Tama

  I slipped out the backside of the tent and danced my way through the shadows back to the wall. Cane had begged for his life at the endI almost wish I had granted his wish. He still had two functioning arms and a leg after all. But I was out of time. Killing him with his own dagger just felt right.

  I made my way back outside the city walls discreetly and blinked until I reached the campsite where Saki and the others were. “That was fun! We were so fast!” Anna said excitedly. “Can you do that all the time?” she added.

  I nodded and said, “Yes! I am the fastest ninja ever!” and stood tall as Saki walked over to me.

  Saki looked me in the eyes for a long moment before nodding once and walking back to sit down. No words needed to be said. W e both knew what I went to do, and we both knew why and how I did it.

  “Whoa, that is deep,” Anna giggled as she fluttered around me, making my gi shimmer iridescent.

  I ignored her and walked over to Tristy. I bent down and gently caressed her sleeping face. A single tear fell from my eye. I got revenge, but that does not mean the problem is over. It is just beginning.

  “I do not see why you do not keep them, Tama,” Saki spoke up, and I turned to her in shock.

  “Tama would…” Before I could finish, Saki cut me off.

  “I know, Tama, you would never. But that is the problem. I did not want to do this before you are ready, but fate has pushed us into this, it seems.” She sighed heavily and shook her head before continuing. “Tama, you know I care for you immensely and want what is best for us. So, please, listen to me when I say this. Your actions are what caused this. That goblin was a sleazeball and deserved his fate, and we got to free the slaves. But every time I leave you, something like this happens.”

  My eyes widened in surprise, and I opened my mouth to protest. “But Tama did not…”

  Only for Saki to cut me off again mid-sentence. “No, you never mean to. But you always do. First with Tera, then with the goblins, then the lich and his staff. You act without thinking, and this happens.” She pointed at Tristy and Paige and raised an eyebrow at me.

  I looked over at the two sleeping forms. Paige had not said anything other than “Yes, Mistress” whenever I spoke, and Tristy had barely asked a few questions. Both had been mostly quiet and fearful of me. I shuddered as I realized Saki was right.

  “All I am saying, Tama, is that this time, you cannot run away from your problems. Those are blood collars. They do not come off, ever! Your best bet with them is to take care of them. If that means killing them for mercy, then that means killing them for mercy. If that means having them follow along on our extremely dangerous adventures, then that is what that means. But they are your responsibility!”

  “But there has to be a way to free themTama always finds a way!” I said defiantly, my tail flicking and my ears flattening. I felt Anna getting angry too and winced internally.

  “There is always a way until there is not, Tama. Just like the void is an integral part of who I am, those collars, much like the void, merge with the user’s soul. The moment they are activated and an owner selected, it is permanent. You cannot remove those collars without killing them any more than you can eat water!”

  I stumbled back and caught myself on a ruined wall as I looked into Saki’s eyes. “Permanent, permanent,” I said almost to myself. Saki nodded solemnly at me.

  I tried to think of something, anything. But nothing came to mind. Sensei never gave advice for something like this. I looked up to Saki, hoping she had something, anything. But she just looked at me sadly and smiled. “Tama, it is time you take responsibility for your actions, and that starts with making a decision about the people entrusted to you.”

  My mind raced, but it always reached the same conclusion. Saki was right, she was always right. And this time was no different. I slid down the ruin wall and began to sob quietly. I covered my eyes and looked away. I did not want Saki to see me like this.

  I felt as Saki gently wrapped her arms around me. I turned and cried into her shoulder. She patted my back and whispered, “There, there, it is going to be alright.”

  My tail wrapped around my legs, and my ears flattened. I sat there in Saki’s arms for what felt like only a few moments. I am not sure how long, eventually, everything went dark, and I fell asleep in her arms.

  The next morning, if one could call it morning in an underground city with no sun, came far too quickly for me. My mother landing on top of me, her death poignant in my mind. Her eyes staring into mine, dead, lifeless.

  I snapped my eyes open and sat up, shaking my head before looking around. Everyone else was still asleep. Even Anna was passed out by the fire in my gi form she had not even shifted to a humanoid. I giggled quietly at that as I brushed the nightmare away.

  Instead, I stood and walked over to her before leaning in and whispering, “Anna, want to go fight stuff?”

