(Ophelia)

As time elapsed, I expected my tumultuous world from the recent past to fade. Places and thoughts—they were just transient things. Someone could leave a place one day and not even notice the motion of a few bugs or plants until their favorite shop closed down or that house with which they had a connection was demolished. At that point, they would take a step back to once again analyze where their priorities lied as their surroundings flitted by in their memories, and they would subsequently find they didn't care about the specifics of what had changed because they liked where they ended up regardless.

Really, the sun moving was just one of those inconspicuous ants to me. I hadn't seen a house fall yet, but I wanted to make one plummet to the ground, shift the paradigm so much that it would lose its previous reliability.

I looked over the rim of the window in Koharu's room, watching the now typical sunrise paint the outdoors in a wash of muted watercolors during the transition from the scandalous night to the graceful day.

Six months had passed since the kingdoms had been merged, which meant I was afforded around 180 chances to see that flaming ball. It wasn't a spectacle anymore and instead, just a fact, something imbued with certainty on which I could count.

If it didn't come, there was no day. It was as simple as that.

The morning was still like the winds and whistles of nature had ceased, like a magician stopped the clock entirely to hold the world hostage, and the few clouds covering the sky were no match for the expanse of blue they tried to shield. They were little gray balls of cotton, never enough to cover the ground below them during eclipses or solstices.

I reached my hand out to feel their softness, but my vision deceived me. I retracted the appendage. If I wanted to touch a cloud, I'd wait for fog.

The sleeve of the black silk robe slid down my arm until it bunched up on my elbow. Adjusting it, I turned around to see Koharu sleeping in the bed behind me, partially clothed. She would wake up soon. Probably.

As she snuggled closer to them, the yellow blankets rustled. The movement shocked me, so I pressed myself closer to the window frame as a paper threatened to crumple in my pocket.

"Why'd you call me here, Fifi?"

Leo was more dejected than usual for whatever reason. Frankly, he had been like that ever since the ceremony. It and his newfound work likely tired him, but Sinclair's return to more freelance jobs didn't appear to help with his situation.

"Remember what you promised me about a wish when I met you?" I asked Leo while I thought back to our unofficial pact.

He isn't going to bail on me, right? I sorta did what he wanted since the whole ordeal with Inei and Hikaru is now settled.

"I guess I said something about that." He sat on the courtyard bench with a pout, a whiny tone leeching through his voice as if through a sieve. "Can't imagine what else you'd want."

In front of him, I knelt beside a bush with hard dirt stabilizing my feet. "I think what I want is pretty simple."

I picked at the green leaves, reaching to another plant for some fruit; Koharu would love a bite or ten.

"Tell me already," he said while leaning across the bench so that his back was against it. A white wing slid between the back and seat. "I would say I don't have all day, but I managed to get a break. For once. I just want to get my mind off something."

Although I was doubtless he would brush me off like he had countless other times, I still inquired with an air of concern, "Why don't you tell me about that?"

"Later. What's the wish?"

I glanced to my sides to ensure nobody spied on us, and I leaned my head next to his ear to whisper. I could never be too careful inside the castle, especially with twice the staff now crammed into one building.

When I paused, he opened his eyes wide at me.

"Am I gonna…?" He made a strange gesture with his hands, but I knew what he was getting at while I chuckled, full of unsullied mirth.

"No, you're not. Don't worry."

"Then, that sounds like a really fun idea." For the first time in a long while, he seemed genuinely excited as he sat up with a smile and squeezed his fists. He waved them around above his knees. "When do you need me to do it?"

"One week from today. As for the time"—I grinned with a mischievous finger on my cheek, then pointing the digit at him—"I want you to keep an eye out around dawn."

In rapid succession, he tapped his finger a few times in the air with it pointed like we were engaged in a gun standoff. "I like the way you think."

Gazing outside Koharu's room with that conversation cycling in my head, I knew Leo was somewhere below me, likely lounging in an oak tree that was far closer to me than the clouds I tried to touch. He made himself invisible, so I didn't know where to direct a knowing smirk for him to see me.

There was some more gentle commotion in the bed nearby. With bated breath and fingers shaking like they were shocked by lightning, I was about ready to just throw Koharu out of it to wake her up.

I don't care that you're a sleepyhead because we can usually cuddle, but why in the world do you have to be like this today, Koko?

I kept looking back at her, keying in on even the slightest brush of a fingertip against the previously cold fabric. The warm, savory aroma of miso soup pervaded the room, but it became less potent as time dragged on and allowed my nose to adapt. What once possessed the morning scent of alcohol (and implicitly, a slight hangover) now also had the odor of the outdoors—that distinct mix of dirt and air and life.

Damn it! The food's getting cold!

I sighed and nervously laughed towards the horizon, certain the chirping of birds would conceal the sound. I wouldn't be caught dead making noise with Akiyoshi in an adjacent room.

My eyes were already tempted to shut like curtains, and about half an hour before, I did my best to wipe the crust out of them using the mirror without so much as the light of a candle.

Biting my lips, I twiddled my fingers, resting on the sill and waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

WAITING FOR—

A yawn came from across the room like an alarm, and I snapped my head around, nearly dropping a soft box from my other pocket. I scrambled to pull myself together, adjusting a nonexistent tie to seem presentable as my mind meandered to fresh, hot memories and chats.

"Hey, Koko, I want to talk to you about something serious. What would you think if…"

I recalled how she smiled at me several weeks ago while I ranted, leaning herself against the triangular buildings in a nearby town as we made a short stop. When we weren't too busy with castle affairs, we hijacked horses so that I could be her tour guide to the outside world.

"I think I'd love it," she said with a gasp yet also with the sweetness of a lullaby after a bunch of my nervous rambling. "Just take your time with it, okay? There's no need to rush."

A bashful grin decorated my anxious face.

So who or what is gonna stop me now that you've taken down the last sign?