“Okay, this should be enough,” Onelri said once we got far enough away from the building. The two girls released their grips on my wrists before turning around and Onelri’s demeanor changed completely from when we were inside moments ago. “Sit.”

“Huh?”

“I said, sit,” Onelri repeated while pointing a finger down.

I glanced over to Fila to see her demeanor changed, too. Instead of being bright and joyful inside, she looked awkward and uncertain.

“You have 5 seconds to sit or I will scream how you are contracted with four fairies,” Onelri threatened.

“Okay, okay, sheesh.” I didn’t know what was going on so I went along with this game of theirs and sat on the grass.

“Good. Now, first off, how dare you, Soar Osmis!” Onelri exclaimed. “How could you have just left us out there like that last night?! Do you know what happened after you cut us off?! Fila cried, Soar! Bawling! Loud enough that actually attracted the post guards to pick us up and take us to the station for questioning, all because she thought you hated her and did not want to see her again!”

“Uh …” I admit that I did not expect the events would play out like that after our parting.

“If that was not bad enough, when we asked them if they knew you, we were damn lucky one of them had only heard of you from your father, and what did we find out? That not only neither of you even lived in Brightlas, but instead in another town that was 4 hours away from there! 4 hours, Soar! Do you even know how early we had to get up this morning just to find a carriage to take us here?!

“Seriously, it was like you tried to get rid of us! Are we not your friends?! After all that we had been through?

“… Are we really friends? And why are you all even here, to begin with?” I asked. It was the only thing I could get out in the middle of Onelri’s outburst. I didn’t think we actually established our relationship as such at the time. In fact, I didn’t even think I’d see them again after dropping them and their families off in Brightlas, let alone so soon.

“Are you seriously questioning it?! You said it yourself that there was a meaning in our meeting! That meaning is that I was destined to be your disciple while you help me form a contract with a fairy under the pretense of being friends!”

“Wait, so, if we really were not friends, then there should not be a reason for you to get angry at me here, is there? You just said it yourself that it was under a pretense, and I don’t recall even taking you in as my ‘disciple,’ either.”

“I am angry at the fact that you made Fila cry! I may not want to be your friend, especially after that stunt you pulled, but she obviously did, and she thought she was! Look at her! Her eyes are swollen from all of that crying she did last night, and that was all—”

“Onelri, stop!” Fila exclaimed, stopping her. “I appreciate you being so concerned about me, but I need to settle this myself, and I’d rather not have us yelling at each other.”

“… I understand. The floor is yours,” Onelri said while stepping aside and gesturing toward the spot she was standing in moments ago.

Fila then sat on that spot and took a breath with a hand on her chest before looking up to me with a worried expression. “Soar … why did you leave us like that last night? Why did you lie that that city was your home? Do you really not see us as friends?”

“… To be honest? No, I don’t.”

“What?!” Onelri exclaimed.

“I knew the bandits captured you and your families while you were in the middle of your own businesses and I wanted to bring you guys back to that track as fast as possible. I had no place in those tracks and having me be there any further will only be a hindrance to your parents. I didn’t want to risk any of you spreading my secret and the events of last night in my hometown, so I dropped you guys off at a place as far away as I could manage at the time. And for the record, I didn’t lie about Brightlas being my home. I just never answered when you asked.”

“That might as well be the same thing!” Onelri exclaimed.

“But we promised you that we would keep it a secret. Do you not trust us?” Fila asked.

“I just met you all last night, and while we had our misunderstandings cleared and a deal settled when handling the bandits’ loot, there wasn’t a guarantee you’d all keep your word, especially your parents. How would I even trust you all so readily? Besides, you all heard what Onelri relayed from Shadina’s rant. I’m pretty much an outcast from the other kids with my ‘strange behavior.’ You wouldn’t like being friends with me whether or not I left you in Brightlas or someplace else.”

“You don’t know that. Why wouldn’t we want to be friends with you after all of what you’ve done for us?” Fila asked.

“What, were you scared that we would come to dislike you like the other kids when you tried to make friends with them? Because you’re pretty much doing that regardless right now with me,” Onelri commented.

