The Witch of Aurora
(Adapted from the chapter Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen in the manga series Witches of Aurora by Kyogoku Shin.)
Another photo caught Nipa's attention. In the picture was a very cute little girl in Suomi folk clothing with a flower ring on her head standing on green grass by a colored wooden horse.
"Wow! It's little Illu!"
On hearing that, Eila jumped and tried to get the photo off Nipa's hand.
"Hey! What are you doing, Nipa? You idiot! Put it back."
Aurora walked up to them, "Oh, how nostalgic! That's from when Illu was 5 years old! She was so cute and innocent back then. How did she grow up to become such a weirdo? Collecting crazy occult things such as Tarot cards and crystal balls..."
"I don't want to be told that by someone who doesn't even know the 'C' in 'cute'," Eila puffed out. "If you are so frustrated, why don't you wear some cute clothes yourself?"
With that remark, Eila earned herself another "treat" from her sister. Aurora held Eila in a headlock, almost suffocating her, forcing her to surrender.
"Oh right. Do you want to hear about Illu when she was little, Nipa?"
"Ah! Of course!" Nipa nodded in excitement.
Eila wanted to protest, but she couldn't do anything with her elder sister's arm still around her neck, and she didn't want to experience another "Brain Drilling."
As a result, Aurora started to tell another story to an excited Nipa, beside a pouty Eila.
Years ago, at one night, Aurora took Eila for a stroll as usual, to a clearing they frequented. But this time, Eila asked Aurora to carry her on the shoulders. Confused as she was, Aurora gave in to the light of excitement in her little sister's eyes.
"Nnnnnnnnn..." Eila, sitting on Aurora's shoulders, strained to touch the sky. Even more, she asked Aurora to lift her higher and started to fidget in anxiety, causing her elder sister to lose her balance and both of them, as a result, fell onto the ground. Fortunately, it was winter at that time. The thick snow protected them from getting hurt.
It turned out that Eila wanted to touch the Northern lights.
"It's so mysterious, so sparkly, and so bright. It's like a curtain of light. It's so beautiful. I just want to touch it," said Eila, but immediately, her face fell. "Is that weird?"
Aurora patted Eila on the head with her warm big hand, "Not at all. I think it's very interesting," Aurora gently looked at Eila, "You have some great senses, Illu! Not everyone has them, so they're precious! I hope you always cherish them, ok?"
At this moment, in Eila's eyes, her elder sister was just like an amiable mentor, a loving mother. Little Eila felt a warm flow running through her tiny anatomy.
"Yes...!"
Even today, Aurora still had a very vivid picture of her little sister's angelic smile back then. It was radiant enough to outshine the Northern lights up there. Both of them were light shining in the darkness, so dazzling, so beautiful, anyone would squint in awe.
Later on, Aurora told Eila that she might be able to touch the Northern lights if she became an aerial witch. As such she could fly in the sky.
It was the first time Eila heard the term "aerial witch." Until then, she didn't know much about witches. She thought all witches just fought on the land like her elder sister.
From then on, Eila made up her mind to become an aerial witch. She didn't get disheartened even when Aurora informed her of the cruel fact that not everyone could be a witch and not every witch could be an aerial witch, as magical power was completely innate and an aerial witch needed to have more of it than any other kind of witches did; in other words, becoming an aerial witch was totally a matter of luck.
"I'll ask God or maybe a fairy or something to make me into an aerial witch! Then one day...my dream will come true!"
The six-years-old Eila was just one meter or so tall, but in Aurora's eyes she was not small at all. Radiating from every inch of her tiny being were the ambition and hope that could be seen in her features and heard in her voice. She clenched two tiny fists near her chest, as if trying to seize the entire universe.
Later on, Aurora showed her some books about witches, including the autobiography of the "Ace of Aces" Richthofen. From then on, Eila grew more and more fascinated by aerial witches. Perhaps it was also at the time that she developed interest in supernatural stuff such as magic and fortune telling.
Eila's middle name was Ilmatar, the name of the spirit of air from the Suomi national epic Kalevala. In Norse mythology, the Northern lights were believed to be the shine on the armors of the Valkyries. Although Ilmatar was not a Valkyrie, she was also a female divinity and had a close connection with air, a thing related to aerial witches. And, the Suomi word for the Northern lights was revontulet, meaning "fox fires," as Suomi folklore had it that the Northern lights were fragments of snow swept into the sky by foxes with their tails in the process of running on the snowy field. Eila's familiar was a fox, wasn't it? Not only was she named after the goddess of air, but she also had an aurora-related animal as her familiar. Didn't that mean she, in the future, would be flying and shining in the sky? The answer turned out to be yes. She successfully became an aerial witch, fulfilling her dream. Moreover, she also became Suomus' number one ace and national idol, adored by tens of thousands of boys and girls. In a sense she did light up the sky of Suomus, with her own glow.
