CHAPTER 3: THE FLOWER AND HER KNIGHT IN BLUE

Lidelle shivered in the cold morning air, gold decals on the arches and walls peering back at her just as cold, as she knocked on one of the two grand, wooden doors leading into the castle library–the most likely place where the young lord of House Salwin would be found.

It was terrifying how this child her age–just barely having turned thirteen years old–could possibly have been set on track to inherit the title of Marquis of Salwin, which was something the horned maid-girl could never hope to even dream of. Though according to rumors from before she was in House Salwin's employ, recently there had been a strange decade-long gap where House Salwin remained leaderless after the reigning marquis' even stranger disappearance previous; with no heir, and the next qualified candidate–Lemres–having uncharacteristically sternly declined the offer, Archmage Accord had chosen Klug, Lemres' junior and friend.

And that was why the esteemed Lord Klug had almost zero honor nor status to his name because almost quite literally, nobody knew about him prior to a few weeks ago.

Lidelle didn't know much about him, or the history of this kingdom's nobility, either. Such knowledge was inaccessible to her before working as a servant for Klug. To be fair, however, nobody but Lemres and the girl named Feli who locked herself into the confines of the castle cellar day in and out knew of his existence prior to the announcement of his starting the bloodline of Salwin over again; apparently, he had some kind of relation to the previous marquis, but that wasn't made known to the public, including her.

Apparently, apparently, apparently.

The elfish girl did not like to pry into the business of others but walking along the castle's many halls, walls, and corridors had given her the unwilling opportunity of listening to the nobles' gossip of everything and anything as she passed by them with tea and snacks. "Apparently" and "I heard" were the most common phrases she'd hear. Recently, it was something about a party and an arranged marriage.

Knock, knock, knock.

The sound of a wooden door towering over her tiny figure echoed throughout the balcony and the rooms below, the girl trembling before the high-pitched voice of her master about to respond.

No answer—but fiendish giggling from behind the doors.

Lidelle stood frozen in fear, knowing exactly what Klug was doing at a time like this to elicit such laughter at an early time and she did not want to be right upon seeing for herself. Slowly, she knocked on the door another five times, this time more quietly, and his voice came out from behind.

"Come in! You'll be glad you did at such a time!"

Lidelle pulled open the door from its golden handle slightly taller than she with one hand, stabilizing fine clothes in her other, and approached the snickering Lord Klug, his glasses reflecting the bright white sunlight peeking out from grey clouds and his royal purple hat as polished and clean as always. She walked quicker towards him, holding clean, dry clothes, and looked over his shoulder to see… a piece of fiction?

"…and then, the evil witch Ilef curses poor Koolug by turning him into a frog! Oh, horrors! How will the great and mighty Koolug defeat her!? …What a great climax! We're finally getting somewhere," Klug mumbled to himself, eerily cackling between phrases, and turned to Lidelle with his head raised high. "Ah, Lidelle. You're just in time. I'm writing a most magnificent novel, and you're here to listen. From the beginning—"

Lidelle shivered and shook her head quickly. "U-Umm, actually, my lord, I'm j-just delivering your clothes for that party this evening… You will be attending, yes? It will be a great opportunity for you to um, s-socialize," she stuttered, her heart rate quickening with every second that passed by. "I-I mean, not that you don't have to! But it would be great if you could for uh, this noble house and your honor- That didn't come out right! I'm really, really sorry!"

Klug scoffed and flashed a smug smile. "Please, don't try to convince me. I'm already going," he replied, taking the clothes and peering as the tightness felt in the fabric. "That inelegant Raffina will be there, of course she will be. She's never missed a party of the princess'. It's an opportunity for me to win the favor of the princess and prove that I, Lord Klug, am much more talented than that awkward and magic-less 'mage' Raffina! Uhyahyahyahyahya!" His cackling boomed through the library and the rest of the castle outside its open door, and Lidelle's heart sank the moment she heard that statement.

"What a shame, though," he muttered, staring at Lidelle with his head rested against his hand. "You might be able to attend too, had you not been a measly commoner in a noble setting."

The demi-human girl was tempted to point out he was the exact same—a "commoner" in a noble setting— but tears were already welling up in her eyes, preventing her from speaking

She had a mixed reputation among the "commoners" as Klug put it—frankly, Lidelle was unaware there was even such a thing as class or commoners prior to hearing this statement—but she also had a mixed reputation among the nobility; to be fair, it was a miracle in of itself that she was an invisible, ordinary servant here. Not many knew her or paid attention to her except Miss Amitie, and even then they never saw each other.

