Vignettes (1)

1.

Stretching in my bed, I woke up several hours later. Somehow, I felt rested even though my mind and pulse raced the entire night. I clutched my chest, reaching for my uncontainable heart. When I moved more of my upper body, I heard a crinkle and felt something slide off my face.

*Huh?*

A small letter landed in my lap. The front of it had the same handwriting as the one I received the day before, immediately informing me who the sender was. The font was scribbled and hard to read, but there was little time to get a message down.

Rubbing my eyes, I opened it rougher than I had the other one, smiling at the greeting. I wondered how it got to me. (Like a rendition of Santa, Sinclair might have done such a thing, but I figured I would notice if they did.)

"Dear Ophelia..."

*Is this what they call being on a first-name basis?*

"I'm very happy you decided to join me for lunch. I enjoyed seeing you again."

*But I didn't very much enjoy being filled with anxiety (and a little internal giddiness) and thrown ten feet into the air to prove a point.*

"I'm also glad I finally got to talk to you. I don't often get to have long conversations like that, so I found it to be a treat. I would like to propose you stop by at the same time again tomorrow (or is it tonight for you?) so that we can share another meal. It would be nice if our correspondence continued. Perhaps you would agree?

Regards,

Koharu

(P.S. I would advise you to hide my letters from Leo. He's dead set on annoying me, and I'm certain he's doing the same to you.)"

I giggled at the last part. Leo was an eccentric character to everyone. I tossed the note aside, hoping the fairy wouldn't find a reason to invade my room. I was sure he'd devise an excuse to bother me for letters and conversational details, but I knew he wouldn't do so if he didn't know they existed in the first place.

***

2.

As expected, Leo was aware of those facts, courtesy of the first letter he made me read, so he constantly picked my brain about the memos. (He would find something else to pester me about if it wasn't them—likely the mission he assigned at first. I made so little progress on it that I didn't know what to report to him.)

"Lunch date with the princess?" He poked my arm energetically.

"Might I establish it wasn't a date? I don't know why you're having a little 'wink, wink, nudge, nudge' moment about me talking to the princess for more than two seconds, but I see no reason for it. Secondly," I remarked as I stopped dead in my tracks, "how do you know that?"

"A little bird told me." He chuckled.

*If it's not you, then Sinclair is the only one who can kinda fly… which means they probably *did* deliver that note.*

I glared at him. "And I summoned a unicorn from the ground. Your point?"

He ruffled my hair to anger me. "Her brother is Akiyoshi, you know. Koharu can't keep her mouth shut sometimes, and I can bribe Akiyoshi for information on almost anything." Striding forward arrogantly, his pleated skirt of choice bounced along with him. "So of course, I know about it. I'm pretty shocked; Koharu's so incredibly impatient with people. I think that's one of the only traits she got from Inei. To think she'd sit down for lunch with someone is uncanny in a way." He faked a shiver.

I shrugged. "I think she's just being welcoming."

Something didn't sit right with me when I said that.

"And I talk to birds." Leo shrugged, doubtful of something. What that was, I wasn't entirely sure, but it likely was the same suspicion I had, which still wasn't deciphered.

"You're contradicting yourself." I smirked.

"Well, I know some *people*…"

***

3.

It was through bantering and small interactions that Leo and I developed a strange friendship. It certainly had a strong push and pull, the clashing of two personalities that were at times too similar and at times opposites. It was like brewing sweet tea; too little sugar meant only bitterness remained, while too much made the drinker thirsty. Yet there were times when the mixture was just right.

Namely, we agreed on our distaste of castle briefings.

"I can't understand the purpose of meeting so much," I complained as I dashed out of the board room. The rest of the advisors remained inside, for they had calmer temperaments than I did.

Leo popped out of my beret. "I don't see why Inei needs me there. All he does is get me to make coffee. Last time I checked, I'm not a secretary. While I'm at it, I can't even pull pranks on people!"

"The last one might be for the better, but can't you just ditch? You're more magical than him," I reasoned. I never knew why Leo hung around except to check if I was helping.

"It's not good!" he protested and then giggled. "Plus, it doesn't work that way."

"Why not? You can just tape his mouth shut if he says something you don't like."

I was joking, but Leo turned serious, whispering, "Nobody's told you?"

I gulped, unused to that intensity from him. "Well… I've only been told you're loyal because you don't try to take over. I don't get why you wouldn't, though. I'm not saying you should, but it's weird to think about."

He chuckled. "Fifi, there's more to it than that. It's not only by choice. It's life or death. Like being at gunpoint."

I expected him to laugh, but he stared at the floor.

*Did I accidentally bring up something too sensitive?*

"Anyway," he said as he snapped back to his usual joyousness. "You lose your job; you just get a new one. It's the law of supply and demand."

"You know economics?" I snickered.

"I *met* the creator of it. I have the leg up."

I nodded, impressed. I imagined he had countless stories to tell about historical figures.

"So there's this thing called perfect elasticity. It means people want an unlimited amount of something if it stays at the same price. If I don't do anything to anger anyone, I stay on that line. But the moment I act stingy or rogue, nobody wants me anymore!"

"I get the economics bit, but what the heck are you talking about?"

"I'm getting there, okay?" he whined. "Basically, if I don't piss off the king, he keeps me employed. If he decides he doesn't like me, he relieves me of my duties."

"That sounds fun. You'd have nothing to do."

"No!" he shouted, and a servant stared around the corner. He made his voice quieter. "That's not how any of this works. 'Relieved' is the fairy euphemism for,"—he drew a horizontal line across his neck—"dead. Gone. Corpse."

Swallowing, I gave him a tense look. "That makes so much sense, but isn't that terrifying?"

"Absolutely!" He clapped his hands. "It's terrible, horrible, ridiculous, tyrannical! Bad! Well, maybe it's not tyrannical because I'd have too much power otherwise, but the whole 'being able to kill each other at any moment' ordeal makes for some nice peace. And we get to share magic."

"That just seems stressful."

"Sometimes, you just need to pretend it doesn't exist. Then, it isn't there. Avoidance and apathy. That's the way to live." He smiled. "You don't have to worry about what other people say."

"Something thousand years of life experience, and that's the most important thing you've learned?"

"Eighteen hundred, Fifi. I'm not as old as Sinclair or Algor—the Terrestrial Kingdom guardian. They're freaking ancient. Kind of." He snapped. "And yep. If I have any life motto, it's: 'Who gives a damn? Not me!'"

*You seem to care an awful lot about getting into other people's business for that to be true!*