Starry Resonance Ch. 08

"Behind you," Elly said.

Saya gave a shriek and jumped into Yvain's arms, prompting a laugh from he and the rest. Her ears were vividly red as she slowly unglued herself from his chest while looking down.

"I can't believe you!" she said and turned to look at Elly. "What's your fascination with scaring the wits out of me every time!"

"It's your own fault for making it so easy, how am I supposed to hold back?" Elly said through mirthful laughter.

Saya was about to speak again, but her eyes seemed to finally register the tall woman's injury.

"What happened to your arm!" she asked with worry as she rushed forward.

It seemed Elly found the healer she was looking for since it was now wrapped professionally and held inside a black leather cast with splints that covered her forearm. A leather sling suspended all of it in the air.

"It was just a small accident," she said.

"With what, a bear?" Saya said.

"Yvain actually," Elly said with a prideful smile, looking happy rather than angry over the fact.

If only Roesia could understand that feeling, Yvain thought sadly as the echoes of her slap waved across his cheek.

"You guys are brutes," the sorceress said with a shake of her head, as if directly responding to his mental complaint.

"You're not lying to me?" Saya asked Elly. "Aren't you always kicking his ass? How did he manage that?"

"Gee thanks," Yvain said to which she answered with a mischievous smile.

"Can we go eat now?" he asked with half annoyance and half amusement.

"Eat?" Elly asked. She looked at Saya and then at Nora. Yvain could swear that the woman saw through everything in an instant. Before he could stop her, she asked him, "Taking your girlfriend out on a date?"

Great, Yvain thought as Saya turned to look at him and he gave her a small smile.

"Girlfriend?" she asked and looked to Roesia. But by either intuition or her knowledge of the sorceress's uninterest in matters of love she immediately shifted her focus to Nora, the only new woman in the group.

"He and I only met recently," his girlfriend said, not holding back information, "I hope we can all be friends from now on."

Yvain waited with wrung gut for Saya's reaction while Roesia gave him an 'I told you so' look. Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all. It all seemed so easy in his head during planning.

"It... it makes sense that he would find someone by now," Saya said with a weak laugh. "He always seemed so uninterested in everyone; you must be quite the personage to catch his attention at all."

"I completely understand," Nora said. "I feel quite lucky myself to be accepted by him."

Elly scoffed at this, while Roesia worriedly looked at Saya who was, for the first time, at a loss for words.

"I'm pretty hungry Saya, didn't you mention you made reservations?" the sorceress said.

"Oh! I did, didn't I?" Saya said, snapping out of her stupor. "I think you'll all quite like it, it's been recommended a lot by my sisters since they give great discounts to devotees."

"Then what are we waiting for? Lead the way," Roesia said in an unusually cheery manner.

"Follow me then," Saya said with a smile, though it didn't reach her eyes.

----------

When his childhood friend said that the restaurant they were going to gave her and her sisters discounts, Yvain didn't think he would be sitting on a round table surrounded by nothing but nuns. They were everywhere in the building.

The business was run by an older woman called Maria who apparently used to be a nun too, but eventually retired and opened her own restaurant with her husband Greg who took care of the kitchen while she served everyone. Their teenage granddaughter would come help from time to time.

It was a cozy place away from the masses.

Nora was sitting to his right, while Roesia was on hers. Saya had practically rushed to sit on his left and started asking him about his life on the road; he couldn't tell her much of course. Elly quietly sat next to Roesia as always and would add in her own experiences in the guild every now and then.

His girlfriend was as cool as a cucumber, but the sorceress was doing her best to hide inside herself, unable to handle so many stares at the same time and afraid to get found out.

Saya thankfully didn't notice anything out of place since that was how Roesia usually acted.

For his part, Yvain was keeping a calm front, but slight panic surfaced in his chest every time a nun looked at the two women wearing their 'amazing' costume.

"So how did you two meet?" Saya asked Nora once Maria had taken their orders and brought their drinks.

Yvain was about to cut in again, but Nora squeezed his hand underneath the table.

"How much do you know about dungeons, Saya?" she asked.

"Nora," Elly warned as she shook her head, making the goddess stop.

Saya looked between both women.

"Is it one of those secrets you guys can't tell me about?" she asked sadly.

