Weak To Fire

18

Y/N was watching Mereo flying away on her broom. She wasn't sure how long she should be waiting, but she figured it was better to be safe than sorry. Plus, she'd have to prepare a little before she left here anyway. Y/N had no intention whatsoever to wait for Mereoleona in her little forest lake. It had been way too long since she had been to the capital and she didn't want to be stuck here waiting for Mereo to return at whatever time was convenient for her. Oh no.

Of course she couldn't go and tell Mereo about all that. She'd be starting to worry about her and she'd make a fuss and Y/N didn't want that. She could get to the capital all by herself and she'd manage just fine. All she needed to find in the capital was a room with a bathtub that she could stay in, then she'd be fine. More than fine. She was used to taking care of herself and to travelling as well. She just hadn't done it for a while, because it hadn't been practical.

But now that Y/N had a good reason to travel to the capital - Mereoleona - she was actually willing to sort out the logistics of it. She had already sorted out the clothes, asking Mereo to leave some of her own for her. The only thing she needed to figure out now was the best route to the capital for her. She couldn't necessarily take the fastest route, because she needed to soak in some natural bodies of water for a while every few days and since it was summer that was more often than in winter. But she had figured it out before, she could do it again.

Once she was sure that Mereoleona was out of sight, she quickly put on Mereo's clothes that she had left behind and that was basically all that she needed. The walk to the capital would take her about five days and she'd have to stop and stay in the water for at least two of those days. She had the route memorised and just had to hope that everything still looked the same. Either way she'd be able to find her way by just following the water and she had somewhat of a sixth sense for that. Being a water spirit did have certain advantages, after all.

Still, it was going to be an exhausting walk into the capital. Plus, if she had to use any magic whatsoever, the whole trip would take longer, because Y/N would need to stop more along the way to recharge. Otherwise she'd end up dehydrated in the capital. So she just had to hope and pray that there would be no robbers or muggers or anyone trying to murder her out on the roads. If she didn't have to fight against anyone using magic and if everything still looked the same she'd have an easy time getting to the capital. And then she could find Mereo.

She wasn't really sure what the hell she was going to do once she had found her, but she was sure that Mereo had a room with a bathtub somewhere. She was a noble after all, and she loved taking baths, so surely she'd be able to afford something like that. And once that was all sorted, Y/N could lean back and relax in Mereo's bathtub until she was done with whatever she was doing. Which meant they'd get to spend way more additional time together.

Y/N just hoped that Mereo wouldn't be mad at her. She was about 95% sure that she wouldn't be, but there was still that 5% risk that maybe... just maybe, Mereoleona would be mad about her just showing up. But no matter how much Y/N thought about it, she was going to go anyway. It was supposed to be a surprise for Mereo and Y/N was almost sure that she'd be happy about it. Surely she'd be happy to see her around, right? Maybe she could even make herself useful, take some of Mereo's responsibilities off her, if there was anything she could do.

Even if she was just going to make dinner for her or keep her house clean or whatever. Then again, Mereo probably had servants for that, but still. Y/N could help. Y/N could make herself useful. She could try and help out with Fuegoleon, Mereo's brother. There were a million things Y/N could think of. A million ways she could make herself useful. She didn't have to stay hidden away in her little lake in the forest, she could probably manage to live in the capital with Mereoleona.

Maybe there were even some unoccupied lakes nearer to the capital that she might be able to stay in. She could relocate there, set up camp there and it would be much easier for Mereo and her to see each other. After everything that had happened the last week, Y/N just really didn't want to be alone. But she also didn't want Mereoleona to be worried about her and to feel like she had to make extra arrangements for her or somehow accommodate her. She could take care of herself.

Y/N took a deep breath and closed her eyes to figure out exactly which direction she needed to go. She wasn't really sure exactly how she was doing what she was doing, but it was more like listening to her gut feeling - feeling where what kind of mana was, identifying it, correlating it to her memory until she had the lay of the land pretty much figured out and was ready to get going. It didn't take her too long, which surprised her. She would have thought she was much more out of practice with that.

She glanced back at her lake one last time, smiling as she remembered all the good times she had had there. She wasn't even sure whether she was going to return there or whether she was going to find a new home, but she wanted to mentally say goodbye to this place properly. She had spent a long time here after all. And if she ended up returning here, then it wouldn't matter too much either way. She'd just be able to settle right back in, and everything would be just the same as before.

With another deep breath Y/N looked at the way ahead of her and started walking. The sooner she got going the sooner she'd be in the capital and the sooner she'd be back with Mereoleona. Plus, it was going to be night soon and at night Y/N just managed to use up a lot less energy than during the day when the sun was burning down on her. So if she made good use of the time it was night, she could rest during the hottest part of the day and then get much further without the need for too many breaks. It was a genius plan, if everything worked out.

There were some other risks that came with travelling mostly at night - the chances that she'd run into bad people would be that much higher and Y/N was aware of that, but she was still willing to chance it. Bad people were around by day and by night, so it really barely made a difference. Especially since the roads she was going to be travelling on were pretty remote and abandoned at the best of times. Not that she minded it much, but it did make her much more of a target for criminals.

Still, she was confident that she would be fine on her way. As long as she stuck close to the water, to rivers and lakes and streams, she would be okay. She could always draw energy of some sort from the water around her, so she wouldn't be in too much trouble if people decided to mug her close to a river. If she was honest, they'd be in much more trouble than her. She'd almost feel sorry for the poor creatures that would try and rob her near some river in the middle of the night.

But that wasn't something she wanted to think of right now. All she really wanted to think of was Mereoleona and how it wouldn't be long until she was going to see her again, how it wouldn't be long until she could be in her arms again and how she already missed her so much. There was no way she could have waited in her lake for weeks and weeks on end like last time. She had to do this. She had to follow her to the capital or Y/N would go insane without Mereo. She had really fallen way too hard for her and it showed, but at least Y/N wasn't unhappy.