Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 26 – Sisterly Bonding

[Ovia POV]

I sat in Ellaria’s domain, waiting for her after she decided to step out for a moment. In order to occupy myself, I decided to check on Kierra.

…

“I… want to try that too…”

…

“What is this thing that you want to try now?” Ellaria called out as she came back into her domain with a pleased look spread across her face.

I pointed at the image of a fluffy little white fox curled up in someone’s lap that was floating just in front of me.

Ellaria walked up behind me so that she could see what I was pointing at.

“You do know that if you want to sleep in my lap like that,” She sat down next to me, “All you have to do is ask; my lap is always available to you.”

“N-no… that’s not it… I-I want… K-Kierra to sleep in m-my lap.”

Stop stuttering!

A Goddess shouldn’t be stuttering all the time.

“Alright then,” She chuckled as she pulled out a notebook, “Should I add it to your list then?”

“…”

I nodded. Instead of writing it down, Ellaria just stared at me in silence.

What?

Was I not supposed to say yes to that?

…

Did I… make another mistake?

“Did you pick that habit up from watching that little kitsune all the time?”

“…”

Ellaria came closer before brushing her hand against my cheek.

“I thought we went through this already? You’re going to try to help her open up a bit more. How are you going to do that if you also decide to stop talking?”

I tried to turn away from her, but she grabbed my head and held it in place.

W-what am I supposed to say here?

“I-I-I don’t know… It was your idea…”

She then let go of me and placed the notebook she was holding on my lap.

“That’s why we made the list. If you get stuck and don’t know what to do, you can just check the list and know exactly what to do.”

…

But…

“…what if I… mess it up again?…”

Ellaria then pulled me into a hug while encasing me in her tails.

“You need to stop being so hard on yourself,” she said, brushing my hair out of my face, “While your last meeting might not have been perfect, you still did some things right.”

What did I even do right?

I started by tackling her to the ground…

…

“Like, the name you decided to give her. She seemed to like it quite a bit.”

…

“But-”

Ellaria covered my mouth with her hand before I could finish talking.

“I’m telling you she liked it, not asking you if you think she did,” She removed her hand, “Although I have been wondering, how did you come up with the name? I would have expected a name like ‘Fluffy’ instead of Kierra.”

…

Fluffy… was one of the options…

…

Is it that bad?

…

“I-I had some help…” I blurted out.

“See, if you don’t-” She suddenly stopped talking, “Wait, you went and got help from someone? But you didn’t ask me… Who did you even ask?”

I don’t have to ask you… not every time…

“Beni… Beni helped me.”

“Beni?…” She closed her eyes for a moment while she thought, “Beni is… your Emissary of Darkness, with the bunny ears, right?”

I nodded, but she just stared back at me instead of continuing to talk.

…

“…Yes.”

“Guess I should give him a reward…” Ellaria turned and mumbled something to one of the Light Spirits in the room.

…

He didn’t do it all…

“I-I’m still the one who picked it… he just came up with new options…”

She turned back to face me, showing only a brief look of surprise before going right back to her usual smile.

“And you did a good job doing that,” She patted me on the head, “But why did you ask him of all people? I mean, I’m right here, and coming up with names is something I do quite a lot of as the Goddess of Titles.”

…

“H-he has travelled all over the place… I-I thought he would have some interesting ideas.”

“You do know-”

“I-I also didn’t want to b-bother you more than I needed to…” I panicked and cut her off before she could say anything.

…

Wait!

I-I didn’t mean to say that part!

Ellaria didn’t say anything and just looked down at me in silence for a moment.

“Sister… You know you can always ask me for help. When have I ever said no to you?”

“But-”

“That brings me back to what I was trying to say,” She interrupted me before I could respond, “If you ever don’t know the answer to something, you can always ask someone for help.”

…

But…

She suddenly pulled me in even closer.

“Now, I don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours, but I can definitely make a good guess,” She patted me on the head, “You need to stop being so hard on yourself and just… listen to your sister on this.”

