“Male robes?!” Gremio turned around in surprise.

Indu froze where she sat. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.

“Umm…er…” The walls looked particularly nice today. Smooth, wooden planks of a hickory shade made up the walls. Hickories were good trees. Indu quite enjoyed playing next to them as a child. They really were good-

“Hey. Don’t you dare look away.” Maxi snapped, forcing Indu to look at her glaring face. "What are you hiding from me?”

“Sweetheart, you should go easy on her….” Gremio strolled over with a cup of tea, but Maxi was having none of it.

“That’s rich coming from a person scolding us a few minutes ago.”

“I can’t refute that.” His shoulders slumped, but he placed the tea before Indu. “But I’m curious too, Indu.”

“Wait…” Maxi’s eyes widened, and Indu immediately knew she had misunderstood something. “Did, did that unknown man, to you, did he…” Maxi cupped her mouth in shock. “I-I’m so sorry, Indu, I didn’t realize you were assaulted, and I yelled so insensitively….”

“Just what are you imagining?” Indu practically yelled. “Nothing of the sort happened to me, though I appreciate your worrying.”

“Then why won’t you tell us? Who did you see in the mountains, and what happened with them?” Maxi put the dress on a chair and held Indu’s hands, kneeling to her eye level. “Is it something bad? Even if you committed a crime, I’ll be on your side, Indu!”

“Of course I didn’t commit a crime! I’m a model citizen.”

“Then what is it!”

“If you give me a moment to speak, I can explain.”

Maxi finally quieted down, releasing Indu and taking a step back, but her eyes were still wide with myriad questions. Indu felt a headache coming about her. Should I really tell them about Axer? I can trust them, and it's not like Axer never told me not to inform anyone of his existence, so it should be fine, right? But if I tell them a troll nearly killed me, forget about leaving the town, I wouldn’t be able to even leave my house. Father and Maxi are a dangerous duo when it comes to my safety.

“I-I just happened to meet a man training deep in the mountains, that’s all.” Indu’s voice trembled slightly, but she wasn’t lying in the slightest. Axer had said he was training in the mountains.

“And in that short happening, you lost all your belongings and took his clothes?” Maxi’s eyes narrowed. “Tell me the truth, Indu.”

“T-That was the truth!”

“Bullshit. I can see you curling your toes. You always do that when you lie!” She pointed down.

Mortified, Indu looked down to see her toes had indeed been curled. Shit. She nearly slapped her forehead.

And so Indu – reluctantly - confessed. She told them how a troll had appeared and that a mysterious man had saved her before she was killed. However, she did fib a bit (this time making sure her feet remained uncurled), saying she didn’t know the man’s name.

Throughout the narration, Gremio and Maxi’s faces changed from pale to red to blue, morphing from fear to shock to anger. Steam poured out of Maxi’s ears, and Indu could sense the fury building in her heart.

“I better not see you roaming the town after dusk, Indu.”

Indu flinched from Maxi's quiet, grim tone. Maxi’s hands trembled, blue veins growing visible from her anger. However, Gremio had a strange expression on his face. He remained silent despite his mouth opening and closing as if he had something to say. Ignoring the seething and volatile Maxi, Indu addressed Gremio.

“Do you want to scold me too?”

“Ah, no, no, not at all. I already scolded you enough, and Maxi here has scolded you far more too. I’m sure you’ve learned your lesson already.” Gremio whistled and looked away, clearly not wanting to answer any more questions. Indu assumed he was hiding his anger and not letting it show.

“Reckless, reckless. So. Damn. Reckless!” Maxi gritted her teeth – she, on the other hand, was letting her anger be known to the world.

“I’m sorry…” Indu said meekly as she lowered her head to stare at the ground.

“Why do you make us worry like this, Indu. You almost died. When will you learn not to be this reckless.” Maxi’s tone softened, her voice sounding as if holding back a sob. “Just when I thought everything was okay, you say something like this.”

Maxi was about to start crying again, so Indu gently hugged her and rubbed her back. Gremio crept up behind Maxi and soothingly rubbed her head while she cried into Indu’s shoulder. I made her worry so much. How foolish am I?

“Now, now, sweetheart, everything ended up well. We should be thankful that’s the case.” Gremio said.

Maxi cried for a solid ten minutes before calming down. Her eyes were puffy and red, and her lip quivered, but she looked fine for the most part.

