It didn’t take long for more of the fairies to show up and use their combined powers to stabilize Elise’s condition. She was then moved into the village and placed on an improvised bed made by transmuting a large tree branch to make it soft like a bed and covering it with a combination of many different types of fabric stitched together.

With that settled, the fairies which were best in the healing arts could take a proper look at Elise’s injuries, as well as using the medicines they had in reserve. The patient watched with interest as they slowly removed the last traces of the acid and revitalized her flesh.

The fairies’ appearances were quite similar to that of Nalia. There were some variation in body types, with some having segments of differing sizes and tones, while others had slightly different hand and feet equivalents (which she was only able to see due to the medical fairies working from so close).

They had much more variation of hair and eye colors (she had seen one that had blue-green heterochromia and two who had tricolor hair, and she hadn’t seen many fairies yet), as well as clothing, with her having even seen some fairies that were almost completely covered. Finally, their wings had slightly different shapes, and many of them had colorful patterns.

Elise also looked around at the wider village once in a while, seeing quite a few small houses (normal sized for fairies) which seemed to be made of something that was between wood and ceramic, some of them on the ground near the roots of trees while others were high up on the branches. Several of them were painted with very colorful designs, but she was too far away to make out any specific details.

Still, mostly she watched the doctors, who were pretty focused on their work. Nalia had told them that the girl had helped her deal with the monster, so they were quite invested in making sure she would be okay.

The fairy herself had left to give a detailed report to the village chief about what had happened, but came back midway through the operation and watched over Elise until the end.

The girl had been asked to avoid speaking, as it might aggravate her injuries, and the four fairies healing her could communicate via the same magical connection that allowed them to mix their powers seamlessly into a combined spell, so there was no conversation at all, and the small corner of the village where they had set up the ‘medical station’ (because Elise was too big to go inside the medical room) was mostly quiet.

Finally, they paused the spell and then one of the fairies asked her to take a deep breath. Elise did so while the medics watched closely, and then another one of the fairies nodded and spoke:

“It looks like everything is fine now, you can get up and talk, just don’t try doing anything too strenuous for today.”

“You’re gonna need to eat a good bit to recover your energy.” Another one of them spoke next “Thankfully, I sent a message earlier to get some helpers to bring in enough food for that.”

“Thanks for the help. Your healing magic was really impressive.” Elise said, before slowly beginning to sit up on the ‘bed’.

She was obviously not comparing them to what her sisters would be able to do, but instead to what ‘average’ healers were capable of. Her sisters had actually given her lessons on what was normal in the world so that she wouldn’t be blindsided, which they called lessons on ‘common sense’.

Nalia flew closer as Elise stood up and stretched her body to clear up the numbness from lying down for that amount of time.

“So you’re really feeling okay?” She asked with evident concern.

“Yeah, but I am also feeling kinda hungry right now.” Elise admitted.

As if she had been waiting for that cue, a fairy approached the duo, carrying with her magic a tray that was much bigger than her own body. On top of the tray was a variety of fruits and nuts.

“Here’s some food.” The fairy spoke in a tone that was almost musical “The doctors checked, so those should all be okay for you to eat.”

Thanking her, Elise started eating, and Nalia took that chance to speak:

“Chief Imara has decided that the village should throw a party to commemorate the issue having been settled, and she wants you to be the guest of honor if possible.”

Elise told her that she would be happy to do so. Nalia sent a quick message spell back to inform the chief of that answer and then offered to show the girl around the village to spend time before the party started.

+0+

Nalia first brought Elise to the river that bordered their village, where a large number of tiny nets had been hung from the branches of nearby trees, which was how the fairies fished for the small fish and insects that were part of their diet.

“Those nets have enchantments that serve to keep away the bigger fish that could damage them or eat our prey before the time we raise the nets.” The fairy spoke “My usual job around the village is to to apply enchantments of various types, and I was actually the one who did that for some of those nets.” She sounded proud of it.

“How long do those enchantments last?” Elise asked.

“That really depends. Those net enchantments can last as long as the nets themselves do, though we remove them when said nets need to be thrown away and apply new ones when replacement nets are made. Other enchantments need to be refreshed pretty much daily, like the ones in the nursery.” Nalia explained.

“I see.” The girl nodded “And I’d wager a guess that, since applying enchantments is such an important job, only the fairies who are most skilled in magic would qualify for it.”

“You are correct.” Nalia nodded “I have always loved doing magic, so I was really happy when I managed to pass the test for it.”

That conversation done, the two moved on to the next part of the tour, the village’s greenhouse.

Built on a clearing, it was a large dome (it would be classified as a small house for human-sized people, but that was already huge by the standards of fairies) made of a glass-like material, but that was where the similarities with normal greenhouses ended.

The greenhouse of the fairies was divided into several different sections by inner walls, and while the glass-like outer walls were all translucent, each of the sections had said walls be of a different color, with the darkest ones being quite difficult to see through.

“This is a really fun one.” Nalia began to explain “The differently colored walls shift the rays of light that go through them in different ways, and there’s a large amount of complicated enchantments, all working together that use the different modulations of the light of the sun as a medium to simulate different climates, while also preventing the sections from interfering with each other.”

