Once I heard the characteristic noise of exhaust from a steam engine and the crunch of tires on gravel from outside the window, signaling Charolles’s return, I lit the burner on the Svea and waited. Soon, the faint sound of the temple door opening reached my ears. Following that, the door into the corridor opened and a figure stepped into the moonlight shining in from the window. She wasn’t holding any light, but she still didn’t falter as she approached.
“Isn’t it a bit dark?” I asked.
The faint light from the flames licking the bottom of the pot was just enough to let me barely see Charolles. I was in the same place as the night before, sitting just between the corridor itself and the library. That meant that I served as a bit of a roadblock for her. Charolles crouched down in front of me, the hem of her cape fluttering out to rest over the carpet.
“Beastmen have good night vision,” she explained.
“That’s good. Did you hand it over to Fago?”
“She said that you could have brought it over tomorrow, and that you’re impatient for your age.”
“That sounds like a thanks to me, so I’m all good with that.”
“Life sounds a lot nicer the way you see it.”
“Anyway, good work. Here’s your reward,” I told her, pointing at the pot of water I’d put on to boil.
“Oh my, how did you know that hot water was my favorite?”
“I investigated, of course. Asked all over the place.”
Charolles raised her shoulders in a slight shrug, lifting her left hand from where it’d been resting in her lap, and pointed at me.
“Paula said hi.”
“Not a letdown, was it?” I asked smugly.
Her eyebrows furrowed in apparent unhappiness, but she couldn’t keep up the act for long. Letting out a soft snort, she smiled.
“Definitely not. I’ll admit it. That was...certainly a surprise.”
“Right? It was a shock, yeah?” I leaned forward.
“I don’t think you’d find anyone that wouldn’t have been surprised. It’s not something you’d expect, after all. That dancing was so passionate.”
“Yeah, it was incredible,” I agreed, before adding, “That’s great. It’s not just me misinterpreting things.”
I relaxed at having found someone who shared my opinion on this. I’d been worried that the moving nature of what I’d witnessed and my surprise over it had only been my misunderstanding of something this world saw as commonplace. If Charolles shared my surprise, though, then that wasn’t the case. The shock of Paula’s appearance and dancing crossed worlds.
“Where did you find her?”
“Ah, well, I just happened across her.”
Just as we were getting into a proper conversation, I heard someone clear their throat. I turned around and saw Nito sitting inside the library, reading her book as if nothing had happened.
“You okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine. My throat was just a little dry.”
She hadn’t even looked my way as she spoke, but I figured if she said she was fine, then she must be fine. I looked back at Charolles and carried on.
“There was a chair blocking the road on my way back from the lake,” I explained.
A round of exaggerated, almost pointed, coughing interrupted us a second time.
“You sure you’re okay?” I asked, turning around again, but Nito was still focused on her book.
“I’m fine. Indeed, nothing at all is wrong, no sir.”
“That’s fine, then... You hungry?”
“Hungry? Rather, yes. I’m absolutely famished.”
I paused for a moment, watching her closely.
“You know it’ll be done soon, right?” I asked eventually.
“As fast as possible, if you please?”
“It sounds like there’s an implication in your words there...”
“An implication? That’s impossible. If there were then I’d eat it. After all, I’m famished.”
I wasn’t entirely sure what either of us was talking about at that point, but I was broken out of my thoughts by a quiet laugh. Nito seemed surprised by it too, and looked over at Charolles. I turned back around again to find Charolles laughing, hiding her mouth with a hand as her eyes crinkled up in amusement. It felt like I was witnessing a rare event, like finding the end of a rainbow.