The next few days followed a simple routine— they got up early for Magi Squares and meditation, followed by breakfast before getting back underway. During the first half of the day, they would discuss Empire’s Gambit, going over different tactics and combinations that they felt would work best. Lunch would see them in a large town or city, where they would pause for two hours. They devoted an hour to food, and the other to practicing the Peaceful Fist.
After the stop, they’d be back on the road for another few hours. It was this part of the trip that was really different for them. All seven of them would take a single carriage, and no one sat on a lap. Gregory sat on the floor between the seats, instead. This let them discuss their various magics or other topics as a single group.
They’d pull into an inn yard just as the sun was beginning to set. After another hour of the Peaceful Fist, Egil would spar with them. Bathing would follow, with Gregory sharing the room with Egil and Rafiq as he had before. That left them with an hour before dinner, which they spent playing cards or dice in a room.
After dinner, they’d spend another hour on cards or dice, along with chatting about their lives. It turned out that Mindie played the flute, and they even enticed her to play some for them. Gregory ended up telling them about his scars when he was asked. The others shared stories of their childhood, allowing them to come to understand each other more.
~*~*~
The morning of the seventh day outside of the academy had a surprise for them. Meditation was coming to an end when Mindie slumped over, groaning.
“Mindie?!” Gregory was next to her, so he was the first to her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” Mindie said faintly. “I found it.”
Everyone was quiet as they waited for her to continue, and Gregory helped her back into a sitting position. Blinking slowly, she found them all watching her, and her cheeks began to burn.
“Resonance?” Gregory asked, though he was sure it was.
“Yes,” Mindie admitted, lowering her gaze from the others. “It was as difficult as I thought it would be.” She wrung her hands, her face blazing as she recalled her trials.
Before anyone else could speak, there was a knock. “Breakfast,” Hemet announced from the far side of the door.
Mindie hunched forward a little. “After breakfast?”
“That’ll be fine,” Yukiko said softly. “You don’t need to tell us. It’s only required if you want to be a part of our family.”
Mindie was silent as the others got up, getting ready to go. Gregory paused— he hadn’t moved from beside Mindie except to stand. He watched as the others gathered by the door, then looked back at Mindie, who was still wringing her hands. “Mindie, breakfast?”
Jerking slightly, she looked up at him, her eyes wide. Seeing his hand held out to her, she lowered her eyes again. “Yes… sorry…”
“No need to be sorry. I was waiting to help you up.”
She glanced up enough to take his hand, letting him help her. “Maybe we can share the carriage before lunch today?”
Yukiko smiled. “We’ll gladly do so.”
The friends were quiet as they joined the others for breakfast. The subdued nature of the group was not unnoticed by the rest in the party, but none of them pried. As they got ready to go to the carriages, Lightshield got their attention.
“Tonight, we will have a guest for dinner,” Lightshield said. “The academy overseer has been on the trip with us and has been visiting each group. We are the last he has decided to visit. I do not need to tell you to be respectful, as all of you already are. Magi-killer will not be sparring with you this evening, so as not to strain things with the others.”
“We understand, sir,” Gregory said. “We will spend that hour sparring amongst ourselves.”
“Very good,” Lightshield said. “Let us be off.”
Making it out to the carriages, the younger magi piled into a single carriage. The drivers of the two exchanged a glance. They knew the group had been doing so in the afternoons, but they’d never done so in the mornings, making them wonder.
Silence fell as they waited to get underway. Mindie was breathing a little fast, staring at Gregory’s boots. She had nowhere else to look without someone being in her line of sight. When the carriage began to sway, indicating that they were moving, she took a deep breath and raised her eyes to see her friends watching her.
“This is… difficult to say,” Mindie admitted.
“We’ve told you ours,” Yukiko said, “so we understand the hesitation to tell others.”
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Mindie met Gregory’s eyes. She saw compassion in his gaze, and that compassion helped bolster her. “Fear… failure is my fear. Failing to be able to save my loved ones as they die… being unable to heal them when they need me most… like when I lost my mother.”
Roshana touched her knee. Mindie glanced at her and saw her tentative smile, then returned it.
