“Thank you, Dia,” Gregory and Jenn echoed her.
“I take it you had an early dinner?” Dia asked as they went to leave.
“Yes, with our parents,” Gregory answered.
“Very well. Make sure to be back here when your classes would have begun tomorrow morning. I will see you then.”
“Good night, Dia,” Gregory said. When he bowed, Yukiko and Jenn bowed with him.
Going inside, Yukiko spoke up, “We should bathe and pack before studying tonight.”
“That’s probably for the best,” Jenn agreed. “Are we going to study during our time away? Or are we going to say that crafting is the learning time?”
“It’ll depend on how much we learn,” Gregory said. “I can see the want for some downtime, though… Maybe we can practice our dice and card playing at the inn?”
“Those are both valid points,” Yukiko mused. “We’ll have to wait and see.”
“Greg’s room after we’re done?” Jenn asked.
“Yes,” Yukiko nodded, but her lips pursed and she looked at Gregory. “We didn’t ask about sharing a room.”
Gregory stopped walking and shook his head. “We didn’t. See you after the bath.” With that, he spun on his heel and jogged back the way they’d come.
~*~*~
Jenn joined them in Gregory’s room. “Did you see our new kimonos?”
“We did,” Gregory said. “I’ll get used to the yellow, I hope.”
“Not your favorite color?” Jenn asked with a laugh.
“Not especially, but it’ll only be for a year.”
Crossing to the table where Yukiko was sitting, she saw the double bedding in the corner of the room and her smile slipped for a moment. “What are we going to study?” Jenn asked with false cheer.
“We decided to skip studying,” Yukiko said. “Come sit next to me, please.”
Jenn’s eyes widened slightly and she licked her lips. “Of course.”
Gregory shut the door to his room and followed her to the table, his heart beating a little faster. Taking his seat to Yukiko’s right, across from Jenn, he cleared his throat. “Uh, Jenn... ah… we had something to tell you.”
Jenn began to breathe a little faster. Her stomach was doing somersaults when she saw his nervousness, and she feared the worst. “Yes?”
“We said we’d explain a few things to you after the wedding,” Gregory said, not meeting her eyes. “Yuki thought now would be the best time for it.”
Jenn’s breath caught, and she exhaled deeply. “Oh, okay.”
Gregory looked up. “You okay?”
“Yes,” Jenn replied, half relieved and half sad. “Go ahead.”
Gregory hesitated, trying to find the right way to tell her.
“Greg mentioned something about Darkness stopping him from seeing something. Do you remember?” Yukiko asked Jenn, filling the growing silence.
“Yes.”
“This is going to be a little hard to accept maybe, so we’ll take it in steps,” Yukiko said. “Greg talks with a being in his dreams. When he first talked with her, she called herself his aether.”
“What?” Jenn asked, clearly puzzled. “But the flame in our cavern is our aether.”
Yukiko smiled and held up a hand. “Please, wait? That being is one of immense power, who has taken the name Darkness. She shrouds herself in her namesake, and yes, I’ve talked to her, during the tea ceremony and a few other times.”
Jenn was clearly confused, but nodded along.
“Darkness is tied to Greg as surely as I am,” Yukiko said.
Now Jenn’s brow furrowed. “But you’re married to him.”
“Yes, and I believe she was,” Yukiko said.
Jenn’s mouth opened and closed for a second. “Past life?”
“I’ve been told I am a reborn soul,” Gregory said. “Gin thinks it’s likely, because of my skill with the naginata.”
“But…” Jenn trailed off, trying to understand.
“Darkness is tied to my aether,” Gregory said. “I know it’s true, even though I have nothing to say so. She told me I was a soul reborn.”
Yukiko placed her hand on Jenn’s. “Jenn, you’ve asked me about our walking all three paths, and I told you it was because of Greg. Remember?”
Jenn nodded slowly. “Yes.”
“Greg is Aether,” Yukiko said softly.
Jenn stared at her, expecting a laugh. Yukiko just watched her and, eyes growing wide, Jenn could only blink. “Greg is…?”
“That’s what Darkness said,” Gregory added when Jenn didn’t say more. “And it explains the oddities— my skill with a naginata and why we can walk all three paths. This is what we haven’t told anyone. Yuki said that you should know, and I agreed.”
Jenn’s eyes had gone to him when he started talking. Seeing his worry, she began to calm down. “You trust me that much?”
“You want to walk beside us,” Yukiko said softly. “You should know what that truly means. I will protect my heart with everything I am, but anyone who stands beside him must, as well.”
Jenn met Yukiko’s gaze and bowed her head. “I will... you know I will. And that was before you told me this.” She looked to Gregory. “I will tell no one. Your secret will be kept in my heart.”
Gregory blushed lightly and looked away. “Thanks.”
“What does Darkness do, exactly?” Jenn asked. “Gregory and you can talk to her, but what does that mean?”
“Well,” Gregory chuckled, “this is going to be complicated. I’ll do my best to explain.”
Chapter Three
Gregory woke the next morning and lay in bed, looking at the ceiling. Did we do the right thing telling her? It looked like she believed us... Will it change anything between us?
“Greg?” Yukiko asked, her arm slipping over his chest. “Are you okay, dear one?”
“Didn’t mean to wake you, Yuki. I was just thinking.”
“About if we did the right thing?”
“Yeah. We haven’t even told our parents, but we told her. Was that right?”
Yukiko pushed herself up onto her arm so she could look down at him. “Is that what was distracting you?” She had
