Chapter Text
Lily was used to sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings. After spending most of her life on an endless journey, constantly moving from place to place in search of new knowledge, she learned how to quickly fall asleep in a new place without much difficulty. But even in such a spacious and cozy guest room, courtesy of the fairy king, she could not fall asleep, tossing and turning in bed. From one side to the other, now fluffing the pillow, now counting sugar sheep and thinking about something distant and insignificant, Lily felt the last crumbs of drowsiness dissolve at the bottom of her consciousness, leaving no chance to fall asleep.
Sitting up, the young woman sat down wearily and looked around, trying to find something to occupy her mind.
Everything looked the same as the day she went in search of the Cake Tower. It took years, if not decades, before she crossed the threshold of this room again, and it felt as if she had been here yesterday. It's so strange, so unusual to see how so much time has passed through her fingers — she hasn't changed a bit. It was like waking up from a short dream in another world.
Turning, Lily looked out the window, remembering how the tiny fairy city used to look. He was transformed. He was bigger, more beautiful, and brighter than she remembered him. One thing was unchanged in this cozy piece of eternity — baby Silverbell. He was as brave a boy as she remembered him. And still such a big crybaby who tries to seem stronger than he really is. Unable to resist, she played a kind joke on him, which made him hug her tightly, quickly waving his silver wings, as if afraid not to make it before she disappeared.
But she was still here. Still in this huge, silent room.
"It seems… Something is missing," Lily thought, wearily watching the night lights of the city. - "As if… I forgot something important.… But what...?"
Suddenly, the soul stone flashed, shimmering in the dark with bright green colors, as if it wanted to show something, but as soon as Lily paid attention to the sudden light in the room and approached stick, the jam faded.
"What was that?" wondered Lily, looking at him from different angles. This glimpse of the unknown was sudden, so that she barely had time to see anything in the facets of the magical artifact other than her reflection. "What did you want to show?..»
After all the fragments of souljam were collected, the magic inside him awoke and helped fill in the gaps in memory. Sometimes showing moments from the past — quiet, joyful, but so far away that she could hardly remember all the details. But as souljam showed, she remembered perfectly, but the burden of responsibility for her mistakes overshadowed her mind so that she could look back without tears and a lump in her throat.
She hated remembering those carefree days, feeling like with each new memory, she was suffocating in her own breaths, having forgotten how to breathe. Her stomach was twisting uncomfortably and she was constantly vomiting. She hated it, but she thought she deserved it. She deserved so much more than this pain. Torments equivalent to the suffering of her friends.
Every time the stick wanted to show a fragment of the past again, Lily, overcoming herself, got up and looked. A time when she was not yet a hero, but a simple adventurer, like everyone from the ancient team.
She missed them. Back in the days when they were together and it seemed like nothing could beat the team.
Without waiting for another surge of souljam, Lily wearily closed her eyes, climbed back into bed and decided to try to sleep again. But this time, she imagine not sugar sheep, but those most carefree days of the past. Imagine the forest. A small camp and a bonfire. Hollyberry, grabbing Cheese under her arm, made her way through the thorn to the waterfall, deciding to take a good swim and jump off the cliff right into the cold water. She didn't share their enthusiasm and didn't see anything funny about it, so she politely declined. Vanilla, tired from the long journey, went to his tent, wanting to sleep soundly. Cacao, of course, remained in the role of a lookout, making sure that the fire did not go out, and wild animals did not attack the camp in search of food. He always sat by the campfire and sharpened his sword, preparing for the worst.
Choosing between sleeping and other more interesting things, Lily chose the latter, sitting down by the campfire.
It was quiet next to Cacao, so she always took a place on his left hand, taking a map and noting new places and names of kingdoms and small towns that they visited. Sometimes, she would mark something important in her own way, painting either animals or something similar to the sculptures she had seen. Cacao always listened, but didn't say anything to her chatter, even if her speech was completely incoherent and incomprehensible, realizing that she was talking to herself.
Their conversations were always short-lived, a couple of phrases, maybe jokes, and silence ensued. It was not oppressive, on the contrary, comfortable and pleasant. Especially after several hours of incessant chatter from Cheese. She loved friend's enthusiasm, but at times, her ears drooped from the fact that Golden simply could not be silent, at least for five minutes. And seeing how Cacao's forehead wrinkles, every time she comes up with another joke and starts to get at him, Lily guessed that he wasn't particularly happy with such a number of words per minute either.
Therefore, their communication has always consisted of a great love of silence. But one day everything changed when Holly and Cheese returned to camp late at night. Golden had an unreadable expression on her face, staring at the Cacao. Lily didn't understand what was wrong until finally Holly hung her washed clothes on a homemade dryer and told what was the matter.
"Are you getting married?" Lily said in surprise.
"Well, not now, but in the near future". Hollyberry replied calmly. "Why are you all so surprised? This wedding was planned long before I was born. My house has entered into an agreement with the House of Goldenberry to form a mutually beneficial alliance".
"It's just... it's kind of unexpected?" White said after a short pause.
"Arranged marriages are not uncommon between houses, dear. Especially now." Holly sat down next to Cheese and smiled good—naturedly. "You can't survive without political alliances, and I don't mind at all".
"Have you ever seen him?" Golden asked with displeasure. "Maybe he looks scary".
"Well, I'll hope he's a good man, and looks aren't the most important thing," Holly protested. It was obvious from her face that she herself was a little confused and worried about marrying someone she had never seen. But her kind and gentle nature did not allow her to openly show dissatisfaction with the decision she had not made. "The people of the House of Goldenberry are famous for their nobility. So, don't worry, I won't I'll be fine, besides, I'm not the only one in the same situation, right, Cacao?"
