The Fourth Glyffe

"What a lovely little girl." Silvia said, smiling.

"Yeah she was really kind." I followed up. She was an extremely sweet girl and was definitely fun to be around - I hoped I'd see her again sometime soon.

"Reno," Glyffe said while pausing slightly, "When did you learn how to cast chantless?" He continued rubbing his chin.

Ah yes, that. "Well," I hesitated. "Honestly, I'm not really sure. It just sort of… happened naturally."

Silvia's eyes lit up. Glyffe's expression shifted until it became one of amusement. I knew that look anywhere.

"Oh, so you're telling me you managed to improve on the spot randomly?" I knew where he was going with this. "Are you sure it's not because you wanted to look cool for Magia?" He laughed. Yep - I had a feeling Glyffe was going to take it there.

Instead of her usual reprimanding of Glyffe, Silvia looked towards me with expectation, her meaning clear. Seriously you two…

"I uhm," I didn't know how to respond. "I wanted to make a good first impression on my first friend!" Phew, nice save Reno!

"Well you definitely impressed us Reno, you're improving at a frightening rate honestly." Silvia said. Truthfully, I had that encounter with Cindy to thank for that. She put me in a rough situation, but in turn, I managed to get something out of it—so it wasn't all bad.

"Next up should be, Bridges', right?" I asked pensively. I'd been keeping track better after forgetting our previous destination.

"Right. It's a fairly fashionable two story building, you can't miss it." Silvia said softly.

Before, we were going across from the fountain but Bridges' clothing store (or Bridges' for short) was on the same side as Clevio's bookstore so we weren't passing by the fountain this time. Since the central area was quite compact, I could see the building almost as soon as I left Clevio's bookstore - not that I had recognised it though.

"Do you remember how I told you there was someone I wanted you to meet Reno?" Silvia said. Oh, yeah, she did mention something like that didn't she.

"Yeah I remember. Zecko and Relentia, right?" I asked "You both said I need to treat them like my own Uncle and Aunt, right?" They exchanged glances.

"Yes we did say that but," Glyffe stopped, "But they're not the only people we'll introduce you to today okay? So just keep that in mind." Silvia picked up where Glyffe left off, finishing the rest of his sentence.

"Okay" I replied. I wondered if it was another relative - this time of Silvia's. On the off chance it wasn't though I didn't want to annoy Glyffe by making another relative joke. "Is that it there?" I asked pointing to a tall building.

The exterior was clean and the window display had dolls wearing clothes like back on earth. However, unlike on Earth, it looked like these dolls had been made with earth magic. In between the two floors was a sign saying 'Bridges' clothing store'. And below that was a hanging sign, which read 'Open'. On the floor of the storefront was a purple patch of Melodia.

"Yeah that's it." Glyffe confirmed. "Surely we don't have to knock again right?" I said jokingly. I didn't have the patience to go through what we did at Clevio's bookstore all over again.

"Ha - definitely not." Glyffe spoke up. "We can just walk in this time." Silvia said. And so - we did just that. First Glyffe stepped onto the Melodia patch - ensuring he made a loud enough ruckus before we came in. When we did, a little bell chime rang from above us.

"Welcome to Bridges' clothing store!" A nice sounding feminine voice echoed. Clearly she'd said that to every customer who walked in and yet she spoke with no hint of routine - like she was actually happy to see us.

I looked around at the fairly organised shop around us. Sunvine curtains adorned the windows, curling toward the wall as they followed the sun. Somehow, they'd managed to make them work aesthetically.

Just in front of the windows stood a row of dolls of all shapes and sizes. Some looked like children, others were adult-sized, and a few resembled animals like cats and dogs. Regardless of the model though, they were all dressed appropriately and quite fashionably. As expected of a clothing store.

As a customer approached the front they'd see more and more clothing racks with countless modern designs and unique styles. They were split up into four sections. Towards the front were the clothing for children - girls on the right and boys on the left. Then towards the back were the clothing for adults - women on the right and men on the left. It was all neatly organised in a strangely artistic way.

