Bye for now, Niu mouthed with her lips.

Her mother made no signs of even seeing this; she only glanced at her once then went back to her sewing. Empty smile still plastered on her face, Niu left the house.

It was always like this for as long as Niu could remember in her twelve years of life. Her father would leave to work in the fields, first thing in the morning, and would return late at night; Niu barely saw him. Her mother stayed home, but she would practically ignore her daughter’s presence, only reluctantly presenting her with meals, and very rarely fixing her clothes.

Normally she would probably be tutored by her mother in sewing, learning her craft. If she was a boy, she’d probably be taken by her father to work with him. But she did neither. Once, when she was very young, she had simply been told to get out of the house and return later. And so that was what she did.

As always, she headed to the nearby forest, situated not far from the edge of the world. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a safe area, especially not for children, but nothing ever happened with wildlife at the area she used to frequent.

It was another lovely summer day, with the sun shimmering in the sky, casting its channeled golden rays on the road to town as Niu strayed from it. Although her goal was the forest, she took that path leisurely, stopping at times to appreciate some flower or try to approach a small squirrel without scaring it.

There were only the sounds of nature around. Her village was also just as silent and the bustling town too far away, so she could simply bask in the sun and the stillness. There were also moments where she felt lonely, like this, especially when she thought that if something happened, she couldn’t even shout for help. On the other hand, she pretty much felt just as alone even in the presence of people.

Niu kneeled over a small blue flower when she heard a crunching sound behind her, probably some small twig being stepped on. That caused her to startle and look back, whereupon she found a boy standing there.

“Oh… err, hi,” the boy greeted her. He had short, light brown hair, and although the clothes he wore were simple, they were also clearly well-tailored.

Niu slightly frowned; she knew all children from the village and this wasn’t one of them. Well, all of them stopped playing with her ages ago, and none of them would have greeted her like that, with a slightly anxious yet confident smile.

She waved back hesitatingly and stood up as the boy approached.

“Are you from around here?” he asked her. Niu nodded. “What’s your name?”

She sighed internally at reaching the part that she hated the most. She pointed at her mouth and then shook her head.

The boy raised an eyebrow. “You can’t tell me?”

She shook her head again. She pointed at her mouth again and then opened and closed it a few times. Since it seemed like he didn’t understand even that, she tried to mouth very slowly the words I can’t speak.

“You’re… mute?” he asked her, surprise coloring his face.

Now that she thought about it, that was the word for it, right. She hadn’t heard it used a lot, as people mostly called her “dumb” or “defect”, so she’d forgotten. Niu nodded sadly.

“I see,” said the boy, seemingly somewhat troubled. “Well, that’s fine. What’s your name?”

Ni, Ooh, she mouthed.

“New… no, Niu?” he tried pronouncing it, leading to her nodding. He then smiled. “Nice to meet you, Niu. I’m Gen.”

Niu felt like she was some exhibit at a museum. Well, not like there was a museum back in town, but she’d learned a bit about them at school. Anyway, the fact that nearly everyone around looked at her and the rest with curious eyes made it extremely uncomfortable. It might not have been as large as a crowd as during that burial ceremony, but it was much tighter.

Currently they—Niu, Gen, Roah, Shaya, as well as Seele and TriX—were all seated around one of the front-end tables, an assortment of dishes laid before them.

“Not hungry, Niu?” Gen asked her from the side. He was dressed with what would barely count as a suit. It was a bit long and unwieldy, but he had apparently given up on looking decent as long as it wasn’t an actual dress.

Niu shook her head. She hadn’t eaten anything since noon, but she currently had no appetite.

There was a sudden sound and everyone turned their heads to one of the sides of the stage. A few fairies were sitting there, all with some sort of musical instrument in their hands. Thinking about it, it was perhaps Niu’s first time seeing and hearing music in this world. They mostly resembled what she knew from Plainland, as she could see what appeared to be a harp and a violin.

Calm, uplifting music started drifting through the hall. It seemed that at least music wasn’t much different between cultures. The melody was pleasant, and the fairies around started dancing to the music.

“How about a dance?” Seele extended their hand toward Roah, who glanced at them for a moment.

“Sure,” he relented. “But I’m going to be bad.”

