--Setsuna--

  After the bath, we all went our separate ways. Ina and Shimo left to go explore the vilge, and Luci brought Mira to her room. With nothing better to do on my own, I just went back to my room.

  “Hah…” I sighed, flopping onto the bed. “What to do…?”

  I y there on my back for a minute, wondering if I should do something productive with my time. That's when I remembered what I was doing before Mira came and got me earlier.

  I reached under the pillow, pulling out a rge sketchbook I brought with me that I had been looking through earlier. Before everything happened with Ren, drawing was one of my favorite hobbies, and I could definitely say I got pretty good at it. Unfortunately, the sketchbook hasn't been used since I met him.

  Well, it's been used once. I flipped to the most recent sketch, one I drew not long before Ren proposed to me.

  It wasn't long before I was longingly tracing my finger over it. It was- in my opinion- the single best drawing I've ever done. It was a portrait of Ren of course, if that wasn't already obvious.

  Before I spent too long on it and got too depressed, I turned to the next page and took a couple of pencils from my luggage, deciding to pick my old hobby up again.

  I began to draw whatever came to mind, not having a clear idea to start. It was as if my pencil was moving on its own, and after a couple hours, Mira was at my door again, letting me know it was time for dinner.

  “Go on ahead, I'll be up in a minute,” I said, a finished drawing in my hands.

  “Gotcha. Don't take too long,” she replied, her footsteps fading down the hallway.

  With her gone, I focused on my new drawing. Other than Ren, I've only ever drawn simple flowers and things without many details, but this one may just be as detailed as his, if not more so. Unexpectedly, I was looking at a completed portrait of Luci.

  I smiled, contempting if I should show it to my good, Elvish friend, but I stopped that thought, feeling a small pain in my heart as I returned the book to its new home under the pillow.

  “There's gotta be somethin’ wrong with me…” I shook my head, pushing those thoughsmts back as I headed upstairs to the dining area.

  When I got there, it was oddly quit. On the way here, Luci had let us know that the Elvish custom was to eat in silence, but it still felt wierd coming from somewhere where meals are times to gather and make conversation with loved ones. I found where the others were sitting with Luci's parents and younger sister. Her brother was sitting at another with his betrothed and her family, along with another human family.

  I sat down as the others acknowledged me, and before I even had a chance to fully settle in, the servants appeared with the food.

  We finished quickly when we were focused on the food, and once we were all done, King Wendell announced something to us.

  “The final group of guests arrived during the afternoon, not long after you all. With that being the case, the final preparations will be made in the morning, and the wedding will be after lunch. Until then, enjoy your stay here,” he stood and slightly bowed before walking off.

  “Goodnight, everyone. Tahlia,” Lana stood in a simir fashion, addressing her youngest daughter after the rest of us.

  “Mm! Night-night Sis. Night-night Mira. Night-Night fluffy misses,” Tahlia smiled at us, waving with one hand as she held Lana's with the other while they followed the King.

  I couldn't help but internally chuckle when she called us “fluffy misses.”

  “I guess I'll see you all tomorrow,” I said, already standing up.

  I didn't wait to hear anyone's responses before I was already out the door, walking past the guards. I had no goal in mind. I was simply wandering around the vilge. Before long, I had managed to end up in the west end of the vilge, at the edge of the ke we saw on the way here. With the orange light of the sunset shining through the trees over the ke, I had to admit it was one of the most beautiful things I've seen before.

  I walked out on the wooden pier stretching over the water, coming to a bench at the end of it. I sat down, staring over the ke and shutting down my mind, like a sort of pseudo-meditation.

  I sat there alone for the better part of an hour until I heard footsteps behind me, accompanied by a voice.

  “I'd say I didn't expect to see you here, but that would be a lie. Mind if I join you?” She took a seat beside me before I could fully answer.

  “...Go ahead.”

  I turned to my side to see her- Freiya- sitting with one leg crossed over the other and her hands folded on her p.

  “My, how kind of you,” she ughed, a motherly smile on her face. Once.she had her fill of ughter, she put on a more serious face. “I've been meaning to talk to you about something.”

  “...”

  “I know what you've been doing to yourself, Setsuna. It's not healthy,” she shook her head. “You're like a daughter to me, and I know you understand that, so I'd like to ask you to stop doing this. You know I'm here for you if you need someone to lend an ear, so talk to me.”

  “I… I don't think I follow.”

  “You've been bottling your emotions up inside ever since Ren passed. Let them flow. If you don't, they'll grow to be to much for you to handle, no matter who you think you are.”

  “...I'm fine. I don't have anything I need to say right now.”

  “Please don't lie to me, Setsuna. You may not know what it's doing to you but I do. I did the same thing as you are right now after I lost Shimo's father. If you don't talk to someone about it it's not only going to hurt you, but those around you as well. Take tonight for example. When you left, Luci was scared that she- or her family- had done something to upset you.”

  “That… wasn't my intention.”

  “Even so, that just proves my point,” she put a hand on my shoulder. “Listen to me, Setsuna. You're letting your emotions control you. You won't get better until you deal with them.”

  I stood up, pushing her hand off of me.

  “...I'm going to bed now.”

  “Setsuna…”

  I walked back in the direction of the royal family's tree, leaving Freiya behind. One I returned to my room, I climbed in bed to sleep. I could think about what she said another time.

  Alpy376