“Who are you?”

I’m Niu.

“Who are you?”

I said I’m Niu. Can’t you hear me?

Well, of course they couldn’t. Nothing but empty air came out of her mouth. Her words were crystal-clear in her mind, yet invisible smoke on the outside. Speaking was just as worthless as she was.

No, I’m not. I’m not!

Wasn’t she, though? She couldn’t do anything in this unknown world by herself. The dark tentacles sneered at her. Ridiculed her. Because she was nothing—nothing at all. A powerless girl, just another defect.

I-I’m not!

She had to shout this again and again. Otherwise, they wouldn’t understand. Otherwise she would be useless, worthless. And she couldn’t allow that, no matter what. She couldn’t allow those writhing tentacles to grab hold of her heart like that.

I’m Niu…

Then the tentacles tore her toAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

“…ah?!”

Niu awoke with a start. The tentacles grabbed her inside absolute darkness—no, it was simply that way around her naturally. They were sleeping inside a cavern, after all. Although it wasn’t completely dark with the small sources of light all around.

Niu also realized that she hadn’t been the one to raise a shriek. It was actually Shaya who lay near her, with a large shape looming nearby, a dark menace.

“What’s going…?” mumbled Gen’s voice, apparently woken up as well.

“I am sorry,” uttered the large figure standing there, “I did not mean, to wake you.”

With her heart still beating rapidly from both nightmare and reality, Niu finally realized that it was TriX standing there. His body still seemed just as large and his face was still covered by the old cloak covering his bulky frame.

“I-I’m sorry for waking you all up…” Shaya apologized as well.

“What time is it?” groaned Roah, rubbing his eyes.

“It should be around, 1 o’clock,” TriX replied.

So it was night time already—useful to know in this constant darkness. Judging by her heavy eyelids and body, Niu concluded that they hadn’t been sleeping for very long. It would probably take some time to adjust to the time difference, especially if it was just the beginning of night—but actually, was it really?

Roah then mouthed the very question she thought about, “1 o’clock, meaning out of 10? Do you keep time the same way here?”

“Yes,” said TriX, “Day and night are, ten hours each.”

“Huh, so it is exactly like ours. Well, I suppose the channeling cycle is the same,” concluded Gen. It seemed that way from Plainland too, but it was good to know regardless.

“I suppose I will, let you all go back to sleep,” said TriX, turning around.

“No, wait.” Roah stopped him, glaring at the large man. “Why were you here in the first place?”

“To watch you,” he readily admitted, making all of them exchange glances with furrowed brows.

“Didn’t you stand guard outside before…?” asked Shaya.

“Yes. I meant I wanted, to watch you directly.” Since they couldn’t see his face and his voice was monotone it was hard to judge his feelings. “I am sorry if, it offends you.”

“It doesn’t exactly offend us, it’s just…" Gen struggled with his words.

“Very disturbing,” Roah completed the sentence for him with a faint smile. “But never mind that. I have another question for you—" his lone eye almost seemed to glint in the dark. “What are you?”

There was a bout of silence. Once again, they couldn’t tell whether TriX was confused by his question or anything else. But the meaning of Roah’s inquiry was clear.

“I am TriX,” he finally replied.

“That wasn’t my question,” said Roah, a tinge of annoyance sneaking to his voice. “Are you a fairy? Because you sure don’t look like it.”

It took a few more seconds for TriX to answer this time as well. “If by the word fairy you, refer to those like, my partner Seele,” he started, “then the answer is, no—I am not.”

Roah seemed to have expected this answer, but Niu was caught by surprise. Sure, TriX looked plenty different from the others in this land, but Seele didn’t completely fit her perception of fairies in the first place. TriX’s large body and hidden face were also curious, but Niu figured there was a reason for that and that he was just an unusual fairy. However, that was seemingly wrong—TriX had affirmed that he was, in fact, not a fairy. At the same time, he was definitely not like Niu or the rest either, so what did that mean?

