The Fairy, The Witch and Lost Items

2. House for two.

They both walked downhill to Edith. 

"I think we need to split for now. I need to get back to the office, have a talk with Garold, and ask some more people. We'll see what I can find. Let's meet tomorrow in the 'Dog' afternoon, shall we?" Emily looked at them with a seriousness in her gaze.

"How about me?" Edith said quietly, "I'm afraid to be alone!". Terry and Emily briefly looked at each other. 

"You can stay at my place", proposed Terry, "I live by myself. Deal?" Edith hesitantly agreed, and Terry, at all of a sudden to her, smiled inside.

Why am I so happy that she agreed?

"Alright, ladies, it was a pleasure to meet you, shame it happened in those circumstances. Tomorrow afternoon, take care," waved Emily, turned around and went away.

"She is direct, isn't she?" Edith told with a thoughtful face. "Anyway. Can we visit one place before we go? I need to grab my stuff."

***

The tiny room Edith was sharing with the other young witches was extremely empty. As she explained, it was done intentionally, so they can focus on studying more. 

"I live here with two more girls," she got sad for an instant, remembering that she might not see them anymore, "but I prefer to think that it's just minimalistic, and Erzebeth said it's temporary, until I will progress enough to have my room."

"Erzebeth?" Terry was really curious about this whole new world full of wonders. 

"My preceptress," Edith rummaged furiously in the bed locker, throwing clothing on the bed. "Where the hell is it?" Terry was looking at it with interest.

"Aha!" Finally, Edith found a necklace with the red stone, and carefully put it into the backpack. "I'm ready," she said, slamming the chest. They left the rooms and the long gray building, a home for young witches, and started to descend to the city by the paths around the hill.

At first, they walked in silence, but after some time, Terry just couldn't stand it.

"Tell me something about you?"

"Like what?"

"How did you become the witch? If it's not a secret or something."

Edith loudly chuckled. "It is not a secret at all. I was born in the witch family."

"But did you want to be the witch?" Terry was curious.

"I... That's a good question. I've never thought about that seriously, I mean, I don't think there was any pressure, it's just an environment, innit? Can't imagine I could become, I dunno, an office worker," she laughed shortly, "I'm not very educated yet, I just started. It's a long path. Years, decades. So I'm not even the witch yet — by name only, maybe."

Terry was walking and thinking about her path. Unlike Edith, she was truly born a fairy, and she couldn't stop being one even if she wanted to. Both being in their mind, they stepped at the embankment on the other side of the Danube. Terry rarely walked this way, but she knew the city very well — unlike Edith.

As she explained, her usual schedule was pretty tight: study, sleep, work, repeat. Every so often she was able to take a walk around, and even more rarely to get a free day to spend around the city. So she really didn't know much about the world outside the hill.

Terry felt bad for her when she heard that, and she also noted a similarity between them: they both lost something valuable, but instead of that got a blink of freedom. Was it worth it? She didn't know yet, but was all keen to find out.