The only other who gave her the time of day was…

"I- I'm very sorry, my lord," Lidelle whimpered, and inched backwards. "I don't control how I was raised, or where I'm born. I-I'm truly sorry if I offended you, sir." She trembled in her small brown shoes as the boy straightened his purple hat and averted his gaze.

"Please, I don't care at all," he remarked, twirling a spare, dry golden fountain pen without so much as batting an eyelash at her. "You go to that party, I don't care. You get caught though, and you'll be in massive trouble. Plus, you'll bring shame to House Salwin; you do that and I will hold a grudge against you forever and ever!"

Only by that final word did his sharp glare meet her droopy blue eyes, and Lidelle wanted to cry—correction, she WAS crying. Without thinking to respond properly, she dashed out of the library with tears streaming down her face and she swung back the door with little force, letting it close slowly and hide the young master who got up to reach his hand towards her.

She was just a servant, a florist's girl hired to sweep floors and serve tea by nobles; nothing special about her. No matter what the truth was, Klug would be the Marquis of Salwin in a few years' time, give or take. She should be paying her utmost respects to someone as esteemed as him; was she not doing enough for him to act that way?

Was she just not doing enough?

Lidelle ran into the nearest room—guest beds usually saved for Raina, Raffina, and Amitie when they arrived for diplomatic purposes—to curl up in a fetal position at a bedside and sob quietly, echoes of Klug's voice resounding through the halls and seared into her mind.

All she wanted was to attend that party to see Raffina. Kind, elegant, and confident Raffina, everything Lidelle was not. She did not like to think of it as jealousy like Klug or Accord thought it was, but rather admiration. She loved every part of Raffina that mirrored when she didn't have; maybe someday, if there was anything Lidelle had that Raffina didn't, she could protect her in some way, too.

Maybe someday, it wouldn't all be a dream.

Amitie hummed the tune of the waltz she'd heard the other day.

Raffina was twirling around in her room, the faded blue ends of her long, white dress turning upwards as did her smile, reciting the steps to a dance few are acquainted with. For that special day tomorrow, she did everything to prepare for it, including getting Amitie to wander outside the city for flowers. The blonde-haired, dainty maid girl skipped through the meadows, making sure not to hit her head or get her hat caught on any low branches from the trees towering above her, looking for particular colors that could help her distinguish the flowers needed by her lady.

What were the flowers on the list? Sunflowers, roses, crow…. croweee-something-or-other, and another flower whose name she couldn't remember or pronounce. What was it, again? Hydr-?

She felt the wind swiftly zoom by her, and she turned around to see a red, spotted bug fly around her and land on her shoulder.

They were called ladybugs, right? Lady Nina had mentioned it once after taking a stroll through the woods–though, really, she learned that by "stealing a book from the House Salwin library" was what Raffina had told her–that they were cute, nimble, and docile creatures that sometimes got a bit irritating when crawling on your skin, but once you got used to it, it was a relaxing feeling to have. Amitie looked at the critter sitting neatly on the side of her white blouse and giggled, giving its wings a teeny, gentle poke. She imagined it gave a thumbs-up to her with its tiny limbs.

"Ah- Mr. Ladybug. There you are."

The deadpan, monotone voice of a child came from behind her, as the ladybug flew away and Amitie turned to see a young boy with unusually striking blue hair letting the bug as red as his left hand sit nicely on his finger-

That was not a hand. That was more akin to… a claw?

An abnormally large, sharp red claw…

Amitie tensed up in fear, her fight-or-flight mode about to activate from the sight of one singular claw, but staring at the boy closer–who, more or less, looked around her age–gave her the impression that the person the claw belonged to was pretty basic, if not a little plain in appearance and demeanor. Aside from the knightly-ish attire and sleepy personality, the more she stared, the weirder things got: first it was his red claw, then the…antenna? at the back of his head, and THEN his deadpan eyes that never moved in spite of his smile, which were a bright red and blue…?

"What is it?"

The girl let out a loud "meep" at the boy's high-pitched voice, directed to her again. He tilted his head in confusion, and then looked up in surprise as the ladybug on his finger flew away and around him, landing snugly on his head. A faint smile formed at the ends of his lips–a rather half-hearted smile, at that–which instantly reverted back to indifference as he walked over to the recovering-from-shock Amitie.

