A Tale of the Gale

Chapter I

A lone elf woke up in a room in Orario's most famous tavern with sweat drenching her pillows. Her hair had grown well past her shoulders and visible blonde locks were messily covering her face which was buried in those wet pillows. No matter how hard she tried thinking of something else, her thoughts constantly went back to the white haired boy whom she had confessed her love to, in the middle of a fight against Orario's strongest adventurer. The same boy that had helped her to shed the mask of the Gale Wind that she had put on for the last five years after she had lost her swords that were her friends and her wings that was the justice that she championed for. It all went up in smoke during those fateful events and the fairy with the burnt wings never thought she would ever be able to take flight again. But she did take flight again! And it was the boy who had pulled her away from the claws of death that she longed for and given her a reason to take flight again, to live.

The elf was happy that she had got back the girl who had saved her from death the first time and became an irreplaceable friend, one not even a Goddess of Beauty could replace. She wanted to run downstairs and hug the girl one more time. To make sure she would never leave again. But she was afraid that if she went downstairs, she might run into the white haired boy.

It all had happened in a moment. She didn't want to be left behind by her best friend. She couldn't lie about her feelings anymore. She didn't want to regret not telling the boy how she felt about him. That same boy had told her that he wanted to catch up to somebody. She should have known that his answer would be one that would cause sorrow not only to her, but the boy as well. But she couldn't deny all that she had been through with him. Ever since he grabbed hold of her hands when she was returning him his stolen knife, she had started to develop feelings for him. Those same feelings that she had kept suppressed for the sake of her best friend came bubbling to the surface when she saw him and she couldn't suppress them any longer. The boy had just told her that he was a hypocrite. He was an adventurer, and yet he saved monsters. He was going to save her friend and bring her back to them, even if it meant hurting her again. Rejecting her proposal would not be hypocritical. But would he be a hypocrite just one more time and accept her feelings for him?

She couldn't stop thinking about the boy as hundreds of thoughts ran through her head. If those rubellite eyes met her blue ones as he turned her proposal down, she would gladly accept his answer. What she could not accept was lying to herself and to him about her feelings and letting it drag along nowhere. If he told her no, she had made up her mind to start distancing from him slowly. Her sword will always be there to aid him whenever he was in need but if he already had someone else in his life, then she felt she wasn't needed and it wouldn't be fair to him and his someone if she kept getting closer to him. And these new feelings that had swelled inside of her during these past few months tightened her chest and she didn't want it to hurt her more.

"Ryuu! Hurry up and leap down nyaa! The catstomers are already purrowling in fur catnip." came a loud shout from downstairs breaking Ryuu out of her reverie. She hurried up and started getting ready to face whatever fate had in store for her.