Mortance: Summer's Snow

Sora Ⅱ

It was overwhelmingly noisy in The Drunken Sailor. Patrons were yelling and gambling and struggling to be heard over each other. I kept my head low and went to buy my dinner with stolen coin. Some bard was playing in the corner by the bar. I only recognized the song because I'd been here before.

"And when she disappears, the butterflies all die," I sang along under my breath, "left to rot inside their cage; left to wonder why." It was quite a sad song, really, though it didn't sound much like it. I saw a few couples dancing happily to it, even when I was pretty sure the lyrics were about a dying girl.

"You 'ere for food, lass?"

I turned my head back towards the voice. There was a younger boy behind the bar. He had a common face and shaggy brown hair. "Aye," I answered him.

"You got coin?"

"Of course. Do you take me for a beggar?"

"Sorry, lass. I didn't mean anything by it," the boy said. "We've a poultry stew or a cut of ham. Which would you like?"

"Ham," I said quickly. Neither option was particularly delicious in a place like this, but at least the ham wasn't served in a bowl of urine. I wasn't animal enough that I lacked taste.

The boy behind the counter took my coin and went to fetch my food. I could smell what they were cooking back there. It didn't smell amazing, but it was enough that my stomach growled at me.

"Smells good, doesn't it?" a girl said.

I glanced over. She had long black hair, and I could see beneath her hood that her skin was bright. She's wearing a hood like me. But the girl was much taller than I was. "Yes..." I answered, uncertain that she was talking to me.

The girl moved closer. "You made a good choice," she said. "The ham is the least tasteless food here."

"Were you spying on me?" I asked.

"I simply overhear things," the girl said. "My hearing is better than most. The name's Mist."

"I'm..." Sora, I almost said, but that wasn't me anymore. I was the Wolf Witch, but I couldn't say that either. "Solstice," I told Mist. "My name is Solstice."

"Sound's almost like an elf's name," she remarked.

It was. "I'm no elf."

"Oh, I could tell, don't worry."

"Good," I turned my head forward and away from her.

Then Mist's voice came directly in my ear, "but you're not human either."

I felt my body tense up. "What...?" My head turned slowly back towards her. "You've had too much to drink."

"I've ingested no poisons, Solstice," the girl said. I winced at my dead lover's name. "But the gift of knowledge has always been mine."

"What knowledge?" I asked cautiously. "Lies are not knowledge."

"No, but I know truths," Mist said. Her voice was quiet and careful, yet I could hear it well. "You came here from afar... on four legs, not two. There's magic in you, both ancient and new. This name you told me belongs to someone you loved, it's not yours. Your true name is... Sora?"

"I'm not Sora anymore," I told her, feeling suddenly naked. She could see half of everything. "Are you a witch?"

Mist gave a tiny nod. "An elf as well. Something tells me you'll not betray me."

"You've given me no reason to yet," I said. "Nor one to trust you."

"I trust you'll think of one in time."