“So, besides getting harvests while out of season, you can even get products from entirely different regions? That sounds really helpful.” The girl replied “It must have taken quite a lot of effort to develop it.”

“The original was built almost two hundred years ago. It was more or less just a normal greenhouse, but several different fairies improved it over the course of the decades, and about forty years ago they reached the point where the multi-climate enchantments entered regular use, instead of being just experimental.

“Since then, new sections were added little by little so we could cultivate all sorts of things we previously needed to buy from merchants, which required entire teams of fairies to leave on expeditions.”

“Are you also involved with the enchantments used here?” Elise asked.

“A bit. They are of the long-lasting type, so usually I only work on doing adjustments so they keep working at maximum efficiency even when the weather conditions on the outside change.” Nalia spoke “Even a particularly cloudy day is enough of a change that it is worth making some adjustments.”

“I see. That makes sense.”

From there, the tour continued. Nalia brought Elise to a multi-story fairy building that had an unusual shape as it had been built while sneaking around a large amount of branches from the tree. That one was the school, where the young fairies learned the essentials and more advanced instructors taught their trades.

Then there was a small artificial pond with a pillar structure in the middle that was halfway out of the water, while its lower part branched out into several tubes that connected with the sides of the pond. That was the place where they cultivated a variety of algae, for purposes ranging from the medicinal to the recreational.

At that point, Elise asked about where Nalia lived, and the fairy pointed to a house that was pretty big in comparison to most in the village, but apparently she was only one of the fairies who lived there, and didn’t actually own the place.

After that there was a brief pause as the two ran into a fairy cooking some fish in an improvised outdoor grill. Those were actually meant for Elise, such being the reason they were being prepared like that. The girl’s stomach acted out again upon smelling the fish, so she received one of them on a stick and began eating as Nalia brought her to the next spot.

Elise’s interest never waned as Nalia showed her place after place, and she couldn’t help but smile in anticipation when the fairy declared that she had left the best for last.

The girl was brought to a part of the village where the trees were denser and she had to stick closely to Nalia in order to keep following her. Elise also noticed more and more fairies looking at her, and also that their gazes seemed more watchful than curious. The reason for that became clear as soon as they arrived at their destination.

“We stop here.” Nalia suddenly spoke “The guards wouldn’t be happy if I brought you anywhere closer than this.”

Then she floated next to Elise’s face at eye level and pointed at one particular tree that was about fifteen steps away from their position. Said tree didn’t look any different from the others around it, but by looking at how the fairies were arranged on the surroundings, it was clear that particular tree was being protected.

“That’s the tree of birth. She is the origin of all the fairies of this village, from the very beginning.” Nalia explained “Inside of her is the place we call the nursery, where we are born.

“There are several defensive enchantments around the whole area, as well as on the tree itself, some of which prevent outsiders from seeing her real form.” She continued “I’ll show you an image of the real thing in a bit, but I just wanted to take you here.”

Elise nodded solemnly. She understood the weight of such a gesture, and felt touched that Nalia wanted to share something so precious with her.

The two left the area in companionable silence. Along the way, another fairy flew over to inform them that the preparations had been completed and they were just waiting for the duo to arrive before starting the party. By that point, the night was beginning to fall, but there was more than enough time for it.

“Looks like your timing was perfect.” Elise commented.

Nalia smiled in response and the two went to the area where the celebration would be held, which was a part of the village that could not truly be called a clearing, but still had a bigger open space than the rest.

There, a ‘seat’ had been prepared for Elise in a similar way to the previous ‘bed’. This one was more elaborate and colorful than the more slapdash version they had quickly made to help with the emergency. It had several layers of fabric mixed together in a beautiful pattern, something that reminded Elise of the wings of those fairies.

After sitting down, Elise looked around at the many, many fairies that were in that area, some floating in the air, others sitting on nearby tree branches and others walking along the ground. Her attention was drawn to one of them in particular, due to said fairy having something which looked like a small crystal pyramid floating a little bit above her head.

Nalia noticed Elise’s gaze “That’s chief Imara. The crystal light is the symbol of the current chief.”

The girl nodded in understanding and returned to looking around, though soon afterwards, the final preparations seemed to have been completed as the chief called for attention with a magically enhanced voice, causing the many conversations that were going on around the area to quickly quiet down.

“Everyone, I am sure you are all aware of the problems we had recently with the presence coming from the other side of the forest.” Imara began speaking once she felt everyone was paying attention “First of all, I am happy to say that said problems are now over, thanks to our current guests of honor: The heroic outsider Elise and our very own Nalia.”

She indicated the two with a wave of the hand, upon which the many fairies in the area started cheering, some of them even using magic to create mini fireworks.

Elise let out a laugh upon seeing Nalia looking completely flabbergasted, having apparently not expected to be honored as well. The fairies around them seemed to be familiar with her, as they were giggling good-naturedly.