“It is unfortunate we didn’t have time for dance lessons,” said Seele with a smile, “but it’s fine. I’m also pretty bad.” They pulled Roah out of the seat.

Much like Gen, he also wore a dark-colored uniform that fit him surprisingly well. Perhaps it mixed better with his darker hair and gloomy atmosphere. With Seele clad in a light dress, they almost looked like two nobles.

“Do you… no, never mind,” mumbled Shaya, looking at the floor.

“Sorry,” said Gen. “I’m not really sure dancing’s for me.”

Niu glanced at him, once, at this implication, but hurriedly averted her gaze.

“I can dance, if you’d like,” offered TriX from the side.

Thinking about it, perhaps it stuck out just as much in this crowd; Niu was pretty sure she’d seen another laborer at some point, but now TriX was the only one around. It wore a grey garment of some sort, more functional than ornamental.

“What? Oh, no, that’s fine…”

Niu looked away, watching the people around. At least now with the music there was less attention focused on them. Many couples were dancing around the hall. She’d never been to any sort of dance party, but aside from the fact that it was being done inside a gigantic tree and with fairies, it was more or less exactly like she imagined those to be.

Niu felt uncomfortable in lavish clothes, but it didn’t mean that she didn’t appreciate them; the multitudes of colors and styles in the audience did enchant her. It was like a work of art and it fit her sense of aesthetics.

It had been quite a while since she’d last sketched anything. Ever since she started going to school and received supplies she would draw every day, but that routine came to an abrupt end without her noticing. She suddenly felt bad for all the dozens of drawings she’d lost, and then felt bad for feeling bad about it.

Trying to shake off that downward spiral, Niu recalled one of her last drawings, the unique flower she’d seen on her way to school. It was already a long time ago—half a year ago, by Fairland standards—but she still remembered it quite vividly. In fact, that wasn’t the last time she’d seen it; Niu had also chanced upon a similar flower on the outskirts of Kalden. How curious.

“Will you dance with me?”

A sudden voice cut her line of thought. She turned, but those words weren’t directed to her; a familiar fairy dressed in white covered in multicolor approached the table, standing near Gen.

“Dance?” Gen asked back, visible confusion on his face. “But I can’t—”

“It will be but for a short while. Come now,” said Aisbroom.

“But I… err, fine, I guess,” Gen mumbled. He glanced at Shaya and Niu for a moment, but they were just as confused. Eventually he rose from his seat and, dragged by Aisbroom, disappeared into the crowd.

“Umm.” Except for TriX, she and Shaya were left alone, perhaps for the first time in quite a while. It was quite awkward. “Do you… do you want to dance?”

Niu tilted her head.

It didn’t take long for Niu’s meetings with Gen in the woods to turn into a habit.

He’d usually come there once a week or so, whenever he found the time. They would walk around the forest together. At times Niu would stop and pluck some wild berries for them to eat, and at times Gen would stop her when he heard some noise, and then come to the conclusion it was only his imagination or just an errant bird.

These were fun times indeed. Perhaps the most fun Niu ever had.

They also spent a lot of time chatting—well, Gen was the one who chatted and Niu only listened and nodded and laughed, but that was fine for her. He seemed to be enjoying speaking to her about this and that. He told her of Hayden, a place that she had been to only a handful of times, and promised to take her on a tour there some time. He told her of his brothers; one of them was training to become a soldier and the other apprenticing under his parents’ business, so they didn’t have a lot of time to hang out with him.

“I’m sorry I’m the only one talking,” he apologized one day.

Niu shook her head. He couldn’t do anything about it, after all. And she did enjoy listening to him. It was a pity she couldn’t really communicate back, though. He had questioned her about this, but Niu didn’t even know how to read and write, so he’d kindly offered to teach her. They’d made little progress on that, but she at least reached the point where she could write her own name.

“This might sound a bit rude,” he said, “but I like it like this. Sorry, I mean… I wish you could talk back, of course… but no one ever takes me seriously. They always compare me to my brothers and all that. Even other kids. You actually listen to me, though.”

Niu smiled and nodded. It’s the same for me, she thought. No one pays me any attention. No one even tries to talk to me anymore; they all gave up at some point, since I can’t even reply. Unfortunately, she couldn’t convey all that to him.

“Anyway.” Gen hurriedly switched the subject, as he often did. “How about we keep going? Maybe we’ll find that soft rose today? …Just kidding.”

