In her past life, Safi was always at the margins. When she’d been in school, she always found a desk in the corner. When she got a job, she always went home straight after work. No one ever talked to her, and she never bothered anyone.

  But that didn’t stop them from talking about her; it didn’t keep their looks of conceited repulsion away.

  If there was only one thing she’d ever learned, it was this: totem poles work best when there’s someone at the bottom. Every classroom has to have its weirdest kid. Every office runs smoother with its resident persona non grata.

  Society needed losers. It wasn’t a tortoise carrying the world—it was all the creeps, whose backs everyone else stepped on to keep their shoes clean.

  One day, in her new life, Safi was playing alone in one of the river’s shallows, wearing leather shoes with soles that were a little too slippery. The small girl slipped backward and bumped her head. Even as she slowly lost consciousness, watching the maids slowly rush over in a panic, a strange thought filled her head.

  For some reason, no one looked at her like an insect here.

  That should have been a given. She was the count’s daughter, wasn’t she? So, just what was she remembering? What should have been a dreamless sleep was filled with all the contemptuous stares of her past life, and she woke up bawling in her mother’s arms.

  Even then, she didn’t really understand what was going on. Her memories only came back from talking. Bit by bit, Safi remembered who she used to be through her endless chirping conversations with her mother, who was often sickly from consumption.

  Her mother, Audrie, listened happily to Safi, even if she never quite got it. She asked questions and gave her daughter her full attention—whether the sun was noon high or not even the moon lit the night. The precious waking hours she couldn’t choose, she spent freely, listening to Safi talk.

  Audrie always gave her daughter the time of day, whatever time of day she had on hand.

  When she passed, Conrad tried to pick up where his wife left off. But his confusion was frustrated, his questions never asked with a wholehearted intention to learn. And when he asked them again, and again, and again, and never remembered… Safi wondered if their conversations had any point.

  As time went on, and she felt herself drifting away from everyone else’s flow, Safi realized things were fine the way they were.

  Safi didn’t mind being lonely. It was alright if no one listened, as long as they didn’t look at her with scorn. The image flitted through her mind of a flower on a high peak, unattainable; too lofty, too distant to ever be trampled.

  Thus, Safi’s ruby eyes only manifested when she was a teenager.

  And slowly the rare approach of others became no approach at all. The girl’s very normal feelings became the colors of a portrait only meant to be admired from afar. Perhaps it was because her own presence had grown so ethereal, that Safi one day met the shadow in the water.

  From Kylian’s perspective, Ailn had simply disappeared—right as the others were arriving.

  “Sir Kylian!” Conrad called out, their horses coming to a halt at the top of the inner bank. “I heard you knew where my daughter was!”

  “...Ailn certainly thought he did,” Kylian said, extremely pale.

  All of them—Conrad, Naomi, and Renea—slowly came down the bank, looking around with hope and then confusion.

  “Is she not here, then?” Renea asked worriedly. “Where’s… where’s Ani?”

  “Ailn is—well, he disappeared,” Kylian said. He felt himself breaking out into a sweat. He had no explanation for what just happened. “He was just here before me… and he vanished.”

  “What?!” Renea cried out. “What do you mean he—did someone kidnap him?”

  “Was there some manner of spell?” Naomi asked. Her tone was skeptical, but her eyes were serious.

  “I have no idea,” Kylian admitted. He took a deep breath to slow down his racing thoughts. “We were… Ailn was talking to the naiads.”

  “Talking to—what? He was trying to talk to naiads?” Renea bit her thumb nervously. “Are you saying my brother’s sick? You mean he walked off by himself somewhere?”

  “No, he seemed to truly be speaking to them—I know how astonishing it sounds,” Kylian closed his eyes and held his temple, realizing he was trying to explain two extraordinary events at once. “From what I could tell, Ailn seemed certain Lady Fleuve was right there, on that shoal.”

