Confused

*Elan*

'What should I do?' this was impossible. I imagined thousands of scenarios. I even included that she was dead. But this. This caught me unexpectedly.

Desperate I threw my blade into the elf-shaped doll in front of me. Since the sun had risen in the morning, I was at the fairies' training center. It was a bit up on a mountain where it was far enough away from the village so the battle noises wouldn't bother someone.

I was the first one to come here today. Without a break, I was attacking fire-elf dolls placed over a round court for hours while paying no attention to the other fairies that were gradually filling the area.

Once again, I stroke another doll. Immediately I turned to the next and this time, I threw my sword as strongly as I could. It hit the elf, sank into the pressed straw and both, the sword and the doll, flew into the air. A few inches away they landed to the feeds of someone.

'If you don't calm down now, Elan, someone will be dead soon', Sean took my blade and placed it out of my reach.

'What happened to you the other day?' now Wynn came, Ren was directly behind him 'Have you seen a ghost? What is wrong with you? You seem messed up very badly. Yesterday you seemed excited and messed up and now, you seem depressed and messed up. And also, you are more quiet than usual since the finals'

'What do you want from me?', I angrily turned away from them.

'If something is wrong, you can tell us', Wynn gently taped my shoulder 'We are one team, remember? Maybe we can help you. Just say it'

I took a deep breath and stopped. Now, I felt guilty.

'Sorry, I didn't mean to shout at you. It's not like I don't want to tell you. It's only very complicated, and I don't know how to explain when I can't get it myself'

Wynn examined me for a moment then he guessed 'It is about Le, right?'

Avoiding their eye contact, I nodded slightly.

'It's ok if you don't want to talk about it now'

'Wynn, our good leader, is right' Sean affirmed 'At the moment. Let's just focus on the training. Tell us later when you're ready'

At noon, when we were all back in our apartment, where we've been living together since our group was formed, I told them about Le. How I saw her in the stadium. And how she acted totally different yesterday when I visited her at the cafe she was working at. And finally, how I realized that she couldn't remember anything.

'Maybe she pretends not to know you because she doesn't want to talk to you', Sean objected.

'No, I don't think it's like this. She even can't remember Mira'

'Wow, that's serious'

'What are you going to do now?', it was the first time, Ren said something.

'I don't know. I want to talk to her again'

'Are you insane? After what happened yesterday?'

'I know, Sean. But I learned from yesterday. I won't meet her alone in the dark again. I will go to the cafe tomorrow afternoon to see her'

'You can't. We have to be at the west coast tomorrow. There are more fire-elves than usual, and Aston said we should support the fairies over there the next days'

Ashton, right. How could I forget? It was yesterday when he announced our next mission, but my mind had been too far away to think about it.

Ashton and Millie were the assistants of Dean, the head of the fairies. Since Dean doesn't show up very often and prefers being alone, the two manage everything for him. And they both could be really scary. You better do what they tell you.

Dean is supposed to be even scarier. But this is only what we've been told since there are few people in our generation who have seen him in person.

'I won't come with you'

'You can't do that. They will punish you surely'

'Wynn is right. If you won't go, Ashton will probably send you to pick fervis-leaves at the Lake Diwet'

'Trust me. This can't be worth it. The slimy water of the lake will stick to your wings. When I got punished, I couldn't fly for three days', Sean was the only one of us who already had experienced a punishment like this.

Fervis-leaves are very important to the fairies' magic, but it was a very filthy and dishonorable task to pick them. So, Millie and Ashton left this work to fairies who disobeyed their order or were naughty.

Sean had to do this because he got into an argument with Blackforce. He does this all the time but back then the situation escalated and after Sean had a serious and dangerous fight with Kai and Morro, the three of them got punished.

'You can go to Le, we can handle it without you' Ren surprised me 'We will talk to the other fairies at the west coast. Maybe Ashton and Millie won't know about you missing'

Sean snorted disparaging 'You mean, Wynn and I will talk to them. When do you ever talk to someone other than us voluntarily?'

'Stop it, Sean. I agree with Ren. We should back Elan up. This is more important than a few fire-elves or a punishment'

'Thank you, guys', I really appreciated that they tried to help me.

'No need to thank us. Just go and get Le back to us'

I smiled after those words, even though I was aware that this wouldn't be easy.

The next day, I was alone in the apartment since the others already left early. It was quite big, and I nervously ran from one end to the other while I was thinking about seeing Le again, today. The flight to Le's home was about two hours. I planned to arrive in the afternoon.

When I was ready to leave, someone knocked against the extensive window. Without permission, this person opened the door next to it and came in. It was Fen.

'Are you going to see them now? I will come with you'

I totally forgot about him. I should have told him that I found Le. As her sister's fiancé, he has the right to know about it. Apparently, he heard about it anyway.

'But', how do I explain this softly? 'Mira isn't with Le. I Haven't seen her, and I don't know, where she is'

'Le can surely tell us'

'Le can't remember her sister'

'What do you mean?'

'She was totally different. She didn't recognize me, nor did she seem to know where she came from'

'Are you serious? Then I have to see her anyway. I want to see it myself'

'Fen, I think, it's better if you stay here. Le was overstrained with seeing me only. If you came too, we might beset her'

'No. I insist on going. No matter what you say. How do you expect me to do nothing when this is the first hint about Mira's missing in two years? You would also want to go if it was Mira who showed up'

He was right, but still…

'Don't you think you need support? Look how nervous you are'

I sighted 'Alright. Come and hurry'

Therefore, we left the village behind us and flew to the coast where Le's house was. The coast was quite the opposite of where the others of my team went today. Many humans lived here because there were barely fire-elves. They mostly attack Amena in the west. In the east, it was quite safe from them. That's why we fairies barely came to this part of the continent since the day elves attacked Amena five years ago.