It started during one of their very first meetings—they found a rose on the side of the road and Niu accidentally pricked her finger. It was actually a bit embarrassing; she of course knew the danger and usually handled roses carefully, but it somehow happened anyway. Ow, she’d thought and sucked her finger.

“Are you alright?” Gen had asked worryingly. Niu nodded. “Too bad this isn’t a soft rose, huh?”

Soft rose—the term tickled her mind, for some reason, but she couldn’t quite recall it. Although they hadn’t known each other for long, Gen already started interpreting her facial expressions, so he more or less understood her at that moment.

“You don’t know what I’m talking about?” he’d asked her. As a response, she’d merely tilted her head, furrowed her brows and put a finger on her cheek. Gen had probably realized it was more than a simple “no” so he thought for a bit. “Not sure, then? I mean, it’s a somewhat well-known fairytale.”

Niu’s eyes had widened in surprise. She could dimly recall something of the sort. She moved her mouth and motioned toward Gen.

“Err, do you want me to… tell you the story?” he’d guessed, to which she replied with a vigorous nod of her head. “Sure, why not. Sit down, my child, and I shall tell you the story of the fairy and the soft rose…”

You jerk, she thought while softly punching his arm and smiling.

The story was rather standard stuff; it told of a boy wishing to pick roses in the forest, yet unable to do so due to their thorns. A mischievous fairy then helped him by making roses smooth, only for their thorns to reappear at inopportune times… the moral of the story being that everything had its purpose the way it was, or something of the sort.

Even so Niu was charmed by it. It brought back distant memories, of a time where her mother did such things as tell her such stories before bedtime, times when she hadn’t been so cold. Thinking back, perhaps this was also an indirect cause for her daily adventures—she always dreamt of meeting fairies in the forest and play with them, since humans ignored her.

“Err, the end, I guess,” Gen had said as he wrapped up the story. “Sorry for not being much of a storyteller…”

But Niu shook her head vehemently at these final words, beaming at him.

“Well, if you enjoyed it then I’m glad.” He smiled back at her. “Wanna look for that soft rose, then?”

She chuckled soundlessly as they got up and ran into the forest.

“I… I know this isn’t the time for this, but…”

Niu wasn’t quite sure what made her agree, but now she was dancing with Shaya. Of course, neither of them knew how to dance so it was more like pacing while facing each other. That coupled with their status there made them stand out quite a bit.

“I just wanted to apologize,” Shaya continued, her gaze cast downwards and her fists clenched. “I thought we might have some fun for a change. I know that I hurt you but I don’t want it to stay that way… because we’re friends and we need each other right now.”

Niu wasn’t sure what to feel about that. Part of the blame lay with her and she knew it, but she couldn’t help but feel that everything around her had already fallen apart. She’d known Shaya for more than a year now, but Niu felt like she was only now seeing new sides of her despite having shared quite a few secrets and worries.

“I just hope I can make it up to you, somehow, and we’ll… we’ll have a talk soon, okay? In a better time and place than this.”

Niu nodded weakly, not quite looking in Shaya’s eyes. As she had said, this really wasn’t the time and place for it; Niu didn’t want to dwell on negativity in such a public space, which left her feeling melancholic as it was.

“I’m sorry,” said Shaya. “Let’s go back.”

“Before that, how a dance with me as well?”

The pair was startled by an unfamiliar voice, and one that was speaking their language to boot, if a bit awkwardly. Standing there was a slender fairy with a wide, generous smile, black hair tied into a short ponytail and clad in a midnight-blue short dress. A noticeable sweet smell was emanating from them, probably some sort of perfume.

“Sorry for surprising you… is that the word?” the stranger said, still smiling.

“W-who are you?” asked Shaya.

“Oh, sorry. I am Boum.” The fairy bowed. “I was interested in you for long time, but this is first meeting. I was too part of the project, in past… you know, with Seele.”

Ah—it was a shock to hear yet another fairy speaking their language, however faulty, but now it made further sense. Until now they had only met Seele, TriX and Aisbroom, but there were surely a few others.

Boum once again extended their hand. “Will dance with me, then?” they said at Niu.

