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Bell was smiling, his cloak had been removed from his white head as he sat inside the tavern, the name unremembered as he simply anticipated this meal too much.
He and his friends had traveled days already, sleeping in tents and caves along the way in the ever-lowering fall temperatures.
But now, around a day out from their quest's end, Bell finally sat in the warm, hearth glowing tavern known for one thing above all else.
Corn pancakes.
Yes, our elven heroine in this tavern in the middle of nowhere and had gone three days out of their quest's way for 'corn pancakes', he was a weird elf if anything.
As he sat with a smile, tapping joyfully at his pant legs while sitting, he took in the room.
He sat at the closest table to the door in the furthest corner from the kitchen in the rectangle room, quickly bored as he listened in on muddled conversations of the seven other tables, the tavern being rather busy. A few humans at the closest table were discussing the crops from this year, apparently being on the good side of average.
The light was against his back, the only two windows in the room in a shorter of the four walls. The light shifted between dim and bright as a fairly cloudy day moved overhead.
The walls were a soft dark oak to match the shade of the table stain, chairs also matching.
He sighed in a content smile upon him, smelling the cooking food from here as it was prepared upon request. He leaned back and inched the front feet off the ground, playing with fate on whether he'd fall back or not. The ceiling was a soft and simple shaven wood built up into an upward slope towards the middle, the main support beam jutting out and across the entire surface to hold the bottom side plain aloft.
Not long after this dance with chance began, he found the shuffling of feet through the cramped dining room to be coming in his general direction, righting his seat as the wonderfully kind waitress arrived.
Bell smiled as she came through the gap between the last two tables.
"Here ya go, hun!" She smiled cheerfully, a wooden plate topped with three large, flat disks was set before him with an accompanying mug of cider.
Bell smiled even bright back. "Thanks, you're the best!"
She was a truly beautiful woman, short golden hair, sky blue eyes, and a smile that all together made her look like a fairy from the stories he'd read.
She gave him yet another grin, this one a bit more goofy and bashful, her country accent solidifying her in his mind as a truly comfortable presence.
But he had pancakes to eat.
He looked down with a ravenous version of the smile given a half moment before, the elf able to feel his mouth watering at the smell of the steaming flat patties before him.
He first picked up the mug, the wood of its construction rubbing against his lips as the cider slid down, ending up on his parched tongue. The dry apple taste of the fall refreshed him, one of his favorite drinks overall, and even more a reason to be in the parts of Genkai which specialize in the fruit.
He lowered it back, moving the non-alcoholic beverage to the side so he could start at the delicious meal before him.
His fingers wrapped around his eating knife, pulling it and swiftly moving to cut the pancake.
Until the door behind him burst open with panic about it.
The Snow Elf heard a few frantic steps and the fast breathing of one who'd just been running.
He froze with his knife just over the edge of the delectable-looking rounds, the entire tavern going silent alongside his rapidly dropping mood.
Bell could feel the eyes on his back, knowing there was only one person who could be looking for him at a time like this, in a place like this.
"I swear if you say anything other than 'how's the food' I'm gonna lose it." The elf called out.
"..."
"..."
Bell sighed, then spoke out like a disappointed parent. "What did you do?"
"..."
"..."
Bell grunted in heavy displeasure as he turned to face the man in question.
"Al, tell me."
If Bell was the parent, Albert was the child and would be a twenty-eight-year-old one at that. "... I… I threw a fish…"
Bell waited for more, but nothing preceded as he spoke out in a seething voice. "WHERE did you throw the fish?"
Albert shuffled nervously. "...In a store clerks window…"
"Ah!- For gods sakes Al! Why?!" Bell was dumbfounded.
"...He ripped me off…" Albert answered again, not willing to make eye contact with the smaller, but older elf.
Bell darkened as a question came to mind. "Al, what did you sell?"
"..."
"AL!" The elf shouted.
Albert flinched. "I sold the wolf pelts!"
Bell was exasperated. "The wolf- For the love of- Al, we needed those for the quest!"
Albert again shuffled nervously, a cool breeze wafting in from the open door behind the idiot hero.
Bell, being the responsible one, tried to take inventory of their new situation as he harshly rubbed from the bridge of his nose to the corners of his eyes. "Ah- Wh-Where's Aria then?"
