The cozy living room of the house had exchanged the jovial atmosphere for one of a hospital, the kind where friends and relatives walk side by side, anguished by the patient's life expectancy. That's exactly what Samantha and Airys did, circling worried while being comforted by Natsume.
"Greg said there was nothing to worry about." Her words landed on deaf ears. "What if Airys's resonance just blanks people out?"
With that last comment she fulfilled her goal of getting attention, but instead of generating any kind of relief, Airys's face filled with conflict. Of course, it wasn't Natsume's fault for not having an idea of what Airys' resonance does or can do, but... Airys didn't know at all either, that's why the guilt overwhelmed her when she believed that Melody —a cute girl —would be the SECOND victim of her resonance; what a good start.
"It's enough!" Samantha stopped moving and bit the nail. "I'm going to go with them and ask how is she" She stormed to the door, shoving Airys aside. "If I find out that something serious happened to my little sister, I'll lock you up for life myself" she pointed Airys in her face and made her shrink.
She proceeded to open the door, ready to run into the streets covered by the serene night, however, her uncle's smile stopped her and took the roughness from her face to reveal the vulnerability of the small heart of hers.
"Thanks for opening" Gregory said.
"Uncle!" Her voice cracked a bit. "Where's Melody? What did Heylin say about her health?"
Gregory crouched down a bit, enough so that his niece and visitors could see how Melody slept peacefully with a finger in her little mouth. Airys and Samantha released all the tension in a unison sigh; which both Natsume and Gregory found humorous. When Gregory returned from putting Melody in her bed, she told them that a few minutes after arriving at the infirmary, Melody regained consciousness and talked about being tired of flying and fell asleep.
"I wanted to wait for her to wake up, but I think she'll wake up tomorrow."
"Wait, did she say 'fly'?" Natsume commented and wiped away some of the blood that fell from her nose.
"Yes!" Gregory's eyes lit up. "I have several possible theories to explain what happened, I think I have a good idea of your resonance, Airys!"
"Really? Like which one?" Airys said.
Gregory folded his hands in meditation, took a deep introspective look at Airys's hand, opened his mouth, and said:
"You can put people to sleep."
No one responded to his pathetic joke.
"W-well, a-apart from that, it occurred to me that maybe you could force the resonance of people, or restore their energies…" he rectified, red in embarrassment.
Natsume didn't notice that both Airys and Gregory slid their gazes directly to her as soon as Gregory finished speaking. For the —bad or good —luck of Airys, the brown-haired girl remained thoughtful while she inhaled a drop of blood.
"I suppose that matter will be for later" thought Gregory seeing how liberating it was for Airys not to have to bring up the subject. "How about you try to use your resonance on me now, Airys?"
"Well…/"
"No no no no no no!" Samantha yelled at him. "Tomorrow is the festival of mirrors, I don't want to start the day with my uncle asleep, we don't even know when Melody will wake up, the incident happened at noon!"
"But in my case/"
"No means no!" Samantha pouted.
Gregory had no choice but to obey his niece. Reluctantly the little woman forced them to go to sleep. Yes, she was right, what did one more day of delay matter? The best thing is to proceed calmly, enjoy the holiday, have a good time. Not even because she's the Chosen One is she going to master her resonance and understand her implications in one night or afternoon, besides, she doesn't need it, not yet.
Right?
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The day of the mirror festival, also known as the anniversary of its founder, is an event that takes advantage of a certain mystical phenomenon at the end of the year. On that day, when the sun reaches its highest point, the normal and Dingars dimensions intertwine and become visible from each other. Sure, citizens don't waste time putting on big shows to amaze, please and attract foreigners, to money. A day of fun, conviviality, hospitality...
"Can you leave us alone today?"
Samantha's soft voice woke up Airys and Natsume. Natsume, who slept on that piece of furniture covered with that strange plant, opened her eyes in search of a source of light and frowned when she saw that there was hardly any coming through the window.
"What's the matter?" Airys asked after being woken up by Samantha's shoves.
Samantha brought a couple of rags tied to Airys's mattress and to the table in front of Natsume, the smoke that came out of them stood out due to the cold weather of the morning.
"Today is a special day for us, so we'd like you to please spend the day outside" Samantha explained.
"Huh? Are you running us?" Natsume replied.
"I made you breakfast; I hope you can afford the rest of your day" Samantha said.
