No Need for a Core?

Moriko woke early, eager to get started on her second try to get home, and once more put her stuff together, with some new additions scrounged from the confiscated gear.

In addition to her other worries, she now had the issue that this Akuma had a description that sounded a lot like her, but not quite provably so. There was really only one person she could think of who had the motivation to try this and the idiot had the resources too. When Mordecai handed her the note last night, she’d been so livid that Kazue had looked embarrassed upon hearing the words Moriko uttered.

But there was not much she could do about it at the moment, so she was going to do what she could do, which was to hurry home. When she stepped out of her room, Moriko was instantly struck by the smell of a variety of sweet and savory foods; a full breakfast waiting for her, her spouses already in place, and a chair waiting right between them. “I’ve woken your escort up,” Mordecai said as Moriko walked over to start grabbing food.

“Thank you. I probably shouldn't be, but I’m worried and want to get going soon.” As soon as she sat down with her food, Kazue swarmed her with arms and tails in a big hug and a kiss on her cheek.

“I’m sure everything will be fine.” The kitsune said, nuzzling into her to give comfort, and against Moriko's will it made her relax with a happy warmth.

Mordecai laid his hand over hers from the other side, and she met his eyes. “We may not know what else has been happening, but I am sure you can handle it. Just remember to keep your options open. If all else fails come back to us, and we will help keep you and anyone else you bring safe.”

She sighed slightly. It was comforting, but part of her was annoyed that she needed the comfort. “Thank you, but get off, give me some room to eat!” Kazue giggled as she slid back over, while Mordecai leaned over to claim a quick kiss before giving Moriko her space, and she finally dug into her breakfast.

Her ‘escorts’ showed up a few minutes later, dressed in their old gear, though some of it looked a bit shinier. She eyed them, then glanced at Mordecai, who answered her unspoken question. “They completed three floors of challenges, they earned some rewards in addition to Ozuran's blessing. Just the most basic enhancements on a few pieces is all.” Moriko nodded and then waved to the pair briefly before wolfing down the food, trying to hide her aggravation at all the small delays.

A little over an hour later everyone was at the entrance to the dungeon, saying their goodbyes. Then it was time to step back outside. Moriko led the way, then paused thoughtfully before they reached the main road. “Let’s be a touch cautious about this. It’ll be a pain, but I think it’s the better idea.” Wanting to avoid any potential ambushes again, she led them to travel along the edge of the foothills, avoiding any paths and trying to keep just enough elevation to have a bit of forewarning. Even with all the gear that they would have been able to collect back at their camp, the remaining bandits should only be an issue if they got a drop on her group; she wasn’t worried about being spotted otherwise.

She also gave up on dressing for a vacation and had chosen to travel in her uniform while pushing her group to hustle. If they had been able to travel on the road while pushing themselves, they might have cut their travel time down to one long day, but going over rougher terrain took longer and used more energy, so it wasn't until the middle of the afternoon on the second day that they finally made their way back onto the main road and continued toward Riverbridge, with no sign of the bandits to report.

She was relieved that everything seemed to be okay, and the guards on duty near the city gate were looking relaxed and a touch bored. She knew one of them too, though all of them looked a touch surprised to see a single person in temple uniform traveling with two others. She headed for the guard she knew. “Hey, Dara.” She said to the human woman. “Um, a bunch of crazy stuff happened on my way here, but the part you most need to know about is that I was ambushed by some bandits, but thanks to some assistance they were, well, let's just say routed, but not harmed. It’s complicated. However, these two opted for a chance at redemption, and have been blessed with an atonement by a priest of Ozuran. They are here to turn themselves in and, well, we’ll see how things go from there. I also need to talk with the mayor, the guard captain, and a church representative, but it’s not so urgent that it can’t wait until tomorrow morning. I want to head home for a while, then I need to hit the bar. Let's just say, after all of that, I really need to get drunk!” If she'd really needed to blow off some steam at the dungeon, she could have asked for alcohol she was sure; but with the slight concern that she might be needed at any point, she had decided not to risk it.

Dara blinked at her, straightening her stance as she tried to keep track of everything she’d been told. “Wait, what? That’s a lot to dump on me all at once... ahg.” She sighed, then frowned at the pair traveling with Moriko. “Names?” It was about ten more minutes of getting everything sorted before Brongrim and Nainvil were escorted to the jail by a couple of other guards and Moriko was waved through. Finally.

Her bright red uniform drew more than a few eyes, but she just waved to the ones she knew and ignored the rest. She wanted home. Finally, she drew close to the alchemy storefront and took note that it was open. Good, they weren’t completely panicked yet, but she decided to not interrupt business and instead turned down a small side alley, passing along the wall of the herbal garden growing between the shop and the somewhat large house on the far side of the garden. It was a good thing her parents were both good at their job; with up to four younger siblings (and another after she'd moved out), the house hadn't felt very large while she was growing up, though now only two remained.

Moriko hesitated again before she quite pulled even with the house, then decided to ‘hop’ the tall wall surrounding the garden, the winds once more supporting her steps before she landed lightly. Entering from the back door would give whoever was home a bit of surprise, which was perhaps a bit wicked given that they were probably worried, but she loved messing with her sibs. Carefully she moved close to the house, keeping an eye out for Galan, her youngest sibling and second brother. He was the one most likely to be playing outside, their sister Hainako was a bit of a bookworm and seemed the most likely to take over the shop eventually.

