Night came and went without any complications. After Alta and Icasondra finished their bathing session, they went back to the village, albeit this time they went with the scenic route and took their time coming back. By the time they finally arrived, night had sifted upon them.
Alta could survive indefinitely without biomass intake, but Icasondra entered her home with a mild degree of starvation. She hadn’t eaten anything since the very morning.
For dinner, the Moonlight fairy made a feast. A feast for fairy-sized creatures, that is. She called the meal “steam potatoes” and it was even better than the first meal Alta had. Whereas the blueberry plate Icasondra had made was sweet, this one was salty. And Alta found that she preferred salty tastes better.
Icasondra had been wrong about one thing, though. When the night came, the temperatures didn’t drop much, and it was mostly lukewarm. Hot enough for her to not want to sleep clothed like she had done the day before.
The fairy protested a bit, obviously commenting that it was indecent, but Alta persevered through the arguments like a stone wall. “It isn’t indecent if you don’t look at me.” She countered.
Her magnificent silver tongue broke through the fairy’s brain, and she decided to lie on the bed rather than keep protesting. Alta did the same, laying on the other side of the wide mattress, and then lowering the intensity of her wings. They didn’t give much heat normally, but the night was warm enough that she actively toned it down.
When she woke up, Icasondra was still sleeping even though she had had more sleep than her the previous day. It was remarkable how even after all her protests, the Moonlight fairy had approached Alta in her sleep, her legs intertwined with hers.
As she didn’t have anything to do, the chimera remained on the bed for an hour. It was boring, but comfortable. And in the monotony of the bed, she found more entertainment than in the darkness of her cell as she inspected the delicate features of the Moonlight fairy’s wing, with some minutes having her sights drifting to the calm visage of the sleeping fae.
The sudden mood changes of the fairy amused the chimera. Yet as she inspected that peaceful expression, she couldn’t help herself but also be soothed. It’s as if I’m with her the hunt and survival don’t matter anymore.
And that was true.
In a community large enough like this one, people didn’t survive but live. There wasn’t any struggle for one’s life, so they could afford to just exist. It was a weird concept to the chimera, but fortunately, it was one she could understand and get behind.
As the sun rays coming from the skylight intensified, the face of the fairy contorted in discomfort, and after a few seconds of drowsy mumbling, she woke up.
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“Good morning,” Alta whispered beside her. And she was naked.
“Eep!” Icasondra backpedaled in surprise, blankets on hand, and almost falling from the mattress.
The sudden greeting shook her from her stupor, and she recalled the night before. That’s right, she insisted on sleeping au nature because it was hot. But that didn’t nullify the heart attack she had gotten when she saw the naked fairy laying on her bed and directly looking at her.
“You need to wear clothes to sleep.” The fairy added, covering herself with the blanket even though she was wearing her nightgown.
“I have always slept naked; you are the one who is forcing your traditions into me.”
“It’s not traditions, it's about decency!” She instantly responded, but then noticed something in the chimera’s tone she had failed to see before. Was that sarcasm?
Alta, laying bare naked on the bed in a comfortable position, looked at her amused. To which Icasondra responded by throwing the blanket at her.
“You are going to have some decency in my house!” The fairy stood up and stormed into the dressing room.
By the time she came out, Alta had already donned her dress, but that ultimately led Icasondra to realize something.
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“You are wearing the undergarments from yesterday, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” The Blossomflame fairy responded with her characteristic neutral tone. “Shouldn’t I? I can remove them if it’s wrong.” Then she smiled. “Or indecent.”
“No!” The Moonlight fairy shouted as Alta’s hand moved to her legs. “It’s not wrong nor indecent. It’s just dirty. Undergarments are meant to be changed every day.”
“And how I’m supposed to do that?” Alta asked. “I only have the ones I’m wearing.”
“I know, it’s my fault. I should have thought about that before.” Icasondra sighed and approached the stairs. “After we have breakfast, we are going to go to Aecansomdrys’ and buy you some spare undergarments plus any premade dresses she may have. You never know when you may need a change of clothing.”
“Understood.” And the chimera followed her to the living room.
Icasondra heard Alta seating on one of the stools as she went for the kitchen. Alright. She told herself. Today we are going to have a true breakfast. Yesterday she had been lacking ingredients, but after their trip to the market, her pantry was now overflowing.
