The Winds of the Past [Rune Factory 4]

Chapter 9

The next morning, before the sky had even begun to lighten, I was awakened by Avani shaking my shoulder. "Hey, sleepyhead. Time to get up and head out," she said as I drowsily opened my eyes. She looked disgustingly refreshed and energetic. "Good morning," she added cheerily.

"Nng," I groaned. "Good morn... no. Just... no. It's not even light yet, so I'm going to go with 'bad night' instead."

She looked surprised as she asked, "Oh? Didn't sleep well?"

"Yeah, well, someone was a little loud last night, so no, not the best night's sleep ever," I replied testily.

"Ahhh, I see. Jealous?" she replied, teasingly.

Quickly recovering some of my good humor at the prospect of yanking her chain, I replied, "Well, so what if I am?"

"You wha...?" she said, looking at me uncertainly, blinking in surprise.

"So jealous that you two slept so soundly afterwards. Why, what did you think I meant?" I asked innocently.

"Ugh," she replied, grabbing a cushion and smacking my head with it as I laughed at the look on her face. "Save it for later, we really need to get a move on. And Leon—you can tease me all you want, but if you tease Dylas about that even just a little teensy bit, I will never forgive you. He can't take it like I can."

"Yeah, sure...." I said with a mischievous grin, "Hey, seeing that he has a mane and tail, can I ask him if he's also hung like a..."

"Leon!" she shrieked, smacking me again, harder, as I laughed. "Don't you dare!" She stood up and gave me an exasperated glare. "Breakfast is in 5 minutes. Be there or we'll leave you behind." And she turned and stalked out the door.

I threw on my clothes as fast as I could and arrived just as she was dishing up. She gave me a quelling glance and placed a plateful of kippers, toast, fried eggs, grilled tomatoes, and sliced fruit before me, and another at her place. She set a large bowl of thick porridge and a pitcher of cream before Dylas, then poured coffee for all of us. She sat down and we dove in, eating quickly and in focused silence.

Afterwards, Dylas and I cleared and washed up while she set about packing the bags she'd designed and made for her wolf. First, though, she quickly filleted a fish, carefully removing the bones, and gave the raw fish to the beast to eat from a plate set on the kitchen floor while she packed. I was surprised by the delicacy with which the large monster ate his meal.

When the wolf was done eating, Dylas picked up the plate from the floor, stopping to pet his large shaggy head and scratch his ears as he did so. "So, he's pretty friendly, huh?" I asked as I watched him.

"Well... no, not really," he replied. "Only to people he knows well. He's accepted me pretty well, because I'm here so much, I guess. And because, well, I suppose I smell a little like Avani—or she smells a little like me. And he knows Venti and the butlers well, and a few of her closest friends. But if a stranger were to walk in when he's on guard duty... well, it wouldn't be pretty."

"I came down in the middle of the night to get a glass of water, and he was lying exactly where Avani had told him to lie down, but he was awake and alert, watching every move I made," I commented as the wolf trotted out to the main chamber in response to his mistress's call.

"Yeah, you're lucky. If he hadn't seen that Avani welcomed you in her home, he'd have been at your throat," Dylas said drily.

"I guessed as much," I replied, setting down the last of the dried dishes. "Well, if I'm going to be camping with him, I'd better get acquainted so that he doesn't decide I'm a threat in the middle of the night sometime."