Chapter 33
"I thought you wanted to talk," I said to Suo, who was lying relaxed on my shoulder. "I'm ready to listen."
"What's there to say," she sighed. "The most essential things have already been said. You burst into my life uninvited, woke up the woman in me who had long since fallen asleep, disturbed me, ruffled me... You left the first time, I thought that was it—you blew in like the wind, refreshed things, and disappeared forever, and fine, you brought joy to an old woman and thanks for that. But no! You returned! And again disturbed, woke up, ruffled... gave hope that you would return again. Hope and fear: what if you really do return? And I took it upon myself to hide the valley, not trusting my students. And I tried my best with all diligence... But you still came again! And how did you even get through! And again, and again, and again... You became like a drug: I should quit, but I still want it again and again. Especially since the drug comes on its own, and you can't hide from it anyway... How did you find me? How do you find me? Just how do you do it?" she propped herself up on her elbow and looked at me demandingly.
"I just find you. I want to find you very much and I find you," I answered.
"As always: you seem to have spoken, and didn't even lie, and didn't say anything..." she sighed and lowered herself back onto my shoulder. "I watched you," she confessed as if to a terrible sin.
I chuckled and scratched her encouragingly behind the ear.
"And did you 'watch' a lot?"
"A lot," she said and turned away. "Even after your first visit, I started making inquiries about you... About a dissolute Shaolin monk who snores at services, brews opium and moonshine in the examination labyrinths under the monastery... And takes only one thing seriously: kung fu. But in that, there is no student more diligent: ready to practice the same form for weeks without interrupting for sleep or food, until he is satisfied with his movement... And also gnaws the stone wall of the monastery at night and howls at the moon... They told me a lot about you..." I didn't interrupt her. I liked the sound of her voice.
"I could watch your training for hours. Your movements simply mesmerized me: wildness, strength, passion... and a transcendent, somewhat unreal seriousness... As if, if you suddenly made a mistake, the Earth would stop and go out of orbit, or the Sky would crash to the Earth, nothing less..."
"Watch?" I clarified. "You weren't around, that's absolutely certain."
"Magic allows observing from afar. Without being personally present. I just open a window and look. Only other magic can create a barrier to this window..."
"So my house, my room, my bed?..." I clarified.
"You are such a cutie in your sleep," she giggled, hiding under my arm.
"Voyeur," I diagnosed her. I wasn't offended, wasn't angry. For some reason, it didn't bother me at all that I was constantly being spied on. I was ready to allow my woman this. If she wants to look, let her look, it won't diminish me.
"As if there was anything to spy on there: how you drink tea with hookers at night?" Suo giggled again. And I blushed, as if caught in something shameful, and lightly smacked the naughty girl on her appetizing bottom.
"Did you watch constantly? All the time?" I clarified. For no reason, just out of curiosity.
"No, of course not," she was surprised. "I have plenty of my own things to do: students, my own perfection in magic, protecting our dimension from constant threats from the outside... All this takes a lot of time. Just... on lonely evenings, before going to sleep... Well, or in a rare minute of rest, when I want to distract myself from the vanity..."
"During the war too?"
"No," she shook her head, as if shaking off some delusion. "Once, when you had just landed in France, I took a look, and that was more than enough for me. You kill dirtily. Very dirtily. It's unpleasant to see such things—it makes you want to throw up, even though I've seen a lot in my life anyway, but still... Only when you died... Only then did I try to open a window, but nothing worked. There was such terrifying interference there that the Dimension began to lose stability. I feel that you died, but I can't do anything, not even find the place where exactly... It was scary. I thought I would go crazy. I myself didn't guess that you had come to mean so much to me until I lost you..." Suspicious moisture fell on my skin. Suspiciously resembling tears. I pressed my woman tighter to me.
"I am not that easy to kill, Suo," I stated confidently to her.
"I know already," she grumbled. "But still, I worry like the biggest fool and bite my lips every time you step into the Arena!"
"Do you watch through a 'window' too?" I chuckled. She shook her head negatively.
"No. I was personally present at almost all of your fights, among the spectators. My status as Sorcerer Supreme automatically puts me on the guest lists."
"No wonder I was so drawn to that stupid Arena. Turns out I felt you on the edge of perception," I chuckled.
"Does that mean you won't go there anymore?" she asked with hope.
"I will go, of course," I chuckled. Why should I give up one of my favorite entertainments? Because someone worries about me? Maybe for someone that is indeed a worthy reason, but clearly not my case.
"You are incorrigible," she sighed heavily, and even thumped her little fist against my chest.
"Do you really need a corrected, trimmed, and censored version? I thought you needed me, the way I am," I frowned.
