Chapter 131: A Ballad for a Curious Water Sprite, Part Four

{Varyn}

No matter how many times the beastborn found himself in these situations, he couldn't help but be a little uncomfortable. Everywhere he looked while he stood in this line were nothing but humans. He was absolutely surrounded by them. All it would take is one of them, one human who thought his kind were just monsters hiding in plain sight, and he could soon be feeling a knife entering his back before the day was over.

[Just get those damn tickets and you can go,] he reminded himself. [It'll be fine.]

It had taken his sister begging for him to buy her these tickets for a few days straight to convince him to come here, and now, he was wondering if he had been persuaded too easily. Between the humans, the sun, the subtle smell of sweat in the air, and his growing irritation, he was just a couple of seconds away from walking out.

Just in case, he reached down for his coin pouch to see if he'd actually brought the varols necessary. A part of him hoped he hadn't. He was slightly disappointed to find out he'd been responsible enough to check if he had the necessary

Slowly, the line progressed but that uncomfortable feeling remained. Naturally, Varyn's hands wrapped around his wrists, as if protecting them from some invisible threat. He closed his eyes and tried to take a deep breath, but that only served to put the images his mind brought up right in front of his eyes. Suddenly, he was right back in Cradle, listening to a voice he hadn't heard in years.

"This one is dedicated." An old man had told a noble family, back then. "Doesn't matter what you make 'im do, 'e will do it."

"How much?" Someone responded as Varyn stared down at the shackles around his wrists.

"For a few days?"

"No. To own him."

Varyn shook his head and opened his eyes, bringing himself back to the present. He was still in the line, and it had only moved a few steps forward.

[I hate it here,] he noted, inhaling slowly. He'd much rather be in the Academy's library right now. He'd probably head straight there as soon as he was done buying these tickets.

Before he could get too excited at the thought of leaving, however, something else soon distracted him.

A woman walked up to her. She was just a couple of inches shorter than Varyn, and exceptionally thin. What stood out the most was the woman's striking amber eyes and raven hair, which, of course, reminded Varyn of someone who had been his teammate recently.

"Hello!" The woman said with a bright and friendly tone. Varyn just blinked.

"..."

[Who is this, and why is she talking to me?]

He inspected the woman then and remembered something.

[Wait... I've seen her a few times at the Academy.]

"Xhez!" Another woman said, then, jogging up to them. When Varyn saw her, the same woman he'd been reminded of earlier, their similarities became even more noticeable, as did their differences. "Wait up!"

Varyn's eyes flickered back and forth between them.

Rin reached them and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder before saying:

"Uh, h-hey," she smiled nervously. "Varyn. Hi. How, uh, how are you?"

"..." Varyn just blinked.

"So, anyway, uh, this is my sister!" She gestured at the girl next to her. "Her name's Xhez."

"Greetings," Xhez said, looking at Varyn with an expression so sunny it was weird to see.

[... Wait a second,] Varyn thought as he squinted a little at her. He could faintly feel Essence surrounding the girl, almost as though...

[Is there an Illusion happening here?] He thought, tilting his head at her.

It was one of the very few benefits of being beastborn. It was slightly easier for him to detect Essence than it was for a human.

Before he could get to the bottom of this, though, Rin was pulling the girl away.

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"Sorry to bother you, uh, we're just gonna... yeah," she said, pointing back. Several spots ahead, Varyn found Elisa watching them with a smirk and pieced together that they had probably come together.

"Hm? What is the prob...?" Before Xhez could even finish that question, however, she was being pulled over to where Elisa was.

All while Varyn just stood there, somewhat amused, somewhat perplexed.

In the end, however, all he did was shrug.

[Whatever. I just need to get these tickets back to my sister and then I'll take a fucking nap or something.]

---

{Xhez}

Later, as the night arrived, Xhez, Rin, and Elisa were heading back to the Academy, all while Rin explained to the sprite why she couldn't just run up to people and do that sort of thing.

"I do not understand," Xhez said. "As long as my illusion is up, is there truly any harm in speaking to random people?"

Maybe it was a result of that strange fuzzy feeling that had spread out from inside of her ever since she took that bath before, but she just couldn't get it.

"Well, not necessarily," Rin responded, "but, it's... Ah, I don't know how to say this."

"It can make people uncomfortable," Elisa tried to add to Rin's point. "But," she quickly continued, "I think that was fine, honestly."

"Really?" Rin asked, raising a brow.

"Yeah," Elisa shrugged. "I mean, all she did was say 'hi', and it's Varyn. I mean, hopefully, this doesn't come off in a weird way, but I feel like he wouldn't care too much to find out she isn't human, you know?"

At that, Rin looked away.

"... Maybe I'm worrying too much," Rin conceded.

As they went back to Rin's room, Xhez put that moment behind her though.

[Eh, I will try again if I see him around here,] she thought. [I suppose there were a lot of people around. Maybe it would make him less uncomfortable if I greeted him in a more peaceful place?]

"Hey, look," Elisa said, as she went over to her bed. "I think a letter just came in for you."

There was an envelope laid out on Rin's bed. The adventurer went over and sat down before picking it up. Xhez sat next to her as Rin scanned it.

"Oh, this is for Xhez," she muttered. "It's from June."

The instant Xhez heard that she beamed. Rin tore open the envelope and passed it over to the sprite, which Xhez appreciated as it gave her the chance to show off some of those reading skills she'd been picking up.

"Dear Xhez," the letter began, "I hope the Divine has kept you blessed these days. I am writing this letter to you to let you know that I will soon be performing in Libera! That was where you said you had been staying, right? I should be arriving on Saturday! I'll be staying at the Second Sun Hotel. Pay me a visit if you can and maybe we'll look into giving you some more singing lessons. You know, if we're not too distracted doing certain other things."

As Xhez finished reading the letter, she looked up at Rin, confused.

"What could we be distracted with?" Xhez asked, tilting her head.

"Sex."

Elisa answered the question from her bed, with a smirk.

"Oh!" Xhez perked up. "Right, I'd been meaning to try that!"

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