"H-hey!" Natsume was about to demand an explanation, however, Airys raised her hand fighting sleep to hold him back and seeing Airys's face denying she understood, she stopped. "Okay, I was going to talk to Layd this morning anyway" she grumbled and took the food rag.
"Everything closes after noon" Samantha reminded them as they said goodbye.
At the exit, Sandy greeted them waving his sandy tail with a smile, Airys caressed him and clung to him, ready to sleep again. Sandy made sure to adjust his body to move Airys on top of him and pick up the package from her. Natsume started unwrapping her food as she went. Sandy decided to follow her.
For being so early, there were more people on the streets than in the afternoons.
"At least she made me four…" she spoke with her mouth full. "Well? Why did you let us be run like that?"
"Didn't you see her?" She yawned. Airys wanted to force herself to sit down, but Sandy was so soft that she couldn't resist.
"What thing?"
"Her… clooothes…"
Natsume made a lot of effort to remember, but she couldn't rescue what the girl looked like, the house was too dark to perceive anything other than strong or light colors... With that in mind, she realized what Airys was referring to. Samantha was wearing a black one-piece dress without much detail.
"Oh wow…" she murmured as she blushed with embarrassment.
It would never have crossed Natsume's mind that the very day of the festival would also be a date of mourning for that family. Nothing can be done, she should know this feeling first-hand, as well as understand that each person has the right to find the most comfortable way to cope with it.
During the rest of the way, they didn't talk much more, mainly because they had Airys sleepwalking behind Natsume. They rushed to Layd's training house, it's a given that Layd would be awake, it's a military type place. What was not expected is the huge stone mural in front with a message for Natsume.
"Natsume, if you come to see me I'm sorry, but I'm busy with some repairs to the walls. I'll be back at noon."
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"So?" Seng came out of the dressing room. "How do I look?"
Seng was wearing what was —to him —the coolest outfit he could ask for, though well, that's because he had them made.
A violet shirt that hid leather under it to cover his stomach and back; with floral design of the silver embroidery was added at the request of Zul'luz. His pants were brown, with the peculiarity of having about seven scattered pockets, a place to keep a book and a belt much longer than necessary, with additional buckles to wrap about two and a half times around his waist and hook. Lastly, boots of —you guessed it —leather, modified to lace up tightly around the ankle and without soles.
"Hm…" Zul'luz motioned for Seng to turn around.
"If I look weird it's your fault, I told you purple didn't look good on me." The maids present giggled just as Seng's back was turned. "What's got my back?" he leaned out to see his back.
"N-nothing" said Zul'luz hiding her flushed cheeks and with some anger ordered them to leave, which they didn't.
"How much time left?" Seng asked, removing the golden shackles from his wrists.
"About five hours." Zul'luz picked up her hat from the coat rack in the hall. "Tell me… are you going to save Airys?"
Seng held the doorknob, the amount of rancor in his expression, was such, that anyone could see the sulk from his back, just like Zul'luz.
"I…"
"If you want, I can still try to see into the future of both of you," Zul'luz placed her hands on her collar. "find a moment in which your doubts are clarified/"
Seng stopped her by gently taking her hands, moving them away from her neck and her necklace and holding them gently. He was the only one who knew, the true limit of her resonance, her complexity, and the enormous sacrifice required to find out everything Seng wants to know.
"Don't worry about it," he opened the door. "Let's enjoy this beautiful morning."
———————————————————————————————————
The breeze ceased to be refreshing, the light pierced her eyes hard and by reflection she squirmed, warning her summon of her awakening. The pleasant corner they had lain in had lost all cover from the sun as it moved over time. Sandy rubbed his head at his mistress's head gently.
"How long do we sleep?" Airys returned the caresses with a smile.
Right after reaching that pillar with Layd's message, Natsume got furious and went looking for Layd on her own around the bases and the walls. Almost sleepwalking, Airys notify her that she would wait, and so it was. She moved to a more comfortable spot in the shade and enjoyed another nap.
She took a look at that wall —as Sandy rose with her on top —there was no trace of Natsume or Layd. She watched fidgeting for a minute, chewing on the food she saved.
"What do you say?" She passed her hand over Sandy's head, blocking the sun with the other. "It's boring wasting the morning of the festival like this, isn't it?"
Sandy barked in agreement, and they took off from there. She didn't even need to walk far to find an interesting place, that store was crying out for her to enter, to do one of the things that would really start her life as a full-fledged adventurer. She almost jumped with emotion at being received by the owner of the place.
"Welcome to Danna's Emporium, specializing in adventurers and their needs! How can I help you?"