“For your information, I chose to be alone. I may not have experience making friends with the other kids but I didn’t do it mainly because I couldn’t see myself being with them. I have my own things I want to do that most kids wouldn’t want to be a part of, so while I avoid them and get along with the adults in town, they all think I’m strange and avoid me. Having it set this way, they wouldn’t bother me, so it works out.”

Not to mention that I just don’t like noisy, immature kids in general. That was the bigger truth, but of course, I couldn’t say that out loud in front of the two kids in front of me.

“… But don’t you get lonely?” Fila asked.

“I have my parents, my trusted teacher, their adult friends, and especially my Companions to keep me company. How would I be lonely with that many people surrounding me?”

“I may not know about the other adults, but Mama told me once that a Fairy Companion is as much of a family member as a mama and papa are, and there are things you can’t really tell your family about, right? Things you can’t tell your Companions, specifically? Who do you turn to after that if you’re keeping your contract with them a secret from your parents, let alone everyone else? What about things only kids can do that parents or even fairies can’t? Who do you go to for those?

“But … I get where you’re coming from about how hard it is to trust someone, including friends, especially so if you just met them. Not too long ago, I thought I had friends who would help me since I enjoy being around them so much, but … things happened at school that had lead to Mama taking the two of us away from our old home and find a new one, which brought us to getting captured by the bandits while we were on the move.”

That got both mine and even Onelri’s attention as she sat down along with us.

“Mama had multiple jobs back at where we lived. It wasn’t great, but I had always seen how hard she worked, so I couldn’t complain. I was honestly happy enough just spending the limited time I had with her every day, especially when she’d often come home so late at night. There were times I was worried about what she did at work, though. She would often come home late looking tired, I would even see hints of bruises she had tried to hide sometimes, but she always forced a smile and told me not to worry about them when I asked. Since Mama couldn’t tell me, I felt I had to find out myself, so I skipped school a few times to follow her and see what she was doing. The thing that stood out to me when I watched her was how I saw her with a different guy every few hours while wearing skimpy clothing. She’d act really friendly with a guy to be brought inside a building, they stay inside for about an hour, come back out, and she’d do it again with the next one. Some of them looked really scary, and I think it was those guys that had Mama walking out with bruises.”

Onelri and I widened our eyes at that statement while we awkwardly glanced at each other. Both of us had the same idea of what kind of ‘job’ Flomi might have had before they moved out.

“I don’t have a papa like other kids. Mama never told me why, and none of those guys who were with her looked like they could be mine. I told my friends at school what I saw and asked them what I should do, but that was when things got worse.” Fila’s long floppy ears deflated as she pulled up her legs to hug her knees. “They avoided me from that point before other kids started teasing and pulled cruel pranks on me. My so-called friends didn’t want anything to do with me anymore when I tried going to them for help, and that was when I realized how alone I was. I didn’t want to bother Mama with how hard she worked though, so I tried to be like her and toughed it out.

“Then one day came when a kid hit and yelled at me. Mama was somehow seen with their papa and both of their parents had gotten into a fight before deciding to separate. Somehow, since Mama was involved with breaking them up, the kid took it out on me. By then, I ran to where Mama worked crying. I had to pull her away from her job and told her everything that happened up to then. By that point, she decided we had to move away from the city of Glamoire with everything that we could carry as soon as possible. We were riding a mostly empty carriage when the bandits came, killed the older humans and the driver before capturing us, which brought us to that cave. Onelri and her family came later after that, and that was how things were before you came along Soar.”

Onelri sat there stunned silent while I was trying to consider every detail Fila explained to me up to that point.

It really sucks that she actually did end up seeing someone getting killed in front of her according to how she got captured. I can’t imagine how terrified she felt seeing something like that.

Glamoire … that actually isn’t very far to the west from Brightlas, and from what Dad’s drinking buddies mentioned, that city’s pretty famous for its red-light district. If Flomi worked at a brothel around there, then her story would certainly check out, but … “May I ask you something, Fila?” I asked.

Fila nodded in response.

“All of that bullying started when you told your ex-friends what you saw, right? What made you think it was okay to tell us, two complete strangers, that you just met from last night? We hardly know you and we could be just as capable of telling someone about this as those so-called friends of yours.”

