Meep.

Hello Mr. Wolf (4)

Ayano stared into Azami's red irises, the fairy-like figure swaying in the scarcely illuminated room.

"Y-y-yes." Ayano stuttered.

This was the witch, the evil monster of the woods, the figure with just as much notoriety as the wolves. Yet this was also Marry's grandmother, an entity nice enough to bring Ayano in, and tuck the girl into bed. Ayano didn't know how to talk to Azami, what to talk to her about, or even what to do. Ayano was scared of the mystical presence… but at the same time intrigued.

Azami answered all of these questions, as if she could read Ayano's mind.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to eat you. Nor will I cook you or bake you or petrify you; just calm down, relax, and go to sleep. You need it. "

"R-really?"

"Yes.' Azami nodded, her abnormally long hair swishing through the air, on a gust of wind that ignored walls.

"Okay. Thank you." Ayano laid herself back down onto the bed, closing her eyes to push out the stars' and moon's pale white light. Ayano heard soft shuffling, and the creak of a city door's hinges.

"You're welcome Ayano." Azami softly murmured, so quietly that Ayano could barely hear the woman's voice. With that, Azami shut the door, a click resounding through the room signifying her leave.

It would only occur to Ayano much later that Azami had known Ayano's name without a self-introduction.

…

The morning came, calling Ayano up with bird calls and the whispers of nature, all pervading into the room as if the room had no walls at all. Ayano groaned, pushing away her messy locks of raven hair, messily pushing herself up to a sitting position.

Then Ayano remembered where she was.

Wide awake now, the girl's eyes widened like saucers. Ayano glanced around the room, almost not believing what she saw. It was like a dream, a wondrous display of what could only be described as magical.

Foreign symbols spun and whirled through the air, like they were leaves in the breeze. They blazed different colours, not unlike a campfire or a bush blaze, but so much warmer. These floating markings wouldn't hurt her; that Ayano could tell with no words. Ayano needed no magic to know that there was no hostility hidden behind the lilting and whimsical lines.

Ayano tore her gaze from the flying glyphs, and refocused on the room itself. It was different, very different from her forested encampment. Tendrils of water rippled along the walls, running up the walls and across the roof. Ribbons flames burned with no fuel, seemingly endlessly in their little cups of earth. The air blew with no wind, nothing behind it, but still carried the song of a mockingbird.

The room was so many things, so many enchantments, magics, things Ayano had heard of only in myth. Yet here they were, as casual as could be. Azami may not have been a monster, but she was certainly a skilled practitioner of the arcane arts. How else could this house exist? How else could a river run upwards towards the roof or a never-ending blaze of fiery fire? There was no other explanation.

Ayano suddenly felt self-aware. She was no one special, by any account. Ayano was the daughter of a somewhat well known member of the community, but that was still only her community. Ayano reckoned that in the whole flat world, there would be tons of people who didn't know her father even existed.

Still, Ayano was here nonetheless. She was in the home of a magician, a wizard, a witch. Ayano wondered why Azami had never been more of a conversation topic back at the encampment. Would magic not hunt more efficiently than the leverage layman? Could magic not grow crops and encourage livestock better than a regular human ever could? Why didn't Azami ever apply her talents elsewhere, rather than staying out here in anonymity?

Ayano supposed it wasn't her place to go on about Azami's position as the magician's guest. Still, how was it that no one had known of Azami's existence until after Marry had been found?

It was a mystery, but Ayano's job wasn't to solve mysteries. It was her job to deliver a gift to Azami to appease Marry's grandmother.

On that note, on that particular train of thought… where had the basket gone? It was nowhere to be found in the room, and Ayano dared not explore more than she was allowed of a magician's house. All of the stories told of hugely complex defense mechanisms, elaborate tortures, and even a self-destruction clause.

Ayano knew nothing of actual real life magic, but it sounded like common sense not to trespass on any magician's property.

And so, Ayano could do nothing but wait and wonder when Azami would come to relieve the marvelous room of her. Fortunately, Ayano didn't have to wait very long. It would only be a solid sixty-seven seconds before Azami strode into the room.

"Good morning." The magician greeted her.

"Good morning!" Ayano repeated, bowing her head repeatedly.

"Thank you for the bed! Thank you for the stay! Thank you for letting me in! Thank you!"

"It's nothing. You can stop bowing now." Azami humbly noted, twirling up a miniature vortex atop her palm. Ayano stopped as commanded, face flushing red as an audible growl rumbled from her stomach.

"I'm sorry to ask this, but do you have any food?"

"Yes." Azami snapped her fingers, immediately conjuring up a white stone tray, various different assortments of berries and other gatherable fruits assorted randomly on top. Azami released it, letting the gentle breeze slowly carry it over to Ayano in bed.

"Again, I'm sorry to-"

"Spare me." Azami laughed. "I'm sure I'll hear that again today, won't I?"

"Y-yes? N-no! N-no, you won't. I'm so-"

"It's fine. I don't mind." Azami waved her off, beckoning for a chair to swing on over. The magician plopped herself down on her furniture, her small frame visibly sinking into the cushioning just as the plate of food deposited itself in Ayano's open hands.

