The wide, spacious carriage ca to a gradual halt on the hard cobblestone road. As soon as it did, I pushed the door open, diving headfirst into the soft pile of snow beside the road.
"Aldrin... be careful," a female voice cautioned behind .
Despite the cold weather, there was nothing I loved more than playing in the snow.
"Pick him up, Carla," the sa voice instructed.
A young maid with long grey hair and spectacles snuck up behind and grabbed my arm.
"Leave alone," I cried, trying to kick her off. I briskly picked up a pile of snow and threw it at her.
I expected her to go away, but she laughed instead and picked up like I was a toy. Then, she pinned between her small, soft, breasts and patted on the head.
"This is not the ti to play, Master Rin," she said.
"But I want to play in the snow."
"There’ll be plenty of ti to play afterwards." Another voice said. My favourite voice.
"Yes, Mom."
Carla carried in her arms, as we climbed the tall, white steps that led into a large, icy castle.
As we approached the door of the castle, there was another party waiting for us.
"Welco to the Crystal Palace of Erentha."
They all looked pale, but their skin glimred in the dim sunlight. Their voices sounded rather lodious, and they were all dressed in white ceremonial robes.
"Mom, why do they have long pointy ears?"
The entire party laughed, both theirs and ours.
"Pardon my son," my mother apologized. "It’s his first ti seeing an elf."
Both parties began conversing, in words that were too big for my tiny brain to pay attention to. So, rather than listen to them, I decided to focus on sothing else.
At the far edge of the white castle, there was another pile of snow. But standing in that pile was a tiny girl, about my age, with long, black hair.
"Is that the child?" I heard my father ask, in a deep, gentle voice.
One of the tall elves nodded with a proud smile on his face.
"She is growing up well here."
I turned to my mother, but she’d already guessed what I wanted to say.
"Go play with her, Rin," she instructed.
I jumped out of Carla’s arms and ran straight to the tiny girl.
She stood idly beside a small pond, watching cherry blossoms fall and ripple the still water.
"Hi," I smiled. "Do you want to play with ?"
The girl took a step back, fear flashing in her black eyes.
"Let’s be friends," I said again.
"Friends?"
"Yeah," I took her gloved palm and placed it within mine. "See... Friends."
Her plump cheeks flushed, and her eyes grew bigger. Slowly, she nodded.
"Great," I threw my hands up excitedly, and brought them down again. "I’m Rin. What’s your na?"
She slowly raised her arms up, in the sa gesture that I had perford. Then, a tiny smile appeared on her face.
"My na is... Lucy."
*****
A few hours after the sun set for the day, Lucy regained consciousness.
I had just lit the last of the candles in my dim dorm room when I heard a slight shuffle coming from my bed.
"Where am I?"
Her voice was tiny and hoarse, and her mouth and lips were visibly dry. Taking note of this, I poured out a brew of jasmine tea I had prepared earlier and headed towards her.
"You’ve been asleep for a while," I said, placing the teacup on the bedside table. Afterward, I placed myself in the seat beside the bed.
Lucy sat up and rubbed her eyes, visibly dazed. She stared at with unease for a while, but slowly, recognition returned to her face.
"Rin?"
"Hi Lucy."
Before I could spell out a reply, her face reddened. Thrusting her arm back, she gave a powerful punch that sent falling back on my chair.
Ouch...
"What are you doing in my room, pervert?" she snapped, suddenly wide awake.
"We’re not in your room," I clarified, picking myself up. "You’re in mine."
Lucy fell quiet, her face contorted in confusion. She seed normal and wide awake, but sothing about her felt... off.
She glanced all over the room, like she was searching for sothing, then her eyes turned back to .
"What happened?" she asked, her voice a bit calr.
"Don’t you rember?"
Slowly, she shook her head.
It was as I feared. The use of Ti Affinity Spells had adverse effects, and I had forced Si Ya to reverse ti and bring Lucy back to life.
