I open my eyes to see Selina staring down at me with worry all over her face. I groan as my hand still feels as if it's on fire "Leon?! You're not dead!" I look at her with a confused expression and she takes that as a chance to explain "Don't you remember when I said I thought that bee might have been a killer bee? Well, it wasn't, because you're still alive!" She happily hugs me and I blandly cheer "Yay?" She lets go after a few moments and I notice the red mark on my hand where the bee had stung me, it had swollen slightly and was red for about an inch in diameter.
I look back at Selina then at the rest of the empty carriage "Where are Violet and Josephine? Did you arrive in the city?" Selina smiles at him and quickly pulls out some bandages she had "Ill tell you as I cover up this swollen hand. So we all arrived safely in town, Josephine went to do her business and the others all checked into the nearest Inn for the night, we all explored the town together that night and once we all went to bed, I realized I forgot you in the carriage."
I look at her and roll my eyes and sigh "So, I went back this morning and I found you just like this, then as I was tending to the wound, you started shifting a lot so I stopped and watched you wake up." I wrap my head around whatever I can and ignore the rest as she finishes my wrappings "So why didn't any of the other girls mention me or notice I was gone?" Selina laughs awkwardly and grabs my other hand, and pulls me out of the carriage.
"Let's go get some breakfast and Ill explain while we eat." I let myself get dragged out of the cabin and out of the storeroom for the carriage "You all really forgot me, just like that?" Selina stops for a moment then thinks "Well, didn't we already forget you once before?" I know that's a different story but I sigh and just go along with it as we go to get breakfast.
While Selina chopped down on the mini honeypies that go as a breakfast food in this town, I watched and waited for her to start explaining "So. Basically, I didn't remember what happened to you. And that was what. We all were looking for in the town." I got most of her sentence through her full mouth, as I laugh and sigh relief "I thought maybe you all had temporarily completely forgotten me, and your amnesia was getting worse."
I start eating some of a mini honeypie from the side of Selina's plate as she smiles and gives me a thumbs-up before diving back into her food "Well, I think I should go inform them that I'm not dead or missing, where are they?" Selina looked up with her cheeks full of food "Well, they all thought you might have left us so they might still be in the Inn room." I stand and leave the rest of my money on the table for Selina to pay up with and I head out.
I pass a few interesting shops and a few unpleasant buildings as I find the Inn and walk inside. When I arrive in the room, Josephine is standing there with Naomi sleeping on the bed and Violet pouting in the corner "Hey, I'm back, I'm not dead." Violet looks up at me and walks over and asks me so quietly I almost couldn't hear her "Did you really spend the night in a love hotel? You know, I'm here for you anytime right?" I look at her with a confused look "No, I didn't go to a love hotel, I was just left in the carriage asleep."
Violet brimmed with happiness as she hugged me tightly and cheered "Yay! You didn't leave me!" I sigh blandly as I mutter to myself "Why is this so familiar?" Josephine walks up to me and sets her notes down "I see your back, I wanted to explain why I was here this morning but you weren't present." I look at her and sit down on the edge of the bed without Naomi sleeping on it "Go ahead and explain it now then, I have plenty of time."
Josephine sits next to me and Violet hops onto my free side "What I came here to do is gather some honey for some major building projects out of honey sculptures." I looked at her confused, I thought I might have heard her wrong "Honey sculptures? I thought you might have come here to gather some rare material but its just honey." Josephine laughs and looks back at me "Yes, honey sculpting is a somewhat odd form of art but its still apart of my job if I need to build one."
Josephine explained how she got a weird request to sculpt a honey brick but she accepted it and continued to procure ingredients. I didn't agree with her always accept policy but after some protest, Naomi woke up and we all decided to take a walk.
Josephine split off from the group once we reached the marketplace because the market was exactly what she needed for a honey sculpture. Selina soon joined us once she found us and together we all explored the town "Leon, I found this really amazing place, we have to go there again." Violet grabbed my hand and started dragging me, Naomi nodded in agreement and dragged me too.
Once we reached the big front doors, I shook my head in decline "No, I can't go in there. I'm fine." Selina pushed my back and I ended up inside the hot springs bathhouse. I knew coming in here would be asking for a bad misunderstanding to happen but I remained careful and nothing happened, since I entered a private bath. I relaxed and sighed as I loosened my shoulder and chilled in the steamy water when I heard the door open and feet patter up and splash into the water in front of me.
I look at what made the ripple and Selina pokes her head out of the water "Hey Leon, we got the same private bath, it seems." Naomi walks up and sits on the edge of the pool, near me and Violet walks up and sits on my other side "Shouldn't you all be getting into the women's bath?" Naomi took the turn to answer for them "I think we can all agree when I say, men peeked too much into our side, and no man is allowed to see our bodies without proper consent first."
I sigh and sink into the water, trying to relax "What about me? I'm a guy too, plus I can see all of your bodies." Selina gives a response I didn't expect "Well, your different, plus you're not even looking, you're already used to our bodies." Violet smiled down on me and continued "Plus, we all wanted to talk to you about your past this time."
I sigh and close my eyes and think for a moment "OK, but its not that happy of a story so expect to be pleased with it." I could tell they all smiled when I cracked a smile too and adjusted to sitting up to talk properly "First, I was born in another world, one where technology was far more advanced and society was completely different from this one. I was never treated like a proper person due to my illness, I was left by my parents once my illness started effecting my skills in life."
I look up at the ceiling and continued after a short pause "I didn't get along with people well, whenever I met someone who didn't mind the illness, my coincidental defect made them laugh so I usually cut ties after that." I look over at Violet then to Selina, neither looked happy with the story "That's my story on a basic scale, I left out details but that's the main picture til I got here."
Naomi was the first to speak after my story "Well, Im happy that you told me and that your life was like that." I looked at her with a puzzled look and she elaborated "If you hadn't faced those hardships, you never would have made it here to meet us, I don't like that you had to face them but its worth it to me if I get to meet you." I found her comment oddly comfortable and Violet and Selina both agreed, I smiled brightly and replied to her comment "Well, Im glad I got you meet you girls too, you all are the best thing of my life."
Violet giggles as she gets the joke, but Naomi and Selina both just wait for me to explain, I shrug and give up as I feel Violet lean in and hug me, it feels warm from the hotsprings' water. Soon, Selina and Naomi join in and I hug them all back, trying not to feel too pleasured by their hug.