◇Houghtow City—Flio's House◇
Early in the morning, Blossom stepped outside through the front door of
Flio's house. "Right, then!" she said, stretching mightily before setting off
down the road leading off into the distance. "Another day of workin' hard
on the farm!" She walked on by the pasture at the side of the road where
Sleip and Byleri looked after the equine magic beasts and continued
towards the vast acres of farmland under her management.
"Blossom!"
As she was walking, Blossom heard a voice calling to her from behind.
She turned around to see Balirossa, accompanied by Sybe.
"Heya, Balirossa!" Blossom said. "You're up early today!"
"I suppose I am," said Balirossa. "I wanted to go on a hunting
expedition with Sybe today, you see."
"Bwor! Brawor!" Sybe cried cheerfully.
"I see..." said Blossom, hanging her head in exaggerated sorrow. "Then I
suppose I won't have anyone to help me with today's harvest, huh..."
Sybe's good cheer vanished instantly at Blossom's declaration, worry
and concern taking its place. "Come now, Blossom, you shouldn't bully
Sybe!" Balirossa objected, frowning as she hugged the psychobear and
patted its head. "Besides, you take him with you nearly every morning.
Surely you can spare him sometimes."
"I know, I know—I'm just kidding," Blossom said, changing her
expression on a dime to a mischievous grin. Smiling, she gave Sybe a few
firm pats on the head.
"Bwowf!" said Sybe, happily nuzzling his cheek against Blossom's. He
was so much larger than her, though, that Blossom had to plant her legs
firmly in the ground and brace herself not to be pushed off her feet.
Balirossa, for her part, couldn't quite stifle a bit of laughter at the sight.
"Y'know..." said Blossom. "Things sure have changed around here."
"Yes, you're quite right," Balirossa agreed. "When we first moved to
this land with Sir Flio, there was nothing as far as the eye could see."
"Hey, whaddaya mean nothing?" objected Blossom. "We had my little
hobby garden already by that point."
"Aha ha," Balirossa laughed, gazing at the cultivated fields that
stretched out before her. "Yes, I suppose we did. But that little garden grew
into something completely absurd..." In the distance, she could see the
mountain where Ura and the rest of his village lived. Blossom's farm now
extended all the way to that mountain and halfway up its slope. "By the
way, Blossom," she added. "There's something I've been meaning to ask..."
"Hm? What is it, Balirossa?"
"When are you and Mister Ura and Kora going to officially become a
family?"
Blossom sputtered in shock, taken off guard by Balirossa's blunt line of
questioning. "A-Ack! Ahem! Wh-What're you doing asking something like
that outta the blue?"
"Well..." Balirossa hesitated. "Perhaps I've misread the situation, but it
seems to me that the three of you have become rather intimate of late. I was
certain things were going in that direction. Am I wrong?"
"I-I mean..." said Blossom, unsure how to respond. "Well... How do I
put this...?" As she stood there dithering, however, who should appear in
front of them but Kora. "Huh?! K-Kora?!" Blossom exclaimed as the girl
came running up, wrapping her arms tight around Blossom's leg.
"Morning, mom..." Kora said, a blush coming to her cheeks.
"A-Ah..." said Balirossa, apparently reaching an understanding. "WWell, I should go take Sybe on our hunting trip. Have a good time with your
family, Blossom. I'll see you later." With that, she and Sybe took their
leave.
Blossom could only frown after Balirossa as she left. "Well..." she said,
gently patting Kora's head as she clung to her leg. "it's not like I haven't
been thinking the same thing myself, I suppose."
Kora smiled with delight as Blossom, looking down at her with a
complicated expression, patted her hair.
◇Some Time Later—Flio's Workshop◇
Behind Flio's house was a building he used as a workshop, for projects
too large scale to work on in his room, or jobs involving dangerous
merchandise or the like.
"E-Excuse me!" said Blossom, poking her head in the workshop's
entrance. "Mister Flio? Are you here?"
"Oh! Hello, Blossom!" said Flio. "I'm just working on something.
Would you like to come in?"
"Well, all right..." Blossom said, opening the door all the way and
stepping through. Inside, she found Flio casting some sort of spell on an
enormous clay figure. "Wh-What's that? It's huge!"
"Oh, this?" said Flio. "I had the idea to create a golem that's capable of
repairing castle walls." He paused his spellcasting and flew through the air
down to where Blossom was standing. "So, you have something you
wanted to talk about? Is it about the farm?"