She began by cutting two sizeable oranges and making juice with them. The little fairy wasn’t precisely strong, but squeezing fruits was a task more of skill than strength. When she finished with most of the oranges, she left them to rest on the squeezer, drops of juice still coming down, and went to the next task. Icasondra picked a few loaves of bread, jam, and even butter from the pantry. She could have made sandwiches or spread the bread already but decided it was better for Alta to try to do it herself.
Not even five minutes and she went back to the living room with a tray full of a myriad of fruit jams, several loaves of bread, butter, and two glasses of orange juice.
“Do you want me to show you how these are eaten?” Icasondra asked after sitting down and pointed at the tray with a spreading knife in hand.
Alta simply nodded in response.
“Okay,” Icasondra grabbed a loaf, “so this are the jams and this one is the butter.” She pointed at the colorful tars and then a ceramic pot. “I recommend the jams better, especially the blueberry one, but feel free to try the butter. Anyways, with a knife like these ones you spread the contents unto the bread.”
The fairy did as explained, grabbing a scoop of blueberry jam and then spreading it over the loaf of bread.
“Simple as that.” She added. “There’s also orange juicy to drink.”
The chimera grabbed a piece of bread and the other spreading knife and selected the strawberry jam. Red, powerful, sweet, and red. She hasn’t picked up because it looks like blood, hasn’t she? Please tell me I’m just overthinking it. Oblivious to the fairy’s conundrum, Alta covered her bread with an unhealthy amount of jam and then took a hearty bite out of it.
“Hmm...” The Blossomflame fairy tasted it without haste, slowly indulging in the savor.
“How does it taste?” The Moonlight fairy asked with a fluttering of her wings.
“Goosh.” Alta tried to speak but her filled mouth presented difficulties to her.
“Eat first. Talk later.” Icasondra recommended.
The chimera viciously chomped the bread and then downed the contents. “I said, good.”
“Oh, I understood you.” The fairy clarified. “But it’s dangerous to talk with your mouth full, you could choke on your food.”
“I doubt it,” Alta added, only then to shove the rest of the bread into her mouth.
Why do I even worry?
“Anyways, let’s finish breakfast, then we can visit Aecansomdrys.”
Alta ended up having one of each jam and the butter, but none seemed to satisfy her as much as the strawberry one.
When it was time to leave home, the two fairies descended together to the ground. Whilst the Blossomflame fairy was mostly incapable of flight, she was able to glide down without problems. Albeit needing an unnecessary amount of flapping to keep herself from eating the ground.
“I hate flying.” The chimera snickered as they made their way to the tailor.
“You are just sour that you are unable to fly since the very beginning,” Icasondra said as she flew on top of her, looking at Alta from her position of power, moving at the same speed as her walking speed. “Even baby fairies need to learn to fly, and to my knowledge, you are two days old.”
“I’m far older than you.” Alta disregarded. “Even if my time as a fairy has been short.”
“Oh, well. You’ll learn!” Icasondra cheered her on. Will? Why do I talk as if I want to still be with her? Wasn’t I a hostage, the only one who could help the village?
The internal dilemma of the Moonlight fairy was cut short as they made their way into the Losttime fairy’s shop. Surprisingly, there was another customer this early in the morning. It was a female fairy with grey translucid butterfly wings. A Stillwater fairy. Icasondra recognized her, it was impossible not to in this small village.”
“Oh, hi Icasondra, hi Alta!” Aecansomdrys saluted with her hands covered in threads and measuring tape. “I’m a bit occupied right now, you can sit down over there or come back later.”
“I think we’ll choose the latter.” Icasondra smiled at her friend. “We were summoned yesterday to meet the elder.”
“Oh, good luck with Flrynwydl then. Salute her for me!”
“Will do!” And before Icasondra finished speaking, the tailor grabbed the arm of the Stillwater fairy and guided her into the dressing room. The kidnapped fairy had a pinkish tone in her expression.
Icasondra sighed, ignoring whatever her friend might do at these hours of the day.
“So much for buying you spare clothes.” She told Alta, who remained as inexpressive as always. “Well... Do we go to see what Flrynwydl wanted?”
“Alright.” The Blossomflame nodded, her wings fluttering at the same time like a true fairy.