"Oh. I scared you. My bad," he said, which sounded like an insincere apology. "You looked at me for a long time. Or Mr. Ladybug. Are you friends?" He sat down on the grass, looking expectantly at the girl, and then darting his eyes left and right looking for… something.

"No, nononono not at all! You didn't scare me! It just happened so suddenly!" Amitie flailed her hands around in defense.

"So I scared you."

"You didn't, get real! There's no really real reason to feel bad about it!"

"If you scream when I talk, that's being scared."

"Get really, really real! There's no way I, uh… um, well… okay, I was scared."

Amitie hung her head down in defeat, her tiny body shaking as pink and white flowers fell out of the woven wooden basket in her hand and she sat down next to the boy in the meadow, underneath a tall tree giving them both shade from the sun. "Yeah, I was a little scared," she admitted, adjusting her red hat nervously. "But it's okay! I think you're a little cool now? I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything! Honest!"

The boy in blue nodded wordlessly, fixing the tightness on his brown belt and steel boots. "Cool," he mumbled, much to the chagrin of the girl beside him. It was a challenge to strike up a conversation with this lad.

"So why're you here? Wanted to make bug friends?"

The words suddenly hit Amitie once more, as if she hadn't learned from yelping not even mere minutes ago, and she tried to summon her brain for the reason she came to these wilds. The knight cocked his head to the side, mismatched eyes staring into Amitie's, and then following the bugs that flew around him.

"Because I have to pick flowers for someone," she finally mustered up the courage to say, a feat that should not have taken her as long as it did. "My mistr… no, my friend! We're friends! Her other friend is hosting a party and she wanted a couple of flowers from the Ohn Asara Wilds, so here I am! I've got most of 'em ready, except uh… croweee something and hydra-also-something."

"Party? Never heard of something like that. Stuff like that spreads fast, so we're probably from different cities," he mumbled and groaned. "So you… didn't come here for bugs?"

Amitie shook her head in apology, noticing the disappointment in his eyes. "No… I'm really sorry! I wish I could find bugs with you, or for you, but this is kind of urgent…ish," she replied, scrambling to find the words to describe her situation. "Well, it's not THAT urgent, but Raffina will get suuuuper mad if I uh, don't get her party flowers by today."

"Awh. Rough," he replied, letting a beetle crawl onto the side of his single burnt umber brown glove on his right hand. "Thought you wanted to see bugs. I can help name flowers for you though if you're stuck. Bugs like flowers." He leaned in as Amitie nodded and pulled out a short, ripped-up list with hastily scribbled words and drawings in it, with a lack of actual labels for each flower. He pointed to a whitish flower.

"Crowea. It's common here, but more grow in every other place on the continent."

"Really? Crow-wee-a… what a funny name! Know any other flowers? I only know uh, the uh, sunflowers and roses."

"That one is uh… fox-something. Master said it once, but don't pick those. They're poison." He pointed to a drawing of a fuschia, bell-shaped flower on her list, and drew an X with his finger across it.

"Oh, Raffina is going to be so mad," Amitie muttered under her breath, imagining the rage of a noble after not being able to get a flower–a pink flower, at that!–and pointed to the last flower on her list. "What about these? I didn't write down any of the names, but this one's a hy-something." Olive eyes stared back at the boy, and then she looked down to see in a satchel attached to his belt, was the flower in question.

"Hydrangea," he replied, taking some of the blue flowers out. "They have lots of small petals like this. I'll give you some if you need." He offered the flowers to the girl, the latter of whom blushed profusely. For what reason was unknown.

"Really?" Amitie shouted happily, taking the flowers in her hands and placing them gently in her half-full basket of flowers. "You don't have to, but thankies!" The smile of an angel graced the ends of her lips, and she giggled softly before stopping to see the boy pull out another bundle of hydrangeas and place it in her hair, as the side of her red hat.

"Calm down," he said sleepily to the shaking, red-faced girl. "I want the hydrangeas to stay still." After a bit of fiddling around with her blonde hair, and being face-to-face with a stranger and his blue bangs, the knight-boy moved away from her, leaving a small, messily-tied-up bouquet of blue flowers neatly at the side of her hat.

Amitie sat speechless, the once-faint salmon pink on her cheeks breaking out into a cherry red.