The story was over. Nipa's eyes sparkled while Eila blushed like a tomato.
"So Illu was really that cute back then?" Nipa was completely fascinated, while Eila just wanted to dig a hole and jump in...! To make matters worse, Aurora took out two photos of Eila, one of which was taken recently while the other was taken eight years ago. The new one featured an unsightly Eila while the old one featured a beautiful Eila.
"Yes! She was adorable back then, but now she only wears lame T-shirts, not cute at all!"
In the old photo was a smiling young Eila in an unadorned white coat with a red scarf on her neck. In the new photo was a drowsy, messy-haired Eila at her current age in a simple tracksuit, apparently just waking up from sleep.
"Wait a minute, Aurora! What's with those pictures?!"
Before Eila could receive an explanation from Aurora, the older Juutilainen made the next move.
"By the way, Nipa, I heard Illu made you wear an embarrassing dress. Is that true?"
"Eh? I mean yeah, sort of..."
Before long, Eila half forced half asked Nipa to put on a lacy pettiskirt dress, in order to amuse Laura.
"Wanna seek revenge now?" A dark smile appeared on Aurora's face, in her hand was a black dress with a white lacy apron attached to it.
Eila looked at the hem of her knee length dress, the grey diamond pattern on her chest, and the knee high stockings as well as the black shoes on her legs and feet. She touched the shoulder straps of the apron attached to the dress and the hair band atop her head. From what she knew, it was the clothing of Alice from Alice in Wonderland.
"Wow! You're so cute, Illu! I literally thought Alice had walked out of the book!"
"We'll see about that, Nipa..." said Eila annoyedly.
"You may be a soldier, but you're still a young lady, so dressing like this is totally fine!"
"Hey—! Don't take photos—!" Eila immediately raised one hand to shield herself from the camera which Aurora was holding, when the older Juutilainen was about to press the shutter. She would by no means let her current look be preserved in her sister's cursed album!
"I'm just making memories! Making memories!"
"Geez." Eila finally gave in.
Suddenly, Eila remembered something. "Aurora, you didn't tell me the truth back then, right?"
"Truth?"
"Even witches can't fly up to the ionosphere!"
"Ah… I guess you're right. But I did say 'maybe' and not 'surely,' right? Besides, I didn't want to crush your childish dream!" said Aurora in a theatrical manner, with her eyes closed and arms opened.
Eila could swear she felt smoke coming out of her head. It might be true that way, but the way her sister said it pissed her off.
"Well, maybe the ionosphere is off-limits. But maybe someday you'll be able to fly all the way to the stratosphere."
"That's impossible, either." Indeed, most Strikers could not reach that high.
"Impossible now, but think of the future."
Little did they know this assumption did come true. Two years later, Eila literally flew into the stratosphere alongside a certain Orussian girl, using a special sort of Striker Unit called Rocket Booster. But that was another story.
Eila walked to the window and opened her mouth, "Recently…"
Although she couldn't see her little sister's face, Aurora sensed something different in her voice. The usual playfulness disappeared, replaced by a hint of seriousness and imperceptible melancholy.
Eila raised her head, gazing at the sky. "More and more, I've been thinking about it. Why do I want to fly? Why do I want to fight? Why did I become a witch? Aside from defending Suomus, is there any other reason? I don't think I've found the answer yet…"
After all, she was a favorite of times, blessed with all the things every girl dreamed of having — good looks, an easy path through life, and the fortune to get her talents used to the fullest, be seen and be recognized. She reached her prime, becoming an ace witch and rising to national fame, at such a young age. With such experiences, she would always be viewed as a textbook example, especially in the context of a society where becoming a witch was encouraged. However, she never thought she had done anything noteworthy. She just went with the flow and found herself at the peak.
Aside from being "the one and only glimmer of hope against Neuroi," another main reason why people held witches in such a high regard was the heart-wrenching fact that these so-called "saviors of humanity" were merely teenage girls who belonged in their parents' protecting arms but they had to put their lives in danger and fight on the battlefield. That was how the public thought of witches, but most of the time, Eila felt it was more of an overstatement, especially for her. She was not sure about others, but in her own case, her face would always grow hot when she received such commendation. The simple reason behind her enlistment was a little girl's pure desire to fulfill her dream. Just like most girls, she believed a witch was the best thing a girl could be. After she gladly discovered her magical power, she decided to join the military to make her dream come true. With tens of thousands of witches and higher-ups working together to hold up the sky, she didn't shoulder as much burden as people thought witches did. Instead, to her the military was more of a sleepaway camp and the battles were more of games.
