Chapter 975: A Small Recompense
I'm no stranger to speedrunning my entire morning routine.
I've been waking up for as long as I can remember and to this day I still very much suck at the whole rising and shining process. I'd oversleep, ignore the desperate pleas of my alarm, and if not for Ash's unsung diligence by now I'd probably have the biological clock of an extremely dazed and comatose vampire.
No offense, Adalia.
Today, however, was different. I must have broken a personal best going from being in the shower to getting dressed all the way down to fixing myself some buttered toast for a quick breakfast while watching as the tiny line painted across the screen on my phone between my Uber and I shrink and grow closer with every passing second.
I even managed to beat Ash in being the first awake. A feat I'll probably never accomplish again considering every other instance she's usually up way before the sun. I saw her staring at me from up the landing, notably surprised that I wasn't still in the shower trying to loosen up the hinges in my eyelids and failing miserably or something.
"Somebody overslept," I said, sliding her over the last slice of toast on the plate. "And after all that talk about tempering discipline yesterday… tsk, tsk."
Instead of fervent apologies and earnest bows, Ash was all smiles; slowly coming down the stairs a step at a time, the soft emerald glow in her bleary, half-opened eyes catching the rays of sunrise through the gaps in the window drapes.
"I realize your sister has quite the fondness for conversation, Master," she said, her voice raspy and lumbered still. "As such, I found myself participating in lengthy talks… eager or otherwise."
"So I've noticed."
And indeed, I did. In the loose sway of her nightgown, how her hair stuck out in all kinds of splitted ends and angles. Even in the steep droop of her ears. It's rare I ever get to see her a step below perfection. But even then, in her state of tangled locks and baggy eyes, she somehow still surged way above perfection itself; as paradoxical as she was beautiful.
In any case, I made dutifully sure to appreciate the sight.
"And what of you, Master?" Ash inquired. "It is not often your discipline would trounce my own, if you don't mind my saying."
Cheeky.
"Gonna go get my bike back," I announced, feeling a little swell of joy just saying aloud. "It's fixed now. Happy birthday to me."
"Oh?" Ash's eyes widened at the news. Arguably, she's as fond of that bike almost as much as I was. "The people at the shop—they managed to repair the problem?"
"Seems like it," I just said. I still had utterly no clue how the hell Rudy managed to pull that off. "You'll find out soon enough. If you hear me roaring into the driveway later—you'll have your answer."
"Then I shall eagerly wait for the triumphant sound of your return."
Ash then took a seat across from me, taking the plate and taking a small bite of the toast. It wasn't much when it came to flavor or size, but her ears went squirming heartily all the same.
"So what kind of talk were you and Sammy having?" I asked.
"The kind intended for a closer bond with one another, I surmise," she said, finishing her bite. "She talked of her academics, the petty squabbles her friends would frequently rope her into, and as well as the long list of young suitors vying for her attention whose tenacity simply infuriates her to no end."
That sounds like my sister, alright. Popular and renowned in ways I never had been when I was her age. I still remember hearing her blab on and on late into the night through the thin walls between our bedrooms. I almost guarantee by the time she wanders down over to the kitchen for breakfast, it'll already be lunch.
"But mostly, she talked about you," Ash said.
"Me?"
"Your problems, your affairs, how you have been faring in general."
"She wanted to know all that, I was literally right across the hall. Could've asked me herself."
"And be accused of caring?" Ash said with a smirk echoing endearment. "Alas, how mortifying."
Mushy and caring behind my back, conceited and snobbish while right in front of me. Ahh, Sammy. I hate you so much, but I wouldn't have you any other way.
"For future reference, you don't have to stay up and have her talk your ear off if you don't want to," I told her.
"I never said I didn't," she said. "In its own way, it was enjoyable, a pleasure… hearing her speak endlessly, frivolously. Lenora used to do the same, so listening to your sister… it was a familiar comfort."
"I see…" I smiled at her as I replied, but on the inside, I felt like I had dropped off a cliff at the mention of Lenora. "In that case, you've been warned."