“The two of them worked together to fight against and defeat the monstrous entity behind that presence.” She continued speaking “We have sent people to investigate the site of the battle and managed to figure out that the entity was some sort of conglomeration of corrupted nature spirits.

“We haven’t yet discovered the reason why they ended up corrupted, but investigations are ongoing.” She stopped for a moment and then continued in a lighter tone “But that is something for later. Now, we celebrate!”

Taking her words as a signal, the fairies started to party.

Food started being passed around on floating trays, with some fairies bringing bigger food and drink trays to Elise. Nalia gave some recommendations and spoke about her favorites, even as she started to eat as well.

At the same time, a few fairies started playing music, some using physical instruments such as leaf whistles and harps, while others used magic to play notes via floating waterdrops and such. There were several different songs played, resulting in a chaotic, yet beautiful harmony.

Other fairies started to dance, sometimes simply moving in place by themselves, sometimes flying in coordinated movements that seemed more like an actual performance.

It was a very lively celebration, Elise enjoyed being able to be a part of such a thing and simply took in the experience for a bit. Then Nalia used her magic to show the girl an image of the tree of birth as promised (it was a beautiful white-green tree with brightly colored flowers and golden leave) and from there the two started talking with each other.

The fairy wanted to know more about Elise. Like who she was and where she had come from, as the girl was very definitely not an ordinary person.

Elise did not have any reason to keep her origins a secret, specially from someone she had already become friends with, so she explained the matter about her mother’s sacrifice and her subsequently being raised by the most powerful beings in the world.

She talked about her desire to reach that same level so she could stay with them forever. She talked about her decision to go on an adventure of her own, to see the world and to challenge herself in order to walk her own path towards transcendence. She talked about her decision to become a monster contractor.

At that point, the conversation momentarily stalled, as both Elise and Nalia wanted to say something but could not figure out how to broach the subject. Eventually they decided that this wasn’t the right setting for it, so they should wait until later.

By that point night had fully fallen, but the fairies had placed many magical floating lights around the place, so it was fairly well lit.

The duo started talking about lighter topics after that, mostly the two of them trading funny anecdotes, such as Nalia speaking about a time where two of her friends had caused an explosion during a magic experiment and ended up with their bodies stuck together for over half a month (said friends interjected with mock-outrage as she spoke about it).

Elise, for her part, spoke about how one of her sisters, Larina, had been forbidden by the others from participating in the “lessons in common sense” they gave to their youngest sister, as they deemed her to have “negative common sense” (and knowing Larina’s story and what she was like, Elise could see their point).

Eventually, the party started winding down. The music stopped, the food was running out and the fairies started to fly back to their own houses. Nalia and Elise looked at each other for a moment before the fairy started flying in a certain direction, the girl following her in a tacit agreement.

Nalia cast a fairy light of her own and held it above when they left the well-lit area. Yet they didn’t go too farm Nalia stopping after reaching a portion of the village that was completely devoid of activity at that time of the night. It was a place where the two of them could have some privacy.

Nalia spoke first “What do you plan to do now?” She asked.

“Well, I plan on traveling the world like I talked about.” Elise answered “But if you’re asking what I want to do right now, the answer would be offering you a contract.”

The fairy froze for a moment before asking “What would be the terms of that contract?”

“It would be an agreement to join me in braving the path towards transcendence. I would help you gain power beyond anything you can imagine, and reach your greatest dreams.” Was Elise’s answer.

Nalia took a deep breath before speaking again “And what exactly would I be required to do in return?”

“First of all, while I intend to guide you in battle and training, I will not require you to follow all my orders, or to never leave me.” Elise spoke seriously “I don’t want a slave, so I’ll gain your trust to the extent you’ll follow me of your own free will.”

The fairy nodded in return, not finding any issues with that.

“There are only two things that I absolutely require of you.” Elise continued “The first of them is to never give up on yourself. No matter what happens, you must be yourself to the very end.”

Nalia could feel how serious Elise was about that, and when she thought about it, the fairy realized that despite how it sounded at first, that was a very heavy promise to make. She thought about it deeply even as she continued listening.

“And the second thing I require is… You must call me big sister.” The girl finished.

There was a moment of silence as Nalia tried to adjust to the sheer mood whiplash “Big… Sister?” She asked.

“Indeed. That is non-negotiable.” Elise spoke with utmost seriousness.

The fairy sighed, all the tension leaving her body, then she smiled. In truth, her mind had already been made, perhaps ever since the previous battle had ended.

“I accept.” Nalia spoke.

“Then our contract is bound.” Elise replied.

Instantly, a line that looked like a golden vein appeared, linking the two of them. They immediately realized that they could clearly feel the presence of each other on a level beyond the normal senses. It was only their presence, as their thoughts and feelings were not immediately shared, though they knew instinctively that they could share such things at any time.

The line faded away after a few seconds, but in its place appeared identical marks on the left side of Elise’s neck as well as Nalia’s forehead. Those marks looked similar to the rune Elise bore, but they were shaped like Nalia’s layered wings.

“So it is done.” The fairy spoke after a few moments.

“Yes.” Elise replied with a smile.

She had taken her first step forward.