Jonathan A Countyman
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Chapter Forty Four Conflict
🕑 Added 2020-07-09 18:39:21 +0000 UTC
Hikaru flipped the page. It had been a couple of weeks since she had found out that she was pregnant, and honestly, she had barely spoken with Amy since she confronted her. She had also briefly been mad at the goddess for not allowing her to abort it, but now she was the opposite. In fact, the very concept was starting to scare her. This book she was reading was on fertility gods, and well, to put it lightly they hated abortion. It was no wonder the goddess had reacted the way she did when she tried to ask.
To sum what she had learned from the last couple of chapters in the book. Fertility gods saw every new life as their blessing to the world. The circumstances behind its conception did not matter to them. They saw aborting it as both a sin, and a personal insult. A grave insult to be exact, and they responded accordingly. She had read a few of the curses they were known to hand out, and she had to admit they were fairly creative and terrifying. The curse depended on the goddess in question. None of which she wanted to think about, so she pushed those curses out of mind and sent a prayer of thanks. She was glad that her goddess had stopped her from doing something stupid.
Sure being pregnant now was inconvenient, but she could deal with it. She even had time to consider what she would do with her child. Well, daughter, there was no chance of her having a son. Not unless something strange happened. She had been thinking about it a lot lately, and having had some time to think, she found herself leaning towards raising the girl herself. Hikaru had always wanted a child of her own, she just never pursued it before. Mainly because she did not feel she was ready or could support one. Now that she had one on the way, she was going to try.
She rubbed her stomach a bit while lost in thought. Her mind wandered from the page in front of her. As she daydreamed about her future daughter. In her mind she was watching a little toddler taking her first steps. An image that filled her with joy.
She shook off the dream. She did not have time to be lost in fantasies. Her goddess wanted her to study these books, and she wanted to get them finished. Her mind briefly flashed to Amy, and she pushed Amy out of her thoughts once again. She did not want to think about her. Well, she tried to as her mind still wanted to dwell on her. Hikaru still had trouble sorting out how she felt about Amy.
Amy had betrayed her, and yet she could not bring herself to hate her. She was still mad at her yes, but not because of the whole pregnancy thing. No, she was most angry about the fact that Amy stubbornly refused to apologize. Not one word of apology or even a hint that she regretted her actions. She was also still mad at herself for not seeing this coming. For not asking those questions, for letting Amy betray her trust like that. It was why she had such a hard time staying in the same room for any length of time. Maybe that had played a role in why she had locked herself in the local library.
She heard footsteps behind her, breaking her train of thought. She looked back to see a familiar figure approach. It was an older man who managed this library. He was also a priest in the local temple, and that was not surprising since the library was attached to the temple. “Sorry to intrude on your studies, Priestess. It is almost time for the midday meal.”
She gave him a look, and replied, “Thanks for the notice, but I keep telling you that I can hardly call myself a Priestess. I still have much to learn.”
He chuckled, “Maybe, but it is only a matter of time before you make full priestess. Besides, we both know that the only thing keeping you from being a full one is a technicality.”
She sighed and knew exactly what he was referring to. She had yet to earn her mark, which in the clans would mark her as a full priestess. Many here already treated her as if she was above the other apprentices. Even if her focus was healing, that still qualified her as a priestess in their minds. It had gotten out that she had spoken to her goddess, and well the clan priests and priestesses saw that as a sign of talent. The older priests and priestesses were nice and treated her well, often trying to help her with her studies. While the younger priests, priestesses, and apprentices had jealousy commonly showing among them. This was especially true of the young apprentices. They were often trying to make things hard for her. Still, it was nice in some ways since the temple treated her like nobility. Although that was the normal treatment for the clergy around here. Healers were just as highly respected, if not more so than the average Priest or Priestess. Even the apprentices were well treated and respected. Like lower class nobility.
“I guess. What is on the menu today?”
She noted his expression, and knew he did not like it, “Just stew with a side of bread, and no meat.”
