Tama

  Saki sighed and shook her head as she said “Of course you would use the spoon Tama.”

  ? “Tama’s fry wasn’t murdered! That means it was done right!” I said proudly.

  “No Tama” Saki said with a weary sigh, her ears flattening and her body visibly deflating. “It means like always, you found a way around something that should not have been possible.”

  I frowned and considered for a moment before using the other piece of metal. It looked like a silver knife, but super small and clearly not capable of hurting anyone without actually trying. I stabbed the fries with it, and it cut them in half!

  Instead, I used it like the ‘spoon’ as Saki called it and managed to balance it on the knife thingy and ate the fry like that. Being royalty was easy!

  I turned to Alissa who clapped “So amazing Tama! I wish I had that skill! I could never get the food to balance on my spoon though!” She said seriously. I heard a moaning sob and turned to see Saki with her head down, her hands on her face as she shook. She must be so proud of me!

  “There you are, Empress Tama! We have been looking everywhere for you!” I heard Tera call out. I turned and saw her, as well as a bunch of others all in gold armor rushing up to me. I quickly tried to get out of the chair but Saki grabbed me again!

  “Tama, they are your royal guard, you just need to let them be around you. Don’t worry, Tera won’t do anything.” She said quickly.

  I looked suspiciously at Tera, but after a moment I sighed and deflated in my chair. I grabbed a fry and tried to eat it. It turned to ash in my hands and I sighed and picked up the ‘spoon’ again.

  I heard footsteps and turned quickly to see Aunt Talia coming out of the back room with a large book. I paled and blinked behind Saki. “Saki, protect Tama from the book!” I said in terror.

  Aunt Talia ignored me and handed the book to Saki before saying. “This has the answers you need to handle that Dragon bitch. We need to set up some logistics and then you two as well as your Royal guard and the Regent.” As she said regent, she turned and looked at Alissa who was finagling with the ‘fork’ on the fries.

  Alissa paused, half a fry on the fork from stabbing it. “Silly Alissa! You don’t stab the fry! You picked it up gently from the bottom using the spoon!” I said happily as I showed her by using my spoon to lift another fry and eat it.

  Alissa watched me with wide eyes and I stood tall and proclaimed “Tama is the bestest…”

  ? “You mean best” Saki cut me off in an annoyed tone.

  “Nya! Tama is the best...est ever!” I finished.

  Saki sighed and just opened the large book. After a moment she frowned and her right eyebrow rose. She looked up at Aunt Talia and asked “You are certain this will work?”

  Aunt Talia nodded and opened her mouth to speak but Alissa cut her off. “Tama, I can’t get the spoon to pick up the fry! This is horrible! I must call upon my advisors!”

  ? I nodded seriously “Don’t worry Alissa, we have Saki here, and she is the smarterest.. er.. smartest!” I glanced over at Saki nervously and she nodded. I turned back to Alissa “That Tama knows!”

  Aunt Talia spoke up, ignoring the true problem and responding to Saki’s question. “Definitely. The true problem is we need to find it. It’s hidden deep within the Trelloark forest and no doubt Mantheria herself will be guarding it. But if we are able to get it out from under her, she is as good as dead.”

  Saki stood and began walking back and forth. She called it pacing. I think she just liked to make words up, but she was super smart so if anyone could make up words it would be her!

  She stopped after a minute and a smile crossed her lips. “Which means that we would need a good reason to visit Trelloark.” As she spoke she looked at Talia, eyes gleaming.

  Talia smiled back and nodded. “And of course, a royal delegation would be a very bad idea for the ancient dragon to attack as it would make enemies of all countries.”

  Saki was now nodding vigorously at the book. Then she frowned and shook her head. “But that seems too easy, how do we know she won’t react?”

  “I got it!” Alissa cried, her spoon finally lifting a fry to her mouth. Tears of joy streamed down her cheeks as she jumped and twirled in the air. Excited, I joined her. Saki grabbed my shoulder and shoved me back into my chair. No fun! I pouted.

  “Mantheria is many things,” Aunt Talia said, ignoring our chaos. “A schemer is one of them, and a very good one at that. She will react—but not openly. She has an obsession with the queen. If Tama can distract her long enough…” Her voice trailed knowingly.

  Saki immediately shook her head. “No. We are not risking Tama, our literal queen and only heir, on a gamble. We need something… foolproof.” Despite her words, her eyes never left the book.

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  I begged Aunt Talia valiantly for more fries while Saki stared at the book like it held the secrets of the universe. Finally, she looked up at me.

  “Tama, can I see your sword?” she asked seriously.

  “Nya! Of course!” I drew Serenity and gently handed it over. Saki jerked her hand back instantly, making Serenity clatter to the ground.

  “No, Tama! I said see it! You almost crushed my hand!” she snapped, though a small smile lingered.

