By the River, Uttered Feeling Finds the Way

"Why did you save our village?"

A fixed stare, deep brown in color... staring full of wishes to please comprehension that seemed against the flowing reality, similar to this flowing river where the one-horned devil whose bare body tossed about by the calm waves of the river, and dripping wet white hair that water still leaking from its red ends... and became the target the devil was, for that deep brown stare, as well as the intentional query. All of them were coming from the riverside, being conducted by a simple farm girl whose perception she wanted to grasp, even when only the slightest bits she would receive. It was no matter, since she had placed all of her trust in that one-horned devil... therefore the solemn question she had thrown at her.

A yellow stare met with hers deep brown, without doubt. Listening to her one question, the devil was then... yet the comeback was no something the farm may expected. It was a quiet chortle that eventually turned into an alluring smile on a alluring face facing the farm girl who was quite surprised by this kind of development.

"Well..." the devil began to move her rosy lips answering one peculiar yet logical question, while the farm girl seemed to anticipate every words that might come, "Maybe it was no more than 'in the right place at the right time' for me. I was just so happen to come across your village."

It was an odd one, but a logical answer at the same time... making sense the one-horned devil's reason for doing something out of character, "That's... that's right, ahaha~" an awkward chuckle was heard from the riverside as the result... mocking herself that farm girl was, for asking something stupid for something obvious.

However it seemed that she only received a tiny bit of the tip of the deep iceberg... because soon enough, the devil seemingly had something more to answer,

"But, if I may be honest with you, Reya... since you're probably wondering why I am, a creature from a kin known for its sin, doing such a thing against the flowing reality. I can not really tell you the whole story, but what I can tell you is that... I have seen enough suffering that made me promised to myself that I will not see it once more before my own very eyes. Therefore, it is completely fine for you to acknowledge my action as a selfish act - only to content myself."

The past of the unknown, apparently the iceberg went deeper... colder and darker territory no one should enter. Reya, that farm girl discerned the concerned expression on the face of the one-horned devil... especially the composure of her simple smile had told her everything she needed, and the eyes which had seen a lot of unimaginable agonies, creating such a strong yet fragile vision from her yellow stare as the result. Reya simply could tell only by through her own deep brown stare, therefore she began to lower it, for she felt feeble before such a stare. Also, because she felt morally blameworthy for asking something she thought she knew about, yet in reality, covers of a book doesn't always describe its content.

Words of response would seemingly not come however. Feeling the heavy struggle even to move her lips, Reya only seemed to bite a tiny bit of her lips using her incisors... locking it from letting out any word till she found a proper one.

"Phew~ it's getting cold by the way. I think I've been bathing long enough for today's afternoon. Not to mention that the winter season is near ahead, I could've gotten frosty chill crawling all over my skin if I didn't get out right away from this over-refreshing water."

A seemingly abrupt voice, and a loud remark... startling the farm girl whose thought had been wondering somewhere else but here. At once raising her stare and with widened eyes realizing that sudden noisy noises, were came from that one-horned devil herself. With a meaning she could yet comprehend for doing such a thing all of a sudden, moreover in a blaring volume after a murmuring. Really an unpredictable devil, that white-haired girl was... even at this inconvenient moment, she still managed to impress Reya's perception towards her.

Series of ripples eventually began to form itself, travelling all the way across the serene layer of the river, only to muddle the copy-painting of the cloudless crimson sky. Seemingly became the obscure mirror that was mirroring the uncertain secret hidden beneath the composure upon the one-horned devil's smiling face as she was aware what made that quiet farm girl lowering her stare as well as her face.

"Don't blame yourself for the words that have been spoken. It's fine as it is normal for your kind asking such a question. Because I can be considered as... like this one ripple on a serene surface of reality - an abnormality that I am, because of my true nature."

Appeared talking while standing, the one-horned devil now. Standing steadily in a wavering river, amid the obscure reflection of the sky between the ripples the cause of it. No longer hiding her bare skin beneath its wavering surface, for half of her upper body had been exposed to the chill air... facing it all the way to the farm girl, allowing her deep brown to stare at the devil's fair-skinned and slender silhouette that was now bathing under the orange warm light.

"No! That isn't right!" less than a second, an abrupt answer would be received by the devil. An honest answer and sincere opinion from a human who seemingly wasn't afraid and tremble before the devil... because in the eyes of that human at least, it was indeed a figure of the devil standing not far from her deep brown stare, however inside the heart and mind synchronously agreeing on the same concern, that they both were trying to grasp something within this heart-to-heart chat, "Normality, abnormality... it doesn't matter anymore when humans are trying to hurt one another only to please their boundless mundane desire. To think that a devil is an evil wicked being... it's only emphasizing our hypocritical side."

It was that pair of slender legs the farm girl saw. Embedded into the liquid ground of the river, showing only the one-horned devil's smooth knee and thighs where the subtle dripping water was seen flowing down her pale skin from the upper part of the body... from her slim waist, and a pair of small curves on her chest that was covered partially by the wet hair dripping water in front of it and flowing down through her thin tummy - eventually found its way to reunite once again with the muffled sound of the stream burbles.