"I don't think we should exclude her," Nora said to Elly, "she's Yvain's childhood friend, correct?"

"That may be, but she could get in serious trouble if anyone finds out she knows more than she should, and there are too many ears around us," Elly argued.

Yvain thought both women would begin to fight again, but Nora calmly consented, and Elly didn't seem too bothered by what she had done, only giving friendly advice.

"Forgive me Saya," Nora said regretfully.

"That's alright," Saya hurriedly said with a wave of her hand.

"I can at least tell you that Yvain saved my life," his girlfriend said as she looked at him amorously and squeezed his hand hard.

Saya stared at the couple before looking down, "That...sounds nice." The dark cloud overhanging the nun was oppressing everyone at the table.

Elly shook her head disapprovingly toward Yvain as she drank some of her water, as if his friend's current somber mood was somehow his fault. Maybe it was, but it wasn't his intention to make her sad. He was just excited to see her and have her meet someone important to him.

"Do you know why Days of Terrors is taking place so early?" Yvain asked Saya, hoping to get her mind occupied.

Saya raised her head abruptly, her mood shifting instantly, "Didn't you hear it!?"

Yvain looked at her in puzzlement. He looked to his other friends, but none of them seemed to know what she was talking about.

"Hear what?" he asked.

"How is that even possible?" Saya said. "It was the most horrifying scream I have heard in my life" Yvain's childhood friend hugged herself and rubbed her arms as if she were reliving the horrible sound she heard. "A lot of my sisters began to cry even. They usually look to me for guidance, but I was having a hard time stopping myself from shaking."

Elly didn't show much of a reaction, but Roesia somehow managed to recede deeper into herself, looking around the restaurant ass if somehow everyone already decided she was the cause of said sound.

"That's what you meant," Yvain said calmly. "Yeah, we heard it, but what does that have to do with the Day of Terrors?"

"It sent everyone in Empryon in a panic?" she said as if it should be obvious. "We needed to somehow calm the masses as quickly as possible so the king himself sent out a mandate to move up the event."

It really travelled that far, Yvain thought. They had made the right choice to leave as fast as possible.

"I hope my family is okay," Roesia said quietly.

"Everyone in Allsworth was only in a state of panic, so I'm sure they're fine," Saya said. "Which reminds me, your parents are sad that you left without seeing them first, Yvain."

Saya said his name in a particularly accusing tone.

"What was I supposed to do? We were banished from the damn place, barely had any time to pick up my pants," he said with a helpless smile.

"Bullshit, you had plenty of time," Saya said. "They care for you, you know?"

They have an odd way of showing it, Yvain thought. But this wasn't the first time he had heard this same argument from her. It wasn't worth it to pursue it and it would only get him in a bad mood.

"I know it's probably impossible, but do you think I could meet them someday?" Nora suddenly asked him.

"Huh? Oh, well, maybe?" Yvain said. His parents weren't really into the whole idea of 'monsters' and Humanism, but he had also never seen them stand against said ideals. He didn't know what their reaction would be to meeting someone like Nora.

"What do you mean maybe!" Saya suddenly said and looked at Nora, "Of course you will meet them, it's not impossible at all." She then looked back at him with a sharp gaze, "Stars Yvain, I know you met her recently but how can you say something like that?"

She really doesn't hold back, does she? Yvain thought ruefully.

"It's not that simple Saya," he said.

"As if. You're pretty determined and hardheaded, but you can sure be panicky when it counts the least," she said.

"Damn what got up and crawled into your ass?" Yvain said as he rubbed his face.

"You, who else?" Saya said as she crossed her arms and gave him a pout.

Nora laughed at this, sending her hand up to cover her mouth.

"He's been crawling up a lot of asses recently," Elly added.

"So two against one, is that it?" Yvain said.

"Don't you think so too, Roesia?" Elly asked the sorceress who snapped her head up and, after staring at Yvain for a few seconds, quietly nodded her head.

"You can be a bit of a handful sometimes," Nora said with an adorable smile as she patted his thigh.

At least she wasn't about to berate him for something or the other.

Saya seemed to be back to her normal mood though, so maybe being berated wasn't too bad.

"There you are!" Yvain's hairs stood on end as Selt's voice registered in his ears.

