Tea and a chat about Barriers

John watched with mild fascination as Granny Smith and her Dessert Fairy assistant went to work on the apple pie. The old wolf was surprisingly nimble in the kitchen, though her time was made easier with the help of Saccharine who had managed to gather all the ingredients in the span of a few minutes. Not long after they’d begun, a tray of two pies was placed in the manor’s large oven to bake. One was for the Black Knight, and the other was for everyone else to share, Gran had explained, joking that Red would likely pinch a slice or two of John’s if he didn’t eat it fast enough.

Soon they moved to an outdoor patio where a table and set of chairs overlooked a view of the Smith Orchard and the giant sinkhole. John helped by carrying the tray of tea and danish that Granny Smith had politely offered him, and only asked about the hole once they were all seated and sipping their drinks.

“How much about this place do you know, sweetie?” Granny Smith began.

“Next to nothing,” John admitted.

“That’s quite fine. Do you at least know what they call this barrier?”

“The Depths?” John replied, confused as to why he was being asked the question.

Granny Smith chuckled and shook her head. “Almost. Most call it Gaia’s barrier.”

The old woman saw the question on his lips and answered before he could ask. “Many see its existence as proof that Gaia is, in fact, an entity rather than a mere **** of nature.”

“What do you mean?” John asked, before taking his seventh sip of tea. He wasn’t exactly a tea person, but it seemed anything prepared by the old lady and her fairy was inherently blessed to taste wonderful.

“Well, over time there have been countless debates as to the exact nature of Gaia. There have been a few who claimed to have met her, but nobody could prove whether these claims were fact or fable.”

This amused John, who pretty much had an open line of communication with Gaia, to no end.

“However,” Granny Smith said while nursing her cup of tea in hand, “discourse ceased around the turn of the 20th century when a remarkable phenomena occurred: several barriers across the world were ripped from their location in space and **** together. Why, I remember waking up one morning to a Knight Errant from Camelot on my doorstep…”

“From Camelot?” John voiced with curiosity, certain that he hadn’t seen any sign of the fabled castle.

“Oh yes… it was certainly quite a shock,” the old wolf continued. “They were around for about a week or so before that giant hole opened in the ground and swallowed them up. Never seen since - it sure left Britain in a pinch, losing one of their strongest guilds.”

John had been surprised so many times that day that somehow hearing that King Arthur’s Court resided there didn’t in the least bit shock him. It did, however, give John a good idea of what to expect in the Depths.

‘That somewhat explains the Black Knight then,’ John thought. It was also sounding more and more like Gaia had just combined pre-existing assets to create the thousand floor dungeon, like mixing the pieces of several different Lego sets and building something new out of it.

“Oh, but please forgive an old dear for rambling on…” Granny Smith took a sip of tea before resuming her explanation. “After a formal investigation fronted by the Fateweavers, it was hypothesised that Gaia was the one manipulating the barriers. Hence why it’s called Gaia’s Barrier. To what end it serves, nobody is certain.”

“I’ve heard people say there’s a great treasure at the bottom,” Red piped.

“Some at the Summer Court think the same,” Saccharine said with a yawn. “Not like anyone can say for certain though. The only cunt that’s ever survived an expedition was that Izix fella… and he’s off his nut now.”

Granny Smith flicked the small Fairy with the tip of her claw. “What have I told you about your language?! One more quip and I’ll make it an order,” she warned the fairy before turning back to John. “Though it is certainly true that it is a risky undertaking. Nobody knows how deep it goes.”

“Maybe,” John admitted. “But Gaia herself gave me the quest to go down-”

“Fuck off she did!” Saccharine interjected.

Granny Smith was too surprised at the revelation to even be bothered at scolding the potty-mouthed fairy.

“Prove it,” the fairy demanded.

“I can’t, really,” John admitted.

“I’ll admit you smell… different,” Granny Smith acknowledge. “However, I cannot say whether that’s Gaia’s touch or not.”

John recalled Red saying something similar. Either way, there was no need to get defensive due to their doubt when they were already helping him plenty enough.

“So, you mentioned something about ‘Fateweavers’, who or what are they?” John continued with the questions.

“That’s an easy one!” Red said, deciding it was her time to speak up. “They’re the world’s leading experts on barrier construction and demolition, making them one of the most powerful organisations in the world. Some claim it was the Fateweavers that made this Barrier, not Gaia.”

“Fat chance of that shit,” Saccharine snorted. “The power to perform such a feat just doesn’t exist in anything but Gaia. The attempt alone would take every Fateweaver working in tandem, and even then, they’d all die from the strain of it.”

“I see,” John stated, formulating another question in his mind.

But his train of thought was interrupted when Red spontaneously decided that her chair was no longer comfortable, instead concluding that John’s lap should be the home of her butt. The action had taken him completely by surprise, but his body sure reacted positively towards it, as a boner awkwardly sprung up against her firm ass. To make matters worse, her father appeared moments later.

“Hey, Pa,” Red greeted cheerfully as she casually looped her arm around John’s neck.

Her father’s nose curled at the sight of the two of them, and his eyes bore down on John in a severe glower.

“Good afternoon, mother,” Vulpis addressed only Granny Smith, not gracing Red with a reply nor even acknowledging John’s presence.

“Ah, you have good timing,” the old wolf smiled. “We were just discussing the Depths over tea.”

“Fortunately,” the Warg Alpha drawled, “I do not have the time to waste. I have papers to attend to.”

Red rolled her eyes at the retreating figure of her father.

“How could you do this to me?!” John exclaimed in a hushed voice, certain that Red’s actions had been deliberate.

“Sorry,” Red smiled and patted him on the head. “Thanks for being a sport though.”

“Nothing more satisfying to see than a little girl giving her dear old dad the finger,” the fairy, Saccharine, sniggered.

"Y'know, I was wondering... why's your dad even working in the local market? Wouldn't he have far more important things to do?"

"Probably," Saccharine sniggered, "but Gran makes him work there a few hours a day. It's supposed to help 'improve his character'."

"Sounds like it's been rather successful endeavour, I think."

"Right?" Saccharine agreed, bursting into a fit of laughter.

The small group soon finished their tea, and Red stood up to stretch, before turning to face John. “C’mon, I’ll give you a house tour, Johnny.”

“Oh, uh, sure,” John agreed perhaps unnecessarily as Red had already grabbed his wrist and hoisted him to his feet.

So once again John found himself being dragged through Red’s house by the arm. Every room reminded him of just how rich Red was; she’d certainly fit right in among the upper echelon at Ashcroft Academy. What confused John, however, was that they weren’t going room by room. In fact, Red skipped the entirety of the ground floor to take him upstairs.

“Where are we going?” John asked as they continued past the first floor and towards the second.

“Well… I thought we might as well start with my bedroom,” Red said with a sly smile and casual wink.

John’s heart rate quickened just a little, and he swore he could feel his blood begin to rush downwards. Red had been flirting with him all day. ’Could she actually be into me?’ he wondered, the thought filling his chest with anticipation.

“Wait,” the cold voice of Vulpis called.

The order was issued and something in his tone froze Red in her tracks. John got the sense that it would be a terrible idea to do anything but follow suit, and they both turned back to where Red’s father stood in the doorway of what looked to be a study on the first floor.

“I wish to have a word with your toy.”