Eila remembered a quote, "It is the best of times, it is the worst of times." Each period of time in history had both outstanding and languishing people. Undoubtedly Eila was among the former. If she were not born when Neuroi was a rampant threat, she might end up spending her entire life having an ordinary, mundane existence with her Foresight ability never used or even discovered. If she were not born in a "witch-friendly" time, her magical power might have brought her troubles or even misfortunes, just like the countless poor souls burnt at the stake during the "Witch Hunting Movement" back in medieval times.
Her elder sister and Lieutenant Elma Leivonen had told her many stories about the Misfits Squadron. Elizabeth F. Beurling, a member of that squadron, said something which had always stuck with Eila—
"Don't speak to me about responsibility or something like that. I didn't willingly become a witch. Certain people forced me to join the Mechanized Air Infantry just because I had magical power. Not every girl wants to be a witch, just like not everyone wants to be a Piccadilly star."
In the beginning, Eila just found it ridiculous. Who the hell would hate to be a witch? But over the course of time, she grew to know where this girl was coming from. Everyone had their desired lifestyle, but not everyone could live it; it was all up to their times. Just why did it have to be an unafforded luxury for Beurling when it was not even a luxury for Eila? The unwillingness to be a witch might be an unspeakable taboo in the context of a society where witchhood was widely regarded as one of the most glorious things, but Beurling was not afraid to give utterance to it. That took a certain amount of bravery, didn't it? Wasn't it worth some respect? What in the world merited her, Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen, the favor of times? Really, she had gained a lot from this overall environment.
Back to reality. What she just said was very likely to surprise others. The top ace of Suomus was being bothered by something like that? But, "ace" was just a sugar coat, under which was a normal person born in the right times.
However, that was just a train of thoughts which had been lying in the back of Eila's mind for a long time. There was some other reason why she started to ponder on those things.
"But now, after remembering my childhood, it feels like a load has been taken off of me," Eila turned to face Aurora, shyly blushed a little and looked away. "So, umm, thank you, Aurora."
To that, Aurora responded with a warm smile.
The siblings stood still face-to-face in silence for a while, until Nipa walked over. Seeing Nipa, Eila immediately went back to normal and urged her to dress up as a doll again and claimed that it was for the sake of making memories. Laura and Hasse, who had come out of nowhere, were holding a camera ready to photograph them. Eila put one hand on Nipa's shoulder, muttering about Hasse and Laura's abrupt presence, and posed for the camera. When the shutters closed, she said a "cheese."
Aurora stayed over there watching on. Her little sister was pondering on something important about her life. The older Juutilainen believed she would find an answer. As her elder sister, she had confidence in her. When she had something to protect, the answer would come up. Would that be a dream, or someone she loved? No matter what it was, it would surely become her guide light.
Author's note: In this chapter, I added long inner monologues which can't be found in the manga. In fact, "a favorite of times" is exactly what I think of Eila as. It is also the main reason why I love Eila so much. She is the kind of person I wish I were and want to become. Every girl would love to have good looks. Everyone would love to get their talents used to the fullest. Hence, I have decided to write this paragraph ever since I made up my mind to do the novel adaptation of Witches of Aurora!
However, I underwent a phase of hesitation after I actually put pen to paper. Considering no canon information about Eila's family has been released so far, what if the reason behind her enlistment is not as simple as we think?
I have read a fanfiction where Eila, despite her sunny appearance, has a dark story behind her — As a child, she once gets kidnapped by the military, who intend to use her as a guinea pig in unethical human experimentation. Her parents are killed while trying to save her. As a result, she joins the military in order to investigate the incident and avenge her parents. It is also after the incident that she gets her Foresight ability, as she starts to avoid physical contact with others. The reason behind her hobby of groping other girls' breasts is also that she subconsciously thinks she can make everyone stay away from her by doing so.
If something like that is true, it would do her no justice to say "she has an easy path through life" and "she enlists just to fulfill her innocent dream as a little girl," would it? However, I can hardly feel such a dark vibe throughout the whole Witches of Aurora, so I presume she is as gifted, blissful and carefree as she is depicted in this chapter. In the future if Humikane gives relevant information, I'll make proper changes to this chapter accordingly if necessary.