Chapter 1100: Invited Over

That evening, Kaiden was comfortably wedged between Aria and Nyx on a sofa in the Abyssal Palace when Alexandra brought Taigi into the lounge.

He straightened at the sight of his commander, expecting a report about the Japanese entrance. Instead of armor, she wore a dark green tunic over loose trousers, and her fingers were busy with the end of her sash.

"My lord..."

"Taigi. Come in. Is everything alright?"

"Yes! Yes, my lord. Everything is well."

She took a step toward him, then stopped to glance at the women beside him.

"I was hoping... If you have a little time to spare?"

Aria lifted her arm from behind his shoulders, allowing him to rise. As he approached Taigi, the commander wound the sash around her fingers again, pulling it tight enough to crease the fabric.

"Of course. What’s on your mind?"

"My people would like to speak with you. Before the applicants begin arriving, while we still have the opportunity to gather together. We hoped you might visit the settlement."

"I’d be happy to."

"Your ladies as well, if they would... We would be honored to receive everyone."

He looked down at the cloth trapped between her hands, wondering what could possibly make asking him to visit require this much courage. She met his eyes at last, her hopeful expression making him smile.

Kaiden rested his hands on her shoulders.

"Taigi, stop shaking. I’m more than happy to spend some time with my people."

Her fingers loosened around the sash.

"Your people," she repeated softly.

"Unless you’ve found somebody better while I was sitting here." Kaiden grinned.

Her eyes widened with alarm. "Never, my lord!!!"

The answer came so quickly that he laughed.

Taigi finally managed to smile back, the pleasure spreading across her face.

"Then let me get everyone."

Behind him, Aria and Nyx were already getting up, while Alexandra offered to help Taigi gather the others.

By the time Kaiden returned with Alice and Bastet, the family had assembled by the palace doors. Calypso was adjusting the collar of Yunohana’s dress with great concentration, earning a patient smile from the shrine maiden, while Luna waited beside them with her hands in her pockets.

"Everybody ready?" he asked.

"Very," Calypso answered, letting Yunohana go. "Lead on, Commander~"

Taigi bowed to the family, then turned toward the path into the forest.

...

Kaiden smelled the cooking before the houses came into view.

Woodsmoke drifted between the trees, carrying the scent of roasting meat and herbs. With Aria’s and Bastet’s hands tucked into his, he followed Taigi past the first timber homes toward a clearing bright with lanterns.

Long tables filled its center. Steam rose from covered pots beside a cooking fire, and woven cloths hung between the posts supporting the lights.

His people stood waiting for him.

Warriors had gathered with their families, their armor put aside for the evening. Behind them, older villagers waited beside the cooks, who had left their ladles resting against the pots. Conversations stopped as Taigi led him into the clearing.

Kaiden slowed, looking from their faces to the tables. He had expected a visit. They had prepared an occasion, and the care they had put into it was already making him feel terribly spoiled.

Taigi turned to face him with her people at her back.

"My lord, we would like to thank you for the oath you made."

Her voice carried across the clearing. She held herself upright now, her hands still at her sides as she spoke for them.

"You had already given us a home. You gave us strength, work we could be proud of, and the freedom to choose what we wished to become. We were happy to follow you. We trusted you with our lives."

He remembered her tears beneath the golden terms, after the dungeon promised that her people would remain safe if he lost his authority.

"You could have accepted that trust and asked nothing more of yourself," Taigi continued. "Instead, you bound your own authority so that we would always be protected. Even from you."

Her voice shook on the last words. Beside Kaiden, Aria tightened her hold on his hand.

"We knew the goodness of your heart, my lord. But to see how much our lives matter to you..."

Taigi swallowed, smiling through the difficulty of finishing.

"We wanted you to know how much yours matters to us."

She bowed to him. Behind her, the gathered villagers followed, their voices rising together.

"Thank you, my lord!"

Kaiden was deeply moved by the sight. He had wanted to give them a promise they could trust. They had spent their evening preparing to thank him for it, gathering their families so they could tell him together.

"Thank you," he said, looking across the gathering as they straightened. "I’m very glad to be here with you. All of us are."

Then, chuckling, he added, "Though I think you’ve been keeping a few things from me."

The commander looked toward the laden tables, and the composure she had maintained through her speech began to desert her.

