Chapter 62 part 1

"Tchisa, are you sure that we should have sent our Blue Rose away to command a unit like that?" Polelin asked, climbing out from under the blanket they'd shared.

"If she didn't face this challenge now, it might have been harder for her later on," Tchisa answered, watching Polelin as he started getting dressed. "Besides, it should help her become better at being in charge, even as the Blue Rose than if we just kept her sheltered here."

"And here I thought it was so you could get me in bed," Polelin teased as his dress slid down around his body.

Tchisa wished it wasn't necessary to hide that body. She understood that Polelin was nervous about their involvement. That others might not understand, but Tchisa didn't care. It wasn't like they were cheating on anyone else. Besides, she was completely confident that the Blue Rose would be accepting of them being in a relationship.

"Well, there is that," Tchisa joked, climbing out from under the bed herself, enduring the morning chill on her bare body. "Though, I think you're also in charge of the decorations for the wedding for her two stand-ins, right?"

"What about that?" Polelin asked warily, earning a laugh from Tchisa.

"Just that when Roesadra and Oleania get married, why not as her to marry us as well? I certainly don't need a party just as I'm sure you're not that interested in one. Both of us are just too old for that."

Polelin didn't say anything immediately, but he also didn't resist as Tchisa wrapped her arms around him before giving him a soft kiss. "Why not think about it at least?" Tchisa pressed gently.

"You know what others will say, right?" Polelin asked in a whisper.

"If you have trouble with them, just have the Blue Rose deal with it. You know she wouldn't stand for it."

"How is it that you know our Blue Rose so well?" Polelin asked, leaning against Tchisa. "You haven't known her as long as even I have, but you seem to talk like you know her thoughts sometimes. Like you've been around her for years."

Tchisa smiled, feeling a little nervous. She hadn't promised not to say anything about Jenn's abilities or anything, but at the same time, she suspected that she wanted to keep them at least partially secret. That she wasn't comfortable having everything about her known as public knowledge. Which was partially why she'd instituted her stand-ins.

"I'd like to tell, but you'd have to get her permission first," Tchisa answered, only teasing a little. "Though, I guess you could say that I know her so well because we share some abilities with our magic. That or magic is a little more… compatible than it is with others."

"I… I'm not sure I follow," Polelin replied after pausing for a minute. "What ability are you talking about?"

Tchisa gave Polelin one more kiss before pulling away from him, unable to deny that they both had things they needed to work on with the day beginning soon. While she wished that they could spend more time together, she knew that what time they had been spending together had been more than she could have hoped for when she'd first agreed to join Jenn.

It wasn't that she believed in what Jenn was doing, but rather she believed that she might be able to create something that would be better than what had been currently in place in this world. Where people would end up as slaves sooner or later simply because they either hadn't been made slaves just yet or because they weren't able to protect themselves as well as some others could.

Although, the promise of having some land of her own to rule over certainly had it's benefits. And while she hadn't seen it for herself, she at least had caught a glimpse of it when she'd exchanged knowledge with Jenn that time they'd used their thought magic on each other.

An Island that was warm nearly year-round, food growing on the trees, a stone mountain in the center of the island, and a gate to the mountain world where Jenn had started her settlement that was currently all but abandoned. Tchisa wasn't absolutely certain that Jenn would be giving her that land, she was pretty confident about it. Especially since it was merely a few days away from where her settlement was.

When Polelin left, he acted like he was sneaking around. As if he didn't want others to know where he spent the night, and Tchisa understood why: Many of Jenn's other advisors weren't happy that Tchisa had been given full access without having been present for when Jenn had worked with the Lost to free all of them. Which Tchisa had to admit was certainly a feat that she'd have liked to have seen for herself. As even watching it through someone else's thoughts wasn't quite the same.

Tchisa threw her tunic on and was pulling up her leggings when a knock on her door sounded. She was certain that it wasn't Polelin, not at this time, but she couldn't think of who else it would be. Although, if he forgot something, that would explain why he might return.

"Come in, she called, hoping that her fantasy would turn into reality.

Yet, the person who entered instead was Cithis, Jenn's adopted daughter who seemed to have taken a dislike to Tchisa.

"Mother will be back in half a week, right?" she demanded, her glare almost as cute as her previous attempts to intimidate Tchisa.

"So long as nothing major happens, she should be," Tchisa acknowledged. "Which should be the case, since there's hardly any traffic up that way."

"Then why send her there?" Cithis pressed, her glare making Tchisa want to burst into laughter.

