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  But Cordelia, remembering her purpose, gave her head a vigorous shake.

  “No! Um, you see, this is- I made it!” She stammered then took a breath and composed herself; “I made this pie, for Nameless to… to welcome him back!”

  She felt a surge of pride that she had managed to string the entire sentence together.

  But Paul Fletcher was nobody’s fool and he gave her a long level look.

  “Pie for Nameless eh?”

  “Y-yes?”

  He snorted.

  “Well, if you wanna throw your hat in the ring, best of luck to you. Just mind your manners or Erica will send you back wearing that pastry, if Nina doesn’t roll you into a ball first.”

  Confused by his mention of a ring and a bit flustered at the mention of the two potentially hostile monster girls, Cordelia nearly forgot that she had no idea where she was going as Paul turned back to his barn.

  “W-wait! Um, where-”

  Paul slapped his thigh.

  “Right, sorry. I just assumed every filly in town knew where that lucky little prick sleeps!” He gestured to the trees to one side of his driveway; “Down the trail, across the bridge and into the field, can’t miss the cottage or the pond.”

  With that he ducked back into his barn, the Cockatrices in tow.

  Cordelia was shaking her head. For as long as she could remember, Paul Fletcher had been coming into the bakery, and in all those years she didn’t think that she had ever seen him in such a state. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she had seen him in town at all…

  Bewildered, she started down the trail he had indicated and several minutes later she gave serious thought to giving up her quest.

  She had barely caught sight of the aforementioned bridge when she suddenly heard, or rather felt, an intense buzzing sound and was abruptly staring at the business end of a trio of Hornet lances.

  She let out a squeak at the fearsome look on the girls’ faces.

  “State your business!” One of them demanded.

  “Pie!” She shrieked immediately.

  There was a long pause as the Hornets considered her response.

  “What kind of pie?” Another asked with narrowed eyes and a tilted head.

  “Apple!”

  There was another long pause. One of them leaned in and sniffed the plate, then sniffed again, longer this time, before giving a faint head nod of approval at the scent.

  At some unspoken signal the lances were all raised.

  “You may pass… this time.”

  Cordelia breathed a sigh of relief as she walked around the vigilant Hornets on the bridge, an irrational corner of her mind wondering what her fate would have been if the Hornets hadn’t liked the smell…

  As she walked across the field of yellowed grass she realized that her knees were shaking.

  She took another minute or so to smooth out her dress and recover her composure.

  Only to have it rattled again as yet more weapons were pointed at her face.

  She wondered how a half-dozen six foot tall and wild looking Amazons could’ve kept themselves hidden in the open field.

  “Apple.” She squeaked out before anyone even asked.

  They shared a few looks, then the one with the really light blue eyes merely nodded and they disappeared back into the grass without a word.

  Shakier than ever, she walked through the field, eyes wide and frequently looking over her shoulders.

  Cordelia needed to pee and she nearly did as yet another winged creature swooped overhead shortly after the Amazons had disappeared, though this time it was one she recognized.

  “Good morning, can I help you?”

  Ophelia the Flutterby settled into the grass a few feet in front of the baker’s daughter, one eyebrow raised quizzically at the girl’s jumpy demeanor.

  “Pie.” Cordelia said pitifully.

  She was just about ready for a good cry and the intuitive monster girl quickly sensed that about her, sidling up beside her and placing a reassuring hand on either shoulder.

  “Why don’t you come inside dearheart, the others should be up by now.”

  She helped the frazzled girl towards the idyllic stone cottage with its freshly thatched roof.

  It was at this point that Cordelia realized that she had no idea what she was going to say once she got inside. For that matter she was having a hard time remembering what in the hells had possessed her to bake a pie for a near-stranger in the first place!

  As Ophelia led her on to the porch she struggled to hide her rising panic, but then a tiny red girl came out of the cottage and made everything so much worse.

