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—Tianshi territory, Alfheim.
Sitting side by side on a bench in front of a roadside confectionary store for the first time in ages, were two people, each digging into a package wrapped in bamboo leaves. Inside were a type of regional dessert made from granulated sweet rice, formed into a small ball the size of a pebble, and dipped in molasses.
“Hey.”
When the gentle voice of the two spoke, it carried with it none of the usual softness and instead came with a clear tone of annoyance and perhaps even irritation. Her target as usual was her companion, the girl with sunset hair, who already had a good idea of what might be coming and instinctively shrunk back in a guarded gesture even before the gentle voice finished.
“What…?”
The girl responded with clear caution, the same kind a captive might express towards their captor right before deciding to resign or to fight for their life.
“What happened to your coat?” the gentle voice noticed this gesture too and soothed her voice with a sigh.
“I lost it,” the girl responded quickly.
“You lost it?”
“What…? You think I’m lying? You don’t believe me?”
Her companion looked at her in disbelief.
“What I want to know is what you did to lose it? It’s a coat, the one thing you are always wearing on your back! It’s not like a knife, or a bag, or a walking stick, things you can put down and be forgetful about.”
“Well, how do you lose a game of cards if all your cards are in your hand?” the girl threw back verbosely. However, her companion would be having none of that.
“Carelessly, that’s how!” the gentle voice shot down instantly.
“…You don’t have to get so worked up over it.”
“And see, your problem is that you don’t even feel guilty over it!”
“It couldn’t be helped.”
“Then pray tell, how did you lose it exactly?”
“I took it off and never put it back on again,” the girl stated as a matter-of-factly.
“No shit, asshole!” agitated, and without thinking, the gentle voice slapped the girl’s shoulders.
But also without thinking, the girl reeled away and narrowly avoided the oncoming strike. This was perhaps what she had been preparing for since the very start of the conversation.
The two’s conversation had also not been private between each other. Given the very public place they were both sitting, it could not be helped that many onlookers turned at the sudden outburst.
Sighing, the gentle voice finally relented.
“I’m starting to get the feeling you didn’t lose the coat accidentally at all. In fact, I’m feeling like you gave it away like the majority of the other things you used to have but not anymore.”
“Things happen,” the girl nodded, “nothing lasts forever. First was yours, now comes mine.”
“If you lost it, then you lost it. At least you didn’t pawn it off for a penny…” she looked at the sunset haired girl from head to toe one last time in grief of the lost coat. “It was part of a set… and it took me so much effort to get the materials to make them.”
“Or five gerah— whoa. You almost hit me there.”
The gentle voice had struck out without warning again, her hand quick as a whip of lightning.
“Excuse me, I was trying to!”
Of course, the girl avoided the strike again with narrow precision.
…
…
“Though, I wonder if she managed to live a good life, that one…”
So the sunset haired girl quietly wondered to herself as her companion continued to scold her.
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Fairy Song 