“Then what are you, exactly?” asked Gen.

“If I were to put the, term in your language… it would perhaps be, something like a ‘laborer’.” This word by itself was not enough, but his explanation continued. “I am a being created by, humans to conduct work.”

Gen let out a small voice and even Roah looked bewildered. Niu blinked in confusion, not quite understanding the meaning of his words.

“What do you mean by created? Surely you can’t mean that you’re artificial?” mumbled the still-shocked Roah.

“Unfamiliar word. I was built, and then given life.”

Once again, so much confusion and so many questions sprouted in Niu’s mind that she wanted to write them all down and reached for her notebook—except she didn’t have one. Her hand stopped and her gaze dropped toward the stupid slate she had been given.

“Are you serious…?” asked Shaya dubiously.

In response TriX raised his large hands, grabbed his hood and pulled it back. He finally revealed his face—if it could be called a face. Shaya gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. Things just got more and more shocking.

It did resemble the shape of a head, just like TriX’s entire body was similar to a (large) human, but that was where the similarities ended. Perhaps the scarce light was also to blame, but he seemed to have nothing you would expect of a face. No eyes, no ears, no nose and no mouth. A few holes were located in various areas, but there was another distinctive feature that set him apart from a mere statue—a geometric pattern was inscribed on the surface, faintly glowing.

“An icon,” mumbled Roah in understanding and shock.

Niu had seen such a complicated icon only during their theoretical lessons. She was even more surprised, however, to realize that she understood parts of the formula, though most of it was completely foreign to her as well. Light, movement, heat…? There seemed to be many channels in use here.

“I don’t really understand this sort of thing,” said Shaya, “but this is… something very complex, right?”

“Yeah. You’ve seen our lamps before… if what he says is true, then it’s much more amazing than that,” Gen explained to her. He then turned to TriX. “How does it work, exactly? I’ve never heard of anything like that. Is your whole body operated like that?”

TriX’s response was once again unexpected. “I do not know.”

“You… don’t know?” Gen asked, blinking. TriX seemed unsure how to respond to this, merely nodding. But Gen was still unconvinced.

“Do you know how your body works?” Roah asked him back.

“Well… sorta?”

But Niu shook her head. Understanding exactly how humans “worked”—soul, mind and body—was unthinkable. At the very least, they only learned very basic physiology at school. However, she couldn’t really explain that to Gen right now. She bit her lips hard.

“Not really,” said Roah. “For most things, you operate on instinct and things you became used to. Can you give me a detailed explanation of how your organs or muscles work? What makes you breath, how you convert food to energy? No, you can’t.”

“…Hmm, sure.” Gen seemed to concede this point.

“I am sorry,” TriX repeated for some reason.

“What are you made of, anyhow? Surely that’s not flesh. When the… other laborer carried us their body felt really hard, but I didn’t realize why until just now."

“There is a certain plant,” TriX explained, “that grows what, they use to make us. Shamra. If I were to translate, to your language… perhaps it would be, fungus metal.”

“Fungus metal?” Gen echoed the term. “Err… like a mushroom?”

Roah added, “There does seem to be plenty of unique flora on this world.” Like the glowing mushrooms and flowers, probably. “Hmm, so does that mean…” the last part broke into a mumble as he suddenly stood up from the bedroll. With everyone watching him in confusion, he approached TriX—and threw a punch.

“R-Roah?!” Gen yelped, half-rising. TriX had immediately moved his hands to stop him, causing Roah to hit them.

Roah shook his hand, grimacing. “Yeah, that's some hard material… since his body moves so well, I just wondered how it works.”

“Are you fine?” asked TriX. He was probably surprised as well but his voice was as monotonous as ever—this, too, was perhaps due to being an artificial being.

“Yes,” Roah replied curtly, turning back around. His testing had apparently been concluded with just this.

“You should go back to sleep,” suggested TriX, turning around. “I am sorry, for waking you up.” He left them no chance for any retort as he simply left.

