Tama

  I followed Saki for a little bit, but then I got bored. I blinked over to the captain guy. “Nya! Tama wants you to see Serenity!” I said excitedly.

  The captain smiled down at me and petted me as he spoke. “Is that so Tama? Is Serenity a friend of yours?”

  ? I smiled widely at him and pulled out Serenity and held it out for him to see.

  “Ah! This sword is of another world. The mythical swordsman carried one like it as his secondary weapon. I believe it was something like a Katana? Either way, she is a beautiful Tama. I assume this is Serenity?”

  I nodded excitedly and he took the sword from me. The moment I let it go however, Serenity crashed to the grand with his hand, which was covered in metal, under it. He screamed in pain and I reached down and grabbed Serenity before helping him back up. “Nya! Serenity is really powerful!” I said excitedly.

  “And she appears to weigh quite a bit there, Tama.” He said as he held his hand, it looked like the metal was bent now.

  “Actually, it's quite light, around two or three pounds at max. The reason you can’t lift it but she can is because it was designed to only be held by her owner. Tama is her rightful owner and anyone trying to hold her will…” Talia, who had appeared behind us next to Saki, who had her arms crossed and was tapping her foot impatiently at me, spoke simply. “Well, you saw for yourself.”

  The guard stood at attention. “Matriarch Talia, I apologize, I didn’t see you coming. I was simply keeping an eye on your niece here. She was showing me her weapon!”

  Anna, who had finally caught up and reattached herself as my gi. Proceeded to giggle at the comment before adding out loud. “I bet her weapon is bigger than yours. You can’t even hold on!”

  Saki grumbled under her breath about childish comments, Aunt Talia sighed and shook her head, the guard looked horrified.

  Anna giggled again and shimmered. I grabbed her core, but Talia grabbed my wrist. “No Tama, you need to keep her on for now. We will deal with her when we get you new clothes.”

  I sighed and let go of Anna’s core, which instantly went behind my back and cowered.

  I turned, but realized Aunt Talia was still holding onto my wrist. She raised an eyebrow at me. “You weren’t planning on blinking away and making us chase you all over the city again were you Tama?”

  My cheeks felt red and I shook my head. “No, Tama was just.. looking around!” I said sheepishly.

  Her eyebrow raised another inch and she shook her head. “Either way, thank you captain for watching her for a moment. I can take her from here.

  “Ah, Right! Yes, Matriarch Talia.” The guard captain guy said as he did a weird thing with his hand. The hand that wasn’t crushed.

  Saki sighed and asked “Maybe heal his hand Tama? You were the one who broke it.”

  I looked over at her and her head seemed to jerk towards his hand. I looked at her puzzles and she rolled her eyes. “Tama, heal his hand!” she snapped at me.

  I winced and responded “But it’s not life threatening and Sensei said…”

  Saki raised a finger, cutting me off mid sentence. “Tama, just trust me okay, I will explain why later.” She looked at me and after a moment I said and grabbed his hand. The metal was kind of weak. Weaker than wood when I enchanted it, still my water flowed into the weird metal hand thing and fixed it.

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  The captain looked at me in shock “you.. you can shape metal Tama?!”

  I looked back in confusion. “Nya, but Tama was healing your hand, not doing shapes with metal pieces. Sensei said I wasn’t allowed to touch the crafting table.”

  The guard captain just stared at me before looking at Aunt Talia like he wanted to say something. Aunt Talia sighed and said “The more you try to understand Reggie’s protege, the less you do. Trust me on this one.” With that, Aunt Talia, still holding my other wrist, turned and dragged me out of the building with Saki following us.

  After around an eternity of travel across the Drestor city streets, a few second travel time taking weeks. I tried to escape a few times, but through the centuries Aunt Talia held me, she never let go.

  I begged Saki to free me, but she just sighed and shook her head. She was a traitor! How could she do this to me! Saki did bring me some fries though when we passed the pretty restaurant that sold them! She was truly the best friend ever! We finally arrived at the guild hall a few days later and Aunt Talia turned and stared at me.

  “Alright Tama, I am going to let you go now. You need to go into the guild hall and hang out for a minute. Do not leave the guild hall Tama.” She really made sure I heard the last one and took on a serious tone Sensei would give me sometimes.

  I nodded excitedly, so happy to be free from this prison! She paused for what felt like an eternity before sighing and letting go of my hand. The moment she did I blinked over to Saki and asked “Do you have more fries, Saki?”

  Saki rolled her eyes and smiled, pulling a whole plate of fries from behind her back. “Let’s go sit down and eat Tama.” She said as she turned and began walking super slowly to the nearest table in the guild hall.

  Aunt Talia made her way to the back of the guild, then through the door that led to the hallway to the place she sat and did lots of paperwork. Saki said the paperwork was super important. I didn’t understand how a piece of paper mattered?

  It had cut me once, but that was my own fault. Sensei had said it was important too though. So it had to be.. somehow.

  I grabbed a handful of fries and Saki suddenly smacked my hand! “Nya! Why!” I cried as I held my hand. It didn’t hurt, but it was so unexpected.

  “Tama, you need to eat properly. I admit, I got these fries because I need to teach you proper table manners. As future Queen, people will expect you to at least try to be civil.” She said with a sly smile.

  I glared at her and reached to grab my fries. Her hand lifted and I retreated quickly. I quickly sped my hand up, grabbed a single fry and ate it before she could move. She simply smiled and said “Try it again Tama.”

  I paused, Saki had the look on her face that meant she had planned something and I had a feeling whatever it was going to hurt if I did what she said.

  I couldn’t help myself, I grabbed another fry. Before it reached my mouth it disintegrated in my hand and I cried out in horror. I stared in shock where my beautiful fry had been as Saki spoke to me. “Like that? It’s a little trick I learned. I won’t tell you how it works though, I don’t want you circumventing it yet. You need to learn Tama.”

  I stared at Saki for a long moment, then quickly tried to eat another fry. It also turned to ash in my hand and I cried in horror at the waste.

  “What monster would do that!” A voice called out in shock. I turned and saw Aunt Alissa standing, open mouthed in horror at where my fry had been. She looked like she had just been smacked. I felt her agony.

  “Ah, perfect, Regent Alissa! Would you mind helping me teach Tama how to eat correctly? I am certain you were taught to at least eat with manners?” Saki asked genuinely.

  Alissa stared between the fry and Saki before asking “If I teach Tama to eat right, will you stop killing innocent fries!” She said, her voice serious.

  I nodded viciously, To think Saki was holding our fries hostage was unthinkable! I thought she was my best friend!

  Saki sighed and nodded “As long as Tama eats her fries correctly, then they will not turn to ash.” She stated simply.

  Alissa looked at the fries carefully and slowly and carefully grabbed one with her thumb and index finger. She then let go and shook her head. She slowly looked between the different metal thingies on the table and gently picked up a pointy one with four points on it.

  She looked up at Saki for a moment before stabbing the fries with the sharp thingy and using it to pick them up, she then brought them to her mouth and the food entered and she ate them safely.

  I quickly grabbed another piece of the metal thing. It looked like a tiny bowl on the end of a small stick. I used it to pick up a fry and balance it. Then I ate the fry without issue!

  Chapter 111: Planning Murder with Fries