Chapter 189: Chapter 196: Mind Games.

“How far away is Kasesh again?” Lu asked, already looking like a board little kid anxious to arrive at the destination.

Leaning back in his seat Airsidh continued to just ignore her, leaving me to give an answer. Repeating what he had said earlier and thinking back to the maps I had seen it seemed surprising it took so long, but I figured Airsidh knew what he was talking about. “It’s about three days by carriage. We’ll cross over two rivers and through a mountain pass. Before any of that though, we’ll take a boat from Nayana, the town in our territory, over to Nayameer, its sister city in the west, ruled over by Mom's family. That way we won’t have to cross the nation of whatever, which owns the land between us.

My eyes focused in on her unconsciously and I saw goosebumps form all down her arms. “O-oh… So we're going to Gramma’s house?”

I squinted, still trying to get used to my eyes, unable to control them as they constantly adjusted focus and zoom. It was starting to make my head hurt. “Is there like a big bad wolf there or something?” I muttered, trying to look to Air.

He paused, clearly not getting the reference, although I couldn’t blame him. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. You’ve never met them I guess.” a wide mischievous grin crossed his face. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll have fun, just like Lu did.”

She suddenly sat up straight as if our mom had just caught her stealing one of my honey biscuits, only looking much more embarrassed, rather than guilty, and covering her chest with her arms. “C-can we not talk about that?”

‘What’s with that ration… That’s the first time I think I’ve ever seen her look like that…’

Our brother let out a sigh as if for once he was conflicted about his teasing. “Just don’t ask Gramma to train you, or at least if you do, be prepared for the consequences.”

Lu wouldn’t say a word as she pulled her feet up to the seat and turned to face the door, now as timid as a mouse.

‘Ok… I’m gonna need more information… Actually, I really don’t know anything about them…’ “Gramma fought with her bare hands, right? I think I remember Mom telling me that’s how she learned. It would be pretty useful for you two to get some pointers from her since you both suck at it. I wouldn’t mind seeing what she has to say about my skills either.” ‘Can her training be that horrible? I mean… Relatively speaking well… Maybe… I don’t want to know after all…

After a bit of slurred mumbling Lu finally raised her voice enough for me to understand her. “Grama is… really scary…”

‘She’s… Scary? Like, more than Keigan?’ “I guess… It would take a special kind of person to kill monsters with you’re bare hands, so that makes sense…” Watching Lu shudder was starting to make me nervous. ‘Should I be planning how to hide from her…’

She suddenly grabbed a blanket from under her seat and wrapped it around her shoulders.

“I thought you weren’t scared of anything?” I gulped, unsure of whether I should tease her or be truly concerned.

She pulled the blanket around herself tightly. “Not scared… More like… Well, whatever, just try not to get her excited…”

I turned back to Air. “Translation?”

He glanced down at Lu with another sigh before flinging her across the carriage over to my bench with one hand. Midflight, and even after landing she was frozen stiff like a cartoon puppy. “She’s embarrassed and wants a hug because while she was training naked in the woods with Gramma some boys saw her.”

The fact that there was so much to unpack in that one sentence made me unable to respond. All I could do was catch her to make sure she didn’t fall and hit her head… The carriage was still moving after all. My veins burned from how fast my manna shot through them, but after I set her down it quickly subsided.

“I-I don’t need a hug!” She yelled, pushing me away.”

‘Not denying anything else though?’

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She huddled up in the corner, so I moved away as well to give her some space. “That sounds rough…” I honestly didn’t know what to say… My whole family seemed a bit off in one way or another, so honestly I was a bit afraid to ask. Of course, my brother being completely incapable of feeling any tension at all, casually explained anyway.

“She was a berserker from the mountains, so her method of training was as primal as the wilds she grew up in. Strip naked and go fight bears, that kind of thing.”

“Sounds intense…” I glanced back over to Lu. ‘She fought a bear with her hands? No… actually I could see that… I’ve seen her split rocks.’ “So Lu asked for some training, being her quirky battle-crazed self, and Gramma trained her the way she learned to fight. Is that about right?” I finished piecing the story together on my own.

“Needless to say she didn’t know what she was getting into.”

I let out a small sigh of my own as she covered her head with the blanket. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this embarrassed, I’d hate to see how she looked during the event.’ “And while they were training, that’s when you showed up?”

He turned his eyes back out the window. “Oh, no, it wasn’t me. I doubt she’d give it a second thought if it had been.”