"Distracting the guards." Albert answered, freezing Bell as he made to stand.
"Guards?!" Bell shouted out.
"...The fish… May have… Landed on the clerk…" Albert still refused to meet Bell's eyes, him now holding a harsh glare.
"Find her and get to the town's main gate." Bell commanded as he set out money for the bill, a generous tip for the kind woman as well. He then started for the door, Albert jumping out of his way to not gain further ire, Bell leaving his still hot meal where it was and untouched.
He stormed past Albert, the man watching until the Snow Elf disappeared from sight, only then turning to the room, this time noticing the dozens of silent and judgmental stares coming his way.
Albert chuckled nervously. "S-Sorry everyone!" He smiled.
Then ran for the door himself.
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They were in the forest that night, two of the three staring up at the sky, the clouds from earlier having dissipated, the magnificent view of the cosmos being all that was left in the moonless night.
Albert and Aria shared a blanket as they rested against a downed tree, Aria's head on Albert's arm, Bell lay on his back several feet ahead of the will-be hero with his legs pointed out in their direction, hands providing his own pillow.
To Bell's right, Alberts left, a small fire crackled and burned up what little wood they could find and otherwise stripped from the down tree and area.
Bell sighed loudly, then spoke as to not be heard. "What am I gonna do Al?"
But he was heard, Albert sounding regretful. "S-Sorry about the food, Bell."
"No Al… That's- That's not what I meant."
He looked down to the elf laying away from him and his yet proposed wife. "That… Wasn't about today?"
Bell sighed lightly again. "No… It was, but… You got the wrong idea... I'm gonna miss that stuff, your shenanigans... When…...when…" Bell sighed again.
A few seconds passed.
"You okay Bell?" Albert called.
"... Y-You remember about my race and such, right?" Bell was sounding more and more emotional with every word.
Albert could feel the tension coming off of him, but had no way of knowing why.
"Yeah."
"I'm gonna miss all of this stuff when you're… when you're gone and I outlive you." He fought back tears as his star-gazing eyes shut tight to stop them.
"Bell, you shouldn't think like that."
He spoke just above a whisper. "I-I know, but still, I don't even remember what I did before meeting you. What I ate, who I talked to, what I thought about at night…"
"... I can't sympathize with that Bell, I have no way of knowing your pain…"
They were silent for a few long seconds.
"Do you love her?" Bell was a bit louder now.
"What?" Albert responded.
"You love her right?" Bell called in a more firm tone.
He took a second, looking down to Aria's sleeping face as his arm held her around her back from beneath the blanket.
"Yes." It was the first time he'd said it out loud.
"She wants a kid, you know that right?" The elf called out to him again.
Albert hesitated, but his voice came back with a slight shake. "S-She does?" He sounded happy.
Bell nodded with his still closed eyes. "If you give her that kid, your daughter will outlive you."
This sank in fast to the will be hero, he looked down to the wind spirit at his side, an unwavering resoluteness coming free. "Then I'll show my daughter an eternity of love, so she never needs to wonder."
Bell opened his eyes once more.
"I know you will, Al."
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FunFact - The spirit type Aria (And subsequently Ais) is can only have female children, similar to how Amazons do.
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A/N
Hello everyone! I know it's been a good while between updates, and that this will not sate you, but hear me out.
I have been taking a break due to two factors -
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One - I was getting bored with this story, so I will be conducting a several-day time skip in the next chapter to break away from the never-ending conversation after conversation drag 'WHE' had become. In short, I want to write more interesting content than it has been recently.
Two - I have been away for some time now because I've been practicing new writing styles and doing works of different varieties to increase my writing background, if only just slightly. I hope this leads to better writing quality in this story overall.
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Also good to note - Though the first listed thought remains true, I have only become more invested and interested in this story over the past two weeks, I am not leaving this story until it has a 'complete' mark on it. You will suffer the machinations of my madness, I guarantee it.
I am not back yet, but I will be soon, and I truly am sorry I took so long to get this to you all.
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Lastly, I dislike the idea of Authors Note only chapters, so I wrote you all a little snippet of Bell's days with Aria and Albert, I hope you all liked it!
Stay safe and well, I want you all here when I come to finish this story in time!