"O-Oh, no, not that..." Blossom said. She shook her head. "I'm no good
at this kinda stuff. I've been agonizing for a while about what I should
do...so I figured I should ask your opinion, Mister Flio, if you're willing to
hear me out..."
"Of course," said Flio. "You can ask me anything, if you think my
advice can help."
"Th-Thank you very much..." Blossom said, bowing deep. Then she
lifted her head and tried to speak. Alas, her embarrassment must have
gotten the best of her. She stood there, face bright red, hemming and
hawing and stumbling over her words. "Erm, well... That is... You see..." It
seemed she wasn't about to get it out anytime soon.
Flio waited patiently, smiling his usual easygoing smile, doing his best
not to put any unnecessary pressure on Blossom.
Rys, however, had a different idea.
"That's it!" she declared, charging into the workshop. "I've had just
about all I can stand of this!" She must have overheard their conversation
from outside and lost her patience with Blossom's sudden inability to speak
a proper sentence. She barged right up to Blossom, shoving her face up
close to hers without any regard for Blossom's personal space. "So, you
wanted to talk about Ura and Kora, did you? Hm?"
"Ghrk..." Blossom choked. "H-How did you...?"
"It was obvious," said Rys. "You've been looking wistfully up at the oni
mountain whenever you have a spare moment lately, even in the middle of
your farmwork. You've been sharing a bed with Kora, always looking like
you have something on your mind... Did you really think we hadn't
noticed?"
Blossom flinched back in the face of Rys's tirade. Despite her distress,
however, she steeled herself and lifted her head, meeting Rys's eyes.
"A-Actually, I've been thinking lately that I'd rather like to be Kora's
mom. S-So..." For a second she stumbled over her words, but she raised her
head once more and tried again. "W-Well...you see, Ura says Kora's actual
mom was one of the fairy folk, which is why she had such a short life span.
I looked it up, and it turns out fairy folk only live for about thirty years.
Now oni life spans vary quite a bit depending on the specific lineage from
what I hear, but even a short-living oni species has a life span of easily over
a hundred years. Ura's one hundred percent oni, so he'll probably live quite
a while, but Kora's half oni as well. She'll probably live a fairly long life,
I'd imagine..."
Having said that much, Blossom apparently lost her ability to speak
entirely, opening her mouth again and again only to close it without saying
anything as Rys stared intently at her, arms folded. Flio, however, placed a
hand gently on Blossom's shoulder. "That's fine, isn't it?"
"Huh?" said Blossom, confused by Flio's sudden words.
"I mean," said Flio, "I think it's fine that way."
Blossom's eyes opened wide in understanding. Rys, however, seemed
confused. "Excuse me..." she said, furrowing her brow. "What exactly do
you mean by that...?"
"Blossom is a human, right?" Flio explained. "The average human life
span is around fifty years or so. Blossom's struggling to decide if it would
be right for her to be Kora's mother, when Kora is almost certainly going to
live longer than that. She's worried about leaving her without a mother for a
second time."
"Ah..." said Rys, nodding her head in understanding. "I see..."
"And so," said Flio, turning back to Blossom, "my advice to you is that
it's fine."
Blossom could only stare.
"Kora wants to be with you, Blossom. There's no mistake there. And
you want to be with Kora, and her father Ura, don't you?"
Blossom mutely nodded.
"So just enjoy the time you have together to the fullest," Flio said,
smiling his usual easygoing smile as he patted Blossom on the shoulder.
"That's what's important, I think."
Blossom gave it some thought. "You're right..." she said at last. "Yeah.
You're right!" Suddenly, she realized that she had been crying. "Thank you,
Mister Flio! Madame Rys!" She wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'll be back
in a second!" And with that, she left the workshop at a run. Flio and Rys
watched her go, smiling fondly.
"That girl needs all the help she can get, doesn't she?" said Rys.
"She worries so much because her feelings are serious," said Flio. "Or,
that's what I think, at least."
"Well, I suppose I can understand where she's coming from..." Rys said.
"Still..." She leaned forward and planted a kiss on Flio's cheek. "For my
part, I have no regrets."
"Rys..." said Flio.
The two gazed into each other's eyes for a moment before kissing each
other tenderly on the lips. Outside the workshop, they could hear Blossom's
footfalls fading off into the distance.