first dance should be with me..."
No sooner had she pushed him than the ladies swarmed in and surrounded him. Shirca was clearly a head or two taller than any of them, and yet the gathered women felt far more frightening.
I don't understand it at all.
She would grant that Shirca was handsome. His personality was a little strange, but he took after Baden and Sabrina, so in every other respect he was perfect. What those women wanted, though, was not beauty in the end. It was power. And that, she could not understand.
Once she parted from Shirca and was alone, people finally began to sidle toward her.
"How do you do, young lady. I am Winkel Denebian, head of the Denebian family, retainers to the Caliphs."
The first to greet her was a middle-aged woman of considerable presence.
"Hello. I'm Bariya Bell. The Knight Commander's family name is Denebian. Are you family?"
Rowin Denebian, Knight Commander of the Caliphs. After Bariya conquered White, the two of them had grown quite close, and they shared a surname.
"That's right. I'm that boy's older sister."
"It's nice to meet you. The Knight Commander always looks after me. Sometimes he even plays with me."
The hunting game she often played with Shirca—Rowin joined in now and then. Once, so absorbed in the fishing rod Shirca was swinging that she forgot everything else, she had leapt clean over Rowin's head and driven her claws into the crown of it. Blood had poured from the punctured scalp, and still Rowin had laughed, ha ha ha, and said he was simply glad the young lady was so healthy.
"I'm very glad my hopeless little brother has been of some help to you."
"To think you're on such good terms with that stiff knight commander. You must have a generous heart, young lady."
Someone draped an arm over Winkel Denebian's shoulder. The two of them looked exceedingly close.
"I am Ludba Gillian, head of the Gillian retainer family. You know Jake Gillian, I trust? I am the boy's uncle."
A middle-aged man with a livelier air than Winkel exchanged a warm greeting with Bariya.
So most of the people who work at the Caliph Estate come from the retainer families.
Well, of course. That was how you knew you could trust them.
"My nephew certainly knows how to keep his mouth shut. Until this very banquet, I hadn't heard a single word about you."
"You too? Same for me."
Ludba and Winkel nodded at the same time. It was no exaggeration to call Gillian and Denebian the heart of the retainer families, and yet even those two heads had known nothing of Bariya before they arrived. The secret had been kept that well.
"Both of them seem to be doing their duty, which puts my mind at ease. Yes, yes. If one is to serve the head, this is the least one should manage."
"I worried because he's a lacking little brother, but he doesn't seem quite so inadequate after all. That's a relief."
The two of them looked at Bariya and smiled gently.
"We know nothing of how our honored guest came to be with the Caliphs. But that doesn't matter in the slightest. Our lord's recognition—that alone is what matters to us."
"If you need anything at all, have Jake see to it. House Gillian welcomes you."
"House Denebian as well."
Bariya was startled by their manner. Honestly, she had thought the retainer families might not hate her, a stone rolled in from nowhere, but would at least keep their distance. And yet look at this. The head had acknowledged her, and that was enough; they welcomed her with open warmth.
The Caliphs' prestige really is something.
Everyone she met after that was much the same. Some were awkward with her, and some drew a polite line, but not one of them rejected her.
Except one.
"No matter how I look at you, you don't seem to be a tiger beastkin."
The people who had taken an interest in Bariya had washed in like a tide and, after a while, washed back out again. Then, at last, the one she had been waiting for came to find her. Those still lingering awkwardly nearby cleared their throats and withdrew, until only Bariya and Calvin Glosa were left upon the stage.
"Ah, do forgive me. They said you were an honored guest of the Caliphs, so I naturally assumed you must be a tiger beastkin."
Calvin smiled as if he meant nothing by it. There was not a person present who failed to hear the barb beneath the words.
"Come to think of it, I am a little curious. What kind of beastkin are you, honored guest?"
Every whispering gaze turned on Bariya at once. They frowned at Calvin's conduct, and yet their faces were curious all the same. Among their own kind, beastkin could usually tell a fair amount by scent. Most of the guests were tigers, so most of them had already sensed that Bariya was not one of them.
"If I'm not a tiger beastkin, then I'm some other predator. That should be enough."
The indifferent answer left Calvin flustered. Bariya looked him straight in the eye and asked:
"Surely you aren't asking so you can change your attitude depending on what kind of beastkin I am."
"I— that's not..."
"Launching into a rude question before you've even introduced yourself doesn't strike me as particularly proper."
Whatever kind of beastkin I am, what business is it of yours? Don't you even know that in beastkin society, prying into what someone is before they've chosen to say so is a breach of manners?
At Bariya's rebuke, Calvin's face flushed a furious crimson.