Wounds of Glory

"……Wounds of glory?"

"Yup. Proud proof that this kitty went around beatin' up hyenas!"

The reason for those scars was so far from anything he had expected that Shirca simply went blank. Then, at the brilliant sparkle in Bariya's eyes, he and Tyreen broke into applause at the same time.

"Incredible. To think you went around thrashing hyenas like that."

"You're far too amazing, my lady. There will never be another cat greater than you."

"Yep. I'm kinda really great."

Bariya planted both hands on her hips and puffed her chest out as far as it would go. At last Shirca understood exactly how she had kept out of the hyenas' grasp all this time. She had beaten them until the scars set into her fists. The child's temper was anything but ordinary.

"Little one, may I pat your head?"

The name didn't sit particularly well with her, but she nodded all the same.

"I'll allow it. You're washed all clean now, so you don't smell anymore."

Tyreen turned a murderous glare on Shirca, as if to demand what he thought he was saying to a child. It was a misunderstanding. He hadn't meant that she actually stank—only that her pheromone was unusual. Just now, drowned beneath the strong scent of the bath oils, he couldn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sense it at all.

"Thank you."

Shirca slowly stroked the child's hair. The strands were stiff, as if to prove that the years behind her had been anything but kind. How had Bariya even lived until now? Even as he touched her, she kept her eyes narrowed to slits, watching in case he meant her harm. Her wariness ran deeper than any tiger beastkin's.

Those hyena whelps really do all have to die.

He didn't know what they had done to her, but it would have been their fault regardless. So long as Baden and Sabrina lived, every hyena was already as good as dead, and he hoped that might offer the little one even a scrap of comfort. The two of them hated hyenas more than anything else in the world.

Bariya returned with Shirca to the parlor where Baden and Sabrina were waiting. The instant the door opened, a wave of sweetness struck her, and her eyes flew wide.

"Hm. Better, now that you're washed."

Sabrina said it bluntly, but the words never reached Bariya's ears. The parlor table was heaped with desserts, every one of them breathing out sweetness.

"If you want some, don't sit there gauging our faces. Come and eat."

Sabrina nudged the plate of macarons toward her, and Bariya shot over and plopped down in front of the table.

"Now, now. A young lady—not a little one—belongs on the sofa."

Shirca scooped her up and settled her there, then, her arms being too short to reach, pressed a strawberry macaron into her hand.

"……!"

Bariya bit into the macaron, and a shiver raced through her whole body. The mad sweetness wrapping her tongue was something she had never tasted in her life.

"My tongue—it stings!"

To think a flavor this insane existed in the world! Sacred bells seemed to peal inside her head, clang after clang.

"Is it good?"

"Uh-huh. It tastes crazy!"

At that magnificent turn of phrase, the three tigers bit down hard on their lips to keep from laughing.

"You may eat as much of the rest as you like."

Bariya finished the macaron in a flash and bit into a vanilla éclair. This time it felt as though lightning had struck her brain. She had always believed meat was the most delicious thing in the world—and here was something every bit as good. Her face grew grave.

"I lived all this time not even knowin' about this…… Wasted my whole cat life……."

The past ten years suddenly felt unbearably unfair.

"Then you'll simply eat plenty from now on. There, now. Calm down and try something else."

Shirca was right. She only had to eat as much as she had missed! Eyes shining, Bariya set out to conquer them one by one.

"I can't eat any more……."

She clutched her drum-tight belly and struggled for breath, and Shirca let out a helpless, incredulous laugh.

"After finishing every last bite."

"Food's gotta be eaten while it's still there."

If you didn't eat it, it was cleared away, and food that left like that never came back. That was the law Bariya had learned in the hyena household.

"……Right. You did well."

Rather than tell her she need never worry about such things again, the three of them simply nodded. Living it would teach her far better than words: that here, no one would snatch Bariya's food, and they would wait until she had eaten her fill.

"Right. Time to write the contract."