  I picked up Serenity and held it out. Saki leaned in, studying the swirling patterns, her smile growing. “Tama… do you understand illusion magic?” she asked, tilting her head.

  “What exactly are you getting at, Saki?” Aunt Talia asked, arms crossed, eyes narrowed. “What do you intend to do with one of my greatest creations?”

  Saki smirked, taking a step back. Her smile faded for a second as she glanced around, whispering to herself, It’s okay. They all saw me during the battle, and Usaki’s been around. They have to know. She took a deep breath, bowed with a flourish, and then said, “It’s actually quite simple. You see…”

  An image of me appeared, hovering over her own body, holding a perfect fake of Serenity.

  “Saki thinks she would be better suited to handling this herself!”

  The room gasped. I didn’t—too busy fighting Alissa over the last fry.

  “You can’t be serious! She’ll see through the illusion instantly!” Aunt Talia said, deadly serious. “And revealing yourself now, in front of the entire guild hall? Are you insane?”

  Saki looked away, eyes watering behind the pretend me. I felt my rage bubble and let go of the fry. Aunt Talia blocked Serenity by less than an inch.

  “Nya! Take that back!” I shouted.

  “Tama, stop, it's fine. Look, I get it’s unlikely it will work, but it doesn’t need to be perfect. I have a way to make it a lot stronger for a short period.” Even as she said this, the fake me over her slowly became more solid until it looked like I was actually looking at myself.

  I looked on in shock. “Nya! When did Saki learn to transform! Well, she did pick the best form to become!” I proudly walked over and patted Tama’s shoulder. The moment I touched it however, Saki instantly turned back to herself. She winced and sighed.

  I frowned “Why did you stop?” my tail lashed angrily. Was my form that bad?!

  “I didn’t stop Tama, that form is a much stronger version of my normal illusions, but the trade off is it costs a lot, and I mean a lot of energy to maintain. It also can easily be broken by touch in any form.”

  “That.. might work. But it would need to happen after we arrive and definitely while Manna isn’t paying attention. Which will be very difficult with her Fuyu obsession.” Aunt Talia said thoughtfully.

  “Who is Fuyu?” I asked curiously.

  She looked down at me. “…You are Fuyu?”

  I looked back at her in confusion “But Tama is Tama not Fuyu!”

  Aunt Talia sighed and said “Technically, you’re supposed to use your first name for the middle nickname. You and Saki don’t follow norm’s. Look at Tera and myself. We use our first names. But that’s not important, I just called you Fuyu because there are two Tamaneko’s here and it will get confusing quickly if I call you Tama.

  “That’s okay, I know Tama is Tama, I already go by Alissa.” Alissa said matter of factly as she put another fry in her mouth. I frowned as I looked around and saw a whole new plate of fries on the table. But.. where had they come from?! How had I missed them?

  “There were two plates the whole time Tama, I was purposefully hiding the second one, when you tapped me it shattered both illusions. I was using it as practice.” Saki said in the most traitorous way possible.

  I glared at her as I grabbed a fry and it turned to ash in my hands. Saki smirked at me and I smirked back. I stepped forward before she could react. “No Ta..” Before she could finish, I blinked and we were standing outside.

  I blinked again and we were over one hundred feet in the air. I let go and watched her begin to drop. She screamed and tried to catch me. I backed up slightly so she couldn’t. “I’m sorry I won't do it again!” She screamed. I reached out and grabbed her, blinking us safely back to the ground. She fell to her knees and threw up.

  I gently patted her on the back before going back into the guild hall. Alissa was eating another fry. I glared at her, she glared back. I tackled her to the ground and we started fighting. Aunt Talia grabbed me and Alissa by our clothes and lifted us apart from each other.

  “You are literally a Princess and a regent of this country. Act more mature now!” She snapped at us. I glared at her and she simply raised an eyebrow, she turned us towards the fries, and said a word I didn’t understand.

  The fries were turned to ash and blown away instantly. I stared in horror at what Aunt Talia had done.

  I strained feebly against Aunt Talia, but she held me still for another moment before turning me to face her. “Tama, you are literally about to become Queen. You need to stop acting so childish. They are fries, nothing more! If you are truly so in love with them you can order as many as you want. You can even start a void cursed potato farm once you are crowned.”

  I froze at that, then I remembered Sensei had called all his pigs and the cages and everything a pig farm. My eyes instantly lit up as the idea of having a hundred potato farms that all made fries came to me. “SAKIIIIII” I yelled.

  Saki walked in, holding her head and her stomach. “Yes Tama, we can start a potato farm. But if you ever do that to me again I will burn them all myself. She snapped at me angrily.

  I winced and looked at Talia “Can she do that?!”

  Chapter 112: Paper and Words…