Short Life

Almerya allowed Edelgard to keep the document, along with another, outlining the translations for the language... the only problem was that this translation translated the old, easy symbols to the new, complex structures she had been struggling with for months.

A sigh escaped her lips.

She knew that it was supposed to take a long time, but a part of her just wanted to get the answer without the needed groundwork.

Almerya could translate it for her, after all... but she didn't.

The elder wasn't dumb, so she must've had her reasons... Reason. Logic alone wouldn't be enough to dispel that accusing part of her, Edelgard felt.

She sighed again and left.

Claudia hadn't yet returned.

For a simple stroll on her day off, she took a lot of time.

Wondering where she was and what Edelgard would do today, she wandered to the window, leaning against the windowsill.

The wind felt pleasant on her skin, and above the treetops, a tall structure peeked through, inviting her to come.

"..."

This would be the first time she climbed on that thing alone... but she'd do it, for another part of her conversation with Almerya lingered in her mind.

'You can just go and talk to him.'

That day, the way to the elders' tree felt more exhausting than the climb itself. With every step, she came closer to the place that would take her to dangerous heights, her fall always a dangerous possibility.

Every bridge she crossed, every hut she passed, and every step she took, it got worse and worse.

Then, when she reached the foot of the tree, she stared up, knowing what she had to do. Edelgard waited at the foot of the staircase for an hour, sometimes sitting, sometimes walking in circles, sometimes beating herself up for her cowardice.

Other elves walked by and gave her funny looks, but she didn't care.

She risked another look.

She had to go.

...

The first step was terrifying, the second step nerve-wracking. The third step took her to the land of anxiety, and the fourth step unsettled her. From there it went to scary, then, all of a sudden, she walked freely.

She didn't know why, but her legs weren't stumbling along in fright anymore.

Edelgard swiftly reached the top, the slippery branches posing her no problem. She even surprised herself.

Entering through the curtains like always, she saw Opus and Patchy, as well as the elder sisters Beru and Bera.

Their eyes lingered on Edelgard for a moment, then moved behind her, most likely waiting for the person who led her up.

"I came alone," she revealed, breaking the silence.

Patchy nodded approvingly, while a mere hint of praise appeared on the sisters' faces. Opus had a joyous expression as he came closer.

"Edelgard, what a most pleasant surprise to see you here! Come, sit down, sit down."

He urged her to take her usual place, just in front of the entrance. He made it hard to address her purpose, so she followed his instructions.

"What brought you here?" Patchy asked from his seat, a piece of parchment in hand.

His voice was rough and scratchy like he didn't drink enough. Sure enough, he coughed a few times, returning to his reading.

The suddenness of it all made Edelgard unable to answer.

"Uhm..."

"Didn't you hear me?" he asked, looking up. The eye that wasn't hidden looked at her with enough intensity for a dozen people. She hung her head, shaking it rapidly. "Why does this always happen?" Patchy lamented, stomping on the ground.

"Don't take it to heart," Opus advised, looking at him from a distant table. He took three steaming cups and walked over, giving one to Patchy and one to Edelgard, keeping the third one. "Beru, Bera. If you want?" Beru, the one with longer hair, nodded, walked over, and took a cup. Bera, the one with short hair, ignored him, continuing to write something. Opus smiled at her, turning back to Edelgard. "Now, dear Edelgard... what brings you here?"

It was a simple question, but Edelgard didn't feel like it was.

Something about telling the elders that she hadn't come for them felt wrong... All it needed for Opus to seem intimidating was a friendly smile.

Edelgard shuddered at the thought of seeing him angry.

She prayed that this day would never come... ever.

"I want to-"

"Hey, what're you doing here? It's not meeting day, is it?" Edelgard's mouth flapped open and close uselessly as she watched the ill man, Karkass, make his entrance. He held his stomach with a conflicted expression, leaning against the wall with the other. Their eyes met. "You don't have to look at me like that, I'm just another elf. I'm not looking at you like that either, do I? Even though you have short ears and the rest of us don't."

As he entered the room, Opus moved to stop him.

"Karkass-!"

"I'm still allowed to enter this room, am I not?" he asked, mocking Opus with his tone. The elder didn't lash out in return. "Don't worry, I just want to get to know the new face in town. I get so few visitors."

"I'm not exactly new, though," Edelgard argued, laughing awkwardly.

Karkass tilted his head.

"You appeared a few months ago, didn't you? That little is but a single moment in the grand total of an elf's life. In my book, you are still new."

With a cocky smile, he seated himself in front of Edelgard, confronting her.

She sat up straight, answering his grin.

At last, she'd get the conversation she wanted.

She was an... odd woman.

That was the first word that came to Karkass's mind. With her short ears and hair all over her skin, she was physically different from him and the other elves, but even if that weren't the case, odd fitted her perfectly.

Edelgard, or how she's called, didn't dare to meet his eyes.

She scratched her cheek, laughing awkwardly, talking like an embarrassed youth before adolescence. There was a hint of logic to her, but for every reasonable action came a dozen he didn't understand.

"He was quite the racer back in the day," Opus reminiscent, smiling softly. "He and Starkus would race home from scavenging, to the bathing tree, to the most beautiful elves around, trying to pick them up..." The elder chuckled, patting Karkass on the back. The vibrations caused him to cough, though, and Opus quickly stopped, instead opting to caress his back. Karkass thought that this pitiful gentleness might have been even worse. "Well, they seldom succeeded."

"If I would've succeeded, I wouldn't be here with you, now," Karkass snorted, swatting the hand away. "That alone I regret."

"Don't worry," Patchy said from his position, "I haven't found the one either."

"The one-eyed elf and the skinny, sickly creature," Karkass spat, looking disgusted. "Accept it, we are destined to be alone forever."

"Until death parts us," Patchy corrected, closing his visible eye.

Opus sighed, shaking his head.

He turned to Edelgard, smiling in this pitying manner Karkass hated so much.

"There's someone who would be very sad if she heard that," he revealed.

While before, Edelgard would've participated in the conversation, it was basically reduced to nodding and meaningful glances now.

Patchy folded his hands on his crossed legs, straightening up. His breath turned heavy, then soft, then so light that Karkass's heartbeat sounded louder than his breathing.

He did this quite often, this meditation thing.

Karkass had tried it, too, but it didn't help him. Whenever he tried to breathe with his back straight, there was slight stitching in his lungs which gradually turned worse the longer he tried to meditate. It would get so bad that he couldn't concentrate anymore, forcing him to stop.

This took around ten minutes at most.

Just thinking about it made his lungs hurt...

During all of this, the woman... Edelgard didn't say a word. She just kept on staring at him, curiously, nervously.

At him, at Opus, at Patchy.

Her gaze was different from those he knew.

To the elves, he was a pitiful thing, worse than a person, on the verge of dying and sad to no end. Little did they know how much fight he had left in him... or how much of it he thought to have left of it.

Edelgard cocked her head, looking beyond his outer appearance.

He felt a chill as he witnessed another illogical action of hers. The surface gave her all the information she needed, but still, she tried to dig deeper.

Maybe... she could find out more about him, how he feels...

The prospect was both soothing and terrifying.