They started work at the same time each day, so all the fairies had already assembled in the workshop. Noah had been with the other fairies since breakfast, and now he was waiting inconspicuously in a spot a little removed from the group.
The program for the day was to knead the silver sugar, then work on stretching out the dough. Anne and the others would assess the fairies’ sense for handling the silver sugar by watching them knead it while evaluating how nimble they were at using the tools.
Just like the two previous days, the fairies split up between the workbenches, and the crafters distributed the silver sugar. Noah was at the same workbench as Allele.
Soon, they began to knead.
Anne, Keith, and Kat split up and walked around, threading their way between the workbenches to watch the fairies. In addition to evaluating the fairies’ skills, they instructed them on how to use their hands and how to add the right amount of water.
But the fairies seemed bored repeating the same actions without any other goal in mind. Their movements were sluggish, crude, and perfunctory. Among them, only Noah looked intently at his work.
Under his hands, the luster of his silver sugar increased before their eyes. The pure-white, powdery sugar stuck together and gave rise to a smooth sheen. The fairies around him noticed and stared in spite of themselves.
“You’re good at that,” one of them mumbled. He sounded impressed, which must have embarrassed Noah, because he blushed and hung his head.
“Oh, no, I’m…still pretty bad at it.”
One of the fairy women peeked over at Noah’s hands from the workbench behind him.
“Nonsense. That’s very pretty. It looks delicious,” she said, sounding almost spellbound. Anne thought she remembered the fairy woman’s name—Emere Torte Ray. Her eyes were a unique color and had a golden brilliance to them.
Noah grew even redder at Emere’s praise, and his smallish wing twitched energetically, its lavender shine growing stronger.
Seeing this, Emere broke into pleasant, high-pitched laughter. “My, how cute. The boy’s face is red.”
“D-d-don’t say that…”
Gazing gently at Noah as he panicked, Emere mumbled, “Maybe once I become as good as that, I’ll get my wing back like you.”
Anne, who had been walking around among the fairies, heard their exchange, and her mood brightened. Perhaps Noah’s presence would change the mood in the workshop for the better. But just as that hope began to blossom in her chest, another fairy spoke.
“So you learned how to put on a nice show, and the humans returned your wing as a reward?”
Anne was startled to hear Allele cut in, his voice oozing with contempt as he sneered at Noah.
She turned around and saw that, without anyone noticing, Allele had approached Noah and gotten right up in his face. Noah froze. He looked like he’d been slapped.
“You may have gotten back your wing, but are you really free?” Allele continued. “Look at you now, working just as the esteemed humans want you to, acting however they ask. Do you think that’s freedom?”
“Allele! Noah is a candy crafter just like us!” Anne said, raising her voice and moving toward them. “Don’t insult him!”
When they heard her, Keith and Kat noticed and hurried over. They glared at Allele, but the fairy was calm.
“Insult? But isn’t that what you told us?”
“What did we tell you?” asked Kat.
“You said you’d give us back our wings once we became candy crafters. How is that different from learning to put on a show for a reward?”
For a moment, Anne’s breath caught in her chest. The looks on Keith and Kat’s faces changed, too.
He’s right.
They understood the truth of Allele’s words.
Anne had forged ahead, thinking only of how she could help fairies inherit the techniques of their people and create a foothold for their relationship with humans to change. But she hadn’t communicated these things to the fairies at all. So it was inevitable they would think the humans were only using their freedom as bait to get them to work.
Anne recalled something Challe had said to her when they had first met.
“You want to be my friend? The kind of friend who holds my life in her hands?”
This was exactly the same.
Anne went pale and fell silent. Even if she said that wasn’t her intention, it wouldn’t change the reality of the situation. What’s more, she and the other humans knew what they were doing wasn’t right.
They knew what they ought to do, morally speaking. But because they couldn’t choose that path, they had no choice but to find an alternative. How could they convince the fairies if they, too, felt this was wrong?
“…I…”
A feeble voice answered Allele, filling in for Anne. It was Noah.
His hands were clasped together, and he was trembling. He was shaking from anger at being insulted, and at the same time, he was probably hurt to hear such words from a fellow fairy. Nevertheless, he looked Allele directly in the eye.
“I could have gone anywhere… Once I got my wing back, I could have gone wherever I pleased. But I didn’t. That was because I regretted that I had never been able to do anything for the ones I cared about. I wanted to learn to do something for others, and I settled on making sugar candy. I joined a human candy making workshop and trained alongside them. I chose where I wanted to go, and I went. And even if I abandoned the job and ran away, the humans here wouldn’t say a thing. I am free!”
Noah shouted those last words, then hung his head.
Anne stepped up beside him and put her arm around his shoulders. “I’m so sorry, Noah. This wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t asked you to come here…”
Noah raised his head and smiled. “It’s okay,” he said.