Help Lia

Blythe sheathes her rapier and walks over to inspect Lia’s wound. Surprisingly, she treats the catkin much less coldly than she did the first time they met. Your best guess is that she saw you wrap the injury during the fight and used that to determine that Lia isn’t an enemy. Whatever the reason though, you’re happy to see it. You never meant Lia any harm, and judging by how she reacted to the holy man’s attack, you don’t think she meant you any harm either. Looking away for a moment, you fish through your rucksack and come up with your magic textbook. As you flip through the pages, Lia starts talking. “You — you aren’t going to — to leave me here, are you?” You can tell she’s still in a lot of pain. Blythe speaks with her to keep her calm while you search for a certain kind of spell. On almost the last page of the book, you finally find an incantation for a healing spell. Quickly, you lower yourself down in front of Lia, hover your palm an inch from her body, and recite the incantation:

“Burst forth, spirit, and mend your broken bonds. Heal.”

A green glow emits from your hand, and Lia’s pained expression eases somewhat. However, the bleeding hasn’t stopped, so you cast it again. This time, you feel the fatigue of mana loss hit you, but you carry on for the sake of your patient. The bleeding stopped this time, so you stow your book in your rucksack again.

“Who was that man to you, Lia?” you ask as you return your attention to her.

She looks at you for a second before shifting her eyes to the side. “He’s no one. A visiting priest or something, who heard me praying in the temple. Who I stupidly thought wanted to help me. Shouldn’t you be going after him?”

“He’s headed in a bad direction. I don’t think we need to worry about him making it back to town, honestly. How did he know he could use you to find me?”

Her ears prick up, and her eyes flick back to you before retreating to the side once again. “Because… I was… praying for you.” Blush runs over her face as she forces out the words, her face scrunching up in embarrassment. “Everyone in town is saying a new demon lord is on the loose, and they have wanted papers with your face on them. Your name isn’t on them, so I couldn’t be sure, but from what you just said to the priest it sounds like you’re the real deal. You really are a demon lord.”

“According to the Goddess, I am,” you say. “But I’m not an evil demon like that man wanted me to be.”

“I… I didn’t want it to be true,” she says. She starts fidgeting with her hands in her lap. “I was able to eat decent food again because of the money you left me. I was able to get cleaned up and wear that pretty gown all day yesterday, because of you. Then, this morning, those wanted papers showed up, and I just lost it. I was mad at you for lying to me. I was mad at the papers that had your face on them but no name. I was mad at myself for worr—” She panics and clamps her mouth shut.

“You were worried about me?” you say, finishing her thought.

She holds her breath for a few seconds, and then lets it all out at once. Closing her eyes, she says, “I went to the temple to work it all out. That’s where he found me, and told me he would help you if I could take him to you.”

“But he never intended to help me. Or let you live,” you say.

Tears roll out of her eyes, and she shakes her head. “Of course not. I was stupid to believe anyone would be on my side.”

You take hold of Lia’s hands and hold them between you. She reopens her eyes at the contact and stares at you. “Lia,” you say. “If anyone was stupid, it was me for underestimating the lengths the Goddess’s faithful would go to hunt me down. I was careless not to realize that my involvement with you put you in danger. I’m sorry.” She takes your apology and drops her eyes down to her hands, still held gently by your own. “I’m going to ask you one more thing,” you say. “This is important: did anybody else hear what you said in the temple? Did anybody see you leave with the priest?”

Her eyes stay on her hands. “The only person there besides me and the priest was the temple priestess, Jean. I’m sure lots of people saw the priest leaving with someone,” she says. “I tend not to stick out, though, so I doubt anyone would remember I was the one with him.”

“You stuck out to me that day in the market,” you say. Why did I say that? you think. Come to think of it, this girl has a habit of making me say some pretty cheesy stuff, doesn’t she?

Lia’s ears twitch at your comment, and you’re sure you can see the blush on her cheeks intensifying even as she keeps her head lowered and her eyes on your hands.

“What will you do now?” says Blythe, finally chiming into the conversation.

“If this Jean person knows about your connection to me, you might not be safe in Evris anymore,” you say.

Lia’s hands gently pull free of yours to wrap around herself, and her cat-like ears fold down against her black hair. “Jean was the only person… who never looked down on me for being born on the street. Whenever I felt like the world was out to get me, she would tell me that the Goddess was still looking out for me. If I can’t trust her anymore, then...”

“Come with us,” you say before your brain can stop your tongue.

“Eh?” Her eyes shoot back up to your face, wide and watery.

You glance over at Blythe, and she looks as surprised as Lia at your suggestion. No doubt the fact that the two of you just barely escaped a village of monsters with your lives is weighing on her mind. Taking on the added risk of keeping Lia safe probably seems like madness. It just might be madness. “It’s my fault that both of you are in this situation,” you say. “If you stay with me, I will do everything in my power to protect you.”

Blythe places a hand on your chest. “And I, you,” she says. “This burden is no longer yours to bear alone, Evan. I already promised you that, and I intend to keep that promise.” You reach a hand up to cover her own, bringing smiles to both of your faces. Her devotion is still something you’re not sure you deserve, but it does bring you comfort.

You look to Lia. She pulls a sleeve across her teary eyes before looking to you with a serious expression. “Fine. I guess I don’t have a choice here, really. But!” The ferocity you’ve seen on her face a couple of times before appears, except this time it’s mixed with pride. “I don’t need protecting.” She pulls up the skirt of her dress to reveal a knife strapped to her calf. “The priest got the jump on me because I was stupid. I won’t make the same mistake again.”