“You met the requirements. Take the dress.” A blush crept up Maxi’s cheeks. Indu chuckled – Maxi was extremely embarrassed right now. Who wouldn’t be after completely breaking down in front of their friend?

Indu grabbed the dress with a thanks and headed into Maxi’s room. Axer’s robes were easy to remove, and Maxi’s dress was even easier to wear, so Indu came out less than two minutes later.

“…wow, so girls can get ready that quickly,” Gremio muttered under his breath. Indu couldn’t tell if he purposely said that loud enough to hear, but it got a response from Maxi.

“I’m not that slow in getting ready!” Maxi pouted and folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not snuggling with you tonight!”

“Ah, my beautiful wife who shines brighter than the sun and radiates ethereality like the moon, you are wise and merciful like the ancient gods – no, even more so. Your loveliness puts nymphs to shame, your battle prowess leaves Count Vasilios seeking your tutelage-”

“Okay, stop, stop, stop!” A blush ran from the tip of Maxi’s head to her neck. “I get it, so please stop saying such embarrassing things, especially with Indu here.”

“Why not? I’m sure Indu agrees as well?” Gremio looked at Indu, who clutched her stomach from laughing too much as tears rolled from her eyes.

“I agree with Gremio; everything he said about you is true.” Indu giggled.

“Not you too!” Maxi was practically crying from Indu and Gremio’s teasing.

“But Indu, that dress looks so good on you! You look so cute!” Maxi seemingly forgot about her embarrassment as she eyed Indu up and down.

The chemise stretched halfway up her forearms. It covered everything up to her collarbone, leaving only her feet exposed at the bottom – a modest dress, just as she liked (though she was surprised Maxi owned something like this, as many of her clothes were very…daring, to say the least).

“Please, I only look like your everyday town woman.” Indu blushed at Maxi’s praise.

“I’m serious! It bothers me when you are so negative about yourself all the time. You’re cute and pretty – every boy would want you.”

“I’m pretty and cute…” Indu’s face darkened a little. She may think so, even Gremio may think so, but they’re wrong. They’re just being nice. Everyone else thinks I’m ugly, so why would they be any different? I shouldn’t take their praise to heart.

Despite thinking that, Indu’s cold heart couldn’t help but warm up a little. Even if it was empty flattery, it felt good to hear those words occasionally.

“Well, I don’t want to impose on you.” Indu got up from the sofa. “I’ll return the dress, cloak, and boots later today.”

“Stay for a little while. You must be exhausted, right?” Maxi grabbed Indu’s hand.

“If I stay any longer, my father will become suspicious.”

“Oh, alright, if you insist.” Maxi rolled her eyes. “You hate being with me so much.”

“You know that’s not true.” Indu gave Maxi a hug which she reciprocated.

After saying her goodbyes to Gremio, Indu stepped out of the house. Maxi wanted to walk her back, but Indu knew how tired Maxi was and insisted she didn’t.

Indu pulled the cloak closer to herself as she walked. Shops passed, pedestrians wandered about, and dawn glowed across the sky. A chill hung in the air, a sign of the approaching winter. It was only 6:30, but the town was already in the end stages of awakening, so the streets were crowded.

Some ten or so minutes of walking later, Indu stood before her home. Her hand reached out to grab the door as she rehearsed what she would say.

Maxi caught a rabbit on the outskirts of the town and wanted to eat it with me, but then I spilled some soup on my clothes, so I had to borrow one of her dresses. I didn’t want to worry you, so I came home as fast as possible. I wore a cloak because I didn’t want the townspeople to question my wandering about at this time of day.

Indu had no excuse for her boots, so she had taken them off and hid them off to the side. I’ll figure out what to do with them later.

 “Father, I’m home.” She slowly opened the door and poked her head inside. Her father sat cross-legged on a chair next to the empty fireplace, holding a piece of paper. On a table next to him was a dimly lit candle and half a bottle of ink, his hand holding a quill. He wore thin, golden spectacles that reflected the candle’s dim light.

“Where were you until now?” He quietly asked, setting the paper down. He removed his spectacles, gently placing them on the table. His voice sounded strange, and Indu gulped. He must be mad that I left without telling him.

“I’m sorry, father, I was in Maxi’s house. You see, she caught a rabbit this morning and wanted to share it with me. I was a little sad that such a cute creature had to be killed, but I didn’t want to waste it, so I went. I know I should have told you, but you weren’t here, and I didn’t think it was right to disturb you for something so minor. Oh, right, I had to borrow this cloak and dress from Maxi because I-”

“So Maxi came here before two in the morning to eat a rabbit with you?” He said in a low voice, cutting her off.