At first, she instinctively wanted to reject them, but then had a certain thought. Sitting down with Shaya (even if Roah, Seele or Gen were sure to return soon) would be even more awkward, right now. And she really was interested in fairies, never mind the fact that she couldn’t communicate with them. Perhaps that would serve as a nice distraction after all. They looked pretty and smelled nice. Niu nodded and took Boum’s hand.

“Are you sure…?” asked Shaya from behind.

Niu nodded toward her as well, smiled and pointed at the table. TriX also stood conspicuously nearby, so it wouldn’t be leaving her alone. She got a bit further into the hall along with Boum.

“So you are Niu, as I assumed,” Boum said. Seeing Niu raise her eyebrows they added, “I heard little about you. There many rumors. They say you can’t speak.” Niu once again nodded gingerly. “Bad. I wish I could talk with you. But no matter; dance.”

There was something quite… exotic about Boum. Fairies in general felt a bit alien, but even she had grown a bit used to them, by now. However, Boum felt completely different than Seele or even Aisbroom, for example. Even the way they guided her while knowing fully well she couldn’t dance.

“Is everything fine?” two figures appeared at the side—they were Roah and Seele. The boy looked at her questioningly, and then his eye settled on Boum, slightly narrowing.

“Hello, Seele,” Boum greeted the other fairy.

“Oh! A long time, Boum,” Seele replied with a smile.

“I happened to be in party and thought of meeting the faeries,” Boum gestured toward both Roah and Niu. “You really lucky.”

“Haha, maybe. They’re very interesting, are they not?”

“What do you want?” Roah asked in a low voice.

“Oh? I am just making fun,” Boum said, smiling. Niu suddenly grabbed their sleeve. “Sorry, I ignored my dance partner. Don’t need to worry.”

“Is that fine with you?” Roah asked her.

Niu thought for a bit, and then nodded. She felt awfully comfortable with Boum, for some reason. Dancing with them for a bit longer wouldn’t cause any trouble. And there was also that very sweet smell. Seeing her response, Roah still eyed her for a moment, but then went along with Seele.

“Don’t worry,” said Boum, a faint smile on their lips, “it will be over soon.”

“Niu, Niu!”

The pair hadn’t ever truly planned their meetings; usually Gen would just appear one day in the whereabouts of the forest, looking for her. But this time it had been almost an entire week without seeing him, so Niu started to worry a bit. That day, however, he finally came to look for her.

“Sorry I haven’t been here for a while,” said Gen.

It’s fine, she smiled. How do you do?

After having spent time together, Gen learned how to correctly interpret her gestures and expressions. She wished she would have a better way to express herself, but she was still a bit struggling with learning how to write, and she had no proper way of practicing.

“I’m good… great, actually, you’re not going to believe it,” he said excitedly. “I wanted to tell you the news—they’re opening a school in town!”

Niu tilted her head. A school? She knew there were such facilities in some major cities, like the University in the Capital.

“Yeah, there’s some sort of project or something… They’re recruiting students right now and—and I’m to be one of them, apparently.”

Caught in surprise for a second, she then clapped her hands briefly. The son of a merchant family would surely benefit from receiving some formal education. But then she also realized—had he come to say goodbye? If he was going to start school, he would surely have less time to come and play with her. Her smile vanished.

“But that was obvious, so never mind that,” Gen continued as he approached her. “Come with me to town.”

What?

“Maybe we can get you into school, too!”

…Again, what?

Seeing the absolutely befuddled look on her face, Gen chuckled. “See, from what I understand they’re looking for students from both town and the surrounding area. You don’t even have to pay or anything! Like I said, it’s some new project or something, apparently there’s a noble funding the whole deal. I’m sure you’ll be a perfect fit there!”

Niu’s mouth slackened open as her mind processed what she'd just been told. Her? Become a student in the new school? Gen said she wouldn’t have to pay anything, but was that true? No, even if it was true, why would they want a mute, ignorant girl as a student? That made no sense.

“Don’t worry,” he promised her. “I’ll recommend you! I’m sure they’ll want you. Please trust me.”

Niu in a school… the very thought of it was bizarre. She’d been shunned by both her parents and the other villagers, but perhaps the town was different. It had Gen in it, after all. Maybe she’d even be able to make more friends.

“Let’s go, then!” he grabbed her hand and pulled, but she resisted.

