176 She Gains an Aun (1/2)

”As long as you avoid hitting the airway, you can do what you usually do when dealing with this.” Chelsea nodded, indicating the bamboo. The dwarves got to work, right away. Shoring up the sides of Liam's amateur digging.

”Move aside, amateur! Let us professionals do our job!” A cheeky dwarf joked as he prodded Liam to make room for them. Liam returned to Chelsea's side. He glanced down at his dirt-covered appearance and flicked an arm. Instantly, the dirt slid off him, onto the ground.

”Oh? What sort of trick was that?” Chelsea asked, interested.

”The kind that is built on years of practice.” Liam replied. ”Is this the whole reason for our outing? Or is there something more you wanted to surprise me with?”

”Yup! Now that we're done here, let's go visit the food stall market and get something to eat! You helped too, so you can come as well.” Chelsea grinned at Gerard.

”You mean it!?” He asked.

”'The worker is worth his wages, after all.'” Chelsea chuckled. ”Besides, even if we didn't invite you, wouldn't you have come along anyways?” Gerard thought that this made sense, and nodded. While the dwarves worked to dig out the cave, the trio made their way to the markets.

-----

Robin got bored of juggling light spheres while waiting for the dwarves to dig her out. She had been practicing her magic for the past half hour. But, all that she managed to do was light the rough stone room up like it was a disco.

Then she remembered the camera she had in her magic bag. She took it out, and caressed the familiar piece of home. But, it wasn't the camera, itself, that was the important part. It was the memories contained within it.

Robin hesitated. She knew that what she was going to do would open up old wounds in her heart. But, she couldn't help herself. The screen lit up when she pushed the button. And she started to go through the memories surrounding the photos contained within.

In the dark stone room, there was nothing to distract her from the screen's bright images. A little girl energetically playing at the park with her family on a late spring picnic...the imbalanced flower crowns the girl's mother helped her make...the little girl beaming down at the camera from up in a tree...the older brother trying to sneak some of the food out of the picnic basket, and getting caught....all those memories were re-lived in her mind, both cherished and painful.

Those golden days could never return. Like the sand in an hour glass, it slipped through the fingers like air. She paused at what she knew was the last memory.

It was taken shortly before her tenth birthday. Robin remembered clearly her mom asking her what sort of cake she wanted. She couldn't decide. So, they had gone through the family recipe book together. Her father had snapped a picture of them from the doorway while Her older brother was grabbing a snack. And she could see her dad in the picture from the reflection of a nearby wall mirror.

Robin stared long and hard at that picture, and whispered. ”Many would be so happy just to come to another world like this... But, I would have preferred to start my whole life over from the beginning, just to see you again...” She blinked away the tears that caused her vision to blur, and pressed the button. It was the end of her memories.

But instead of coming back to the starting photo, Robin was confused to see pictures of a manor garden that looked vaguely familiar. She continued looking through the new pictures. A butterfly on a flower...A green trellis arching over the garden entrance...and finally, a wide shot, with a familiar figure heading towards a vaguely familiar mansion.

Robin blinked, in confusion. Wasn't that Christian? When did she...ah. Robin recalled the time she damaged her mana core. 'It was around then, wasn't it?' She mused, thinking over the journey so far.

She stared at the photo before deciding not to delete it. It was already there. She might as well keep it as a souvenir. Robin sighed and tapped the screen, bringing it back to the first image before turning the camera off.

The old memories cannot be returned to, that was an unfortunate certainty. But, because of Christian's photo, Robin realized that she had more moments that she had come to treasure in addition to the old memories. She could smile and laugh now, as she had done six years ago. It seemed that she would be leaving in a better state than she had arrived.

A pin seemed to prick her heart at the thought that, she would eventually have to leave this world.

'Huh?' Robin frowned as she quickly examined her mana core.