The woman looks at me with the corner of her face, her gaze penetrating the depths of my soul. She smiles and stands up calmly, her dress sliding over her skin and covering her delicately.

  The fairy walks slowly across the lake, her footsteps creating waves that stretch from the water to the air. She towers over me, tall. So, so tall. Stretching two meters above the ground, my head couldn't even touch her shoulders. A face as perfect as a statue's faces me from top to bottom, white feathers covering her left cheek.

  “I couldn't introduce myself to you the way I wanted to last time, Sieghart.” Her voice echoes, low and powerful. “I am the Lady of the Lake; Morgana Verchneb.”

  “Morgana…?”

  She comes closer. Step by step, Morgana carefully sits down next to me and brings her knees to her chest, then rests her face on her arms.

  “And who are you?”

  “… I'm Sieghart.”

  “I know.”

  I sharpen my gaze. Yes, of course she knows. If she's the Lady of the Lake, she's seen me a hundred times.

  “Are you a fairy?”

  “A very pretty one, don't you think?”

  How should I respond to this?

  “I-Yes, of course-”

  She puts her hand to her face to cover it and laughs. A kind of evil laugh worthy of a theater character, but less exaggerated and more repetitive.

  “Right. You caught me off guard. Now what?”

  “Own…” She squeezes my cheek. Her skin is soft. “I know, I'm just kidding. Sorry.”

  I'd roll my eyes if I could take them away from her. I close them and shake my head again to recover. “Thank you for saving me. But why did you do it?”

  “Come on, Sieghart, I don't need a reason to save two dying children.”

  “I don't expect fairies to behave like humans.” I say, then widen my eyes a second time. “Two…? Two. Elron. Where is he?”

  “Elron-- He's your friend, isn't he? I healed him too. Unlike you, I left him at the edge of the forest so that he could be looked after by the guards. Don't worry, I made sure they didn't see me. I could have caused more trouble than you already have.” She says, then puts a finger to her chin. “But that's inevitable.”

  I inhale. I recap the events one by one, but I still can't compress them all. Finally, I let the difference I've felt since I woke up take over. I push against the pain and stand up. I take slow steps away from Morgana so that she doesn't get contaminated. I could sit down a few meters away from her and continue the conversation. Then I would ask her about--

  “Stop.”

  “What?”

  The fairy points at me and follows my gaze, then pats the grass next to her to get me to come back.

  “You're going to be contaminated.”

  “Yes. I don't care.”

  “…”

  I've heard legends of treacherous fairies ever since I was a child. They can mesmerize you with their supernatural beauty and make you drown, steal children and exchange them for their own offspring or take men to the fairy world, where they would get lost in wild time and space. Despite her disturbing sense of humor, her nature is playful. In front of Morgana, legends seem to come true, but not as I thought they would.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  What comforts me is knowing that, above all, fairies are honest. Just as people don't fly and birds don't talk, fairies don't lie.

  Maybe this trust is another trick of hers, but I'm afraid of what she'll do if I disobey her. If this really is the Lady, there's a chance she won't hurt me.

  Then I inhale, come back and sit down next to her. I rest my arm on one knee as I dip my foot in the lake water. I watch the lake and wander my eyes around the clearing, thinking of what to say.

  “… It's strange after all this time, isn't it?” I say. “I'm sorry. I don't know what to talk about.”

  “There's a lot to put into words. Fortunately, we have enough time.”

  “Why was I crying?”

  “I don't know. I think you were dreaming.”

  “… Right. Why stand so close?”

  “It's our first time talking. Wouldn't it be sad if we couldn't be near each other? Don't worry, I know how to deal with chaos.”

  I open my mouth, but close it again. Watching me for so long must have made her learn how I work. I let the information and the situation sink into my mind as I listen to the birds and watch the squirrels scurry back and forth across the clearing.

  “Did you hear everything I said?”

  She smiles. “Yes.”

