Alta waited for Icasondra to come with the meal. She didn’t feel hungry, she had never truly felt hunger, but she knew that existed. The chimera could only detect the lack of biomass, but she had never been threatened with death by a severe lack of it.
The fairy came over the door with two hot plates in her hands and then left them on top of a slab of wood.
“What are you doing standing up?” Icasondra asked with a frown.
“Waiting?” Alta returned the gesture.
“And why are you waiting on your feet and not in the chair?”
“Because I didn’t know?” She tilted her head to the side.
“Augh, you are incorrigible.” The Moonlight fairy groaned. “Sit down on the stool and wait for me to also bring the glasses. And don’t eat until I come back!” The last part was added after she had already vanished through the door.
Alta sat down on the tall and circular carving of wood, or stool as Icasondra had called it. It made sense that she didn’t possess any seats with backs, as it would be impossible for a fairy to rest her back.
The chimera looked down at the steaming plate. It was a weird viscous liquid of a blue color. It looked as if someone had beaten one of the rodents to a pulp. It should taste good then. She thought.
Icasondra came back an instant later with transparent cylinders and wooden pieces. Alta inspected them with childlike curiosity as the fairy lay them on the slab of wood.
“These are glasses filled with water,” Icasondra explained pointing at the cylinders, “and these are spoons.” She then pointed at the carved pieces of wood. “They are used to eat.”
“Why?” Alta asked. “Why just use your hands?”
“Well, some foods are messy, and this one is hot, so it’s better to use tools,” Icasondra explained.
As if trying to state a point, Alta put her finger on the blue viscous substances, absorbing the meal into her body. The fairy frowned as she saw the contents of the plate slowly being drained.
“Stop.” She spoke. “Do you really eat like that?”
“Yes?” Alta tilted her head, not understanding the question.
“So, you’ve never used your mouth to eat?” Alta maintained her head tilted and Icasondra sighed. “Look, this is how you eat.”
The Moonlight fairy picked up the spoon and dived it down into the plate. Once the spoon was full, she retired it from the plate and blew on it, pushing the steam away. Finally, after the complicated set of motions, she led the food to her mouth and pushed it down her throat.
“Do you get it?” Icasondra asked after having consumed the spoonful.
Alta nodded and repeated the same motions as she did. But this time, as the meal entered the chimera’s mouth, her visage shifted in surprise.
“Is it good?” The fairy asked with a smile on her face.
The Blossomflame nodded vigorously and shoved one more spoonful into her mouth, only then she spoke.
“I... I didn’t know meals could taste... good.” Her words lingered with hints of confusion and amazement at the taste.
“Well, I am a good cook myself, if I say so,” Icasondra added pompously. “So not all meals, specially prepared for other people, will taste as good as mine.”
“I see.” Alta nodded and then led the spoon to the glass.
“Wait, wait, wait.” The Moonlight fairy said in quick succession. “What are you doing?”
“Eating the water?” The Blossomflame fairy responded, now unsure of her actions.
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“You don’t eat water, you drink it!” She exclaimed. “Like this.”
She grabbed the glass with her thin and fragile hands and led it to her mouth, where she slowly downed the contents down her throat.
“Have you never water in your life?” Icasondra left the glass on the table.
“No.” Alta swayed her head. “I have absorbed blood a few times, but it has been through my body, never with my mouth.”
“Try it then.” Her smile trembled with a hint of fear and repulsion.
Alta did so and put the glass on her lips, downing the water. She frowned, surprised by the different taste compared to the meal.
“It doesn’t taste like anything.” The chimera said.
“Well, water isn’t supposed to be a meal out and in of itself, but a thing we have to consume to live,” Icasondra explained. “I guess you could add taste to the water with some fruits, or directly make a juice, though.”
Life again. If normal creatures didn’t eat or drink, they would die, but that didn’t happen with Alta. She didn’t understand why she was different. Was it because of her status as a chimera, or was it something else?
The rest of the eating session, or dinner as Icasondra had called it, continued with the fairy telling Alta words she didn’t know. The chimera pointed at an item and Icasondra would respond with the name.
