Preparing For Departure

Rosalind woke up, warm and snug under her blanket. She rolled over in bed, still in the process of waking up. Not long ago, she would be distracted by the strange feeling of waking up in a woman’s body. The weight of her breasts shifting as she rolled over would have piqued her attention, but now she didn’t give it a second thought. What used to be new and alien sensations had slowly lost their novelty, becoming simply normal.

Rosalind wasn’t a morning person, so it took some time for her to fully wake up. Information slowly resurfaced in her brain as she dreaded having to leave the comfort of the warm bed. Today… Today the knights and priestesses would be taking the misfits away. The priestesses… Haziel… Rosalind started to recall the runaway events of last night. As lewd, debauched memories reemerged, Rosalind could hardly believe what she did to the timid woman she had just met a few days ago. What started off as opening up to each other about their little secrets spiraled out of control, leading to a big secret that needed to be kept between them. Rosalind should have been more cautious, but when she saw Haziel’s naked form in front of her, she was like a woman possessed.

Well, Rosalind was a woman possessed. The body of Rosalind Shields piloted by the mind of Earnest Pierce, something that he had almost forgotten during his time as Rosalind. It alarmed him yesterday, just how used to being Rosalind he had become. The plan was for Earnest’s mind to help Rosalind’s mind return to normal, to add some “positive” influence to balance out the “negative” from the misfits. However, the plan failed to consider how Earnest’s mind would be affected by all of this. Having to impersonate Rosalind, being seen as her by everyone around her, relieving her body’s needs… it had its effect.

Rosalind’s worries had fully awoken her by now, so she got out of bed and began dressing. At the start of Earnest filling Rosalind’s role, dressing her body was awkward, not only because he wasn’t familiar with women’s clothes, but also because he tried to avoid touching her body too much, in an attempt to respect the original Rosalind’s privacy. But now, Rosalind dressed herself effortlessly, her hands repeating movements that were well practiced at this point.

Rosalind looked herself over after she was done clothing herself. It would be another day being seen as Rosalind Shields, knight of Knottori, but after the knights and priestesses left that would change. Earnest would separate from Rosalind, returning control to her while he finished training the black mind slime. What would she say once she could speak again? What would she think of the misfits? What would she think of Earnest and what he did while in her body?

Rosalind opened the door to her room and heard the noise of breakfast being served to a busy dining room. There was no time to worry about the future now, overthinking things wouldn’t help anyone. Rosalind descended the inn’s stairs and joined the patrons below. It seemed like Rosalind was the last one to wake up, as everyone else was already seated and had made decent progress on their meals.

Rosalind joined the priestess’ table, since her comrades Earnest and Coltia were seated with them. Rosalind made “eye contact” with Haziel’s blindfold, and she returned an awkward, shy smile. Rosalind gave a quick smile back then greeted everyone at the table. There wasn’t all that much to discuss, so it was mostly just smalltalk that went around the table as Rosalind placed an order. She joined the chatting, but when her food arrived she focussed on eating quickly. Everyone else had finished by now, and were more or less waiting on her.

Rosalind made short work of her breakfast, and after she finished, the group of knights and priestesses followed her out of the inn. She started to lead them on the path to the misfits’ base, where they would take any abandoned supplies that were still usable. She had brought this up during yesterday’s meeting, and it seemed like a waste to not make use of them. Earnest’s mind recalled traveling to Lindow without food, and how he nearly starved to **** if not for the miraculous intervention of a suicidal rabbit. He said thanks again within his mind, to whatever **** of fate that had helped him.

The group was able to find some useful food supplies. A few jars of pickled fruits and vegetables, some smoked meats, and coarse flour. Some of the supplies were spoiled like moldy bread and rotting fruit, and some weren’t useful like the leftover water. In the end, there wasn’t all that much considering these were originally prepared for only two people, but it was more than nothing. The group brought what they could use back to the inn and packed them alongside the rest of their supplies.

Now that everything was prepared, it was finally time to bring the prisoners out of their cell. The innkeeper gave the knights’ leader, Garin, the key to the storeroom where the misfits were being held. He unlocked the door and stepped inside, with Andrion standing behind him to block the doorway, in case any of the misfits tried to bolt at the last second.

