She had a slight smile on her face. A tinge of joy dancing in her heart. It had been a long time since she had a chance to play with other children. Her smile hesitated to go broad for everything still felt surreal.

At the moment, she was holding a flat, thin yet long piece of wood. Before her feet was a small hole with a pebble place into it. She placed the point of her flat stick into the hole, right before the pebble. When she was ready, she flicked the pebble forward with the piece of wood.

The goal of this game was to shoot the flicked pebble into another hole a few meters away from her. With every success, the shooter would step back once. The most scores would be the winner.

At the moment, all she could score was two successful shots into the hole. This newly shot pebble seemed to be a success though. Yes, it was indeed a success, she luckily shot the pebble into the hole.

“Great job, Rume! You’re getting the hang of it,” The boy named Reto said.

But she was way behind everyone.

“Don’t give up yet. You still got a chance to catch up!” A girl named Kariya cheered her on with a smile.

It felt great to talk with playmates. In addition, Rume was thinking how good this game was. She never played it before. The games she got to play in the past were throwing tiny hard fruits at each other. The thrower would target another player, if a player gets hit, they would become a thrower themselves.

There were also others, but most of them were stamina heavy. She barely played most of them since that time she was too weak. Then, when she was cured, tragedy befell her. That was an upsetting thought.

Rume took a step back. Regrettably, one of the players was one step away from winning. A player will win when they get a total of ten scores. At the moment, there were a total of five players. Only the first three players will be deemed the winner and be saved from the punishment.

As the game went on, Reto was the first to win. Rume was able to take a couple of steps, but another won. This time, Rume was only able to score one point, then another won.

The game was over. Two were losers. And they were Rume and the other girl, Kariya.

“Aaaw, we lost.”

Kariya sighed in disappointment.

“Looks like there will be punishment for the both of you.”

“Fiiine.”

Rume was a bit anxious about what the punishment would be. She had no idea what they would possibly have her do or do to her.

“...Um, what’s the punishment…?”

The winners formed a smug, then presented two crowns made of flowers.

Rume was a bit surprised and puzzled upon seeing it.

“Well, as we have a new player. We decided to go easy this time.”

“How lucky I am,” Kariya muttered. “Great thing you're here by my side, Rume!”

She looked at Rume with a relieved expression. Rume nodded at her. For some reason, she couldn’t find the words to say in response. Perhaps there was just nothing needed to be replied, or maybe because it has been a long time since she went through something like this.

“The losers shall wear the crown of shame for the rest of the day!”

Rume was a bit confused as to why the so-called crown of shame was a bunch of flowers. Maybe they were going too easy on her. But, it was not that bad of a punishment, so she’ll accept it with no complaints.

The two winners gently placed the crowns on the two girl’s heads

“There. Please don’t remove it until the day ends, okay?”

Rume nodded slightly. Her smile grew a bit broader as she looked at all of them. Trying to remember their faces, saving them in the depths of her mind. It was crucial for her to remember, even if it was just their faces and names, this rare occurrence that happened in her life. The moment she got to play with others, the moment she was cheered upon, the moment where others warmly interacted with her.

A sound of a bell then suddenly rang, resonating throughout the village. The other kids immediately reacted to the ringing.

Kariya turned to face Rume.

“Excuse us for a moment, Rume. We’ll come back in a bit.”

Rume had no idea what the sound meant, but it seemed important that they reacted immediately. They all moved together towards the same direction, Rume also noticed the adults doing the same thing.

“See you later, Rume!” Reto said as he waved at her.

Rume waved back at him for she thought it was the natural thing to do. She wondered how long they would be gone exactly.

As the other kids had left, she headed back to Lein. She smiled broader than before when she saw Galeila with her. Thankfully she was alright.

Rume still remembered that Galeila was truly a dragon, but she couldn’t help but worry. Especially knowing she went inside an unknown place with a bunch of strangers. With them stood a man Rume saw earlier, it was the man with the group who saved them from the wild beast.

“Miss Galeila! It’s great to see you are fine.”

Galeila smiled warmly at the little girl. Rume has grown fonder seeing that smile.

“It appears you had a bit of fun, Rume.”