The weather in Amena was very different each day. Today it was very cold, and I cursed myself for forgetting to wear something warm. This wasn't the only thing that annoyed me during the two hours of flight. Actually, it took more than two hours, because Fen couldn't keep up with me.

Unlike me, he was no physical fairy, as we call those, who are better at fighting and chose the path of working with their body. Fairies like Fen are called mind fairies. They got brains, study magic, and experience new mixtures of herbs.

Most of the fairies chose one of those paths. There were only a few who were good at both. I only knew three of them and one was Le and Mira's mom. But she was already dead.

With half an hour delay, we landed a few streets away. It was to avoid too much attention, which we would get anyway later.

Fen gasped out of breath. His head was red.

'Why couldn't you wait for me?'

I told him with my eyes that he was the one who chose to come.

'As harsh as always. No wonder why Le ran away from you'

'Think about what you are saying. Mira also left you'

His face turned sad 'Right. I'm sorry'

*Leana*

At the moment, the cafe was quite empty. Most people were at school or at work. I myself just came after university. Together with Nim and – unfortunately Kesha - I was a sophomore in the faculty of business administration.

Soon other students would come here to the cafe to learn, while I was working. They all would greet me with pitiful looks and then forget that I was there.

I had to talk to a teacher about my bad grades, that's why I came here late. My uniform was sweaty from the sprint with my bike, and I took a quick shower before I put on the navy-blue clothes with the logo of the cafe.

There were already some people here and Iris urgently needed my help. Everything was quite normal. I even managed to forget the strange encounter with Elan.

I just wiped a table, that was currently left by two women when I noticed that the atmosphere in the room had changed. An awe-inspiring calm settled over the tables. Before I noticed what was happening, people stood up and bowed towards the door.

There were two fairies. The one who stepped into the middle to scan the room was Elan. The other fairy was unknown to me. According to the whispers that rose, no one knew him.

I had the bad feeling, that Elan was looking for me. At least I didn't have to be afraid of him now, with all the people around. Did I? The determination on his face made me doubt.

It was too late to hide. Elan was already coming over to me with quick steps. The other fairy behind him grabbed his arm, Elan noticed his rush and slowed down.

'Is this table free? May we sit down?', Elan asked as if he was a normal customer. He didn't seem to notice or care that everyone in this room was looking at us. Even Iris had stopped working on drinks.

Totally overwhelmed with the situation I noticed only now that I was the only person in this room who hasn't bowed.

I nodded slightly. Then turned away to go back to Iris, noticing later that I forgot the cleaning rag on the table.

'Le'

'Le!'

Iris called my name several times till I noticed her.

'Don't you want to serve our honorable guests?'

'Ah, sure', I think I couldn't avoid them anymore.

'And tell them they can order everything they want. Oh, and they will get it for free, of course'

Why do we have to treat them like this? They are strangers. How could all the humans in this room act like they would do anything for them?

'What do you want?', I asked Elan and the other fairy. I didn't bother to sound friendly.

'I want you to sit to us and talk'

Why does everyone want to talk to me while I'm working? I was annoyed but then I remembered that he tried differently yesterday evening and decided it was better for him to talk to me here. Or not at all.

'This isn't on our menu', I responded to his order.

The fairy sitting next to Elan took a quick look at the board over the counter.

'We will have two cups of coffee'

'But we still want you to sit with us', Elan added quickly.

'Le, please. Listen to him'

First Elan and now this blonde long-haired fairy. I didn't know him. Why did he call me Le?

Who is he anyway? With the simple brown clothes, he looked different that most fairies I have ever seen. He was still majestic but he had not the glamorous aura that comes from Elan or the other fairies I saw at the Supreme-Cup.

Maybe it's because he was no fighter. Maybe he was one of the fairies that produced all the magical things.

'What did they say?', Iris asked immediately.

'They wanted coffee. And ... they wanted me to sit with them.'

'Then, why are you still waiting? Go to them. I will take the orders'

Oh. Why did I tell Iris? Fine, I will sit with them. But only because I wanted to know what they want from me. Seriously, what could a famous person like him, that doesn't even know my existence, want to talk about?

Back to the table, I sat down opposite the fairies.

'Now say it, what do you have to tell?'

*Elan*

I should have known that she was going to ask that question. That's one thing that hadn't changed. Lee had always been very direct.

How should I respond to this? How should I explain that the life she lives now wasn't real? That she had been a completely different person before.

'I'm sorry about yesterday', I started.

After saying this I noticed that Le's attention was less on me than on the people around us, who were now discussing the information that we met yesterday.

'If you feel uncomfortable here, we can talk somewhere where we are alone'

'No!', she said right away. That was a clear answer.

I leaned back when an old woman came to give us three coffees. She winked at Le and told us that we can borrow her as long as we wanted to. I smiled shortly and when she was gone, each of us looked at his cup. Then, Le took hers and drank it in a few seconds.

That's strange. The Le I knew wouldn't be able to do a single sip because the coffee was too hot.

Ok, what know? This conversation is going to be awkward. But then, luckily or not, before I could force myself to say something, Le turned around and focused on the giant television on the wall.

The people around us have gotten louder and everyone was staring at my image.