At Sabrina's words, Bariya's eyes lit sharply. This was no time to lose her head over sugar. She seized on the most important point first.

"The contract's gotta have every signature—mine, and all three Caliphs'. An' I want it notarized, for sure."

In other words, she wanted a formal contract with the Caliph family as a whole.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"If you can't accept that, then I can't make a contract either."

The terms were one thing, but notarization mattered most of all. On that, even Bariya would not yield. Only then would her safety be truly guaranteed.

"We'll have it notarized by the Aldros family, who oversee beastkin law."

For all her tension, Sabrina answered as if it went without saying. Several houses offered notarization, but the Aldros—the ibis family charged with the laws and records of the beastkin world—were the most trustworthy of them all. If it was the Aldros, Bariya could believe them without question.

"Okay."

"Then the notarization is settled."

Sabrina drew out a single sheet of white paper.

"You know how to write, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Then write the terms you want."

Bariya seized the pen at once and began scratching them out. It had been three years since she last wrote anything, so the letters came even more awkwardly than her speech, but she shaped every stroke as carefully as she could.

"An age at which she can stand on her own—you mean until she's grown?"

When Shirca asked, Bariya frowned as if he were talking nonsense.

"Even at fifteen, I can live by myself."

Fifteen? What was that supposed to be? Honestly, a beastkin as mature and grown-up as Bariya could manage perfectly well alone at thirteen. Still, with the hyenas hunting her, fifteen at the very least was safer.

She was just about to add fifteen beside an age at which she can stand on her own when Shirca caught her hand.

"No one knows what lies ahead. So don't change it. Leave it as it is."

"……Well, fine."

She didn't look especially pleased, but she nodded for the moment. Shirca, who had of course been thinking of the legal age of adulthood—eighteen—sighed where she couldn't hear. With Bariya, there was truly never a second to lower his guard.

This was the second most important thing. Those foolish tigers still took her for a cat, and if they slipped, they might never give her meat at all. She had no intention of revealing that she was a wildcat—not when trouble might force her to flee this place, too—so the clause had to be written down, no exceptions. To fight the hyenas properly she needed to eat well and grow well, and for that she needed meat. Absolutely.

"……At least once a week. Ha—no. Understood. I'll tell the head chef."

Shirca sighed and covered his face. So even once a week really was too much, then. The hyena family, too, had always said there was never any meat to spare for her mother and for her.

Sorry or not, I can't let my heart go soft.

This is something I absolutely cannot give up!

Pretending she hadn't noticed, Bariya went straight on to the third term.

"Good. We'll do it."

The moment a normal condition finally appeared, all three nodded at once. In truth, the three of them were far more likely to charge out ahead of Bariya and crush the hyenas themselves.

Having written the fourth term, Bariya slowly looked at Baden, at Sabrina, and at Shirca.

"Simple questions are fine. I'll answer what I can. But don't ask for the details. We're allies who share an enemy, not close friends."

Her clear brown eyes were transparent enough to see straight through, and yet, astonishingly, nothing showed in them at all. Face to face as they were, it still felt as though a terribly thick wall stood between them. How could a ten-year-old hide what she felt so completely? In some ways she was nothing but a little child—and yet, in the very places where a child's nature ought to show, she was mature enough to leave them shaken.

"……Understood. Is there anything else you want?"

Bariya lifted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the pen one last time.

It was a term set aside for the day she fled this place.

"That's everything I want."

Her safety, her health, the keeping of her secrets, and even her revenge—all of it packed tight into one perfect contract.

"We'll accept every term. Now I'll state ours."

Sabrina said it after looking over the contract Bariya had written as neatly as she could. Bariya went rigid. If they offered an unjust condition, she would refuse it. And if they wouldn't see reason, she would knock them all out and run.

"Eating well and growing well here is only to be expected, so I won't set it down ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as a separate term. There is exactly one thing you must keep while you are with the Caliphs."

All that bracing proved unnecessary. Sabrina wrote only a single line.

It was a condition she had never expected.