“Weakness… my weakness is my passive nature. I can’t stand the thought of fighting. Most healers aren’t killed in war. We’re captured, used to heal the other side, and even ransomed back. I always thought I would be safe, that I wouldn’t need to fight, but that’s my weakness. It could end up with me losing a loved one because I wouldn’t defend them when they needed me most.”
Jenn touched Mindie’s other knee. Mindie remembered Jenn’s weakness— her slight body— and gave the smaller woman a strained smile.
“My strength is my burning desire to heal. I will study anything, even things the empire disagrees with if needed to be better at healing. I want to keep my loved ones alive, and will walk through fire if I need to do so.”
Gregory reached up, placing his hand with Jenn’s. Mindie looked down at him, her cheeks starting to burn as she stared into his eyes. Gregory stared back, her unique irises capturing his attention again. The dual coloration with the star-shaped divide captivated him.
“Desires…” The word was soft as it trailed off, barely said. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she didn’t look away from Gregory when she tried again. “I… want to kiss everything better. Soothe all your pain or troubles. Even if I am never given anything back, being allowed to soothe you and them…” Her gaze flickered to Jenn and Yukiko before darting to the other three in the carriage. “Even the novices or anyone else you deem special to you.” She looked back at Gregory, and he saw the fear in her eyes.
Gregory smiled softly at her, watching her fear ebb slowly away. “I don’t find that wrong. That sounds amazing to me, Mindie.”
“Yes… it really does,” Yukiko murmured. “Well done, Mindie. I know how hard it is to admit it to another. I failed to tell my hearts for weeks.”
“We weren’t any better,” Jenn snorted.
“And telling you about ours was even tougher than just telling them,” Gregory added, nodding to his wives.
“I hope to be as brave as you,” Clover whispered. “I want to find my resonance so bad so I can tell Yuki and be accepted. At the same time, I worry about trying to tell them.”
“It makes me jittery, too,” Ling said, taking Clover’s hand.
“A family needs to be able to tell each other anything,” Roshana said. “I can and will do so, even if my heart bursts from my chest in fear and worry.”
“Mine almost did,” Mindie laughed nervously.
“We’d have had to gather it up, kiss it, and put it back,” Yukiko smiled at the healer, “just like you have healed us repeatedly.”
Mindie’s face blazed hotly. “Oh… would you?”
“We would,” Jenn grinned. “We find all of you attractive. The same thoughts you’ve had about us, we’ve had about you.”
Now, everyone felt a little awkward. Gregory swallowed and looked down at the floor. Mindie, seeing Gregory’s reaction, took his hand off her knee and held it in hers. When he looked at her, she kissed his fingertips, causing Gregory’s face to burn as hot as hers.
Yukiko giggled. “Brazen, Mindie.”
“Maybe we were wrong about who the most brazen was. We thought it was Vicky.”
Mindie swallowed, but didn’t let go of Gregory’s hand, even when she looked at his wives across from her. “I hope I didn’t go too far. I… just wanted to soothe him.”
“No, it’s fine,” Yukiko smiled gently.
Mindie swallowed, then blurted out, “Greg, will you bathe with us tonight?”
Everyone gave her an appraising look except for Gregory, who was still off-balance from her kissing his fingers. He stared at her for a few heartbeats before he coughed. “Yes.” The word was a croak, as his throat felt tight and dry.
“Well, today has been a very big day so far,” Yukiko smiled. “Mindie, you’ll need to wait a little longer before more happens besides bathing, but bathing we can agree to.”
Mindie’s face reached new degrees of burning, and she nodded jerkily. “As you say, Yuki.”
“I hope to find mine soon,” Clover murmured. All eyes went to her, and she blushed. “I… mean it.”
“I do, too,” Ling sighed, “but it likely won’t happen until we return to the academy.”
“Which means Mindie will wed him before us,” Roshana said. “But this is fine. His healer will be beside him. We all want that, don’t we?”
Clover and Ling nodded in agreement without hesitation. Yukiko and Jenn agreed, too, and their smiles grew wider as they watched their friends. Mindie glanced at Gregory— he was as red as she was, but he gave her a near-matching shy smile.