…

Why can’t I just… be like you instead?…

You always know what to do…

…

I…

I just…

“I don’t know…” I mumbled.

“Well, if you don’t, who does?”

…

“You?”

She gently stroked my hair before speaking to me again.

“Come on now, you know that isn’t the answer I was looking for.”

What else am I supposed to do…

…

“I just… don’t know…”

“Look, I can see this is difficult for you, but you’ve already gotten much better at this.”

“…”

“I also know that you’re not going to stop here. No matter what you say now, you’ll just keep on trying in your own way.”

…

Why are you so confident?…

…

Can’t you just… give some of that confidence to me?

“You know what, I think I have something that’ll help cheer you up a bit,” She let me out of her tails and turned to grab something from behind her, “So… what do you think?”

Is that?

How?

“I asked around a bit and managed to get this done in time.” She answered as if she had read my mind.

She was holding up a black dress; it was frilled at the bottom and had a small white layer sticking out beneath it. I was looking at a copy of the dress Kierra wore, but it was much bigger than hers.

“Why did you-”

“You’re supposed to be meeting up again soon, right?” She started folding the dress back up, “I thought it would be fun for you two to wear matching outfits. I’m sure the little kitsune will enjoy it at least.”

…

Am I allowed to?

I didn’t ask her…

“It will also make you seem a bit more friendly than that outfit you wore last time.”

…

“…I thought it looked good…”

“It did look good on you, but it also looked quite… imposing, to put it lightly,” Ellaria said as she handed me the folded dress, “I would tell you to just dress how you normally do instead, but that’s probably not appropriate for her.”

…

Just thinking about how that would go caused my face to heat up.

“I-I’m definitely not doing that!”

Ellaria let out a small chuckle, “And I wasn’t asking you to.”

…

“Now, I should probably be letting you go soon,” Ellaria stood up and stretched.

Huh?!

“What?! Why?! I-I’m not ready yet,” I latched onto her arm, trying to make her sit back down, “S-she shouldn’t be c-coming back so s-soon.”

I-it’s too soon.

I-I still need to practise.

“Well, I might have given our little kitsune a slight… nudge, of a sort,” She said as she struggled to peel me off of her arm.

“W-why did you do that?!” I let go of her arm, “I-I need more time!”

T-this doesn’t work.

“You don’t need any more time; you’ve got your list to tell you what to do, the outfit you’re going to wear, and you even have that ‘gift’ you want to give her. What more do you need?”

“I-I need to practise. I-I don’t remember my lines…” I wrapped my hair around my hand and then clenched it into a fist.

“You need to stop talking about lines and the like,” Ellaria grabbed my hand, slowly prying open my fingers, “You’re just going to talk to her for a bit; you’re not putting on a rehearsed performance, okay?”

…

But…

I might say the wrong thing…

I-I’ll ruin it again…

Ellaria then pulled me into a hug once again.

“How about this? I’ll keep an eye on you two like last time and step in if you really need the help. Would that be better for you?”

…

I nodded, but this time, instead of staring at me, Ellaria just continued talking.

“Then I’ll do just that, alright?”

…

…

I stayed silent, just hugging Ellaria for a few minutes.

“Do you feel better now?”

“…Mhm.”

“Good, now you should head back to your place and get set up,” She put her hands on my shoulders and gently pushed me away from her, forcing me to let go.

“O-Okay… I-I’ll try…”

“That’s all I’m ever going to ask of you.”

…

I was about to leave but decided to stop for a moment and say something that was on my mind.

“Th-… Thank you… f-for helping me… e-even though I’m like this.”

“Like I’ve been telling you this whole time, it’s fine. I enjoy the extra bonding time with my sister, especially after all these years.”

“…Mhm.”

 I left her domain right after that, feeling a bit better than before.

…

Alright, Ovia…

You just… have to do it…

Y-you don’t have a choice.

…

It will go well this time.

…

It just… has to.