From his shocked expression, Anne realized she and Challe were standing too close. Challe removed his hand from Anne’s back.
“What is it?”
Keith had been staring blankly at the two of them, but Challe’s question seemed to snap him out of it.
“Mithril Lid Pod doesn’t look right,” he told them impatiently. “Both of you, come with me!”
Mithril?!
Challe dashed off, slipping past Keith. Anne followed him out of the lesser hall and into the corridor. Keith was right next to her.
“Keith, something’s wrong with Mithril?!” she asked.
As they ran, Keith answered her, “He was playing a card game with Mr. Hingley. And then he suddenly…”
Keith let his words trail off there, then suddenly continued in a quiet voice, “Anne. Just now, you and Challe…”
“Huh?”
Anne hadn’t heard him very well, but Keith only shook his head.
“No, never mind. Let’s hurry.”
They ran down the long corridor, panting for breath, and rushed into their room.
Challe was kneeling down in the center of the room, surrounded by bunk beds. Kat was standing nearby, looking grim. On top of the side table, cards were scattered about, and Benjamin was sitting in the middle of them.
The other fairy peered down at Challe’s hands with a sad expression. “Challe?! Mithril Lid Pod, is he…?”
Mithril was there, in Challe’s arms. But he lay limply on his side, unconscious. His wing dangled loosely between Challe’s fingers, colorless.
“He’s light,” Challe groaned.
Benjamin hung his head. He sounded despondent, as if he had just realized something awful. “He may be at the end of his life span,” he muttered.
At the sound of Benjamin’s little voice, Anne felt as if she’d been shoved.
The end of his life?!
The world in front of her eyes went dark for a moment, and in that blackness, she recalled the figure of her mother, Emma, lying motionless on her bed.
“Anne!”
She must have stumbled, and Keith caught her and held her by the shoulders. But as soon as he propped her up, she felt the urge to rage against what she had heard.
No, it can’t be! He can’t be dying!
Anne desperately brushed Keith’s arms aside and knelt down beside Challe.
“Mithril Lid Pod!”
After Anne shouted his name, Mithril’s still fingers jerked back to life. Then his eyelids twitched and popped open.
“…Ah. Anne?”
Anne was relieved, but at the same time, the inner corners of her eyes grew hot, and her vision blurred.
“Mithril Lid Pod. You collapsed, and…”
“Collapsed? Ah, oh. Did I…?”
Mithril tried to sit up with a casual look on his face, like always, but there must not have been any energy in his arms, because he was only able to lift his body slightly. Even so, he forced himself to smile.
“Oh no, everyone, I’m sorry I worried you. I just did my job so enthusiastically today that even I—”
“Don’t lie to us!”
Suddenly, Challe shouted at him.
Mithril’s eyes went wide, and he looked up at Challe, who glared back down at him fiercely.
“Do not lie, Mithril Lid Pod. We won’t be fooled any longer.”
Mithril hung his head dejectedly, then flopped down on his back again in Challe’s hands. “…Why are you angry with me?”
“I’m furious. I’m angry because you’ve been hiding something important.”
The room was deathly quiet. No one could say anything.
Looking up at the ceiling, Mithril muttered a few words of confession. “I have a feeling it’s going to be soon. Probably very soon.”
“I’ll make you some sugar candy!” Anne insisted loudly. “Wait here, I’ll make it right away. Then you’ll be okay!”
Mithril looked up at her with a forced smile. “Have you forgotten what Lulu Leaf Lean said? You’re a scarecrow brain as always, huh, Anne? A life that you preserve through sugar candy is only temporary. If I extended my life span by a year by eating sugar candy, the next time I ate the same sugar candy, it would only extend it by half a year. The next time would be three months. Then one month, ten days, three days… It wouldn’t change the fact that I was only putting off the inevitable.”
“That can’t be…,” Anne pleaded with him sadly. “Don’t say things like that.”
Words swirled in her chest like a child throwing a tantrum.
No, no, I don’t want this!
Mithril managed to prop himself up again, and he looked at Challe like he had something to say. Then Challe lowered Mithril’s body gently down onto Anne’s shoulder. Sitting there, Mithril nestled his cheek up close to Anne’s and stroked her hair with his tiny hands.
“Don’t cry, Anne. I… The thing I hated most of all was the thought of you crying over me like this. That’s why I kept quiet about it.”
Mithril had sensed that his life was coming to an end much earlier than this. Anne thought of that early summer night, when she had found him awake by himself in the middle of the night in the Lewiston workshop. He must have already known. And for more than two months, he had been carrying that knowledge alone. All that for the simple reason that he didn’t want to make Anne cry.
“I’m a water droplet fairy, so I’ve always known that a time like this would come one day.”
Mithril’s words pierced her chest.
“But…I’m glad that I met you first, Anne, and Challe Fenn Challe. That’s why, you know, I…didn’t want to make you all cry if I didn’t have to.”
No!
A feeling akin to anger rose within Anne, and she felt like a helpless child. She snatched Mithril off her shoulder with both hands and hugged him to her chest. His small head and body were cool to the touch, and she felt his wing, which was slightly warmer, with her fingertips. Would its warmth disappear, too?
“…No.”
“I used to really hate humans, but…now I don’t think they’re so bad. I was captured by humans and put to work right after I was born, and I thought that living was awful. But after I met Anne, I had plenty of fun. I’m happy that I got to make a friend, even if it was someone like Challe Fenn Challe. The three of us did all sorts of things together and saw so many different sights, and I was really happy. I think I was the happiest fairy in Highland. The very happiest. Isn’t that amazing?”
The thin little voice whispering in Anne’s arms didn’t suit Mithril at all.