Galeila patted Rume’s small head. Yes, it was indeed fun. Would have been better if it lasted a bit longer.

“Aight, if you’ll excuse me. I can’t miss the praying ritual, otherwise the elder will smack me to near death.”

The man, if Rume remembered correctly that his name was Tohu, left and joined with the others.

“... Where are they going?”

“Praying ritual? Interesting, can we take a look?” Lein turned to ask Galeila.

“I suppose so. Let’s just watch from a distance. Let’s go.”

The trio followed the villagers from a distance. As they walked, Rume glanced at Galeila’s hand. She wanted to hold it. But she was a bit embarrassed about asking for it. Seeing Rume was falling behind a bit, Galeila held out her hand.

Rume looked at Galeila’s eyes in surprise. Her tender smile caused a pleasant stream of warmth within Rume’s chest. Rume immediately held her hand, firmly gripping it with both her hands, prompting Rume to form a smile.

Lein glanced at them then furrowed her brows with a slight pout, but only for a moment then looked away.

Then Galeila spoke in a carefree manner.

“Oh yes, I sort of lied about a lot of things. So may I ask that you act like you never heard and learned anything about everything I said earlier?”

“The word ‘sort’ doesn’t have to be there. You totally lied, I’m sure of it.”

Galeila merely smiled at the annoyed looking Lein.

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Still, please do what I ask.”

“Fine.”

“Rume, do you understand?”

Galeila looked down at Rume and placed her index finger between her lips.

Rume nodded.

“Of course.”

Lein glared at Galeila.

“Hey, since when did you start teaching children how to lie?”

“Ah…” Galeila gave a small gasp. “... It’s not lying when keeping something from being known.”

“Is that what you believe?”

“Lie is fabricating the truth.”

Lein sighed in resignation.

“Whatever… Rume, you should start keeping your distance from Galeila. She’s a bad influence.”

“Oh? Am I really? Considering I raised you? In other words, doesn’t that mean you’re also a bad influence yourself.”

Lein scoffed at that nonsense.

“As if! At least I don’t teach children how to lie.”

“As I said, it’s not a lie. It’s keeping things from being known. Besides, you want Rume to stay away from me so you can keep her and hold her hand, am I right?”

“Hah! It’s not like that at all! I’m keeping her safe.”

Galeila smirked while looking at Lein amusingly.

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“Shut up!”

Seeing the exchange before her, Rume chuckled. She kind of thought they were funny. It was great to see moments like this.

Furthermore, Rume remembered Galeila’s statement more.

‘A lie is fabricating the truth, keeping things from being known is different from a lie.’

She might carry that principle her entire life.

“But Miss Lein, you’re the one who told me to tell Mr. Esmon that we only looked at small animals in the forest.”

“Kuh!” Lein froze in her tracks when she was snitched by Rume.

“Oh? Did you now, Lein?” Galeila formed a smirk of triumph as she stared at the defeated Lein.

The mage cradled her head and heaved a deep sigh of resignation.

“I’m sorry.”

Lein still had a look of utter defeat as she bowed her head.

Rume chuckled, amused of Lein. Even for the little girl, Lein looked adorable.

“But, listen Rume. We lie, but that doesn’t mean we encourage lying,” Galeila kneeled down at Rume as she gazed at her eyes. “Don’t use lies too lightly.”

Rume blinked in puzzlement.

“What I’m trying to say is… Don’t lie to make things bad, for the situation or for others. If you had to lie, lie when it is for the right cause, or when it is necessary. Do you understand?”

Rume thought about it. She recalled the time when Lein told her to keep from Esmon what they did and found in the forest. Ultimately leading to the need to lie if it comes to it, all to protect the secret. Rume already knew that what they found was a secret, and especially knowing she had to keep it a secret.

The other time she recalled, was when she lied to Esmon. She kept from him that she was chased by wolf-like creatures. Most of all, she lied that she only got lost. But she only did that since she believed she would need to return to the forest. She did it for Esmon’s sake.

“I understand.”

“Do you, truly?”

Rume smiled at Galeila, fixing her gaze at her jaden eyes.

“Truly.”

