Chapter 11:

When Women Talk

Short & Short


Edelgard left the elders' tree soon after. While she hadn't dared to ask what kind of an illness he had, she thought to have gotten a glimpse below his pained shell, which brought her enough stuff to think about on her descent.

Descending was harder than ascending, Edelgard noted.

She had to look down, or she could stumble and fall. 'Look where you're going,' as Claudia advised her.

Below the branches she walked on was the depth she could be falling to, though, which wasn't a very reassuring prospect.

A part of her regretted coming here alone...

In the end, she managed to safely get down the elders' tree.


"Hah, finally back home," Claudia sighed, falling onto the bed.

She had helped Deadaela, Esmeralda and their daughters carry huge amounts of Nutri roots home and then walked home with two filled-up baskets herself. So much for a day off... The bed invited her, and she was about to crawl in when a voice at the entrance jerked her awake.

"Hello? Anyone here? How strange..."

"Oh, Edelgard!" Claudia weakly called, pushing her body up on the bed. "I'm here, in the bedroom! Coming, coming... Oh."

"Claudia?" Edelgard asked, peeking in. "... What are you doing?"

Claudia now laid with her lower legs in bed, and with her back on the ground. The wood was soft to the touch, so she didn't hurt, but it was humiliating nonetheless...

But she couldn't stand up.

Claudia was exhausted.

It reminded her of the shame she felt when Edelgard pulled her down the roof and they laid in front of the hut, watched by dozens, sprawled in a shameful position.

If it was just Edelgard, however...

"Good night..."

"At least lie down in bed," Edelgard proposed, swooping Claudia up in both her arms. She was surprisingly strong... "I understand why Starkus likes you so much, now," Claudia mumbled.

"We are just friends," she assured, lying Claudia down in bed.

"So he told me," Claudia mumbled back, clinging to Edelgard. "Come, join me for a bit."

"But Claudia-"

"Just a bit!" she complained, throwing a tired tantrum. Claudia barely even realized what was going on at this point. "Just for a nap..."

Claudia felt a hand caress her head, and she drifted off.

"If you don't make dinner, someone has to, right? Not to speak of all the Nutri Roots that we need to dry up... Just relax for a while."

"Edelgard..."

"Rest well, Claudia..."

As the world drifted off, and gentle darkness enveloped her, a smile spread across Claudia's face. She fell asleep right there.


Despite her reassuring words, Edelgard had no idea of drying roots. All she knew was that she had to light a fire... light a fire?

How did she do that?

And how could she save the roots from burning, instead of drying?

"Awawawa..." A strange sound escaped her lips. She didn't want to wake up Claudia... that left her only one choice. She went to the neighboring hut, calling out to the residents. "Hello? Someone there?"

"Hmm... the Hut Racer?"

"Eh?"

Edelgard added another nickname to the existing list. She hadn't heard that one, yet. Hut Racer... that sounded somewhat cool, she told herself.

Yes.

"Oh, excuse me," the woman said, holding a hand up for a pretend-to-be-sorry gesture. Right now, though, Edelgard didn't care about that. "What is it?"

If her memory was correct, she was... Deadaela? No, that was one of Claudia's friends... What was her name again?

Claudia had told her, so she tried her hardest to remember.

"Ah, you are Serya!" she exclaimed.

"No, Serya lives over there," the woman said, pointing behind Edelgard.

"Eh? Uhm, excuse... sorry."

Edelgard bowed low, her cheeks burning red.

"It's fine, it's fine... I'm Graetia," she revealed.

"Graetia? Graetia... Graetia! Ok, I got it!" Edelgard promised, pumping her fists in front of her body. "I won't forget you."

"What did you need, then? If you need Serya, I told you where she lives," Graetia said, an urgent tone in her voice.

"I needed help... are you occupied?"

"Typically, the elf at home has things to do," she said, fully emerging from the hut. Graetia was smaller than Edelgard, but her hair was a more beautiful shade of green than Edelgard's she felt. The sun made it shine like jewelry, just like her green eyes. "So, what is it?"

"I need help with drying roots..." she mumbled, repeatedly putting her index fingers together. "Claudia fell asleep, and I don't want to wake her..."

There was a moment of silence between them, then Graetia sighed.

"What kind of root?"

"What kind of... Nutri Roots..."

"Nutri Roots, huh," Graetia said, her eyes lighting up a bit. It seemed like they were valuable. "How many do you have? If it's more than a handful, this will take a while-"

"Around two baskets," Edelgard said, thinking of the stuffed baskets Claudia put next to the table. "They might need a wash, first, though..."

"Two baskets..."

Graetia repeated it like a prayer or a curse, and Edelgard grew worried.

Did she say something she shouldn't have?

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"... Where did Claudia find two baskets full?" Her tone had changed, and she stepped closer, cornering Edelgard at the railing. "Where?"