"Ahem," the young man who was sitting the quietest, choked on a hot drink and glared at Holly who patted him on the back. "I told you that "maybe", but it doesn't mean that I'm getting married".
"Come on, that lady from the coffee clan looked at you like that," She joked, showing the same look that the lady had. "She was devouring you with her eyes".
"I don't envy her," Cheese snorted, "The poor thing doesn't know what she's doing, she'd live with our old man, run away flashing her heels".
"What about you?" Feeling the Cacao mad, Holly decided to turn attention to the instigator.
"I am a free bird, and no one can tell me whether to get married or not," rising into the sky, she hovered contentedly over her friends. "But if I have such a "desire" to get married, then I will just get myself a harem and bask in the attention of my favorites".
"I don't envy them, " Cacao repeated. "They don't know what they're doing. Living with such a special person, anyone will howl".
"Unlike your bad temper, I have something to compensate for. My homeland has a wonderful climate, it is warm and always sunny. And who would refuse a variety of cheese and gold?" Cheese said arrogantly. "I will give them gold every day. There will be so much of it that they won't have a place to store it. Isn't that a great offer?"
"That's right, an offer for gold diggers and those who want to get their hands on power," Cacao chuckled. "Great offer".
Their altercation could have lasted until the morning, if Lily, having heard the news about the unknown coffee lady, did not want to know more.
"Cacao, and what is important to you in your future spouse?" In the midst of the bickering, the young woman's thin voice sounded like a bolt from the blue. Cacao was taken aback. White, thinking that no one had heard her, hoped that the question that escaped would go unnoticed, but the surprised look of the young man said otherwise. "I just… I wonder what the story is with coffee lady?.."
"This is an old and stupid story, why mention it?" Dark snorted. "It happened before we all got together".
"But she's still waiting for you to give her a hairpin, huh?" Cheese winked. "The one you've been carving so hard for months".
"Cheese!"
" What did I say wrong?"
Holly was grumbling kindly at her arrogant friend when Cacao, looking strangely at Lily, wanted to say something, when suddenly she woke up abruptly.
Her heart was pounding wildly, and body was covered with an unpleasant sticky sweat. Everything inside seemed to be feverish from the horror that had come over. She intuitively reached into her hair in search of a hairpin.
"A hairpin?" White was surprised, but she still continued to touch her tousled hair. She never wore any hairpins. And why would she need them if she had stopped using them for many years, having learned how to take care of her rather moody hair. But the mind, as if in a delirium, was trying to find an unfortunate thing in the darkest recesses of memory. Lily jerked, feeling something hard and sharp in her hands, and with difficulty pulled a tiny piece out of her tangled hair, stretched out her hand in front of her.
It was a fragment of her souljam. He was very small and barely noticeable. That's probably why she didn't notice that he was missing.
"Why?.." Lily said in disbelief, feeling terribly thirsty. Her hands were shaking and her heart was still racing as she put the missing piece of the shard into the souljam. "How did it get there?.. And why?.."
The artifact flashed, filling the room with a bright green color. Lily intuitively covered her eyes with her hands, and when she opened them, she saw the same forest and the same tents. But this time it was getting light outside and everyone was asleep.
There was a rustle behind her, White turned around and saw a young version of herself coming out of the tent. Her long hair was tangled in tangles, making it difficult to see anything in front of her. Lily was sniffing, clearly upset by what was going on her head.
Cacao, coming out of the forest with brushwood, was taken aback when he saw her in this form, but did not say anything, continuing to work on the fire. Lily embarrassed by the awkward encounter, ran back to the tent. Whimpering, she tried to comb out the stupid tangles and make an even braid, but she couldn't do anything, the amount of quiet swearing increased exponentially. Her displeased voice was also heard by the young man, who prudently pulled on the edge of the tent and asked permission to enter, not wanting to put an already embarrassed friend in an even more awkward position.
"Do you need help?" he asked.
Lily was confused, clearly not wanting him to see her like this, but she did not refuse to help.
"Stupid hair, I should have bought hairpins from that dealer, and I ..."she complained in frustration, while Cacao slowly untangled her hair from behind.
"Here," holding out the hairpin, Cacao continued to separate the strands of hair from the tangle. "It's ordinary, unlike the ones the merchant had, but it does its job well".
Lily turned a simple green wooden hairpin over in her hands. It was true that she was faded and plain unlike those she had seen, but in the style of a him. "The same hairpin? The one Cheese was talking about?"
He remained silent, continuing to fix the mess on her head.
"Cacao, I can't take it! You made it for a special person, not for a slob like me!" Lily fidgeted and wanted to return the gift to her friend, but he remained silent.
"Don't spin around, I've almost got it all figured out," he said grumpily. "I made it for you. I wanted to give it to you, but... it doesn't matter, one way or another, it should have been yours".
"Eh?.. A gift?.." She repeated in surprise, trying to put the words into one sentence.
" It's done," with a sigh, Cacao put down the comb and headed for the exit. "I'm going to finish breakfast before the others wake up."
"O-okay.. Cacao,"young man turned around. " Thanks. And for the gift too, I will cherish it".
The warrior did not answer, just smiled out of the corner of his lips and left the tent.
Souljam's light faded. The spacious room was empty. But Lily was still standing in place, looking in confusion at where Cacao had been standing just a moment ago. She ran up to the table where her hairpin was lying and turned over the lily flower, saw the same wooden hairpin.
"All this time..." she touched it, as if for the first time. The green paint had worn off in places, but the hairpin itself had not changed, it still did its job and held well on the hair, without causing any discomfort.
Lily was wearing it and didn't even know that…
Fragile drops of tears fell like peas on the floor, leaving behind a taste of bitterness in the mouth.