Let’s see, a soft cushion below me, body-wide tingly feeling, mild headache, blue fairy sleeping on top of me…this feels familiar.Thinking all the way back in this hectic week to my time in the fairy gde, what did that green fairy call it again, an overload?It would seem a magic overload doesn’t require me to be drunk with moonlight.No, merely for me to be an idiot and not pay attention to how much I eat!I’m supposed to be an adult now!Certainly, I’m now a fairy that consumes magical essence, but why would I assume that I could devour as much as I please without consequences!?
At least the pressure and nausea is entirely gone, and this pins and needles feeling should slowly fade.Also, unlike before, I can clearly remember the events leading up to me falling sleep.Either the overload wasn’t as severe, or the moonlight has an additional effect.
Then mum’s face comes into view.It would seem that I’m lying on her p.
“Aki?”
“Is she awake!?”
Sis apparently also wasn’t far away.I suppose they were waiting for me to wake up, but why are mum’s eyes red?Please don’t tell me I made her cry again.All I did was take a nap!Maybe it’s not because of me this time?Talia appears to be as lively as usual, so it’s possible something else occurred.
“I was starting to get bored waiting for you, sis. Did you have a good nap?”
“I think so? I feel much better now, although my limbs are still half asleep, but that will pass. What happened while I rested?”
“Akari!”
Uh-oh, Mum’s serious.I push Nibi off of me and force myself to sit up.
“You stopped breathing and then passed out! When I touched you, your skin was sticky and cmmy, I couldn’t find any sign of a heartbeat, and you wouldn’t wake up! I thought I’d lost you! Didn’t I, just this morning, ask you not to scare me like that again!?”
Oh.Well, when she puts it that way, I suppose she had reason to be worried.But the first bit shouldn’t have bothered her.Don’t tell me…
“Uhm, did I forget to mention that breathing isn’t required of me anymore?”
Judging by her expression, the answer is yes.Oops.
“Sis, you stopped moving completely. Nibi even seemed concerned for a few moments, but then she simply went to sleep next to you. I knew you would be alright! Mum wasn’t so sure though.”
I really need to stop making a habit of worrying her.
“Talia, mum, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“I’m just gd you’re feeling better!”
“*Sigh* As long as you’re okay now, Aki, that is what matters most. Besides, I’m partly to bme for asking you to do this and not noticing that you were becoming unwell. You said you took too much in, does this mean you found the limit of your absorption?”
Well, the horrible feeling grew during the st few times I swapped essences, so that would certainly make sense.
“I believe so. And now that I’m familiar with it, I should be able to avoid this particur problem in the future. Without the distraction from all these essences, I would’ve likely noticed this time as well.”
“At least something good came from that. Do you feel well enough to move?”
“Yeah, sure, I’m completely fine now.”
“Are you absolutely certain?”
“Yes, mum. I’m okay!”
To ease her worries, I hop up and take flight.Thankfully, all the uncomfortable sensations have vanished, and I feel normal again.My new normal, at least.
“Very well. Then we should prepare to leave. You slept the rest of the morning away, and I’d like to return to the vilge before it gets too te.”
Talia speaks up at this.
“Mum, what should I do about all this gold dust? It seems to have fallen from my arms and hands, but it’s stuck in my clothes.”
“Then it’s good that we have someone here who is capable of using water magic. Your sister should recuperate more before using it, so Nibi, would you mind helping Talia wash up?”
“Miep!”
“We’ll wait for the two of you just around the bend in the path. Clean up, then follow us.”
After mum repacks her bag, I fly onto her shoulder, then she moves down the trail far enough to be out of sight but still well within earshot.
*Spsh*
“Aaaah! Nibi! Only my clothes need to be washed!”
“*Ditiditiditi* Miep!”
“But you didn’t even get them wet?”
*Sploosh*
“That didn’t mean you needed to drench all of me again too!”
*Ditiditiditi*
*Sploosh*
“Hihihi, you’re doing that on purpose! Oh, just you wait, I’m going to get you!”
*Ditiditiditi*
*Spsh*
“Hehe, you missed! Come here!”
Nibi agreed to help her wash up, but it sounds like that prankster interpreted it how she pleased.Although, Talia doesn’t seem to be minding it all that much.
“Girls, don’t py around too long, we need to get going!”
“Yes, mum!” “Miep!”
After a few more spshes of water and subsequent ughter, they go quiet.A minute ter, Talia rounds the corner with Nibi on her shoulder.Smiling and completely clean, Talia looks like she just finished taking a pleasant dip in a river, and it seems her and her clothes were magically dried before they left the gde.
“I’m ready now, mum!”
“Then follow me, and Aki, Talia, I want both of you to memorize the way to this gde. You’re free to use it as you wish, but keep it a family secret, alright?”
