The afternoon sun gave the barest hints of warmth to Magnolia. Passing townsfolk glanced at Lyla and Laura's way at the sight of their torn and beat of outfits. Sorren led the way to a tailor where they could get better conditioned and warmer clothes. He took them to a part of town neither of them had visited. There were fewer townspeople, which made a much quieter and peaceful part of Magnolia.
The tall buildings were bright and clean with winter flowers decorating some window sills. They approached a small section of shops. One sold and made shoes, the other sold varying forms of art. On the corner, Lyla noticed a blacksmith's shop.
Sorren stopped them at the glass door of a small tailor's shop. The rounded sign above had skillful and elegant writing carved in. "Colander's Designs," It read. In smaller print beneath it read, "Mending And Making Fashion For All".
Laura groaned, her arms crossed. Sorren's face twisted with discontent. He opened the door and the jingling of a little bell rang out. Lyla walked through first, Sorren and Laura followed suit.
The shop was small yet cozy, filled with warm-colored wood and smooth, polished stone flooring. Mannequins shaped like women, men, and children were displayed by the large rectangular windows that opened the shop a little more. They all wore outfits with fashion fitting many tastes. The wooden walls were decorated with paintings full of bright colors.
With no response for a while, Sorren turned back to the silver bell at the door. He stood on his toes and flicked it to jingle it again.
"I'm coming!" A young man's voice called from the back. A white curtain covered the top half of the doorway separating the shop from the employees' workspace. Lyla watched the man's legs walk towards them. His head pushed through the curtain and it fell behind him. He looked up with a bright smile, then suddenly displeased to see Sorren.
"Oh." He said and went back to the sketchbook in his hand. His fingers were covered in pencil lead. Lyla and Laura stood there awkwardly, exchanging looks.
Sorren cleared his throat and the man looked up, this time noticing the young women in front of him. "Oh!" He exclaimed. "You didn't warn me you were bringing friends!"
The man snapped his sketchbook closed and placed it and the pencil on the end table next to the doorway. He brushed long brown hair behind his ear. There was a red ribbon tying back a fraction of it while the rest stuck out all over.
"I thought Mom would have told you…" Sorren spoke unenthusiastically while the man collected a notebook and pencil from the shelf against the wall.
"She did. Though she said you'd bring a friend along with you."
"I did. I brought a friend and… her friend."
Lyla sighed. It would take some work to get past that. "I'm Lyla," she said and glanced at her plain cloth gloves. He probably wouldn't be offended if she kept it on. She held her hand out to the man. He turned from the shelf, looked at her hand, and shook it. Lyla gently brushed the excess lead away.
"I'm Tairal. Sorren's older brother."
"By two years," Sorren added.
"Sorry, who's the one with a stable income?"
Lyla let Tairal soak up whatever battle he won before saying, "Sorren's told me a bit about you. Said you worked in this shop by yourself."
Tairal leaned against the wall with a smile. "I don't have the money to hire anyone. Though after your orders that might change." He approached Laura.
He wore a casual green shirt with rolled-up sleeves, blue pants, and simple brown shoes. Quite plainly dressed compared to the mannequins. He bent forward slightly and held out his lead-covered hand to Laura. She glanced around with her body tense. Tairal looked at his hand and immediately recoiled it behind his back.
"I'm sorry. I should have cleaned my hands." He straightened up and opened the notebook in his other hand. "What will you ladies want? I can stitch up your old outfit or make something new," he said, "I could even add something extra to your current outfits. A few colors here and there wouldn't hurt."
"We'd like new outfits. Something warmer." Lyla said.
"Ah~ Of course! For the coming winter! Smart." He hurried to the curtain, "Allow me to collect some things. It shouldn't take long!" And disappeared behind it.
The three wizards all looked at each other. Sorren opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't find the words and shrugged the conversation away. He walked to the curtain, taking Tairal's sketchbook with him.
Lyla walked around, peering through the clear windows. She could see the painter across the street taking a large canvas outside for display. She could see their signature at the bottom corner. The paintings in the Tairal's shop had the same signature. Then she wondered if the jewelry on the mannequins were made by the blacksmith.
Flowers were hanging from the ceiling, all bright and colorful in contrast to the rest of the room. A lovely little trick Tairal had up his sleeves. All of the colors would stand out against the browns of the building, catching a passerby's attention. He had only the one sign outside, so it made sense.
Lyla turned back to check on Laura. Tairal walked in at the same time. He looked at her and waved, then walked up to stand right behind Laura. He started talking to her.