“There’s so much we still don’t know yet, huh?” Gen mused aloud. A completely new world, completely new experiences and completely new beings… it was all overwhelming.

For Niu, it was overwhelming for another reason as well. She reached for her slate and chalk, but after a few seconds of holding them, she knew she couldn’t do it. Not right now. Not here in this condition, with these people, and with these materials.

“Niu? Is everything alright?” asked her Shaya. Niu twitched; she didn’t think anyone had been watching her. She simply turned her body and wore a tired smile, nodding. I'm just tired, she indicated by putting her hands together and leaning her cheek on them.

“Right… good night again,” Shaya greeted and Niu nodded again, turning around.

“Good night,” mumbled Gen, too. Roah said nothing.

Niu could feel something simmering inside her. It was even more obvious with her eyes closed and with the surroundings silent.

So much has happened during these last 20 hours. A few nice things, too, but mostly bad, to put it lightly. Her friends arguing during their hangout in town. Her running away and getting attacked by a monster. Her friends rescuing her, but all of them getting whisked off to another world. Being taken by the fairies here… It was too much to process, and perhaps that fact alone allowed her to not panic, but how long would that hold?

She could already feel the cracks, but she couldn’t cry right now. She simply had to grit her teeth. She had to control herself like always.

Niu somehow fell asleep at some point.

The next time she woke up naturally. Whether it was morning or not, she couldn’t tell, but she could see the others were already up and about.

Taking a deep breath, she formed a smile and, catching Gen’s attention, waved at him.

“Good morning,” he replied with a somewhat tired smile of his own, causing Shaya and Roah who seemed to be sitting silently to turn toward her as well. Niu tilted her head and spun her fingers. What time is it?

“We don’t know, but it’s apparently daytime,” Roah replied instead. “The fairies outside started moving, you see. A guard or two also peeked inside but couldn’t speak with us.”

“Yeah, I wonder where TriX and Seele are,” said Gen.

This turned out to be great timing, as a familiar voice called out to them. “Good morning!”

Just like she did yesterday, Seele came into the cavern followed by food. As far as Niu could see these were pretty much the same dishes they’d been given out before. Well, they couldn’t really complain about it repeating since this was their only source of food. It was also relatively diverse anyway.

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“How are you all feeling?” Seele asked while the plates were being set on the ground.

“Fine, I think,” Gen replied, looking around as if seeking the others’ approval.

“We have food and a place to sleep; that’s good enough for now,” Roah said dryly.

Seele looked like she didn't know how to reply to that, so she merely smiled. “Well, message from Kalden should probably come soon and then we’ll know what to do with you.”

Kalden—if Niu remembered correctly it was the fairies’ capital city. For them it was just as foreign as any other place on Fairland, but would that place help them get back home? Or at least get a better grasp on their situation?

“Your capital… is it fine, by the way?” Roah suddenly asked. “You know, with the attack and all that.”

Seele momentarily widened her eyes in surprise. “Oh, no worry! Even here we were fine… and at Kalden we have the strongest person!”

As expected from their capital. Niu wasn’t sure whether she should feel impressed that they had managed to defeat one monster in utter desperation or else find it an embarrassing struggle.

“The strongest person, huh?” asked Gen with a smile. “So you have a Molton too?”

“A… what?” Seele asked in confusion, but Gen shook his head.

“Haha, never mind.” He resumed eating the mushroom stew he was holding. “By the way, umm… it might be rude of me to ask this, after everything you’ve done for us…”

“Yes?”

“You’ve given us some good food, to be sure, but what about some meat?”

Niu noticed it as well; despite the large variety of dishes none of them had meat, or at least not that they could recognize. Niu herself was too poor to eat meat regularly, but it could be a nice addition.

Seele’s smile vanished. For some reason she looked disturbed. “What do you mean?”

