Part I - Summer (Late) - "I stayed by his side." (1/2)

"Did you hear, Nee-chan?"

"Hmm? What's that?"

"They're going to build a maaa-ssive rail system, that stretches all the way from Crystal City, straight into the Elfen Lands! It'll span almost the entire continent!"

"Is that so, Archie?"

The child looked up at his older sister, his eyes sparkling.

"Yeah! And it'll be all crystal powered, too. Do you have any idea how fast the train is gonna be? It'll be like, zooo-oooom! We might even be able to get to Crystal City from here, in a day! A day! Can you imagine? That's so cool, right?"

"It sure does sound cool," the older sister said.

"But they said the tracks will take a long time to finish. I just hope it'll be done by the time I finish school here."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"Um, because I'm going to go to Crystal City Academy? Duh!"

The older sister ruffled the child's hair. "Really? Are you, now? You hate it so much in Lazumere? With Mama and Papa and Elegi-nii?"

The child puffed his cheeks, pouting. "Of course I don't hate Lazumere! But Crystal City is the only place I can go learn how to build crystal machines."

"You really like crystal machines, huh?"

"Yeah! Autowagons, and crystal rails! The only crystal technology we have here is"—the child made a face—"… lights."

"Lights are useful. How else are you going to read at night?"

The child groaned. "Nee-chan, you know I hate reading! It's so bo-ooring!"

The older sister smiled, faintly. The curve of her lips all but imperceptible. Except perhaps to that select privileged few, the child among them, who she let see her.

The actual her, the person behind the avatar. The person behind the priestess of Lazumere.

It wasn't a very big group.

*

"You'll visit me when I go to school in Crystal City, right?"

The older sister lay on the grass, Lazublooms swaying lazily around her in the hidden glade.

"I don't know, Archie. Princess Aerya needs me here."

Archie stood up, placed his hands on his hips. "Nee-chaaan," he pouted. "Times like these, you're supposed to just say, 'Yes, of course I'll visit you'."

The older sister shifted her eyes to meet his. "I don't make promises I can't keep."

The child sighed. "Nee-chan, you're too serious. Sometimes, you need to just say what people want to hear."

"Words should mean something, Archie."

"That's not how people work, Nee-chan!"

The older sister, mock-dismissively: "Hhmph. I don't need lessons on people skills from such a tiny little brat like you."

The child scowled. But then, a mischievous, smug smile crept across his face. "Wait a second. Ohh, I get it. Nee-chan is a big scaredy-cat. She's too afraid to leave her comfort zone of the boonies! The city's so-ooo scary! O-or"—gasping dramatically—"maybe she's afraid of the big, bad crystal train!" The child pressed the back of his hand to his forehead, swooning theatrically. "Oh, no, technology! How terrifying!"

"Oh, you are so annoying, you little gaki! Come here. Come here! Nee-chan's gonna get you!"

"Ahh! Stop! Stop!" cried the child, being tickled by his older sister.

The two of them collapsed to the ground, laughing together, there in their secret place.

*

"'Pu-nyu~','Pu-nyu~' …"

"Zzz … Mmrm? Wha—?"

"'Pu-nyu~','Pu-nyu~' …"

"What—Archie, what are you doing?"

"Poking Nee-chan's cheeks. 'Pu-nyu~','Pu-nyu~' …"

"Stop that. Stop that. I was having such a nice nap, too …"

"'Pu-nyu~','Pu-'—"

"Stop. Archie, that's really rude. Don't do that. Nee-chan would never do that to anybody."

"Okay," giggled the child. "Sorry, Nee-chan."

The older sister couldn't help but smile. "You little gaki, you …"

*

"When I get to Crystal City Academy, I'm going to fall in love."

The older sister choked on her barley tea. "You … are way too young to be thinking about that kind of stuff."

But the child was undeterred. "I'm going to meet someone in Crystal City, and fall in love. Maybe even with a human! I think that'd be neat. And the two of us can go see—oh, oh! Did you know, in Crystal City, they have parks high up in the air? Some of them even have cherry blossoms in the spring! Imagine that. I'm going to fall in love with a human, and we're going to visit the cherry blossoms. And when it's winter, maybe we'll go to the ice rink—they have this ice rink, Nee-chan, in the central plaza, where the Mother Crystal is! And there are all these crystal lights everywhere, and snow, and a ferris wheel, and I'm gonna take my human to a nice restaurant, we're going to have a romantic, candlelit meal, and then it'll snow, and then we'll kiss in front of the Mother Crystal! Yeah! That would be so neat."

The older sister laughed. "You're so weird, Archie. All the other boys your age are thinking about hydro-repeaters, and catching bugs. You're talking about going to school and falling in love."

"It's just—There's so much I want to see in Crystal City, Nee-chan! Did you know … there's even a really scary place called Underground, where … naughty things happen? I think I even wanna see that, too …"

"Okay, now you're definitely too young for this conversation. No more! Drink your barley tea."

The child giggled, and then sipped on his tea. "What kind of person do you want to date, Nee-chan?"

The older sister turned red. "The priestess of Lazumere has no time for such frivolity."

The child smiled, smugly. "Ehh-hh? Is Nee-chan embarrassed? Ha ha ha! Maybe next time I'll ask you about this kind of stuff while we're in the Reliquary, in front of all the other priestesses!"

The older sister turned away. "Archie, stop. You better not dare do that," she warned.

But despite the harsh tone she used, she couldn't help but smile a little.

*

"Look, Nee-chan. Elegi-nii lent me some of his books."

"I can see that. … But you hate reading."

"Well, duh. But what else am I going to do, in bed all day?"

The older sister knelt by the child's futon, changing the damp towel on his forehead.

"You won't be stuck in bed forever, Archie. I've been working hard at the Reliquary, too. Everyone's praying for you to get better. Princess Aerya will make you better. And Yuka-nee's family knows an apothecary in the Elfen Kingdom, we're going to get you the best—…"

But the child was already drifting back to sleep.