"W-Why?" she stuttered, putting her palms to her warm cheeks. Was he perhaps… interested in her? There was no way, right? "That- That's so cliche but I- I… Thank you!? I'm sorry! It all happened so suddenly, and I-"

"Bugs," the boy simply responded, and he grinned. "Bugs will follow you if you have flowers in your hair. It's good to be friends with bugs, hehe." His laugh sounded… pretty dead, sorta happy? It did not sound like a sincere laugh, and yet it was so kind…

What a strange boy.

Amitie, still reeling from the event, uncharacteristically grabbed the boy's hands with a sparkle in her eyes. "What's your name?" she shouted, a Cheshire smile from end to end of her face. "I need to know! I mean, I'm Amitie! And I'm going to be a great magician one day! I won't forget what you've done, and also I have to write this down in my diary…?"

The boy had gotten up to follow a butterfly fluttering about a tree, and he observed with a blank stare. It felt like he had totally ignored whatever Amitie had just said.

"Um, excuse me! Your name?"

Without so much as even a jump, or any form of surprise from his trance, he turned his head around, then his body to face her. "Sig," he mumbled. "I'm Sig. Nice to meet you, Amitie. You should pick flowers now. You said your friend would be mad."

It was now Amitie's turn to jump, and she scrambled to have a hold on the weaved basket next to her without letting any flowers fall out. "Ah- Yikes! You're right! I totally forgot about that, she's gonna get so mad at me!" she cried, and hastily stood up to bow to Sig a little taller than her. "Thanks for reminding me! And thanks for the flowers, too! I should get back to work, hehe. See you later!" The blonde maidservant skipped off before stopping to turn back at the boy waving good-bye to her.

"And, maybe… Maybe we could spend time like this again? Catch bugs, pick flowers, have a good day?"

The corners of Sig's mouth turned upwards, but not enough to visibly notice.

"Maybe."

Ringo approached the sand-colored building, a deep green storefront curtain above the front and a neat little wooden sign at the side stating the name of the cafe.

Cafe Circe, where the so-called "comet warlock" Lemres has stopped using his magic for battle and turned to sweets-making, his favorite pastime.

One more time, she looked around the area to make sure Ecolo hadn't already left. She did not know when they got off work, but it was likely they had already, or they wouldn't have scheduled for sixteen o'clock. The streets weren't busy at this time of day–not many stopped working as early as sixteen–so it should've been easy to pick out turquoise hair tied by a red ribbon, but-

"Miss Ringo? You came! You remembered me!"

Ringo turned around to face the storefront again, where her stare met the young steward of Cafe Circe's. "Again, you don't have to call me 'Miss'. Just Ringo is fine!" she asserted as they walked down the cafe stairs to the main street. "You didn't specify a place of meeting, so I figured you may have just finished working, or already have."

A wide grin spread across Ecolo's face, and they gave her a pat on the head. "Right on target! You're sharp, Ringo," they commented, taking her by the hand. "You have clever eyes, I can just tell that in someone. Shall we, then? Idle banter, we'll go wherever you want to go!"

Ringo nodded with an affirmative "mhm!" and looked through the window of Cafe Circe, where nobles were staring at Ecolo and whispering amongst themselves. A strange sight to behold, had not the townsfolk around not averse to doing the same. Was Ecolo well-known, or…?

"Sooooooooo… did you throw stones at any of the birds today?"

What.

Ringo raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes, disgusted and befuddled that this stranger she agreed to spend some time with had said something so questionable with a straight face and a shiny smile.

"I don't recall intentionally wanting to scare the lifeblood out of birds," she replied rather coldly, admittedly more than she intended on. "Why, do you throw stones at birds?"

Ecolo shook their head and grinned. "Figured. The street kids always throw stones at birds, and I've played with them a few times," they noted with a cheery voice and a wide smile. "You hit a bird, even if it doesn't fall down, you win a gold piece. That's a lot of money; the stakes are so high because nobody's managed to hit the birds on the rooftops, ever." They chuckled lightheartedly at the dismay yet intrigue of the girl walking at their side.

"I've never heard of such a thing," Ringo commented. "I've never remotely heard of birds being in this town."

"No way! Birds make trouble every sunup to sundown, and the kids gather in the town square to throw rocks at them. They're noisy, but it's lots of fun! Where do you live to not be able to hear of this stuff?"

"Not in the street like Arle, that's for sure. But I'm not exactly royalty like Amitie, either… I guess I'm a bit in the middle. I live in Trerid District."

