“I’m afraid Sidonia requested that only you enter, Alisson.”


    A tall knight clad in gold informed him. Tall was an understatement, the two golden guardians of Sidonia herself were inhumanly tall, they were more than thrice Alisson’s height.


    “Fine by me.” Alisson waved away their words.


    He instructed Celis to wait outside, and she bobbed her head subserviently. The large doors to Sidonia’s inner sanctum opened to reveal a large circular room. It had a high ceiling with the only source of light emanating from somewhere in the ceiling. Most of the room was covered in shadow except for the center. Alisson strode toward the center of the room, where sitting at a small tea table was the overlord of the Sidonian Empire; the Lady Sidonia. She had long white lochs and piercing blue eyes, her skin itself was also pale. Her body was most odd in that it was quite mature and motherly compared to other Nekomata. She wore only a simple white dress, and stared at him with a small smile as he approached.


    “I have returned, my Lady.”


    He gave a flare with his cloak and knelt with his hand on his heart. Sidonia kept on staring at him with a seemingly self-satisfied smirk for a few moments.


    “So Alisson, what do you have for me? You do know that you have gone against my orders in brazenly commandeering the Machavelli to come here?”


    Alisson stood without being given permission to rise, and looked at Sidonia in her eyes. “I believe it was in my authority and initiative to report to you as quickly as possible, my Lady. I will draft up a report in the coming days explaining in detail the events of the mission, but if you’d entertain me, I will summarize what is most important, and give to you what I believe is the largest fruit of my labor.”


    Sidonia nodded, still with a small smirk. “Please do, then.”


    Alisson took a deep breath. “The journey up the continent was not an unopposed one. Other than the normal difficulties faced on the road, Andestine was chasing us down.”


    Sidonia’s eyes widened a little, but then slipped back into her normal countenance.


    “They clearly knew of our intention, in that they met us and attempted to ambush us at several occasions, culminating in a large battle at Scratskoslovotskaya. We successfully reached and penetrated the Freigat Jungle, and inside we found what we were ordered to reconnoiter. However…”


    “You weren’t able to enter…”


    Sidonia put in. Alisson stared at her in silence for a moment. “That’s correct, my Lady. So, instead of cutting our losses and retreating, I acted to seek out a means of entrance to the structure. From the clues we could decipher, we ended up pinpointing a potential location in the Dead Zone.”


    Sidonia’s smile started to fade, and her eyes started to widen, if only so slightly.


    “Within the Dead Zone, we found what we were looking for.” Alisson slipped off his pack that he had vehemently worn and protected all this way, and placed it before Sidonia with a heavy thud.


    “This isn’t…”


    Sidonia muttered. Alisson gave her another deadpan stare before continuing. He lifted the item of conversation from the bag; It was a black metal cylinder that looked industrially made.


    “This item is what I believe to be the key to entering the structure you have pointed me toward, Sidonia.”


    He held it up for Sidonia to see. Her face was blank and her mouth was parted. “This is the most important thing I can tell you.” Alisson continued, “Whatever structure that is, Andestine was after it too, but now, I believe we have the edge on them.”


    Sidonia waved over an attendant from the shadows, who looked pale and lifeless. Alisson handed the cylinder to them, whom held it silently beside Sidonia.


    Sidonia shook her head slightly. “You have done a great service to me, Alisson, this, let no one doubt…”


    “I was merely doing my duty, my Lady. There are smaller, secondary items of interest I have found, if you would permit my apprentice to enter, I would also like to show them to you in person, although I believe summoning Marenix may be wise as some of them are quite scientific. I believe they will do well to better our understanding and advancement in the sciences.”


    Sidonia tepidly nodded, still processing Alisson’s earlier words. “Report to Marenix in your own time regarding that. Your instincts about this,” Sidonia motioned to the canister that the servant beside her now held, “Being the most important fruit of your journey, is correct. Because of this…We will be able to strike at Andestine, we will be able to win.”


    Alisson stared dully at her. Win or lose. What did it matter? That’s all she cared about.


    “Rest up, then. You’ve earned it. In time you will be sent to Queendom, seeing as though you’ve sabotaged the operation there…” Sidonia smiled at Alisson.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    “If there are no administrative things you need to inform me of personally, then I will take my leave, my Lady.”


    Alisson began to turn away, again, not waiting for Sidonia’s dismissal.


    “How did that apprentice of yours fair?”


    She asked, her old smugness returning to her. Alisson halted his motion, and looked back to Sidonia.


    “That apprentice is Celistine Regadonia. I will be promoting her to a full-fledged member of the 51^st for her performance. That is all.”


    Sidonia’s eyes seemed to brighten in luminosity, and her smug smile deepened. “You are aware you need permission from me to promote an individual into an elite unit?”


    “Permission that I’m sure you will grant, with all due respect my Lady. Trust me when I say that apprentice is more than she was when we departed. My report should make her growth clear. Now if you’ll excuse me, me and my apprentice will be resting for the night. I believe we’ve earned it.”


    Sidonia hummed a little, but whisked her hand at Alisson, dismissing him, and leaned back into her chair as she watched him turn and exit the chamber.


    A Kitsune emissary quickly entered thereafter, “Your Majesty Sidonia, a message from Queen Tsuhagara!”


