We arrived back at the village and believe me - we were all absolutely exhausted. "My back feels like it's gonna break!" I heard Xavier moan. I still can't believe that he actually agreed to give Akana a flying piggy back... "Hey! I'm not that heavy!" I heard the small girl reply. It was nice to see Xavier's softer side every once in a while, it gave us all hope that he may return to what he was like when he was younger... And by us I mean me. I don't know how the others feel OK! Waiting for us was Akari, our client. "Grandma!" Akana yelled rushing towards Akari. The two family members embraced. "They did it! The wolves now live on the other side of the mountain!" Akari looked up and smiled at us.
"Well done. I'm proud of you." Akari smiled, "You kids probably want to get some rest. Here, you can come stay at my home tonight." We all agreed.
"Grandma?"
"Yes child?"
"Xavier's going to help me with my magic!"
"Is that so, how kind of him!"
"I NEVER AGREED TO ANYTHING!"
As soon as my head hit that fluffy warm pillow, I was fast asleep. I woke up the next morning to see the bright pale sunlight streaming through the window. It had stopped snowing my the looks of it. I'd had no dreams that night. I used to have the most fantastical dreams each night, but ever since Mavis left - they'd become nightmares. Soon after that, I'd stopped having dreams altogether... I looked to find a spare change of clothes. I spotted the clothes I had worn yesterday laid out at the bottom of my bed (which was just a mattress on the floor accompanied with a fluffy pillow along with thick soft blankets). As I looked at my clothing, I noticed how much that they really weren't to my taste... I slipped out of bed and tiptoed past the other's sleeping soundly in their beds and down the small, narrow pal wooden spiral staircase to where Akari was cooking breakfast. Akari was the only one who was also awake. "Excuse me..." I began. Akari turned towards me. "Is there anything troubling you dear?" she asked in a calm kind gentle voice.
"Do you have any spare clothes that I could possible have, preferably in black." Akari smiled.
"Those other clothes you had on don't really suit you do they?"
I followed Akari up the stairs and into the attic. After a lot of rummaging, she was able to find a black knee length dress with white rims along with a teardrop pattern in white following the rim at the very bottom of the dress. There was also a white ribbon around the neck of the dress. "This belonged to my daughter Akaya when she was 15. I think it would be a perfect fit for you!" I was surprised at to how well the dress fit and as to how comfortable it was. "Thank you" I spoke still in awe of the dress. "Your welcome." Akari smiled, "You can keep it of you wish." I looked up towards Akari.
"Really?" I asked. I paused for a moment, "Are you sure Akaya won't mind." A sad look fell over Akari's face.
"Akaya left the village as soon as Akana was born. I haven't seen her for the last 12 years." I didn't know what to say. What Akari had just told me... It sounded... wrong... Did that mean that Akari had to raise Akana all by herself? "It's fine," Akari said, "I'm sorry for having to tell you that." I nodded.
"It's okay."
"Why don't we go down to breakfast?"
When we arrived down stairs everyone else was awake and all crowded around the table ready for breakfast. As soon as we walked into the room, everyone stared at me. I was the only one wearing a different outfit to yesterday. (Accept I had kept the black ribbon headband.) After a brilliant breakfast of warm freshly made bread and jam, Akari began to speak. "I'm sure that the whole village is grateful for all that you've done for us. Therefore, as a thank you, I'd like to invite you all to our village's annual snow festival. It starts today and lasts for a week." We all looked towards one another, unsure of what we should do. "I think it's a good idea," Lokni spoke up unexpectedly, "We don't have to be back as soon as we've finished a job. Who says you can't have a little fun!"
"If we're staying," Miriza spoke, "I'll have to write a letter to Master Makarov to tell us what's going on." With that we all agreed to sty for the festival.
The festival was more fun than I'd thought it would be. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that Akari forced me to wear a pair of knee length boots (which were extremely fluffy on the inside) as she didn't want my bear feet to get too cold. During the festival, I was pretty sure that I saw Xavier and Akana training with magic. It was obvious that she looked up to him. Even if he was kind of mean and annoying at times... (but everyone has their own personal opinion of different people!) The week passed quickly and before we knew it, the snow festival was over. It was hard saying goodbye to the villagers. We'd had such a good time at the village. But we did need to go home to Magnolia.
Before we left, Akari all presented us with extra presents as well as the 800,000 jewel reward. Lokni received a white silk scarf. Altair ended up with a small traditional villager's pocket knife. Lilias ended up with a beautiful pair of emerald green earrings. Candy ended up with a collection of traditional village candy. Xavier ended up with a new traditional village jacket - which he happened to be wearing right now instead of his usual one. Viper ended up with a necklace that had been made by the villagers out of rocks and pebbles from the mountain. Miriza ended up with a necklace with a snow white crystal at the end of it. Melody received a new ribbon for her tail which was a deep navy blue with small diamonds that sparkled like stars woven into the silky fabric. Bluebell ended up with a necklace with a polished stone of jet threaded onto the end. Finally, I ended up with a pair of white gold ankle bracelets to go with my new dress.
We all arrived back in Magnolia wearing our new presents. Little did we know, there was a horror waiting for us back in Magnolia - back at the Fairy Tail guild hall. Or what was left of it...
