A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Chapter 292: Chapter 292 - Denied

"Why do you ask?" Eira wondered, clearly curious what brought on this sudden interest in her non-existent mother.

'She's clearly clueless… but how much should I tell her?' he wondered inwardly. 'On the one hand, if that voice really did belong to Audumla, than there's a good chance that Eira will find out about this eventually and probably feel betrayed if I don't tell her now. On the other hand, if I tell her, she might ask me to reestablish a connection, and I'll have to refuse. For obvious reasons.'

Seeing Erik lost in thought, Eira cocked her head to the side in curiosity, "Master? Are you alright?"

This caught Erik's attention, his eyebrow raising in surprise. "You're calling me 'Master' now? Not 'Harbinger'? Or even my name?"

Eira shrugged and explained with a bright smile, "Why not? You asked me to stop calling you Harbinger, and since I serve as your armor now, it only makes sense!"

'I guess this change of address was brought on by my keeping my word, and her trust in me growing exponentially,' Erik realized.

"Okay, but aren't you putting me at the same level as your mistress then?" he wondered curiously.

"W— Well…" she began, while awkwardly poking her fingers together. "I guess I'd still put Mistress above you…" But before anyone could respond, she frantically waved her arms around, "B— But she would never ask me to harm you…! A— And if she does I won't obey! I swear!"

'Well, the future is still unwritten,' Erik thought to himself, 'but at least she believes what she's saying.'

"Don't worry, Eira. I trust you," Erik smiled reassuringly. That wasn't even really a lie. He did trust her. He just also believed in the idiom, trust but verify.

"Thank you!" she smiled brightly in response. "For trusting me, and once again for keeping your word! Now I'll go familiarize myself with my new home!" Her last words were full of excitement, and once she said them, she quickly disappeared into thin air.

Erik noticed how the light brown core in his armor became a little more active.

At this point, he could temporarily block Eira's outside senses and quickly inform the others of what happened, before Eira notices whats going on. But he decided against that. He was already deceiving Elora by not telling her about the failsafes, and didn't want to add on.

'Besides, she might be upset for a while, but I'm confident she'll forgive me eventually. We're staying here longer anyway, so there's time to regain her trust. If she hears it from Audumla later, it could spur a betrayal in the heat of the moment—a situation I'd prefer to avoid,' he thought.

So he called Eira back, "Wait, Eira. There is still something I need to tell you," he said out loud.

She quickly made a appearance with a curious expression, "Yeah?"

"We might have made brief contact with Audumla," he said, deciding not to dance around the issue.

"W— What?!" Eira exclaims while stumbling backwards, before following it up with a desperate, "What do you mean?!"

So Erik quickly explained the events that followed the separation of Eira's core, both to the desperate construct, and the concerned people around them.

Stay connected through mvl

When he was done, Eira exclaimed happily, "That means… that means Mistress is okay!" clearly ignoring the less than ideal circumstances that followed her appearance.

The others, meanwhile, still looked concerned after the explanation, now wondering if some powerful entity would soon knock on their door and demand an explanation.

"Looks like it," Erik nodded slowly. "Regardless of what was preventing her from talking to you before, I'm guessing that the separation of your core alerted her. I refuse to believe her sudden appearance at that time was a coincidence."

"Well we can just ask her!" Eira exclaimed with excitement while she practically bounced around the room. "Just put me back in the core fitting, and I'll reestablish contact to explain everything!"

But, to Eira's dismay, Erik shook his head. "Setting aside that it's impossible right now—since Elora's the only one who can fit you back, and she's currently unconscious from Audumla's actions—I wouldn't be surprised if she made sure the connection could never be reestablished."

"And even if she hasn't yet, she definitely will when she wakes up," Erik thought.

Eira's face fell, a mix of heartbreak and betrayal washing over her as Erik's words sank in, "B— But… why?"

Emily, Alice, and Astrid immediately shot her strange looks, while even Emma looked a little uncomfortable, seemingly knowing contacting Audumla again was a bad idea, but not sure how best to explain that to Eira.

Emily, unlike her sister, did not have such qualms. She rolled her eyes as she addressed the construct, "Isn't that obvious, you stupid cow? Because if Audumla can affect Elora and the boss like that through this connection, then what else can she do? I hate agreeing with that fairy, but she made the right decision here."

Emma immediately elbowed Emily in the side with an aggrieved expression, "Don't call her that, big Em! She just misses her mistress! I would be no different from her if our roles were reversed and I hadn't seen Master for two years!"

Eira, however, barely registered the insult as she stayed focused on Erik with tears in her eyes, waiting for his explanation. "Setting aside the harsh language, Emily is right. The explanation for this is no different than every other explanation regarding my distrust for Audumla I've given you, Eira. And frankly, this event hasn't filled me with more confidence about your mistress."

"Besides," Erik shrugged. "I'm not Elora's master. She may deffer to my decisions on many occasions, but we are partners in the end, and she won't do anything she considers to be a monumental mistake. Which she definitely would in this case."

Erik had no qualms pushing most of the blame for this onto Elora. After all, that was what Elora wanted as well. One of their go-to routines for influencing others was good cop bad cop, and Elora had no problem being the bad cop. This way, Eira would push most of the blame on Elora, while Erik would remain mostly blameless, thus allowing trust to continue growing between her and Erik.

Seeing that no one agreed with her, and there was nothing she could do to change their mind, Eira simply disappeared into thin air with a sob, leaving behind an aura of depression and loneliness.

Erik sighed, and talked to Eira through the mental connection that now existed between them due to the armor, "This doesn't mean that we won't look for Audumla just like I promised. Remember, we put you into this armor just like promised as well. I suggest you simply celebrate the fact that Audumla seems to be alive and well."

He got no answer, however, so he sighed again and looked up at his companions.