Chapter 10: Interlude Two: Home Away From Home

Ashvallen’s eyelids fluttered open reluctantly and she groaned deep in her throat. She pushed herself into a seated position and leaned back against the cool stone surface behind her. Her head was killing her, but nothing like what had happened in the tailor shop. She’d never felt a pain of that magnitude. She groaned again and shook her head gently to clear it. She paused in mid-shake and her eyes grew wide.

She sat in a well-appointed room with some kind of giant magical painting across from a lounge. Everywhere she looked were brightly painted dolls on shelves. The rug beneath her fingers was soft and comfortable. Was she in some noble’s house? There were no chains on her wrists…wrists. Where were her daggers? She glanced around futilely, no daggers, no armor, no matter how patched and ragged, just some long nightshirt and a pair of grey stretchy pants stuffed into white socks. Her eyes narrowed. She’d been stripped and redressed. Her eyes narrowed further until they were mere slits as she peered at her legs. When did she get fat? She pinched her leg and hissed in pain.

“Girls like girls like boys do, nothing new” A small, shiny roof shingle screamed at her from the floor nearby and Ashvallen leapt backward into what appeared to be a dining area, dropping into a defensive crouch. A short distance away the shingle screamed again, vibrating angrily as it did so, a painting appearing on its surface. Ashvallen glanced around for anything to use as a weapon, finally settling on what appeared to be a small, oddly shaped pink blackjack stuffed in a flimsy box with a bunch of other strange implements.

She crouched even lower and circled warily to the right around the lounge as the shingle continued to scream intermittently and vibrate. Finally, judging the shingle to be close enough, she leapt forward with a grunt and brought the blackjack down with a satisfying crunch on the offending object. The painting had broken into a spiderweb of cracks as Ashvallen, breathing heavily, loomed over it, blackjack in hand.

Why am I so tired? She thought, feeling as if she’d just run from King’s Gate to South Glenn. A moment later the shingle lapsed into sullen silence and the painting faded. She scowled and crept closer, reaching out gingerly with the pink blackjack to poke the now silent object. She poked it again just to be sure and grinned, confident it was dead. Standing proudly, she glanced about. She’d never been in a noble’s house before, but it seemed far more…humble than she’d imagined it would be.

She listened intently, working to keep her breathing and heart as still as possible but heard nothing suspicious. With no idea how long she’d have to wait before being taken wherever they were going to haul her off to, she decided to look around. The magical painting seemed rather frantic, switching from scene to scene with no apparent rhyme or reason. She poked it with the blackjack, but it appeared rather harmless, and she quickly moved on.

The dolls standing in dramatic poses on shelves around the suite were made of some sort of soft wood with movable limbs. Ashvallen picked one of the dolls up, a rather sizable one of a girl with short blonde hair dressed in a white and blue outfit, an over-sized yellow bow affixed at the front. Ashvallen peered at the plate on the bottom of the doll and cocked her head.

“Sailor Uranus?” She muttered, her voice sounding huskier than she’d remembered. Now that she thought about it, she was rather thirsty. She put the doll back on the shelf and wandered off in search of something to drink. After meandering about the main rooms for a bit she finally found herself standing in a strange kitchen. A bowl of what appeared to be yellowish, fluffy sweets sat untended on the counter. Ashvallen glanced around just to be sure no one was watching before popping one in her mouth. She chewed thoughtfully before her eyes opened in joy. Salty, buttery, not altogether pleasantly chewy, but still delicious. She checked again to make sure a servant wasn’t lurking in the shadows waiting to catch her, before popping a couple more in her mouth. As she was making her way past the counter and toward the strange-looking stove against the far wall a bell rang through the suite.

“Shit!” Ashvallen exclaimed, instantly dropping into a crouch, blackjack at the ready. She should have known better than to touch the sweets. Of course, they’d be watching. Fucking nobles and their selfish paranoia. She moved away from the kitchen back toward the living area, eyeing the bowl of fluffy candies balefully as she did, careful to keep her back as close to the wall as possible. The bell died away and Ashvallen paused, searching the nooks and crevices of the room. A moment later the bell sounded again, then began to ring continuously. She poked her head around a corner and peered down a hall. A door at the far end seemed to be where the bell was coming from.

Ashvallen crept stealthily down the hall, her legs shaking from the exertion. A moment later she froze in place as the door handle rattled. She leapt across the hall into a dark side room where two large boxes and a table with clothes sat silent sentry and pushed herself back into the shadows. The door handle clicked as the lock was disengaged and the portal slowly swung open.

“I swear to God, Minji,” an irritated voice drifted to her from the girl who stepped through the door. “You knew I was coming today. If I find you reeking of beer and popcorn grease under a pile of manga I am going to be so pissed.” The girl set her heavy bags down beside the door and turned to close it. Ashvallen’s eyes narrowed, and her body tensed in anticipation, the blackjack held tightly in her hand. As soon as the girl closed the door Ashvallen leapt toward her.

