{-Sharena-}
"You just… do this."
"But how?"
"I can't explain it!"
"What about doing it slower?"
"I'm going the slowest I can! Why don't you try to do it with me instead?"
Sharena waited for Peony to match her position before once again cartwheeling as slowly as possible.
That didn't help Peony at all. "You make it look so easy! Are you sure there's not something easier you can try showing me?"
She thought for a moment before doing a handstand. "This is the easiest it gets."
"Yeah but it's a little too easy when you can fly." Peony fluttered upside down to match her. "See? Impressive for a human, not so impressive for anyone with wings."
"Well, choose one! It's either too easy or too hard." Sharena got back on her feet.
"I give up," Peony decided. "You're too good. When did you get so good..?"
She shrugged. "If I had to guess, somewhere between being alone for hours and actually meeting dancers."
"Oh! By the way, are you having fun? It sounds like a bunch of fun."
"I wanted to wait until Triandra came…"
Triandra never did talk much and honestly mostly grumbled half the time, but she was just as much of a friend as Peony was; it felt wrong to go into details without her being there when it seemed like she wanted to hear more, too. Of course she was making a habit out of either being really late or not showing up at all.
"I don't think she's coming. Freyja hasn't been around in a while either—just Plumeria, and Freyr only lets me stay long enough for her to say 'I come on behalf of Lady Freyja.'"
"Alright, I guess. What fun things have happened since I last talked to you about it…"
…
She saw Triandra once that month—and it was only in passing. Triandra had been standing next to Plumeria when Sharena walked by the throne room. She'd intended to stop and say hi, but the glare she got was enough to tell her to just keep walking. She didn't tell Peony.
Then finally Triandra showed up at their usual meeting place.
Peony jumped up and hugged her. "Triandra! It's been such a long time since all of us have been together! Is it because you've been busy? Could Freyja not bring you? Wait, if Freyja couldn't bring you, why didn't you just come with Plumeria? I was so worried! You could at least send something with Plumeria so I know you're okay!"
Triandra patiently waited for her to back up before glancing at Sharena and quietly asking, "Peony, can we talk alone for a minute?"
"Sure..?"
They went a little further away and started talking in a whisper. Sharena decided not to pay attention to what they were talking about until they started getting louder and it became pretty obvious they were talking about her.
"What? That's stupid! Of course she's not—"
"I know this isn't the first kid you've seen a kid leave Ljósálfheimer, Peony. I heard it from Lady Freyja, it doesn't matter that we're close to her or not. She's going to leave us behind."
"You heard it wrong! She's not going to leave. We're—we're not going to have to say goodbye."
"You're right, we're not going to get the chance to say goodbye. We're just her playthings, and like all other toys, we're going to be discarded."
"I don't believe you."
"You don't have to. But just because you choose not to believe something doesn't mean it's not any less real. All you're doing is setting yourself up for heartbreak when she doesn't come back. I don't want to see you get hurt."
"Yeah, right! You wouldn't be saying that if you really cared!"
"If I didn't care I would have asked Lady Freyja to make me forget about both of you. There's nothing good about any of it. It just drags down whatever good things were supposed to come out of becoming álfar." Triandra stepped back. "I'm not coming back until she's gone and you're proven wrong. Lady Freyja is waiting for me."
…
Sharena knew something was wrong when both Freyr and Freyja were in the throne room. What made it worse was that Peony immediately threw herself on top of Sharena and cried.
"Sharena, I… believe you're already partially aware of the situation," Freyr began slowly. "You're becoming too old to stay here. Under certain circumstances it wouldn't have been a problem, but… we've waited too long as it is."
"You need to forget about this place, like all children do," Freyja explained. "We understand if you would like a bit of time as a… final goodbye, of sorts. At least for the time being." Freyr's glare kept her from discussing it any further.
Peony still didn't let go, and she didn't stop crying, either. The only thing she managed to say brought Sharena to tears, too. "I can't believe… Triandra was actually right…"
This couldn't have been the last time they would see each other. She didn't want to believe it, hoping that maybe by some miracle this wasn't the end. Even then, at least she knew to be glad that there was time for a goodbye; that they had last seen each other so happy before never getting to see them again, which was what would happen to so many others.
Eventually she had to acknowledge that there was no point in standing here any longer. It wasn't going to make it any easier, nor would it magically make the problem itself go away. She gently pulled away from Peony and, mustering the calmest expression she could, said, "If I have to leave, then… I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be."
…
She woke up and immediately knew she'd been crying. The only reason she got up as quickly as she did was because she knew everyone else was waiting for her before they could leave camp.
"Commander Anna's been waiting a whole hour for you, sleepyhead," Zacharias teased when he saw her. "Have a bad dream last night?"
"I… don't remember…" She felt like there should've been something there, but there wasn't. Just a void of things she used to know but now had no recollection of at all. It made her want to cry again thinking about it, wondering what important thing she had now forgotten.
Zacharias must've recognized it because he completely changed the subject. "Let's go find Commander Anna and tell her we're all ready now."
((A/N: Sharena would probably actually be a very good dancer, aside from the fact she has very little sense of rhythm and is more likely to just do whatever she wants rather than a specific routine she'd practiced up until that point.
This chapter is named after the other Steven Universe: The Movie song Drift Away! It's a little bit more relevant to the álfar than Other Friends is, but switching viewpoints. Peony, for instance, would be the one to sing "And then she smiled, that's what I'm after, a smile in her eyes, the sound of her laughter" and Triandra would sing "And isn't that lovely? Isn't that cool? Isn't that cruel? And aren't I a fool to have happily listen, happy to stay, happily watching her driiift, driiiift, driiiiiiift away." On a side note, I seriously considered incorporating the first several lines of Drift Away ("Here in the garden, let's play a game, I'll show you how it's done… Here in the garden, stand very still, this'll be so much fun") into these memories, but when I remembered that it was too late to change it.))