"We prepared a feast in your honor. I hope you will enjoy it, my lord, though..."

Her fingers found the end of her sash again.

"We have little to offer compared to the delicacies you are served outside. We used what we could gather from the dungeon’s forests, and the ways of preparing food our people have passed down. It is a simple meal, but everyone wished to contribute."

Kaiden looked past her at a warrior waiting beside the nearest table, then noticed several more warriors among the gathering.

They were all here.

"The Japanese entrance..."

Yunohana’s smile acquired a distinctly guilty sweetness. Beside her, Nyx glanced at Aria, who was already looking up at him with an expression he knew very well.

"Eclipse has people watching it for the next few hours, Kai," his beautiful moon explained. "We arranged for Taigi’s soldiers to be relieved so everyone could come. They’re already at their posts."

"You knew?"

"Mm. They wanted to surprise you."

"I see."

Aria kissed his cheek before releasing his hand, looking thoroughly pleased with her part in the conspiracy.

Bastet released his other hand, letting him step closer to Taigi and slip an arm around her shoulders. The commander was worrying at her sash again.

"Didn’t I ask you to stop fidgeting, Commander?"

"Forgive me, my lord."

Kaiden nodded to Taigi before addressing the Dungeon-Born. "And put the thought of your food being unworthy of me out of your heads. I could smell it many times in the past and have been looking forward to trying your cooking again since that meal in your home."

"Our old home, my lord."

He looked down at Taigi.

The bronze-skinned woman met his gaze, her smile brightening beneath his arm.

"You only ate our meals in our old home. Our home is here now."

Across the clearing, people grinned at her correction. Kaiden couldn’t help but let his smile widen.

"You’re right," he said warmly. "Your old home."

"And I fear you may be disappointed if you expect the same food you had back then."

"Oh?"

"We have changed considerably. Our cooking has been changing with us."

There was pride in her voice now, and a hint of mischief when she glanced at the women waiting beside him.

"Your ladies brought us spices we had never tasted. Lady Alexandra has been teaching our cooks, and we have found quite a few uses in our traditional meals for what she showed us. Our recipes have evolved too, just like we have, my lord."

Kaiden watched her for a moment, then met Alexandra’s eyes.

The blonde beauty smiled at him, caught quite as thoroughly as Aria had been.

"They were very eager to try things, Kai. I only helped a little."

"I helped too," Calypso offered.

"She tasted everything," Alexandra explained.

"One of the most dangerous jobs in history, I’ve been told."

"Tasting food for a lord who has many enemies was a dangerous job, yes. But you just wolfed down all the food our loyalest of people cooked," Bastet corrected. "There was no danger involved at all, besides your gluttony having you choke on the food."

Calypso’s tail stopped swooshing behind her. "Have I told you that I do not like you, kitty?"

"Many times." Bastet smiled softly.

With laughter spreading among the people, Taigi lifted her chin to Kaiden.

"We hope you will find the results pleasing."

"Now you’re just teasing me, aren’t you?"

"I would never dream of it, my lord."

Her grin ruined the denial.

"I see how it is..." Kaiden chuckled and let go of her, then bent to catch her around the waist.

"M-my lord?!" At her startled gasp, he lifted her above his head and settled her onto his shoulders, her legs falling to either side of his neck.

"My lord!!"

Taigi grabbed his head. He caught her calves to keep her comfortably in place, quite happy to bear the weight while the villagers erupted around them.

"Enough teasing a hungry man, Commander. Where are we to sit?"

"There! By the... My lord, everyone is watching!"

She pointed toward the nearest table before covering her face with both hands. Her ears had gone scarlet, and the sight of their valiant commander hiding atop his shoulders drew a roar of delighted laughter from her people.

Kaiden looked across the gathering with an enormous smile.

"Shall we begin?"

The answering cheer followed him to the tables. Above him, Taigi began giggling into her hands, unable to preserve any dignity while her own warriors had the greatest of times witnessing her new predicament.

Beside the table, Kaiden crouched to let Taigi slip down behind him. She caught his arm as he rose, pouting hard, and tried to smooth the tunic he had thoroughly disarranged.

"You are very cruel to your commander, my lord."

"I shall apologize."

Taigi blinked, then stared at Kaiden, eagerly awaiting his next words.

"...When I feel like it."

"..."