  Conrad looked back-and-forth between the shoal and Kylian, before settling his gaze on the former and straining to somehow see his daughter somewhere among the flowers. “Over there…? Are you sure?”

  “How could I be?” Kylian asked, his voice edged with frustration.“The way he acted, it was as if he could hear her speaking from where we stand.”

  The four of them approached the shoal, even walking atop it.

  “Perhaps... whatever shadow crossed paths with my daughter has...” Conrad’s expression drained of color, his voice faltering into a hushed, pained whisper. “... spirited them both away.”

  “Ani? Ani are you there?” Renea bit her lip, hand trembling as she reached out. Her whisper had a tinge of hope. “Please, answer us… I can—I can feel your presence…”

  “It’s as if Safi’s terror still clings to the air,” Conrad moaned. He began to break down into sobs. “I’m sorry, Safi... I’m so sorry. Won’t you come back to me? Please... whatever creature holds my daughter—return her to me! If you’ll take this fool of a father’s life—!”

  When Safi and the shadow first met, the shadow made no sound at all.

  Sitting in a pond that was unsettlingly still, the shadow waited for someone to pass by—especially anyone who looked like a sailor. Those who stepped too close would drown unheard, the surface of the water undisturbed no matter how they thrashed.

  Talented a mage as Safi was, however, she assumed the strange creature was only trying to play. Its tangle of shadows fell on her like a mischievous hug, and when it pulled her to the pond’s bottom, she simply pulled the pond off, raising it all into the air while the shadow dripped helplessly and angrily.

  “Oops. Uh oh. I didn’t mean to be so rough,” Safi apologized. “Are you mad, though? I think I’d be mad.”

  Pouring the pond and shadow gently back into their original place, Safi smiled sadly. “I play bad with others. Really bad, I think. That’s why no one wants to talk to me…” Then the lonely girl looked around. “Do you have anyone to talk to? Would you want to talk to me?”

  For a few moments the water stayed still. Then, the shadow peeked out, the water finally giving her a soft ripple of acknowledgment.

  “You do?” Safi nodded and smiled. “Then you know what I’ve been thinking about all morning? You think anyone would get mad at me if I called the naiads nymphs? I feel like they give me mean looks sometimes. Do you ever talk to the naiads?”

  The ripples on the water gave the sound of a single drop, but it was enough to get Safi off to a sailing start. She zigged and zagged wherever the current of her thoughts took her, while the shadow just stayed and listened.

  And so, Safi’s rambles to the shadow went on indefinitely.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “...Finally someone gets it. ISTG, the mood’s not right. For a place called Sussuro it’s too… tame!” Safi said. “The ships here are all sunk, you know? The river’s too slow! It’s like waiting for a ‘next chapter’ button that never comes. All the political drama’s kinda tense, but every time I see one half of a ship talk to my dad it feels ick. Oh. Oh no. It’s getting really dark. My dad’s gonna be worried and just stare at me with really sad eyes all night. I gotta go. Are you gonna be here tomorrow?”

  That was how the two’s friendship began, the water’s surface over the years rippling with more and more emotion.

  When Safi was with the shadow—whom she’d nicknamed Cora—she let her thoughts come unbidden. This had been the case when Ailn and Renea heard her speaking.

  “Uhuh, she’s definitely a main character. She’s got the look perfect. Her backstory’s got the right amount of suffering. Oops. I didn’t mean that in a mean way—please don’t tell her, Cora! Anyway… let's talk about the new duke! What do you think? You think he likes to cage heroines up or wants someone to cage him up? Maybe his sister’ll have a plot where she sets a female lead free? Seeing him and Lady Renea together, though, makes me worried they’re tripping death flags. They’re both just too pretty, I think. The nice ones always die first… Unless I’ve got the genre all wrong. Maybe this isn’t a poli-fantasy. Maybe it’s straight up paladin passion. Ooh, then she really is just a mob. Extra plot for the duke, you know? Maybe it’s all about the knight guy. Yeah! Yeah… the duke and the knight. All the time I used to read stuff, and I’d think stuff like nuh uh, no way this guy’s the alpha, but really he was just waiting for the right omega to come along.”

