After finishing the food, Stella stood up and carried the dishes away.
"We should be able to tour the village starting tomorrow." She said.
"I really can't wait to introduce you to my friends!"
Stella then went to the kitchen, leaving Ichigo alone on the stairs.
Ichigo looked around, drawing in a slow breath of the surrounding air, which felt wonderfully refreshing.
He drifted into a brief daydream, gazing up at the sky.
The sky above this forest appeared darker than usual, yet surrounded by countless rippling refractions of light, as though a dome of water enveloped the forest to protect it.
The dome shielded the forest from dangerous attacks and from the harsh, scorching rays of the arid desert sun.
However, this protective dome weakened at a rapid pace, by elven standards, as it needed to be renewed once every five years. Troublesome as that was, water was the element most suited to an environment like this.
In the kitchen, Stella came across her twin sibling. This elf had short hair, sharp eyes of a deep blue, and a gloomy aura. Their name was Astella.
"Oh, Astella, you're here?" Stella greeted.
Astella let out a sigh.
"Sis, why are you being so kind to that outsider?" Said Astella in an irritated tone.
Stella smiled faintly, then looked at her sibling with a gentle gaze.
"I can't explain it all to you, but if you meet him yourself, you'll naturally come to respect him."
Astella was taken aback by those words and immediately walked away. It was at that moment that Seren, a male elf around the same age as Stella with long straight light-blue hair tied back, witnessed the exchange from the corridor near the kitchen stairs.
"Is she at it again?" Said Seren.
Stella nodded.
"Seren, could you check on our guest later?" Stella asked.
"Ah, actually I was already on my way to see him." Seren replied.
Stella then began washing the dishes, with Seren taking the initiative to help.
Afterward, they tidied up the kitchen, which had been left unattended for far too long.
Long-lived creatures tend to lose track of the difference between their own sense of time and the pace of the world around them. As a result, without realizing it, much of their equipment had gathered dust and thick cobwebs. To them it all felt like just a moment ago, unaware that the things they used had decayed with time.
Stella opened a dusty cupboard door and was immediately hit by a cloud of dust particles, causing her to sneeze and cough.
Seren fetched a cloth for Stella.
"Thank you." Said Stella with a smile.
Seren gave a brief nod, then went back to cleaning the dish rack, which had turned black in several corners.
"How long has this kitchen gone without being cleaned?" Seren asked, lifting a pot whose bottom had begun to rust.
Stella thought for a moment. "Maybe... two years? Or three?"
Seren looked at her flatly.
"Stella."
"W-Well, I've been too busy with my training to become chief." Stella defended herself, wiping the dust from her face while simultaneously hiding her embarrassment.
Seren then grabbed hold of a cabinet that was on the verge of collapsing, gripping it with great force.
"It's probably time to replace this cabinet." He said, snapping off a plank of wood that was riddled with termites inside.
Stella turned her face away, as if to suggest she knew nothing about any of it.
Seren then walked out of the kitchen.
"I'll go see Uncle Zanat about the cabinet."
Right at the doorway, Seren glanced back at Stella.
"Oh, right. You go and keep Ichigo company first, before I go check on him."
"Alright..." Said Stella, standing still.
Stella made her way back to her home, passing many other elven houses and bridges along the way.
"Greetings to the Star of the Forest." The elves she encountered on the path called out to her.
Stella gave a small, slow wave with a gentle smile as she greeted them in return.
The wind blew.
The leaves swayed.
Water flowed and trickled.
Sunlight illuminated the world, accompanied by the chirping of birds.
Stella paused for a moment.
Ah, that's right. I still haven't asked the birds about Ichigo's identity...
Stella lowered her gaze.
But perhaps that isn't entirely necessary. Because I feel that even nature itself holds a great respect for him.
Stella continued walking toward her home.
Her steps were slow, unhurried. Her mind still drifted over the words she had just thought to herself.
Even nature holds great respect for him.
She didn't know where that feeling came from. From the very first moment she saw Ichigo standing at the edge of the forest, purple hair and eyes as empty as mirrors, something had stirred inside her. Not fear. Not ordinary admiration either.
More like... recognition.
Like the moment an old deer kneels before the oldest tree in the forest, with no one commanding it to do so.
Stella shook her head slowly, chasing away her own thoughts.
Don't let your imagination run too far, Stella.
As she drew near to her home, just below the wooden bridge in front of it, she noticed a crowd of elves who had gathered and were whispering among themselves while looking at Ichigo.
"Who is he?"
"His ears? He's not an elf?!"
"A human?! But the aura he carries, I don't think so..."
Those were the fragments of conversation Stella caught drifting from the crowd.
Stella panicked and broke into a run up to the upper floor.
Is he alright?!
Upon reaching the upper floor, Stella spoke to the crowd gathered ahead.
"Excuse me, could you please not block the way?"
The crowd gradually dispersed, apologizing to Stella, the daughter of the elven village chief.
Stella then walked slowly toward her house, and then...
She saw Ichigo, still sitting on the steps of her home.
Ichigo was gazing at the sky with an empty expression, his hair drifting in the gentle breeze, sunlight falling softly upon him.
It looked like a scene from a beautiful painting.
Stella stood still for a moment, watching with a look of quiet wonder.
After a few seconds, Stella finally climbed the stairs of her home.
She ascended slowly and sat down beside him, trying not to make any sudden noise.
"BOO!" Stella quickly jumped up in front of Ichigo. They were face to face at an extremely close distance.
Ichigo responded to the startle with perfect blankness.
"Ah, you're back."
Stella's face fell with visible disappointment.
"That's no fun at all. How are you not even a little surprised?"
Ichigo looked around in various directions, then finally looked back at Stella.
"I'm not sure." Ichigo replied.
Stella, already thoroughly let down, went inside the house.
"I don't want unnecessary attention, and you were sitting out there looking completely like a statue just now. If that's the case, wouldn't it be better for you to stay inside?"
Ichigo looked at the sky once more.
"I'm not sure, but my body feels more... how do I put it? Refreshed, perhaps? The environment here is very well-suited to getting lost in thought." Said Ichigo.
Stella looked tremendously proud.
"Of course! We forest elves are friends with the fairies and care for a great many spirits by tending to the environment. The air here is truly wonderful and calming because of it."
Ichigo listened to Stella's explanation without comment.
But his eyes shifted slightly, taking in the swaying leaves, the flow of air passing through the gaps between the trees, and the light that fell in unusual ways through the canopy above.
"Spirits." Ichigo repeated the word quietly, as though filing it away.
"Yes! They're everywhere here." Stella sat in the doorway, hugging one of the posts casually. "You can't see them, but sometimes if you stay still long enough, you can feel them."
Ichigo then asked:
"But Stella, are those spirits like tiny glowing creatures, floating through the air and along the ground?"
"That's what the ancient great spirit who communicated with us in the old archives described them as."
Stella then realized something was off.
"Wait!"
"You can see the spirits?!"
To Be Continued