May this Violet Flower Ever be with You [Rewritten 8/18]

Dawn broke and the two moons fell, the harpies' wing flaps echoed through before fading out as they left to tend the farms, and the opening of curtains rang across the small town.

Pushing aside the cloth door into the blacksmith, the shoulder plate I sent in to be fixed was left on the counter, weighing down a note. I picked it up for an inspection, and there were just a few hammer marks covering up the scratches from before, you could hardly call what I got back repaired.

I should have brought this in earlier, or paid a few more coins. I gave it a knock, and some parts felt thinner than the rest. She’ll probably be upset that the armor wasn't mended properly.

“There you are, I was looking for you.”

The merling peeked her head through the doorway, giving me a wave to get my attention.

“Have they fixed your armor? Is that it? How was it?”

The sun shining through the window landed on my hand holding it, reflecting off its metal surface. She walked in, almost tripping on the door frame. Her head dipped into the light, and two dark circles casted under her eyes. She held onto my shoulder to stabilize herself before snatching the armor off my hand.

“Hey… They made it even worse!”

It had been barely half a day since we met, yet I managed to predict how she would react, as if we had known each other for years already. Thinking about it, my heart beated a little faster, even this early in the day, she still had that strangely familiar warmth around her.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s good enough… And you didn’t have to wake up this early, the sun had just risen.”

“It’s fine, it was hard to sleep last night anyway. The things you gave last night are already on Caramel, we can go at any time now!”

We walked toward the city gate, taking in the view as it would be a while before I’d return to Malitic, and getting packed lunches fresh from the tavern on the way. Her horse was waiting by the end of the stone fence that marked the end of the town, stomping its foot, starting to get impatient.

Crossing the gates, her eyes were filled with wonder, like this was her first time experiencing the outside world. Her arm flailed around as she tried to catch the wind, running ahead before turning back to drag me and her horse along.

The small town was no longer in sight, and the river had softened up the ground ahead a little, just enough for her horse’s hooves to dig in. Holding onto the leash, she lost what little footing she had and fell into the river, drenching her horse with the water she splashed up.

“Did you hurt yourself?”

I reached out my hands, intending to help her up, but she was having her time just floating around, about to fall asleep.

It must have been like falling into a soft bed after a long day. I thought to myself, forgetting that merlings need to sleep underwater to feel rested. Maybe that’s why she was up this early, since Malitic doesn’t have merling inns, she didn't even sleep. She must have been exhausted, her excitement just covered it up.

“At least she doesn’t have to worry about drying herself, water would just slide off her skin and hair. Her robe’s enchanted with water resistant magic as well, falling into water was probably fun to her.”

I murmured, watching over her to keep her from floating away. A while passed, and the sun had already traveled over the halfway point on its path across the sky, but the next town was still half a day's journey away.

Pulling up my pants legs, I climbed down the river bank and stepped into the water, trying to shake her awake.

“Wake up, we won’t make it to the town over if you keep sleeping.”

She only grunted, then turned over. Splashing some water on her face, and she sank down. Letting out a sigh, I pulled up my sleeves, picking her up and carrying her up to shore. Her horse had already knelt down, making it easier to put her on it before climbing on myself.

Not having a saddle made the ride horrible, and our supplies on the back almost fell out a couple times since the latch was not made for heavy riding, but at least we managed to reach town before dust fell.

Making our way into a tavern, an elf and a man sat across on the other side, dressed rather fancy with petal clothing, a unique fashion from the Kingdom of Fladmon west of Detlas, though their manners didn’t fit the way they were dressed. Nobles perhaps, but even the most spoiled wouldn’t act like this.

My companion turned her head back every few seconds, not being able to stop herself from staring at them. And soon enough, they noticed us, came over and the elf greeted us in a foreign language.

“You there didn’t even bother to take off your armor, you two must be adventurers then. We happened to have asked the guild to provide people to escort us up to Citra, are you the ones that will be guiding us?”

So these are who we’ll be guiding. But the greeting they gave wasn’t any language from Fladmon, people from the empire? The ambience around them and their tone of speech changed the moment they noticed us, maybe the way they were speaking was just their custom.

“We are, yes. It’s good to meet you two!”

She stood up and gave the elf a bow, pulling me out of my thoughts. I gave the man next to him a handshake before the elf helped himself and took a seat next to us, and my companion’s staff caught his eye.

“That’s quite a staff you got there, what is it made out of?”

“It’s from the stem of a leyline flower, probably.”

“One this size, its anima capacity must be immense then.”

That elf’s focus on her staff was starting to seem obsessive, but at least he looked genuine about it. Their talk about it continued until her yawn broke the conversation, and she excused herself and left to find an inn to stay.

“Now about the escort, do you two have a time you want to set off tomorrow?”

“After the morning meal would be nice, how about the third hour after daybreak?”

“That’s fine, we should all be ready by then.”

“Well then, we hope we will have a great few days' journey together starting tomorrow.”

By this point, night had fully fallen, houses had their windows shut, and candles blown. My companion was able to find an inn with sleeping ponds, she wouldn’t be restless in tomorrow’s travel, but then the river would have to be her bed for the next week or two.

Taking a night stroll for some fresh air, I passed by the town gate where the open stable was and heard her horse’s snort, seeing it still awake laying in between hay stacks.

“Couldn’t sleep as well? I guess I couldn’t too, with hair tangled up like that. Sorry for riding on you without a saddle.”

Taking a brush from a bucket hanging on the wooden post supporting the thatch roof. Giving its back a few dozen strokes, it felt peaceful, intensified by the beam of moonlight in the dead of night, giving me a chance to take in what had already happened, and imagine what could happen in the next few days.

Caramel noticed that, like it was reading my mind with the power all companion animals have, and snuggled its head against my face, demanding scratches.

“This really is nice isn’t it? Reminds me of that night with…”

With whom again? My hand stopped, and her horse’s eyes reopened, either wondering why I stopped or noticed how I confused myself, like how it just had. Why did I forget again?.. Again? An oddness bubbled up from deep within, odd to the point my mind filled in, replacing my original thought. Maybe having companions isn’t so bad after all.