"Ah, your awake, good morning!"
"Uaahhhhmmmm...", Alice yawned, she hadn't slept this well in a long time. At that moment, she remembered where she was and what had happened the day before.
When Alice looked around, she realized that she had been sleeping in a real bed for the first time in months. She was happy and felt refreshed but she also realized what this must have meant for Risa.
Seeing the dark rings under the beautiful woman's eyes, Alice knew that she was right. Worried she asked her: "Are you alright?"
"Yes, thanks for asking. I'm completely fine.", Risa gave the girl a reassuring smile.
Now that she looked at her again, aside from the dark rings, Risa didn't seem tired at all. Maybe she had been wrong after all.
"Come to us and have something to eat as well.", Risa beckoned to Alice.
Risa and Amy sat on both sides of the only table in the small room and Amy looked like a little squirrel as she nibbled on a piece of bread that she held in between her small hands.
"Ah, no, I don't need..."
"Come on, I have to go soon and I still want to talk about something with you."
"But what about you?"
"I ate already something earlier!"
In the past, Alice would just naively accepted what Risa said and not suspected anything, but now she knew that Risa was most probably lying. After all, she had told similar lies to Amy more than once in the last week.
"No, I really don't..."
"Come, it's okay, its only one meal!"
Seeing Risa's smile, Alice understood the true meaning behind her words. Alice hadn't met her that often actually even though Risa was teaching her, but Alice knew her good enough to know that she wouldn't let her argue any more than this.
At this point, Alice could only accept.
"Thanks."
"Have some water too.", Risa said, passing Alice a cup of water.
Seeing Risa's eyes, Alice knew that she wouldn't let her decline.
"Okay."
"Well then, what do you plan to do now?", Risa asked after a while.
Alice took a sip of water, trying to buy time to find an answer.
"I... think I will go to the bears first and ask them for help. When that is done I will decide on the next step."
"You know that they will probably ask of something from you if you want their help?"
"Yes, that's exactly why. But I want to apologize to them no matter what I'm gonna do from now on."
"Its good that you made your decision, but are you sure? You decided pretty quickly."
"Yes, well, there aren't that many possibilities to choose from after all."
"That's true. And one last advice from me, its impossible to find a perfect solution. So instead, try finding the one that you won't regret."
"Yes."
"Oh, and come back later this week, you can't miss out on practice again!"
"Yes, Bye!"
***
Not long after the two girls had left Risa and Alice explained the situation to Amy, Alice stood before a new problem. She didn't know the direction of the Orphanage. Now that she thought about it, no one ever told her where exactly it was, only that it was inside the territory of the bear's. But their territory was at least three times bigger than that of the guardians.
In conclusion, Alice decided to try looking for someone from the bears to ask for directions. But as it was so often, when you start searching for something, it's suddenly nowhere to be found anymore.
When Alice had looked for someone for quite some time already, she suddenly stopped moving. When she turned around, there stood a familiar figure behind her.
"Hey, Forster. I guess Alex sent you?"
The boy nodded.
He was here to bring her back, but he wouldn't force her.
Alice had always found this boy very mysterious. Of course, he couldn't talk, but besides that, he made in general almost no noise. Most of the time it felt as if he wasn't even there and you wouldn't notice him if you didn't actively look for him.
But then, there were situations just like this. He would suddenly appear like a ghost, and you would suddenly know that he was there, even though he still didn't make a single noise.
Also, his expression almost never changed, Alice could count the times she saw him smile on her fingers. But at the same time, even without him talking or making any kind of expression, you would still be able to talk with him.
Her father had always told her: A single action tells more than a thousand words.
Forster was almost like the embodiment of this saying. With a single nod or shake of his head, you could guess what he wanted to say, just like right now.
"I can't come back right now."
Another nod.
There were still things she had to do.
"And I might not be able to stay with you even when I do."
He nodded again.
It was okay as long as she was sure about it. But she would always be welcome when she wanted to come back.
"Thanks. You know, I always wanted to know how you are doing this or if I'm just Imagining it. Maybe... are you using some kind of mantra? Where you so desperate to talk to someone that you learned this?"
Forster smiled one of his rare smiles and shook his head.
"Okay, I can't tell what you want to say at all right now. Do you not want to tell me or are you saying it isn't a mantra? Well, it doesn't matter in the end, it's still the same either way."
He nodded.
Yes, it didn't matter, he was just himself. And she was just herself, and because of that she still had something to do.
He pointed in a certain direction.
The Orphanage.
"Thanks. See you."
Forster turned around and left.
After walking for almost fifteen minutes into the direction Forster had told her, she finally met someone from the bears who ended up taking her the rest of the way to the orphanage.
It wasn't hard to find when they got closer. Already a few streets away, Alice could see several groups of children playing in the streets, all around the same age as Amy, the oldest around the same age as Alice if not a little older even.
The Orphanage was a rather big building with smooth, but dirty walls that had several big and small cracks.
Although it looked old and in very poor condition, it was still one of the best buildings in the area. After all, this area was barely outside the slums and the houses were either built out of fieldstones or entirely of wood. Not having any holes in the walls or roof was just the minimum standard.
Alice could tell, the Orphanage must have once been a beautiful building with clean white walls and a big sign above the door where there was now only a rectangular, slightly brighter patch of wall. It even had a second floor, which made it the tallest building in the entire area.