She didn't sound sad, or sorrowful… she just sounded normal… like it was wound long faded. Nevertheless, it was still a wound, a scar… and fade and heal as all scars do, that doesn't mean they're gone for good. In her eyes, fleetingly, that hurt was still present.
But that's a discussion for another time… one that preferably doesn't have a car just only pulling up outside my house and honking for me.
"Ride's here," I said, quickly standing up. "I'll see you in a bit. Hopefully on two wheels."
"Ahh, Master, w-wait for a moment." Ash stood up right after me, chasing me around the table before I could go, and before I could breathe out another word, her lips pushed into mine and I stumbled slightly. She pulled back for a moment, her cheeks fully flushed, and heaved heavily. "Your birthday…"
"What… what about it?" I asked in a daze before she suddenly pulled me back in, drowning in her warmth, her softness; strands of her hair brushing the tip of my nose, the gentleness of her hands laying over mine.
"I must… confess…" she whispered in the little pauses between her kisses. "Your birthday… your customs… still foreign, strange… I've yet… to procure a present in time… for the occasion."
"It's alright, Ash," I fought back her downpour of affection to say. "You don't have to—"
"No," she cut me off with her lips again. "I will… get you something… I must… get you something… but for now… just for now…" she drew away once more, an inch apart, her damp breath on my moist lips to say before leaning in again. "...hopefully this shall suffice."
I can practically envision it; how she managed to come to such a bizarre solution as accosting my entire mouth. With Sammy as a roommate, it's really no stretch of the imagination.
Between all the talks of trivial, mundane nothings, Sammy must have pushed her, kept pressing Ash until she eventually cracked and confessed that she had nothing to offer for my very special day. I can see Ash asking her afterward for her two cents; eliciting the sagacious wisdom of a sixteen-year-old.
And just like a girl her age with her own flowery, skewed view of love, Sammy went ahead and offered a solution. The most asinine suggestion. Which brings us right back to the present… with Ash swarming me with kisses.
Thanks, Sammy.
No, like, really—thank you. Thank you so much. You're the best sister in the world.
I didn't even feel her lift away again; the buzz, the pressure, they were all still tingling all over my lips. But she must have at some point because the next thing I knew, she was separated from me, looking bashful and very red with her ears fluttering in a vivacious blur.
"If… if you recall, Master," Ash said slowly, attempting to calm her quivering breath. "I spoke with you of my tradition, how we Elves celebrate life through phases spanning across one's lifetime. Particularly, the period of 'Enma'... do you remember?"
I had to dig through a deep layer of ecstasy and an even thicker layer of lust before I could even begin to recall anything. But I did, I remembered… resting on the shore of a lake back in the countryside… I remember her telling me how the concept of birthdays translated into Elven culture.
"Enma, that's… that's the celebration of adulthood, right?"
"Indeed, yes," Ash nodded her head. "A celebration that lasts for weeks. And should the Elf in question happen to be in a relationship… for them, there is a brief time, a singular day… where they and their significant other are to be left alone together… to us, it's… the act of it, what it symbolizes… it is the forging of a bond… a relationship above all else… it is quite sacred to us… special…"
I had an inkling about where this might be going here…
"And who's this significant other here you might have in mind, I wonder?"
Ash tensed a little at my provocation, nervous and meek in the most adorable way she's always been… and yet also so, so brave.
"I… do not yet know when that day might be… I have to think, consider… it is not an occasion to be taken lightly, so I need time…" she paused to breathe, to fight down her hesitation. "But when that day arrives… when I ask you to spend that day with me… knowing what it might mean, what it entails… would you…?"
This time it was my turn to accost her, striding forward, closing the distance, and I felt both stiffen and ease simultaneously as I pressed my lips against her forehead.
"You don't really need me to answer that, do you?" I said, peering deep into the soft, glimmering luster of her gaze before finally taking my leave out the door. "I'll be waiting."