  Scratching at one armpit the three foot naught Gigas reached out and took the plate away from Cordelia without saying a word, then pulled the cloth back and sniffed.

  “Meh, I prefer blueberry.”

  Cordelia began to cry.

  Ophelia gasped.

  “Nina!”

  “What? I’ll eat apple, I just prefer-”

  “What is going on out here?” Erica the Katje came out next, her hair ruffled as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

  “We have a visitor-” Ophelia tried.

  But Erica’s ears went flat to her head and her tail puffed up as she recognized the poor girl.

  “Oh fuck that!”

  Cordelia cried harder.

  The gentle Flutterby spent several minutes alternating between trying to calm the girl and berating Erica and Nina for their poor manners.

  Fortunately another arrival made Ophelia’s calming words entirely unnecessary.

  Cordelia Loskins learned that day what it was to be in the presence of an angel when Volka landed beside her on the porch and pulled her into her embrace, her glorious wings folding around her protectively.

  “Do not be distraught child, we mean you no harm.”

  “Some of us might…” Erica muttered.

  “Look I said I would eat apple-” Nina started to defend herself, mistaking Erica’s meaning.

  The Katje rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

  “No! I meant me.”

  “Enough, sisters. You have distressed the poor girl enough.” Volka chided, though amusement was plain in her voice.

  Cordelia wiped at her tears, the angel’s presence brought out a sense of calm in her that she didn’t remember feeling since before her mother had died when she was young.

  Her feathers were so soft…

  “It’s alright. I shouldn’t have come by unannounced like this.”

  Erica sniffed but Nina nodded.

  “Yeah if you’d said you were coming I could have told you to make it blueberry.”

  “Nina, enough about the fucking pie!” Ophelia snapped and then covered her mouth abruptly, her eyes wide at her own language.

  “There’s pie?”

  Milly the buxom Minotaur came onto the porch from the right, dripping wet and wrapped in a large towel that still barely covered her assets.

  “Don’t get your hopes up, it’s just apple.” Nina’s wary eyes were on Ophelia.

  “What’s wrong with apple?” A familiar male voice called from behind Milly.

  Nameless came up on the now-crowded porch behind the larger girl, a smaller towel wrapped around his waist. Though summer was over and the leaves were rapidly turning, the pair of them had apparently been enjoying a brisk morning swim in the pond, though given how cold the nights were getting it would likely be their last of the season.

  Cordelia’s jaw dropped when she saw his shirtless torso.

  He had changed much since stacking firewood for her father!

  Though he may never be built like Brandon, his slight frame was lean and muscular, and his formerly pale complexion had been replaced by a healthy tan, though it was marred by several whitish scars, one long one across his chest and then a multitude of smaller ones all down his right side. His sandy brown hair was tousled, as he had just finished toweling it dry, but it was his eyes that held her in place.


  Gone was the fearful stuttering orphan that had so irritated her.

  His muddy brown eyes held no fear of her, in fact, his direct gaze made her own knees shake a bit. That, and the heavy look that had drawn her here was still there, behind his eyes and in his guarded posture.

  Suddenly her ears turned pink when she realized that all of the girls were watching her ogle him.

  “Cordelia? What are you doing here?”

  She blinked; it was the second time he had asked the question, and though his words weren’t unfriendly, they were cautious.

  Her mouth opened and closed several times.

  “Apparently bringing Nina the wrong kind of pie.” Erica sniped.

  Nina hefted the plate and gestured at it.

  “For the last time, I’ll eat apple!”

  Ophelia groaned and buried her face in her hands.

  Cordelia couldn’t help it, she started to giggle.

  They sat inside a few minutes later, Nameless and Milly shared one of the loveseats, fully-clothed now. The Minotaur was absently fussing to braid a golden feather back into his hair while he was staring at Cordelia, still waiting for an adequate answer to his question.

  Ophelia had chastised Erica and Nina after their behaviour on the porch and now she was in the kitchen with Volka, cutting the pie for their breakfast while muttering to herself.