"Because she needs to get accepted as a leader by others who weren't here when she saved all of you," she replied. "If she can't do that on her own, then she's in a lot more trouble than I'll probably be able to help her with."

"What do you mean?"

Tchisa merely shrugged. She wasn't sure that Cithis really wanted to know, but she still took the question seriously. "That if she can't convince them that she knows what she's doing as a leader, then when she announces that she's..." Tchisa glanced at the open door and couldn't be sure who else might be within earshot at this time, since Cithis was moving around already. "…who she is."

Cithis opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it. Like she had to admit Tchisa had a point, but didn't like acknowledging it.

"If you don't need anything else, then would you mind?" Tchisa asked. "This is my room, after all."

Cithis' glare returned, but this time there wasn't as much heat behind it. "I don't know what you're planning, but I'm not going to let you hurt mother, okay?"

Tchisa nodded. "Hurting her is the farthest thing from my mind," she assured the child. "She's my personal ticket to living a better life than I could have imagined when I was in charge of my own bandits."

"And why should I believe that you aren't thinking of supplanting her?" Cithis asked dryly.

Tchisa merely shrugged. "Not sure I can say anything to convince you on that part," she admitted. "Though, it's not like I can show you evidence for just anything that you would accept. So, like many things, you'll just have to trust her judgement."

Cithis didn't respond. Instead, she turned to leave, saying on her way out, "She better be back. You won't like what happens if she doesn't."

And as the door closed, Tchisa understood what that visit was about: Cithis was worried about her mother and was scared about what might happen to her. Which Tchisa could understand.

What she didn't make public was the fact that if something did happen to Jenn, that she'd support Cithis to being the next Blue Rose. As even as an adopted daughter, she really is the heir at the moment. As such, those few who knew who the Blue Rose really was, should also know that Cithis would be the one taking over if something happened to her mother. As that was the natural course of things.

Part of the reason why Tchisa really hoped that nothing would happen to Jenn either. As since she hadn't been given that land just yet, she had serious doubts that Cithis would honor that piece of information, even if Tchisa was able to figure out how to make that known in a way that Cithis wouldn't be able to refute. Even though Tchisa was starting to wonder if she really wanted that land for herself.

While her feelings for Polelin had grown since she'd first met him, she'd started wondering if getting married to him and having children together would be enough for her. As he was the kind of man she'd always imagined having to raise her children. Especially since he knew his ways around weapons himself. Which meant that he could help any of their children to learn to defend themselves, no matter what else happened.

_

Ralph was more than a little surprised at the fact that the vote had been for all of them to go up the mountain in the end. Especially with how long it really took them to get around to voting on it in the first place. Though, aside from Beth, the rest of them were packing to go. When he'd asked why she wasn't, he'd been told by Beth that 'the agreement as Kystia's bodyguard still was in effect.'

Though, he had hoped that it wouldn't be necessary with what she'd had to do with that stranger in the capital. Yet at the same time, he couldn't help but feel excited at seeing what might be up on the mountain. Especially since, which the information might not be entirely reliable, it did indicate that they could see the mountain, or land, or whatever at certain times. Much like times of the month, which Ralph hoped meant that they wouldn't need to stay up there for very long, since it certainly sounded rather boring with nothing else to do.

Much like the trip to look for the griffin canyons had been. Or at least aside from getting sick and from having to get rather close to those canyons to the point where the griffins could come out and attack if they felt like it.

"Sure you're okay with leaving Lily back there?" Wes asked. "You've been pretty close to her since she attached herself to you."

Ralph merely rolled his eyes. "If you're really that concerned about who I'm interested in, maybe I should see if I can get you someone to hook up with."

"You wouldn't be able to find anyone that would be a match for me," Wes said, as if he actually believed what he'd said.

"Maybe, but keep in mind that sometimes you're not gonna like who I send your way," Ralph warned.

Wes merely rolled his eyes. "If I thought you'd send someone incredibly objectionable, then I'd do something about that. Though, my guess is you're probably thinking of sending someone like Kystia my way. That way, while it'd be mildly inappropriate for me to even date her, you'd be able to get your laughs."

"I wouldn't do that," Ralph lied, knowing full well that his friends were aware how big of a lie that short sentence was.

While he hadn't thought of sending Kystia to Wes as a potential match for him, he had to admit that it would be something that he'd do. Even though he'd told himself no more practical jokes. As it is, now that Wes mentioned it, he couldn't help but get that idea out of his mind. Though, he doubted that he'd be able to do anything like that with Kystia, since he was pretty sure that the marquis would have a few things to say about that if he tried it. Let alone others who had the girl's interests in their hearts.