“I-I’m sorry if it’s asking for too much, but… or wait, maybe you don’t understand the meaning of that word?" Gen suddenly realized. “Umm, I’m speaking about, well, dead animals like cows and—”

“…Oh!” Seele sighed in apparent relief. “I thought you meant people… y-you faeries don’t eat each other, right?” she furrowed her brows, glancing between them.

“Wha—of course not,” Gen hurriedly answered.

“Well, I heard that certain tribes in the north used to—” started Roah.

“Please don’t talk about stuff like that while we’re eating,” Shaya stopped him with a shrill voice.

Seele looked at them. “Ah… so dead animals, you say? I don’t know what a cow is, but I heard stories about faeries eating things that were living…”

“Stories?” Gen repeated, blinking. “Wait, what do you mean?”

Seele smiled apologetically. “We don’t have anything like that here,” she explained.

Niu would have thought that by now she’d be used to the constant surprises of Fairland, but she really wasn’t. The fairies truly led completely different lives. At the same time, she also had the feeling that this wasn’t going to be the last time she felt this way.

“No animals at all…?” mumbled Roah, furrowing his brows, “what about birds? Insects? Fish?”

“I don’t know what those are,” said Seele, “but the only ones living here are us humans and robots.” An unfamiliar word snuck at the end there.

“Robots… is that like TriX?" asked Roah.

“Oh, I didn’t explained? He’s—”

“Yeah, he told us,” Gen interjected. “He called it a ‘laborer’, though.”

“Laborer, hmm… a bit long but sounds nice,” Seele concluded, lightly nodding. “We can use that.”

Shaya returned to the previous topic. “So there really aren’t any other animals? It’s weird, but I guess it makes sense. We haven’t seen anything so far after all.”

Thinking about it, Niu recalled how utterly quiet and still the forest seemed to be when they’d all woken up there. Since she walked to and from town every day, she grew used to the sounds of nature, but there really was nothing like that here. Not even insects or burrowing animals in these caverns. No other animals or living beings… it felt somewhat lonely.

“Well, now we also have faeries here!” Seele said with a wide grin.

“And there were those monsters, too,” Roah reminded them. Seele’s smile immediately vanished and her expression darkened. “Have they appeared again, by the way?”

“Ah, no. Not here, at least. Well… I’m sorry there’s no meat, but you’ve got some really good stuff there, so eat! Goodbye for now!”

“…Now look what you’ve done, you scared her away,” grumbled Gen once Seele was gone out of sight.

The other boy shrugged. “I was just confirming our safety here. Besides, Seele seems to be always busy anyway.”

Finally, after finishing their breakfast—and after Niu stuffing herself full perhaps more than she’d ever had—they were left alone in the darkness yet again.

Overall, the four of them somehow started adjusting to their new life. It was hard to tell the time inside the caverns and they were too anxious about their future to speak seriously about it, so they mostly sank into their own private thoughts or else chatted about completely trivial things such as the food they were served.

Niu’s leg was recovering well. She could already walk by herself. It was still somewhat uncomfortable but there was no longer any sharp pain, so it was a real improvement. At least there was one positive thing right now. Roah was also recovering nicely from his wounds.

From time to time all sorts of fairies (and the occasional laborer) would come and check their situation, though none engaged them in conversation. This left them further in isolation and put a strain on their already weakened mental state, but it also made Seele’s presence all the more precious every time she appeared.

And so she finally came to visit them again come noon.

“Sorry, no news yet,” she immediately apologized as their meals were brought again. At first these seemed luxurious and varied, but now the novelty was starting to wear off and Niu realized that most likely, all of it was grown inside these caves. Even if it was still good food.

Taking advantage of Seele’s presence, Niu beckoned her and showed her what she wrote on the slate beforehand.

Is there perhaps some place here we can use to bathe?

This question had been suggested by Niu herself. Well, back in Plainland she only went to the town’s bathhouse rarely, but still endeavored to keep clean as much as possible. The first days were overwhelming and stressful, but by now they desperately needed something like that. They had been given simple clothes to wear in exchange for their sweaty and ripped ones, but Niu’s hair was dry and scruffy so that was uncomfortable too.