“That’s great.”

Galeila patted Rume on the head before continuing onward. A short time passed, they appeared to be nearing their destination.

The two suddenly stopped in her tracks so Rume followed. Somewhat puzzled, Rume looked at where they were looking. There, in the short distance, the villagers lined up in several columns and rows. In front of them stood an old woman who was behind an altar.

The villagers all stood atop a rocky platform with a wall of stone in front them. On the stone walls, Rume could see there were some sort of illustrations engraved unto them.

“Let’s get a closer look.”

Galeila said as she moved a bit closer.

Then the villagers meshed their hands together, as if in prayer.

“Great god of the endless skies, O the one who sees everything from above. We implore you, almighty Azeurias, heed our voices and hear our prayers.”

The old woman spread her arms as she looked passionately into the sky. The villagers kneeled on both knees bare on the stone floor. It didn’t look rough, so Rume surmised it must not have hurt them a lot.

“““We beseech the great god of the heavens. Please grant us salvation, lift us up from the world. Allow us to touch the skies, relish heaven’s beauty. Take us closer to our lost families, take us closer to your presence O Lord. Take us home.”””

The villagers all said in unison. Every single one, from young to old, uttered those prayers as they gazed up into the sky.

“To our lost brothers and sisters drifting across the skies, please return to us.”

The old woman continued as a pair of attendants approached her and bowed their heads. In their hand was a cage, and within it a white dove was kept.

They laid it unto the table. The old woman opened the cage and caught the dove in her grasps.

“Let this carrier of our wishes be blessed with the protection of our Lord.”

The attendants then tied a pair of blue thin fabrics around each of the dove’s legs, tied into ribbons. After making sure they were secured, the old woman gracefully unleashed the white dove into the air. Watching it fly towards the sky.

“May our lost brethrens drifting in the sky find us.”

“““May our lost brethrens drifting in the sky find us.”””

The villagers said simultaneously as they stood back up. The old woman walked around the altar and stood at the front, facing the villagers.

After she bowed half her body, the others followed.

“Interesting…” Galeila murmured.

“You never saw this?”

“Nope.”

“.... Are they praying about the flying city…?” Rume asked.

“It seems so. We could ask. Maybe we could even take a look at those engravings.”

“Let’s wait until there are fewer people.”

They waited as other villagers left the ritual sight. Surprisingly, they all dispersed rather quickly. As a few people now stood at the trio’s target location, they immediately travelled towards it.

Rume saw the other kids she played with on the way, they waved at her so she waved back.

“We’ll meet later, Rume!” Kariya shouted.

Rume nodded at her. She decided not to shout back when there were a lot of people around.

Before she knew it, they had arrived. They stopped before they could step into the stone floor.

Now that Rume had a closer look, she gasped in astonishment. The illustrations on the walls were totally engraved on the stone wall. They were also impressively detailed, and the art was beautiful itself, they were also dyed with colors.

In the center depicted some sort of large city, tall buildings stretching up. Above the city were rays of light descending gracefully. Surrounding the city were figures of people flying in the air.

Rume had no idea how they managed to do something this incredible.

“Talk about patience…” Lein muttered beside her.

“Humans are insane..…. Wait, they must have used some sort of tool or instrument.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

Lein and Galeila seemed to have some trouble believing that it was manually made.

Just then, the old woman approached them as they stared in awe at the engravings.

“You look interested in the illustrations.”

“You could say that,” Galeila replied.

The old woman smiled.

“You can take a closer look if you want.”

“Will do,” Lein stepped forward with no hesitation.

Galeila and Rume followed behind.

They now stood before the tall wall, the details on the engravings became clearer.

“Incredible,” Lein muttered to herself.

“... Amazing…”

Rume quietly said. She sort of wanted to touch the drawings, but that might be rude to do so.

“Our founder engraved it himself. Manually, with knives and stones.”

Galeila and Rume flinched at the revelation.

“M-Manually?”

“Indeed, are you impressed?”

“Impressed is an understatement,” Lein said.

“What is this city?” Galeila pointed out the drawing of a city, as if she was completely clueless.