“Well … I don’t mean to sound rude, but when I knew enough that both of you didn’t have friends either, I felt a little relieved of not being the only one in a similar situation, but at the same time, I knew both of you were different from the kids in Glamoire. You’re both so smart and adult-like to think of such complicated things, and Soar has four fairies now when I had only seen a handful of kids from my old school having only one. I thought that much was amazing and Soar’s fairies looked so pretty and beautiful when they danced last night. I could really see how much they loved and respected you. You may not have trusted us enough to become your friends, Soar, and after really thinking about it now, I can understand why. Maybe that’s part of why I thought it was okay of me to tell all of that to you. And if you really think about it, I couldn’t say that much while Mama was around to hear it. That makes it a secret, right? With that, we’re all even now, right?” Fila asked before forcing a strained smile.

“Fila …” Onelri trailed off.

“Last night … I may not have known what was going on, especially in the dark, but I had a feeling … Mama could’ve ended up a lot worse than she had from those occasional nights. She could’ve been worse than what those from that carriage went through if you hadn’t come to save her, Soar. I really am grateful to you for doing that, but I know … if we hadn’t left, if I had been tougher to keep things quiet like Mama did, we wouldn’t have gotten ourselves caught by those bandits, but it hurts … from trying to do it all alone, from Mama not talking to me even less than we had lately. I feel like I don’t know Mama as much as I should, she never told me why Papa was never around.

“I want to ask her so many things, but I’m scared, more scared of what bad things she might say to me than those bandits, and that along with this loneliness is making me hurt like something’s eating my chest away. I know this is all my fault, I know, I wish I was as strong as Mama so we wouldn’t have gotten this far, but I… I don’t know how much more I can take …” Fila’s voice cracked while her eyes pooled up before she started breaking down, hiccupping with trembling shoulders as she choked herself from crying as loud as she did last night when I left them behind.

I couldn’t see or hear any more of it. The way Fila was then, I saw a little of myself in her place as I sympathized with that pain she was dealing with. A pain I was all too familiar with, but learned to swallow and distract myself with my hobbies back on Earth, which led to my ever-growing estrangement between me and my old parents because I was too scared to come to them for anything other than financial support, even from when I was an adult up to my death.

I really didn’t like kids for how much they could cry on cue for even the littlest and mundane things, if not for no reason at all, but when they do it like Fila was then, I would pretend I didn’t see anything and walk away as fast as possible so I wouldn’t risk looking suspicious.

“Please … help me.”

But when no one else is around, when you could feel and hear it from your heart just how much that kid is crying directly to you for help without even voicing it in their own words, it really makes ignoring them more difficult and annoying to deal with in your own conscience.

Fila didn’t have that luxury of distracting herself with materialistic items and entertainment like I did and I didn’t want her to end up in a state worse than I was during the time I felt I had nothing to turn to.

I wordlessly reached into my pocket and pulled out a handkerchief Mom would have me carry around. I moved in close to Fila’s face and forced one of her hands from blocking it away before I started dabbing the tears off of her cheeks, much to the young bunny girl’s surprise.

“Fila, I will just say this: everything from where it began up to now, I know for certain that none of that was your fault. You are not to be blamed for any of that, and you have every right to know what is going on, but you’re scared to face the truth on your own, right?”

Fila had a hard time speaking, so she only nodded in response.

“If someone was there with you, will that make you braver? Would you ask your mama everything you want to know then?”

She nodded again.

“Would you settle for me to be there with you?”

“… C-Can you?”

“I can … I will, if you’d let me.”

Without speaking another word, Fila jumped, reached around and tightly gripped the back of my shirt before planting her face into the crook of my shoulder and broke the dams that were her eye sockets. Like a scared rabbit, her body trembled in place before my shirt quickly got damp. I felt really awkward getting embraced so suddenly from out of nowhere, I was really tempted to push her away and maintain my sanity and personal space, but I restrained myself and tried to adapt to it.

“We’ll … get through this, Fila,” I said while lightly rubbing her back, both albeit rather awkwardly. “I know it’s scary … but no matter what happens, I’m on your side.”