At the back of the store were two rooms - likely for trying on clothes - and a staircase to the second floor. Once you arrived at the till you'd see a beautiful mature lady with brown hair and black eyes. She was grinning cheerfully until she'd spotted our cohort, particularly the lady in the middle of our group - Silvia. Her eyes widened and her smile shifted from politeness to genuine happiness.

"Here it comes." Glyffe muttered under his breath. Here it comes? Here what comes?

"Silvia!" She cried out. The young lady flew over the counter safely and glided towards Silvia. She was a mature woman whose appearance rivalled even that of Silvia's. She held both of her hands out wide.

Chantless wind magic? She's seriously using wind magic for this? I couldn't help but think. Eventually, they collided.

"Waaah, Silvia I missed you so much!" The shop lady cried, her face a mix of crying and gladness.

Silvia smiled gratefully. "I missed you too Relly."

"Do you two really have to do that every time you see each other again?" Glyffe said, a hand covering his face. Relentia's face instantly turned hostile - protective even.

"Oh. So you're here too, cry-baby." Glyffe's face turned sour almost instantly. This lady really didn't pull her punches. "Fine since you're here I'll go call him—wait here." She flew back to the till where she levitated up the stairs.

"Uhm," I stuttered. "What just happened?"

"Hahaha—I was wondering the same thing when I first met Relentia!"

"Glyffe!"

He whistled innocently in response. "That's Silvia's best friend, Relentia Bridges." Right, I got that but…

"Is she really your age—she seems a bit, you know…" I started, but I didn't quite know how to finish the sentence with the way Silvia was looking at me. Glyffe was making an X signal from behind Silvia's back. He was signalling me to wait. "She seems uhm," I looked to Glyffe who was now signalling something I interpreted as "—energetic."

Glyffe breathed a sigh of relief - he wiped the sweat off his brow. Looked like that was the right choice. I thought he was trying to stop me from saying childish—which was what I was originally going to say.

"Hm, are you saying I'm not energetic, Reno?" Silvia pouted.

Ah. "That's not what I'm saying at all just that you're slightly less energetic than Relentia."

Silvia chuckled. "I'm just kidding, it is true, Relentia has always been extremely energetic and I don't think that'll ever stop. Not now." Silvia looked reminiscent.

A question I was struggling to suppress came bursting out. "Why is she flying everywhere?" I continued "surely that's unsafe—especially in a shop environment." I commented again.

Glyffe paused rubbing his chin. "You needn't worry about that Reno, when it comes to wind magic there's no one we know who's more capable." Glyffe said with a sigh.

"Why do you seem disappointed about that?" I commented.

Glyffe's eyes widened as Silvia glared at him "Uh, what do you mean, aha—" he laughed nervously.

Silvia harrumphed. "Glyffe's right. When it comes to wind magic, if Relentia says she's second then there wouldn't be anyone who'd dare to claim first. Her nickname at the academy was 'The Wind Spirit's Child'."

My eyes lit up—now that was cool.

"Zecko, we have visitors!" A voice cried from the staircase.

"I know, you've said. Ten times." A deep voice spoke from even higher on the staircase.

Glyffe?

I looked up at Glyffe but he hadn't said a thing. The cadence of his voice sounded exactly like Glyffe's but it wasn't quite the same. Down the stairs came a lady jumping, no, levitating up and down while holding onto the arm of a man.

The man had brown hair and hazel eyes. His physique filled out his white shirt and brown pants. Whether they planned it or not, he was the colour opposite of Glyffe.

Judging by facial features alone—like his nose and mouth—he could have passed for Glyffe's twin. Upon closer inspection, however, their overall appearance didn't quite resemble that of siblings. Anyone who didn't see Glyffe regularly could've easily mistaken the two.