She looked at him, puzzled: Right this instant? Shouldn’t we speak to anyone first? She wasn’t confident her gestures would convey that, but he apparently got the general gist.

“Yeah… I guess it might be a bit rash.” He stopped in place and let go of her. He seemed to be thinking of something. “But I’ll be coming to take you soon, okay?”

His promise came true; it took only a couple of days for him to appear again, the shortest amount of time between any of their meetings. He sounded excited, telling her that one of the teachers not only wanted to but had insisted on meeting her. This puzzled her a great deal, but he offered no explanations and just dragged her to town.

Seeing Hayden for the first time in a long time was a shock. People roamed through the streets at all times. Men and women talking loudly, children running here and there for errands or just playtime, and the shouting voices of vendors handling all sorts of stalls scattered around. It was noisy and boisterous, but not necessarily in a bad way.

Niu would have loved to soak in this new scenery, but Gen hurried her up on the way to school. There was a loud ringing that came from nearby and Niu noticed a clock tower, itself not very tall, but perhaps the tallest building in town, announcing that it was already five o’clock. She had heard it faintly from afar many times, but it sounded completely different when she was so close.

Finally, the pair reached a building that looked like it could serve as some sort of office. It was about three times bigger than Niu’s home but even more desolate.

“This is it!” Gen told her, excitement clear in his voice. “Well, I heard they're going to renovate a bit before starting… anyway, let’s get inside.”

Like Gen said, the inside was in definite need of repairs, but it actually was a bit better than her own house back in the village. The walls were cracked but the floor, at least, appeared to have been cleaned recently.

After leading her through a corridor and passing by some doors, Gen stopped in front of a particular room. A wooden plate attached to it said something, but Niu couldn’t read it.

“Wait here just a second,” he instructed her. He went to knock on the door and then opened it, entered, and closed it behind him. It took only a few seconds for him to reemerge, smiling. “The Professor wants to talk to you. Don’t worry, he’s a really nice guy.”

It was only at that point that Niu began to feel slightly anxious. Until then there were only wonder and confusion at the new environment, but now she recalled why they came there. Gen called him the Professor… meaning, was he in charge of the school?

She gulped. Nodding, she entered the room with slow, deliberate steps.

“Hello,” greeted a voice from the inside. “I’ve heard everything about you, Niu. Please have a seat. My name is Salom Saburn and I’m one of the teachers of this soon to be opened school.”

Gen ignored the few fairies around that mumbled and pointed at the pair as he glared at Aisbroom. It was time to get to the bottom of this.

“What do you want?” he asked bluntly.

“Not a dance, obviously. I just wanted to talk with you a little,” Aisbroom replied, returning the boy’s stare.

“Here? Where everyone’s looking at us?”

“It’s actually safer this way. No one in their right mind would think of us doing anything suspicious right in the midst of this crowd, right?” Aisbroom asked, smiling and glancing to the side. “So, on that note, I have a question for you. Do you have any plans to act against the Ruler?”

Gen doubted his own ears for a second. He just stood there, blinking, before his brain caught up.

“Are you… are you seriously asking this?” he stammered. He looked around as if expecting to see Acrus themselves eavesdropping nearby.

Aisbroom chuckled. “I already told you—you have nothing to fear. There are less than a dozen people in the entire venue that understand you, anyway.”

“…I still don’t get it.” Gen shook his head. “But as for your question, no. Even if I’d been planning something I obviously wouldn’t say it out in the open like this, right? That’s insane.”

“Yes, that is insane,” Aisbroom agreed, nodding, “which is why I had to make sure you were not considering anything of the sort. And you seem truthful. Good.”

“Then what are you—”

Aisbroom interjected, “What about Roah, then?”

Gen recovered faster this time. “He’s… he’s kinda weird, and a jerk, but I don’t think he’s insane. Maybe. Probably. Anyway, I don’t know what that guy’s thinking. Never could understand that prat.”

Aisbroom smiled a little, then went silent as if considering the information they’d just received.

“Is that really what you wanted from me? Just a random interrogation? And before you ask, there’s no way Shaya and Niu would ever do anything.” After uttering this he noticed that it was a pretty harsh way of phrasing things, and it bothered him a bit.

