Momoko [Judar X Kougyoku]

Fruition

The year leading up to my conquest of a dungeon was a blur of peculiar events.

I kept to my training regimen as usual, focusing on increasing my overall body strength so that I would have a sufficient supply of magoi for the djinn's transformation.  The average day for me was just a nonstop haze of exercising, drilling, martial arts practice, eating, and sleep. I didn't have a spare moment for frivolous activities anymore.

With Kouen's help, Hakuei and Kouha managed to master their metal vessels.  The both of them received an extravagant ceremony held in their honor in which they were named generals and conscripted into the military.  Shortly afterwards, Hakuei was shipped out in a caravan to join the northern subjugation army in the Tenka plains.

Kouha wasn't planned for deployment yet, but he began putting together his own squadron made up of societal outcasts, compassionately granting select groups of people a second chance at life under his command.  Most of the nobles and military elite criticized him for it, but I admired him for his virtue.

While I was proud of my siblings for all their accomplishments, I found myself becoming quite lonely again.  All my sisters had been sent away to be married. Hakuei began her journey north. My brothers were as busy as ever.

There were only two people left to keep company with.  Hakuryuu and Judar.

Hakuryuu still met up with me on the training grounds every so often, but ever since that incident with Hakuei's training, along with her deployment, he seemed to withdraw into his shell again.  Our conversations were sparse, and no matter how enthusiastic or cheerful I was, he just seemed to curl into himself like a melancholy little tortoise. I'd run out of the willpower to try and help him overcome his ennui, so I just decided to leave him be and stay focused on my own goals.

Judar was a different story.  He seemed to be steadily simmering down from his aggressive temperament.  After awhile, he went out of his way to make amends with everyone, but he did so in a manner that was typical of him.  

The first instance was right before Hakuei was sent off and we held a banquet for her.  I saw her and Judar conversing and laughing like the infamous night of training had never even happened.  Then he ended up sharing a few bottles of rice wine with her, and by the end of the night he got up in front of the whole dining room on a table and was singing patriotic anthems and marching cadences for her.  It was fun, but as long as I'm being honest with myself, it made me a bit jealous.

Then he approached Hakuryuu with apologies, and since the fourth prince had recently come of age, Judar invited him out on the town for drinks.  I don't know how he pulled it off, but Hakuryuu agreed and they disappeared until sunrise. I found them passed out together in the garden the next day, along with a huge porcelain antique vase from the throne room stuffed full of peaches from the trees, which a hungover Judar explained to me was fermenting to make more liqueur.  Ka Kobun and I got them cleaned up and put to bed. Poor Hakuryuu didn't seem to have the stomach for alcohol, and Judar spent the whole day with migraines that made him babble incoherently.

A few weeks later the same scenario played out, only this time it was with Koumei and Kouha.  Luckily Koumei was responsible and could hold his liquor. He ended up driving a wagon home in the middle of the night with Judar and Kouha out cold and snuggling in a pile of straw.  I was beginning to wonder why no one would cut off Judar from alcohol altogether.

Meanwhile, he was still the same trickster he always was with me.  Instead of inviting me for excursions of alcoholism, I got treated to endless teasing and pranks.

"Judar-nii! Why'd you eat all the peaches in my bath?!"

"There were so many, what difference does it make if I help myself to a few?"