She was actually surprised to find that EVERYTHING had a name. It wasn’t just variations of a name or compositions of two names, but most things had their own name. Why bother with that many words?
Nonetheless, Alta memorized them.
It wasn’t a fabric hanging around, it was a curtain. It wasn’t a squared piece of ovulated fabric, but a pillow. And it wasn’t a slate of wood, but a table.
Learning new words felt like something that should be tedious and draining, yet Alta felt more clear-headed and enthusiastic than ever.
“Hmm, we should get you some clothes,” Icasondra commented after they finished eating.
“Hadn’t we already done that with that Aecanosomris woman?”
“Aecansomdrys.” The fairy corrected. “And well, yes. But I only commissioned her only a dress, meant to be worn outside. I was refiring to clothes for indoors, like my gown.” She pointed at her white fluffy dress.
“Then why don’t we go back to that Aecansomdrys,” Alta asked.
“It’s too late, I’m afraid,” Icasondra responded, Alta herself ignoring why she was always scared of menial things. “The shop will be already closed, and she’s already occupied with your dress. But I guess I could lend you a spare dressing gown night. You’ll dirty everything with those rags.”
“Alright.” Alta nodded, though a new thought intruded her head. “What about undergarments?”
“What?” The fairy said by reflex.
“Undergarments.” The chimera reiterated. “You said in the shop that we should get some undergarments for me, whatever those are.”
“The undergarments!” Icasondra jumped out of the stool in realization, slightly hovering in the air. “I totally forgot about them!”
“What are they, either way?” Alta asked.
“Em... well...” The Moonlight fairy regained the red color more characteristic of a Blossomflame fairy. “Those are the clothes that you wear... well, under your garments.”
“Can’t you lend me a spare like with the gown then?” Alta suggested.
The red coloration of the woman’s visage accentuated even further, flaring like a fire.
“No!” She denied it with a slap to the table.
“Why?” The chimera inquired.
“Be-because that would indecent!” Icasondra led her hands to her face, occulting her visage under the extended palms.
“Then why should I have undergarments, to begin with?” Alta remained with a composed tone.
“Because that would also be indecent!” The fairy protested, raising her hands into the air in exasperation.
“But I have been all this time without undergarments?” The chimera was wholeheartedly confused against the Moonlight fairy arguments.
“Yes, but... it’s like the lesser indecentment.” Icasondra responded unsure of her words.
Alta didn’t know many words, especially complex ones. But she had that instinctual feeling that ‘indecentment’ wasn’t a word. But she couldn’t understand what the fairy had meant by it. Weird.
“It doesn’t matter!” Icasondra gave up. “Let’s stop talking about undergarments and let’s focus on something more important.
“And what that may be?” Alta genuinely asked.
“The moons, but of course.” She responded with a smile; the red vanished from her face. “Follow me.”
The fairy guided her through a set of stairs, even if she was flying there and Alta had to walk. Icasondra had taken her to a room with fewer walls and more natural light, yet the room was dark.
That’s when Alta noticed that she could no longer see the colossal ball of fire that was called the sun. The skies had turned black from their light blue, the temperature had decreased, and the ambient light was far lower. She had been so concentrated on their conversation that she hadn’t acknowledged the change before.
The room in question had a circular opening on the ceiling made with a transparent substance, which her brain translated into glass. Then her brain translated opening into window, and finally, into skylight.
In the skylight, vaguely obstructed by leaves that had become as dark as the skies, a series of three dots shone in the sky. They were arranged in a perfect equilateral triangle, and every vertex of the triangle, a moon each, was of a different color. White, light blue, and lilac.
“What do you think?” The Moonlight fairy asked, herself shining all of a sudden as she canalized the three celestial bodies' lights into her. Her portentous silhouette had shifted into something more majestic, more mystical.
“It’s...” The Blossomflame fairy couldn’t find the right words, but she felt something inside of her. A good feeling. “It’s beautiful.”
It was happiness. Not quenched bloodthirst or satisfied lust for knowledge, but unadulterated happiness as she looked at the three colorful figures shining in the sky.
And it was good.