The first time Sapphee met fairies was when she was a small child. It had been at her parents’ home—in other words, in the Neikes Village.
Great masses of medicinal plants were grown in Neikes Village from which to make medicine. One time, when Sapphee was caring for the herb garden, she came across a small fairy. As a child, it took her breath away.
You heard tales of children seeing fairies sometimes. There were even sone adults who’d seen them when they were children. What Sapphee didn’t learn until she was an adult was that she had the ability to tame them. It was all because she could still see them, even after she graduated from the Academy—if you could see fairies, you could make contracts with them.
When Sapphee learned that the clinic needed more man power, she made a contract with the fairies. She gave them one bowl of milk a day and asked them to help out with various duties at the clinic. She remembered how one fairy she’d seen around a lot had seemed to be their leader. He’d held his small fingertip up and touched it to Sapphee’s. That was probably how they’d made the contract official.
After that, Sapphee had done her own research and listened to other fairy tamers in Lindworm to learn how to better care for them.
It really is helpful to have fairies around, Sapphee thought to herself. Though they were small, the fairies seemed to have very deep thoughts. Their speech was childish, and they sometimes ran into misunderstandings, but they were tenacious and dedicated workers, like army ants.
But I’m sure they see the world differently from us.
Fairies were convenient, but she couldn’t rely too much on them. She often heard that from other fairy tamers. They weren’t helping out because they liked humans and monsters, and she had to remember that at all times when making use of them. Sapphee had taken this lesson to heart. That was why, whenever she asked them to do something, she always made sure to show the utmost respect and gratitude.
“Thank you for gathering here, everyone,” she said to all of the fairies lined up in the clinic.
Looking at their formation, she understood something. The fairy who always wore a hat and stood in the front row was gone.
“Something is going on, then…” Sapphee said out loud to herself.
If the fairy leader who always served as their supreme commander was gone, it meant this was a crisis situation. And the clinic really was in a crisis. Something strange had happened to Glenn.
“Yes.”
“That’s right.”
“But we can’t tell.”
“Right.”
“You can’t tell…I understand,” Sapphee accepted.
The fairies were behaving according to their own logic. She was only asking them to do her a favor. Though she had no idea where Glenn’s soul was, she was sure the hat-wearing fairy was working to resolve the situation.
The fairies valued their contract above all else. Their task was to take care of things around the clinic, and they understood that duty to include resolving any problems that clinic ran into.
“Everyone, I’d like to ask you to search for Molly, manager of the Graveyard City. You know her face, right?”
“We know!” answered a fairy, who was probably temporarily filling in as leader. It raised its hand enthusiastically.
It seemed the fairies were sharing knowledge with each other in some way or the other. When one raised its hand, the rest of the fairies present knew what was happening.
“Understood. Please…I’m sure you know more about what’s happening than I do, but—”
“We know!”
“Understand!”
“Leader…dead…”
“No, not dead.”
“Big sacrifice.”
“Glenn dead.”
“No, alive?”
“Was alive?”
“Hey.”
“Good place.”
“Just once.”
“Want to go.”
“No want go!”
“Not alive”
“Alive!”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ask something so complicated,” Sapphee apologized.
Apparently, they could not explain the phenomenon that was occurring with fairy language. Sapphee already understood that. Fairies were not good at verbal communication. However, she still needed their skills to search for the second-generation Molly.
“I trust you. I believe that Glenn will come back—and that you will all help make that happen. Is that acceptable?”
“Okay!” the fairies said in unison.
Sapphee to let out a sigh of relief. Now she could do what she needed to.
“Thank you. Now please, get out there and search for the second-generation Molly,” Sapphee concluded and the fairies dispersed. They still had leadership, even without their commander.
Sapphee was anxious. Could she really bring back something as amorphous as a soul? But Tisalia was currently running around the city, and Arahnia was with Glenn’s body. Sapphee decided that she needed to do something too.
Catching a cloud was no different from employing a fairy. As long as she followed the correct steps, she was sure she could recover a shapeless soul. Most of all…
This is your only home. So I will follow you, Glenn, Sapphee thought as she slithered her snake body out to search for Molly, her heart heavy with love.