Dancing By Starlight

—Esria Kingdom Calendar, Year 482, midsummer.

She stood in the sky.

The floating islet lay within a blue expanse that stretched as far as the eye could see. The nearest clouds were hazy, but the ones skirting the islet’s edge were visible even to Noi.

The lake’s surface reflected the richly colored sky, glittering under the sun.

Though far closer to the sun than the ground below, the air was curiously cool and crisp.

Drifting in the cold lake, Noi gazed up at the sky and let her thoughts wander.

(It felt…just like swimming through the sky.)

Swimming in the sky. Had she dreamed of that when she was smaller than she was now? Noi raised her palm toward the heavens. Water dripped down. Proof that blood still flowed, her palm glowed translucent orange, a sign that she lived.

(I’m still alive.)

She had lived ready to die. There were things she had wanted to accomplish even at the cost of her life.

And yet, even after finishing everything—after losing everything—she still lived. Greedily, shamefully.

She did not know for what purpose this life had been prolonged.

(But maybe…just a little longer.)

Perhaps she could be allowed to dream again. As a child, she had dreamed of a sky she could swim in—and here she swam. Then a new dream, too, might surely come true.

(Kardia—just a little longer, I want to stay by your side.)

A hundred years had passed; he had become a fine mage, gained status, and grown up. He might not need a master anymore.

But that was no reason for Noi to let go of his hand.

“What. As long as we keep holding hands like this, we’ll be fine. Right?”

Because Noi still, always, held his hand.

After finishing her bath, Noi changed into fresh clothes and wrung the water from the wet ones.

She did not know where he procured them, but by the day after her arrival, a full set of women’s clothing had already been arranged in Kardia’s room. Unlike Noi when she had just taken Kardia as a disciple, he was remarkably considerate.

Bright colors, soft materials. The stylish design was very cute.

“I never thought the day would come when I’d wear clothes like these.”

She had never once worn the sort of outfits young girls wore, even when she herself was young.

Back then, Noi had thrown herself into developing magical devices. She shut herself in the palace laboratory in a dirty white coat day after day, living with no sense of morning or noon.

After leaving the palace, she lived even more remotely, deep in the mountains, far removed from anything fashionable.

But surely from now on, her life would be one where she wore clothes like these.

(My magic—and my physique—surely won’t return.)

She could state that with certainty, at least regarding magic. It was her own magic, after all. She could tell it wasn’t hidden somewhere in her body, nor sealed by someone else.

It had completely vanished from her body—every last trace.

Recovering lost magic was impossible.

(But even that…might be fine.)

Being alive at all was profit enough.

She did not know what she could do with this body, or what she ought to do. For now, she would live…and from there, she felt she could find, one by one, the things she could still do.

Thanks to the vast magic she had once possessed, many good things had come to her, but because of that very magic, her path in life had been limited.

Born with a power no ordinary person could possess, she had simply assumed it was natural to support and devote herself to those without.

But now she was free.

She could even, like the plot of a poorly written play, become her disciple’s fiancée.

—A month had passed since she ceased to be a mage.

In that time, she grew used to being unable to use magic, to being in a smaller body, and to life on the floating islet.

Ornis had assigned work to Noi, but Kardia vetoed all of it. Among mages, hierarchy was vertical. Neither Ornis nor Noi could press the matter.

And thus she ended up a proper NEET.

Perhaps her youthful appearance was a small mercy. An adult woman wandering about all day with nothing to do would have been unbearable to look at.

Yes. The floating islet was an isolated island. On this speck suspended in the sky, there was nothing to do.

If even a trickle of magic remained, she could have continued magical research. So long as she could work with magic, it would have been paradise for Noi.

But having done nothing but magic all her life, Noi had no hobbies outside it.

In short, Noi had been bored the entire time.

“Bride, bride.”

As Noi hung her wet clothes on a rope strung between trees, Kardia—who had vanished right after breakfast—popped up before her.

She never knew where he was or what he did. Some days he lazed at home after breakfast; other days he disappeared the moment he finished eating.

On such a small islet, to not see him likely meant he was either in the forest where Noi was forbidden to enter, or he had gone down to the town below.

“What is it?”

“I have come bearing an invitation to a date.”

Kardia said it with a bright smile.

Noi had so much time on her hands that anything which could pass the time sounded good. She threw up both hands and leapt at this blessed offer of diversion.

“I will!”

She bounced—literally leapt into his arms—and Kardia hugged her and spun her around.

“My, how cute. Did you miss me that much?”

“You great fool! It’s just too boring here!”

“Boring? I see—sorry, that was thoughtless of me. I’ll come up with something.”

Setting Noi down with a soft plop, Kardia gently patted her head.

“You’re wet.”

“I took a bath in the lake.”

“How odd. The girls I know used to have a bit more modesty.”

As he chuckled and touched her white hair, wind coiled above Noi’s head. The gentle breeze was warm, and in moments her hair was dry. Kardia then ran his long fingers through it, combing and starting to tie it up.

(So he still likes touching people’s hair.)

Many mages were good with threads. Perhaps it was similar to handling magic. As an extension of that, many were skilled at braiding hair.

Noi, who found it troublesome, had done no more than brush her hair, but from childhood Kardia had always wanted to tie it for her.

Even now, he finished it in a trice. Starting from the crown, he added braids and twists, shaping it into something artistic that Noi could never hope to imitate.

He tucked into the knot a flower with petals like strawberries that grew by the lake, and nodded in satisfaction.

“I’ll come pick you up tonight. Dress up and wait for me.”