“I look forward to the bath,” Roshana said. “I have some very naked questions for our dear healer.”
“‘Our’?” Mindie whispered.
“We will all be beside him in time,” Roshana said, meeting her eyes, “which means you will be with all of us as we will be with all of you.”
“She isn’t wrong, as long as you can all pass the tests,” Yukiko said. “Resonance is the biggest, but it isn’t the only test.” The other women focused on Yukiko, who smiled at them. “No two tests are the same. I need to know, without a doubt, that you will always put our heart first.”
“Anything you need me to do, I will do,” Roshana said simply. “I don’t have the right to claim him as my heart, yet, but I feel that he is.”
“Yes!” Clover nodded vigorously.
“Yuki, my vision during tea showed me this moment. I hesitated to acknowledge him as mine, and I was unable to make my way back into the group. I don’t want to lose my place with you all,” Ling said, tears forming in her eyes. “Please, first wife, please do not take my heart from me…!”
“Calm yourself,” Yukiko said softly, reaching across Clover to take Ling’s hand. “I have heard you, my dear friend. I will not take him. You’ll have your chance to have his heart, too.”
Ling hiccupped, closing her eyes tightly as she tried not to cry. “Thank you, Yuki…”
Yukiko leaned over and kissed Ling’s cheek. “Brave lion, be at peace. I can see your emotions clearly.”
Ling hiccupped again, forcing her eyes open to meet Yukiko’s inches from hers. “Thank you.”
“Yuki, can I thank you?” Clover asked.
Yukiko turned her head to Clover. “Thank me? Yes?”
Clover leaned in and kissed Yukiko gently. It was a quick kiss, but it was full on the lips. “Thank you. I know Ling feared this moment. We talked about it. Thank you for giving my pretty one the chance to share the love. And hopefully me, too?”
Yukiko was shocked by the kiss, but she smiled softly at the worried alchemist. “Kisses should be for those who are near certain to join.”
“Oh, I—!” Clover began, but was silenced when Yukiko gave her a quick kiss back.
Everyone watched with wide eyes as Yukiko then kissed Ling, then leaned across Gregory to kiss Roshana and Mindie in turn. They all got the same soft, quick kiss before she sat back. “I deem you all worthy, if your resonance agrees.”
Jenn went down the line, kissing the others as Yukiko had. “I agree with our first wife.”
Gregory was stunned— he never expected a moment like this. His two wives were giving him his desires. It was going slowly, but they were still doing it. His heart burst with love, but his mind was gripped by terror that he would hurt them all.
“Greg?” Yukiko asked.
“Huh?” Gregory asked, looking up at her.
“Did you want…?” She nodded toward the others.
Gregory swallowed as he looked over at Clover and Ling beside Yukiko, then Roshana and Mindie next to Jenn. Hands shaking a little, he shifted to his knees, putting him on an equal level with the women. “Ladies?”
Four heads nodded, ranging from a little to emphatically.
Exhaling slowly, Gregory started with Clover. It was the same as his wives had done; small, quick kisses. Clover clapped her hands to her cheeks, beaming and giggling. Ling purred when Gregory’s lips met hers. When he turned to Roshana, she gave him a soft smile. Her hand gently caressed his cheek when he kissed her. He ended with Mindie, the one who started this moment by admitting her resonance.
The kiss was just as soft and short, but when it ended, he was inches from her, and they locked eyes. Mindie’s star-shaped irises shimmered, the pale blue and dark red showing her joy. “Thank you…” she whispered. “I will never fail you, my heart.”
Gregory swallowed when he felt the certainty in her words. “I will do my very best to be the man you all deserve.”
Jenn smiled as she watched them. “You always have been.”
“Yes, and we’ll help him,” Yukiko said. “I have a story from my youth that I’d wanted to tell all of you today.”
Gregory eased back from Mindie, then shifted so his back rested against Mindie’s legs as he focused on Yukiko. Mindie’s face burned, but she gently stroked his hair, her eyes focused on Yukiko.
The other three who still had to wait were a little jealous, but they had faith that their love would be returned just as Mindie’s had been. After all, Yukiko had promised them that, if their resonance was true, they would be welcomed, too.
