Chapter Text
Frieren hefted the grimoire into the air, letting the light breaking through the window spill down its cover. Faded writing, little more than an indention in the shape of ancient elvish script runs down the leather face of the book. The tome was ancient, perhaps copied from another tome or scroll older than her. It shocked Frieren that, even in the Royal Capital where she had resided for the last several decades there still existed treasures such as this.
She had become such a fixture at the magic shops in the city that a generation of shopkeepers knew her well. Precisely because of that they allowed her first pick at anything interesting. Across the store the shopkeeper moved something from the floor up onto the counter with a small, pained grunt.
"Got something you're looking for, Master Frieren?" He held a loose tied, sack between his hands with the base of it resting on the countertop.
Frieren turned, shaking her headsubtly. "Not in particular, just looking."
The shopkeeper glanced around the store expecting to see someone else. "Where is that man of yours?" he asked.
"Home—he's using the excuse that he's tired to avoid having to stand around while I pick over old dusty books." Frieren thumbed through the rows of tomes, scanning the spines of the books for anything that caught her eye.
A soft chuckle escaped from deep within the shopkeeper's chest. "I'm shocked that Mister Himmel lets you out of his sight."
There was a time when Frieren would have assumed he expected her to need Himmel to protect her, as if she were unable to traverse the capital on her own; she knew better now. Frieren lifted a couple of the books off of the shelf to tuck them under her arm with a wistful smile plastered on her face.
"It seems like some of the time he really doesn't like to, but we women need our alone time too," she said. Frieren had become accustomed enough to socializing and small talk. It had only taken a few decades. People might even have found her warm or personable now, though she still doubted that.
"Are you going to be getting anything else?" asked the shopkeeper.
Frieren shook her head before trudging over to the counter and laying out a carefully counted handful of coins. "That should cover it," Frieren said. She stooped over next to the side of the counter where she had left her briefcase, snapping the latches to stuff the grimoires inside amongst her other trinkets and collectibles. Then she shut the lid and hefted the bag up next to her thigh, holding it in one hand.
The shop swirled with dust motes caught in the glow of the sun filtering through the windows. It occurred to her that she might not see this shopkeeper or this store for a while, in fact, who knew how long she would be gone.
"We're to be leaving town soon," Frieren said. "Just in case you get it in your mind to look for us."
"You and the Hero? Going on another grand adventure?" he asked, through a laugh.
Frieren smiled. "Going to visit and old friend." In truth Himmel was much too old for anything bordering on the territory of an adventure. By some miracle he had remained on his feet for this long. The memory of the time that she left only to return fifty years later to journey with him to the
Era's Meteor Event was distant now and he had outlived that other Himmel.
Though she wondered what else might have been altered by a longer lived Himmel?
The elf moved toward the shop door, her suitcase twisting and spinning at her side as she walked. She raised her other hand to wave her farewell. The shopkeeper nodded toward her in a knowing manner, but stayed leaning forward on the countertop as he spoke. "Tell that hero of yours I said hi." The creak of the door closing behind her cut off the latter half of the shopkeeper's words.
The brightness in the street versus the store interior blinded Frieren momentarily, causing her to raise the edge of her hand to her brow, shielding her eyes. She turned north to face uphill along the cobblestone street in the direction of the home she and Himmel shared and began to walk.
"Ah, there you are." Without turning to face the speaker, Frieren could have described the curvature of young Hilda's face without fault; she knew the exact expression the girl wore down to the crooked angle of her smile.
"Surprised you knew where to look for me." Despite the things people whispered about elves in secret, a kind of pride swelled in Frieren's chest. More than pride, it felt like a swirl of accomplishment blended and gratitude. Frieren's smile deepened until her cheeks reddened.
Hilda stood with a relaxed posture, though one hand rested upon the cross guard of the sword at her hip. Already she was taller than Frieren and had been most of her sixty-three years. She had sky-blue hair more akin to the color of her father styled up in loose sloppy bun orbited by curls, but her pale green eyes were distinctly reminiscent of her mother's. At that very moment those eyes were narrowed in Frieren's direction as feigned offense chased the smile away from Hilda's face.
"How would I not know where you are?" Hilda took a few steps forward and folded her arms over her chest. "You've only been going to the same rinky-dink magic shops for all my life."
Frieren lowered her head. "I suppose so," she said in a flat tone. "You used to love riding on my back to these magic stores once upon a time, you know." Frieren pointed an accusatory hand at Hilda.
"Yeah, you love to remind me." Hilda rolled her eyes.
A though darkened Frieren's expression. "You've been gone too long," she said.
"Five short years. It really isn't that long at all. Plus, I have pretty much circled around the central lands so that I was never too far off." Hilda seemed to consider something. "Uncle Eisen and I put an end to some smug demon; would have been back earlier if not for that."
A sigh escaped Frieren. "I understand. It can be hard to grasp, but our time doesn't belong solely to us." She recognized a bit of her old self in Hilda and it had been having the girl that actually put her view of the passage of time in a little more perspective. Frieren tried to be good, she tried not to alter things. It turned out the simple distance of eighty extra years between herself and the rest of the Hero Party led to small changes with massive repercussions.
The first of which was Eisen taking a wife. It came a half a decade after they had returned from their campaign against the demon king; the dwarf summoned them to his home to meet the woman. Frieren had stayed by Himmel's side this time, telling herself at first she would only get to know him better and make sure that he wasn't alone.
Every time she would claim to be weeks or months away from a new journey something made her stay, even though Himmel never asked her to. Only after she became pregnant with Hilda did she stop pretending that her next excursion was just around the corner. In actuality it would be Hilda herself who would set out to see the world on her own before either of her parents.
Preserving the timeline, huh. Frieren's efforts in that regard had been an abject failure. It hadn't all been bad. Heiter had reached out to Himmel and her only a few days ago through letter asking if they could travel down to see him. It seemed that in a couple of weeks Frieren was to meet Fern.
I really hope that Fern and Hilda get along.
Hilda stooped over, taking the suitcase from her mother. Even this close up, the girl didn't look any older than a human a third of her age and seemingly hadn't aged since her twentieth year. She held the suitcase against the side of her leg, mashing her cape down against her thigh as she smiled down at Frieren with a smile identical to Himmel's.
"Come on Mom, let's hurry back to Dad."