“Oh!” Seele exclaimed in her usual surprised and excited manner. “Ah, yes! There is.”

“Oh, good. I miss my daily bath,” said Gen.

“Rich boys,” mumbled Roah disapprovingly in a low voice.

Seele seemed to think of something, for she suddenly widened her eyes and spoke. “Would you want hot water too?” she asked.

“Is that an option?” asked the surprised Shaya.

“Maybe. Faeries can use magic, right?”

Niu frowned; that was yet another unfamiliar word to them. “Magic… do you mean channeling?” Roah surmised.

“Channeling…” Seele tried the new word, seemingly unsure.

“You know, when you use icons to…” Gen drew random lines on the ground.

“Runes!” Seele sounded excited for some reason. “Yes, exactly that!”

“Oh,” said Gen. “So yeah, all of us can… except for Shaya.” At his words the girl averted her gaze, perhaps feeling left out.

“I see… faeries are amazing!” Seele burst. “I actually can’t use magic. Well, many of us can, though.”

“Actually, it’s rare for us,” noted Roah.

“Really? Then you’re even amazinger than I thought! Wow!”

Niu giggled. It was quite comical to see a real fairy of all things getting so excited hearing about their abilities, when by all accounts it should have been the other way around. Well, Niu already figured out that most of the legends were likely exaggerated, though.

“Anyway, I have to go! Enjoy your food!” Just like always, Seele rushed away and disappeared.

Gen sighed. “She’s always like that, huh?” Although it sounded like a complaint, he was smiling as he said this.

“Annoyingly so,” Roah grumbled.

“She’s being very kind to us; don’t be mean,” Shaya said with furrowed brows. Roah made no reply to that.

This time Seele wasn’t gone for long. She returned along with TriX who was holding a few bags. Since they were talking about a bath, perhaps he was carrying some more changes of clothes?

“It's ready,” she announced, sounding pleased with herself. Niu was surprised; she wasn’t expecting it to happen so quickly after just presenting the question. “It’s not too far, so… can you be able to walk, Niu? Or should TriX carry you? Good. Then, let’s go, all of you!” But none of the four moved. "Hmm?"

“Well, umm… fine,” Gen cleared his throat. “You can go first, girls.”

“Thanks,” said Shaya weakly.

But Seele sounded confused. “Why don’t you all go in together?”

Niu felt herself flush. Communal bathing wasn’t unheard of, but at least in Hayden, and especially at their ages, it was always divided by gender. The very thought was way too embarrassing.

“Errm…” Gen stammered, embarrassed as well, “y-you know, at least for us… usually we…”

“I don’t know about your society, but usually boys and girls don’t bathe together,” Roah coolly explained. This explanation, however, didn’t satisfy Seele at all: instead, she hit them with yet another astonishing question.

“What are boys and girls?”

At this point, perhaps Niu should have started to expect the unexpected. And thinking back, there were some signs of this before, as slight as they were. They had already discussed the apparent androgyny of the fairies. Now it all made sense.

Even so it was a great shock. Sure, their languages were different, there were physical differences, there was the whole thing about there being no animals, but this… this was something else entirely.

Where could they even start? The three all tried explaining it in their own words but even Roah was having difficulties. Perhaps it was a bit like explaining color to a blind person, and there was also some embarrassment involved with it all. Seele was patient, however, and very curious.

“So basically, there are boys and girls,” Gen somehow concluded, folding his arms. “As for, err, more concrete differences… I guess boys are strong and girls are pretty?”

“Aren’t you being a bit too simplistic?” Shaya said in a displeased tone and with a raised brow. “There’s the Queen, for example.” Niu nodded as well.

“Yeah, but I was talking about physical strength.” He made a fist.

“There are female knights too,” added Roah. “Well, not many, though.”

Seele pondered this haphazard explanation. “I still don’t really understand. For us, many are strong or pretty. Some are even both, like Aisbroom.”