  Anna suddenly came to life and latched onto me, forming onto me fully. I smiled and rubbed her. She giggled in my head to be quiet.

  “Today we hunt a new foe, my dear friend,” I said in my head as I walked over to Tristy. She passed out on the ground, right next to her sleeping bag Saki had gotten for her.

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  I looked down at her for a moment. My knife appeared in my hand and floated inches from her throat. After a moment, I cursed to myself and put the knife away. I could not do it, which meant the only other option was to accept them fully. I did not know how to do that.

  I brought my dagger out again and swung it down to slice her throat. Once again, it stopped a mere inch from her sleeping face, and tears filled my eyes. I clenched my teeth and tried to force my hand to move. It did not budge an inch.

  Sighing, I put my dagger away and took a step back, looking around the area for something to help me figure this out. All around me were ruins for miles in every direction. This place truly was massive. It would take me at least a couple of days to fully explore, most likely. It had apparently taken Saki two whole days to reach me, and Anna had been guiding her.

  “If you want, I can kill them for you. Nice and easyI can even just possess them and have them do it to themselves!” Anna said in my head, and for the briefest of moments, I genuinely considered it. Then I shook my head and sighed. “No,” I said simply.

  I considered what I knew about the collars, what Saki had said, what they had done when activated. None of the other slaves had collars on them when I was there that meant they were not active until put on, or not active until blood had touched them?

  I assumed it had to be related to the blood.

  I stomped my foot and screamed internally. I threw my dagger at a nearby wall so hard the wall collapsed. I winced and looked over at Saki. S he was still fast asleep. I sighed in relief.

  How did she do this thinking thing all the time? This was torture!

  “Right!” Anna thought to me. “She does it like, nonstop too. For the two days I was with her, it was like her brain never stopped!”

  I nodded sagely at this. It made sense. The smarterest person alive definitely had to think a lot, right?

  “That makes sense,” Anna thought to me and did some kind of mental giggle, which was really neat.

  I opened my mouth to quietly ask her how she did that but stopped myself. “No, Tama!” I said quietly to myself. “Focus!”

  “You know, for a princess, you are really bad at making good decisions,” Anna thought. I winced at her words. First for calling me a princess, and second for the reiteration that I made bad decisions. She, of course, much like Saki, was right.

  “I do not really see the issue. J ust treat them like you would a royal servant,” Anna continued, uncaring or unaware of my self-deprecation.

  “You do not get it, Anna!” I snapped back. “You make it sound so simple! I do not know how to be royalty, I do not know how to be a princess, and I hate being in charge!”

  There was a moment of silence as Anna seemed to mull over what I said before responding. “But you do it all the time.” Memories suddenly flooded me of playing with Jiggle, and commanding Tera, and relying on Saki as my royal advisor.

  “Those are not being royal!” I said, though even as I spoke, I was not so sure.

  “Of course they are! You are a princess . T hat makes you royalty. That means any way you act is how a royal acts!” Anna said simply.

  I froze as the gears turned in my head. “But that is different!” I said back, my voice full of uncertainty at this point.

  “How?” Anna asked simply.

  After a very long quiet moment, I responded. “Because royalty and princesses are supposed to be these very proper and powerful ladies! They have lots of grace and wisdom! Tama only has the wisdom her sensei left her, and the grace of a ninja. She does not have proper grace and stuff. They are supposed to always know what to do, like Saki! Tama makes lots of decisions, but you even admit she makes lots of wrong ones !”

  Anna laughed hard. My ears furrowed, and my eyebrows snapped together as my tail lashed back and forth. “What is so funny!”

  “Can I ask you something, Tama?” Anna asked me with a hint of amusement in her voice.

  “Of course?” I said, confused, my head tilting slightly as I stared at the ruin wall.

  “Based on your memories, I am guessing your mother was royalty and your father was a peasant man. Also from your memories, you were born and raised in a small village on the outskirts of the Rojian Empire. Yet you are clearly a Princess of Trissaile, the neighboring kingdom to the Rojian Empire,” Anna said quickly.

  I nodded, uncertain where this was going.

  “Well, that would imply, at least from your own memories, that your mother, the Queen or Princess of Trissaile at the time, left her own country to hide away in a neighboring country in a small village to be with some random peasant dude. That does not sound like the best idea ever, nor does it sound like a particularly wise decision. Yet, she did it.”