A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 106: Bath Time? and Lecture

"But I still have to-"

"Thank me? Please, I already know. Enjoy your winter solstice break, good bye."

I flung him back through a portal and transformed instantly.

Just in time, because someone came around the corner at full flying speed and almost slammed into me. Thankfully this was an alley far from the palace, or they would have been here instantly.

"Firea! Why did you disappear again?!"

"Mother, why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you think I can't breathe?" I choked out, trying to push. I may be claustrophobic...with her constantly squishing my face into her chest.

I mean, I know I didn't need to, but I'd prefer if she didn't think that as well.

"Oh, I don't think that," she pulled me away slightly with an open, completely oblivious expression on her face. "I just wanted to capture you before you took off."

"Since when have you known flight magic?" I asked Mother incredulously as she took off into the sky with me tightly wrapped with wind magic in her arms, heading for the palace. She'd launch us into the air with wind magic and hit the ground, then go wherever she wanted to with some sort of speed magic.

"Ever since you taught me," Mother nonchalantly replied as we almost crashed into some thorny rose bushes. "It's not perfect, but I'm learning!"

"But I never taught you..."

"That one magic lesson you gave me started a lot. I'm learning a lot of new magic whenever I have time, along with your father as a sparring partner," Mother explained. She had a slight smile on her face, which made me worry about Father's health...he looks fine, but you never know.

"Don't take it too far, okay?" I gave her a wry smile as we were already walking through the palace halls. "I don't think he'll be able to hold up if you throttle him too much..." You're already almost at Kitri's speed the first time I sparred with him. That's insane, Mother. It's only been-how long now? A little less than a month?

Her Status hadn't gone up much since I was born, but now that I check it...OMS MOM YOU'RE INSANE-

How the heck did you get to level 189? WHAT DID YOU DO TO POOR FATHER?

I needed to check his Status soon.

We entered another hallway, still meandering around.

"Mother, did you get lost?"

"Fi-Fir, what are you talking about?"

When I looked up and saw Paivla's painting, I sighed with a bitter smile on my face.

"Mother, this is the residency of the royals. Where are you trying to go?"

"The dining room..."

"For dinner?"

"For breakfast. Fir, are you alright?"

"Huh? Yeah." Breakfast? When we were outside, the moon was still at the top of the sky, not even past the zenith. If anything, it should be a late night snack.

"Where did you go?" She asked me as she went down a hallway that I pointed to, picturing that we would go to the room with the table everyone was cursing the first time I was here, where I first met the bunch of sisters.

"I had to take care of something for someone. And then I went to take a bath."

"That really took so long?"

"So long?"

"You've been gone for half a day."

"And?" I didn't really see anything wrong with that.

"Fourteen hours to run an errand for someone? For a goddess? Firea-Madeline, how did you get tied up with the gods?"

"That's a-"

"-long story? Firea, you can't use the same excuse every single time. You're going to worry us-no, you already majorly worry us every second of every day-with how often you dash away doing something we don't know about, especially with how fast you've grown up. You know you can rely on us, right?" Mother shifted my position so that my head rested on hers.

"Mother, I think I've been pretty open and honest about a lot of the things I've done until now. Even some of the things I no doubt should have hidden, I've revealed. I know I can rely on you, and if I need to, I will."

"No, you won't."

"Excuse me?" I blinked, wondering what words just left my mother's mouth.

"You'd rather rely on Demons than your own mother, you'd rather fight on your own than having someone fight with you. You will never rely upon us, this I know for a fact," Mother looked at me from the corner of her tired eyes, which were drooping.

"Demon?" What?

She couldn't possibly know about-

"The one who was with us during the summer solstice. Don't you dare think Thérèse and I were fooled by that little stunt of yours, young lady. We saw through it the first time that Demoness ever said a word," she huffed, holding me away from her to look into her eyes. "You ran off after dumping her on us, so we just played along so Earl and the kids wouldn't suspect anything. If it was found out that she was a Demon, you would've been suspected and likely taken away to be killed by the Church. Do you understand how much danger you put us in if you do that? Just by association, you can get a number of people killed."

"I..." Excerpts from Olei-san's books, from the first time I went to the duke's home, popped up in my mind. All the cruel punishments from the past that people would use on Demon worshippers and the like...all terrible.

"Nothing. You nothing. You are a very smart child, but sometimes you don't look very far," Mother stopped and looked in my eyes with a stern gaze. "Please, when you do things, consider the consequences. The consequences of taking an action, and not taking an action. Both can be very detrimental to all, if you make the wrong decision at the time."

"I know, Mother," I felt my eyes drooping, the effects of my HP being depleted just a bit earlier kicking back in. My head fell back on her shoulder and I wrapped my arms around her neck. This kind of felt good, I really liked the way Mother's heat radiated off like a comforting hearth-fire. "Things just got a little too crazy at that time..."

"As long as you remember, we're good," she took a breath as we finally reached the door. "As long as you remember."

She pushed the door open and walked in, finding a room full of people at the very long table.

"Caught her, finally," Kitri was glaring at the little body curled up on his childhood friend's chest.

"She was on the other side of the capital, which was really far," Mother walked forward and pulled out a seat. Everyone that had been in the reception room earlier was crowded around the table, making it look like a family gathering. "It took some time to get her. Isn't that right, Fir?" Mother poked me in the chest. I didn't move. "Fir?"

"She's sleeping?"

"How?! She was awake right before I opened the door-"

"You're the same way, Mommy," Hera was chewing on some foreign fruit as she said this. "Out like a candle."

"Sure," Mother sighed, taking a seat. Now how is she supposed to eat with this toddler wrapped around her neck?