I was sleeping peacefully, curled up on the soft sofa, when hurried footsteps echoed from outside of the room, waking me. My senses still dulled, I noticed that someone was speaking.
“Lady Elnea! Why are you sleeping in a guest room?! I’ve been looking for you everywhere! If you’re going to sleep somewhere, at least do it in your own room, I beg of you!” a female voice said. I felt like I had already heard that voice before. Despite being half asleep, I found my attention drawn towards it.
“Why does it matter so much? We seldom have guests over. Should someone of importance arrive, they could easily be accommodated in another chamber,” Elnea replied to the other woman. Judging by the direction from which her voice was coming, she must’ve been standing in front of the door. “More pressing, however, is your evident fatigue. And what of the girl with you? Why is she in tears?”
Now that Elnea mentioned it, there was indeed a girl crying on the other side of the door. “It’s terrible! The Witch of Creation disappeared on our way here!”
“What?!” Elnea exclaimed.
“She disappeared yesterday,” the other woman supplied. “Lord Fauzard has suggested that she might have been taken to the spirit corridor! We have sent a request to the order of chivalry to form a search party and look for her!”
“She is such an important guest, yet we...” Elnea muttered. “My spirits and I shall help you search for her!”
Ugh, they’re being awfully noisy at this hour... I grumbled inwardly in my half-sleeping state as I rubbed my eyes. I stood up from the sofa and made my way to the door.
“Is there something wrong, Miss Elnea?” I asked.
“Oh, have you awakened, child? A guest of ours has disappeared in the forest, and I must go look for them. Can you remain in this room until my return?”
I peered through the door and made eye contact with the two women standing on the other side.
“Ah,” Althea and I said at the exact same time.
Beside her, Teto was crying for me, tears running down her face.
“Morning, Teto, Miss Althea,” I said.
“L-Lady Wiiitch!” Teto exclaimed, throwing herself at me as she cried, sending us both tumbling backward.
✦ ✦ ✦
Taking a good look at Teto, I noticed that there were small cracks on her face. She must’ve cried so much that she had almost no moisture left inside her body. Meanwhile, I had been peacefully sleeping on the comfy sofa of Elnea’s guest room... I couldn’t help feeling incredibly guilty.
“It’s okay, Teto; everything’s okay. Calm down and drink some water, all right?” I said softly.
“Teto is so glad! Teto is so glad you’re okay, Lady Witch!” she bawled.
A couple of feet away, Althea was glaring at Elnea. “Lady Elnea... Please don’t tell me you’re the one who took Miss Chise away!”
“I did not; it is all a misunderstanding. I would never do anything of the sort!” she said, looking at me with pleading eyes, as if she were begging me to back her up.
I felt a bit guilty for her, so I explained the entire situation to Althea.
“I hope Lady Elnea wasn’t too rude to you,” she said when I was done talking.
“Not at all; quite the opposite, actually. She was very kind to me. Although, she did treat me like a child...but I blame my appearance for that,” I replied as I made Teto drink some water I had taken from my magic bag.
“My apologies. I cannot believe she was that rude to the ruler of another nation...”
“I do apologize, but I did not know her identity, so what was I supposed to do? Besides, I am a ruler too,” Elnea grumbled.
“The spirits told you about her, did they not?! How did you not put together who she was?!” Althea demanded, her voice laced with frustration.
“I was aware that she was over ninety years of age, but the spirits do not concern themselves with mortals’ appearances, so I did not know what she looked like. Besides, skilled witches can change their appearances at will. Even if I knew what she was supposed to look like, I could still have been fooled,” Elnea replied defensively.
“But Miss Chise is famous for looking much younger than her actual age,” Althea pointed out.
“I have lived for over two thousand years; such trivial details are hardly worth remembering. Besides, one can discern much about a person’s character upon meeting them, and not a moment sooner. Either way, the spirits led her to me, so all is well that ends well,” Elnea said with a dismissive flick of her hand.
Althea grumbled something too quietly to make out, a discontented expression on her face. I started feeling a bit bad for her.