Meanwhile Aisbroom made no answer, but merely glanced around the hall. The music kept going, but less and less people were dancing. All around, servants started clearing the tables of empty bowls and plates and getting fresh food out.

Aisbroom finally spoke just as Gen was starting to lose his patience. “I just want you to be on your guard. Especially if you want to protect that girl.”

“…Not that again…”

“You get back to your table,” Aisbroom instructed him as he started walking ahead. “Be on alert… something is going to happen.”

“Wha…?” Gen mumbled as Aisbroom disappeared into the crowd. “Wait! What do you mean by… shit.” He thought Aisbroom would be easy to spot even here, but there were simply too many fairies around.

Gen clicked his tongue and decided to go back to the table—though unfortunately Aisbroom had taken him to the opposite side of the hall. He had a very bad feeling about the fairy’s last words.

That bad feeling soon came true.

The man on the other side of the desk was already seated—and Niu then noticed that it was a peculiar chair, one equipped with wheels. She’d never seen or heard about something like this before, but she could guess its purpose.

“Please seat down,” Saburn repeated. She twitched in surprise, realizing that she was staring too much. Embarrassed, she took the chair right in front of him.

The so-called office was as barebones as the rest of the building. Currently there were only a single chair (and a wheelchair), a desk and a small shelf with some documents. There were also some papers and a pen on the desk.

“Now, I hope you don’t mind if we get down to business,” Saburn said, smiling. “As I am sure you are aware, we are here to discuss the prospect of you joining our school. How much do you know about it?”

Almost nothing. But how was she going to reply to that question? Hadn’t the Professor told her that he already heard everything about her?

“I have prepared a way for you to communicate,” he said after her short, puzzled silence. He tapped the paper on the desk.

Oh, she thought. But that still wasn’t enough. She shook her head.

That caused the man to slightly widen his bespectacled eyes. “So you can’t—ah, I see. Apparently, I was less informed than I have thought… I apologize,” he said with a wry smile. “Hmm, that is a bit of a trouble, then. Well, we’ll figure something out. For now, I will tell you about the school in brief.”

Gen had also told her a bit about it, but Saburn went into a few more details. The school was part of a project to educate children from all around the country in an attempt to elevate citizens in the future. By receiving a varied education, they would be able to serve both themselves and the kingdom better. It was currently on trial, but it was being fully sponsored, so there would not be any tuition fees of any kind.

“The curriculum has not yet been finalized, but it should include such things as geography, history, math, and, of course, reading and writing for those who need it… more artistic pursuits as well, most likely. Are you interested?”

Niu couldn’t help but nod strongly. Reading and writing by themselves fascinated her, as it would help her immensely in finally communicating with people, however slightly. But she also knew how narrow her world was, until now. Even the small town of Hayden was a marvel to her, and now she was being offered to partake in this school, cared for by the kingdom? It was almost too good to be true.

Saburn seemed pleased. “Great. We will have to register you formally and talk with your parents as well, then.”

At those words Niu’s face fell. She hadn’t even considered that until now. While they never even bothered to monitor her daily activities, Niu somehow had the feeling that her mom and dad wouldn’t easily agree to such a deal, even if it cost them nothing. It would mean acknowledging her presence, something they weren’t prone to do.

Whether he understood her expression or not, Saburn said, “Don’t worry, Niu. We will do our best to persuade them to allow you to participate, if there is some problem. And in case you’re just nervous about it all, you do not have to be; your friend Genro has told me you’re a smart girl, so I’m sure you’ll manage."

Niu felt herself blushing. Had Gen really said this? But all she did was listen to his stories… she didn’t think herself stupid, but calling her smart?

“If you don’t mind,” Saburn continued, “there is another thing I would like to check. You were mute your entire life, is that correct?”

Niu nodded, inadvertently eyeing the man’s chair and then noticing herself and hoping he hadn’t noticed. If he did, he said nothing, but after her response he reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a small ball made of cotton or some soft material. He placed it on the desk.

“I want you to focus on this,” he said. Niu raised an eyebrow and looked up from the ball to the Professor. “This is something simple and will not take much of your time. I will explain later. Will you cooperate?”

Niu nodded. She lowered her gaze to the ball once again and… focused on it. It looked like plain, white cotton. Nothing special to it.