  The Katje and the Gigas were sharing the other loveseat while Cordelia sat in the recliner, feeling a little uncomfortable with all of the different eyes on her.

  “This smells amazing dear.” Ophelia commented as she handed plates to Milly and Nameless.

  “Th-thank you, it’s my mother’s recipe, she was always better at pies than dad.”

  There were an awkward couple of moments while Ophelia handed a plate to Nina and Erica, along with a stern glare for each of them.

  The level of discomfort was becoming too much and Cordelia had to say something.

  “I am so sorry.”

  Ophelia patted her on the shoulder as she handed her yet another plate.

  “It’s fine dear, we just weren’t expecting any visitors and some of us forgot our manners.”

  But Cordelia shook her head and met Nameless’s brown eyes again.

  “No! I mean, I’m sorry for how rude I was to you, before.”

  There was a pause as the occupants of the little cottage absorbed her words.

  “When you called him a parasite.” Erica said flatly.

  She nodded.

  “And when I called you a… well…”

  “A whore?” Nameless offered.

  Cordelia’s cheeks were rosy, she had no idea making amends would be so difficult…

  “Look Cordelia-” He sighed; “We’re fine, really, we’re way past it, and you didn’t need to make us a pie by way of apology-”

  But she was shaking her head again, not wanting him to get the wrong idea.

  “No! I mean, that’s not… ugh. I’m sorry, I’ve only just now learned that I’m really not very good at this. I made the pie because of, well, because of how sad you looked when you got back to town yesterday.”

  She trailed off, worried about treading on a touchy subject.

  “What do you mean?” Milly’s voice was steady.

  Cordelia sighed.

  “You… lost someone right? I wanted to say I was sorry, for what I had said before and... and for your loss. And I wanted to bring you some pie, because, because that is what people do isn’t it?”

  She swallowed, quickly wiping away another warm tear that had found her cheek.

  It was what people had done when her mother had died.

  Another long silence.

  “It is indeed dearheart, and thank you. That was very thoughtful of you.” Ophelia said.

  There were a few murmured thank-yous from the others, even Erica, albeit grudgingly.

  “I could learn to like apple.” Nina offered.

  Ophelia rolled her eyes and Cordelia smiled.

  __________

  “That was interesting.” Nameless commented after the flustered girl had left.

  “She’s a nice girl.” Milly offered.

  “She is.” Ophelia agreed.

  Erica sighed.

  “She’s a decent cook.” She admitted.

  Nina opened her mouth, but closed it as she saw Ophelia frown, deciding not to express yet again her long-held preference for blueberry pie over apple.

  Volka was setting the plates in the kitchen sink.

  “The death of her mother when she was young made her heart harden and caused her to lash out at others. It is good that she is beginning to soften again.”

  Nameless eyes widened at the mention of the young woman’s mother, and then he smiled.

  “Here I thought I was the Empath.”

  “Indeed you are, but don’t forget where your gift came from.” Volka chided gently before returning his smile; “Even without it though, I have no small amount of experience with loss, and so does she. Otherwise she would not have recognized the signs in you and sought to alleviate them with pastry. Though I must say, it was probably misleading to tell her it was the best pie I had eaten in a thousand years.”

  She winked at him and managed to draw a smile across his face, but his thoughts quickly turned back to the bitter memory of a lithe Amazon dying in his arms, trading her life for his.

  “Regrets dearheart?” Ophelia murmured.

  He closed his eyes as a wave of remorse overcame him, the sweet taste of the pie helped, but he still mourned for Kar.

  “You know my heart.” He said.

  “Yeah, we really should have fucked her. Kar I mean, not Pie-Girl.” Nina offered, uncomfortable with the somber atmosphere.

  Ophelia frowned, but the others all smiled at her words; they all knew that Kar would have found them both amusing and accurate.