“Aisbroom?” asked Gen.

“Ah, Aisbroom is the strongest fighter in Kalden!” Seele sounded very pleased while saying this, wearing a wide and bright smile.

“Oh, so like Molton!” Gen sounded just as excited.

Meanwhile Niu was thinking—all of them thought of Seele as female until then, but what about now? Technically, Seele was neither. How should they even refer to Seele—it? Them? Their language was not equipped to handle this sort of situation at all.

“Ah, you said that name before. Is that one your soldiers, then?”

“Yeah, he’s the strongest.”

“Really? I’m sure Aisbroom is stronger, though!”

“What? No way!”

Shaya laughed, which caused them to stop talking. Niu also found herself quite amused in the midst of her ponderings. Seele seemed to be lighthearted and kind, but she never expected them to have a childish argument like that with Gen.

Roah took advantage of this short lull. “Can we get to the point?” He sighed. “If the girls aren’t going, then I’ll go.”

“O-oh, sorry for taking time!” Seele hurriedly apologized.

“It’s fine, he’s just…” Gen mumbled but shook his head. “You girls should go first.” He nodded at Shaya.

Shaya nodded back. “Let’s go.” She looked at Niu and added, “do you need help?” Niu shook her head; the leg still hurt just a little bit but she could probably walk by herself unaided. She only slightly limped toward the exit.

“Don’t worry, it’s not far,” said Seele with a smile, coming along with TriX who was still carrying the bags.

“Thanks,” said Shaya, still somewhat nervous.

They have gone before to a nearby room that was used as a toilet so it wasn’t the first time they actually left their small cavern but this time they went even further. Niu couldn’t really recall their way inside with detail, so now she took this chance to look around her.

As before, flowers and mushrooms decorated the walls, some of them glowing. Soon Niu noticed she could see patterns; flora arranged in certain ways which were not quite letters but not random, either. Were these some sort of directions? She could see Seele glance at the walls from time to time.

Also, they passed next to quite a few fairies, all hurriedly walking around. When they would notice the two girls, most of them stopped to stare and then whispered amongst themselves. This made Niu fairly conscious of herself, so from a certain point she spent the walk with her eyes on the ground.

But just like Seele had said it was not too long of a walk. Soon the pair was led into a small entrance in the ground that expanded to a larger cavern, much wider than their “room”. The glowing mushrooms sent their faint lights on a surface of rippling water. It was an underground pool—whether it was natural or artificial Niu couldn’t tell.

“And now,” mumbled Seele, reaching into one of the bags they were holding, “this.” Seele was holding some sort of rough object hanging from a string. “You can use magic, right Niu?”

She nodded, examining the object that looked like some sort of rock. She soon realized it had symbols engraved on it—icons.

“I, ah… don’t really know how it works, but some use it to make water hot.”

Niu had heard during their lessons about similar contraptions used to produce such things as heat or wind for different uses, but never in the shape of a simple rock. Was it some sort of special mineral, perhaps?

“Can you do it?” whispered Shaya worriedly.

Glaring at the stone from up close, Niu was surprised to find out that she probably could. Even TriX’s icons were just slightly familiar, but this time the icons were mostly standard—just like Seele had explained, the stone’s functions appeared to be the simple act of opening the channel of heat in all directions.

The two worlds had been living apart for so long, with even their languages being different, so was the system of channeling—or magic, as the fairies apparently called it—the only thing to stay constant? Since it was a standardized system it made sense, but still curious. If only she could speak to Mr. Saburn about it…

Unfortunately, Seele had no knowledge of channeling, according to them. Perhaps sometime later Niu could find another fairy for these sorts of inquiries.

“Niu?” Shaya snapped her out of her rumination, upon which Niu nodded in swift succession.

“Great, then enjoy it!” said Seele with a smile. And simply stood there. Watching them.

“U-umm,” Shaya finally spoke, “could you please…” she wasn’t sure how to complete that sentence without sounding rude.