“Well then, allow me to properly introduce myself to you, child—no, ruler of the Witch of Creation’s Forest. I am Elnea, the queen of the Eltar Forest Kingdom. And this is—”
“Althea. I serve as an aide to Her Majesty Lady Elnea.”
I had pretty much put two and two together when Althea and Elnea were arguing, but Elnea had been the queen of the elves all along, huh?
I decided to introduce myself properly as well. “I’m Chise, from the Witch of Creation’s Forest.”
“Thank you for finding Lady Witch. Teto is Teto,” Teto said beside me, and the two of us lightly bowed in front of the elven queen.
Elnea nodded, a pleased expression on her face. “Chise and Teto. Those are fine names, indeed. Now that I know your name, it would be impolite to keep calling you ‘child.’ Besides, as fellow immortals, our time together looms long into the future. May I call you Chise?”
“I don’t mind, Your Majesty,” I replied.
A cute pout appeared on Elnea’s face. “You do not need to start acting all formal with me,” she said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I do not care for formality. I do, however, have a fondness for cute things.” She extended both hands to pet Teto and me on the head, but stopped herself when Althea cleared her throat behind her.
“Your Majesty,” she whispered harshly.
Elnea reluctantly retracted her hands, a displeased look on her face, although I couldn’t tell if it was because she had been disturbed or because she didn’t like being called by her title.
“Good gracious, you used to be so cute when you were little. How did you come to be as you are now?” Elnea said before proceeding to imitate what I supposed was a young Althea crying.
The real Althea turned as red as a tomato. “Please stop talking about my childhood! It’s embarrassing!” she squeaked.
She had been so calm and composed while we were traveling, it was interesting to see her losing her cool like this. It also gave me a glimpse into the nature of her relationship with Elnea.
“You two may use this room,” Elnea told Teto and I. “Now, there is one last thing that caught my eye...”
She lowered her gaze to the spirit lantern hanging from Althea’s hip.
“Long time no see, high elf queen. Are you well?” Fauzard asked.
“I am as I have always been. Leaving that aside, I could not help but notice that intriguing lantern you are staying in.”
“Lady Witch has made it for me. It allows me to replenish my power, so it is quite handy.”
Judging by how familiar Fauzard and Elnea were around each other, I surmised that they must’ve known each other before he was abducted. Well, I supposed it wasn’t too surprising; Elnea had mentioned being over two thousand years old earlier, and Fauzard’s contractor used to live in the elves’ forest. It wasn’t that far-fetched to think that they must’ve met before at some point.
The two of them kept up the small talk for a bit until a saddened look appeared on Elnea’s face. “Apologies, Fauzard. We noticed your disappearance, but you eluded us for all this time,” she said.
“It is a thing of the past,” Fauzard replied dismissively. “More importantly, have you located my contractor’s next of kin? Can I meet with them?”
Elnea nodded, her lips curled up into a small smile. “We have. Per your request, we will organize a meeting between you and her in the next few days.”
“I shall wait,” Fauzard replied.
“Chise, Teto, you two can stay in this room and get some rest until the day of the meeting,” Elnea told us before she bid us adieu, Althea and Fauzard in tow, leaving only Teto and I in the room.
“Lady Witch...” Teto hiccuped between her sobs. She was still clinging to me, refusing to let go. “Teto doesn’t want you to disappear ever again.”
“I won’t,” I reassured her softly. “I’m so glad nothing happened to you.”
“Teto did her best!”
She told me about how she and Althea had traveled nonstop for an entire day and night on Althea’s sleipnir in hopes that they’d arrive as soon as physically possible.
“Teto wanted to start looking for Lady Witch right away, but Teto thought, ‘What would Lady Witch do?’ and decided to listen to Miss Althea,” she told me.
“You did very well, Teto,” I praised her. “You made the right decision.”
A smile finally appeared on her face, and she fell asleep in my arms.
I was incredibly grateful to Althea for stopping Teto from looking for me in the forest and getting herself lost in the process, as well as to Elnea for coming to find me after I got teleported to the spirit corridor. If it weren’t for them, who knew how much time would have passed before Teto and I could have been reunited?
I mentally thanked them as I combed Teto’s hair, waiting for her to wake up.