“Take your chair just a little bit back, now. Yes, like that. But keep focusing on that ball. I want you to try and feel it with your mind. Imagine yourself holding it and take deep breaths. The ball, the ball, the ball—just focus on that ball and follow my voice.”

Niu was still quite confused and felt weird doing this, but as she focused on the ball, she actually became somewhat relaxed. She never lacked patience; one time she’d stared at one flower for nearly half an hour. So having a staring contest against a ball was easy.

“Now, don’t move your body, hold your breath for a moment, but move the ball. Just move it. Think about moving it, and do it.”

She was so focused on the ball and on Saburn’s words that she didn’t even raise her brow at the instructions. She merely did as she was told. And the ball moved.

…Wait, it moved?

“Excellent!” exclaimed Saburn, stopping the ball with his finger as it lazily rolled toward him. Raising her face, she saw he was looking at her with a truly satisfied expression. “I want to try it again just to be sure, but now we really must have you in this school no matter what—to nurture your channeling talent.”

This meeting signaled the start of Niu’s best and worst time of her life.

“Did you enjoy?” asked Boum.

Surprisingly, Niu felt that the answer was yes. She felt so gloomy throughout the whole evening, but suddenly meeting a complete stranger allowed her to feel more… free. Perhaps it was similar to her first meeting with Gen. A stranger that she ended up meeting by chance but grew to be an important existence to her. They also smelled very sweet.

So Niu smiled and nodded. Boum smiled back at her.

“You are quite lovely faerie. Yes… you remind me of someone I know,” said Boum. “You are like a… princess, is that the word? We heard stories of princess in castle, that thing.”

Niu tilted her head. Her? A princess? She was dressed quite fancy tonight, but that would be quite the exaggeration. Also, did the fairies have their own fairy tales? Boum seemed to note her confusion.

“Yes, that pure is also like a princess. Very cute.”

Niu blushed at this compliment. Then, she suddenly found herself yawning.

“Tired?” the fairy asked her. “Want to go back to your friends?”

She really did feel tired, all of a sudden. Lately she hadn’t been sleeping very well, and perhaps something about the rhythmic dance and music calmed her beyond what she expected. As for going back to her friends… she knew she had to, as some point, but it didn’t have to be necessarily right now.

Niu regretted that she hadn’t brought her slate along; she would have loved to try talking with Boum a bit. Since they could speak the language, they could probably also read it, just like Seele.

Well, why not do both? She could simply take Boum back to the table. They also said they were interested in the others, so they could all have a fun discussion together. Niu turned around to look for their table.

Only then did she notice that she was currently situated at almost the other side of the hall. The stage where the Ruler sat and the table for important guests were distant. Have they really gone this far, while dancing?

“Well, too bad,” mumbled Boum in a low voice.

Just as Niu turned around to face them, and before she could question those words, the fairy took a quick succession of actions.

One hand reached out toward Niu and she felt a small prick on her arm, but simultaneously she could see something being thrown into the air. Her body jolted as her arm was grabbed, and then there were sounds of glass breaking followed by a sudden puff of thick smoke completely enveloping the area.

Niu found that her body didn’t obey her commands, and she was pretty sure that this wasn’t merely due to surprise or fear at the sudden situation. She could faintly hear screams about and echoing footsteps while she was being dragged, no, carried away. Her eyes watered and were clouded by the smoke as her mind felt sluggish and could barely interpret the events of these moments.

It happened so quickly, but there was no doubt that Boum was taking her away. She didn’t know how or why, but that was the only possible conclusion. Thinking back, why had she gone with them? It felt perfectly natural and fun at the time, but that was strange.

Her mind was still hazy and her body felt numb. She didn’t even know how much time passed, especially not with the cacophony and disorder around. But there was darkness and she felt Boum huffing and puffing as they carried her.

“I’m sorry about this,” they spoke, sounding a bit distorted to her ears. “I promise you will not hurt. But we need you—a princess like you… and you’re the easiest target.”

Niu wanted to cry. So she really was kidnapped, for whatever reason. And thinking about it, if this wasn’t any sort of internal conflict she had no idea about, there was perhaps only one group who’d want to accomplish something like this. Yes, just like they’d tried to before.

“Don’t worry. If it goes good, we have your friends too. And then you all come to Stroba.”

Silent through the rapid stream

Will time stop if I could scream?