The sun dipped lower as the stalls began closing one by one. The market lost so of its clamor, rchants packing away their goods, children tugging parents toward ho. Victoria walked ahead now, still buzzing with energy despite the pile of bags hanging from rlin’s arms. She darted into another stall, her voice mixing cheerfully with the shopkeeper’s.
rlin let out a quiet breath, rolling his shoulders to ease the ache. "She doesn’t run out of energy, does she?"
Elara stood beside him, hands folded loosely behind her back, gaze following Victoria. "She cares. That is its own strength."
rlin glanced sideways at her. She wasn’t looking at Victoria anymore. Her eyes were on him, violet and sharp, softened only by sothing he couldn’t quite na.
He felt his throat tighten. "...What?"
Her lips parted, a breath catching as if she had been holding it all this ti. For once, Elara Vaelith, the elf who carried herself like nothing in the world could move her, looked... hesitant.
"I..." Her voice was softer than he’d ever heard it. She shifted slightly, silver hair catching the fading light. "rlin, there is sothing I should tell you."
His chest constricted. Her tone, her eyes, the faint tremor beneath her calm—it was enough to set his thoughts racing, faster than his heart.
"Elara..." he managed, low.
She stepped a fraction closer, her gaze not breaking from his. "Since the labyrinth, I—"
"rlin!"
Victoria’s voice cut through the air like a blade. She burst from the stall, holding a ridiculous floppy hat with a feather sticking out of it. "Look at this! Doesn’t it scream your na?"
rlin blinked, caught mid-breath, his chest burning with all the words that hadn’t been spoken. Elara straightened instantly, her expression snapping back into practiced calm, though rlin caught the faintest flicker of frustration in her eyes.
Victoria plopped the hat onto his head before he could stop her. "See? Perfect!"
rlin pulled it off with a groan. "I look like an idiot."
Victoria smirked. "You always do. This just makes it official."
Elara turned away, covering the faintest curl of her lips with her hand. If rlin hadn’t been staring, he might’ve missed it.
And for a mont, standing there between the chaos of Victoria’s antics and the silence of Elara’s unspoken words, rlin felt the weight of sothing inevitable pressing at the edge of his chest.
Sothing he wasn’t sure he was ready for.
But when Victoria grabbed his arm and tugged him toward the next shop, Elara followed quietly, her eyes lingering on him as though the words she hadn’t spoken still hung between them.
And rlin, despite himself, couldn’t stop wondering what they would have been.
By the ti they left the market, the city streets had softened with evening light. Lanterns flickered to life one by one, warm glows chasing away the creeping dusk. rlin carried most of the bags, because, of course, Victoria had insisted on "just a few more things."
When they reached the apartnt door, Victoria fumbled with the key. rlin sighed, dropping the bags by the threshold.
"Do you always buy the whole market when you go shopping?" he muttered.
"Correction," Victoria said, swinging the door open with a grin. "I bought what we needed. And also what you didn’t know you needed."
rlin was about to argue when he noticed Elara had followed them all the way up. She lingered in the hall, her posture calm but her eyes, always so poised, held a question, like she was testing boundaries.
"...You’re coming in?" rlin asked, tilting his head.
Elara’s lips parted, then closed again. After a beat, she gave a small nod. "If I am not imposing."
Victoria brightened instantly. "Of course not! You’ve never seen the place before, have you? Co on in!"
rlin gave his sister a look. She was too enthusiastic. But he didn’t stop her.
Inside, the apartnt was small, lived-in. Books stacked on shelves, a kettle still sitting on the counter, a couch that had seen better days. It wasn’t much, but it was theirs.
Elara’s gaze drifted around the space, taking in every detail as if morizing it. She stepped closer to the window, where the last strands of sunlight cut across the floor. "...It is... warm," she said finally.
rlin blinked. For Elara, that was practically a full speech of approval.
Victoria was already in the kitchen, unloading bags. "Sit, sit! rlin, make tea or sothing, don’t just stand there like a scarecrow."
rlin grumbled, but he set water to boil. Elara sat on the couch, her silver hair catching the fading light. She looked strangely at ease here, more than in the academy halls.
As the tea steeped, silence stretched. Victoria humd in the kitchen, rustling through groceries, leaving rlin and Elara alone in the small living room.
rlin sat across from her, resting his hands on his knees. For once, he didn’t know what to say. He just... watched her.
