Chapter 211: Beneath the Quiet Moon
Shinkou and Astri are sitting next to each other in the moonlight and the focal light from the fire. The breeze is cool, and colorful fireflies flicker gently between the grass. In the Beastmen World, the fireflies look magical because they have different colors.
They stay quiet for a while, like they were offering each other presence. They hear only the leaves here and there and the fire cracking the wood sometimes. Astri beats the point of her pencil on the table softly, trying to organize her thoughts, but at night, she always gets overwhelmed with homesickness.
"Every night is hard to sleep.. I was so used to sleeping next to my spouses or children that now it always feels too cold." Astri softly says, then puts down the pencil. "What is interesting is that I spent at least 20 years alone, and after feeling their love, I think I got spoiled." She says, and snorts.
He smiles softly, then looks at the moon.
"No.. When we taste something good, our taste never goes backward, I believe. I used to think I could live without anyone really knowing me. Just be the smiling Ookitsune. Quick with a joke, quicker with a deal. Tricking the world before it tricks me." He says, then looks at her again. "People see me and think of lies, of clever hands and stolen things. Even here, in this village, they watch me like I might vanish with their gem pouch. But you... you didn’t look at me like that. After feeling the happiness of not being what they believe I am, I can’t imagine living away from you anymore. If you’re spoiled, I got spoiled in so little time, then."
She giggles, and then she lays her head on his shoulder, making his heart jump.
"I thought I would be stronger than this. There was always a possibility of something bad happening. I always imagined that, if something like this happened, I would face it differently, you know? But... I feel split in two. I am literally split."
He doesn’t speak back. He only shifted slightly closer, embracing her with one arm, trying to take her pain away.
"I’m supposed to be the Goddess of Nature." She says with a broken laugh. "But sometimes I feel like a lost female with no home again."
"We will find your family. I promise." He says.
She looks at him again, but now they’re closer and he can see the details of her face closely and he’s sure that she’s the most perfect and strongest female in that world even if she is going through a hard phase.