Garin knew that the misfit boys had been transformed by Coltia, but it still felt strange that the three prisoners before him were young women dressed in men’s clothes. One of them was staring straight at Garin with a bit of resentment as she sat on a crate. Even though she was the smallest and daintiest of the three, she had body language that made it clear that she was the leader. Near her was the tallest of them, who was the only one that looked like she had worked a day in her life, and looked like the strongest of the three. The last of the misfits sat across from the other two on the floor, and looked like she was about to burst out in tears. She was the most fragile looking in both physique and demeanor, as she looked terrified of the imposing knight.

Garin had been told a description of the misfits while they were still boys, and was able to match the new misfits based on their similar qualities. He summoned all of his authority into his voice and spoke each of the criminals’ names, Ricard, Thomlin, and Barnabas, before announcing the crimes that they were charged with and what would be happening to them.

Rosalind was impressed by the intimidating gravitas that Garin was able to project with his voice. It was almost like hearing commander Roland speaking, though without the colorful language. When Garin finished, one of the younger knights, Wayne, handed a coiled rope to Andrion, who then handed it to Garin. He commanded the prisoners to stand in front of him, then began tying their wrists. Using the same rope, he bound one set of hands, then left a few feet of rope before binding the next.

Once Garin was done, he walked out of the storeroom with the head of the rope in hand. The misfits followed in line, as the uncomfortable restrains only allowed a few feet of clearance between them. The innkeeper and any villagers that stayed to watch the spectacle got out of the way as Garin led them through the dining room.

As they passed by Rosalind, Ricard gave her a hateful sideways glance, but didn’t say anything as she turned her back. Thomlin just followed Ricard as he went along, but Barnabas looked at Rosalind and stopped for a second.

“...Sorry…”

Barnabas’ hands were pulled forwards as the rope grew taut, forcing him to stumble forwards and follow closer to Thomlin. Rosalind was a little surprised by the apology, in fact she felt a little bit bad for Barnabas all things considered. But still, at the end of the day Barnabas was a crucial part in bringing Rosalind’s life to this point, so there was only so much pity that she could feel.

As Garin led the misfits out of the inn, the other knights and priestesses followed behind, with Rosalind, Earnest, and Coltia in tow as well. Some villagers also went outside to watch, but didn’t follow much farther. After walking farther from the gawking villagers, Garin stopped to let his group say their goodbyes to Rosalind’s group. Most of these goodbyes were simple and polite, they had only stayed for a couple of days after all.

Garin thanked Earnest for making his job easy by apprehending the misfits. Garin told Earnest that he had heard about him from Wayne and Roland, and would be wishing Earnest the best in the upcoming tournament as well. Wayne and Roland joined in and made their admiration known again, and thanked Earnest for signing their journals.

Rosalind looked at Earnest when she heard this, as she never taught him how to forge a signature. Earnest reassured her that he figured out a clever alternative yesterday. He had dipped his thumb in some ink and stamped the journals with a thumbprint instead. Wayne and Roland weren’t disappointed by this, in fact they seemed more excited at the unique one-of-a-kind souvenir, saying that it was cool and better than some writing from a pen.

While the knights were paying extra attention to Earnest, the priestesses were doing the same with Rosalind. Adeline let Rosalind know that she would be in Lindow, in the church as always, and that she was always welcome to visit. She added that she would love to have another workout session together, and Rosalind couldn’t tell if she meant exactly what she said, or if she meant something more…

Haziel also let Rosalind know that she would probably be at the Athelholm church, provided that she wasn’t traveling for another assignment. Haziel seemed a bit uncertain about something, like she was debating whether to ask Rosalind something. Rosalind picked up on this, as Haziel was pretty bad at hiding her emotions, and pulled her aside from the rest of the group, walking together until they were out of earshot.

“Haziel, you look like you have something to say… I’ll be honest with you. I’m assigned to Knottori, and Athelholm is not a short trip like Lindow. I probably won’t be able to visit you anytime soon, so if you have anything you want to tell me… now is the time.”

Rosalind’s ultimatum seemed to give Haziel the resolve she needed, and she asked an unexpected question.

“...What do you think of Earnest? Are you… in love with him?”

Rosalind paused as she thought of the answer to the question. She wondered what the original Rosalind’s answer would have been, and what it would be after she returned. But why was Haziel asking this? Was Haziel in love with Rosalind? Was she jealous of Earnest, who Haziel thought would stay by Rosalind’s slide? Well, no matter the reason for asking, Rosalind couldn’t really answer truthfully given the circumstances. Still though, Haziel was hanging on Rosalind’s answer, so she decided to give the answer she thought was best.