As the students enter the auditorium, sitting next to friends and classmates both new and old, one particular student without an armband walks up to the principal as they arrive to deliver their speech.
There are a few murmurs through the students as everything is held up due to this one...
"I..." Lilly muses to herself, "I think she was Japanese? I don't know how to contact anyone who left; we can only really hope that they come back in time. Of course, you can always just send that fairy to sniff them out. Besides, getting some power around here will make it better for both of...
"I... three years ago? He's been sick for a while, I figured that just happened to humans when they got old. Maybe it had something to do with the plants... maybe humans just don't do well when surrounded by magic. I'm not a doctor, Anisa. We used to have a kitsune who'd know about everything...
(Lilly herself only lived in the village for a few decades, along with all the others.)
"I'd imagine that the vines would make it everywhere. And I'd recommend more than nose plugs if you're going down an old sewer; maybe a full suit to go down there." Lilly offers a little shrug at the origin...
Yumi is still trying to make a good impression on the school, and as such she takes diligent notes! ...her penmanship isn't fancy, but it is legible, and that's all that matters.
Once class is over, she heads off to lunch- she doesn't like all the students running around like mad, so she wanders...
(I've been calling both the 'local overrun village' and the 'nearby civilization with humans' "town". This may have led to confusion. Regardless, Lilly's only been in the area for a few decades (did I say centuries? I didn't mean to); it was Anisa's uncle who brought them all in, after all.)...
"Yea, I know what food can be found around here; I used to live here. I used to go to the nearby town, too, until I left."
"Why didn't you go to town when you left?" Emily asks innocently, "I mean, you pass off well enough as human." One of her cat ears gives a little twitch.
"I did for a while...
~~~
"Yea, this is about how I left it." Most of the day has passed before the girls arrive back at the house, and Lilly isn't so impressed by the state of the place.
"Anisa removed some of the vines." Emily points out. "I guess only humans can do it after all."
Lilly collapses on the sofa...
Yumi is sure to wake up bright and early! After a quick shower and brushing her hair, she gets dressed for school and starts on breakfast! As she cooks up her eggs and toast, she can't help but spin around, trying out her relatively new skirt- her last school didn't have anything this cute...
"The first?" Lilly scoffs, "Or just the first you found?"
"The first. If we're going to rebuild the town, we need someone who can build. Emily told me all about you, about what you've been able to make, about everything you've done. You built half the town, or at least designed it. I know Symond...
Lilly points the axe at Anisa once she makes herself seen. "And you brought a HUMAN with you? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"
"She's the old man's niece."
Lilly crosses her arms. "What, ya gonna shag her to death too? You can't just go picking up humans off the street when you kill...
A sound causes Sundrop to freeze in her tracks- it's faint, but unnatural. Another sound comes shortly after- someone is trying to chop down a tree. Sundrop quietly escorts Anisa to the source of the noise.
A blue-haired figure with a cap and rugged clothing is brandishing a homemade axe...
Sundrop continues to walk without saying very much. There isn't a whole lot to say, after all.
Eventually, she comes to a stop, holding a hand out back to bring Anisa to a standstill as well. "Someone has been here." She points at a snapped twig. "Too high up for a deer, but too solid for a...
"Necromancy isn't the same as in the stories- the body can come back, but never the soul." She stops walking as well, resting her hand on a tree. "If all the magic in the world can't bring back those I've lost, then I have no need for it." She clenches her knuckles on the tree. "I gave it up and...
"This part, at least, is accurate. Humans can't use magic though, can you. You write stories about it, you tear us apart to find out what makes us tick, some of you have studied your lives away only to be left emptyhanded. The math, however, was incorrect." Sundrop walks ahead of Anisa, not...
"I..." Sundrop has her hand out with her palm down, her other hand holding her elbow. She feels like she's told this human a thousand times. "Am a Nymph." she flips her palm up as she says it, her wrist loose, her fingers limp to remain just as curled as they want to be. "And a fairy, for that...
"Well, I am French, after all. Sometime after the war I crossed the ocean and learned English. It has been some time, but I can teach you what I know." She hasn't had to use any French for a few decades now, but considering it was her native language, she still remembers it well enough. "I have...
"I um-" Emily /knows/ she heard the elf's name before, but there were so many people and it was a while ago, so her memory is foggy. "Her name was some sort of flower, I remember..."
"Well that narrows it down." Sundrop pats Emily's head. "Blue hair, right? That should be easy to spot."
"Right...
That night finds the non-humans exhausted in their bed from a long day of work. Anisa can finally have a bed of her own as long as she doesn't mind the dust. There was talk of getting a vacuum, but powering it would be an issue.
The morning comes slow for the girls, but after breakfast Sundrop...