Ayano glanced from the food to Azami, wondering if she should wait for her host to eat first, or get some food of her own.

"Go on, eat. I know you're hungry." Azami told her. Ayano hesitantly plucked a grape off the trimmed stem, pausing with it at her mouth.

"I've already eaten. Go ahead." Azami repeated herself, sounding a little irritated.

Needing no further command, Ayano dove into the fruit, inhaling grapes and berries like air. She heaved them in by the dozen, or so it seemed. Soon enough, Ayano had voraciously destroyed the entire collection of fruit, her appetite more than satisfied. It was delicious. Ayano wondered how Azami cultivated her plants. Magic maybe? That would explain how good it was.

"Done?" Azami asked, still relaxed in her thickly lined chair. Ayano nodded, half an apple still lodged in her mouth as she chewed.

"Now, tell me about yourself Ayano." Azami requested.

Ayano almost choked on the remains of her fruit. That sounded personal. It seemed very personal, to talk about one's self, one's whole being to someone else. Still, it was Azami. Azami was a Marry's grandmother, and a magician no less, so Ayano supposed it would be like talking to someone much older than you. She had to carry the utmost respect for her elders.

"Mrs. Azami, I…"

"Do away with the 'Mrs.'. Just call me Azami." Azami impatiently interrupted.

"Azami, I come from the encampment down yonder. I-"

"Do you have any siblings?" Azami cut in again.

"No, but I'm pretty close to some of the other kids! I'm the oldest, but Kido and Seto and Kano are all really-"

"What about my granddaughter? Do you spend time with her too?" Azami interrupted once more, mouth forming a firm line. It was obvious what her priorities were, and Ayano didn't blame her. The woman was bound to be worried about the granddaughter that had run away from home, gotten lost, and taken in by complete strangers.

"Marry? Yes, we actually spend a lot of time together! We play games and everything."

"Games like?" Azami asked, once again relaxing her body, lips tilted upwards slightly for a slight smile. Ayano took a brief pause, taking in that elegant beauty.

"Well, we…"

Ayano found herself opening up to the magician, talking about things like the kids to Kano's teasing, going on about her life and her solitary world of the encampment. Ayano rambled about the wolves and the tales told around the campfire, of the not-so-beastly wolves to the not-quite-evil "witch" of the woods.

As the two discussed, talked, and partook in conversation, Ayano grew more and more comfortable, at some point beginning to see the shorter woman as a friend, a companion. It was no longer a case of forced politeness. It had become two allies, two comrades of a sort, going on about themselves and the world around them.

In fact, Ayano became so immersed with Azami that even after lunch and a general tour of the area, it was only when the sun started falling when she remembered that she needed to return to her encampment.

"I gotta go: it's a really long trip back home, and it's nearly sunset already. I have to get back before tomorrow otherwise it'd be suspicious." Ayano hurriedly explained to Azami, who merely raised an eyebrow.

"Would you like to get back faster?"

"Well, yes, but it's a really long journey, like I said before. Takes the better part of the day." Ayano repeated herself, glancing at the setting sun. If the forest wasn't safe during the day, it was undoubtedly worse in the darkness of the night, especially this time without two guardians trailing her. Ayano wondered if she'd get back at all.

"I'll teleport you." Azami told her nonchalantly, as if instantaneous travel was a regular fact of life. Maybe it was to her, but to Ayano, it was as mystical as the magical glyphs in her room that morning.

"A-are you sure you should?" Ayano murmured, wondering how much of a toll such magic might exert on the user.

"Yes yes. I'll even leave you an enchanted little trinket." Azami fished through her pockets, retrieving a perfectly round red stone, and pressed it into Ayano's hand.

"This can bring you from your home to here in a few seconds. Just concentrate on one or the other, and you'll be there. Try it, it's not very hard."

Ayano gulped, rubbing the clear reddish stone in her two hands, bringing up memories of the kids, her home in the forest, their favourite play-place in the day and the firepit.

"Good, good. Just like that. You'll come up somewhere a bit off to the side, just so no one sees you teleporting in. Make sure not to tell anyone about this, okay?"

"Okay." Ayano agreed, closing her eyes to visualize her home.

"Just one thing before you go." Azami told her.

"Yes?"

"Next time you bring a gift, don't sleep on it." Azami giggled.

Ayano didn't even have enough time for her face to flush red before the warp happened, a disconcerting blur of colours as countless greens and browns sped past her. Before she knew it, Ayano found herself in the gardens beside their encampment, devoid of other human life. Ayano pocketed the pebble, cheeks still flushed bright red from the embarrassment of sleeping on a gift.

Still, Ayano had a new friend now, a very peculiar and unique one, but a friend nonetheless. Maybe she'd go visit her again, with the biweekly gift. Why stop there? Ayano could probably convince her father to go every time someone needed to go. Ayano would be seeing a lot of Azami in the future, and maybe even Shintaro if she was lucky.

There were a lot of things for Ayano to look forward to. After all, her world had just become so much larger with just a pebble.