"The way you are," she answered hastily. Maybe too hastily. But so be it. We'll deal later with such seditious thoughts that some woman is capable of remaking me. Even if it is MY woman, without whom life is not life.
For some time silence reigned in the room, broken only by our calm breathing.
"Why did you leave then, Vic?" Suo broke the silence. "Why didn't you return?" she asked very quietly, with some wistful sadness in her voice. Apparently, this question had troubled her all these years. Although, personally, I don't even see a question here.
"You kicked me out, so I left. And to return to where you are kicked out from... I have pride, you know."
"I couldn't have acted otherwise that time," she began to speak sadly, justifying herself. "Those four you killed in my house were very important people in the magical community. And they arrived for negotiations, and you killed them in MY house. If I hadn't shown you the door, I would have shown everyone that they were killed by MY will..."
"Mages," I grimaced. "No negotiations with mages. See a mage—kill him."
"But I'm a mage too!" she said with some defiance.
"You are my woman," I cut her off categorically. "That is the only thing that reconciles me with this fact."
"But why do you hate us so much?" she exclaimed.
"Say thank you to Issei," I answered gloomily, not wanting to go into details.
"Issei?" she repeated in surprise and thought for a moment. "Is that one of those mages who went with Hitler? I heard out of the fifty who went to Europe with the Ahnenerbe expedition, three returned... And Issei was not among them."
"Three? Names, distinguishing marks, where to find them?" I immediately gathered myself.
"Wait, stop!" Suo recoiled from me and got on her knees, angrily resting her hands on her hips. "What do you need them for?"
"Track them down and kill them," I didn't obfuscate. "These creatures must not live. And they won't. With your help or without it."
"What are they guilty of, that you, without even knowing their names and faces, are ready to sentence them to death in absentia? Aren't you going too far, Vic?" Suo began to get angry.
"No, I am not," I sighed. I don't like explaining something to someone or reporting. But, apparently, I'll have to explain myself now. Otherwise, I risk repeating the situation from fifty-four years ago. "You saw what I did in the war. But you didn't see what they did. And believe me, I am a fluffy white bunny compared to them. I hoped that all these creatures died, but you say no. That means I'll have to fix this personally."
"Do you even realize what you are saying and to whom?!" she drew her eyebrows together and a pre-storm atmosphere hung in the room.
"I say what I think. And it doesn't matter to whom. I don't bend and I don't change my opinion, whether you are a kitten or Galactus," I frowned too. "These creatures will not live. Period."
A tense silence hung in the air. Suo drilled me with her gaze, I calmly held this gaze. I felt no aggression towards her, but I also wasn't going to change my decisions just because she didn't like them.
"As a mage, I should be on the side of the mages," she said slowly. Apparently, the storm is postponed. She'll try to negotiate constructively. Well, an attempt is not torture. "Explain what the mages did to you. To you personally. No philosophy right now."
"Six months in laboratories and death from an explosive spell to the chest on a testing ground, does that count?" I smirked.
"It counts," Suo dropped her shoulders. It was as if the air was suddenly let out of her. "Issei did that to you?"
"Issei. With his buddies. Sorry, I can't wish them a fond memory."
"But not all mages are like him..."
"Really?" I raised an eyebrow.
"I am not like that!" she exclaimed.
"I'm not sure," I shrugged. "I know you too poorly for conclusions. But you are my woman. That says it all, even if you were the Devil incarnate. The rest... Crushed them, crushing them, and will crush them. But not in your house," I made a certain concession.
"Why?" Suo even somehow lost her attitude.
"I'm not a complete fool, to step on the same rake twice."
"And what does a rake have to do with it?" she didn't understand. Apparently, she's not very familiar with Russian folklore.
"Step on the teeth—you'll find out," I smiled.
"Alright," she sighed. "Outside of my house, do as you know."
"But?" I caught the understatement.
"All of Kamar-Taj is my house!"
"Agreed," I sighed. But I firmly memorized about the trio of mages who survived the war. Suo won't tell—I'll question one of the locals. It's not shameful to deceive them.
"Will you leave again?" returning to her place on my shoulder, Suo asked quietly.
"I don't know," I admitted honestly. "You have your own life, your own duties, your own cares..."
"And you?"
"I... My Teacher died. There is no return to Japan for me in the coming years. A house in France remains. Little brother in America... No business for now."
"Will you stay?" she asked with hope.
"Among mages? I'll snap," I admitted honestly. "It's better if you come with me."
"Where?"
"To America, probably," after thinking a bit, I decided.
"Then to New York. One of my Sanctums is there," she said.
"Very well," I decided. "To New York then. And now, since someone has found the strength to 'put their hands on their hips', let's continue what we interrupted," I noted and loomed over the giggling Suo.
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