"Sarah ? What are you doing here ? I thought you were going with Yaotl and the other warriors in the jungle, to hunt the Three-Headed Beast near our village that you spot when you found Alice ?"
"I am. But the hunt has been postponed."
"Why ?"
Sarah straight up ignored Grimm's question. She was looking at Alice, curious.
She asked a strange question:
"Who are you ?"
Alice blinked.
She did not understand what Sarah meant.
"You know who I am. You saved me, back in the jungle. I am a Child of the Sun. My name's Alice."
Sarah laughed.
"I already knew that. What I means is... who are you, really ? You listened to Grimm saying things about our Clan, and I would gladly listen to you saying things about yourself."
Alice was suprised. Why did Sarah wanted to know more about her ?
Did she perhaps want to find a weakness she could use against her, later ?
Or maybe she was just curious ?
"You know, I'm not that interesting."
"None of us are."
Alice wondered. What should she tell to Sarah ? Nothing seemed like it was the best choice. Knowledge was a weapon, after all.
Yet, Alice opened her mouth, and said a few words, which were translated thanks to the wooden mask.
"To get to this place, I met my reflection, a voice in my head, a talkative Heart Eater, a few monsters with two mouths, a sick giant, and a mass murderer disguised as my brother. I even saw Isa the Ageless in one of my dream."
"Who is that ?" asked Grimm.
"The kind of person you don't want to meet. Apparently, she killed six dragons."
Judging by how they reacted, Grimm and Sarah knew nothing about dragons.
So, Alice continued her story:
"I found myself in a flying forest made of glass, on the other side of a mirror, in a forgotten city, and in a bunch of other strange places... sometimes even stranger than strange."
"Do you have any gift given to you by the Sun ?"
asked Sarah.
Alice hesitated. Should she tell them ? Maybe not. But she did anyway.
"I can see the future."
It was kind of a lie, in a way. If Mirror recieved a lot of visions of the future, the few dreams Alice obtained thanks to her ability were instead tied to the past.
But saying "I can see the past" wasn't really all that... impressive ?
"That sounds really cool, said Grimm. So, you know when you are going to die."
"No. I can't see the future that well." replied Alice.
But what Grimm said was really interesting. In a few weeks, Alice was going to have access to her syrongest power, the one which allowed her to choose what kind of visions she was getting.
Originally, she wanted to use this power to know more about the current Lightbringer, or Isa, or even the whole Godess of Light thing. But if she could learn how she was going to die, she could prevent a potentially early death.
But would she be able to see the future like Mirror ? And... would she be able to change it ? When she just wanted to die, evrything was so much simpler...
"In any case, your life sounds very... special." said Sarah.
Alice looked at Grimm and Sarah.
She laughed.
"All of that must sounds fun to you, huh ? Sounds like a wonderful journey ? It's not. I almost died of hunger and thirst, lost what was almost a friend, I was cursed, and worst of all... this."
Alice briefly took out the mask, just to show Grimm and Alice her injury. They already saw it, of course, but Alice felt really cool while showing it. This was a proof... a proof that her life was hell.
Alice put the mask back on her head.
Silence.
"I'm not a happy person."
Silence.
"What do you want, Alice ?"
"What do you mean, Sarah ?"
"What are... your goals in life ?"
Alice laughed.
"Does any human being have clear goals they want to accomplish ? I don't, personally. I just want to be normal, I guess."
Silence.
Grimm talked:
"You don't express yourslef like a ten years old girl. You almost sounds like an adult."
"I'm not ten."
Alice looked at the sun.
"I'm thirteen." she added.
Silence.
A very long one.
"And about you two ? Who are you ?" asked Alice.
Grimm replied:
"I became the shaman of the Clan when the previous shaman was killed by one of the numerous creature of the jungle. I was nine years old at the time. Since then, I gave my life to the Clan. Litterally."
"And that doesn't bother you ? The fact that, to protect other, to help other, you're severly shortening your life ?"
Grimm smiled.
"If the Sun is going to give me these powers, it's because He want me to use them, obviously. Those who consider their abilities as a curse are fools."
Alice thought about that line. Did it apply to her ? She was afraid of using soul selling, after all.
"And you, Sarah ?"
"I don't really want to talk about me."
Alice smiled, even though her smile was mostly hidden behind Grimm's mask.
"Don't be shy, Sarah."
"I'm not... Well, fine. I'm the daughter of the Clan leader, Eloy. Which make me your older sister, since he adopted you for some reason. That's all."
"Do you want to become the next leader ?"
"What ? No, not at all."
"Why are you never in the village ? Do you like this deadly jungle that much ?"
"Yeah, I like it. But it's not something you'll be able to understand. Nobody can understand how beautiful the jungle truly is. My mother understood it, but now, she is dead."
"I'm sorry to hear that, said Alice while hiding the fact that she wasn't sorry to hear that. How did this tragedy happens ?"
"She..."
Suddenly, a member of the Fire Clan that Alice did not recognize appeared near them, and immediatly talked to Sarah.
"Sarah ! It's Miquiztli, he..."
It seemed the name of that person was enough for Sarah to understand the rest.
"What an idiot..." whispered Sarah.
"What did that guy do ?" asked Grimm.
Sarah sighed.
"He got into a duel."
"Against ?"
"Against Yaotl."