Let's Go Home
The Aldros family's Authority, the Eye of Truth, had never once been wrong.
That was precisely why the Mariners grew all the more overbearing. The Caliphs, however, went on doubting them, and kept busy hunting for proof. Out of respect for a house that had lost a child, the Aldros aided the investigation as well. Regrettably, even now—eighteen years on—it had yielded nothing.
"……Even so, we will not give up."
This time, too, Baden only bowed his head in silence and took his leave.
Orteyl let out a sigh.
Pitiful people.
Some clicked their tongues and said that even after the Aldros Authority had rendered its verdict, the Caliphs refused to believe it and clung to a useless cause. Orteyl could not bring herself to do the same. Were they not parents who had lost a child? And the Caliphs had been at odds with the Mariners for so long that she understood how difficult it was to lay their suspicions fully to rest.
As head of a neutral house, it isn't that I've suspected the Mariners……
Until now, she had never taken either family's side. She acknowledged the Mariners' innocence, and she understood the Caliphs' grievance.
But then.
"They say a Mariner bore a daughter with a Divine Beast and has hidden her all this time."
There was even suspicion that they had abused the Divine Beast and His daughter.
Orteyl clenched her fist. As head of the first beastkin house ever to inherit an Authority from a Divine Beast, this was a matter she could never stand by and ignore.
"Bleo."
"Yes, Family Head."
Her aide entered from outside.
"Send word to every crow at once. Reinvestigate the death of Rabin Caliph from the very beginning."
It was the intelligence corps the Aldros Family Head alone could command, loosed only for the most secret of tasks. Realizing this was no ordinary order, Bleo's face hardened.
"Yes. Understood."
"They must not be discovered by the Mariners under any circumstances. Slipping past Family Head Velodic Mariner's eyes will be difficult, but tell them to be as careful as they can."
"Yes."
"And look into the Divine Beast who bears the surname Bell."
"Understood, Family Head."
Bleo bowed and left the room at a brisk pace.
The crows in Aldros service were everywhere, and so they held more information than anyone. She hoped that this time, too, they would bring something true back to her.
"Snrrrrk."
Watching Bariya sprawled at her ease and snoring, Shirca couldn't hold back a laugh. When he'd told her to get some sleep, since she must be tired, what was it she had said?
"I'm a genius at running away. A few days of living on the road isn't going to tire me out."
She had declared it with such spirit—and now she was sleeping like a log, as if the carriage didn't trouble her in the least.
A life on the run must have taught her to sleep anywhere.
And so the sight was as endearing as it was heartbreaking.
"Grr."
Shirca, who had been looking at Bariya with a bitter twist to his mouth, turned his gaze. Curled into a tight ball at the child's head, a baby tiger was staring straight at him. The look in its eyes was unmistakably that of a creature sizing up an enemy.
"……A tiger beastkin with mottled fur."
Red eyes, and an unusual amount of black fur. He had lived his whole life as heir to the house that led every tiger, and yet he had never so much as heard of a tiger like this.
……There is one house I've never met myself.
But it couldn't be them. Not once had he heard of anyone from that house coming out into the world.
"Hey, Blackie. How old are you?"
"Grrrr."
At Shirca's call, the tiger bared its teeth. Pitch-black venom was just about to drip from the open mouth—
Thud!
"Snff. Spray poison at Shirca, and you die."
One arm flung up, Bariya seized the tiger by the scruff and pinned it flat. Startled, the tiger snapped its mouth shut and gulped down the drool it had nearly let spill. Tamed in an instant, it stole a flustered glance at Bariya.
"Mmm. Yeah… grr-rong."
But Bariya hadn't woken. She was still asleep. It was only sleep-talk.
"Hm. I suppose it's all right to leave the cub beside the baby."
Watching Bariya look after her own safety even in her sleep, Shirca's mouth stretched wide. It was the first time the baby had shown that she cherished him, and his heart fluttered wildly. A life of being protected—it didn't seem half bad.
"Grrlk."