“And so am I,” Onelri said as she shuffled into our view. “I want to know about this as much as you do, Fila. With my eyes, she will not hide any secrets from me, especial—LEEE?!”

Fila pulled Onelri into the hug as well and she went on to cry on both of our shoulders. She looked a bit flustered and was at a loss for what to do with this sudden intrusion of her personal space like I was. I guessed she wasn’t used to being on the receiving end compared to being the initiator going by her previous tackles on me, or maybe that was her first time receiving something like that from a friend, I didn’t know. She looked to be concerned with me the most as her eyes shifted back to me repeatedly from different directions.

“Kids~! Breakfast is almost …” a familiar voice trailed off before footsteps were quickly heard approaching us.

We looked up and saw it was Fila’s mother, Flomi.

“Fila? Why are you crying? Did you get hurt?” she asked as she squatted to our level. Genuine concern was written on her face.

“Fila didn’t get injured, but … something had been bothering her for quite a while, and I don’t think she could really hold them back any longer,” I answered.

“Fila, is that true? Is something bothering you this badly?” Flomi asked.

Fila couldn’t look up to her mother, but she nodded erratically in response.

“She wants to ask you something, but too scared to do it by herself.”

“Do you think we could talk in someplace private with Onelri and I there for her?” Onelri and I said, respectfully. Flomi then changed her gaze between the three of us as she pondered before setting her eyes on me.

“… Would one of your guest rooms be okay?”

~~

With Mom and Dad’s permission when we got back inside, the four of us made way to one of the unoccupied guest rooms of our inn-turned-home. Fila sat in the middle of the bed between Flomi and me on the edge while Onelri took a seat behind us. It started out a little bumpy, but Fila got a little braver when I held her hand for moral support.

Then Fila listed out her troubles that she started feeling just last night after I parted ways from them. What she felt during their captivity and how she felt their run-in with the bandits had been her own fault, how she felt such a burden for them to go so far as to move to a different town due to what happened at her old school, how she was unsure of whether or not she wanted to bother her mother and be tough like her while trying to ignore the pain in her chest and everything in between.

Throughout that whole thing, aside from pausing in between to ask questions for clarification, Flomi didn’t ever reject or made an outburst on some of Fila’s concerns. She only listened very carefully, like she was speaking to another adult woman instead of her own daughter. Perhaps she knew a little of what direction the conversation was taking and made decisions in her mind on how she’d speak to Fila accordingly.

Onelri and I only sat on our butts and acted like two halves of a mediator. I would use my handkerchief to dab Fila’s tears away again when she got to the touchier parts of her worries.

“… Okay, I think I understand everything now,” Flomi said after Fila finished speaking. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself down. “Let me just say something first to clear most of your doubts, and I’m telling you this as a growing woman. Do you understand?”

Fila nodded.

“I will admit that there were difficult times that came from raising you. Some were to be expected as a parent, others I didn’t ever imagine happening to us in our lives. Heck, even I, your own ‘tough mama,’ was terrified when I realized I would become your parent. I felt I didn’t know the first thing about it, and your ‘papa’ … do you really want to know what happened to him, Fila?”

Fila nodded, trying to look prepared for anything, but the death grip she had on my hand said otherwise.

Flomi sighed. “I don’t really know a better and gentler way to put this for you, but your ‘papa’ … though he said he’d be there for us through thick and thin, he lied and ran off on me without further notice, not willing to take part of the responsibility in raising you.”

“There really is no way for me to see my own papa in person, is there?”

“I’m afraid not, honey. I don’t even know if he’s still alive at this point, knowing his history.”

Though she tried not to interrupt the flow, we could hear Onelri grumbling curses behind us, likely towards that bastard of a father. I myself was gripping my free hand into a fist so much that my nails might’ve dug into the skin of my palm.

“His lack of confidence made me more scared and uncertain to whether I could be a good parent for you, especially at my age at the time, which wasn’t too far off from how old you all are now.

“But then, the next thing I knew, you were right there in my arms, Fila, and when I first looked into those large eyes of yours, a warm and passionate fire was lit inside my chest. I wanted to do everything I could to see what kind of person you’d grow up to be, and to this day, I have not regretted making that choice.”

