The beauty in blooming

“Go ahead now! Feel free to test it!” I raised my voice for Marieka to hear from a distance.

She held her staff horizontally and closed her eyes, droplets of mana surrounded her as the grass beneath swayed.

“Fleurdelys!” She cast, and the grass around her bloomed into flowers, the wind blew as petals flew in the air.

“”Wooahhh!!”” Astrid and Annaliese reacted in sync, their mouths wide open.

I stared proudly, scuffing. It’s the first time someone used magic that I created… It feels surreal seeing it bloom.

Marieka opened her eyes, overjoyed to have it worked. Her smile widened and jumped around from excitement.

“IT WORKED IT WORKED IT WORKED IT WORKED!! IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL!!!” She yelled, kneeling down at the flowers.

I approached the field and plucked a flower using magic, levitating as it landed in my fingers. I bit my lip, holding my excitement and chuckled softly.

“I worked all night for this… It really wasn’t in vain.” I muttered to myself.

Marieka recalled her staff and ran towards me, stopping short. “I’m so happy!! I get to use this now! Thank you for making this!”

“....That’s good to hear, I’m glad it was successful. But what’s exactly the purpose of this?”

She smiled, chuckling.

“Four years ago, back at the academy. You’d always water flowers from the yard back then… So I thoughtーIs there a better way to grow flowers without having to do any labor?”

I jolted. “What the… So, you’ve been stalking me…??!!”

“Truthfully speaking, I kinda was…. Because at first I thought you were a strange one, but it turns out, it was the other way around…”

“Pfft…” I covered my mouth, holding my laughter.

“Hey!! No laughing!!!!” She pouted.

I cleared my throat. “I’m joking, but that’s how you know I was just someone who preferred to be quiet, I was pretty lame before.”

“That’s not true! You still took the role of student council even if you didn’t want to… Right?”

“.....I did enjoy being a council member, I was reluctant at first yeah, but I had fun…”

I scratched my head, looking over the two who were busy playing in the pond of flowers.

“Eh… You two…? You guys seem to be having fun.”

They both stopped, slowly turning their heads towards me.

““U… uhm, Y… yes…”” They stuttered.

I softly chuckled. “Don’t worry. There's no problem with having fun. Just be yourself.” My tone changed.

They nodded, continuing where they left off.

Marieka beside me was shot back, her expression was puzzled.

“Eilise… No no… Nevermind!!” Her smile widened, placing her hands behind her back.

I turned to her, tilting my head. “Something wrong?”

She shook her head in response and turned around walking away.

….Wonder what she was gonna say?

⇔ ⇔ ⇔ ⇔

Deep in the forest, we sat under a blanket and finished setting up our tentsーready to sleep for the night as the sound of the fire crackled. Tucking my blanket tightly, putting myself in a cocoon like before.

“I… I… I don’t like the cold…” I groaned, stuttering as the temperature continued to drop. “I have to prepare for the mountains in Friedenswald…”

Thankfully, the capital isn’t freezing cold thanks to Lotea’s magic… It’s snowing, but it’s not to the point where we freeze to death… Even if it’s above the skies.

“Mmm…. I want to hurry up to the capital…” I muttered quietly to myself, stuttering as I held my blanket shaking.

As the cold and hellish winds breeze towards our camp, Astrid and Annaliese were dead asleep in their blankets having expended their energyーwhile Marieka on the other side of the fire was reading the book I gave her from the library.

She coughed, flipping through the pages before turning to me. “Eilise, about this book…? Is this related to you by any chance?”

My eyes opened. “W… what makes you say that?”

Marieka scratched her cheek, reading the story out loud.

“The story follows a little girl, who by fate was chosen to be a princess… We skip past the story a bit. So, to her, it was a big change... But over time, the little girl began to enjoy the life of a princessーfulfilling her dreams that she always wanted. However as she grew up, she started seeing the world much differently.”

She paused. “ーThe girl became wary of people's expectations. Scared of making a mistake, doing her utmost to act flawlessly and being the ideal princess that everyone admired. However, no matter how hard she tried, she eventually understood that regardlessーThere will be a few who wouldn't accept her.”

The page was flipped, showing a drawing of the princess in her dress, holding its sides as she ran towards the door.

Marieka continued. “....The girl had endured it for years… Until one day, she had made a fatal mistake, breaking the people’s image of her being the perfect princess… Then it was at that point where she couldn’t bear it anymore, and left the royal palace. Disappeared, and never to be seen in the kingdom again…”

I averted my gaze. My jaw tightened, clenching my teeth. “Yep! That’s me! Haha. Well… Half… It’s a mere coincidence…” I tried to laugh it off.

In reality, I’m afraid that one day this will happen to me… Which is a probability…

Marieka lowered the book and her eyes glistened, brows furrowing as she tried to hold her tears.

Scoffing, I once again did my best to shrug it off. “.....Sorry, It seems like I'm still not good at my job no matter what I do… Thanks regardless Marieka.”

Narrowing her eyes, she looked almost irritated, hurt, is what you’d say… And as I continued to look away from her, the following minute was just an awkward silence between us before eventually, I laid on my back and rolled to my side.

“Are you going to sleep now Eilise?” She asked.

“…Yeah, reminder to not wake me up very early in the morning please.”

Marieka nodded.

I exhaled underneath my blanket and closed my eyes to sleep.