"Well, forget anyone from this world," Ralph said. "Just focus on the ones we've met since we started going to other worlds. I mean, I could always try to set you up with Arachnia. She seemed cute enough, if you look past her arachnoid parts, I mean."

Ralph was so busy chuckling at his own remark that he didn't realize Wes had gone rather silent. Even as he calmed down, he didn't try to pursue the conversation further. Mostly because he was done with the topic that he'd been discussing with Wes about and didn't feel like trying to come up with anything else.

Besides, if Wes wanted to be quiet and all that, then Ralph couldn't think of a reason to bother him. Or at least when he didn't have anything to bother him about with. Besides, a long a Lily wasn't brought up, Ralph couldn't think of a reason to go off on someone like that.

He couldn't say why he felt so protective of the girl, especially since he'd rather have as few complications following him around that could potentially tie him to this world as possible.

As it is, he has no idea why Lily suddenly called him 'papa' as she hadn't spoken since. He didn't mention it to his friends because he didn't need them to go on about that and what it meant.

To Ralph, it didn't mean anything in particular other than what had been shown by her actions that she cared about him. Although, with the newest turn of events with her choosing to stay behind, Ralph would have ascribed it to that he'd essentially fallen out of her favor had it not been for that one word. The word that he couldn't help but continue to think about and why she said it in the first place.

Although, one issue with her was also on hi mind. A when it came time to go back, how would he explain it to her or would they find someone who she'd call 'mama' or something and let her stay with that person. As that would solve the dilemma of how to take her back to Earth without having to deal with all the other headache that would accompany that course of action.

Part of him wondered if that's what it'd be like to have children of his own. That no matter what else happened, their safety and interests were all that really mattered to him after that point. Though, he wasn't sure if that was something that he'd be able to fulfill with his current circumstance when it came to Lily.

As he did have other obligations before her anyway.

"Penny for your thoughts, Ralph?" Hannah mockingly called out to him, as if they were much farther apart from each other than right next to each other.

Ralph glanced at Hannah, a little surprised at the change in amount of light. He hadn't realized he'd gotten lost in his thoughts to the point where the time had changed and gotten to midmorning already.

"Sorry, just thinking about things," he hedged.

"Yeah, the elusive 'things.' Always popping up when you don't want to talk about something, right?"

Ralph merely shook his head. "I say 'things' because I'd rather not get into detail about them, okay?" he asked defensively, feeling like if he didn't do that, his friends would walk all over him about it.

"So, must be something juicy for him to sound so defensive about," Amelia suddenly chimed in. Ralph wasn't sure where he was, but she suddenly appeared on his other side, so he was between Hannah and Amelia.

"Could very well be," Wes added. "I mean, he was a little short with me earlier when we were talking about Lily."

Ralph knew what his friends were doing. He knew because he'd participated enough with them to try and squeeze out what it was that they were holding on so tightly to. Sometimes it worked, other times, not. The trick was to get them to react and to stop thinking. Then whatever it was that was on their mind would more often than not slip out.

However, it worked best when they didn't know it was coming. While Ralph technically didn't know that, he at least knew the trick. As such, he knew it was coming as they tried.

While he might have been interested in waiting to see what lengths they'd go to, he just didn't really have the patience at the moment to deal with them. Yet, he knew that unless he gave them something, then they'd keep at it and he'd be able to see what lengths they'd go to. Only, he'd be rather annoyed when they finished it.

"You know, going deeper into yourself isn't going to help," Tim remarked.

Ralph let out a breath like he'd been defeated, though he was quickly trying to come up with something that would satisfy their curiosity while putting some distance between his friends and his thoughts about Lily.

"Actually, I was thinking about Charlie. Such as what she's up to, what kind of trouble she's found herself in and what she might need help with in order to do whatever it is that she's doing," Ralph said.

In a way what he said was true, but at the same time, it wasn't what was making him lose focus a little bit on his surroundings. It wasn't what worried him the most. Yet, telling his friends this might make them get the wrong impression of why he was thinking about Charlie. However, he felt the wrong impression was better than letting them know the truth. Especially when he wasn't really sure about how far his feelings for Lily went right then.

"So, you're finally regretting what you did to Charlie, huh?" Amelia asked, as if that was the only logical conclusion of what Ralph had said.