"Reya... you..." smiled that one-horned devil, listening to such words that brought quite a comforting feeling for the distress moment and easing the troubled mind, however there was something that seemed off for a moment, "Why are you still looking down? And your face... your face seem to turn red a little... are you okay? I think it's due to the cold air, isn't it? The sun is almost setting after all."

Her concern turned nothing but a silent answer from the farm girl as she seemingly wouldn't show a sign to move her dry lips and raise her face... still staring at the surface of the river where the devil's pair of slender legs still embedded inside of it - unmoved till later - seemingly had no courage to look up for some reasons.

"Uh, Reya?" a delayed answer, making the devil began to take her first step underwater... walking step by step, kicking the heavy pressure of the water, slowly yet surely getting closer to her human interlocutor to create clearer view of Reya's face that still appeared red, worrying that she might caught a cold, "You're alright? Humans are really sensitive to the weather, aren't they? Well, it can't be helped. Wait for a second, Reya, I can warm you up."

The sound of the stream burbles were getting louder and wilder from a serenity, as the venturing ripples scattered the reflection even more when that pair of slender legs of the one-horned devil began to repel against the calm yet mesmerizing flow. As a mean to short the distance between her and the farm girl whom she had worry of, so that her still-wet hands were capable of touching her rosy cheek... the river babbles eventually found its way to reach the riverside.

"A-a-as I thought... i-it's u-uncomfortable to talk in this situation." in a little stutter manner she replied, yet incapable of hiding the fact that after all of this relaxing chattering she went through, and as the one who initiated it, Reya too, seemingly became the one who abruptly ended it, in spite of leaving only a few steps before the one-horned devil reached her standing place on the riverside. Without giving the one-horned devil chance to question her wonderment, Reya - without taking a breather rest for one second - went on with the continuation, "My apologies for interrupting your private time, Miss Erynew. Then I shall excuse myself."

And in the end, followed by an action of running back to the village... immediately leaving the one-horned devil to stand alone but with herself amid the cold air with no cool breeze striking her exposed body with its dew of the dusk while her legs still drowned under the now calmed surface of the river.

"Thought I had told her to call me by my name only... why with that girl?" murmured to herself was the only thing that one-horned devil capable of, listening to the sound of a running step sounded so quick, as quickly as the farm girl leaving her with her own self, till the presence and the silhouette of hers were no more by the river, "But still, although humans do seem intriguing, they are nevertheless quite difficult to understand. I've no idea what make Reya do such a sudden decision, even though I just wanted to help her warming herself up with a simple spell... but it seems my help isn't needed for a moment. I hope she'll be okay with that so much red on her face."

Regardless of what just happened, Erynew's intention to get out from the river was a literal conclusion, including the dusk chattering she found it as well, the obscure resolution... as her body had been cooled down, as the excessive heat inside her troubled mind had been washed away by the calming stream burbles. Despite having no moving air in the current area, this feeling she felt was a familiar to that one feeling on top the white mountains, except the frozen struggle had been long gone.

It had been quite a while since she dipped her head into the river, yet the orange sun seemingly required more time to hide itself behind the white mountains. Even from now on, its dusk color still emphasized its presence all across the plain, overwhelming the green, and this green would it received countless droplets of water, dripping from the fingertips and the white hair alike... drizzling like light rain beneath the cloudless roof. Because that pair of slender legs were drowning themselves no longer, stepping in the river no longer... but on a mushy floor full of soft grass.

The water residue still left the unmissable mark all around the one-horned devil's body, even after the ripples had gone and the calm river flow had come with its copy-painting of the cloudless orange sky. Through humidity, it dampened the grassy ground beneath upon flowing down the mark of the water was... flowing down from her head and one horn, the fingertips and feet. Therefore drizzling like light rain it was, and muffling it was when it came to contact with the likes of floor... there was simply no a plink sound but a dragging feet towards a lonely tree where its solitary shadow had been sheltering the white clothes all the time.

"Ah right. I completely forgot to ask her about this attire, since it doesn't belong to me... it belongs to her."

At the moment, Erynew found her bare body standing alone inside the solitary shadow of a lonely canopy with no apparent breeze to make its green leaves freely waltzing around. With water still appeared dripping like rain from her pale body... if she wanted that soft fabric protecting her pale skin from the upcoming harsh winter and to ethically interact with others humans, because one's persona attracted one's attention the most, and humans constantly judged one's persona through their appearance and the clothes one worn. It became a tendency as a whole of humans heritage... a society of which Erynew soon would face and struggle to grasp. Therefore she must first, vaporized the mark of the water all over her body... drying up the wet body using the spell she was about to sing in silence.

The silent incantation, the unmoved rosy lips... calling upon countless of tiny blue fire orbs, appearing and floating around her wet body when all of a sudden a warm steam... clearly visible even through naked eyes, and was about to lift and drift away the water molecule to the endless air... Erynew was aware of something that made her halted the whole process, fading away the tiny blue fire orbs.

"Is that... a towel?"

A separate piece of fabric, seemingly had a purpose other than protecting the still-wet pale body... bringing about a smile upon the one-horned devil face that was bowing and staring at the said piece of fabric neatly placed above the white attire.

"Well, maybe I did come in the right place at the right time after all... after so many realities shutting their doors."