The server fell silent, an uncharacteristically pained expression making its way across their face, and they forced a smile. "Trerid District… Oh, I know where that is!" they exclaimed, the color returning to their cheeks once more as they put their fist to their palm. "No wonder you've never heard! That's like, on the west end, nowhere near town square. Ahh, I get it now!"

Ringo nodded quickly in response. "Yeah, that's right! Right next to the harbor, and also right next to both House Hallieu and Islen District, so I'm conveniently right between Arle and Amitie's living areas."

Ecolo's face morphed into confusion, and they went silent. "I… I what now?" they asked, repeated the name under their breath. "Like… Pronounced 'island'? Not Is-len? Hard S?" They gripped their messy bangs and dug into them with their fingernails, seemingly unable to process the information presented.

Ringo shook her head. "Um, yes. It's pronounced like 'island'," she reiterated and sighed. "Did someone teach you to pronounce it another way?"

"No, because no one's mentioned it before. I've only seen it on maps of the kingdom. I've only heard of the two houses, the royal court, Trerid, and Mallis."

"Don't you play with the kids in the streets? Surely you must know where you are."

"I don't! I really don't! Everyone but me knows where we are, and it doesn't pop in my brain to ask. I'm always around rich people and their problems, after all."

Ringo furrowed her brow and a bright light reflected in her emerald-green eyes. "Rich people…? You mean nobility!?" she shouted, grabbing the servant by their shoulders and giving them a single, solid shake. "What is it like to live a life of aristocracy? I've always wanted to know because my friend Amitie doesn't quite have the privilege to explain."

"Ow- owowowow- Ringo, I'm getting dizzy," Ecolo pleaded, releasing themself from her grasp and slowly twirling in place for stability. "What's-her-face is probably a servant of some kind. Well, same here. I sure can't tell you about their lives aside from the fact they eat cake; some more or less. I can tell you about their gossip though, hehehe." They giggled half menacingly, half proudly as the redheaded girl looked up in awe.

"That's basically the same thing! Can I hear some of this?" The shine in Ringo's eyes gleamed brighter. "Oh, my apologies. I just simply have to know everything about, well, everything!"

"For starters, there's that party. The one everyone's talking about but ordinary folks like me never hear of unless I was eavesdropping. Which I do."

"I've heard, but only from Amitie… Is that it? That party must be super popular then."

"Well, kinda. Apparently, there's also an investigation into the Marquis of Salwin's disappearance, and some arranged marriage thing going on with House Hallieu and the eldest of their two daughters."

"Two? Weren't there three?"

"Yeah, there's three. Raina, Nina, and Raffina. Heard they're all equally loud and haughty. But Raina disappeared long ago, probably before we were born, so nobody really remembers her."

"Wow, that's… a little sad. I can't believe that the life of nobles is so much more dramatic than mine could ever be!" Ringo swooned in place, imagining the wild adventures and hefty amounts of drama surrounding the life she could never live. "Wouldn't it be nice to live in a castle and have shenanigans happen all around you! How exciting! E-X-C-I-T-I-N-G!~"

"Doesn't matter much to me," Ecolo murmured, and looked back at the girl who seemed to have heard them. "I mean, I sure ain't rich. I'm just an average guy who works for them and literally lives in a reworked cafe storage room. People know who I am, cool! I'd love to make more friends! People don't, also cool! I don't even know who I am myself! I mean, I-"

Wow, they really liked to talk.

Ringo wanted the chance to ask questions, but they were drowned out by the overload of energy radiating from this one person alone. Arle would've definitely told them to shut up, but this was her day, and it was on her to guide the conversation if need be. Though, one bit of information really stood out to her.

"I don't even know who I am myself!"

This was a familiar situation, wasn't it?

She tugged on their short white sleeve, and they stopped talking to smile and look down at the shorter girl, drool still running from their mouth. "Yeeeeees, Ringo?"

Ringo swallowed air and breathed deeply. "I was wondering… what did you mean by not knowing yourself?" she inquired. Their blue eyes seemed to light up a little, and she took it as a sign they understood. "What I'm getting from this is you don't know or understand your background enough to care about the follies of class and status and make friends despite all that…?"

Ecolo fell silent, staring down at the ground and breathed out a sigh, the air much heavier than mere moments ago. Ringo trembled a little; could she have possibly angered the valet and friend-to-be? Both stood motionless amongst the sun, still rather high in the sky.

