A little Rita x Estelle fluff, somewhat minor spoilers until clearing Caer Bocram.

I don't know if the characters actually can wink or not, apart from Raven. His Crisis Rain -Mystic Arte's cut-in has him winking. w

Super short paragraphs due to a request. I'm just used to writing one paragraph and starting a new one when a pause just comes naturally. That's the way I was taught to write, anyway...


A sudden noise from a bush nearby caused Rita to snap back to reality.

Right as she turned to see the cause, Repede and Karol dashed from the thicket, Karol laughing. Repede did not look unhappy either, as far as Rita could tell from a mutt, anyway.

The two ran off and the mage shook her head. She turned to look back in the direction she had been gazing into before; Estelle sitting near the group's tents, in her usual graceful style.

Before, she had been reading a book Rita had got her the last time they visited Aspio, but now the book was closed and lying on her lap. The princess appeared to be observing something, and Rita followed the direction she was gazing in.

Not too far from the place Estelle was sitting in, the mage noticed Judith and Raven standing and supposedly talking. The old man was being lively as usual, arms swinging around and expression changing every two seconds.

Rita paid him no mind, but wondered what the two were talking about; Judy was facing away from her, so her actions were not much help. Rita decided it didn't really matter, and turned back to the pink-haired maiden.

The mage was very confused to find Estelle scrunching her brow, relaxing it again, once more scrunching and then to normal, but with a slightly unhappy expression. Rita couldn't begin to guess why she would do that, and left her post leaning against a tree to walk toward the princess.

At the last moment she dodged Repede who dashed past her, cursed after the dog and continued on to Estelle, who had noticed her approaching when she made a fuss about the dog.

Estelle smiled as Rita stopped right next to her. "Hi Rita!" she greeted before the mage could say anything. Rita had gotten used to the slightly older girl's constant cheerfulness and answered appropriately. "Hi, Estelle."

The mage took a pause and looked at the forest ground full of leaves. "Hey, what were you doing just now?" she then asked, straightforward. Estelle blinked. "Ah?"

Rita scratched her head. "You know, you were frowning just now. Is something wrong?"

The pink-haired princess tilted her head, and then her face lighted up.

"Oh, that! I was just watching Raven and Judith, and I noticed Raven winking at her… I wanted to try it too", she explained.

Rita was a little surprised. "You wanted to… wink? But why?"

Estelle smiled. "I… don't know. It just seemed fun, and I had never tried it… But it was really hard…" the princess said.

Rita gently snorted. "Yeah, you were just scrunching your both eyes." The mage sat down and Estelle moved her dresstails out of the way.

"I just couldn't get just one eye to close… Ah! You can do it, Rita?" Estelle shouted when Rita slowly closed just one of her eyes.

The pink-haired girl leaned forward and the mage felt her cheecks get slightly warm. "Ah, eh, yeah… I didn't really think it was anything special…" she stuttered as Estelle looked right into her eyes.

"Teach me, too!" the princess asked her. "Huh? I, I don't really know how…" Rita stammered in surprise, but the pleading look on Estelle's face was too much for her. "Gah! Alright, alright… Just don't blame me if it doesn't work."

Estelle leaned back a bit and sat straight as the mage wondered how such a thing could be taught.

"Blinking is one of those things you do instictively, and both eyes are linked in it, so it's perfectly natural to only get both closing at the same time. So instead of sending a signal to close both eyes, you'd need to send it for just one eye… Or maybe a closing signal for the other…? But I'm not sure those things can be just changed…" Rita blabbered as she thought on it.

The other girl waited patiently. "Maybe you could try closing both, and then opening just one eye?" "Oh, yes!"

Rita watched the pink-haired girl close her eyes and slowly open both, notice they were both open and try again several times.

Estelle scrunching her face in concentration, her expression getting slightly more frustrated each time… Rita found herself unable to look away. Estelle's delicate eyebrows, her honest eyes…

In her concentration, the princess didn't even notice Rita leaning forward before the mage gently touched her chin and neck.

At first, Estelle's eyes widened in mild surprise, but the she closed them and answered the shy kiss. Rita felt the soft lips on hers, and felt her cheeks get red.

Suddenly, they both heard some footsteps getting closer.

Rita immediately drew back, her face very close to the shade of her jacket. Estelle also sat back straight, not quite as embarrassed as Rita but rather chirpy, giggling a little and smiling at the mage, was looking at the ground as if an extremely interesting Blastia had just appeared there.

Soon, Judith appeared before the girls. "What's up?" she asked, as though she was expecting them to share some great secret.

"Nothing." "Practise", Rita and Estelle immediately answered. Judith looked at Rita, still insisting there was something on the ground, and Estelle who first looked at Rita, confused, and then turned to Judy when the Krityan spoke.

"Oh? What kind of practise?" she smirked, but Estelle was focused on the practise she'd been doing. "I was trying to learn to wink, but it's really hard… Do you have any advice, Judith?" the pink haired-girl innocently asked.

Judith tilted her head. "I really don't know… Isn't it one of those things that you either can do, or will never learn to do?" the Krityan cheerfully said, and winked.

"Ah! You can do it too…" Estelle yelled, and then pouted a little. "…are you sure? I'd really want to try it, too…"

"Don't worry about it, Estelle. It's not much use anyway." Judith cheered up the princess, and winked again as she added: "And you got Rita anyway."

The tall woman turned, and happily walked away as abruptly as she had shown up. Estelle watched her disappear into the thicket across the small clearing, and Rita snorted after her.

'Meddlesome Krityan…' the mage thought, and flinched when she felt something on her hand. Looking to her side, she saw Estelle's white-clad hand gently placed on hers.

"Thanks for trying anyway, Rita. About trying to teach me", the princess said, and Rita blushed a little. "…no problem." They sat still for a short while, Rita building up her courage.

Finally, she whispered three words to the person who meant more to her than anything else.

"…Anything for you."