"Elara," he said finally, the na heavy on his tongue.
She t his gaze. Her eyes softened, just slightly. Then, like before in the market, she leaned forward, her voice lower, less guarded. "...rlin, there is really sothing I want you to—"
"rlin!"
Victoria burst in with a tray, two steaming cups clinking dangerously as she set them down. "I found the cookies I bought earlier. We’re celebrating, by the way. You survived shopping with !"
rlin dragged a hand down his face. "You’re impossible."
Elara leaned back again, the mont gone, her calm mask sliding back into place. Only the faintest twitch of her fingers on her lap betrayed her irritation.
Victoria flopped beside rlin on the couch, nudging him with her elbow. "You should thank , little brother. Without , your life would be boring."
rlin gave a dry laugh. "Oh, trust . It’s not boring."
His eyes flicked once toward Elara. She was sipping tea now, poised, silent. But when her gaze t his over the rim of the cup, sothing unspoken sparked there.
Sothing Victoria, in all her loud cheer, never noticed.
—
The night deepened around the small apartnt, the city outside alive with distant chatter and the flicker of carriage lamps. Inside, the warmth of dinner lingered, Victoria had whipped up sothing quick but filling, and now the plates sat stacked in the sink.
Elara stood by the window, her silhouette carved by silver moonlight, violet eyes fixed on the streets below. She hadn’t said much after tea, but her presence filled the room in a way rlin couldn’t ignore.
Victoria yawned loudly from the couch, stretching her arms above her head. "Ugh... too much food. I’m going to roll off the couch in my sleep at this rate."
rlin shot her a look. "Then maybe don’t eat enough for three people."
"Excuse ," Victoria said, pointing a spoon at him like a weapon. "I am celebrating. You’re alive, you’re walking, and you didn’t collapse in the market. That calls for extra food."
rlin muttered sothing about her logic being questionable, but his attention slipped back to Elara. She hadn’t moved, her gaze still beyond the glass.
When Victoria finally gathered herself, she announced, "Alright, I’m off to bed. Big day tomorrow, have to clean the rest of these groceries away, and unlike soone, I don’t have the stamina of a rock."
rlin raised a brow. "That’s... not how stamina works."
Victoria waved him off, already halfway to her room. "Don’t stay up too late! And don’t make a ss!"
Her door shut with a quiet thud, leaving the apartnt in a hushed calm.
Elara turned then, her expression unreadable as her eyes locked on rlin. "...I will stay here tonight."
The words landed heavy, almost too casual for their weight.
rlin blinked. "...What?"
Elara stepped closer, moonlight trailing across her silver hair. "It is late. The streets are not unsafe, but unnecessary risks are... unnecessary." Her tone was cool, logical. But her fingers brushed her own sleeve, a rare nervous tell.
rlin’s heart thudded once, sharp. He tried for humor. "...You, afraid of walking ho? That’s new."
Her eyes narrowed faintly. "Not fear. Prudence."
"...Right," rlin said softly, though he wasn’t convinced.
She moved toward the couch, graceful even in sothing so mundane. Her presence seed to shrink the small living room, filling it with sothing unspoken.
rlin rubbed the back of his neck. "There’s only the couch. Unless you want to—"
"I will take the couch," she interrupted smoothly.
He hesitated, watching her settle at the edge of the cushions like she belonged there. She didn’t fidget, didn’t falter. Yet sothing about the picture, Elara, proud elf, always untouchable, sitting in their humble apartnt’s couch, it tugged at him.
"...Alright," he said finally.
Silence followed, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. The city’s hum seeped faintly through the walls, mingling with the rhythm of their breaths.
rlin leaned against the wall, arms crossed loosely. His voice was quieter when he spoke again. "...You really don’t have to stay."
Elara’s gaze lifted to him, calm but firm. "...I want to."
The honesty in it startled him more than anything.
His throat tightened. Words tangled in his chest, things he couldn’t say, about how much her presence steadied him, about how he felt less like a ghost when she was near. But he swallowed them back.
Instead, he just nodded. "...Then stay."
Elara inclined her head, almost imperceptibly, but her eyes lingered on him a mont longer than usual before she leaned back against the couch cushions.
The room quieted again. rlin shifted, unsure what to do with his own hands, with the way the air thickened between them. He finally sat, a little distance away, and for a long ti they simply... existed.
The silence spoke louder than words.
Outside, the moon hung low.
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