“So … my being here doesn’t bother you, Mama?”

“Of course, not. You being here was one of the best things to ever happen to me. Still, even after all of these years, putting aside some things I’m not proud of doing, I guess I still haven’t become the kind of parent I wanted to be if I’m making you so worried about me. I didn’t tell you everything to try and avoid you worrying about me, as well as not have you be ashamed of the things I had done in order for us to get by. I’m really sorry I gave the wrong idea by not being clear with you, Fila.”

“I know you’re always working hard, Mama, but I want to help make living our lives easier, too, especially yours. What would you have done to make me feel ashamed of you? Wait, you didn’t steal anything, did you?”

Flomi couldn’t help but chuckle at the worried look on her daughter’s face. “No, no, I wouldn’t say it’s that serious, just … something that’d give me an image that I hoped wouldn’t be spread to your school … and yet it did, and here we are.”

“Does it have something to do with those men I’d sometimes see you with? Was that part of your job you couldn’t tell me about?”

Here it is, the thing Onelri and I were worried about the most. Fila seemed to have noticed how I tensed up my hand as she glanced at me with a confused expression.

“Yeah … it does, sadly. Before I go any further, you really don’t know where babies come from yet, do you, Fila?”

She shook her head in response.

Flomi then looked over to the two of us. “What about you guys?”

“Um, I probably know a little about it …” Onelri answered while pushing her fingers together with a blush.

“I might know more about it than every adult in this building,” I followed. The girls looked at me with varying expressions.

I didn’t know why I tried to play it off as a joke, but that wasn’t a total lie. Even without my Great Sage gift, I knew enough about that subject that could advance the progression of this country by leaps and bounds. Unfortunately, it wasn’t like anyone would listen to a kid and condoms weren’t even made yet. The closest thing to a contraceptive that I overheard from Dad’s drinking buddies once was this ingestible drug made from medicinal herbs that would leave girls impossible to impregnate for a day, possibly three or four from higher strengths, but they would leave some side-effects if they were abused. You would not find one guild in this country that didn’t have the job of collecting these herbs as what they called a quest. Brothels used them all the time for the girls taking part in their services.

Just before the air in the room got weirder, a few raps on the door interrupted us.

“Finish what you’re doing in there! Breakfast is ready and we’re all waiting for the birthday boy!” It was Weiss behind the door.

“Yes! Safe!” Flomi exclaimed as she stood on ovation.

““…””

“Uh, we’ll go over it a little further later, but in the meantime, Fila, has what I said answered any questions for you at all?”

“Mm … there are still a few, but I’m really not bothering you at all?”

“You can drive me a little crazy sometimes, but not so much that it’d go to whatever you’re thinking.”

“And you still love me?”

Flomi then lightly touched her head against Fila’s with a smile and eyes closed. “I haven’t stopped loving you for even one second. Do you still love your mama?”

“Of course!”

“That settles it, then. And from now on, if there’s anything you need to talk about, Mama will try to take you more seriously and start treating you like a big girl as you ask me whatever’s on your mind. In exchange, just like a big girl, you must listen to whatever I need to tell you and try to understand why things are the way they are instead of whining about it. Deal?”

“Deal!”

Flomi kissed Fila’s forehead and rustled her hair. “Now, let’s cut the chatter and get some grub, I’m starved!” she exclaimed before leading Fila out of the room by the hand, a good image of mother and daughter.

Seeing that our mission was accomplished, Onelri and I slapped our hands in a high-five.

“You are going to tell me what you meant by ‘knowing more than every adult’ at some point. You know that, right?” Onelri asked.

“I don’t know, you think you can handle it?”

“Please, we elves always strive for new knowledge, light or dark.”

“Even if it means becoming a pervert?”

“… Is that knowledge so taboo that one would be labeled with such a derogatory term?”

“After how long you think about it once you know of it, it would already be too late.”

“… Well, that is just great. I want to know about it even more now.”

By the time we got down and started breakfast, we were asked how our private talk went.

I think the guffaws from the guys after Fila screamed ‘Mama’s going to tell me where babies come from soon!’ was probably the biggest highlight of my birthday that year.