"Visitors you said?" Zecko spoke. "Can you still consider them visitors? These are family, no?" He said as he came down the stairs - his hair still ruffled. He was clearly asleep just now.

Relentia paused, finally not floating up and down anymore before she began smiling jokingly. "You're right. Silvia is family." Zecko visibly twitched at her words. She hadn't said it, but the indirect jab at Glyffe was evident

"Ai ya." Zecko scratched his neck - the exact way Glyffe did. Are these two really not twins?

"It's been too long." Glyffe smiled. "Sure has." He replied. Relentia finally split off from Zecko's arm floating over to Silvia as Glyffe walked forwards.

Clasp! A clean handshake that told me they'd known each other for years.

"Hmm." Zecko paused after analysing the room. "You said we had two really important visitors Relentia?" Relentia turned confused, clearly wondering why he was asking that question. "Why yes I did—why do you ask?"

"Then who's this little guy?" His voice and his gestures were pointing towards a small boy with blonde hair who was stood right beside Silvia.

"Little guy..? Ah—Aaaahhh!" She screamed as floated backwards slightly. She bowed her head "I'm so sorry I didn't even notice." Zecko facepalmed and Silvia's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, while Glyffe laughed heartily.

"He's so cute! His hair looks so fluffy! Wait don't tell me this is!" She looked back up at Silvia then to Glyffe then to Silvia then to Glyffe. Then she floated to Glyffe looked him up and down and then back to me and looked me up and down. She was whizzing between us at unnatural speeds.

"How could this be—" she paused. "Honey, now there's four Glyffe's." She sighed, looking incredibly deflated, the wind blowing out of her by the second. Glyffe started laughing even harder.

Zecko's expression hardened. "I told you before. It's Glyffe that looks like me—not the other way around." "Sure sure." She waved him off. Silvia coughed loudly, "I'd say Reno takes more after me." She said with a hint of pride.

Relentia paused, "Now that I'm taking a closer look. The eyes." She floated back over, looking me deep in the eyes. "Those big blue eyes do remind me of you. Of when we first met."

"You said, four Glyffe's? Who is the fourth?" I spoke for the first time, my words garnering everyone's attention. My words made Relentia's eyes light up.

"I have just the idea!" The two ladies looked at each other in sync. I had a bad feeling about this. "Zecko!" Relentia said excitedly. "I'm already on it." He'd started to move as soon as he saw Relentia's reaction to my words.

So is no one going to answer my question?

I wondered. "Don't worry they won't be long." She said, her voice brimming with excitement. Her cheerfulness was making me slightly anxious.

Just what is this lady planning? As I waited I heard footsteps rushing down the stairs. "Wait—"

A tiny figure rushed down the stairs in a blur. He was slightly taller than me and his hair was brown too with brown eyes. His smile was totally his mothers and his liveliness too, but the rest of his features echoed those of his father's.

"Mom it's time to play outside right!" He shouted happily across the room. I looked up at Relentia, "Oh so this is what you meant."

She laughed in response. "Yup."

She turned towards the other child, "Come here, let me introduce you to Aunty Silvia's son, this is—" her voice cut out as she hesitated. Well this is awkward - she didn't know my name.

Her face went pale as her son got closer.

"Ahem, I think it's best if I introduce my son and you introduce yours." Silvia said - offering her a lifeline.

"W-well of course! I was just about to say that would be more fitting too!"

Zecko facepalmed from the bottom of the stairs where the boy had darted from. Those mannerisms - yeah, I can see the resemblance.

"This is my son, Reno Frostworth. He's just turned 6 very recently." So much attention… "Nice to meet you all!" I said as friendly as I could manage. The whole room clapped - I guess it's customary to clap here after a self-introduction.

"Frostworth? Not Proxia?" Relentia said. The air in the room stilled as Glyffe narrowed his eyes. Uh-oh. Silvia coughed, "Sorry I must've stuttered. This is my son, Reno Frostworth." Silvia said with a smile.

