To Live Again, For the First Time!

Chapter 64 - Path Pt IV: (Ha.)

The sun already set and Emilin took a few decent photos of the scenery with the naturally occurring twilight filter. Surrounded by darkness, a small campfire illuminated the area around Emilin's tent as Emilin sat in front of the flame with her eyes closed.

She didn't want to damage her eyes with the flame's residue that drifted in the air.

Even though the temperature at night wasn't particularly cold yet, it would only get colder as time passed, as for right now, Emilin just wanted to absorb some of the warmth that surrounded her.

It was both lonely and comforting. 

Emilin had felt somewhat empty after Grandma Charlotte left. Even though they didn't do or say much of anything, her simple company out here was already somewhat comforting. Now however, she didn't have anyone around once again, but this time, it was after obtaining some company and so the feeling was totally different from when she started out this journey alone.

Emilin's face and actions were akin to that of an abandoned puppy for a moment there, even though she had only had someone there with her for a couple of hours, most of which were spent in silence just like now, the two experiences simply couldn't be compared to each other. 

'I wonder just when I became a person who is so easily attached…'

As for why she felt somewhat comforted even after being left alone, this was mainly due to the warmth from the flame in front of her.

It wasn't the heat from a heater or even the light from a lightbulb, yet it still did its job. This was what existed before everything else.

'Grandma Charlotte was right once again.'

Emilin crossed her arms on her legs, embracing herself. The warmth of the flame permeated and surrounded her as Emilin struggled to capture that lingering feeling. It was a feeling of acceptance, being accepted unconditionally, with no other stipulations or prerequisites.

Nature accepted her back like family. 

She wasn't a welcomed guest, but rather a resident who had left for a while, coming back after a long trip out.

In the end, this was where it all started, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but mother earth, and this was also where many of us came back to when there was nowhere left to go.

At the end of the road, everyone came back to nature.

It wasn't a specific place that Grandma Charlotte was indicating, but rather Earth as a whole. She spoke of the places untainted by anything else. Because, to begin with, this planet was already a rather accepting place, the only known planet to accept the living.

Thinking back to Grandma Charlotte, Emilin couldn't help but smile a little, something that she didn't even catch herself doing.

Even though their interactions were extremely short, Emilin found herself truly looking up to this elder. She was just... something else entirely.

The feelings were that of a small junior looking up to an elder who just seemed to be so much more knowledgeable, someone to look up to and aspire to learn from.

The short amount of time Emilin had spent with Grandma Charlotte was incredibly enjoyable, even if they spent most of the time in silence.

But they were destined to part ways. As for meeting again, if they were meant to meet again, it would happen one way or another.

[Author: The author will make sure of it. (????) Teehee~!]

[Peanut Gallery: WTF. Why does it sound like she's talking about the male lead rather than a nice old granny? What destined to meet? What a load of bull.]

[Author: Shut it. (??_?) Why the hell do all these irrelevant people swear so much?!]

[Author: Should I close BRACKET services? It seems to be in the way... eh.]

[Penut Gallery: They how are we supposed to talk?]

[Author: Offline]

[Penuet Gallery:  Wow, not even bothering to write a long-ass text to say how you're not available... Why don't you just think of this as the mini-theater in the middle of the chapter rather than the end? It's the same right?]

[Author: Hm... There's some logic in your argument. But it's hard to transition from bracket services to the plot without just saying moving on...]

[Penut Gallery: Didn't you say you were offline??]

Moving on...

[Peanut Gallery: …]

***

1 hour ago.

"What are you doing here in the mountains then? It doesn't seem particularly safe around here for you either." Emilin asked the granny, whose name she didn't even know.

She asked so casually that even she didn't realize until much later that she had just restarted the conversation.

This is similar to the occasions where you are looking for something, but you can't seem to find it no matter where you look. On a random day, you're just walking around the house and *BAM*, there it is. The thing that you may have been looking for, for hours on end with no results is right there when you aren't even looking for it anymore, but somehow, when you were unceasingly looking for it previously, NOTHING.

