Erin pouted as she hovered in the air in front of Lindyss’ face, close enough to be a nuisance but far enough to avoid being swatted. The fairy queen’s eyes narrowed, and she hummed, creating a sound like a swarm of crickets chirping. The sound started off low but grew louder over time; however, Lindyss acted like she hadn’t heard it, flipping the pages of the book on the table in front of her at a constant pace. From nearby, a dwarven girl looked between the two while biting her lower lip, but in the end, the only thing the dwarf could do was return to her job and restock the library’s bookshelves.

Lindyss sighed as she reached the last page of the book. Before Erin could react, the corrupted elf leaned forward, swatted the fairy queen down into the book, and attempted to close the back page. “Gah! You murderous woman!” Erin shouted as she slipped out at the last second. “Who raised you!? Didn’t your parents ever teach you manners?”

Lindyss ignored the stares coming from the nearby dwarves as she pushed the book to the edge of the table and stood up. She wandered towards a section in the back of the library while the dwarven girl took the book Lindyss left behind and stowed it onto her pushcart. “Don’t you know it’s rude to ignore people?” Erin asked, darting in and poking Lindyss’ cheek before darting back out.

“I’m an orphan; no one raised me,” Lindyss said and swatted at the fairy.

Erin blinked, and her wings froze in the air behind her. A second later, her eyes lit up like a lightbulb appeared over her head. “That explains everything!” she said. “Why didn’t you say so sooner, you numbnut?”

Lindyss rolled her eyes as she arrived in a dimly lit area beneath a massive staircase that led up to the second floor. The dwarves weren’t good at using mana, so anything related to it had been stowed away in the worst spot of the library. A small orb of light appeared above Lindyss’ fingertip, illuminating the book covers. She murmured to herself as she ran her finger down the spines of each book, enunciating each word slowly. It had only been a week since she learned how to read dwarven.

“You still haven’t found what you’re looking for?” Erin asked, frowning at the sight of Lindyss browsing through the section at a snail’s pace. “What are you looking for anyway?”

“Ways to improve someone’s mana recovery,” Lindyss said, continuing to browse the books. “There’s lots of ways to increase someone’s mana pool, but that just delays the inevitable. If Vur wants to maintain the form of a dragon fulltime, it doesn’t matter how much mana he has if his recovery can’t keep up with the usage rate.”

Erin furrowed her brow. “How can a heartless woman like you do so much for someone else?” she asked. “That boy wasn’t even an elf. You’ve been here for a week already! People are meant to live outside in the sun, not inside a library, rotting away like a dead pumpkin.” She shook her head before sighing. She flew above Lindyss’ head and pointed at a book above her. “This one. Try it.”

Lindyss tilted her head and stared at Erin for a second before grabbing the book she recommended. She ran her finger over the words, reading out loud, “How to build a ladder.”

“No!” Erin shouted while Lindyss glared at her. “You’re reading it wrong! How do you even translate the characters for build and ladder incorrectly!? The characters look nothing like a builder or ladder!” Erin flew out from underneath the staircase, returning moments later with a dictionary. “Look! Try again!”

“Please, don’t shout in the library,” the dwarven girl said and lowered her head.

“Polymorph!” Erin shouted, pointing at the poor girl, transforming her into a rabbit. “No one tells Erin Koller what she can or can’t do!”

“Oh,” Lindyss said while blinking her eyes. “You’re right. It’s actually increase and internal recovery, not build and ladder. I guess I have to discard everything I’ve learned over the past week.” She sighed before taking both the dictionary and the book, heading back to her seat. Her brow furrowed as a rabbit hopped out of her way. “Animals are allowed in the library?”

Erin shrugged. “Beats me,” she said and hovered after Lindyss, ignoring the tears forming in the rabbit’s eyes. “And you didn’t answer my question. Why are you doing so much for that boy? Don’t tell me you love him or something sappy like that.”

“He’s like the child I can never have,” Lindyss said, pushing the fairy away from her face with her palm. “Why are you so nosy? Don’t you have better things to do?”

“It’s a fairy’s nature to be nosy,” Erin said with a nod. “As for better things to do…, I don’t because someone drank my fountain!”

“Make another one,” Lindyss said and rolled her eyes.

“That takes years,” Erin said while pouting.

“Sounds like you have it rough,” Lindyss said as she sat down, placing her books on the table. “Poor you. Then why are you hanging around me instead of going off to work on building another fountain?”

“Haven’t you ever heard of procrastinating?” Erin asked. “I should be building that fountain, but I’ve found something much more entertaining to do.”

“Bugging me?” Lindyss asked, opening her book and frowning at the dust cloud that came out of it. She swept it away with a flick of her fingers, summoning a gentle breeze. “How very entertaining.”

Erin shook her head as she landed on the edge of the table. “I don’t get why that boy even wants to become a dragon. No one likes turning into something they’re not. It’s like how you only used four of your limbs when I turned you into an octopus.” Her brow furrowed. “I just don’t get how he learned to fly so quickly. Humans don’t have invisible wings they’re hiding from us, right?”

Lindyss glanced at the fairy queen. “You didn’t notice his dragon imprint?”

Erin blinked. “His what?”

“Like I thought,” Lindyss said with a nod. “Fairies are useless.”

“I was tired! And out of mana! And really angry at the time!” Erin stood up and stomped her feet against the table. “But don’t tell me he was really imprinted by a dragon.” She bit her lower lip as Lindyss ignored her, resuming her studies. “Hey. Hey. Was he really?”

Lindyss sighed. “You were also in a car with him for two whole weeks. Your excuses mean nothing.”

“He was asleep for thirteen and a half days,” Erin said. “And there was a huge dragon already behind us being pulled along like a dead log! How am I supposed to notice a dragon imprint under those circumstances?” She scratched her head and took her seat on the edge of the table again. She muttered to herself, “Then wouldn’t he be as strong as a real dragon when polymorphed into one?” She shivered at the sight of the faint smile that appeared on Lindyss’ lips.