"I've been looking all over for you guys," the kid said as he walked up to the table and sat down in the chair that was meant for Nelimir, in between Saya and Elly.

"You are...?" Saya began when Selt offered her his hand.

"Nice to meet you, you must be Saya. Yvain has talked much about you, my name is Selt."

Stars strike him down, please, Yvain prayed. He had never told Selt anything about Saya, that little liar. Should he say anything? No, Nelimir wasn't here, it would be almost impossible to get the kid to leave. And if he tried and failed it could backfire on them.

"It's very nice to meet you too Selt," Saya said with a welcoming smile as she shook his hand, "you must be the other member Yvain talked about."

"Really? This brute talked about me? Hopefully nothing bad," the kid said.

What in the stars was he up to? He never acted so well-mannered. It made Yvain even more uneasy to see him like this.

"What else is there to say?" Roesia said with a small huff.

"You've been getting pretty bold after you transformed missy," Selt said earning a glare from everyone except Saya who only looked confused, and Nora who seemed more worried than angry.

"Transformed?" Saya said with a tilt of her head.

Oh no, Yvain thought and was about to just grab Selt to take him outside by force.

"Sorry for the wait ladies and gents." Maria arrived like the cool air of Lunaris right after Pyros descended along with their food, her granddaughter in tow.

"Oh! Ma'am, excuse the bother but might I make my order? I got a bit too into vanquishing some monsters on my way here and arrived late," Selt said.

"Anything for a brave knight such as you," Maria said with a pleasant smile, "let me just hand off these plates to your friends and I'll be right with you."

"Thank you," he said and waited in surprising silence while both women served the party their meals.

After Maria wrote down his order and left, Yvain spoke, "So we can take you out to eat after all."

While he and Nelimir weren't barred from places outside of Allsworth, it was better to not butt any heads with the locals. Still, there were moments that it was just easier to buy food somewhere, but after their first attempt with the kid they had decided to just order to go whenever the need arose.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Selt said and looked to Saya who had begun to dig into her pasta and meatballs. "I have to say Saya, this Day of Terrors thing?" Selt puckered his lips and kissed closed fingers before spreading them apart in the air. "Whoever came up with this must be a genius at having some good family-oriented fun."

Saya did her best to quickly swallow the string of pasta hanging from her lips to be able to talk, choking a bit in the process.

"No need to rush," Yvain said with a laugh.

"It's fun, isn't it? Have you tried any of the masks?" Saya said excitedly to Selt.

"Masks?" Selt said with pause.

"Yeah! Some costumes here are really intricate like your friends', but you can always just grab a mask and try playing the role of monster," Saya said.

The kid immediately dragged himself closer, startling her in the process.

"You have to show me," he said with wide, imploring eyes.

"S-sure we can go get you one after we eat," she said.

"Selt we don't have time to play around like this," Yvain said. "We got things to do, remember?"

"You mean you got things to do," the kid said, "like buying Nora's clothes and officially adding her to the guild registry." He then lay his arms on the table and dramatically waved his eyebrows up and down, "Also didn't you mention needing to buy a new bedframe since you and No--"

"Alright!" Yvain said, trying not to yell; some nuns still looked their way.

Selt grinned.

Nora played it cool, but Roesia was as red as a tomato while Elly looked angrier than she had a few seconds ago. An imperceptible change, but it was there.

Saya wasn't an idiot and she immediately realized what Selt was alluding to.

"You guys must go extremely hard at it," she said.

"Really, Saya?" Elly said with a shake of her head.

Selt actually looked surprised when he heard Yvain's childhood friend take his own words in stride and act just as brazen.

"He doesn't hold back at all," Nora said in a conversational tone.

"Oh stars," Roesia said as her skin went to red alert and she hid her face with her hands.

"I'd expect no less from Selt or her, but you too, Nora?" Yvain said, trying to hold down his embarrassment.

"If she's willing to be so candid it's only right I answered in kind," she said calmly.

Yvain searched her eyes, but his girlfriend was being serious. So was Saya unfortunately. There were no games here like with Selt.

"One shameless person is enough of a handful," Elly said, already finishing the last bite of her plate, "I don't think I want to handle three of them."

Yvain's master stood, scaring a pair of nuns that were walking by the table, "How much do I owe you?"

