I woke up to Vera snuggled in beside me. She had demanded me to stay with her as she slept and I surrendered to her command. It was fine since, this way, my presence reminded her that she wasn't alone; that she was safe. I sat up and lost track of time as I stared at her sleeping face.
"Is she feeling better now?" I was startled by the sudden voice. I looked at the doorway and found Artanis leaning her shoulder on the door frame. I didn't even notice her opening the door.
"I think so. She's resting much better now compared to the one she took before dinner last night. Dinner was enjoyable, by the way." I answered her as I looked back to Vera, gently patting her head.
"There's some things we need to talk about, but we can do that over breakfast once Vera wakes up on her own. No need to wake her up."
"Thank you so much for accommodating us Lady Artanis." Have I mentioned just how gracious of a host our benefactor was? I really cannot overstate just how thankful I was for her. Lady Artanis merely waved off my thanks as she closed the door and went on her way.
With her gone, silence filled the room once more; only broken by the quiet breaths Vera took. I got lost in thought as I patted her scalp.
I got over it, huh. Vera. Vera. Vera. Now it's so easy to say. Even though I wasn't able to say her name for five months? Vera. Vera.
"Vera."
"Yeahhh?" Her voice trailed off. "Oh, sorry Vera. Did I wake you? You can go back to sleep, don't worry."
She groaned out an affirmation as she pulled me back down. Locked in her grasp, I didn't bother resisting and elected to try getting some more wink eye as her soft breaths gently lulled me back to sleep.
"Dina." A shake.
"Dina." Another shake.
"Wake up Dina." I was groggy when Vera woke me up for the second time. Much groggier compared to when I first woke up.
"I'm up! I'm up." I yawned out my reply. My eyes still half-closed, Vera pulled me up to a stand. "I need you to come with me to the bathroom, I need to wash my face."
I nodded absent-mindedly as she led me together with her to the sink.
Feeling much more refreshed after I washed my face after Vera, every trace of sleepiness vanished. "Are you feeling better now Vera?"
"Yeah, kinda. It helps that Lady Artanis is kind."
"You're still scared of her, huh."
"...yeah. I know she's not scary, but I can't help it. I'm sorry I needed you to come with me. I don't know how I'd feel if I meet her alone."
I clasped her hand. "Don't apologize. It's not a problem at all. I'll always be happy to help you Vera, okay?"
Her gentle smile was enough to warm my heart. "Thanks Dina."
"Lady Artanis came by earlier to say that we should come see her once you woke up."
She nodded. We went back to our room to get Vera's sunglasses before making our way to our benefactor. We greeted Lady Artanis as we entered her office.
"Oh, you're awake. Come, let's eat." She rose from her desk and beckoned us to the dining room.
Food was already present on the table, kept warm by Lady Artanis' judicious use of magic. It was a relatively simple fare consisting of bread, ham, and some cheese. It was delicious.
"Carrying on from yesterday, the act of changing an elf's name is tantamount to killing the original form. Truth be told, I'm not quite confident yet in my knowledge in this matter. It's a lost art for a reason." Lady Artanis started the conversation right out of the gate.
"...Lady Artanis. Th-thank you so much for this. I'm sorry for acting like I did yesterday."
"Vera dear, it's quite alright. There's also no need to address me as Lady, it makes me feel too old." She smiled.
"This ritual being a lost art is why it'll take me around a week to guarantee a complete success. Now let's talk about what your name will be."
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"A full elf name consists of two parts. I can make a single name work, but other elves will definitely ask questions."
Vera got lost in thought. I took over the conversation in her behalf. "Is there anything we can do to help?"
She paused. "Just integrate yourself with the villagers. As I've said. That's all I ask."
She turned to Vera. "There's no need to rush to come up with a name dear. You have days to figure something out, alright? For now, you two can go out and have some fun. You can take this as a chance to slowly acclimatize to being around people. I assume you have little to no money in currency either? I'll give you a stipend from my personal budget."
This was just too much. "I can't overstate how thankful we are for everything Lady Artanis."
She chuckled a bit as she stood up to leave. "You'll pay it back eventually. I'm merely making an early investment in the both of you. I'll be expecting great things."
"Are you comfortable with going outside for today Vera?" We had just finished breakfast and now had some time to go around the village.
"Maybe later, I... I want to get used to Miss Artanis' presence first and foremost. I can't possibly be this rude to her by being scared of her." A sad smile appeared.
I pulled her to a stand and pulled her along towards Artanis' office. "Hey, what! Wait, Dina!"
"We'll go ask Lady Artanis for permission to stay in her office today. This way you can gradually start getting comfortable being with her, okay?"
She dipped her head and conceded. "As long as you don't leave me alone with her."
"Naturally."
I knocked on the door, receiving a coolly-intoned "Come in."
"Lady Artanis, would it be fine if we stay here with you for a while?"
"Hm? Yes, that's fine. Feel free to do whatever, just make sure not to make noise." Not looking up from the book she was reading, she waved her hand off.
Her office was quite large. Aside from her desk on the far end with the window she peeked out from yesterday close by, it had three sofas surrounding a low rectangular table in the middle of the room. There was a cabinet by the wall behind her, one on each side. The only other things inside the room was bookshelves and bookshelves of books. It was as much a mini-library as an office.
The thought of seeing what kind of books she had, if there were books that we've already read, or if there were any books we didn't have in our library was quite exciting.
Keeping my voice low, I asked Vera for what she wanted to read as we looked through Lady Artanis' catalogue of literature. I could've perused a book on my own, but I wanted to spend some time with Vera, to gradually ease her troubled emotions.
Unsurprisingly, there were actually some books that I've never seen before. There were also books with texts on their spines that had text in a language I couldn't read.
But our library's much bigger. I squashed down the unbidden thought that so rudely entered my head. I was kind of expecting it, but I couldn't help the slight sense of competition that I felt inside me. How petty was it to compare the size of our libraries. Like, what? Am I actually prideful?
Huh. That's a weird feeling. I haven't actually felt this before. My jump backwards in time was introducing me to so many new emotions and letting me know about myself more than I could have ever imagined.
Shaking off that train of thought, I was surprised when I heard Vera mutter out loud. "Gray's Elf Anatomy."
She was touching the spine of a thick hardbound book filled with the characters of a language I couldn't understand. I couldn't help but ask. "Is that text in Elvish?"
She nodded. She took it out and opened it up to a random page as I moved closer to her. The content was, unexpectedly, written in the common tongue. "What? Why is the title written in Elvish if the book's not written in Elvish?"
"We can ask Miss Artanis?"
"Do you want to be the one to ask her?"
Vera paused. She took a few seconds before she took a deep inhale. "I - yes. I'll ask her myself."
She took my hand with her free hand and started walking to Artanis. Her stride starting to somewhat resemble her usual mannerisms compared to her timid steps of yesterday.
"M-miss Artanis. I'm sorry for the b-bother. Can I... Can I ask you a question?"
This time, Lady Artanis raised her head to meet Vera's eyes. "Yes, dear. Ask as many as you'd like, it's no problem whatsoever."
She really does treat Vera completely differently compared to when she's talking to me. Was it because they're both snow elves? Or is she kind to Vera because it's Vera?
I shook my head. This line of thought was utterly pointless. All that matters was that she treated Vera well and for that, I'll be forever thankful to her.