Whenever Emilin felt like she was forcing herself, expecting results, nothing worked, but now, she had just done it without even realizing it. She has started a conversation topic.

"Haha, this old lady is quite familiar with this place and has a few acquaintances who tread the same path, in fact, my great-nephew has a house around this area! You don't have to worry about this old lady's safety."

"I see," was all that Emilin said, but normally if it wasn't a question, she wouldn't have responded at all.

There was a moment of silence before the old lady opened her mouth again.

"It's about time I get going now, young lass, it's not early anymore." The old lady said as she stood up from the rock she had been sitting on.

"I see." Emilin couldn't think of anything else to say.

She was at a loss.

"Wait," Emilin said, just as the old granny had turned around to leave.

"What is it dear?" The lady kindly smiled.

"Can I ask for your name?" Emilin hesitantly asked.

Before she had even thought it through, the lady responded.

"You can call me Grandma Charlotte." Granny Charlotte had truly taken a liking to this young lass, so much so that she gave Emilin her real name.

It was incredibly shocking even to herself much less to the people who had heard her in the distance.

"Okay, Grandma Charlotte," Emilin felt her heart warm a little, a feeling similar, yet different from what she had felt when she was first born, faced with a whole new family.

There was still that same familiarity, maybe not as intense, but there was something else there too.

'I wonder what it is.'

"Then I hope to see you again someday young lass, preferably over some tea, somewhere where you can show me some of the photographs you've taken." Granny Charlotte smiled brilliantly.

"Yes," Emilin responded as she watched Grandma Charlotte leave, just like that.

Even after she left, Emilin's eyes lingered in the direction to which she headed until there were once again no signs of humans in the area around this cliff.

***

"Second Madame, are we going to head to the young master's base right now?" Someone approached Old Lady Charlotte after she had disappeared from Emilin's sight.

"Oh god no. Not right now. I feel like I should appreciate the view that I haven't appreciated in a while now. Let's head there in another week or so, it's not like they are expecting me for another week anyways." Charlotte responded casually.

"Second Madame. Is this really okay?" He was one of the people who had been watching the interactions between Old Lady Charlotte and Emilin at a distance.

At first, Charlotte hadn't understood what he meant, but when he signaled in the direction from which she came from, she responded with an exaggerated a sigh

"Oh, Edwin."

"You've been with me for so long," She continued, with a shake of her head.

"You should know not to worry too much about it. That young lass, well, she isn't too bad," Charlotte grinned as she elaborated.

However, in this last part, she spoke with a calm demeanor as if the whole matter had nothing to do with her.

"If we meet again, then it is fate, and if not, then it's just too bad. Either way, giving my name out is no big deal, what are you worrying so much about? You'll grow wrinkles really quick at your age if you keep worrying like this!"

This was also quite exaggerated, Edwin wasn't at that point yet.

Completely unlike the granny who had been speaking to Emilin previously. Her face changed throughout the conversation, so much so that it felt like she was just switching around masks that she kept in her inventory. 

"That lass is a poor soul, truly." There were signs of pity that shone through her eyes this time.

Edwin, Charlotte's right-hand man of decades couldn't help but sigh at his Second Madam's whimsical words. He already knew that there was nothing left to do, but he was also glad that the young lass wasn't anyone remarkable since that would greatly lower the chances of them ever crossing paths.

"Ah yes, a poor hard-working young lass." She said with a sigh.

What she didn't know at the time was that those very words would come to bite her back in the behind later on in the future.

Hardworking?

Poor?

Ha.

Her old pal Edwin would laugh at her for the rest of her life for this one.

A joke that would never meet its end, a line that Charlotte would regret saying out loud this very day, but also one that she couldn't help but laugh at when she looked back at it in the future.