“... That’s a bold statement…”

Without turning, his eyes moved over to my face, his expression still as unfazed as ever. “Well, it’s not like it would have been the first time. Mom was with you and Keigan was gone, so I practically raised her…” He glanced over at her. “I guess you two grew a lot in the past few years though so you might be right. Well… At the very least I would have had the decency to turn away instead of gawking.”

The more I heard the more uncomfortable It made me. “Maybe… We shouldn’t talk about this right now…” ‘Honestly, that sounds kind of traumatic… Not just a little embarrassing. Especially with how she’s reacting…’

“Just give her a hug, she’s too awkward to admit she wants one, and she’s tough enough that’s all she needs.”

‘And in all likelihood, you weren’t able to comfort her at all right? Given how she reacts to these things… I bet she’d try and bite him…’

“I’m perfectly fine! You don’t have to treat me like a little kid you know!” She yelled, looking like a little kid, wrapped in a blanket and pouting in the corner of the carriage.

“Yeah, I know… Kids can’t break stone walls with their fists… I am here if you need me though…”

“What I need is to change out of this freaking dress! If the whole thing was tight like my armor it would be fine! But it feels like my chest is hanging out!”

I froze stiff, once again feeling more embarrassment from her words than she did. Of course, it didn’t help that we were wearing the same thing. “Lu… You’re not supposed to say that stuff out loud…” I don’t know how he managed to ignore it all, but for once I was thankful for Air’s poker face… If he made any sort of expression at all I might have started to lose it.

She took a deep breath, letting the blanket fall to her side and turning her back to the carriage wall. Letting out a groan, she tugged at the fabric over her chest.

‘Wait… Is she not… Do I really have to ask this?’ “Lu, you… Know you’re supposed to wear something underneath it right?”

“What?”

‘You’ve got to be kidding… Well, I guess if she was raised by a four-year-old version of Mr unresponsive that makes sense…’

Airsidh slowly leaned forward, clearing his throat. “I trust you can take it from here? I’m going to step out now.”

Without the carriage stopping he opened the door and jumped out in a flash, calmly closing it behind him. ‘There's no way this was all just a roundabout way of getting me to notice that was it? Well… It’s Air… I can’t decide if that was cool or creepy… I mean, he could have just told me… Then again she’s headstrong enough that a direct confrontation wouldn’t do anything… Is that why he made her so embarrassed?’

Letting out a deep sigh I stopped my train of thought before it spiraled and overheated my brain. ‘I’m way overthinking this. She may have been raised by a boy only four years older than her, but our mom literally helped us put these on.’ I thought back to that morning… ‘Mom… Helped me put it on…’

After catching my eyes staring at her she quickly turned away again, acting like a little mouse trying to hide.

‘She’s such a kid.’ It was a weird thought, considering how much better she filled out her dress than I did, even despite them both being custom-tailored… But I was trying not to think about that.

I reached down and pinched some of the fabric of my own dress between my fingers. “She is right though… I wish the whole thing was stiff leather. I’ll just help her when we get to Nayan, which should be pretty soon anyway. The fabric over the bust is thin, so the sooner the better.’ I let out a deep sigh trying to shake off the last of the embarrassment I still felt. “No wonder mom is always so worried about you…” ‘geez…’

“She’s always been like that…” I heard her voice crack as the blanket fell off her head and settled around her neck. “She’s hardly ever around to do anything with me, but then tells me I can’t do the things I want to do alone… And now she won’t be around at all…”

‘And another can of worms opens up…’ I paused, waiting to see how she’d react. By the shift in her voice, I almost thought she’d start crying, but instead, she just leaned against the window, wistfully looking at the passing scenery.

“Yeah… I’ll miss her too,” I muttered.

“That’s not it! I don’t! It’s not like she died or something!”

‘She’s defensive about that now too? Air was right, awkward for sure, but he left out the stubborn part… Well, It’s not like this will be very hard either though…’ “Hey Lu…”

“Wh-what now?”

“I’m cold, so give me your blanket.”

“What! No way. You already have one.”

“Fine, then let's share.” I scooched closer and put the blankets together. “This way I get both of them, and you don’t have to give up yours.”

She let out an uncomfortable groan after trying to shift away, but quickly realized she was already at the edge of the bench. “O-ok…”

Really it was just an excuse to give her a hug. Given her attitude, there was no way she would have let me normally, but it was fine. I was starting to know her pretty well too. Honestly, cozying up like that was way better than a hug anyway. It felt nice and warm, almost making me want to doze off again, even though it was still before noon. In the end, I got my pillow back, making me feel a bit selfish, but it worked out for the best.’