  “We really should have.” Erica agreed with a giggle and a sniffle.

  The moment of mirth passed quickly though, and the morose family once again fell silent.

  Volka heaved a sigh at the atmosphere around them, an unfamiliar sound from the resolute Valkyrie as she frowned at the others.

  At Nameless’s questioning look she offered an explanation.

  “Sadly, this state of affairs is all too familiar to me. It was the way of the world before I fled into my shield. Whole generations lived and died with the grim specter of war hovering over them.”

  Milly shuddered.

  “That’s just awful!”

  But to their surprise Volka smiled as she opened the icebox and reached inside.

  “It was life, those that lived during that time had their moments of joy and sorrow just as they do now, albeit the latter more than the former.”

  There was a scraping noise as her arm worked.

  Milly had a sudden thought and she screwed up her face for a moment before turning to the angel.

  “Volka… when I think of Valkyrie, I think of these, like, noble warriors, all righteous and good and proper.”

  “That is an accurate description of me, look I’m all golden and everything.” She ruffled her translucent feathers for emphasis with an arch look.

  Milly slowly shook her head, still frowning in thought.

  “You also tell jokes, play silly pranks, and are more than a little bit… sneaky.”

  Volka considered the questions for a long moment.

  “I am… pardon, I was… relatively young for a Valkyrie when the war ended.”

  “Okay?”

  Her wings settled against her back again as she drifted over beside the Minotaur, a kitchen towel in one hand.

  “And in my youth I was exactly what you picture: righteous and serious and proper. But my Dominar, Astrid, who led us in the final battle-” Her voice broke for a moment and her eyes grew wet, though she quickly shook off the wave of grief; “She was the very best of us. She was… everything I strove to be, and so much more besides.”

  Erica spotted her hand moving
behind Milly’s back, and tilted her head in confusion.

  “She took me aside once, and told me that she had been in more battles then she could count, had seen more death than many Valkyrie many years her senior...”

  There was a pause as a smirk took her face and she looked directly into Milly’s face, the wide-eyed Minotaur was engrossed with her words.

  “She told me this right before she pushed a handful of snow down the front of my armour.”

  Abruptly Volka dropped the ice she had just scrapped off the inside of the icebox down the back of Milly’s shirt.

  The Minotaur arched her back with a panicked moo, her impressive breasts straining as she writhed. Even Ophelia struggled not to laugh at the poor girl’s distress while Milly’s arms scrambling to get at the chunk of ice rapidly melting its way down her spine.

  When the laughter faded and the ice finished melting, Volka lifted the back of the pouting Minotaur’s shirt to dry off her smooth skin with the kitchen towel before she spoke again.

  “I learned much from my Dominar, about war and tactics, but with all the time I spent trapped in my shield, the lessons I came to value the most are the ones she taught me outside of combat. It is best to embrace life, so that you never forget what it is you protect on the battlefield.”

  The others were still wiping tears from their faces while Milly looked thoughtful again.

  Volka leaned in and kissed the side of her head.

  “There is a time to be serious, and I will certainly never forget the words Dominar Astrid spoke to us before we made our final stand. But at home and safe, surrounded by friends and loved ones? This is where you should seek only joy. Kar would say much the same, I think.”

  A heavy silence filled the room when they considered the dead Amazon, and the ones who killed her.

  “So we just… live? Knowing that they are out there somewhere, likely doing something horrible?”

  Erica couldn’t bring herself to even speak their names.

  “Sweet kitty, for now it is all that we can do. There may come a time for us to get serious again.” Her golden eyes met Nina’s and a silent resolution passed between them; “But for now, yes, we live.”

  After a few more moments of somber reflection, Nameless gave an invigorating shake of his head to clear the heavy emotions.

  “Volka’s right! And anyways, we need to get something done today! Milly, if you’re up for it, we really should take a load of milk to Paul. And then we should get this place squared away, because we could all use a proper shower.”