At the angle she stood at, Sorren's legs poked out from under the curtain. Lyla snuck inside and saw him leaning against a messy desk over papers, paints, and other art supplies. Beside her were shelves stuffed with sketchbooks several years old. They progressively became younger reaching the top of the shelf.
"Hey, Lyla." Sorren greeted, rubbing his face.
"'Sup." She watched him for a moment, "You doing okay?"
"Huh? Oh." He stood up and slid his hands in his pockets. "I'm doing fine! Fine! I'm just a little stressed."
Lyla halfheartedly chuckled and shifted her weight. "I think we all are."
She looked around. The walls were flooded with sketches of outfits and patches of different colors of cloth. Color schemes were pinned next to monotone sketches. The painted ones had droplets of color stains outside the lines. On Tairal's desk stood a lamp and a box full of art supplies all thrown in together.
Sorren sat on the small clear patch on the wooden desk and flipped his legs over to the other side. He slid open a drawer and shuffled through what sounded like papers and a few heavier objects. He stopped when finding what he was looking for and took out a wrinkled and old paper. He laughed and motioned for Lyla to come closer.
"Okay," He started pointing at each poorly drawn character, "That's our Mom and Dad. Then the one standing next to Dad is Yasu. That's Ruka, Tairal, then that's me."
"So I guess this blob is Uragi?"
"Yep! Tairal drew this when we were all still pretty young. Yasu wasn't even in high school yet."
Judging by their heights, Yasu was the oldest. Sorren would tell her their names, but never their order of birth. He went on about what Yasu was doing now; He was the one who left to train to be a doctor and later work towards getting a medical license. He still wrote to each brother individually and their parents. "They always have some health facts. Mostly food-related stuff to help Mom and Dad at the butchers. He'll write other stuff for the rest of us." Sorren explained.
"What does he write for you?" Lyla asked.
Sorren paused, leaning away from her, "He always tells me to stop drinking…"
She hit him. "Good! You should listen to him!"
"Ay! I do better than when I first started drinking." He rubbed his shoulder where she hit him. "You would always find me in some strange place in town. Every morning it was a search." He said, "One time I woke up in a stranger's chimney covered in soot. Another time I was in the middle of the woods over there." He nodded his head in the direction where Lyla's house would be. "Another time I was… in the river." He blushed
Lyla giggled at the mental image of sorren covered in soot in some stranger's chimney. Sorren put the drawing back and slid off of the desk. He dropped into Tairal's chair and kicked his feet on the spot on the desk he just left.
"Sorren!" Tairal griped, moving the curtain so his head could pop through. Laura walked through the doorway and took in the apocalypse of papers.
"What?" He ignored the glare his brother threw towards his feet and the glance towards Lyla. "I had to show that old picture you made of us." The teen rolled her eyes at the obvious discord between them.
Tairal couldn't keep eye contact with anyone. "Please, come back to the front."
Sorren jumped up, a crooked smile on his face as he happily hopped away. Tairal shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. He took a deep breath and clapped his hands together. "Measurements! I hope you don't mind but I need to make sure your outfits will fit, of course."
Lyla volunteered to go first. He got a roll of measuring tape and set his notebook on his desk. They stood close enough to it for him to lean over and scribble down notes. While he measured her, he asked many questions. She answered honestly since they luckily weren't too personal. Simple things like profession, past times, favorite part of the job, favorite places to spend her time and why.
Once he finished, he had two pages worth of notes. There was another two and a half when he finished with Laura. Lyla had to nudge her sometimes to answer.
"I'd like to thank you, Lyla, Laura," Tairal said after tearing out their pages, "I'll get to work on your new clothes immediately. They should be done in about two days."
Lyla's eyes widened. It normally took a lot longer than that. He must have a base ready at least. Tairal noted her surprise.
"It's been slow. Spring's usually my busiest time," he explained. "Things will pick up soon, though."
"Not to mention he sleeps in here!" Sorren called from the front of the shop. Tairal visibly struggled to not do something about it. A vein twitched in his forehead as he clenched his jaw.
He breathed deeply and sighed before smiling. "I'll see you then. It's been pleasant to have you two around."
Lyla thanked him and walked out.
"I hope we can chat more, Laura. Do you like seafood?"
"Tairal, stop flirting! She's too rude to be your girlfriend." Sorren called back. Lyla chuckled as she passed through the curtain. "Let's go. We have two days to waste."
