The wind was blowing strong in Lindworm, and fat raindrops had begun to fall from the cloudy sky.
Plum had been kicked out of Memé’s shop, but she wasn’t about to go back to the graveyard district. Ignoring the fact that her favorite outfit was getting wet, she aimlessly flew around above the roofs of the town, unable to shake the hopeless feeling inside her.
Why?
She wept as she flew, her tears mixing with the rain.
She never had any trouble flying, even in storms, and skillfully dodged bits of wood and debris. Her giant wings could withstand the kind of wind that would send others flying.
Why doesn’t anyone understand me?
Plum bit her lip and closed her eyes. Echolocation allowed her to grasp the shape of the town even better than sight.
A tower appeared in front of her. She landed on the roof in the raging wind.
Whyyy?!
“Beee!” She cried out in anger.
The scream was too high-pitched for most other species to hear. She emitted a sound wave and then listened to it bounce back to get an accurate grasp of the position, distance, and shape of surrounding objects.
But the echolocation of vampires far surpassed that of bats. Vampire vocal cords were made of a tough muscle that could emit hundreds of sound waves per second. This allowed Plum to fly even in heavy rain. The ability was so remarkable that she didn’t fully understand its true power. As far as she knew, echolocation was pretty much the same as hearing. The collection of sounds bouncing back to her gave her a picture of the town, whether or not her eyes were closed. A picture far more accurate than human sight.
“Ugh…”
Plum was wet from the rain, but she didn’t care. “What should I do?”
Even though she could fly in the storm, she had nowhere to go. On top of that, the tiny hairs on her wings were growing heavy with water. Her clothes were sticking to her. She felt gross and desperate. At first, she’d enjoyed the sensation of flying in the rain, but she’d tired of it quickly.
“Ahhh, I can’t do this!”
The best thing would be to see Illy right away and apologize. That’s what Memé wanted, and Plum was sure that apologizing would resolve the fight. But no one was out in this storm except for her.
“I guess I’ll go home.”
Once the storm abated, she would seek out Illy and make up with her. She decided to put off everything until tomorrow and return to the graveyard district. She’d just launched herself off the roof when—
“Umph!”
An extremely thick cloth struck her in the face, covering it. Normally, her sound waves reflected off hard things well, and even echoed against water, but there’d been no echo off of this cloth fluttering in the wind. She hadn’t been able to detect it.
It took her a moment to realize that this was a piece of the heat-shielding cloth being used all over town to counter the unseasonable warmth. But it was no help to her now.
“Aggh! Get out of my face!”
She pulled the cloth off and continued flying. Her eyes had already been closed, so she’d still been able to fly even with her sight obstructed by the thick cloth.
“Aggh?!”
But then she collided with something.
Wh-what?! What just happened?!
Plum opened her eyes. There was a steeple right in front of her. There shouldn’t have been any large structures in Lindworm that didn’t reflect sound.
Unless…could I not hear the echo?!
Vampires had superior vocal cords, but they also had superior ears. Their hearing was important for collecting reflected sounds. But she hadn’t heard them this time. Or perhaps she’d misheard the distance, location, or size. Either way, there was something wrong with her hearing. She tried to maintain control, even though her forehead was bleeding.
Uuugh…I’m going to fall!
The wind and rain were very strong. Even though they could navigate in such conditions, vampires weren’t necessarily the best flyers. Once they lost the right wind, it took time to recover. Moreover, Plum was now dizzy, and in no condition to perform the precise maneuvers required for flying. That was what echolocation was supposed to help with in the first place.
No…this is bad. Am…am I going to die here?
She felt like she was going to fall, and her entire body grew stiff with fear.
“Noo!” she screamed, but it was drowned out by the wind and rain.
Plum had accepted the fact that she was going to fall when she heard a voice on the air.
“Youuu!”
Ouch!
A sharp pain ran through her, but Plum had lost the capacity to care.
“You! What are you doing here? You look like you’re going to fall!”
“Who are you?” Plum moaned.
She’d closed her eyes again, dizzy from the blow to her head. But someone’s voice kept pounding in her brain.
“You’d know if you looked! You’re bleeding! It’s running in your eyes!”
“Hmmm?”
Sometimes, Plum couldn’t really distinguish between her sight and hearing. Sensitivities were different for each species. Dog-like beasts had a heightened sense of smell, lamia could see the world through temperature, and Plum’s world was made from reflected sounds. What she knew at that moment was that some harpy was acting as if this storm was nothing and carrying Plum to safety with her legs.
“Is that you, Illy?”
“Ahh, ugh! Did you finally figure it out?! Don’t worry, we’re going to the clinic!”
“Why…are you…out in this storm?”
“Hmph! Don’t take Lindworm’s top courier for a weakling!”
Illy flapped her wings with remarkable strength. Even without opening her eyes, Plum could tell by the way she rode the wind.
It was beautiful.
Illy was unbearably gorgeous, both inside and out.
“Lucky…” Plum bit her lip as Illy carried her.
“Huh?! Did you say something?!” Illy, with her average hearing, couldn’t pick up the sound of Plum’s voice through the rain.
“It was nothing,” Plum answered brusquely.
The storm kept raging. Plum hoped that Illy would never know of the envy in her heart.