Northern Britannia: Deep within a remote forest, a late spring arrived.
The sound of the waterfall, heavier with the winter thaw, roared in the distance.
Animals that had been hibernating in the dirt and cavities in the trees were finally starting to emerge.
The forest was growing denser with greenery with each passing day. A small shadow flew through the verdant woods, lightly touching the glistening sunlight filtering through the trees.
It was a young fairy boy—Harlequin.
“Oh, these look good, too.” He flew down to the root of one of the trees and plucked a cluster of mushrooms. “This area has a lot of mushrooms.”
Looking around, he saw many types spreading their colorful caps in the shade of rocks and on rotten trees.
“As I thought, this area must always be damp because of the waterfall nearby. The ventilation here isn’t very good, either. It hasn’t been long since I last saw these shrubs, but they’re growing rampant…” Muttering to himself, he tossed mushrooms into the basket he held in his hand one-by-one.
“Okay, I think this should just about do it. And next…Oh, that’s right.”
He easily flew up, peeking into the empty dens in a few locations higher up in the forest, and found a small bird’s three newly laid eggs.
“I’m sorry.” Apologizing softly, Harlequin picked out one of the eggs.
The Fairy Clan ate neither eggs nor meat. It wasn’t that those foods were inedible for them, but they didn’t have the custom of cooking with fire, so it was normal not to eat those foods.
So why did Harlequin take the bird’s egg?
“Harlequin!”
As he heard his name called, heavy, threatening footsteps made the forest trees shake.
From the other side of the grove appeared a giant.
She was still a child, the equivalent of a young human girl who was not yet ten years old. Dark brown hair hung down to her shoulders. Her clothes consisted only of scraps cobbled together from bearskins, which she wrapped around her body.
“Hey, Diane. How’s it going?”
“I got lots!” The giant girl called Diane smiled triumphantly, then raised the three wild boars she was holding in her hand to show him. “How about you, Harlequin? What did you get?”
“These. But it’s not much compared to you.” Harlequin raised his basket with a smile of his own.
“Oooh, an egg, an egg! That’ll taste great in the mushroom soup!” Even though for this giant girl, the small bird’s egg was only the size of her pinky nail, she excitedly jumped up and down. Each time she jumped, the nearby trees shook.
“All right, let’s eat!”
“Okay.” Harlequin floated up into the air, following Diane, who had started walking off.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Diane, has your fever gone down?”
They were atop a hill on the outskirts of the forest. A large boulder covered the stump of a giant tree, which was rotted hollow. Inside the hollow was their den.
Harlequin had asked while they were eating, and Diane laughed, amused. “I’ve been over it for a while now. Harlequin, you’re such a worrywart. That was a while ago.”
Not long ago, Diane had had a high fever from a cold and been on the verge of death.
“Since the Fairy Clan doesn’t get sick, we don’t understand health very well.”
“Must be nice to not get sick. Then, do you not die?” Diane sunk her teeth into the whole roasted wild boar, chewing loudly.
“No, if we’re severely injured or something, we die.” Saying so, Harlequin’s expression turned brooding. “If we’re severely injured…we die.”
“What’s wrong?” Diane looked at him. Harlequin, surprised, forced a smile.
“Sorry. It’s nothing.”
“Did you remember something?”
“No, that’s not it. I felt like I was about to remember something, though. But now it’s gone.”
“If that’s the case, you might have died back then. I’m glad you didn’t.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Thanks.”
The two smiled at each other.
Once, Diane had rescued Harlequin when he was injured and fallen on the ground.
Both the Fairy Clan and the Giant Clan have very long lifespans, so their sense of days was different from humans’. Diane and Harlequin no longer accurately remembered how many years ago that had happened. It may have been decades ago—or even a century ago.
And from the shock of his fall, Harlequin had lost his memories.
All he could remember was that he was a member of the Fairy Clan, and that his name was Harlequin.
Sometimes he had dreams.
A giant tree stretching into the sky. Rainbows straddling the branches. The deep forest spreading out all around.
Blooming flowers. Mushrooms larger than he was tall. Ivy entwining with the trees.
And the small figures who flew among that scenery, flickering their colorful wings.
He was most likely seeing the Fairy Realm and his friends.
Yet, as befitting something that happens in a dream, every time he tried to grasp the scene, it vanished.
Harlequin actually didn’t have wings. Even the clothes he wore was different from what the fairies in his dream wore. Harlequin’s own attire was similar to what humans wore, but he had no idea as to why that might be.
But he felt that he was a fairy, as much as he felt he was male.
However, it wasn’t just his own history that he was in the dark about.
He also didn’t know much about Diane’s past, though she lived with him.
The Giant Clan was said to be the first of the clans born in Britannia. They were known to have an affinity with the earth and wielded its power as their own. But as a result of their strong fighting spirit and tendency to seek out battle, they didn’t often mingle with other races and lived secluded in their isolated villages—supposedly.
Though she was young, Diane wielded great magical power. By all rights she probably should have been training in a Giant Clan village as a potent prospective military asset. So Harlequin wondered what had driven her to live in this place all alone.
But he never asked.
He thought it might be a sad story.
He also thought it was unfair to ask someone about themselves when he couldn’t talk about himself in return.
Right now, the two of us are living well just by ourselves. Isn’t that good enough? he thought.
✦ ✦ ✦
But there were times.
Sometimes, something ached in the depths of his heart.
✦ ✦ ✦
Wasn’t there something that I was supposed to do?
Is it okay to be living like this, thinking only about my own happiness?
✦ ✦ ✦
Sometimes, a girl named Elaine would appear in his dreams.
She was a pretty young girl with bright blond hair, in a white dress.
Sometimes a boy named Helbram appeared too.
Elaine didn’t have wings and Helbram did, but there was no mistake that they were both fairies.
He believed Elaine was his younger sister and Helbram was a close friend.
Elaine, sometimes angry and sometimes sad.
Helbram, always smiling.
Somehow, he had the feeling that those two had a lot to do with why he was here.
But when he tried to think about that more, the connection disappeared like a fog burning away.