The group bid a farewell and left the shop. Sorren, leading the way, spun around and asked, "Anyone hungry? There's a restaurant not too-"
"Let's go to the bakery!" Lyla exclaimed. Sorren raised an eyebrow. Before he could oppose, Laura followed Lyla to the bakery they would always go to.
The town quickly became rowdy once again. Sorren greeted some folks he knew as they passed each other, Laura stayed close to Lyla, and Lyla tried not to look too excited for sweets. She swung open the bakery's door and greeted the baker. He smiled and already hurried to retrieve their usual. Lyla came into the bakery way too often. She was going to miss it when she was out of town.
There were a few customers, but not too many. Sorren found a table. Lyla took the small plates of baked goods. As she thanked the man, Laura leaned over her shoulder and whispered, "Get the pound cake."
Lyla happily ordered that as well. They gathered their goodies and hurried to the table. Sorren watched them as they quickly scarfed down their meal.
"I'm all one for sweets," Sorren said, "but for lunch? Seriously?"
Lyla told him, with a full mouth, "It's our money! Let us use it how we please!"
He held his hands up in mock surrender and leaned back in his chair. Lyla pushed a slice of pound cake towards him. He glanced at it, then her. She pointed to Laura.
"Her idea," she mumbled around her food.
Laura whipped her head up and glared at Lyla, who couldn't help but laugh. Laura had bread crumbs and icing smeared on the bottom half of her face. Sorren wheezed from attempting to prevent laughing along. She shot a look at him before straightening her posture and cleaning her face as she finished her eating.
"You fucking assholes…" She murmured.
"You love us," Lyla teased.
"Only you, and that's debatable."
"Come on, don't lie."
"Don't worry. The feeling is mutual." Sorren glared at Laura, who readily returned it. Lyla smacked them both upside the head.
"Geez, you two. What are you so hostile about? You're almost as bad as permafrost and charcoal."
"We are not!" They snapped in unison. Lyla laughed as they started yelling at each other. Nobody spared a glance at the loud trio. The behavior became expected from Fairy Tail wizards.
Before a fight could break out, Lyla convinced them to call it a day and go home. Sorren took his slice of pound cake and walked home, waving goodbye to Lyla. She did the same and walked beside Laura to their house.
The majority of the journey had no words spoken between them. They left the stone buildings behind and approached the lonely house just before the treeline. The noon sun had grown warmer than the morning, but the chill wind still made Lyla shiver. She would simply have shifted back into her bed if Laura didn't walk beside her.
"I have a question."
Lyla turned to Laura, motioning for her to continue.
"What were you and that bitch talking about?"
She clenched her fist, reliving how good it felt to punch Lahar. "About simple stuff," she said. "'Leave my friends alone.' and things like that."
Laura watched her for a moment, slowly directing her attention to their house as they neared it. Lyla kept in her sigh of relief. Laura knew she was partly lying. She always knew. Not only from years of living together but being able to hear her change in heartbeat.
Lyla tightened her fists, wanting to sleep until next week. They arrived at the front door. She unlocked it and walked in first, hurrying up the stairs.
"Lyla."
She ground her teeth and paused.
"Shouldn't we…" Laura trailed off. "We ran into Brain on Nirvana. You could get more energy from Nirvana's magic. I was fighting Cobra and…"
Lyla continued upstairs, "I regained my magical energy. And you're saying we should train?"
"Our new abilities, yes." Laura followed her. Lyla took her to the attic ladder and climbed into her room. She sat on the side of her bed and pulled off her boots. Laura seemed intrigued by the metal-wired wheel of knives on the wall. Lyla remembered that Laura hadn't been inside her room yet.
Lyla jumped up and leaned against the wall.
"Cool collection. Did you pick this up after we got separated?"
The younger girl nodded. She took a handle of the wheel and spun it around. "It took some time to install it all. I had a much bigger one when working for the council." She grabbed a knife as it passed by and unsheathed it, revealing a pure white blade with a golden hilt. She began performing basic knife tricks.
The glorious wheel spun slower into a stop. It had built-in metal sheaths on its circumference and clips to keep dozens of other knives on the inside. It vertically took up the whole wall.
"When I left, I had to sell a few. None of them were too important." Lyla rolled the wheel in search of her knife's sheath. She took one closer to the center and examined it. "This has some magical energy. I can practice my magic absorption thing with this." She said before falling onto her bed.
"But what about me?" Laura asked.
"Well, what can you do?"
"Basically, I can read minds."
Lyla stared at her in surprise. She snorted and began laughing, "We're pretty fucked up, huh?"