    The doors closed quickly thereafter behind Alisson.


    ...


    The welcome back to the Nuam Keep, Alisson’s home, was not as grand as one might expect. Before him and Celis, merely two servants bowed subserviently.


    ““Welcome home, master.””


    The truth was that these two servants, young twins whom Alisson had rescued off the streets of a backwater city, had been the only residents of the Nuam Keep. Of course, there were other noble families and close cousins and other Nuam affiliated bureaucrats, but with his father away from Sidonia with much of the house, there wasn’t much reason to be here. Regardless, the two servants had kept the keep in extraordinary condition. There wasn’t even a speck of dust that lined the intricately woven carpets or any of the immaculate furniture.


    Before him and Celis could settle in for the night however, his servants informed him of the current political situation with the houses of Sidonia; Things like which nobles had been married, new children of important families, and nobles who had expressed a want to meet with Alisson in the time that he had been away.


    Among them, Lady Salchyon, whom apparently only poked her head inside the Keep to make sure everything was ‘okay’. It seemed that everyone was expecting him and Lady Salchyon to duel; for in the time that Alisson had been away:


    Lackadaisical, the best swordsmen in Sidonia, went missing in action. Ardinand Li Arquis took his spot, and Lady Salchyon for the time being leap-frogged Alisson, and was now considered the second best. However, now that Alisson was back in Sidonia, a duel was in order to see who was really the second best.


    What a bother. It seemed people were very excited to see them fight, and that rumors of a duel had been blown up into a full blown expectation. Louise Alderon Salchyon and him were childhood friends, but were polar opposites, despite this they had never quarreled or fought, so a public duel like this was quite the spiced entertainment.


    At the end of the servant’s long report, they had an uneasy expression.


    “Master. We have a…request…”


    “We have a request, master…”


    The two said tepidly, averting their gazes from Alisson and shifting uneasily on their feet. Alisson motioned for them to continue, and they shyly went on,


    ““Would you allow us to hug you, master?””


    How could Alisson refuse? He let them do as they wished with a gentle smile.


    …


    “Master, the bath will be ready soon. In the meantime, here is the drink you requested.”


    Celis looked quizzically at Alisson. “Alcohol?”


    He nodded. “We deserve some frivolities, Celis.” He replied, motioning for the servant to come closer with the plate of drinks.


    Within in his own keep, in his own room, with Celis and his servants by his side, Alisson couldn’t possibly feel much more at peace and ease as he already did. It was a far cry from being…Well, anywhere they had been in the past few months, really.


    “Isn’t this too much…?”


    Celis asked as the servant poured them glasses from a bottle from his family’s personal collection. It was quite an expensive bottle to be enjoyed by a mere apprentice like Celis; she must’ve felt a little wrong. However, Celis was no mere apprentice.


    “You’re a member of the core Nuam household for all I care, Celis. Don’t worry about it.” He smiled at her.


    The servant pouring the drink narrowed their eyes at Celis, perhaps wondering if she would have to treat Celis with as much respect as Alisson into the future; As not a simple guest and apprentice…But as a member of the family. After preparing the drinks, the servant bowed and left, leaving him and Celis alone in his quarters. Alisson lifted a glass up, and smiled at Celis.


    “Well, bottoms up.”


    …


    It didn’t take very long for Alisson to become a giggly mess on my lap. I can see why he never drank up north…I feel a bit dizzy and overly happy, but not to Alisson’s degree. I could feel acutely that my face was blushed red, and I wore only a dumb little smile as I looked at Alisson as he nuzzled my thigh.


    “You’re really soft without your armor on…”


    He purred.


    “You are too, Alisson…” I pet his hair, and he giggled a little.


    On Alisson’s bed, petting him like this…This is bliss…This would’ve been what I described as heaven a couple months ago, but here I am. Life sure is different back here in civilization. Even up north when we had moments of rest, in an inn or out camping, we didn’t waste any time with just enjoying ourselves like this.


    On instinct I leaned in and gave Alisson a deep kiss which he reciprocated. The motion must have made him quite happy, because out came his Opensen with a flash of light; Atop his head appeared cat ears and two tails rose into the air. I grinned deviously and manifested my own Opensen, and playfought Alisson’s tail’s with my own, wrestling with them. The tails twisted and wrapped around each other, much like our bodies. We were quickly entangled in a playful wrestle, hugging and cuddling like children, or maybe clawless kittens.


    It looks like we’ll have some time before we’re to depart for the Queendom on Sidonia’s orders. In that time, there’s a lot of bureaucratic housekeeping to handle, having been away so long. I just hope we can keep being like this into the future, even away from Sidonia…But seeing as though we can be so happy even now, with enemies all around us, I think we’ll be just fine…


    “Celis…Do you think we’ll have children together?”


    The question caught me off guard, but I gently smiled into his eyes. “…How many do you want?”


    He blushed with a smile of his own, averting his eyes. “If we manage to get through this…and live together on a homestead out in Siphrine or Piedzé…We should just start with one. I’d like to bring them up well and strong…I wouldn’t want to divide my attention with my own flesh and blood…”


    I stroked his cheek as he thought aloud. The Alisson I knew in the months prior would never have talked like this, or even considered a peaceful happy ending. I’m glad I’m here.


    ***