Mii was still sobbing in her mind. She was exhausted from everything that happened. She still wanted to go to sleep hoping she would wake up from her own bed, surrounded by her stuffed animals. But she was sitting in a bathtub, leaning her head to her knees, eyes closed and listening to a story.
The woman had taken Mii inside the house and wrapped her in a soft blanket. Once Mii had calmed down a bit, the woman told her she would take her to the shore where she could boil some water and bathe her. Mii hadn't even notice that the house was right next to sea, when she had walked out of the forest. They needed to walk downhill towards the shore from the house, and on the shore was tiny hut.
The hut looked more like a barn or a boathouse up close. It had wide door, and inside there was a room that looked like porch to Mii. There were couple benches, one table made from a barrel, and small cracked mirror on the wall. There were also few towels and two soaps. Under one of the benches was huge wide crate filled with firewood. In the middle of the back wall was a door with a window. Behind the door was a tiny room with split-leveled benches, and two oven looking things. Other one had with rocks on top of it, and other one was like a huge barrel with an oven, filled with water. Mii also saw a wooden barrel also filled with water, couple of buckets and a wooden bathtub.
Mii had sat on the lowest bench while the woman had started to shove firewood in the barrel oven. She was talking to Mii in motherly tone, telling her that she would feel much better after they would get the mud washed away while having a nice talk. Mii thought it was weird that a total stranger was so kind to her.
Once the water had boiled, the woman took a bucket and started to fill the bathtub, mixing the boiled water and the cool water from the wooden barrel. Mii had offered to help, but the woman made it clear that Mii was her guest and she needed to stay put and let her help her. It had taken a while for the water to cool down to a decent temperature, but once Mii had sat in the bathtub, there was actually a moment she felt good. Water felt really nice and relaxing.
The woman had told her to enjoy herself while she would go back up and get her some clean clothes. Mii really didn't have the change to relax, since she was covered in mud, so the water had become really disgusting even before the woman had got back.
"How are you feeling, dear?" the woman asked when she started to pour warm water on Mii's hair. "I hope it's not too hot or too cold for you."
"No, it is... It's perfect." Mii said.
"That's good." the woman answered smiling. "Once we get this mud of, then I'll draw a new bathwater for you, so you can properly relax."
"Thank you..." Mii said quietly. Then she realized she never introduced herself properly. She was blushing. "I'm sorry, I... I didn't introduce myself properly. My names' Mi... Mii. Everyone calls me Mii."
"My name is Saimi." the woman said. "Nice to meet you Mii." Saimi crabbed a wooden comb from her pocket and started to scrub the mud of from Mii's hair. "Are you from some beast tribe? You hesitated with your real name there."
"I…" Mii muttered. And at that moment she realized too many things, which made her head hurt. Her hands raised to her temples automatically.
"How can you understand me?" Mii asked, almost sobbing again. "This a dream… I just want to wake up…"
Saimi stopped the scrubbing. She felt the air getting colder. It had started to wind outside.
"You must be really distressed there, my dear..." she said softly while pouring more water on Mii's hair. "How about you take a deep breath, and start from the very beginning your story of how you ended up on my porch naked and muddy? And after that I try to answer your every question the best I can. How does that sound?"
Mii sighed, set her hands to rest on her lap, and took a deep breath. She started to tell what had happened. Saimi listened quietly, while removing clumps of mud from Mii's hair. She had noticed that the more Mii talked, the more she could hear the wind outside rustling in the trees and grass.
"And... Yeah... Now I'm here. I still don't understand what is going on, and where those two are. I'm confused and scared, and don't like this dream. I just want to wake up and go back home..."
The room got quiet. Mii looked at her hands. The water had turned brown from all the mud. She barely even saw her hands. She tried to grab one of her rings on her left hand. But there still were no rings. It felt really weird. That made her feel more naked than the fact that she wasn't wearing any clothes. "Why did all my clothes and jewelry disappear? I miss my rings already..." But she didn't get any answer.
Mii coughed awkwardly, but she still didn't get any answer. She started to tap her knee with her finger. The silence started to irritate and cause her stress. Her finger wasn't tapping anymore; the whole had started to shake with an uncontrolled twitch every now and then. She didn't want it, so she bit her lip and turned around.
Saimi was looking outside the window, holding the comb on her other hand and a lump on mud on her other hand. Her head turned to look at Mii. She had a smile on her face and a weird look in her eyes. She dropped the comb and mud on the floor and grabbed Mii's shoulders.
"It all makes sense now...!" Saimi said enthusiastically. "I think I know, what happened to you and your friends, and who you are."
"...What...?" Mii whispered. She started to feel more stressed. And she felt a draft. In the closed room. "Wha-what do you m-me-mean?" she stuttered. The air around them got colder again. Mii could feel the draft getting stronger. She started to stress more. "Wha-What is going on...?!"
Saimi leaned in closer and wrapped her arms around her. "Try to calm down. Take a deep breath again, close your eyes, then just listen and feel. Use your senses."
Mii closed her eyes and grabbed Saimi's arms. The wool itched her face. Saimi smelled like grass, wood and sea water. Mii heard Saimi's heartbeat, and the sound of the draft. She could feel the cold breeze on her arms. It started to get warmer. The calmer she got, the calmer the draft inside got, as did the wind outside. Mii opened her eyes and inhaled. It was her.
"It's me... I'm doing this..."