Relentia paused as if she was trying to process what just happened when Zecko nudged her. "Go on, introduce him." he smiled. Looked like Zecko could read the room better than Relentia, either that or he knew more about Glyffe's past than Relentia. Regardless, thanks to him we didn't dwell on that topic.

"This is my son, Jamie Bridges. He turned six a few months ago so he's a bit older than Reno." Glyffe's eyes stayed narrowed - I'd seen that look in his eyes - he made that face when he wanted to be petty.

It wasn't just me who had seen that look before though—both Zecko and Silvia looked at Glyffe. It was a small idiosyncrasy but we all caught it. Glyffe opened his mouth, but when he noticed their gazes he decided to not say anything. And that was probably for the best.

"Jamie, Reno, make sure to get along." Silvia said, breaking some of the invisible tension. I looked over at the kid in front of me—would it really be that easy to just get along?

"Okay!" The kid replied in high spirits walking up to me and then giving me a big hug - like Relentia had done earlier. I returned the hug.

"Aww they're so cute." The two ladies said as they watched us. "We've got the perfect friendship bonding activity for you both. Today you'll both be our fashion models!" Their eyes sparkled.

So that's why I had this bad feeling. From how co-ordinated they were, it was as if they'd planned this years ago—before we were even born.

"Not again." Jamie muttered. Being the son of clothing store owners must be tough work - he must've had to try on thousands of clothes already.

I looked up at Glyffe for assistance. We made eye contact and then he ignored me by continuing to talk to Zecko. To my right Jamie had done the same thing only to be brushed off by Zecko too. These two… well I guess there's no escaping this dress-up show then.

"Can I please play out, mom…" Jamie said in a last ditch attempt.

"No." Relentia smiled sweetly.

"What should we have them try on first?" Silvia asked.

First? Here we go.

"We can't go wrong with matching outfits, right? Follow us boys." And so we did.

"How about that?" "Oh that's nice but what about this?" "Yeah but it doesn't match with this does it?" "You're right, as long as we get the colours matching it should be fine though right?"

As we were walking around the shop, Relentia flipped the sign hanging on the shop door so it now read 'Closed'.

I looked over at Jamie. "Looks like we're gonna be here a long time."

He sighed. "Yeah, last time something like this happened it lasted seven hours."

"Seven hours!?" I flinched. What the hell?

"Pfft. I'm kidding" Jamie laughed sneakily. "You actually fell for that? Haha."

This cheeky brat.

"You got me - very funny." Jamie kept laughing until he got tired then he turned serious. "Reno, what do you think about… running away?"

"What?" What is wrong with kids these days.

"You know—to play out. You like playing outside, right?" He asked curiously.

Oh so that's what he meant. "I've never played outside before." At least not in this world and very little in my old world. "Huh? Really?" He said, baffled. I nodded.

"Wow, so we definitely need to run away then." He said with resolve this time. I didn't like the way he was phrasing this.

"No no no," I said "We can't run."

"Why not?" He asked confused, his head tilting to the side as if my statement was outlandish.

"We should only go out with our parents' permission." I said. Wasn't that common sense?

"Permission?" He asked.

"If they let us—I mean." I explained.

"You use some big words for a kid." Shoot, my cover was blown.

"I read a lot of books with big words. Also I only used one big one word this whole time."

His expression turned strange. "Hm I guess you're right. Still…" he continued "Don't you think parents are annoying sometimes though?" His casual tone made my heart tense uncomfortably. Where was he going with this…

"Like how they don't let you do what you want… they tell you to sleep and… don't let you play outside with friends… sometimes I'd…"

Don't say it.

"Sometimes, I'd rather not have parents."

"What!?" I said, uncontrollably raising my voice by several degrees. The room froze. Silvia and Relentia who were picking out clothes turned back to see my flustered face. Zecko and Glyffe also came over.

"What's the commotion?" Zecko said. "Are you two okay?" Glyffe said.