She knew why, with all the monsters popping up out of the woodworks, the hunters were having a hard time bringing back any good hauls. While ranchers and farmers were having trouble bringing their goods to market. Meat did not last as long as vegetables, so they had more vegetables and fruit than meat to choose from. Vegetables just stored better so most farmers just transported their goods on carts. While ranchers tended to bring their livestock to market alive so that it could be prepared at the market or local butcher. That was part of the problem though, as it was much harder to protect a herd of livestock than a cart of veggies. Not to mention that the guards and battle priests were focusing on protecting the farmland. So there were not enough people to search the forests for monster nests and clear them out or protect all of the trade routes. So while production had not changed the price had skyrocketed especially for meat. All because of the monster problem. A fact no one was happy about because it used to be just a few short months ago that even commoners could afford a bit of meat every once in a while. Now it was getting hard to find, and expensive. Well outside of certain kinds of preserved meat. Honestly, she had worse before her summoning. At least here there were no processed foods, and meals had a little more variety even with the tough times when going with what is cheap. She gave him a smile, “Alright, not the worst. Just give me a moment to mark my spot and put some of these books away.”
He glanced at the book, and asked, “What are you reading anyway?”
She flushed slightly, “Um, a book on fertility gods.”
He chuckled, “Fascinating aren’t they?”
She nodded, “Makes me appreciate my goddess all the more.”
He smiled at her, “Some of them can be real asses, but may I ask in what way?”
She blushed and looked away. No way she was going to admit she was pregnant. She just wasn’t ready to share that, and it was a good thing she was not showing yet. Although she did have a slight bout of morning sickness this morning. The only person who even knew was Amy, and she wanted to keep it that way. Although, she knew Ruri seemed to suspect that something was going on. The little half-dwarf had been trying to get them to speak to each other for a while. Personally she had nothing to say to her. Not until she apologized that is.
Slipping in a bookmark, she closed her book. Taking a moment to tidy up the table, she found the priest was already gone by the time she was done. He had done what he had come here for, so she was not complaining. She slipped out of the room quietly and hurried on to the temple mess.
She was cleaning up her meal when she noticed a familiar mop of pink hair moving through a gap in the crowd. She sighed, it seemed she was not going to get a day without her bugging her. Not an encounter she was looking forward to, but she was not going to avoid her friend. Hikaru had no reason to be mad with Ruri and was only annoyed with her pushing her to speak with Amy.
By the time she was finished cleaning up, a certain half-dwarf had reached her and settled in next to her. “I thought I would find you here. So are you going to talk to her, or will you at least talk to me?”
She looked at her in surprise. Hikaru had not expected her to be so direct, and her surprise and confusion must have shown on her face though as Ruri spoke.
“Well, it is clear now that something is wrong between the two of you. Neither one of you will talk with the other, and you haven’t been talking to others either. So if you aren’t going to talk it out with her, maybe you can tell me what is wrong.”
A brief flash of the problem flitted through her mind, and she flushed. She was not sure she could ever admit what happened. It was rather embarrassing. Especially since she was rather private when it came to that kind of thing, and then there was the other problem. She was still keeping a secret from her friend. A fact made worse by the fact she did not have many of them. That thought made her slump her shoulders, as she briefly thought of herself as being pathetic.
Ruri watched Hikaru’s face and movements. She had not known Hikaru for long, but she was a very emotive girl. Which made it rather easy to read her. She suspected it would be much easier to get to the bottom of this problem from Hikaru’s side of the problem. This problem needed to be solved, rather urgently in fact. Given that having two members of their party refusing to speak with the other was a massive problem with their teamwork. And they had such a great relationship when she had first met them. Ruri really did want to know what had happened and fix it before they left town.
With a smile she hoped looked friendly to Hikaru, she proposed, “maybe you will feel more comfortable somewhere more private?”
Ruri watched another rush of emotions before Hikaru said, “It’s kind of hard to talk about, even in private. Besides it’s Amy that needs to apologize.”
Ruri affixed her with a look and pulled on her arm leading her out of the room. A more private locale already in mind, while she told her, “Are you sure about that? You seem to be feeling guilty about something.”
She turned red, her eyes widened and she exclaimed, “I’m not! Amy is the one that needs to apologize.”
Ruri sighed, and firmly told her, “Well she isn’t here. Besides, I very well can’t make a conclusion if I don’t know what is going on. Maybe you are right, but how can I know if you don’t tell me!? So stop acting like a little girl, and tell me what is wrong!”
Hikaru’s face dropped, and she started studying her feet. Hikaru just followed behind her quietly, and Ruri stopped pushing her. Giving her a little space, as she led her to that small out of the way room she had in mind.
It wasn’t far so they made it to the room quickly enough. Hikaru still seemed to be thinking. So Ruri sat her down on a crate and then sat down herself on an opposing one. Now that she had her here, she was not going to just let her go without learning what was wrong, but she could afford to be patient. She decided to just sit patiently and let Hikaru make her decision. After a while, that choice was rewarded as Hikaru began to speak.