"I don't know, I didn't go with her!" Edelgard whispered, trembling with fear. Women were scary, so scary! "I just know that her friends found a huge field or something, and they took them to their heart's content..."

"... Tsk!" Did she just click her tongue? Maybe her radiating beauty meant that she was a young elf, still? Claudia said something about them being more expressive about their feelings in comparison to matured elves like her. "I will help you, but I want some in return!"

"That's... alright?"

That didn't sound very bad to Edelgard at all.

She needed help, anyway.

"Serya!" Graetia called loudly until another woman, as radiant as Graetia, appeared from the hut. "Want some Nutri Roots?"

"..." Serya nodded, her expression as joyous as Graetia's.

"There you have it," Graetia said, huffing with pride. "Two helping hands against two helpings of Nutri Roots. Sounds fair, doesn't it?"

"Haha... Keep in mind, I don't want to wake Claudia..."

"Don't worry, we'll go to the river first. Need to wash them, as you said," Graetia announced, storming into the hut.

"..."

Serya followed a determined grin on her face.

They practically jumped off the bridges and raced across the ground, in the direction Edelgard knew a river to be.

She knew that she had two neighbors, as two bridges led away from the tree hut Edelgard lived in, but to think that they were these kinds of people...

"Ah, what if they'll escape!"

Hurried and worried at the same time, Edelgard climbed the hut, jumping to the next tree, swinging on the branch and jumping from hut to hut, after the pair. They were fast, but Edelgard could keep up with them from above.

They challenged the wrong woman!


"Was that a bad idea?" Graetia asked Serya, running towards the river. The roots were scratchy, so she knew they wouldn't fall out, but leaving the generous donor behind like that... "Maybe we should take a few more roots for her lack of attention... what do you think?"

"..."

Serya didn't answer but instead looked above. She pointed to a shadow racing over the huts, swinging from trees and looking like a short-eared elf...

"... For reals?"

It seemed this Edelgard wasn't that weak, either.

"..."

Serya's face lit up, too, a hungry grin on her face. Graetia joined her, and they shared a meaningful look.

"What about it, sister? Shall we teach her some manners?" Serya didn't even nod, taking off at her maximum speed. She had always been the more athletic of the two. Sweat running down her forehead and heaving heavily, Graetia tried her hardest to keep up but lost sight on both Serya and Edelgard soon after. "Those two are monsters!" she yelled through the forest, pulling the basket with her.

As she struggled, Graetia thought about how this might have been a more balanced race if Edelgard carried a basket as the sisters did.


She reached the river at the same time as her neighbor, who jumped in the river, technically arriving first. Serya pouted as she had technically lost.

"..."

"Haah, don't scare me like that," the neighbor said, heaving a single sigh before her breathing returned to normal. Who was she? "I thought you left me behind there for a second... was that your plan all along? To race me?"

"..."

Serya desperately tried to calm her breathing as her neighbor approached her, taking the basket away.

"Let's start then, shall we?"

"..."

Cautiously, Serya went to help her, sometimes glancing over her shoulder to look for her sister. She arrived a dozen or so minutes later.

"Haah, haah, that was, haah, some running you did there, haah..." Graetia was out of breath, and she first laid in the grass for a while before she joined them in washing the roots. Serya was glad when she was all better, behaving like her usual self again. "Well, let's hurry, or we won't get back in time to dry them today!"

"Yeah," Edelgard cheered.

"..." Serya nodded, and they got to work.

Thanks to Serya and Graetia, they were back at the hut in time to dry the roots in the oven. The neighbor went to look after Claudia every now and then, but they finished in the afternoon before she woke up.

"Here, your compensation," the neighbor said after the ordeal, handing them both a generous handful of roots.

"That's more than we asked for," Graetia said, a bit startled.

Serya liked that side of her.

"That's fine. You both helped me out tremendously! Thanks!"

"... It was a pleasure!"

"..."

Nodding along, Serya left the hut with Graetia, happy about the coming meals.


Claudia awoke to the sound of a feather scratching on parchment that evening. A glance revealed the perpetrator to be Edelgard, studying the Elven language.

"Edelgard?"

"Oh, Claudia? Are you awake?"

Edelgard tucked the feather and parchment away, strolling over. She sat down on the bed, gently caressing Claudia's head.

"What... how... the food?"

"Starkus came home, and he said he'd make it. Isn't that nice? I didn't want to distract him, so I came here to study. I hope I didn't wake you," she said with a guilty grin.

"No, no..." Claudia supported her head with her hand, blinking repeatedly. "It's such a shame, though," she found herself saying. "He could teach you a thing or two about writing."

She only realized what she said when it was too late.

With wide-open eyes, she stared at Edelgard, whose eyes were even larger.

"What...?"

Claudia sighed, knowing that it was better to tell the truth now.

"Well, Starkus once studied the language himself," she revealed. "And he didn't enjoy it."

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