"W-we're okay!" Jamie said quickly, panic evident on his face. He seemed scared of the face Zecko was making.

Silvia's face was neutral. "Reno, what happened?" She asked, concerned.

As everyone stared, my heart was still pounding. That shout had come from somewhere deeper than I wanted to admit.

It wasn't Jamie's fault—he was just being a kid—but those words had dragged something sharp and ugly out of me. I remembered the silence where a parent's voice should've been, the ache of being alone and pretending it was freedom.

I couldn't go back to that. I wouldn't let myself forget how much it mattered to have someone waiting at home, someone who cared if you came back.

I forced a smile.

"Nothing happened me and Jamie were just—" I looked over at him and he looked extremely concerned and scared because of how mad I got. He was just a kid after all.

"Having a shouting contest!" I grinned.

"Huh?" They all reacted in unison—Jamie included.

"You know that game where you say words louder and louder?"

I nudged Jamie subtly and then he burst to life. "Yeah, exactly! It's just that Reno went first, it's my turn next." He inhaled deeply. "WHAT!"

"Right." Glyffe sighed. Relentia glared at Jamie for shouting again but she didn't say anything, letting it go unpunished.

"Okay." Silvia said as the adults all exchanged glances. Of course they didn't buy that. The anger in my voice earlier was more than sufficient to indicate it was more than just a shouting contest.

"Kids do play these ridiculous games," Glyffe added.

"Perhaps." Zecko said.

"Regardless, if something did happen don't be scared to let us know. That goes for Reno and for you too, Jamie."

"I understand, I will make sure to tell someone if something happened." I reassured them. Jamie nodded along too.

Both Glyffe and Silvia were giving a look that said 'we'll talk about this at home.'

"Right we've decided on an outfit for you two." Relentia said brightening up the mood again.

"Perfect!" I smiled, trying to appear cheerful again.

"How about these two dresses?" Silvia suggested with an animated smile. "There's a white one for Reno and a black one for Jamie!" Relentia followed up.

Huh? Dresses? I looked to my left where Jamie was similarly dumbfounded. "D-dresses? Mum, y-you're kidding right?" I stuttered.

"Who's kidding?" Relentia asked.

N-no way… n-not like this. I could feel tears forming on the corner of my eyes.

"I tried to warn you Reno… this is why I said we should've ran away." Jamie mumbled. Maybe if he said this would've happened earlier, I might've actually listened.

"So who wants to try theirs on first?" Silvia asked politely. Were they actually serious about this? I instinctively took a step back.

"It's been nice knowing you, Reno." Jamie smiled as he took a step forwards - tears in his eyes.

"No Jamie, don't go!" I cried out. I didn't want to lose my second friend like this.

"I'm older than you—it's only right I go first and take one for the team." He spoke despondently, as if he'd resigned himself to this fate.

"Before I go, Reno, can you…" he paused, "Tell my pet sheep that I love her." He turned and walked towards the black dress.

"Jamie stop! You don't have a pet sheep, remember!" I shouted.

"Oh yeah—you're right. Oh well, bye then." He scratched his head as he walked towards Relentia. Well that was anti-climactic.

There had to be some other way. I looked around the room—looking for some sort of way out. My eyes homed in on the door, was that really the only way out of this? Unless—that's it! I looked behind me at the only hope left.

"Uncle Zecko," I called out, "Please help us before it's too late!" He was my only option left. I considered appealing to Glyffe but he was way too amused by the situation to intervene, I could tell that much.

Zecko looked shocked. His scratched his cheek. "Please uncle!" I put my hands together.

"Uncle, huh. I like the sound of that. Sure, I'll help you out kid." He said.

"Ladies, it's nearly the time when Jamie and his friends play out. Don't you think it'd be a good idea to let Reno play out with them too?" He asked. Silvia paused as if she hasn't considered that. "I think that would be great for their friendship." Glyffe added.

