Five Peaceful Days
Baden turned the thought over for a moment, then shook his head.
Impossible. If Bariya came to the Caliphs, Mariner would have nothing to gain.
The unease lingered all the same, so he tucked it into a corner of his mind for the time being.
"How long until we reach Aldros?"
"At this pace, five days. I can go faster, if you'd rather."
"It's all right! I've never gotten to look at the outside world in peace like this. Right now is perfect."
Bariya scooped Blackie up from where he lay curled on the seat and gazed out the window with him.
"Well? Isn't it nice, getting to sightsee too?"
He squirmed for a moment, then went still, caught by the scenery flashing past the glass. Surprise flickered across that perpetually sullen little face, plain as day.
"So you haven't seen much of the outside either. Just like me."
She saw a great deal of herself in him, and perhaps that was why he tugged at her heart all the more.
Does he refuse to take human form, or is he unable to? If he can't, is there any way I could help?
If it was simply a choice, she could let it be. But if he couldn't, she wanted to help. An animal shape had its comforts, yet for a beastkin, being human was still the best of all.
"If you ever want to take human form, just tell me. I'll help you."
She whispered it to Blackie, who could not tear his eyes from the world outside.
"..."
He gave no reaction at all, but Bariya paid it no mind and rested her chin atop his head. The two of them happily watched the passing scenery together until they reached the village where they would spend the night.
The village they stopped in on the first day lay on the border between tiger territory and bear territory. The innkeeper, who had clearly met Baden more than once or twice, recognized him at once and offered them the finest room.
Bariya fell asleep in a single room with Blackie and Tyreen. Sleeping somewhere that was not home—and being allowed to sleep in comfort, rather than while on the run. It was the first night of its kind, and the thrill of it left her restless. She pulled Blackie into her arms and rolled this way and that across the bed, managing to drift off only once the night had grown late.
Tyreen watched her with doting fondness, then sank into sleep in the bed beside hers.
How long had it been since their breathing evened out?
"..."
Blackie, made to sleep in Bariya's embrace, opened his eyes with a glint. Even in sleep she kept a small fist clenched tight in his fur, so he could not slip free, though lifting his head was possible enough. Not that he had any intention of leaving her arms.
He quietly looked down at her face, sunk in deep sleep. The child slept dead to the world, mouth hanging open.
A girl of unknown origin who had tumbled into his life one day, as if she had simply rolled in. Blackie knew his poison was as good as a lethal toxin. No beastkin—not even those with a resistance to poison—could survive if he truly meant to spread it. And yet this wildcat girl, who had no poison of her own, had purified his without so much as a flinch.
Everyone else recoiled from him. She only marveled, and the arms that held him held no hesitation at all. That was why he remained at her side even when she was occasionally a nuisance and often a bother. Because she was the only person his poison could not kill.
How is that even possible?
As he recalled, those insufferable tigers had said something about her being close to a Divine Beast, prattling on about an Authority besides. What was a Divine Beast? And what was an Authority? He did not know enough to understand it properly, but one thing was certain. The girl would neither die of his poison nor be hurt by it, so he could stay beside her until she grew tired of him. Or until he failed to withstand the poison and died first.
If I died, would she be sad?
Tragically, the lethal poison he carried was killing his own body as well. From the moment he was born, he had known that this poison meant he would not live long—that in the end, he would die. So he had lived in resignation, and even when villains seized him to sell him off to other beastkin, he had not bothered with a difficult escape. He was going to die anyway. If he took them with him, the road to the afterlife might not be quite so lonely.
But the girl had saved him.
The only person who was ever kind to me. I don't want to see her sad.
Bariya only kept the poison from seeping out of his body. She did not know it was eating him away from within. He had no idea whether she could heal even that, and he could not bring himself to tell her, afraid that if something went wrong she might be put in danger too. Better, then, that she grow tired of him and cast him aside before he died.
Blackie watched her sleeping soundly, then pressed a forepaw firmly into her soft, round cheek. At that very moment Bariya caught his paw, drew it straight into her mouth, and began to mouth at it.
"Mraa!"
The wet sensation startled a cry out of him. Bariya's face scrunched, and she spat the paw right back out.
"Ugh, gross. Ptoo."
She even fastidiously spat out the fur that had gotten into her mouth, then went straight back to snoring, fast asleep.
"..."
Blackie looked from Bariya to his damp forepaw and back again, utterly dumbfounded. Then he heaved a sigh and wiped the drool off against her nightclothes. It was thoroughly unpleasant, but she would not let go of his fur, so washing was out of the question. He gazed mournfully at the water sitting on the table, gave up in the end, and curled himself up to lie down once more.
Human form.
On the edge of sleep, he remembered what Bariya had said. If he ever wanted to take human form, he need only tell her, anytime.
I've never done it.
When he was very small—right after he was born—he had been human, but as he was now, taking human form was impossible. He knew neither the reason nor the method, so he would likely live in a tiger's body until the day he died. Unwilling to cling to something impossible, he had long since cast aside any lingering attachment, and he closed his eyes.
Never once in his life had he fallen asleep with an easy heart. The moment he let go of himself, the poison he carried would close around his throat. But beside Bariya, the poison that raged beyond his control grew quiet, and he could sleep with a peace of mind that astonished him. Tonight was no different. Deep sleep was addictive—fatal in a way no poison could match. In an instant, he sank into a profound slumber.
The journey to Aldros, some five days in all, was remarkably peaceful, for contrary to their worries the hyenas never attacked even once. With Mariner's intelligence, they must surely have known that Bariya had returned to the Caliphs. With Sabrina absent, this was the finest opportunity they would ever have, and the fact that they did not so much as show their faces was deeply suspicious—but now was not the time to dwell on it. Finishing the adoption first, and as quickly as possible, mattered more, so Baden went straight into the Aldros Spire Estate.
"Whoa."
At the sight of it, Bariya could not hold back her awe. Blackie's mouth fell open as well.
Unlike the Caliph Estate, set in the heart of a vast forest, the Aldros Spire Estate was made of towers that seemed to pierce the sky. Some of them were even fused with the trees, as though they shared a single body. How could a building like this exist?
"Come now, let's get down. From here, walking will serve us better than the carriage."
Once Baden lifted her down, her eyes grew busier still. They had passed through the territories of several beastkin on the way, but she had never seen a place like this.
"Are all the bird beastkin estates like this?"
"It depends on their nature, but most of them are. Among the bird beastkin who live by the sea, some build their homes atop the cliffs."
"On top of cliffs!"
"You'll have a chance to see it someday."
Baden looked fondly at the child, her cheeks flushed red with wonder.
"You've arrived sooner than I expected, Clan Head of Caliph."
At the voice that reached them, everyone turned. Orteil, head of House Aldros—ash-gray hair, red eyes—had come out to greet them.
"Clan Head of Aldros. So it has turned out."
Baden exchanged a light handshake with her.
"When word came that the Caliph clan head was on his way, I could tell the outcome had been a good one, and yet..."
Orteil looked at Bariya and the mottled tiger cradled in her arms, then back at Baden. Watching him hold the child as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and the child nestled against him just as naturally, a dry little laugh escaped her.
"I never thought I would see the Caliph clan head looking this hopelessly besotted."
"You will grow used to it."
The shameless reply drew another dry laugh from her. When she heard that the Caliphs meant to adopt Mariner's child, she had honestly gone on worrying. But seeing them already stuck fast together, just like father and daughter, she felt the worry had been for nothing. Relieved, Orteil smiled, light and easy.