“Oh,” said Seele. “Yes, I mean… I’m sorry. I was just curious about what you told me and… I’m sorry.” Seele wore an abashed smile. “It’s not like we go around without clothes, too.”

Shaya made an awkward giggle. Niu could understand Seele; she herself was also somewhat curious about… this sort of thing about fairies. But there was a time and place for everything.

“Good,” Seele said, lightly nodding, “then I’ll have TriX stand outside. Don’t worry.” And finally they left.

After disrobing and putting their clothing near the bags, the two girls slowly got into the water. Niu, meanwhile, was carrying the heating stone (so she named it in her mind) by its string. It had been a while—well, a couple of days after some very eventful happenings, at any rate—since she’d done any channeling, so she was actually somewhat excited, a fact that surprised even herself.

“Can you handle it?” Shaya asked again. Niu nodded and started focusing. The stone surprisingly floated in the water, so she stabilized it and gazed at the icons.

The goal was to create heat that would spread throughout the pool, keeping the water warm. Upon opening the channel, it should stay open for a while—or so she so understood from the icon’s functions. And if so, she had to be careful to not channel too much heat.

She was hesitating and even Shaya was watching the stone nervously, but soon she could feel the water becoming warmer and warmer. Making sure that the water wasn’t too hot, Niu nodded at her success.

“It’s strange,” Shaya suddenly muttered after they sat back and enjoyed the warm water for a short while. Niu tilted her head as if to say, what is? and Shaya replied, “Well… everything, honestly. But what I meant is being here like this... I can almost forget we’re in some other world and just enjoy it.”

Niu smiled. They’d gone to the public bathhouse a few times before, but she knew it was a tough experience for Shaya. Even now she sank most of her body under the water despite it being relatively dark. And although it was also a bit eerie, the peace and quiet was very relaxing.

“Do you think we’ll…?” Shaya started another question but then shook her head. “No, never mind. Anyway, we shouldn’t keep Gen and Roah waiting for too long.”

Niu nodded. Along with the stone Seele had also brought them what appeared to some sort of soap.

“So, how was it?” asked Shaya when the boys returned.

About an hour passed. The two girls finished their bath so the boys went after them—and now they also finished.

“Fine,” responded Roah.

“Great,” said Gen. “The heating stone was a bit hard to use, though.”

"Really…?" wondered Shaya. Niu had expected it to be somewhat complicated, but she seemed to have gotten the hang of it quite easily. “We had no problem.”

“Figures,” muttered Roah for some reason, narrowing his eye.

“And these clothes are a bit…” grumbled Gen, pinching them with his fingers. The four of them had all been given the same kind—grey working clothes which were quite a bit baggy. Seele and the other fairies were clothed similarly.

“Not like there’s a need for fashion in this darkness,” Roah noted.

“…It's not that,” Gen said, “it’s just a bit… ugh, never mind,” Gen said, making Shaya giggle. “Funny, is it?”

"What,” Shaya hurriedly blurted, “no, I-I just—”

“I know.” He smiled apologetically. “I was just kidding, I’m sorry. Anyway, these clothes are better than nothing.”

Now clean and fresh, Niu also felt her mind was the same—and so it unfortunately meant that the usual worries crept up inside it. She knew she should simply trust the fairies to avoid being crushed by their new reality, but it was far easier said than done. Having limited means of communication also meant she had to mostly rely on other people for pretty much anything.

Some time passed and they started wondering when their next meal would come when it happened.

“Ah! Big new!” a voice echoed from nearby. This exuberant voice announced Seele’s presence. They ran inside the room, short of breath, but smiling. “We’re going!”

“Going?” repeated Gen, wearing a confused expression. “Going where?”

“Don’t tell me that we’re…” started Shaya.

“Kalden!” Seele blurted after catching their breath. “We finally got a message. They said it’s good. We’re all going to Kalden!”

Hidden secrets in the dark

Trapped within the oaken bark