  In some ways, this could still be considered a sinister conversation, but it came off far more malevolently with the bits and pieces Ailn and Renea had heard.

  Then, she heard Renea’s gasp—the resulting confrontation between Ailn and Renea, Kylian and Naomi. And Safi realized every single one of these individuals must have heard their own life being speculated upon like a piece of fiction.

  Embarrassed, and worried that her diatribes could cause diplomatic issues, Safi blasted them all away with water—realizing, only afterward, that would only cause more diplomatic issues.

  So, she ran away with Cora to their favorite hiding spot.

  Somehow, though, the duke and his knight friend managed to find them—their location, at least. But Safi and Cora both knew—their presence would stay erased, so long as they were at this spot.

  Lying on her elbows on the shoal of dirt peeking out from the water, Safi’s curiosity was also piquing as she watched Ailn and Kylian interact.

  “It is the knight guy,” Safi whispered with dawning realization. “The duke and the knight forced by circumstance—or given the excuse—to pair off, the only sound the slow stream of water…”

  Then, somehow the duke started chatting with the naiads. Or maybe he was pretending to, because he felt so embarrassed and awkward being alone with his knight friend. “That must be it,” Safi nodded.

  Surprisingly, the duke started walking toward her. Well, there was still no way he could see her or hear her.

  “‘Friends-to-lovers’ must be the true route, don’t you think, Cora? I think I saw the knight with Naomi, though… No! That’s just a bone thrown to let people headcanon! I refuse to accept the perfect ship sinking just because—oh, it’s pretty shallow here—just look at them, though! One of them’s all smirky and cocky and the other’s confident and serious, isn’t this what friends-to-lovers is all about?!”

  Cora trickled affirmatively.

  “Why’d he stop walking? He’s looking at me like he can actually see me. I’m not the one you should be looking at, duke! Your knight’s right beside you!”

  “Uhh, Lady Fleuve?” Ailn called out.

  “...It really feels like he can see me right now…!”

  “I can.”

  Safi shrieked.

  Brought into Safi’s space, Ailn’s perception of events… went a little differently from Kylian’s. The knight was utterly confused behind him—and in front of him was the count’s daughter they’d been looking for.

  It looked like this was some kind of liminal space, cut off from the perception of the outside world.

  “Cora… it’s the duke! He’s—he’s doing a fourth-wall thing!” Safi frantically mumbled.

  Fourth-wall, huh? That confirmed she was a reincarnator, at least. He didn’t think reincarnators could use magic—but Safi blasted them with water last night.

  Was holy aura just different?

  “Safi, right?” Ailn called out again, using her given name this time. “I hate to say it, but I’m right here with you.”

  “Why can he hear me, Cora…?” Safi whispered, as if he couldn’t.

  He knelt down next to Safi, who was still propped on her elbows. It made for an awkward position to retreat from, so all she could do was stare anxiously.

  “There’s a lot of people who’re looking for you, Safi—uhhhh, is that the shadow? The one that drowns people?” Ailn asked.

  There, in the water, was a dark figure. Shallow as the water was, the shadowy creature seemed fairly small—and yet it was all the eerier for it. Wispy, and trembling with the movements of the stream, it looked like a clump of long black hair that had caught on the shoal’s edge as it floated by.

  The sight of it filled Ailn with dread and anxiety, but he stifled it.

  “...Cora?” Safi asked, finally acknowledging him. “Cora doesn’t drown people. I’m the one that hit you with the stream. Don’t throw around false accusations! This isn’t that type of—that’s way too dark!”

  “Well, we figured that was you,” Ailn scratched his head. “Is he—”

  “She!”

  “Is she your friend?” Ailn asked.

  ‘...Yes…’

  A voice barely recognizable, like it was hidden in the patter of rain on dry leaves, called out. It was female.

