The room was empty except for Marian and Erika, and there was just the sound of Erika's sobs. Marian sat by the girl's side without saying a word, even when Erika leaned into her to try and muffle her voice.

Somehow, Marian couldn't help but lift her hand and rub the girl's head like her friend used to do for her. When Erika finally stopped shuddering, Marian hesitated and then pulled away, helping the girl sit up.

"Are you okay now?" Marian asked.

Erika hiccuped, rubbed her eyes, and nodded. Her eyes were red, like a rabbit's. "Marian, why are you here? Did you know I was in trouble? Hic…"

The woman looked away. "Emm… well, no. That was, unfortunately, just a coincidence. The truth is I remembered that you once asked if you could come with me, and…."

"And…?" Erika repeated, her eyes wide, waiting for the woman's following words. Could it be that—!

"…and I decided that it wouldn't be bad if I had you with me. It'd be a waste to leave someone like you in a place like this, after all. No offense to this place."

Erika shook her head. "None taken! Except for just a few people, I don't really care about this place anyway. I probably won't be sad when I leave… Why are you looking at me like that?!" she demanded, face reddening with a blush.

"No, it's nothing. So will you come with me?"

Before Marian even finished asking the question, Erika's head bobbed up and down.

"Of course I will! But when are we leaving?"

"As soon as you like," Marian said, giving her head one last pat. "I'll wait for you to finish everything, so take your time."

Ever since she first decided she would leave, Erika had been slowly saving up things that might be useful, like needles and threads for repairing clothes, knives for self-defense, and other items. She even had quite a bit of seasoning she bought from Ronja, enough to make a little over a month of stew if she used it sparingly.

The last thing she put into the satchel was all of her savings, as well as her half-finished carvings.

The only thing she needed to do was to say goodbye to the people she cared about. Now that she thought about it, there really weren't all that many that she was on great terms with. After what happened just now, Erika couldn't be sure how many of those would still speak with her.

No doubt that news about her spread to the whole village already.

First was Ronja.

Since Darton wasn't in the house, Erika made it out without any issue. However, as soon as she stepped out the front door, she felt the eyes of everyone on her, and she couldn't help but shudder at the hostile gazes. So this was how it felt to be an outcast.

Part of it was her own fault for saying such things, so Erika just did her best to ignore them. She shouldered her bag and looked straight ahead, not meeting anyone's gaze as she walked through the streets until she reached the inn.

Like usual, she snuck in through the back, the way she always did when she didn't want to be seen. She found Ronja in the back, and her heart sank when Ronja looked at her wearily.

"So you're here, Erika…."

"...yes…"

"To think that that's what you were doing with the meat and that wheelbarrow."

Erika lowered her head. "I'm sorry for not telling you. Ronja, I'm here to say goodbye and thank you for everything you've done for me." She waited for a reaction, but Ronja remained silent.

Finally, she heard the sound of footsteps heading away from her.

So Ronja hated her now. Erika couldn't blame her.

As Erika began to leave, she heard a cold voice. "Where are you going?" Erika froze in her steps and turned around to see that same stern expression on Ronja's face that Ronja always had when Erika did something wrong in the kitchen, but this time, Ronja was holding something out in front of her.

It was a small bag.

Erika held out both hands, cupped, and Ronja dropped it roughly into her palms before turning her back and continuing about her business, no longer speaking another word and giving Erika another glance.

However, the smell of the spices from the little bag did not lie, and Erika covered her face and mouth to hold everything back. Carefully putting the bag into the satchel hung from her shoulders, Erika made a deep bow at Ronja's back before running out of the inn.

After the sound of Erika's footsteps disappeared, Ronja's broad shoulders slumped, and she wiped her face, wincing as the juices of the layered root she had been chopping stung her eyes.

Erika knocked on the window, and Tabitha's eyes widened upon seeing that it was her. Tabitha quickly unlatched the window, and Erika flipped in, her body lighter than before. Her friend was holding Katia in her arms this time. "So the day is finally here?" Tabitha said softly. "I always knew that it would come, but I always hoped that today, or tomorrow, wouldn't be it."

"Thank you for everything, Tabitha," Erika blurted out. Unlike her time with Ronja, she couldn't hold back her tears this time. Up until the last moment, when most of the village turned against her, Tabitha still supported her. She didn't deserve someone like Tabitha, who sometimes acted like her friend, sometimes like her sister, and even her mother at times. "I don't know how to thank you enough…" Her words and tears choked her. "I'm leaving now, and I don't know if I'll ever be back. Tabitha, I'm sorry."

"There there," Tabitha said, ruffling Erika's hair after securing Katia with one arm. "You're already seventeen and a woman now, so don't cry just because you're leaving. As long as you don't forget me, I'll be happy, Erika." She smiled brightly, leaned forward, and kissed Erika on the cheek.

Erika stood there numbly.

She shouldn't have come one last time. Now that she was really about to leave, her feet were like lead. If there was one thing in the village that could keep her, one string that she could not break, it was Tabitha.

Tabitha, whom she owed everything to.

Now she was finally going to break this last string, the only string she did not mind.

Erika held up a handkerchief. She didn't have time to make a completely new handkerchief, but she did have time to embroider a design on it. Tabitha accepted it, then looked at it.

There was a pattern of flowers on all sides of the piece of cloth. In the center were Erika and Tabitha's names. Even though Tabitha was illiterate, Erika had found the time to teach her how to read her own name. Erika had been eager to show off her new skills then, and Tabitha learned fast.

Tabitha turned away quickly, clutching the handkerchief in her hand. She took a deep breath but did not turn back around. "Go now, Erika. Thank you."

Even though Tabitha couldn't see her, Erika nodded and went back out the window, heading back toward her room where Marian waited. Slowly, her steps sped up until she was running, and she didn't care if anyone saw her.

When she peeked in through the window that Marian had broken through, Marian turned. "Done? No regrets?"

"For now, no…."

Marian seemed to understand, and without another word, Marian led her toward the western gate. Erika forced herself to not turn back, and she kept her head down. They walked down the center of the streets, in full view of everyone. People pointed and whispered, but Marian just put her hand over Erika's shoulder.

Her hand was comforting, and Erika managed to relax.

Silently, she walked out of the western entrance of the village, and when she finally looked back, only a few figures stood at the fairy ring boundary, watching her until she finally couldn't see them through the trees anymore.