Bariya wouldn't release its neck, so the tiger had to stay flattened where it lay. It carefully tapped her hair and the crown of her head, as if swearing it would never do such a thing, but the sleeping child's hand did not loosen in the slightest. In the end the tiger gave up and could only offer its scruff in meek surrender.
"See? Don't defy our baby. She's the child who saved you. Treat her as your benefactor for the rest of your life."
"Brrlk."
With its scruff pinned, the sound didn't come out properly, but the look on its face was thoroughly displeased. Shirca clicked his tongue.
"Listen when someone's giving you advice. Don't end up regretting it the way I did. The way our family did."
She was the Caliphs' benefactor, and still they had failed to understand her heart, until she walked out of the house on her own two feet. How his chest had clenched until they found her again. Even after Sabrina returned to her animal form and gave chase, they hadn't found the slightest trace of the child.
Genius at running away wasn't an empty boast at all.
This time, he understood in his own bones why the Mariners had failed to take the child for three whole years. If Bariya herself hadn't sent word through Obli, they might never have found her for the rest of their lives.
So there are no more chances.
If Bariya left again, they truly would not find her.
Then, all at once, Bariya—who had been sleeping so soundly—shot upright, eyes flying open.
"Baby?"
"Kraaang!"
Shirca, who had been watching the child with grave eyes, and the tiger, who had been gauging when it might finally be released, both jumped. Still caught in a hand clenched tight and dragged along with her, the tiger even yowled.
"Huh? What. Blackie, why is your scruff in my hand?"
Bariya let go in a hurry. The tiger glared at her, aggrieved at having the blame shoved onto it, but of course that did nothing.
"Baby, why are you up? Is something wrong?"
"Ah! I have to go outside. Stop the carriage."
At the urgent answer, Shirca knocked on the carriage wall and brought it to a halt. Bariya threw the door open and darted out at once.
"What's wrong? Don't tell me there are hyenas nearby again……?"
They were deep in a forest, a fine place to hide. Bariya had once caught a hyena's presence before Sabrina did, so worry rose in him.
But.
"Not a hyena."
Bariya shook her head. Then she stood before the carriage, as if waiting for someone.
How long did they stay like that?
"Ah."
Soon Shirca noticed it too—a heavy sound rushing toward them in desperate haste, with no attempt to muffle the footfalls. It was the sound of Sabrina running.
Thud, thud, thud!
A moment later, from the far end of the forest path, an enormous white tiger came charging into view.
"Whoa."
Bariya marveled at a bulk no ordinary tiger could compare to. She had thought White was huge, but Sabrina in her animal form was easily twice that size. She could understand, now, why the Caliphs called even a ten-year-old like her their baby.
"Baby!"
Sabrina, returning to human form in an instant that made a mockery of her size, threw out her arms and swept Bariya into them all at once. Unlike the urgency on her face, the arms around the child had gone slack, as if she feared her monstrous strength might hurt her. Understanding that heart well, Bariya hugged her as tightly as she could in return.
"Lady Sabrina, I'm glad to see you again."
"……You're safe. You're safe. I'm so glad, baby."
"I'm sorry for worrying you."
"No. We're the ones who are sorry. Sorry we couldn't put you at ease."
The Caliphs hadn't done anything wrong.
And I didn't do anything wrong either.
All of it had happened because the Mariners did something wicked. Realizing it far too late, Bariya's eyes brimmed as she tightened her arms around Sabrina.
"Then let's not be sorry to each other. We're going to live together again from now on."
"……Truly?"
"Right. You don't lie. The trouble is, you don't lie nearly enough."
Sabrina smiled as she looked at Bariya. The child had kept, to the very end, the pact that said she would tell the three Caliphs before she left. Heartbreakingly so.
"I—I really won't, anymore."
Knowing that, Bariya stole a sheepish glance at her. Sabrina burst out laughing again.
"Let's go home, baby."
Yes. Let's go home. To their nest—the Caliphs.
"Yes!"
Bariya smiled, bright as sunlight.