“It was our home, a long long time ago. It was said an accident happened centuries ago, causing it to drift endlessly across the sky.”

“Was your prayer about returning to your true home?”

“Indeed. We want to reach for the skies once again. Our civilization was one of the greatest, as what the story passed down to us said. Every single one of its citizens could fly if they wanted, according to the history passed down to us.”

“Can’t you do it now?”

“The art is lost to us. To be honest, it would seem our ancestors couldn’t fly. If they could, we wouldn’t be here and we would be with our great city.”

There was regret in the old woman’s eyes. Rume began to ponder. Could this mean that not all people in this lost city can fly? Rume expected all of them to be mages, but it seems that was not the case.

She heard that the citizens could fly if they wanted. So some didn’t want to fly, thus couldn’t cast. Resulting in some people being left behind. Perhaps that was how it was.

“Can’t you learn it yourself?” Lein asked.

“There are no mages among us.”

“... I see. That makes sense...”

“That is why we were so surprised to hear that you used flight magic on the way here. You did what we craved for so long.”

“Is that so?”

“Then, I take it that the continent from which you belonged can use the art of flying?”

“That’s right.”

The old woman looked up at the engravings.

“That’s good to hear, maybe we could send some of our people there. Learn the arts of flying once again.”

“That would be good,” Galeila quietly said.

Galeila turned to look at Lein. Lein in turn oddly glared at her as though shouting ‘so you lied about that?!’. Galeila merely blinked several times before returning to face the old woman who was still staring at the wall.

“I’m curious about the dove you sent.”

“It was an old way of communication where the fabrics are tied to the dove’s legs. It was to deliver a message, and the blue fabric is to convey that it was urgent or an emergency.”

“What’s the message?”

“‘Help’.”

The trio went silent. They must deeply want to unite with the lost city.

Rume was a bit sad hearing their story and their wishes. They just wanted to return home, but it was nowhere to be found. Rume wished in her heart that their wishes be granted.

In contrast, there was one thing she was wondering.

How are the people of the lost city supposed to know where this village was?

Rume was a bit puzzled by that. If that wasn’t not clear, then sending doves would be completely pointless.

“... Um… I’m wondering…”

The old woman turned to Rume with a tender smile.

“Ask away.”

“... You sent a bird, but how will they know you are here?”

“Oh yes. Each fabric has a word embroidered unto them. “Old home.” Do you know what that means?”

Rume contemplated for a couple of seconds.

“... Here?”

“That’s right, this was once the place where the city stood. So they should understand the message.”

“... I understand now… Thank you for explaining.”

“My, what a polite child. You’re welcome.”

Rume smiled ever so slightly at the old woman’s kind words.

“So, how often do you hold the praying ritual,” Galeila asked.

“Still curious I see.”

Galeila gave a broad smile, so charming that could infatuate men her age in an instant.

“Not everyday one gets to discover something so fascinating.”

“I see. Well, we once do it everyday. However, we changed it to every three days, with the courier sending in the sixth. The village is quite too busy to be doing the ritual at noon daily.”

“I see… If I may say, I find your land quite interesting. It was great to learn about a great city that once stood here.”

“I appreciate your kind words.”

Galeila and the old woman stared at each other.

Rume was impressed that Galeila could lie with a straight face.

“Then, how about I invite you to our humble abode for lunch? It is rare for us to have visitors.”

The trio looked at each other, Lein nodded, Rume saw this so when Galeila turned to look at her she also nodded. If they were going, then so will she.

“We will gladly take you up on your offer.”

Galeila said while bowing her head.

“Then if you please follow me.”

Then the trio tailed behind the old woman along with her attendants.

“By the way, we never yet know your village’s name,” Lein said. “May I inquire what it is? It will be great to know.”

“Our founder was quite a strange one. He craved to return, he loved the city. Therefore, he named the village, New Hotuscael.”

“I think it’s a good name,” Galeila said.

As they went, Rume realized something. Galeila went past here in the past. Then wouldn’t that mean she already saw the engravings on the wall a long time ago? Then why did she act all surprised?

It was weird.

Maybe she didn’t see it up close until now.

It was odd nonetheless.

Maybe she was acting?