It’s dusk, and night is coming slowly.
And I’m going out for a walk with Alice.
“This place really feels stranger the more I see.”
Alice says with a sparkle in her eyes while looking all around her, even though we just left the house.
I get the feeling that for Alice, being in this village is like wandering into a different world.
“Alice, let’s go see the spirit trees!”
“Eh?”
I take Alice by the hand, and head to the first spirit tree.
There are a lot of spirits in this spirit tree, but Alice can’t see them. But even if she can’t see them, she still feels that the spirit tree is a very special thing.
The spirits have fun floating around Alice, and looking at them with Alice feels like I’m looking at a painting. Alice is beautiful, so it just looks nice when the spirits are shining around her.
Unfortunately, only people that can see spirits, like elves and me, can see this sight.
“Can I touch this tree?”
“Do you want to? Sure.”
Alice fearfully touches the trunk of the spirit tree, and smiles like even just doing that is fun for her.
“Are you having fun, Alice?”
“Yes. I’ve never touched such a big tree.”
I guess that makes sense.
From what Alice told me, I feel like she’s never been too far from where people live.
She was special back in the village where we were born, and raised with a lot of care. And even after she was taken as the miko, she always lived in places with lots of people, not among nature.
Being in this village full of nature must feel new to her.
Now that I think about it, can Alice use magic? I have magic energy and can use magic, but what about Alice, my twin? If I can find that out while she’s here, I want to try using magic with her.
I was really happy when I met her again in the capital, and happy that I got to talk to her, so that’s all I thought about. I didn’t think about anything else, like what we want to do together.
But we exchanged letters since then, and this is our second meeting, so I feel like I want to do lots of stuff together.
Thinking about the future like this really makes me feel like Alice and I are finally starting to become real twin sisters now.
“This tree is here because of your hard work, right?”
“No, everyone’s.”
When I met Alice before and we exchanged letters, we talked about the past, but there wasn’t enough time, so I don’t think I really explained why this spirit tree is here.
“An intelligent monster was threatening the elves, and destroying the spirit tree. We couldn’t keep the spirit tree where the elves lived before, so we left and ended up here. We want it to be a place where everyone can live in peace, and none of the people important to us have to die.”
“You fought a monster? You really went through a lot more tough things than I thought.”
Alice says while looking straight into my eyes.
She has beautiful blue eyes. We’re twins, but we really do look completely different.
Alice steps away from the spirit tree and towards me, and reaches towards my head.
I’m happy that she’s patting my head, but why is she doing that all of a sudden? I look at her with a confused expression.
“Why are you patting my head all of a sudden?”
“Because I was thinking about how you really worked hard. My only sister is much more of a hard worker than I thought.”
“Thanks. But you’ve had it tougher than I thought too. You were taken as the miko, and then they told you you’re not the miko, and now you’re a waiting maid. Yes, you’ve been through a lot too, just different from me.
You worked really hard too, so I’ll pat you too.”
Alice started patting my head because she heard what I said and thought I worked really hard, and I think she worked really hard too, so I’m going to pat her too.
And so, we pat each other’s heads in front of the spirit tree for a while.
And then…
“What are you doing, Lerunda?”
Asks Freinet, sounding confused.
Freinet is making it so Alice can see her too, and Alice blinks really fast as she sees a spirit for the first time.
“Alice and I were patting each other because we both worked hard.
Ah, Alice, this is Freinet, a wind spirit that formed a contract with me. Freinet is making it so you can see her too.”
I say to Alice, who is completely still as she looks at Freinet.
—Girl and the third spirit festival – Part five
(The miko introduces her sister to Freinet.)