There was no telling how much it’d affect her, but it seed her mory was one of those ways.
Until I understood the full extent, I had to decide what to tell her, and what to hide.
"The tournant..." I said. "You were hurt, rember?"
Lucy seed oblivious at first, but slowly, the mories dawned on her.
"Si Ya knocked out,"
I nodded. Perhaps the effects of the ti spell weren’t as bad as I thought.
"I should’ve won," she muttered.
"You did the best you could."
I tried to sound encouraging, but it only seed to worsen her mood.
"I should’ve won," she repeated, her mood plumting. Then, she began to shed silent tears.
"Don’t beat yourself up. It’s just a school tournant."
Suddenly, her forehead creased, and her eyes blazed with fury.
"Do you know how much I needed this?"
I didn’t, but in that mont, it really felt like I should’ve.
She began to fu. "Every day, I have to endure wicked taunts from people I don’t even know. People who despise just because of my na."
Her voice cracked as she spoke.
"This tournant was my one chance at making everyone see differently. If I’d won, maybe they’d actually respect . I just wanted..."
Lucy broke off, her voice finally failing her. But I finally understood why she was eager to participate in the tournant.
She wanted neither the fa nor the glory of the tournant. She just wanted to be seen differently. Not as the darkblood girl, or the last survivor of an evil house. But as a girl who was trying to make her own way.
And that was sothing I could empathize with.
"Lucy, what you’re trying to do isn’t that simple. And it isn’t sothing that happens overnight."
She remained quiet
"You don’t need to win a tournant. You just need to be what you already are. A kind soul. Only a few will see it at first, but soday, everyone will."
I picked up the cup of tea and offered it to her. She took a long sip and returned it to .
"Here’s what I want you to know." I placed the cup back on the bedside table. "Everyone else might see you differently, but to , you’ll always be the best friend a person can have."
"Am I?"
"What?"
"Am I really your friend?"
I failed to comprehend why she was asking.
"I’m your friend, Lucy," I casually replied.
"No. You’re not."
She jumped out of the bed, storming to her feet
"Since we arrived here, you’ve been acting differently. You’ve been acting just like everyone else."
"I’m not like them."
"Are you?... You’ve been avoiding in classes. You disappear for days and show up out of nowhere. Now, you want to pretend everything is okay?"
Lucy was quite observant, and I had failed to realize how my actions had been affecting my friendship with her.
"You’re not the person I knew... and you’re definitely not my friend."
Her words struck like a dagger.
Without another word, she grabbed her blazer from the foot of the bed and marched to the door.
Part of wanted to ignore her, but the other part wasn’t ready to spend another day away from her.
"I lost my magic."
Lucy froze.
"I lost my magic," I repeated, emphasizing each word. "On the way to Viridale. I’ve spent the last weeks, trying to get it back."
"I didn’t know..."
"I chose not to tell you. You already had enough to worry about."
"But if the school finds out, you’ll be expelled..."
Silently, I conjured a gentle wind, pulling her away from the door, back to the bed.
For a mont, Lucy stared at , her pearl black eyes filled with confusion.
"You’re right. I’m not the Rin you grew up with. A lot has changed about . A lot more than you realize.
"But one thing that’s never going to change, is how much I care about you. You may not know it yet, but there are others too, who’d do anything to protect you."
Her gaze softened, but her countenance remained adamant. Without another word, she opened the door and left the room, slamming it behind her.
Seconds after she left, Theo walked into the room.
"Didn’t take her defeat well, I presu."
I sighed. "She also accuses of being a bad friend."
"Can’t disagree with her. You are a bad friend."
Ha ha... Very funny.
I stood up silently and walked to the window.
"There’s sothing wrong, Theo."
"I noticed," he replied. "She’s really angry."
"No... That’s not it."
Gradually, I turned to him.
"Sothing’s wrong with her. Sothing terrible. I don’t know what it is... but I can feel it."
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