  I almost grimace from embarrassment. “Sorry.”

  “Awn, don't worry. Your days are monotonous, but better than nothing. You've made my pain a little more tolerable.”

  “I see. That's nice. But I didn't know you were listening.”

  “If you knew, You’d have done it anyway. That's what matters. That's why I saved you.”

  “I thought that you didn’t need a reason.”

  “I don't have to—but I'm not like you, Sieghart. I don't do good just to be good. In fact, no one I've ever met does. You should thank me for that. According to probability, the right thing would be to leave you to die.” She says. “It was an incentive. I saved you because I like you.”

  “It would also be wrong to let me die without any crime.”

  “You don't believe you’re innocent.”

  “No, but it's the right thing to do.”

  She smiles and runs her fingers through the water. “I've never understood how you do it. To deny your nature in such an extreme way, for so long—I didn't think you'd find such strength here, in the middle of nowhere. I have the impression that I would save you even if I didn't know you. Maybe you contaminated me, but not with Chaos.”

  A small smile forms on my face. “Good to know.”

  She raises an eyebrow. “That's new. I've never seen you smile.”

  “It doesn't happen much.”

  She spits out a laugh and lies down on the grass, using her hands as a pillow. She faces the sky, protected by the shade of a tree. “Nothing much happens to your face.”

  I shrug. “Forcing expressions is tiring. I have enough to worry about. And what about you? I thought you'd be tired of doing that after so long.”

  “I thought your time talking to me would teach you to talk to people.”

  “Ouch.”

  She laughs. “Just kidding. Lie down.”

  I follow the fairy's command and lie down next to her.

  “I should be tired of looking at the sky, but I like to think while I'm doing it. It reminds me of home.”

  “Home? Says the fairy world?”

  “Yes. I miss some things. I hate most of them. They're the ones who imprisoned me here, after all.”

  “Imprisoned? Is that why you're in pain?”

  “Why would I stay in the same place on purpose?”

  “That makes sense. How long have you been here?”

  “Since I was a hundred.”

  “A hundred? How old are you?”

  “Hmpf! You shouldn't ask a lady her age!” She turns her face away. “One hundred and fifty.”

  “A hundred and fifty?!”

  She frowns and pulls my cheeks -- even the parts I didn't thought had enough fat to exist. Although I find the reaction cute, I stop her before she rips my face off.

  “Sorry!” I say as I massage my face. “What did you do to be imprisoned, anyway?”

  She crosses her arms. “I chose to save people like you over my people.”

  “I see…”

  “Sorry, little one, but you deserved it.”

  I watch her as the pain eases. It's likely to turn purple.

  “I wish I could have met you sooner, Sieghart. Moments like this were stolen from us.”

  “… I'd rather stay alive.”

  She smiles. It seems to be a habit. “If you want to stay alive, you'll need more than the power you have. Chaos won't be enough for you this time -- not with what you can use.”

  “You said you knew how to deal with Chaos. What do you know?”

  “Only what you know. I could tell you a tip, but it wouldn't work without experience. I could tell you how magic works, but you wouldn't remember. Without practice, all that's left is for me to tell you what you've already discovered while passed out.”

  “Why don't we train?”

  “We have time, but not enough. You must return to the village if you want to save it from Aldwyn.”

  A shiver runs down my spine. I get up and sit down on the grass.

  “It's true. He'll find me again. I'm stronger now, but he's much more than that monster, isn't he?”

  “Aldwyn is a much bigger problem than you can deal with right now, little one. First, he's no ordinary monster. He's a fairy, like me, a spriggan in particular; a spirit of the wind and autumn, elusive and powerful. It was worshiped as an evil god by this village, threatening them so that it would receive sacrifices, and sealed away by the priests of the Triune Flame.”

  She stares at me. “You're right. The abomination that chased you was just a minion. My advice is not to try to save your village, but to flee.”

  “And what will happen if I run away?”

  “Dufae will be destroyed, of course.”