  Ailn had not expected the shadow to answer him. He took a shaky breath and sighed.

  “Cora, huh? Can you understand Cora, Safi?” Ailn asked.

  “Of course I can!”

  ‘...Not my words…but it’s fine…’

  Even through the static of the shadow’s voice, Ailn could hear something like fondness and amusement, while the rippling in the water increased in pace.

  “That was her agreeing with me,” Safi said.

  “Mind if I talk to Cora?” Ailn asked.

  ‘...Okay…’

  “She says no,” Safi said, looking cross.

  “Uhuh. Cora, if you don’t mind me asking, have you drowned anyone? Been involved in anything evil?” Ailn kept his tone light.

  ‘...Not anymore…’

  Ailn felt a cold sweat coming on.

  “I told you she doesn’t do that,” Safi fumed. “You’re a terrible listener. Just because she looks a little scary doesn’t mean anything. In fact, she looks scary, so if you were smart you’d know that means she isn’t scary. When is the killer ever the creepy-looking person?”

  “…Uh, okay. Ahem,” Ailn cleared his throat nervously, making sure Cora was always at least at the corner of his vision. Then he asked Safi a question. “You like stories, Safi?”

  “Yeah, of course I do,” Safi nodded. “Cora likes them too, that’s why I tell them to her.”

  ‘...I like them…’

  “I guess there’s not much entertainment to consume in this world, huh?”

  “No TV, no. Or Internet. Or fun stuff to read or music that sounds good. But it’s a fantasy world, anyway. The real thing’s better right? The only issue’s that it’s just one genre… but I can live with that,” Safi said. “Wait, are you like me?”

  “I am,” Ailn said.

  “Oh god. Oh no god, did you understand everything I was talking about?!” Safi’s hands flew to her face. Renea had a habit of biting her thumb, but Safi looked like she was going to chew her nails off. “No… no no no! That wasn’t—you, the knight—erm, wait do you have any special feelings for the knight, you don’t have to come clean to me, but I’m just asking?“

  “Yeah, no,” Ailn said.

  “Not even a little?” Safi asked.

  “Not even a little.”

  “I mean, you know, just like… the littlest bit. Are you sure? Anything. Be honest with me. You don’t have to say anything. Just nod.”

  “Would that make you happy?” Ailn sighed.

  “You can’t just say yes, you have to feel yes,” Safi said.

  ‘...Say yes~…’ Cora’s crackly voice took on a threatening tone, and the water turned frighteningly still. For a moment, the shadows looked something like a human face tangled in long, craggly bangs.

  “Er…” Ailn couldn’t tear his gaze away from Cora. But before he could come to a decision on whether he should just indulge Safi’s obsession, Conrad and the others had arrived.

  “Eek! My dad?! Why’d you bring my dad here?!” Safi hissed.

  “Well, Safi, he missed you—”

  “Boomers won’t get it!”

  “That term makes absolutely no sense in this world.”

  The others started toward the shoal, stepping onto it hesitantly. Completely unable to discern Ailn or Safi’s presence, it was like they were in an entirely different world.

  Except they weren’t.

  ‘Ani? Ani, are you there?’ Renea’s terrified whisper looked rather ridiculous, the way she was unwittingly pulling his hair. She’d already knocked his deerhunter hat off. ‘I can—I can feel your presence.’

  That wasn’t his presence. That was his nose. And Ailn had to resist the urge to throw her hands off. He suddenly understood what made poltergeists so angry.

  Safi wasn’t managing much better, with her dad weeping openly next to her. ‘I’m sorry, Safi… I’m so sorry.’

  “This is so weird! Stop! You made it weird!” Safi cried out.

  Ailn gently stopped Renea’s hand from poking his eye, then stood up to lightly redirect her frantic attempts to ‘reach out to the other side’ toward another corner of the shoal.

  “Safi, you know it’s…” Ailn sighed, not even knowing where to start. “Don’t you think it’s time to start letting people back into your world?”