"As I said, you're sharp. This is almost scaring me," they replied with a chuckle, though their anxious smile told a different story. "I really don't know anything about myself. One day I woke up in the cafe storage room, and Lemres found me there. And uh, stuff happened, and I got to working there. I don't remember anything that happened before that. Like, nothing. It would be nice if I knew. But y'know, I don't particularly care. I'm making friends, I'm having fun! Isn't that what life's for?"

Ringo tensed up, fiddling with her fingers nervously, attempting to come up with a response. They made a good point, but the fact they didn't care about themselves so…normally was alarming.

"I'll help you find out who you were," she finally said, staring them dead in the eyes. "Of course I will! Besides, it'll be good for me too. Who knows what kind of adventures we'll go through in the process? I'll get to learn so many other things ab-"

"You have ulterior motives."

Ringo stopped talking the moment a reply came in, only this time, Ecolo's voice and demeanor were much more serious. "You're using my personal problems for your own benefit. Am I right?" they asked, blue eyes taking a darker shade as if they had a will of their own. Ringo froze; they weren't entirely wrong, but she still wanted to help them anyw-

Bright laughter and a brighter smile suddenly sprung from their once-sullen face.

"Just kidding! Jokes on youuuuuu!"

…

By the Six Gods, damn it! They're as cheeky as they come!

"Ecoloooo! You can't just tease me like that!" Ringo exclaimed loudly, drawing the attention of people nearby. She nearly broke out into a cold sweat as she covered her mouth instinctively. "I- My apologies. I really thought you were annoyed by my personality! I'm kinda just like that. Though, if you wish to tease me like that, I'll make sure to reciprocate!" She snickered quietly under her breath, still embarrassed from her little outburst.

"Teehee! You sure are feisty, Ringo," they replied, poking her soft cheeks. "I wasn't lying, though. You do have ulterior motives, but not as bad as I made it sound.

"You're searching for 'that' too, aren't you?"

Ringo gulped, processed the information, and nearly stopped in her tracks.

"H- How'd you know?" she stammered, a wave of fear washing over her. They seemed to drop information about herself very nonchalantly, and switched between dispositions at the drop of a hat… Terrifying, that. "How did you- Did I tell you? We only met a few days ago. Who told you, and w-"

"I can just tell," Ecolo replied cryptically and emotionlessly, before returning to their sunshiny, normal expression as if nothing had ever happened. "You just generally seemed confused by the world. I mean, I get learned about everything and anything, but you don't seem familiar with living… Might just be a hunch. but hey, guess I got it right!" They drew a heart over her chest with a thin, gloved finger. "I'm a little closer to reaching your heart, hehe."

Ringo pushed him away playfully, giggling to herself. "I won't forget this declaration of battle," she replied, and dusted herself off. "But you're absolutely correct. I don't remember anything from my life aside my early years, it's really weird. So maybe, if I tag along with you, chances are I'll learn something about myself. It can't be a coincidence."

Ecolo chuckled, and nodded happily. They reached out to hold her bare hands in theirs, and after some staring, gave a little peck to the back of her right. "Of course, milady," they whispered, and placed their hand on their chest. "I'll have to help you, too! It's the only way I could possibly return the favor."

Ringo's face, colored as red as the apples sold by her family, was unable to pick an expression. Surprise? Happiness? All things of this matter were just as confusing as her inability to come up with a response.

"Wow, this conversation turned serious quickly," she forced herself to say, though in her defense it was getting pretty dark for a light stroll. "How about we stop by that tea shop on Queens? It'll still be in the shopping district, so we won't be going too far! Wherever we want to go, we'll make it up. I have some time before I meet up with some other friends."

"Other friends?" they asked, tilting their head to the side and the sparkle of interest taking precedence in their eyes. "After this, can I meet them!? I'd love to make more friends!"

Ringo shook her head nervously, to the valet's disappointment. "I wish," she muttered. "Maybe another day. Just that today Arle isn't having the day and she probably won't have you, either."

Ecolo made a peace sign in response–a rather unique response, indeed–and charged a few steps forward. "Oh, whatever! You'll have me, Ringo! That's enough for me," they chirped, grabbing her hand and spinning her forward to walk by their side. "Alrighty! So, about that tea shop? Lead the way!"

Ringo stood speechless, and smiled confidently. "Right, then. Follow me. I know all the best places on Queens." The two of them walked together down the sidewalk of the street, idly chattering about mundane topics as the sun's white light started to fade into warmer hues-

From the corner of her eye, she felt someone's shadow move past them.

…?

It was probably her imagination.