"This week has been so weird," I muttered to myself, staring at the ornate ceiling.
I sat up slowly, taking in the well-furnished room for what felt like the hundredth time. Everything here screamed luxury from the silk curtains that probably cost more than my entire childhood wardrobe, to the mahogany furniture polished to a mirror shine.
The bed I slept in every night was ridiculously comfortable, the kind of warmth and softness I'd only dreamed about back in Buena Village.
Yet despite all this comfort, I couldn't sleep.
Everything had felt off lately. Wrong, somehow. Like I was living someone else's life.
I slipped out of bed and padded across the plush carpet to the balcony doors, pushing them open. The cool night air hit my face, making me shiver slightly in my thin nightgown. I stepped out onto the balcony and gripped the stone railing, looking up at the stars scattered across the dark sky like diamonds on velvet.
Ever since… ever since Rudeus left, my entire life had changed.
I thought back to that day the crying, the unresolved questions, so many things left unsaid between us. And when I'd seen him for what might be the final time, I'd said nothing. I'd just frozen like an idiot. The look in his eyes when he realized I wasn't going to speak, that flash of pain before he turned away…
My hand moved to clutch at my chest, and I felt my eyes begin to water. "I wish…" I whispered to the empty night. "I wish I'd said something. Anything. If only I could—"
"If only you could go back?" a voice said behind me.
I spun around so fast I nearly tripped over my own feet.
Ariel stood in the doorway, her nightgown flowing around her like she was some kind of ethereal spirit. She had this knowing smile on her face the same expression she always wore when she caught me out here.
I let out a long breath, my heart still racing. "You really need to stop sneaking up on me like that."
"I wasn't sneaking," Ariel said, walking over to join me at the railing. "You were just too lost in your thoughts to hear me open the door." She looked up at the stars, her expression thoughtful. "This is the third time this week I've found you out here, you know."
"I couldn't sleep," I said defensively.
"You never can." Ariel glanced at me sideways. "Sylphiette, I have a question for you."
I made a noncommittal sound, not really wanting to have a deep conversation at such an early time in the night. But Ariel was in one of her philosophical moods, and when she got like this, there was no avoiding it.
"Why do you think about him so much?"
The question wasn't asked cruelly or mockingly. There was genuine curiosity in her voice, like she was trying to solve some complex puzzle.
I could have given her a thousand reasons. Because he was my first friend. Because he saved me. Because he taught me magic when no one else would. Because he never cared that I looked different, that other kids threw rocks at me and called me a monster.
But when I really thought about it, stripped away all the details and history and memories, there was only one true answer.
"Because I love him," I said quietly, but with absolute certainty.
The wind picked up suddenly, strong enough that I had to grab the railing to steady myself. My hair whipped around my face, and I quickly brushed it back. When I glanced at Ariel, she hadn't moved an inch, hadn't even swayed. She was just standing there with this soft smile on her face, her golden hair flowing in the wind like water.
The moonlight overhead gave her this otherworldly quality, like she wasn't quite real. It was the kind of beauty that made people stop and stare, the kind that reminded you she was born to be royalty.
"You know, Sylphiette," she said thoughtfully, "I've only recently begun to wonder what love truly feels like."
She turned to me, eyes warm. "But seeing you how your thoughts linger on him, how your body softens and your breath catches when his name comes up… I think I'm starting to glimpse it."
Heat flooded my face. I turned toward the city lights, arms tightening over my chest.
"D-don't say things like that so suddenly."
Ariel's laugh was light and teasing. Then her voice dipped lower, playful but edged with something warmer.
"If I were Rudeus, I would have already pulled you close… maybe slipped that little strap back down your shoulder just to watch you blush harder."
She leaned in slightly as she spoke, close enough that I could feel the subtle heat radiating from her. Her fingers brushed my arm light, deliberate, gone in an instant.
My breath hitched. My skin tingled where she'd touched; I was suddenly very aware of every place the nightgown clung too tightly. "A-Ariel—!"
She smiled wider, clearly delighted by my reaction. "You're adorable when you're flustered."
I took two hasty steps back, nearly tripping over the threshold. "I think… I should go back to bed. Right now."
I retreated inside, pulse racing, the cool air doing nothing to calm the warmth in my cheeks or lower.
Ariel remained on the balcony, her amusement fading into quiet thoughtfulness. She gripped the railing, gazing over the sleeping city.
"What he said was true," she murmured. "The mass teleportation… Derrick…" Grief tightened her throat. "And Father's illness is worsening."
The letter had come three days ago. The king was fading, beyond most healing.
Sylphiette's sudden arrival felt like fate's strange mercy soon she'd serve as Ariel's hidden guard, kept from public view while Rudeus's face adorned wanted posters across Roa, his bounty absurdly high.
Ariel let out a soft, wry laugh. "The most wanted man in the city, barely older than us. Absurd."
Yet she sensed their paths would intersect again. Her intuition rarely lied.
So many questions swirled her father's decline, the teleportation's aftermath, politics, protecting Sylphiette while harnessing her strength.
And one quieter question that refused to fade:
What exactly was love?
Rudeus had left her with that puzzle. No textbook or strategy could solve it.
Perhaps some things weren't meant to be solved.
Ariel lingered under the stars, thoughts drifting between duty, loss… and the memory of Sylphiette's flushed skin trembling under the lightest touch.
Inside, Sylphiette sank into the impossibly soft bed, sheets cool against her still-warm body. She stared at the ceiling, hand resting lightly on her stomach, feeling the faint ache of longing.
She pictured Rudeus his voice, his hands, the way he'd once held her so completely.
"Idiot," she whispered to him, to herself.
She just wanted to see him again… to feel that warmth again. Everything felt so cold without him