Indu paled as her heart dropped. She involuntarily began to tremble. I’m screwed.

“Come, sit right there.” He pointed to a seat opposite him and commanded her. His dull eyes seemed to bore holes into her body. “We have a lot to discuss.”

Did Aniya snitch on me? That little brat!! I’m not going to make her any half-moons anytime soon. The ground looked particularly good today. Swirly patterns made up the wood floor, small splotches, and other markings dotting the wood. Even the chair, with its soft fabric, looked more interesting for some reason. Indu began counting the minuscule threads intersecting to make the cushion whole before her father spoke.

“Lift your head and look at me.”

Indu meekly looked up. Her father’s lips were pursued, his expression dull. A calm, serene atmosphere composed the air around him, but that was the last thing Indu wanted – only when her father was this calm and composed was his anger at the peak.

He pulled a small watch from the pocket of his dark-blue tunic. It had a silver color with a slight gleam, smooth along its exterior, with a short chain attaching the two halves together. He flicked it open and read the time aloud.

“It is 6:38 a.m. I know every guard’s shift, and Maxi had a shift today. Deserting their post is a minimum of 3 months in prison.” His eyes narrowed. “What you’re telling me is that Maxi deserted her post to frolic around, is that right?”

Indu’s head snapped up as she looked at her father in disbelief. He wouldn’t actually do that, right? Right? She bit her lip as tears came to her eyes.

“I…I…”

“Spare me the bullshit.” His voice rose. “I know you’ve been out the whole night, and….” He sniffed the air. “…that you’ve been to the mountains.”

Do I really smell that bad? Indu took a deep sniff of her body but couldn’t smell anything. Now that she realized it, it was quite weird. She had been drenched in troll blood but couldn’t smell its odor? Granted, because of the night’s craziness, how she smelled had slipped past her mind.

Wait, no! Indu looked back at her father, whose eyes had darkened considerably.

“So you did go there.” He growled. His entire body trembled ever so slightly as if barely able to contain his rage.

“Why? Why did you go? Why did you leave without telling me? Why did you leave your ten-year-old sister alone in the dead of night while you went out?” His screamed. Indu flinched. “I asked one thing of you, yet you couldn’t complete it. Not only that, you went out of the town into who knows where despite knowing a troll was spotted nearby.”

Her father took a deep breath, and then his body suddenly slumped. His voice grew incomparably soft as if a lump had appeared in his throat.

“If you wanted to explore, I could have gone with you. At the very least, I could have had guards accompany you.” His shaking grew worse. “What if you have gotten hurt? What if…” Her father swallowed hard. “…heaven forbid, what if you had died? How do you think I would feel? How your sister would feel?”

Indu’s tears of fear for the yelling to come quickly switched to tears of grief. What was I thinking…

“You know…you know just how hard it was for us after your mother died. Knowing that, you still went?” Her father clutched his head with both hands as he sobbed. “I barely held on when your mother died. Every day I thought ending this life would the terrible agony gnawing away at me. I wanted to be with your mother, feel her in my arms, and see her radiating smile. But I held on. I held on for you and Aniya. If you were to die too, I don’t know what I’d do to myself.” Her father looked up, his eyes red and his cheeks wet.

Indu jumped to her feet and ran into her father’s embrace. She squeezed him tight as he did to her. She cried into his shoulder as she apologized again and again. I shouldn’t have gone. I shouldn’t have lied. I almost died, and it was only through a stroke of luck that I’m alive right now. Never again…never again will I do that of my own will. I can’t put either of them through the same pain again.

“If you ever want to do something, you only need to ask me. What else do you have a father for?” Her father stroked her back as if she were a little child.

“Yes, I promise, father.” Indu’s tears had stopped, and she grew embarrassed. Once again, she was in her father’s embrace, being cuddled like a baby. She withdrew herself and sat back on her chair, her face flushed.

Her father wiped his tears with the hem of his tunic and rubbed his slightly puffy eyes. He cleared his throat and spoke.

“Now that that’s over, there’s something important I need to tell you.” Her father’s voice took a serious tone, and Indu sat up straighter.

“In exactly a week’s time, Count Vasilios will visit our town.”