She struck the girl across the back of the head, knocking her forward and into the corner of the hall before racing through the door and on to freedom. At least that’s how it should have gone. Unfortunately, the small rug Ashvallen landed on swept out from under her feet and flew against the far wall. She tried desperately to maintain her footing, but her balance seemed out of whack. The socks didn’t help matters in the least, and she went down heavily, landing with a grunt on her back and head. The blackjack skittered away from her hand and stars exploded in front of Ashvallen’s eyes.

“What the hell?” The girl yelped, jumping back in surprise as Ashvallen retrieved the blackjack and climbed unsteadily to her feet. “You scared the shit out of me, Minji!”

“I don’t want to hurt you!” Ashvallen warned her, holding the blackjack out defensively in front of her, it’s whole length quivering.

“What are you talking about?” the girl demanded, feet planted apart disapprovingly, skirt riding up her thighs. Her long black hair was tied back in twin tails and her dark eyes surveyed Ashvallen coolly. “Put that…what the hell? What happened to your face? What’s going on?”

“I just want to leave is all,” Ashvallen said, her head swimming. “Just step aside and you’ll never see me again.” The girl scowled.

“Minji, I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but you’re bleeding or something and need to put that down and let me take a look.” Ashvallen glanced at the object in her hands and waved it threateningly.

“Move out of the way!” Ashvallen repeated, the world spinning dizzily. She swayed like a branch in the wind but managed to keep upright through sheer force of will.

“Minji!” The girl snapped angrily, pointing a finger at Ashvallen threateningly. “Put the dildo down this instant!”

“I-I won’t go back to the dungeon!” Ashvallen muttered.

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“We can deal with your weird fetishes after I’m done,” the girl retorted. “Now drop long dong rosé and go sit down!” The world began to spin more drunkenly, and the blackjack fell from her nerveless fingers. “Good, now let ‘s get you to the couch.” Leaning heavily on the smaller girl Ashvallen reluctantly allowed herself to be helped to the lounge. She dropped onto the soft surface and sat stunned, shaking her head lightly to try to clear it.

“You probably gave yourself a concussion,” the girl shook her head in disapproval. The girl searched Ashvallen’s head. “What have you been doing in here? What did you do to your phone? You’re scaring me a bit, here, Minji. I think we should take you to the hospital.”

“I just want to go home,” Ashvallen sobbed, dropping her head into her hands. The girl paused for a second before folding Ashvallen in her arms tenderly.

“I don’t know what happened to make you like this, but I’ll help you, ok?” She soothed. Ashvallen’s shoulders shook as tears fell from her eyes. She girl rocked her gently from side to side. “We’ll figure this out, all right? I’m here and we’ll put you back together somehow.” Suddenly, the bell from earlier sounded again and Ashvallen jumped out of the girl’s embrace fearfully. “Aw, what the fuck, now?” Moon sighed irritably to herself.

“It’s ok!” She smiled, brushing her fingers through Ashvallen’s hair lightly. “It’s probably pizza or something. Did you order pizza?” Ashvallen stared at her blankly. “Ok! Don’t pull a muscle thinking. I’ll take care of it.” The girl climbed to her feet and walked toward the front door. “Ew! Gross!” She muttered, skirting around the pink object lying on the hall floor. She opened the door irritably to find a short, slightly older Japanese woman standing in the doorway. The woman grinned brightly.

“Minji Song?” The woman asked, the bags held in each hand almost as tall as she was.

“No, I’m her sister, Moon,” The girl replied with a shake of her head. She glanced down the hall where her sister had vanished over the couch, only her eyes and the top of her head visible as she peered toward her. “Minji’s…not ok at the moment.”

“I-I see,” the woman sounded a bit disappointed. “Well, my name is Dr. Tomoko Hideki. I’m your sister’s new…er…well, physician, I guess.”

“You’re a doctor?” Moon stared at her suspiciously.

“Yes, I am,” the woman smiled reassuringly. “I’ve been hired to take care of your sister for a while.”

“By whom?” Moon demanded. “Minji blows all her money on manga and action figures.”

“Ah, well, confidentiality rules prevent me from divulging that information,” the woman returned with a sheepish shrug.

“Do you have some sort of ID or something?” Moon held onto the door tightly. The woman dropped her bags and rifled through one of them before producing a hospital badge. “Japanese Red Cross Tottori Hospital? What’s that? Is that even legit?” Moon flicked her nail over the corner of the badge, but it certainly seemed real.

“I assure you, it’s real,” the woman replied with a smile. “I’m the chief physician there.”

“Well, she is acting kind of weird,” Moon nibbled on her lower lip reluctantly. “Come on in, I guess.” The woman put her bags next to Moon’s and stretched her back.

“Do you mind if I make a phone call really quick, sweety?” she asked.

“Minji!” Moon cooed. “Come out of the curtains before you rip them down. The doctor’s here to help you.” Moon turned to Tomoko and shrugged. “That’s fine, I’ve got to help her out of there.”

“Yes,” Moon heard the woman say into the phone as she edged around the discarded dildo once again. “I was too late. There’ve been…complications. It looks like we’re in for the long haul.” 

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