"Oh please, you don't owe me anything," Saya said with a wave of her hand, "Where are you going though? I thought we'd hang out a bit longer, we haven't seen each other in two years."

"Maybe later, I need to go see if I can find clothes that'll fit me around here," Elly said.

"Then just come with us," Saya said and looked at the rest of the group as if looking for backup.

Yvain kept his face neutral, but he felt the stare from all three Draconian's Tavern's women digging into him. Even if he didn't mind her joining, it would be near impossible to do anything while keeping Roesia and Nora's real form hidden. He had also promised everyone Saya would be with them only until they finished their lunch.

Having taken too long to say anything, Elly gave an incredulous laugh and took charge.

"I don't think so," she said straightforwardly and simply left. Leaving Yvain to deal with things.

Saya looked back at everyone else, "Is something wrong?"

"She and Nora haven't exactly been on the best of terms," he said, dodging what the real problem was.

"It seemed to be more than that," Saya said and looked at the goddess curiously, "Do you have any idea what the problem might be, Nora?"

His girlfriend appeared a bit startled when his childhood friend addressed her.

"Well..." Nora began and thought over her words, "We just don't get along I guess, it's been like that for a while now. Maybe we're just not compatible?"

"That makes sense," Yvain said a bit stiffly as he thought over on how to let his childhood friend down easily when the time to leave came. "It's not realistic to expect so many people together to get along perfectly with no hitches. It's something Nelimir will have to think about as the guild grows." Out of the corner of his eye he could see Roesia roll her eyes at him.

"I've never thought of Elly as someone who would not get along with others for no reason," she said, more to herself than the group. Saya didn't seem convinced by their words, but at least her attention was taken away from the real problem.

"She at least decided to play nice," Yvain said. "You should have seen them a few days ago, they were exchanging blows."

Saya really looked skeptical now.

"Her? With Elly?" the nun looked at Nora, "she seems fine though."

"Don't let her looks fool you, she's actually stronger than me and Elly by miles," he said with no small amount of pride. As if he had been the cause of such strength and not Nora's hard work.

"Yeah right," Saya said with laughter that died off when no one joined in. She looked to Roesia, probably hoping the smartest among them to give light on the joke. The sorceress remained serious though and gave a somber nod.

"She actually was, and still is, a lot weaker due to an injury," the sorceress said, "but I saw first-hand how she wrestled Elly to the ground and made her tap out regardless."

Saya's eyes became as big as saucers. She knew how strong Elly was.

The nun stared at Nora as if she was seeing a 'monster' for the first time in her life. The goddess wasn't one though, in her perception, and the shock quickly turned into melancholic admiration.

"I think I can see a bit more clearly why Yvain would fall for you," she said with a small laugh.

"You do?" Nora asked skeptically.

"He always had a thing for strong women," Saya said and took a pensive look. "Or maybe it's better to say that he admires strong people."

"I can agree with that much at least," Yvain said.

"So you don't admire me?" Roesia said in a dead voice.

Yvain laughed, "I wouldn't say that. You might not be physically strong, but you have your own strengths, like the carriage you made for us."

"Roesia made that!?" Saya said as she half stood from the table. "I always thought you guys bought it in Allsworth with Nelimir's help or something. How did she do it? Ah."

Yvain's childhood friend sat back with slumped shoulders.

"It's a secret."

"It's a secret," Saya said at the same time as the sorceress. "I know, I know. This is so annoying. I think I'm just going to join your guild."

"That easy? What about your work here? Your family?" Yvain asked. He was only being nice. He knew full well that she would never be able to join Draconian's Tavern. Her beliefs were not only too different from theirs, but she had never once trained in her life. At twenty-five years of age, there was nothing that the nun could bring to the table.

"Can't you let a girl dream for a second?" Saya said with annoyance.

Maria suddenly appeared along with Selt's plate of food.

"Did your friend go to the bathroom?" she asked, setting down his order.

Yvain looked to the spot where the kid was sitting and realized he was gone.

"Where in the stars did Selt go?" he asked.

"I saw him stand up, but I didn't pay attention where he went," Roesia said to which Nora nodded.

"I didn't even notice him leave," Saya said.

I should have known better, Yvain thought. He wasn't coming back; something totally random probably caught his attention.