“Yes, mum.” “Yes, mum.”
“Miep?”
“Heh, yes, and you too Nibi.”
“Miep!”
On the way through the trees, I start doing my best to observe the path.I may be able to find the opening in the woods from above if necessary, but flying that high exposes me to those hungry fowl.And I would much rather not become some bird’s dinner.
However, while mum walks, my thoughts drift back to what she said when I woke up.My skin appears to have returned to the abnormally smooth surface I’ve grown accustomed to, but it doesn’t take long for me to determine she was right about another thing.I have no heartbeat!There’s no trace of a pulse in my neck, chest or wrists.Absolutely no sign at all!
It never occurred to me to check my heart before now.Unless something happened that I would associate with it, I may have never noticed its absence if mum didn’t tell me.What might this mean about the rest of my body?Just how different am I now, and what else may I not have any longer that I simply don’t realize?More importantly, is there a part of me that is as crucial as my heart once was, and that I should be protecting, but am unaware of?Considering how an injury to my wings feels, for all I know, a serious blow to them could be fatal.Truly, I have such little knowledge about my own body, and my questions continue piling up.If only there were someone I could ask!
Well…I suppose, there may be someone.Surely, at least one of the fairies back at their gde would be able to help me.I’m quite reluctant to return there, for obvious reasons, and I don’t know if they would even be willing to aid me, but they may be the only ones with answers to my questions.It’s not as if they can turn me into a fairy again, right?How bad could it be to make a quick visit to the fairy circle?
But that will have to wait.While I was contempting, we made it back to the road, and are now heading north towards home.As we walk, Talia points out to Nibi one of the farms that can be seen in the distance.
“That’s the farm where my friend Varia lives with all of her family. She has lots of brothers and many more sisters than I do.”
Considering Mr. Teo and Mrs. Adara live at that pce with their eleven children as well as his own parents, they do indeed have a much rger family than ours.Yet many of the children are still quite young, and as there is always a considerable amount of work that needs to be done at their home, the ones who are old enough to help are kept busy.That, paired with the farm being outside the vilge a good distance, means Varia is only able to visit Talia on occasion.
“Do you have any family? Sis said there were lots of fairies at that gde, were any of them your sisters?”
“Miep?”
“Well, if they are, hopefully they’re not too worried about you being here.”
“Miep.”
“Do you miss the flowers there? Oh, I know what we should do!”
At that, she turns and excitedly tugs on mum’s arm.
“Mum, could I run through the meadow? I want to show Nibi the flowers! Please!?”
I’m still uncertain as to why Nibi is satisfied staying with Talia at times while utterly refusing to be away from me at others, but she seems content to hide on her for the time being.
“Yes, you may. As long as you keep up, and make sure Nibi isn’t seen.”
“Thanks, mum!”
And she darts off into the fields that run alongside the path.Stopping at flowers that catch her eye, she kneels down to smell and to allow Nibi to see, then cheerfully skips on to another bunch, merrily chattering to Nibi all the while.
I’m gd she’s enjoying herself.Talia loves to tease, but she’s been doing her best the st few years as well.Seeing her cry because I was missing was incredibly unpleasant, to say the least.Thankfully, it would seem this carefree girl has completely gotten over that.She’s back to her energetic self, maybe even more so than usual.
While those two py, mum carefully pulls off her pack, giving me time to move, and pulls out the parchment she wrote on earlier.Once she repces her pack, she continues on her way, reading her notes.That parchment and writing equipment she received as a gift from Mrs. Narissa, the local alchemist, to record details of rare fauna that mum tends and gathers.Even though it may be considered very poor quality, that piece mum’s holding is expensive for us.Although it’s created in our town from the hides of trapped woodnd creatures, one piece would cost us food for a week.And don’t get me started on how much paper transported from the capital would cost!
“Mum, are you certain you wanted to use that just to write about me? You never know when you’ll be able to acquire more.”
“Don’t worry about it, dear. I wanted to be certain that I didn’t miss anything which might be of help you. Also, if per chance a mage visits the vilge, these notes might be helpful to know what to ask. Besides, how many people can say they recorded a fairy’s actions for an entire morning? Hehe”
*Sigh*Her fairy craze doesn’t seem to have diminished any, merely finding a new way to include me.
“You know, Aki, this sheet may be more valuable now that I’ve written this information on it. If I sold it to Narissa, I wager she would give me an entire stack of parchment for it.”
“Mum!”
“Hehe, I’m only teasing. Now, while your sister is busy, would you like to discuss what I wrote?”
“Yeah, sure. You didn’t write anything too embarrassing, did you?”
“You’ll just have to wait and find out.”