Once Glyffe had spoken, Silvia came to a conclusion pretty quickly. "Yeah I think that'd be nice for Reno."

He continued, "For them to meet up in time they can only try something on once—they probably won't have time to change after that too. I think they should change into something more appropriate for running around then…" he paused, "then a dress."

The ladies faces turned to disappointment. Jamie turned around - a bright hope returning to his eyes once more.

"Ugh fine." Relentia said. "There's Silvia's matching outfit they can put on instead." Phew. That was a really close call. Jamie reached for the two outfits in Relentia's hands and snatched both of them.

"Okay we'll put them on." He shouted as ran towards the changing room at the back. "Come on Reno let's go." He said as he ran past me. He really is lively, he certainly takes after his mum. I ran after him - as long as it was in the opposite direction to the dresses it was the right direction.

"You won't need help changing Reno?" Silvia shouted concerned.

"I'll be fine mum!" Sorry mum, I have to look cool in front of the people my age.

"Oh my, they grow up so fast." Silvia sighed.

"Don't they just," Zecko said.

"How long were you planning to tease them - you weren't actually going to make them wear those dresses right?" Glyffe said.

"Ah." The two ladies whistled innocently. "The weather sure is nice today right, Relly?"

"Te-Tell me about it Silvia."

Glyffe and Zecko exchanged glances, they were probably thinking something along the lines of 'these two are dangerous when they're together.'

Meanwhile in the changing room as we were getting ready, Jamie was apologising.

"I'm so sorry about earlier," he said. "I didn't mean to upset you or anything. I just wanted to sound cool."

One nice thing about kids this age is that they tend not to hold grudges or let their pride cloud their judgement. They usually apologise faster than adults when it matters.

"No no it's alright—I overreacted. It's water under the bridge."

"Huh, what does that mean?" He asked. Well—of course he wouldn't know what that meant.

"It means it's behind us or in the past now, so you don't need to worry about it anymore."

"Ohh okay, you really must read a lot!"

"Yeah, something like that." I laughed. We got changed as we talked and by this point we were almost ready. Jamie was rushing to get outside so he was changing especially quickly. I was taking my time.

"Jeez this is taking too long , let's just go out!"

"Wa-wait!"

"We're done now!" He shouted, opening the door to the changing room.

Surprise!

"Ohh."

"Aww." Silvia smiled, "I told you this outfit would look the best on them."

"You're right. But I'm sure the dresses would've looked perfect on them, too." Relentia sighed.

"You were right about them needing help. Come here, you two."

"Jamie, your shirt buttons aren't done properly—you should start from the top down or the bottom up, not from the middle."

"Reno your overalls aren't even put on yet." Silvia said. "Let me help you. I'll tie your shoelaces too, hold still Reno." Yeah, I could've done it myself, but I guess this wasn't so bad either.

"They're all done!" They said together. I had on a black shirt with white overalls and Jamie had on a white shirt with black overalls. We both had matching trainer-like shoes and cream shorts on. We were fully matching.

"Can we go out now?" Jamie droned again, like some sort of broken record. "Fine." Relentia said, "As long as you don't go to too far from the central area."

"Make sure to not cause trouble! Come back after a few hours okay? Reno be safe okay? Be careful okay? Watch out for each other okay?"

Uh, Silvia, you've already said for me to be careful three times now. "Ok mum, I will I promise." I reassured her.

"Don't worry aunt, I'll be there to show him around! We'll take care of each other!" Jamie promised.

"Come on Reno let's go!" Jamie grabbed my hand again as he rushed towards the door.

"Be careful okay?" I could hear Silvia say again in the distance. I felt a little sad leaving her, especially hearing the concern in her voice.

"I will don't worry!" I said one last time.

Jamie tugged me toward the central plaza, laughing. But even as I smiled, I kept hearing his voice in my head.

'Sometimes I'd rather not have parents.'

I wasn't sure why but I couldn't shake it.