Saimi nodded and calmly leaned back. She hold Mii at arm length. With a smile on her face, she said:
"I'm going to tell you something that might... No, it will scare you. But I think I'm right on this one."
"Okay...? Please, I... I wanna know what is happening." Mii said. Saimi asked her to turn around. She grabbed more water, and continued combing Mii's hair.
"The story you told me truly sounded weird and unbelievable. But as I got most of the mud out, and realized that your hair is red... The wind outside, and inside. It all started to make sense to me. You are not from this world, yet you are."
Mii was confused.
"What is that suppose... Sorry, I mean... What do you mean?"
"This story is going to be long, so I hope you don't mind me telling it. Because otherwise I can't really explain."
"That is... Totally okay... I guess..." Mii sighed. She felt tired. Too much had happened to her. She still was sure that it was all a dream, but just not to be rude, she started to listen.
"Our world was created by two Elder Dragons. The Dragon of Light, Vali, and the Dragon of Darkness, Dimeys. They were lovers, and from their love the four Main Elements were created."
"Earth, air, water and fire..."
"Exactly." Saimi said happily. "You might know more than you think there, my dear. The Main Elements started to play and from that they created our world and the four Secondary Elements. You know what those are?"
"No, not really..." Mii said blushing. For some reason she felt embarrassed.
"It's alright. One cannot know everything." Saimi said and put the comb back on the floor. "If you get up, I can change the bath water now that we got all the mud out, and let you just relax then."
Mii got up and Saimi handed her a soft towel. Saimi continued talking while she was fussing around.
"Ice, Lightning, Poison and Metal. As these Elements joined the play, the world grew bigger and more beautiful. After a while Earth left his siblings and started to play alone. He gathered soil and started sculpting a doll, but the more effort he put to it, the more it started to crumble. He grew frustrated and turned to his sister Water for help. Earth made another doll for Water, who then took it to her arms, stroking the doll gently adding her element to it, and making the soil stick. She did the same to Earth's doll too, making her brother happy."
The bath was ready. Saimi asked Mii to get back in, while sitting back down and grabbing Mii's hair. Mii couldn't remember when was the last time someone had washed her hair. She loved it.
"Those two played with their dolls, but they grew sad, since the dolls started to look plain and dull. They went to their sister Air, asking for help yet again. They made Air her own doll. She was so happy that her laughter made her doll move on its own. Earth and Water asked her to make their dolls move too, so Air then grabbed the dolls, and gently blew life into them.
But even if the dolls were moving, they still seemed plain. They all looked the same, they moved the same. Air suggested they would ask Fire for more help, and so they did.
Fire got excited and grabbed Air's doll to his hands before Earth and Water had made him his own doll. Fire squeezed the doll, and it lit up to flames. Air started crying because she thought his brother had broken it. But as Fire opened his hands the doll had changed. It wasn't a dull soil sculpture anymore. It had fair light skin, and flowing red hair, and sparkling blue eyes. Air loved her new doll so much that she gave it a name. The doll's name was Iima, and she was the first woman in this world. And Air loved her so much she blessed Iima with a part of her element; Iima could control winds and drafts."
Mii sat quietly in the tub. She felt anxious as she heard the name. It was one of the names the fairy had kept repeating over and over again. She leaned her heavy head against her knees and closed her eyes. This story started to sound like some really boring and long creation myth. Back in the days she used to love mythology and stories. But his one she didn't like. She just wanted to sleep.
"Of course, Air's siblings wanted to finish their own dolls too. Fire, being faster than his other two siblings, had already grabbed all the dolls and scorched his passion into them. These dolls were all different than Iima, since these all the dolls were men.
Earth and Water, who loved each other most from the siblings, had wanted to make their dolls similar, so they looked exactly alike. Except their eyes. Even though their bodies were the same, their face were the same, their hair were the same, they had different eyes. Earth's doll Mae, had blue eyes, and Water's doll Vess had brown eyes."
Mii flinched and opened her eyes. Her breathing had gotten faster again. She realized that she was squeezing her legs so hard her knuckles had turned white. All she could think was H and Sweet.
"...They're twins with different eyes..." she whispered to herself.
Her chin had started to tremble. She already knew what was coming.
"I don't feel good...!" she said a bit too loud. Saimi flinched.
"Oh, darling. You need to rest too. Silly me, for rambling on, when we could talk once we have you bathed and fed. Let me just finish here, and then we'll go up to get some supper."
Mii nodded and swallowed. She wanted to cry. She wanted even more to go to sleep. But this time, she didn't want to wake up. She didn't care anymore. If this was her Hell, then so be it.
"Oh, my dear... I know this is hard for you." Saimi said gently while helping her getting up from the tub. Mii hadn't noticed that she was crying silent tears.
Saimi wrapped a soft towel around her with a caring gentle smile. "We will find them tomorrow." she said firmly. "There's a fair at the town tomorrow. And trust my words, they will be there." Saimi continued when they walked back to the porch like room. Mii sat down on one of the benches. Saimi went back to the washing room to fuss again with the tub and the barrels. Mii sobbed quitly trying to wipe the tears from her cheeks, but they just kept flowing.
Saimi stepped from the tiny room and grabbed one of the towels again.
"We need to wake up early. Of course, the most important thing is to find your friends, but I also need some spices." Saimi explained while drying Mii's hair with another towel.
Mii stared at the floor humming quietly;
"Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme..."
Saimi stopped and asked with careful excitement in her voice:
"How did you know?"