Finding no one outside, she managed to slip in the back door without making it creak. A quiet moment let her hear someone cooking in the kitchen, and based on the humming it sounded like her dad. Huh. Normally both of them manned the store now that everyone was old enough, but she guessed they’d decided to take shifts while waiting for her. Still, that meant she could get up the stairs without being noticed, and see who was there. Mmm, she guessed that Hainako was behind her closed door, but Galan’s door was open. She carefully peeked inside the fourteen-year-old’s room to find him practicing with a wooden mock-up of a butterfly sword. Moriko grinned, he had been hero-worshiping her a touch, so she waited until his barely trained kata had him turning away from the door, then rushed in to tickle his sides.

“AHHH!” he jumped, letting go of the wooden sword in his panic before he realized who had attacked him. He stood dumbfounded as Moriko smirked at him.

“You need to maintain better awareness of your surroundings, and your form was sloppy!” she teasingly scolded him before he suddenly rushed her, eyes tearing as he hugged her tightly. Moriko laughed as she hugged him back. “I missed you too.”

Hainako was the first to respond to Galan’s shout, the twenty-one-year-old half-elf bursting out of her room with a small vial of what looked like bottled lightning in her hand. She blinked, and Moriko smiled at her with a wink, causing Hainako to sigh before shouting down the stairs, “It’s alright, it’s just her.” Said with all the disdain an annoyed younger sister can give.

Moriko chuckled “I love you too sis.” Hainako rolled her eyes and then headed back to her room, slamming her door behind her. Her father, Jhaeros, apparently took a moment to compose himself before coming up the stairs, as he and the homunculus on his shoulder were not carrying any of their potions in hand when he arrived, though he was still wearing his apron. “Hi Dad.” She said with all the casualness she could muster, like she’d just seen him yesterday.

He scowled at her. “Don’t ‘Hi’ me, we got your letter and you are nearly a week late! What happened and why are you wearing your uniform?” He demanded, looking her over while trying to keep the worry out of his voice. Then he froze, staring at her hand. Damn it, she should have worn gloves. Well, nothing for it now. Jhaeros raised his voice to penetrate the nearby closed door. “Hainako, go get your mother. Now.” It wasn’t a shout, but it was a command and the young woman responded, springing back out of her room looking confused, then her gaze followed her dad’s gaze, and her eyes widened.

“Oh!” She exclaimed before scrambling downstairs as fast as she could.

“Don’t tell anyone yet!” Moriko shouted after her. “It’s complicated!”

“Don’t tell anyone what?” Galan asked, pulling away as he looked up at her, and doing his best to pretend that he hadn’t been crying. She sighed and raised her hand, wiggling her fingers to show off the gold and purple ring. “Is that a wedding ring‽”

“No, I mean technically yes but, ah, it’s complicated. Wait until Mom gets here, so I can tell the story from the beginning and just once. Well, twice, I need to have a meeting tomorrow because some of my story is going to have a lot more repercussions for a lot of people, but come on, we should go downstairs to wait, and make sure Dad doesn’t burn anything."

Jhaeros opened his mouth to defend his cooking skills, then realized he’d left the kitchen unattended with what was hopefully still dinner on a hot stove. With a muttered curse he bolted down the stairs to check on the food, and Moriko finally disentangled herself from her brother before following, Galan on her heels.

She took more time to look around as she passed through the common room, noting that not much had changed. They still had all the furniture they needed for every kid to have a seat if they were all home at once, plus a little more in case there were extra guests. But for the moment she moved on to the kitchen area, stealing the stool her mom usually used for watching Dad cook, the sap. The thought made her smile again, and fending off Galan’s persistent questions kept her entertained while she waited for Hainako to bring Kaoru in. It didn’t take long, and it made Moriko wonder if her mom rushed any customers out to close up that fast.

“Moriko!” her mom shouted as she came in, scanning over Moriko to seek out her hand, and she obliged by raising it up, back facing her mom. “What, when, how, why didn’t you tell us?” Kaoru sputtered as she walked over to grab Moriko’s hand and stare at the unusual ring. “And what is with this ring? Is it magic?” she gasped. “Did someone enchant you?!” Moriko couldn’t help but roll her eyes, realizing that her mom and Kazue would get along fabulously. There was a faint sense of protest in her head, but she ignored the kitsune for now and eyed her sister.

“Hey, I whispered it to her, no one else heard!” Hainako protested in response to Moriko’s side-eye.

“Mom, slow down. I’ll tell you, and no, it’s not like that.” Technically she had been enchanted, but that had been after she’d agreed to it. “Wait a sec for Dad to be in a spot where he can take a break from cooking, it’s a long story. But I really didn’t have a choice, and it was more like I helped break a curse, then saved someone from loneliness.”

It took a while longer to get everyone settled with the fire banked enough that Jhaeros didn’t have to worry about the food burning. Kaoru cuddled up to her husband and Moriko’s siblings gathered close as she finally began her tale, starting all the way back with her incident with the noble brat.